We made it...

.... home from school, to gymnastics and dance lessons, despite the President O'Bama motorcade. No one knew exactly what route the motorcade was going to take, so luckily we just missed it coming home from school. The Intel plant where O'Bama spoke is right next door to Jasmine's dancing lessons, so we got there apparently right after he left. Good timing!

Here is Jasmine waiting for her lesson while playing with mazes on my Kindle.

Etiquette class:).....

Chandler Parks and Rec has a class called "Glitzy Girls" for ages 4-10 which started tonight. I actually remembered the camera, but parents were not allowed in:( They talked about posture, how to introduce yourself, then they each gave themselves a manicure. First they soaked their fingers in soapy water, then learned how to file the nail properly:)), then paint and apply appliques. Jasmine got her own little nail file.

I wonder... when they get to table manners.... how long it's going to take for the teacher to figure out that Jasmine and I sit on the living room floor almost every night to eat dinner:)))

MLK Day.....

Today, apparently the kindergarten class talked about MLK and what he stood for. Jasmine said...."For example, when a boy says 'I hate girls', MLK would go up to that boy and say 'love'!".
She cracks me up every single day:)

Fun Saturday!

Yesterday, we had a busy/fun day. Gym, Cinderella practice, then off to a birthday party at a bowling alley. Jasmine's classmate Genna has a sister whose name I just learned yesterday- Lauralin. It was Lauralin's 9th birthday, and her sister Genna was allowed to invite one person to the party. She chose Jasmine. It was fun to see the bowling escapades.

A couple of times, Jasmine held the ball over her head and threw it. Of course it landed with a very loud thud, so I am guess that is why the manager (?) came over with a "ramp" for little kids. All they had to do is put the ball on the ramp and direct it to the pins. A couple of times, when Jasmine "threw" the bowling ball, it almost didn't make it down the lane. Everyone was wondering who was going to have to walk down there and get the ball when it stopped halfway to the pins. It actually made it after what seemed like 3 minutes! Knocked over quite a few pins too! We had pizza and cupcakes, then had to go to golf lessons. She was a little better behaved a golf this week:)

I was so comatose after taking a 30 minute nap prior to the party, I completely forgot the camera:(

Jasmine's drawing....

Drawing from art class. It is me walking Jessie! You can tell because of the hair. At least I am thin in the picture:)

Good book...

I just read a really interesting book that I found out about at our "informal book club" ... which is our spinning club at the gym. It is called "The Glass Castle". I thought it was a novel until I got to the end and found out it was about the life of Jeanette Walls, a news writer/reporter for msNBC. That is one disadvantage of reading a Kindle... you can't flip around easily. There are many photos of her online.

Anyway, she was born in Phoenix... and her family was homeless her entire life in the 60's and 70's. They just lived in the desert, in cardboard boxes, old shacks...in old cars. She never knew what it was like to take a shower or bath, never had any food... had to steal food from trash cans at school, lived mostly in the city library of Phoenix and then Appalachia. Because of that, she and her siblings (except one) are all extremely successful due to their intelligence- constantly reading.... never having a TV, electricity, running water, or any holidays. She got a full scholarship to an Ivy League school and no one ever knew she had been homeless until she wrote the book. I thought it was really interesting that it was written from a child's perspective. Her mother is still a homeless person in NYC and has no desire to live in a house, have clothes, etc. We'll see what the "book club" recommends next!

First Golf lesson.....

Today was a long day,.... to the gym in the morning, Cinderella ice production practice, then to the Chandler Fire Station to adjust a car seat. Every Saturday, the fire department has a car seat clinic. Another adoptive family gave us a really nice used car seat for use up to 60 pounds. She said she paid 300.00 for it. Since you need an engineering degree to install those things, I thought I would take it to the fire department to do it for me. Well, I guess I had another thing coming to me.... Since it was "used" and apparently over 6 years old, they would not install it. I had to sign a 3 page waiver,.... I guess so that they cannot be sued. Then, they gave us a new car seat! I had forgotten that the city of Chandler has free car seats. They confiscated our old one:) Next, they give you a demonstration on how to install it..... then... I had to install it myself with them watching.... then... they had to check everything. At least I know it is installed correctly and I also have done it correctly in the past.

Next, we went to Jasmine's first golf lesson. NYS (National Youth Sports) has just about every sport lesson for age 2 up to 18 years. The instructor, Bill Neal, has been teaching golf for 52 years. He recently just returned from India where he teaches golf there... as well as other "third world" countries.

Jasmine was misbehaving, so I told her we would try it one more week. 3pm is kind of her grumpy sleepy time, but I was really annoyed with her. I thought that next time we might go with the 3-4 year olds since she was acting like a baby.

All the 5-7 yr olds lined up working on their grip.

Bill working with Jazzy's feet and hand placement.