Sunday, November 3, 2013

Exhausting weekend...

for me, anyway. Jasmine doesn't seem to be all that tired. Skate all Saturday morning, then go to theater class to practice "Woodstock", then to Girl Scout Campfire. Get home really late, then go to Zoo Class and one hour of swimming today! In between, do major homework packet, research the Revolutionary War from the British point of view (you've got to be kidding me!) practice piano, take care of guinea pigs and dog, clean leaves out of back yard (which will have to happen several times over then next couple of months), probably other stuff I cannot even think of since I am so tired.. oh yes, have a couple of clients on Saturday, too. So,- Girl Scout Campfire was really fun. About 200 Girl Scouts and Brownies were there. Each person had to bring a stocking- either homemade or not. Ours was definitely not homemade. Apparently, Girl Scouts all over the country are doing this. Then, Wells Fargo, American Express and Hallmark are stuffing the stockings and distributing them to Alzheimer's nursing home patients. Jasmine mentioned that she wanted to take one to her grandfather's grave:(, which is really nice of her. We will do that in spirit only. So, for several hours, we sang songs, did skits, had smores.. all that stuff you do around a bonfire. Some homeless people joined in, too! The bonfire was held at Desert Breeze Park in Chandler which is a huge city park. The bonfire area is surrounded by trees, so it is kind of like you are camping. However, lots of cars went by on the busy street to remind us we are "city Girl Scouts". The Girl Scout head leader (don't know her name) apparently works in management at Hallmark. She brought a bunch of things for a raffle. Jazzy WON!! Her number was the first one called:) She won a little cat diary. Then.... 3 number later, MY number was called. I received a coffee cup that said "Girlfriends" on it:)) That was kind of funny since there were about 20 raffle prizes..10 adult and 10 for kids, and as I mentioned, about 200 people there. Then, another little girl in our Troop 846 won a little pencil holder:) It was a fun weekend, and now we're getting ready to go back to school tomorrow morning! In front of a few of the stockings that were donated- making a silly face. This must be "goofy face weekend" since in about every photo, there seemed to be a goofy face! Emily Trammel and Jasmine. I could not get Emily to smile at all! Emily's mom, Jaime, is the Troop Leader. Hard to believe that she and Jazzy are the same age and are both in the same 2nd grade class:) From now on, I am not going to attempt to use my cell phone as a camera for night photos:( Here they are singing from their song books. At the zoo today for "Endangered Species" class. I couldn't get a straight answer on what they did or what they saw. Another goofy toothless face! Just got home from swimming. Showing off the cat diary she won:)

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Trick or Treating....

Tonight we invited ourselves over to Katie's house for trick or treating:)) The city of Tempe decided to work on the streets in our neighborhood over the next few days, and there are barricades everywhere. No one ever trick or treats or even turns their lights on in our neighborhood anyway. So, after dance class we went over to Katie's neighborhood. Everyone knows everyone there! Every single driveway had a party going on- food, drink, candy, music. Jacky, Katie's mom, said it is like that on every single holiday for the 10 years they have lived there. Jasmine has a very large bag of candy completely full- the size of a pillow case- the one that Grandma and Grandpa gave her. We walked around trick or treating for an hour or so, then Jim (Katie's dad) took Jasmine, Katie and another little girl Natalia to another street party a few streets over. Jacky and I went to another neighbors party. Just getting home very late. Jazzy hasn't even been home since 7 AM,- school all day, cooking class, dance class, then trick or treating! Jim (Katie's dad), Natalia, Katie and Jasmine.

Happy Halloween!

Today, everyone is supposed to dress up as their "favorite" book character- because I guess Halloween could offend someone. Whatever:( So, the only "book character" costume we have is the western costume which it seems that Jazzy wears for just about every occasion. A month or so ago, Rebecca Janni- the author of "Every Cowgirl Needs A Horse" and "Every Cowgirl Goes to School"- came to Jasmine's school and gave a talk about what it's like to be an author:) at the school assembly. She signed books for the kids, so we just went with that book as our "favorite book dress up" option. In the front yard by the same tree - as always! Jasmine with Miss Ferdowsian who is Harry Potter.

Second grade photo and Class photo....

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Busy Weekend....

Our weekends are sometimes busier than our weekdays! Friday night skating and Halloween party, Saturday morning skating, Saturday afternoon Theater Class, Saturday night lots of homework, Sunday "Lunch with the Keeper" Zoo Class and then swimming! Yesterday, Jazzy tried out for the part of "Sally", Charlie Brown's little sister for their Charlie Brown Thanksgiving play. She got the part of Woodstock...who has much more speaking and singing to do than Sally:) Today we had lunch with the Reptile Keeper. She (Ms. Kelly) showed us different types of snakes, how they catch the snakes to administer medication, then we went over to the Galapagos tortoise area to feed them. We had a lot of fun. Jazzy had on her orange Halloween shirt and the tortoises like bright colors, so they followed her around:) Halloween party at Gold Medal Gymnastics. Ralph the big guy who is not allowed around small children because he runs them down if they have on bright colors:)))