February is Cake Month

February is the month I like to call Cake Month. All the months in the year have their very own titles ‘national month of…’ or a ‘the month of…’ and sometimes there are several of these titles for each month. There are some 'national month of..' that are more known than others, but each month has at least one. Now by calling it Cake Month you might imagine the month being about celebrating the many YUMMY different kinds of cake, but... not quite. Let me better explain the reason why I call it that.

First I have to tell you a little bit about me and my family. I am the fifth child in my family, out of seven. I have three brothers and three sisters. Two of my brothers are younger than I am, and then the rest of my siblings are older. Out of the seven children three of us have our birthdays in February; my oldest sister Christine, third oldest sister Kim, and me. Our birthday’s fall into each week of February, not counting that last half of the month. The first week is mine, the second is Christine’s and then the third is Kim’s. With celebrating birthday's usually a traditional way to celebrate such a great day is to blow out candles lit on top of a birthday cake and then enjoy the cake afterwards. My family does that, but we don't have just one, but two cakes. One cake is homemade and the birthday girl/boy gets to choose what flavor they want it to be. My siblings and I are fans of the simple ones, like Vanilla and Chocolate. I love Vanilla cake more than I do Chocolate, but Marble cake is delicious way to mix together a little bit of chocolate with vanilla to make a great combination of both cakes.

The second cake is not homemade, at least not by us. This cake we buy and bring home to enjoy. A family tradition of ours is to get a Carvel ice cream cake for every birthday. So with these birthdays right after another we get to enjoy yummy Ice cream cake three times in February. All of my family members have a favorite part of the ice cream cake. The kind of ice cream cake we generally get is where the chocolate ice cream is the bottom layer of the cake, a cookie crumble is the middle separating the two ice cream flavors, which brings us to the top ice cream layer; vanilla ice cream. Covering those layers is white icing, then a gel icing is on top with different colored balloons and a 'Happy Birthday!' written out, last there is blue icing with sprinkles surrounding the edges of the cake. Most of my siblings love the blue icing that goes on the edges, but my favorite part of the cake is the cookie in the middle! I love the entire cake, but the cookie is the 'icing on the cake' for me.

Now that you know why I call it Cake Month, think about some of your traditions for birthdays, they probably vary from my family's. No matter how different they may be, they will still be similar by making a birthday wish and then blowing out the candles and lastly, eating your birthday cake. Those of you that will also be celebrating a birthday in February, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I hope you have a great day! Everyone who have already had or are having one later in the year, I wish you the same!

Yours truly,

Danielle Knapp

State Council Reporter

Learning is fun??

Well..Hello Again! I hope that everyone is doing fabulous and enjoyed their January! I know, I've had a crazy and exciting month but enjoyed every second of it!

This past month, I participated in my county's annual officer training day. Every year I have gone as an officer of my 4-H club to listen to the presenters and to absorb as much information as I could. But this year, something different happened. Instead of listening to the presenters, I became one of them. My county's educator asked myself and my fellow council members to help teach the group of officers from my county the officer positions and responsibilities, the Leadership Ladder, and talk about state 4-H events. Unfortunately, only one other council member was able to attend with me but thankfully our adviser was able to come also!

The day finally came and I was definitely a nervous wreck! I keep telling myself that I shouldn't be nervous and that it isn't that hard because I've done it a million times, but for some reason I still can't control my nervous! Even though I was presenting to a group members that I knew. I mean they are from MY county. I guess I should take into consideration that it was my first time ever teaching a workshop. I would say it started a little rocky in the beginning but after a couple slides **meaning like 10 or 20** we finally got the hang of it! And my nervous even died down a little. Halfway through the workshop, we played the Oreo game, where you put an Oreo on your forehead and by using only your facial muscles, get it in your mouth. Everyone loved that game! We then, showed the group of officers a video from National Conference, talked about statewide opportunities, and finished with a couple of team-building activities. All in all, everything ended up going great and I even heard from the some members of the group that we had the best workshop! Not only because they got cookies, but because they did learn a lot more about officer duties and opportunities that 4-H offers, that they didn't know before.

This experience taught me a lot. One being, you have to have confidence when speaking or else it may sound like your not sure about what your talking about. It won't be believable. No one wants to listen to someone that isn't sure of themselves. Another lesson, control the room! Do so by speaking loudly, clearly, and confidently. Oh, and don't look at the slides..

Truly,
Liz McAndrew
State 4-H Council Vice President of Operations and Events

Farm Show Excitement

I haven’t been to Farm Show since I was around 10 years old.
So thanks to 4-H State Council I was able to go and see it. I went down
Thursday and stayed until after Opening Ceremonies on Saturday. On Friday the
council team worked on setting up the 4-H booth and got some more training in.
Personally, the team building workshop was great. Everyone on council got to
work on solving a maze, doing a memory game, and fitting through a worm hole! Throughout
the various activities we all learned to work as a team. We also became closer
and more comfortable around each other. In the maze game we had to work
together to remember what order the squares went and had to help each other figure
out what the next square was. Then in the memory game we had to find different
pairs of team traits, such as; honesty, communication, and dedication. After we
found the 22 pairs we had to pick out 5 traits we thought were the most
important. Luckily it was pretty easy to find 5 that we all agreed on. Then my
favorite exercise was the worm hole! We had some string that made a small
circle. Our objective was to get everyone through the hole without touching the
sides and everyone had to go through the circle a different way. We came up
with a couple of interesting ways. Everyone had fun while we completed this
exercise.
Then Saturday the council team and I headed over to the Farm
Show complex to get ready to for Opening Ceremonies. This year 4-H was asked to
help emcee the event with FFA! This was quite an honor for 4-H state council
because we have never been asked to emcee at Farm Show before. So I got to
announce the ceremonies along with FFA’s state president.
After Saturday I went home to get ready for a week full of
beef brisket sandwich selling. I volunteered in the 4-H food booth for a couple
hours every day. Except for Monday, when I worked in the other 4-H stand. In
the other stand I taught kids about friction as they did an activity that was
set up by a robotics club in 4-H. Overall it was a great and successful week!
Thursday was even declared as 4-H Day!
I had a lot of fun working in the booths and doing other
things to help out at Farm Show. There was so much to see and I recommend that everyone
goes next year! I did so much that I didn’t even talk about yet. I could
probably right a whole essay on my week at Farm Show. So, I just highlighted a
couple of my favorite parts.

Hope everyone is staying safe,
Sarah Bassett, President

Happy New Year!!

Hello again everyone! Hope that all of your holidays were just as fun and exciting as mine were. The month started out as just another month, went to school, and all the other stuff. But as the month went one things got busier and busier. I got the chance to do many community service activites, as well as become recertified as a soccer referee. There were also more matches and tournaments to go to, shopping to do, and all my homework, but it got done. On Christmas Eve my family went to the family "party" that we go to every year, and the coolest thing happened, my uncle, who owns a dairy farm, offered me a job. Of course I accepted his offer because I have always wanted to work there. Christmas day some family came over and we had dinner and spent the day together. The day after we went to my Grandma's for dinner.
Well beings that January has begun Farm show is coming even faster and with that I have had to spend more time with my lambs, goats, and pigs. I am so excited to get to show them because thats my thing, showing. I always get so excitd for any show. And after I come home from farm show i should have my first 2 litters of baby piglets this year!!!!
Welp Happy New Year, hope everyone has a good one.
Bridget

Favorite Parts of December

December is one of my favorite months. Not only because of all the Christmas spirit, but because of how everyone cares for one another. There are so many charity cases at their peak due to the holiday season. There are many soup kitchens where one can volunteer and help those less fortunate. Also there are many charities like The Christmas Tree where one can donate clothes, food, and toys for presents for families in tough situations. With the holidays approaching everyone feels more inclined to donate to others. I think it is great how everyone helps out. However, I wish that people would help more then just the holidays. Another great thing about December is the breaks that we get. It allows for more family time. I see more family in the month of December then any other month.
This year there was one more thing that added to the excitement of December. I knew that shortly after December was over that the council was heading off to the Farm Show. I spent a bit of the month preparing for Farm Show and State Leadership Conference. There has been quite a bit of scripts to read, schedules to figure out, and numerous other things. However, even with all the work, I am still excited for the next couple of weeks to come.
Hope everyone stays safe until next time,
Sarah Bassett. President.

Where is all the snow?!

Hey everyone! December didn't give us much snow so hopefully January will! I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Christmas and New Year. Although it wasn't the white Christmas that everyone hopes for, it was still a great time to be able to be with family. It was great to go see my Grandma, cousins, aunts, and uncles and it was also great to be able to Skype my sister while we all opened presents. One of the best presents that I received, was a kitten that my dad got me because I had been wanting her ever since she was born and of course when i opened the bag she was in, I cried my eyes out because I was so happy! But by far the best present was being there as a family on Christmas.

Earlier in the month, I started my new job at a pet store! I never knew how much work went into taking care of all the animals and keeping the store looking spotless. It has definitely been one of the best jobs I have ever worked at because hopefully someday, I will become a Vet!

Another great experience was when my mom and I took over the donations that my local 4-H club had collected for Centre Wildlife Care near State College. It was incredible to see some of the animals that they had and all the work they put into helping them recover so that someday they can be released back into the wild.

As for January and the many months of 2012 to come, the State Council has many exciting events to come! Farm Show is quickly approaching and we can't wait to be there. Also this month is the State Leadership Conference! It is going to so much fun this year and will definitely be one to remember!

Have a Happy New Year!!

Truly,
Liz McAndrew
State 4-H Council Vice President of Operations and Events