Sunday, February 19, 2012

Year of the Dragon Tet Party....






Tonight was a Tet party at the O'Neil's house in central Phoenix. On a side note, their little house built in the early 50's was amazing. The husband is a contractor. They bought the house 6 years ago and totally remodeled it... new stucco, concrete floors, really nice kitchen, all kinds of stuff outside for the kids to play on/in. It has an Asian look with the frosted sliding glass doors, and they even have chickens outside!- all right next to the airport! They have adopted three boys and one girl from Vietnam and have a little newborn foster baby girl. Plus, they homeschool!

Anyway, we had Pho of course... Jazzy's favorite, pot luck everything, and a huge Dragon cake covered with yellow chocolate balls...

Making a dragon craft.
Eating Pho.
Playing in the playhouse.
Jazzy says "No way am I going under that dragon mask".
Dragon dance.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Gadiels 5th Birthday Party.....






Theme of Transformers. Lots of pizza, cake, and bouncing in the bouncy houses at "Bounce U" in Gilbert. Jazzy got Gadiel a "Bumble Bee" Transformer, which looks like it takes and engineering degree to "transform"! We had lots of fun, and Jasmine was exhausted. Good thing we get to sleep in a little tomorrow.

Getting ready to go to the party.
With all the kids.
Gadiel opening Jazzy's present.
Mark and Jenny.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Tuna jerky! ??

Because my life is so incredibly boring most of the time, I decided to take some online and in-person classes and become a certified F.E.M.A person for my "neighborhood. Apparently, you get called to go clean up chemical spills, help people in emergencies if you get there before anyone else, stuff like that. I just started it a couple of months ago and will finish in April some time. Reason for bringing it up--- They have a list of "food recommendations" to have in the case of "emergency" one of which is all kinds of meat jerky. Just the thought of it disgusts me,... SO gross, dehydrated flesh. I was at Whole Foods Market this morning picking up some quick groceries, when I noticed some "all natural chemical-free tuna jerky". It was *very* expensive.... tiny little package for $8.00. Japanese, wild caught tuna. I thought... ok, it's supposedly chemical free, so we will give it a try.

When I got home, I opened up the smelly package and took a little bite. I had some involuntary gagging as I was trying to swallow. I thought of giving it to the dog, who was stalking me from the moment I brought the package home, but decided to see if Jasmine might like it. The little monkey loves it. She loves all kinds of seafood anyway, but she literally wanted to eat the entire package... which I would not let her do because I thought she might get.. uh... constipated:)... since it is so dry. She said "I feel like a dog. This is SO good, kind of like my little doggie treat". Yuk, so I think I am going to maybe try some turkey jerky or something not quite so smelly. You can purchase it online fairly cheaply, but it is the chemicalized processed junk. The non- chemical kind is really cost prohibitive. So, new discoveries about Jazzy every day:)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Jazzy art....



A snowflake falling in California!? I asked her why California, and she said "because it is cold there". Well, maybe compared to Arizona.....I just think she liked/remembered when we went to our favorite beach.."Newport Beach" close to the dentist.

Today is Arizona's 100th statehood birthday. On the radio they said.... Arizona is called "The Valentine State"... and Jazzy said.. "No, it's called the State of Love":))) Actually, I always thought it was called "The Grand Canyon State"......

More Valentine's Candy!!



Miss Wachtel made a box for each student, and they all filled each other's boxes with cards and candy.

Jazzy making her Wuggle Pet.

Then..poor Jazzy had an appointment to get her teeth cleaned right after school on Valentine's Day!! :) I didn't bring the camera because we had been to the dentist so many times.... but her classmate Rebekah was there at the same time. They were in the same exam room and got to help the doctor with each others exam and cleaning. It was so cute!

Happy Valentine's Day!





Opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa after getting out of the shower last night!

Valentine presents from Mommy this morning....

Sunday, February 12, 2012

nice Sunday.....





This morning we got up really early...5 AM...which is kind of early for us.... especially on a Sunday. Got ready and drove down to the Arizona State Fairgrounds where they have the VNSA (Volunteer Non-Profit Service Association) Book Fair. The building is bigger than a football field and is filled with all kinds of used books, which are cheap to begin with, but on Sunday...the last day, they are half priced. We got around 50 books for 25.00. They give all the proceeds (usually around 1 Million dollars) to various charities. About 100,000 people or more go every year, and this is the 56th Annual sale.

Then we drove a short way to downtown Phoenix, where I was thinking there wouldn't be many people being that it was a Sunday morning. Wrong. Every restaurant was packed with a waiting line. We ended up eating a nice brunch at Sweet Tomatoes and didn't have to wait too long.

Jazzy at the book fair.
All the books we bought.
Jasmine riding her bike. She puts the back tire in a little dip at the end of our driveway and pretends she is in a "spinning" class.