Baking!!!

Thanks to the hard work of 11 of our Thrills and Skills 4Hers there will be 20 people in the community who will have some wonderful treats to enjoy. On Friday Dec. 16th, 4 groups of bakers led by Mrs. LoPorto, Mr. Renna, Mrs. Johnston and Mrs. Seaman baked 40 dozen cookies! If you are interested in recreating these wonderful cookies, check out each recipe below the following pictures!



Mrs. LoPorto is assisted by Sal & Gabby. Yummy Snowball cookies are on the way!

And, like magic, here they are!


Grace, Nessa, Mrs. Seaman and Emma worked on divine lemon-y goodness! Yummmmm!



Kathleen and Mrs. Johnson work on some Gluten Free Peanut Butter Blossoms. While Mr. Renna, Maeve, and Adam start their Chocolate covered Oreo Poppers! Chocolate dipped in Chocolate? Sign me up!
Adam, Mrs. Gorbaty, Maeve, Mrs. Corcoran and Emma are shown here on the platter assembly line. What an operation! and in no time at all 20 beautiful platters were prepared for the members to share with members of the community to show our appreciation for all they do and to let them know that they are being thought of at this festive time of year!



Beautiful job everyone! If anyone has any pictures of Hannah, Emily and or Antoinette, please share them with me as they are not represented here, but were definitely involved in this baking extravaganza! And, as promised:

Oreo Poppers (Adam, Maeve & Mr. Renna’s group)

1 bag oreo cookies

1 brick cream cheese

1 pkg choc. Chips

1 gal. zip lock bag

crush cookies (finely) in bag.

mix with cream cheese in a bowl until combined

roll cookies into small balls

coat with melted chocolate

refrigerate to set chocolate

Lemon Snaps (Grace, Emma, Nessa & Mrs. Seaman)

½ c. butter, softened

½ c packed brown sugar

2 T granulated sugar

1 egg

2 T lemon juice

½ tsp. grated lemon rind

1 c. white flour

¼ tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Cream butter and sugar at high speed for 3-5 minutes

Add egg and beat another 2-3 min.

Stir in remaining ingredents. Mix until well combined.

Drop by rounded teaspoons on greased cookie sheet.

Bake 12-15 min at 375 degrees. Remove from pan immediately and sprinkle with 10X sugar

Makes 2 doz. Cookies

Snowballs (Gabby, Sal and Mrs. LoPorto’s group)

2 cups flour

1 c butter at room temp

4 T sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp. almond extract

2 cups chopped walnuts

Powdered sugar

Cream butter, sugar and extracts together with mixer very thoroughly.

Add flour, nuts, and knead together with hands until well combined.

Roll into small balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets.

Place in preheated 300 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Roll while hot or warm in powdered sugar.

Cool on rack and roll again in powdered sugar.

Peanut Butter Blossoms (gluten free) (Kathleen, Hannah, Antoinette, Emily & Mrs. Johnson’s group)

2 eggs

1 cup peanut butter

1 c. sugar

Beat eggs

Stir in peanut butter and sugar

Spoon by tsp onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes

Top each cookie with an unwrapped chocolate kiss.

Makes 2 ½ doz. 2 inch cookies

Other cookies included:

Rum cookies (Nessa Corcoran)

½ c sifted 10 X sugar (plus some for rolling)

2T cocoa

½ c fine chopped pecans

3 T light corn syrup

¼ c. rum

1 box vanilla wafers

combine everything but the wafers.

Crush wafers into fine crumbs

Mix in crushed wafers

Form into small balls and roll in 10 x sugar

Turbans (peanut butter crinkles) (Mortons)

Snickerdoodles (Maeve Corcoran)

3 T sugar

1tsp ground cinnamon

1 pkg yellow cake mix

2 eggs

¼ c vegetable oil

preheat oven to 375 degrees

combine sugar and cinnamon and set aside

combine other ingredents into a large ball. Roll into small balls

roll in sugar mixture.

Place on cookie sheet, flatten with a floured bottom of glass.

Bake for 7-9 min. cool on sheet for one minute, then remove to wire rack.

Winter Fair- 2012

Thrills & Skills hosted a Winter Fair for the first time. We had cookies to frost,
Some nice crafts.....

The preparations were made - now, WHERE IS THE CROWD?

We made perty coookies!

Yes - Will - I told ya if you smiled for me the BLOG was the next place you'd see THIS!~

And Eliza is judging Emma's wonderful banner..

And, of course - the adults have a good time too. It was nice to see Jayne!

And Abbie - her wreath out of all natural materials and a bow she made was just perfect!Here we have two new Teen Ambassadors trying their hand at being judges. Nothing is better than frosting and eating on the spot! Nice job Adam.

Winter Fair Preparation

Our December 2nd meeting involved Winter Fair Preparations. We completed 5 projects that can be entered into our fair later this month! First up, a 'pipe cleaner and bead Christmas Tree ornament.' Here Mrs. Morton and Mrs. LaPorto help Nessa and a potential new member, Bridget complete her project. This is one of the projects we will invite our Winter Fair guests to do next week. Good thing we had a chance to try it out ourselves since we will be too busy hosting at our fair to get a chance to do the project then!


Next up, a Stocking Ornament, using none other than our famous "Big Shot"! Mrs. Gorbaty led this station. This is #2 of the projects we will invite other 4Hers to complete at our Winter Fair.
Then, we also used rubbers stamps, ink and cardstock to make a Winter themed card, a Hanukkah card and a Christmas card. We plan to place these in the card holder we wove at last month's meeting and enter these in the Winter Fair to be judged. On these cards we explored "backgrounds" and "focal points." Everyone's creativity was flowing by the end of the evening!

Ingrid and Hannah working on their "Winter Card."


Maeve, Grace and Emily working on their Hanukkah card.

Ummmmm, no Kathleen, Hope and Antoinette were not defying gravity, Poor Mrs. Corcoran can't figure out how to rotate the picture in blogger! :o) Help appreciated!

Center Brunswick United Methodist Church Dinner

For the second year running, members of our 4H group helped out at Center Brunswick United Methodist Church's Holiday Dinner.



Emma, Hannah, Ingrid, Grace and Maeve Corcoran, assisted by Mrs. Morton and Mrs. Gorbaty, served approximately 50 people a 3 course dinner! They even served coffee!




And, no dinner would be complete without CLEAN UP! The girls were troopers and got the job done "lickety split!"



Of course, a snack was a great incentive!


Nice job, ladies! Your volunteering made your group very proud!

Adopt-A-Child Gifts

Every year since 2004 when the older girls in the group were in first grade, we have given gifts to Adopt-a-Child thru Joseph's House or Unity House in Troy. This year is no different. I only committed to ONE gift/family. Please CALL GRETCHEN to select a gift (663-7630)- so we don't duplicate anything. As you call and make selections - I'll add your last name to this list so you have a place to look if you forget what you have chosen.

Thanks as always for your generosity - this really makes the holiday special for local families in need.

Remember to bring your gift to the December 2nd meeting - NOT WRAPPED - but labeled with the childs name and the family number. Wrapping paper, ribbon, a bow and occasional roll of tape are appreciated.

Here are the family numbers, child's name, girl/boy, age and the gifts their parents have asked for.

#990 Nyeema Girl/4 years Learn to Laugh Puppy Given by:Morton's
#990 Nyeema Girl/4 years Dora Doll Given by: Donlon's
#990 Nyeema Girl/4 years Croc Block Wagon Given by: THE KITTY
#990 Tatiana Girl/2 years Baby Alive Given by: Renna's
#990 Tatiana Girl/2 yrs Cuddly Stuffed Animal Given by:Corcoran's
#990 Tatiana Girl/2 years Educational Toy Given by: Gorbaty's
#996 Daijah Girl/12 years Fashion Design Kit Given by: Scharnott
#996 Daijah Girl/12 years Crayola Color Kit Given by: Fountain's
#996 Daijah Girl/12 years Jewelry Kit Given by: Gorbaty
#988 Dominic BOY/9 years Nerf Dart Tag Given by: LoPorto's
#988 Dominic BOY/9 years Hot Wheels Given by: Johnson's
#988 Dominic BOY/9 years Transformers Given by: Mulligan

GEO-Scavenger Hunt

LOOK at all the cars. This has to be the sign of a fun event!
We divided into 4 groups of 3 or 4 kids each with a couple of adults and at least one GPS device. Here are a few of the kids waiting for another group to move on before they try to find the next cache...... Mrs. Fortun is keeping them entertained with Simon Says~!

Here are a few Thrills & Skills kids, their friend Kora and a new Green Earthling friend, Christina. They are on their way to Cache #3.

So - here are a couple of Thrilling Mom's with some GREEN kids at Cache #4. They are reading the cache ticket and figuring out what to do with all that "floss"... Um - I think it is to turn into Friendship Bracelets! And then - on to Cache #5...

Here is Jessie with her group deep in the woods at Cache #5. It's a good thing that this one had FOOD in it and that the bears didn't root it out overnight while it was hidden. Hmmm - I wonder if there are any MORE granola bars in the woods! Gabbys' doing a nice job reading all about what to do with the snacks and how to find the next cache!

When it was all over everyone gathered at "Headquarters" to redeem their raffle tickets from Cache #2 for Stewarts Ice Cream Cone cards, use their marshmallows and chocolate chips from Cache #1 in their cocoa, and Mrs. Corcoran taught everyone all about friendship bracelets and how to make them with the floss found in Cache #4..

Here is the quintessential GROUP SHOT! What a great great bunch of kids and adults. Thanks everyone for participating with a good attitude, being real troupers with the cold windy morning weather and CONGRATS TO ALL - I think everyone found all five caches! I can't wait to see some friendship bracelets and special buttons "around the town".

Rensselaer County 4H Achievement Night

What a turn out at the Achievement Night this year! We took up 2 sets of tables!!!! It was excellent to see 100% of our group in attendance!



After the presentation of awards & certificates and the recognition of leaders, Grace and Maeve gave the 2010-2011 Thrills and Skills secretary report together. It was very impressive to hear all that our group accomplished over the past year. The girls summarized all the meals we shared, several of our outdoor activities, the wide variety of projects we participated in, and the MANY accomplishments our members enjoyed! What was also impressive was the poise and (excuse the pun) "grace" these two displayed. They spoke clearly, loudly and confidently in front of their audience! You've made us proud, ladies - very proud, indeed!



After last year's reports were completed, we witnessed this year's Installation of Officers. Ingrid (not pictured) Shannon, Maeve (who, trust me, was more thrilled about her new position than this picture indicates), Kathleen, and Emma all took the oath for their respective positions.


After our dinner and awards ceremony several members attended the Tamarac football game while still others attended the middle school dance. Busy night in town, eh? That left several of our junior members with the chance to get in a project meeting! Mrs. Gorbaty provided us with the supplies and instruction for a really cool leather braiding project!


We learned a valuable lesson, however.... starting after 8pm on a very tricky project was probably not a really good idea. We decided to revisit the project at another meeting (with more rested brains) - which was a good idea, because...


the project can be done! After a good night's rest, this was the result! Who's up for revisiting this project? Tricky Braided Bracelets would be a great addition to the fair, don't cha' think?

The Beginning of Cool Projects

After the elections - we started two projects that we'll work on this Fall. The first was to dye a bunch of old light colored T-shirts. We plan to cut them into strips and make a recycled project for the Winter Fair. Here Ingrid and the Jr's are looking at the dye chart - Mrs. Gorbaty said that with the colors she had we could make ANY colors we wanted.
and we did!................................

Then we picked inspirational words. Using Mrs. Corcoran's BIG SHOT - we used fabric with wonder under on the back to cut out the words. Later we'll iron these on burlap - and make a banner with the inspirational word on it. It's a sewing project! Look for them at the 2012 Fair! Other words chosen were

EXPLORE

COURAGE

LAUGH

LIVE

BELIEVE

2011-2012 Thrills and Skills Elections Complete

Congratulations to our new officers!!!!

President - Ingrid

Vice President - Shannon

Treasurer - Emma

Jr. Secretary - Maeve

Sr. Secretary - Kathleen

Best of luck as you pursue your new positions!!!

Candidates for President

Maeve: " I will listen to other people.......I will always consider what they say..... Vote for me....to make yourself heard!" Video statement at bottom!
Ingrid: "I would like to help everyone earn a place for an item at the NYState Fair.....help the members of the group be more involved with decisions about projects and outings...... and lead this group in a positive direction." Video Statement at bottom.

Candidate for Vice President

Shannon ".... (I) am a good role model for our younger members...... If you have any dreams for this club like me, I would like to hear them."

Candidates for Senior Secretary

Kathleen: " I promise to be at the Teen Ambassador's meetings... I will do my best to relay information to the Junior Secretary...I'm a genuinely nice person to everyone in Thrills & Skills... So, vote for me."

Candidates for Junior Secretary

GRACE: "....my minutes will be complete....helping us to achieve Honor Status again.....and other 4H'ers will know what T&S is doing by reading the minutes in the Clover Chronicle and perhaps getting good ideas for things to do with their 4-H Club...."

Grace's video statement is at the VERY BOTTOM. webmaster error!

MAEVE: "It takes four offices to make our 4-H club and i promise that if you vote for me then the secretary will do a full fledged job."

Candidates for Treasurer

HANNAH: Campaign statements for Hannah will be uploaded when avialable.
EMMA: " I enjoy math and this will give me the opportunity to practice my skills in a real life situation. Your money will be in good hands if you give it to me!" Video statement below NESSA: "I am good with money. I can add and subtract. I am NOT afraid of getting up in front of people" Video Statement below