Girl Scout Cookie Digital Sales Templates

 Aloha, 2021 is dealing us a major Cookie season blow. I've done the work but I HATE paying for things that I need for a volunteer job like Girl Scouts. SOO here is a link to our door hanger template. You will have to down load it and edit it in word to make it perfect for you. We use Little Brownie baker, and many of the clip art used come straight from their website, so thankful they are finally putting out things we can use even if I crop and only use what I want. hehehehehe.

Door Hanger Template

If you are wondering how I did all the parts here is a rather long tutorial on how I did all the parts, feel free to fast forward through the parts you don't need. 

youtube video

Ready Made templates from video

If you are looking for a Digital activity for your girls to do online during a zoom meeting download these google slide activities and then upload them to your own google drive. Then you can give girls a link to create their own posters. 

Cadette

Juniors

Brownies

Daisies

Best Thank you would be to follow my Daughter's cookie link and donate a box. The link is in the templates so be sure to change out her photo, QR Code and Web address as well as delivery date. ;)

Mystery Solved

 Waaaaay back when my oldest was 7 I posted this very frustrated post:

https://allergic2motherhood.blogspot.com/2014/
Then a year later I posted this:
https://allergic2motherhood.blogspot.com/2015/06/blood-sugar-mystery-follow-up.html
Here we are 5 years later still dealing with it:

http://allergic2motherhood.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-ongoing-mystery-of-11-year-old.html

Well we finally found some answers, and it wasn't at all what we expected. We began testing for neurological siezures and found inconclusive nothings. BUT at least we had already done those and so when an opening finally was available at the neurologist we had a pile of paperwork to share and no answers. What the neurologist determined was that D had Migraine Variant Disorder. This means that she had been in pain virtually since she was 6 years old. Headaches without knowing that that was not normal. She grew up in pain and all of the other symptoms of migraines and she just thought this horrible life was what she was doomed to live. Living this way for so long caused the drop in self esteem we had seen and the tendency to be a hermit and avoid any location where headaches got bad enough to actually slow her down. 

As a mom there is not much more humbling than realizing that you missed something as simple as a headache all of these years. The reality is though her pain tolerance has always been high so she noticed the other symptoms of a migraine long before she registered the pain. She had also developed some anxiety issues over these years, because of second guessing herself. We started her slowly on some meds to prevent migraines. It didn't take long and we noticed a definative shift in her outlook on life and how our relationship grew. We fought far less, collaborated more, and really started to enjoy each other again. 

Her body is adjusting to the meds. We have had to up her dose several times now as headaches become more frequent again. The difference is that now she has pain free times so she really knows when the pain is coming back. The instant mood shifts no longer happen. Although she is now 13 and so any parent of a teen girl will tell you that mood swings are natural, but those mood swings have a predictable pattern and you can usually see them coming if you are paying attention.   We haven't completely ruled out silent seizures but we are more confident that we will be better able to see them if they do happen.

This is HUGE for our family and her friends. Our neurologist has moved off island and we know that we will have a revolving door of neuro specialists for her future, but we are so grateful for the ability to see these drs and have some answers finally.

Elf on the Shelf Negative test results letter

Soo we started our Elf adventure this year with the elves in travel quarantine.

 This is nice for parents but BORING for the kids. 

They lasted a week, yes we brought them out early to account for the quarantine, 

 but we needed an excuse to spring them from their prison without destroying the mythos of our elves. 14 days is a LONG time for a 6 and 8 year old. Not to mention the 13 year old who has been planning their hyjinks all summer.  Sooo after much online searching I found a how to understand your test results image that had some details of what an actual test letter might look like. I've edited it to make it more kid friendly and less jargon. Follow this link to download the word document to customize with your elf's information. 

Tomorrow they will be free! Their letters arrived today with a special delivery for the kids. 

 

A new look at Art and the Outdoors, Designing with nature

I am also a Girl Scout leader and my fellow leaders and I have seen on our Facebook feeds a video of a high fashion designer that cuts out his design sketches and then shoots a photo to recreate it later. ( https://www.google.com/…/architectural-pattern-dress-design… ) 

We wanted to do that with our girls as a part of their Outdoor art badge experience but didn’t want to use adult fashion images because we wanted to to girls just like them little K-2nd graders. I belong to the Little Lizard King pattern group on Facebook and knew that they had some coloring pages for little sewists. https://littlelizardking.com/color-me  also if you are just learning to sew or an advanced sewist, please also visit their pattern shop at https://littlelizardking.com . I've been using their patterns for my girls as well as for teaching sewing for 9 years. They are a amazing MOM led company, full of other moms sharing their design skills. 

I printed the image on card stock and then sat with a new exacto knife and cut out the fabric areas trying to leave details like waist seams and things in place.😉 

I spent the evening the night before we left for camp cutting out enough so that each girl could have one image to work with so that we could easily identify each girl's designs. A sunrise walk was the perfect time to explore our world in a new way, so with the help of a couple of moms and our leadership team we shot many photos of the designs the girls made. 

We used the sunrise and ocean first and then continued our walk exploring other plants, trees, signs, and buildings along the way.

  

The girls had a lot of fun and we discovered that inspiration can come from anywhere.

 Even the same rainbow can make 2 totally different looks.

We learned a lot about our girls by doing this. We could see what really inspired them and what their style is. Is it fairy? Hip Hop? Princess? Dirt and grunge? or is it just follow our friends?

Like I said we used it as a part of our outdoor art badge experience. You can only paint so many murals before you find it boring, and "AGAIN" complete with eye roll. SO we found something new and they were each inspired in a different way.

I hope that this inspires you as you go on your badge earning, homeschooling, STEAM, or just plain artist life adventure.

Shark Paper Bag Puppet

Sooo what preschool family doesn't know the baby shark song! I needed a simple craft for back stage at our dance recital so I figured out how to turn baby shark into a paper bag puppet. Below you will find the link to my drawings. Enjoy.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e9kU607peTK7bCSBrVuG0eaS9hj5gz_4/view?usp=sharing

The ongoing mystery of the 11 year old

Waaaaay back when my oldest was 7 I posted this very frustrated post:
https://allergic2motherhood.blogspot.com/2014/
Then a year later I posted this:
https://allergic2motherhood.blogspot.com/2015/06/blood-sugar-mystery-follow-up.html
Here we are 5 years later still dealing with the same mystery! After 5 years of monitoring and keeping track of things here are her current facts.

Blood sugar monitor is still used, only now we monitor it based on emotional state not time of day of diet. Diabetes and Hypoglycemia have been ruled out due to normal A1C numbers and no other symptoms.

Symptom 1: Feeling like walking super speed through deep mud.
Symptom 2: Amplified sound
Symptom 3: Food tasting like soap
Symptom 4: Moments of lost time and when she's alert again a random blurting of dream like memories will sometimes follow.
Symptom 5: Blood Sugar spikes of over 250 at peak of episode
Symptom 6: Dramatic mood swings and shifts
Symptom 7: Anxiety

Just this Christmas break her mensis began for the first time, which effectively proves the precocious puberty that was suggested back when she was 7 out of the water. We have been monitoring now to see if the cycle changes the length of time between episodes. So far with only 2 cycles we haven't noticed any correlation.

Back story: Miss D had a traumatic birth, she lost 75-80 percent of her blood volume before birth and the drs and nurses at birth did not diagnose this until her body had been low blood volume for nearly 30 minutes. She had full liver and kidney failure and clotting issues over the next 14 days. At birth the specialists told us we may or may not ever see any effects from the blood loss on her brain. She has proven very smart and with no apparent learning disabilities. She has shown some testing anxiety and worry, but that is more related to her emotional state than anything brain related.

This past November we had a short EEG study done. Sleep deprived and triggered her scan showed nothing of value. Only to have an episode that afternoon. grrr.

So now we've been keeping track of all of these symptoms and issues for several years. Her pediatrician has been TRYING to get us a neurology appointment. Trouble is we live in Hawaii, and of the 4 on island they are all over booked and one just left to return to the mainland, bringing us down to 3 meaning that no one has time to dig through a mystery situation. The Endocrinologists don't believe it's hormonal anymore so they feel it is outside of their perview. It's very frustrating. At this point our best diagnosis guess is Silent Seizures with Adrenaline spikes which mask as blood sugar as her body's way of fighting for the control back. Naturally that Adrenaline spike causes anger and frustration at any and all around her.

Today I put these thoughts onto the internet hoping that someone can help us find a solution or suggestion.

Blood Sugar Mystery Follow Up

So for those of you who read my previous post about the blood sugar mystery, I just wanted to update the post. We never got a solid answer. They determined it was not hypoglycemia, or Diabetes. Their 2 theories they tossed out were adrenal gland problems and early puberty. unfortunately the testing for both take a lot of time. On one hand we have to collect all pee for 24 hours and for the other hand 3 vials of blood to go to the mainland for a 2 week blood study. Due to school and everything else we didn't do the tests yet. But once we started making some better diet choices and keeping her accountable for her behavior and we have seen a significant improvement in it.

We switched to fruit for breakfast instead of a cereal. Then started sending a granola bar to school to be eaten at recess time mid morning. A simple lunch followed by a snack either waiting in the car for her after school or once we got home, then a small dinner. Daddy insisted on desert later in the evening too.

Over all by cutting back on the volume at each snack she has lost a little weight, but mostly she has grown taller. Her focus is better in school and outside of school. Will we do the tests? I don't know but I do know that whatever the cause of the insanity was, life is much better at our house lately.