And then there was the disaster. A plain vanilla cake with lime icing. The cake was dry and the icing was way too runny and I could just add more icing sugar because it was a boiled icing.
Some of the girls goofing around when they should be in bed.
The girls at camp do all the cooking. They love it. Most of them aren't allowed to cook at home, so this is their chance to do it. At camp, the girls also do all the cleaning. We divide the girls into patrols and they take turns doing all the duties at camp. You would think that there would be much moaning and complaining about the bathroom cleaning, but that is one of their favourite jobs. They even fight over who gets to do the various jobs. The bathrooms at camp are also the cleanest bathrooms ever, because over the course of the weekend they get cleaned 3 to 4 times.
The girls making bead hat crafts. We had an insane number of beads in the craft boxes, so I came up with a bead horse and bead cowboy hat. We always plan a couple of crafts for the girls to do during the down times.
We worked on the chemistry badge. The girls loved the experiments. We did a chemistry magic show for the Brownies (7-8yrs old) and the Pathfinders(12-15yrs old) that we using the other lodges at the camp. I forgot to get some pictures of the show. But the best part was when our first year guide, lit the match for her experiment. I was a little nervous, because normally there is a lot of crying and fear about using matches, but she had no problem. She was actually the first guide I've had that had no fear and just know she could do it.
More beading. The girls are always bugging do work on them.
We worked on the life skills and the bird watching badges. So to kill two birds with one stone, we made bird houses. For most of the girls this was their first time using a hammer. There was a lot of pulling nails out and straightening them out on the part of the leaders.
There was also a lot of holding the part of the leaders. I think I may have been temporarily insane to hold a nail while a kid hammered for the first time.
We also give the girls what we call a challenge book. It's another thing to keep them busy when they are finished their duties or between activities.
The food line up. You would think we starve them, given how quickly they come for meal times.
The girls laying around in the snow.
This is the pile of stuff . It's amazing how much we bring out for one weekend.
The girls love sliding everywhere. It works out great for us. Once they finish cleaning we kick them out of the building, so the leaders can do the final check out.
All of us at the end of camp.
I'm always amazed that these old castles and towers are still standing. Below is my mum and little sister.
I did take a couple of pictures of my sister's house. The lay out is very simple, wide foyer/hall way. Two large rooms off each side and a bathroom at the end. Off the dinning room, you find what the estate agent called a "conservatory", but it's really just a drafty enclosed porch. Off the conservatory is what is called the out building. The out building has the original toilet, the coal room that my sister has turned into a laundry room and the kitchen. Having a separate room for the laundry is very unusual in England, most homes the laundry is in the kitchen. I think it's weird to have dirty underwear in the kitchen. Anyway, one evening my sister was in the bathroom in the house and my mum needed to use the bathroom, so she went to the toilet outside. Anyway, after while my sister and I heard my mum yelling for us. We both thought she wanted help in the kitchen. Since my sister was on the phone and I was playing just a game, I shut my game down and went to help my mum. As I was going by the in house bathroom I could hear water running, so I asked my mum her there was something wrong. She replied with a "you are a useless daughter, who clearly doesn't love her mother enough to come and help her". I was very confused, so I told her "I was coming to help in the kitchen, I was just shutting down my game and I didn't know what her problem was." Then she said "Well you weren't quick enough, go look in the toilet." Now I was even more confused. So I went to the toilet. And this is what I saw.
At first I couldn't figure out what the black stuff was on the floor in front of the toilet. And then I was thinking "is that part of the toilet seat cover". So I walked in and looked in the toilet and found the following.
That's right the rest of the toilet seat cover and my mother's slippers. And I just started laughing and laughing. I could barely move I was laughing so hard. I finally walked back into the house and choked out a "what happened?" to my mum. It turns out that the antique toilet was having some issues flushing and my mum in her great wisdom thought it would be a good idea to close the lid and stand in the middle on the lid and try to get the flusher to work. While the lid broke and she feet got wedged in the toilet. Apparently she was yelling for help for ten minutes before we even heard her. And then because we thought she was yelling for help in the kitchen, I didn't rush. By that time she managed to get herself unwedged. I pointed out that it wouldn't have matter if we heard her right away, because we would have been laughing too hard to actually be any help at all. The best part was that for the rest of the vacation, my sister and I would just start laughing every time one of us thought of it. 
Noelle in the Black cap in London.
And my mum laughing at me taking pictures.
My mum and sister outside of the Gaol Museum.
For Christmas, my mum gave my sister and I tickets to see Billy Elliot on New Years Eve. If you ever get the chance to see it, I would highly recommend it. The singing and dancing was phenomenal.
This is Rachel painting a star. Each kid painted and decorated a star and then put their favourite scripture on the back. We hid them all over the place for DiAnn to find. 
Jake after he woke up from his nap. He was having some issues with the paint brush so Alison is helping him. 
Tommy and Sidney working on their stars. Tommy was very decisive about his scripture. It had to be the one about the "man who paid for the hotel for the man that was hurt". I thought it was interesting that he focused on that part of the story of the Good Samaritan. I made a comment about how well all the kids knew the scriptures and Sidney pipped up with "well of course, we read the scripture every day". To all the parents out there that question whether there is any point in having family scripture study given how hard it is, there is your answer. 
Dianna and Heidi. They were such a big help. Heidi is the oldest of 5, with the twins as the youngest. She has in some ways born the brunt of that and but for the most part is very positive about the whole thing. Anyway, we were deciding on a scripture for one of the twins and Heidi asked if there was a scripture for "cry babies"? We put "Cry unto the Lord" for her. 
Jake, Jack(31/2) and Tommy(3). Jack is a bit of a wild man, but he is also so kind and gentle. Tommy was having a hard time spelling his name, so Jack started to help him. It was so sweet. They had to double check about how to print an "M" and I was impressed at how willing they were to work together and there was no pride about who knew more or receiving help. 
We did make your own pizzas and we let them drink pop. The older kids were loving the pop. 
This is Jonathon and Donovan untangling the lights. Donovan has been the only boy in his class his whole life so this year I suggested we pray for another boy to join the class and Jonathon is the answer to our prayer. His entire family were baptized this September. And Donovan has made sure that Jonathon has felt welcome. Anytime he isn't at Church, Donovan calls to say he missed him, drops him off stuff from sharing time or our lessons. They play together all the time. It's been great! 
We discovered that Jonathon is better at tangling than untangling. Maggie(she moved part way through the year) took over as she got frustrated watching Jonathon. Don't worry, Jonathon got to go in the kitchen and help with construction. 
More untangling/tangling.
Zoe is a creative genius. She is one of the reasons I had no problem letting a bunch of 9 year olds decorate. As a matter of fact, I think they did a better job than I would have. 
This is Dianna, another kid that left us part way through the year. When we finished decorating, the constructions were not fully resolved, so I pulled out this book call "The conversation piece". It has all sorts of questions, some serious, some silly and everything in between. Each kid got to pick a question to ask everyone and then everyone answered. There was a lot of laugh. Especially about the question about what two sports would you combine to make a new sport. 
Maggie gleefully decorating her house. I don't think Maggie knows how to frown or walk. She skips everywhere laughing. It's wonderful how contagious it is.
Young Joo was very serious about her house and making sure she had the right candy. Her family immigrated to Canada 2 years ago and she is a shining example at how quickly kids learn. She reads as well as anyone in the class and she spoke no English before moving. This was her very first gingerbread house. She had lots of questions, because she wanted to make sure she explained everything to her family correctly. 
This is Claire and the "little miss trouble" t-shirt explains everything. Boy is she fun. She was covered in icing by the end and it was like she thought she was the gingerbread house. 
More serious Young Joo. This is soooo contrary to her true nature. Normally, I can't get her to stop giggling.
Jason helping Claire out.
Zoe was all about the thin layer of "snow".
So this is my friend Jason and the mess of melted sugar. The back of the boxes said to melt sugar, and instead of becoming gluey, just went mushing. It was a mess. 
The pretty food.
Mandy, the expert sandwich person.
Barb, the person who likes to think she is boss. We just do what we want anyway, so there is no point in letting her think otherwise. 
