It´s a new year already. My eldest daughter is starting her sixth year in Girl Scouts, and, believe it or not, I still have new ideas.

Cooking out of doors is one of the challenges of camping. Once you've had your meal of hot dogs and s'mores, the next easiest meal to prepare, in my opinion, is friendship soup.

Cookie booths are the fast and safe way to sell cookies in a time when many parents no longer feel comfortable sending their kids door to door.

I had a few requests for a follow up article on how the big day went. First of all, my criteria for success in Girl Scouts is to ask a simple question of the girls in attendance. That question is "did you have fun?"

Thinking Day has caused me to spend a lot of time thinking this year. First of all, our normal location for our annual event is not available this year. Normally, we use the school cafeteria, but this year another group is using that facility.

Cookie sales are THE Girl Scout tradition. It´s a major event that requires enormous volunteer efforts to pull off each year.

January is a time to regroup, reassess, and revise. I plan our entire year in August, but I take a moment in January to make sure the plans still make sense. I also take a moment to consider February´s big event, which is Thinking Day.

The theme for Thinking Day 2007 is “Discover your Potential by taking the lead, growing friendships, and speaking out.” My thoughts on the theme were that it was both vague and broad at the same time.

Community service can a be a large part of your troop´s Girl Scout program. Although the possibilities are endless, I thought I´d share a few of my favorite with all of you.

When you´re submersed in a topic, you sometimes forget that the basics as you know them are a mystery to outsiders. Recently, I´ve outlined the basic structure of Girl Scouts several times. I thought it would be worthwhile to do that here as well.