Christmas in August.....

Today we went to our old neighbors house.... Grandma and Grandpa Blakeman.... for an August birthday party. Jade (8/3/07), Jazzy (8/10/06), and Justin's (8/27/08) birthdays are all in August. Grandpa set up a miniature bouncy house in the living room, which kept everyone excited for about an hour. Then, it was total mayhem... kind of like Christmas day, with wrapping paper and presents everywhere. We had Princess cupcakes (Justin didn't really know the difference) and ice cream. Denice, Dorene, Aaron, Heath, Wendy, Jerry, Damion, Grandma, Grandma, Justin, Jade, Jasmine and Judy were all there!






Jazzy was a little overwhelmed by everything. The picture tells it all.
Justin, Jade, Jasmine and Damion on the couch.
Bouncy House

Build a Bear with Abigail, Gadiel, and Jazzy......

This morning we met Gadiel.... Jasmine's good friend, his sister Abigail, and his mother Jenny at the Chandler Fashion Mall. Apparently, one of Gadiel's favorite things to do is go to the mall and eat Cinnabon's!:) So, that is what we did. Gadiel gave Jazzy some Hello Kitty pens/pencils and other toys. Jenny then took us to Build a Bear.... which Jazzy loved. She picked out a pink bear, we stuffed her, then dressed her with Hello Kitty underpants, purse, dress and headband:) Good thing we got there when we did because there was a *long* line of kids waiting in line and only two people working in the store. The place was a madhouse. The entire mall was a madhouse for that matter..... probably because it is so hot out. We ate lunch at Panda Express.

We then went to our Storybook Kitchen class where the letter today was "J" for Jicima. We made fruit salad with jicima, as well as English Cole Slaw. Jenny wanted us to go to the zoo!!! which I just could not imagine at 114 degrees outside. We were so exhausted that we just collapsed when we got home.


Gadiel, Jazzy, and Abby
Stuffing the bear
Giving the bear named "Teddy" a bath
Chopping pineapples
Squeezing lemon into the fruit salad

Two big events today......

Adventure Camp continues.... Earlier this week, we started Adventure Camp.. which is a one month "camp" on Monday and Wednesday mornings where the kids do alot of art and science projects. There are little stations set up all over the room with magnets, plants, etc. On Monday, they planted beans... which are already starting to sprout, and today they made collages and kaleidescopes.... among other things.

Later in the day, we went to "meet the teacher day" at pre-school. We had a little party for Jasmine.... hence the purple crown that she got to decorate with Jewels.. as well as even more cupcakes and sugar today. Jazzy will officially start pre-school with Mrs. Slama as the teacher... on September 1st after her other summer classes are over. Since it was Jasmine's official day to bring a snack, she also got to be the first one to do "show and tell". She chose the "jewelry set" sent by Grandma and Grandpa to share with the other kids. The kids also painted their bags which will serve as "backpacks".

Listening to a story with Adam
Cupcakes with her classmates
Collage made by Jasmine

Jasmine's 4th birthday....

Can't believe Jazzy is 4 years old already. The teacher for the ABC class didn't believe it either! She asked me when I came to pick Jazzy up if she was really 4:) because she is so small for her age. She also says that Jasmine never stops talking the entire time during the 2 hour class. I could have told her that before we even started!!

So, we started off the day by opening some of the many presents sent by Grandma and Grandpa- sticker book, crayons and Hello Kitty notepad, and Hello Kitty bingo game. Then we had to go to the grocery store to pick up the multicolored cupcakes with little heart rings on them for Jazzy's ABC123 class. They had a party for Jazzy... but parents are not allowed to attend. All I know is that there was a huge mess with cupcake crumbs everywhere in the room when I went to pick Jazzy up:)) Ha... that's what they get for not letting us in.

Later in the afternoon, we went to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant - Pho Van- for a late lunch/early dinner before tap/ballet lessons. Jazzy had her usual bowl of Pho... which she really loves. Then off to dancing lessons with little Dora bracelets filled with lip gloss for the girls in the class. We came home and opened more presents. Jazzy really loves the remote controlled bee and the Sid the Science Kid microphone so that she can perform her songs :)

opening presents
waiting for ABC123 class with her store bought cupcakes... since Mommy is not talented enough to make any
dance class thru a window
.

Phoenix Mercury Game

Today we went to the Phoenix Mercury game against Indiana Fever at US Airways Center- home of the Phoenix Suns. Phoenix Mercury are WNBA champions. AzFAP (Arizona Foster and Adoptive Parents), who are masters at getting things for free, somehow got 300 tickets for members of the group. At halftime, they had a ceremony for some of the foster parents. There was a cute little boy sitting next to Jazzy. At halftime, he got all excited because his foster parents were getting an award. Apparently the entire row... except us... were his brothers and sisters:)

Before the game started, the kids were allowed to play at the Gorilla Greenhouse play area on the 4th floor of the US Airways Center. Apparently, it is not usually open. Why they have the play area and never open it? Jazzy enjoyed playing little miniature basketball there with all the other kids. Many other games too. There were Suns Gorillas everywhere- which Jazzy was very afraid of at first.

For lunch we had popcorn! and a yukky looking hot dog! I smuggled two bottled waters, gummy bears and crackers and didn't even get caught! They look in your purse, but they don't move anything around..... so, I didn't have to pay 4.00 for a dinky water.

Jasmine was very funny. She yelled "Defense" "Defense" "Defense" when everyone else was yelling.... plus she clapped and cheered when everyone else did.... and she had no idea what she was clapping for. I don't know if we won or lost because we left at the end of the 3rd quarter when we were tied. Jazzy was getting very restless and grumpy.

Annoyingly enough, there are no restaurants or places to go in downtown Phoenix right around the arena. Very strange. So, we went to a brand new pizza place right next to our house. We had alot of fun.... and I was really expecting not to enjoy it!

Pre-game basketball
Eating the yukky hot dog
At the pizza place

ABC/123 Class and Storybook Kitchen

Jazzy joined a ABC/123 class for the month of August. They use various tools for learning the ABCs and counting, but since parents are not allowed in... I am not sure exactly what they do.

Today we went to our first cooking class with Storybook Kitchen. It was cute to see all the kids sitting at the table chopping vegetables with the little butter knives. The letter of the day was "I" , so they made iceberg lettuce wedges (whoo hoo!) with a homemade dressing. Each child got to measure out some mayonnaise, sour cream, various spices, and ingredients in the dressing. Then they each got to press the food processor button according to how old they were. The Italian parsley (another "I") was chopped into some melted butter for the garlic bread. Then they got to eat it. We were all supposed to take at least one bite, which I reluctantly did. I know they all washed their hands before class.... but I just couldn't make myself eat my portion. I left the camera in the trunk of the car and just didn't want to walk out into the 112 degree (or probably hotter) parking lot to get it... so no pictures until next week.


The picture is Jasmine at ABC/123 Class.

Last Day

All the kids went to the park for the morning with their counselors. Then we had the closing ceremony. Jazzy and I went out to lunch at a Mexican Cantina and searched for places to stay next year. Strangely enough, the KOA campground cabins look pretty good...fairly close to the Conference and about the same price as the tiny (I am told) Holiday Inn rooms. Good thing they didn't have much planned outside because it has been pouring down sheets of rain all day.

This morning we had breakfast with Mary Tran, as well as her husband and her son Richie. She grew up in Saigon, went to a French school and became a classical pianist. Her family was fairly wealthy... I am guessing, but had to get out of Saigon when the Communists invaded. She came over on a boat in 1975 and has lived in Denver ever since. She is now an interpreter and financial planner. She met her husband Hieu Vo after moving to Denver. He was a pilot for the American army in the Vietnam War. Such an extremely friendly family who took a liking to Jazzy.

Mary Tran and Richie
Jazzy's first ride on a big school bus