Last hip hop class for awhile....

warming up

dancing

Jasmine's hip hop/jazz teacher, Alex Martinez- a teacher at the Skyline Academy for the Arts in Chandler, AZ.

Desert Botanical Garden Monarch Day

Today in DBG Seedlings class, we studied butterflies. We measured butterfly wingspans, looked at butterflies with the magnifying glass, went into the Monarch Exhibit and let the Monarchs land on us, made a butterfly craft, and we even did a butterfly dance and song. Even the snack was shaped like a butterfly. We looked at Desert Milkweed plants that the Monarch caterpillar eats and read a book about Monarchs and Milkweeds. Next week, we study the Cottonwood tree.

watering plants in the garden
sorting cards for "B" words
Adam from Dayspring PreSchool is also in our Seedlings class.

Ballet Recital

Tonight was the Ballet/Tap performance for the Tempe Parks and Recreation ballet class. Afterwards, we had a cupcake party... oh boy, more sugar!:)

Jasmine and her teacher Ms. Jana
Line up after the show
Party afterwards

Arizona Foster/Adoptive Families Campout

Every year, AzFAP has a "campout" at Camp Friendly Pines in Prescott for adoptive/foster families and any friends that want to come along. This year, the theme was "The Jungle". We had the car/tires checked out, bought our snacks at Trader Joe's, packed all our "gear", and left on Friday after school. We were really supposed to be there around 2PM, but I didn't want Jazzy to miss her school Halloween party. Prescott is about 150 miles north of Phoenix, so when we got there, it was dark. Not a light to be seen. Luckily, they assigned us to the same cabin as last year, so I had a slight inkling where it was.

All weekend, we made lots of jungle crafts, ate lots of kind of junky food... pancakes, syrup, sausage, hamburgers, french toast,.... sort of "camping" food... as well as lots of Halloween candy. We played all kinds of games with the other kids and slept pretty soundly in our little cabin. It was definitely colder this year and windy, so it was in the 50's during the day. We met a few new people and lots of old friends from last year who had added even more on to their family.


Eating
Miss Einstein in the morning before combing her hair
crafts made by Jasmine
Eating again

Halloween Party/Parade at Dayspring....

On Friday, Jasmine's class had a Halloween party and parade. We almost missed it because of our campout, but we decided to attend anyway. Jazzy is a ladybug..... same as last year. I figured that since it still fits,... might as well wear it. The only problem was it was 92 degrees, and that costume is thick and furry! Too much candy already to start off the weekend.

Jasmine's class in their costumes
Pounding pegs into a pumpkin?!

Desert Botanical Garden Seedlings....

About 1 1/2 years ago, we applied for the Desert Botanical Garden Seedlings program. It is such a popular program, that there is a long waiting list. They finally called us, and we signed up for November -April. Today was the first day of the fall program, and the topic was "seeds". We weighed seeds, looked at seeds under a magnifying glass, went on a hike in the garden and looked at seeds, planted chives in the garden, practiced watering them, and pretended we were a seedling while we sang a song:) We made bracelets made of seeds and colored sticky tape. We even had a snack and located the seeds in the shishkabob made of strawberries, cucumbers, snap peas, tomatoes, and popcorn. Also, we were surprised to see Adam Elliot and his mom Christine. Adam is a classmate of Jasmine's at Dayspring Preschool. We also saw Brandon who was in our Soccer Camp last spring. Next week, we study butterflies, so I bet we get to see the Monarch Exhibit!

looking at a seed pod with a magnifying glass
Jasmine showing her bracelet made of seeds, pink tape, and plastic wrap
Watering the plants in the garden
Comparing the weight of a pine cone and a seed pod

Pumpkin patch.....

Today we had planned to go to the zoo for their Pumpkin Party.... but it was so crowded that we couldn't even get in. Instead we met Jenny, Gadiel and Abby at their favorite Japanese restaurant, HabaracHi (or something like that?) Jasmine was a little scared when the chef prepared the food right at the table and the flames were going up to the ceiling..... Then we went to a "pumpkin patch" and Jenny bought us a little pumpkin. Cheapskates that we are, we already bought a much larger medium sized pumpkin at the Dollar Store... yes, for only $1.00. The same sized pumpkins at the pumpkin patch were $12.00, so I was feeling pretty proud of myself:)


Jazzy and Gadiel at the Japanese restaurant
Jazzy and Gadiel at the Pumpkin Patch