Jaime's Christmas/Holiday Party....

Held in January because of her wedding. Making ice skate shaped cookies, then eating them. Big potluck. White Elephant Game and then watching skating videos bundled up in personalized blankets from Jaime.

Poor Frank, Jaime's cat was captured and carried around by kids.

Rosie the dog being chased.

Watching videos with Jaime (the student), Emily, Kiki, and Jasmine.

Jazzy's blanket.

Day of skating....

Imagine Tempe's first grade classes went to Disney on Ice at the US Airways Center in downtown Phoenix. It took *all* day to see a 90 minute show!! First we had to load all of the first graders and chaperones on the bus, a seemingly simple accomplishment...but not really. Each chaperone had four kids. I had the "pink group" which included Jazzy and three of her friends:) Then, luckily we were dropped off at the front door since usually you have to park far away and walk. Tickets, long line, purses and bags searched, find our seats... and just in time for the show to start. They had three story performances- Princess and the Frog, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. Minnie, Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy were go-betweens. The skaters were much more talented than I expected. Then, off to Kiwanis park for lunch. It was the coldest day since 1986, plus it was windy!! 52 degrees for the high, and it is supposed to only be 48 tomorrow- a record cold day in Phoenix. Some stupid parents didn't send their kids with a coat... to a ice rink!! on a cold day!!. Luckily, the school has extra coats. Then, we stopped at Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. Next off to skating lessons at our own rink. Fun long day. Waiting for the show to start.

Princess and the Frog:

This is not really a great photo, but the skating horse was amazing!!

Lunch at freezing and windy Kiwanis park. Next to Jazzy is Linda, a talkative and cute little girl also from Vietnam.

Popcorn and a movie..

Whew, this is alot of work. At least they are watching "Clifford the Big Red Dog" right now- and eating popcorn.

Jazzy sleepover...

Today we had a long day. Just last night at skating, we found out that there will be a huge exhibition in April called "Skating thru the Decades". Oh.. and by the way, practice is every Saturday morning from 9-12 AM starting tomorrow morning!! And.. oh yes... if you want to participate, that's another $400.00 plus costumes. That place has got to be the most poorly managed business I have ever experienced. We only go there because Jasmine likes skating so much! So, every Saturday morning is shot until April.... which it was anyway, but even more so now!! Then... off to the zoo for Critter Keeper, and of course I forgot the camera. It doesn't matter since parents cannot participate anyway. They spent the afternoon with the zoo keepers for the "show animals".. the parrots, and a "Awesome possum"??? Got home and Hope Gonzalez is here for a sleepover:) The first thing they wanted to do was change into their PJ's even though it was only 4:30:), then make cupcakes, of course. We made the cupcakes with Jazzy's new cupcake maker then decorated them. They are really dry and don't taste too good.. not worth the calories:)) They had fun anyway. Now they are "cooking" something.. God only knows what. Jasmine is very bossy. Hope has to be the "assistant" in the kitchen:)) Making cupcakes.

Then decorating them...

Yummy... (not really)!!

The ipad always seems to be the main attraction, so it is shelved for now. The living room had a tornado go thru it!!

Jaime's wedding....

Just pretending we were there in Ambergris Caye, Belize..... Going to another big Jaime holiday party next week!! Here are some photos I stole from her Facebook page:)

Happy New Year 2013!

Had to (or decided to) work all day yesterday when people were available, so today Jazzy and I went to downtown Phoenix to the Arizona Puppet Theater. No pictures allowed there:(. We had never been there before but had heard alot about it. The puppets are all hand made, and the puppeteers are professional actors/actresses. First they talked briefly about the history of Cinderella- a 1000 year old story, then presented the show. The stepsisters names were Sulphur and Carbonite:))

Across the street is a brand new Japanese garden, built in 2011...right in the middle of downtown Phoenix! Japanese Friendship Garden. Jasmine said "I don't even feel like I am in Arizona"!!. Very pretty...except that much of the garden plants/boulders and labor was donated by Home Depot, so there were little Home Depot flags everywhere. There were different sections in the garden representing the mountainous, forest and woodlands of Japan. Kasuga Lantern originating from the Kasuga Shrine in Nara, Japan's ninth century capital. Jazzy making a heart:) Not a good photo in the shade.

Shachi - a mythical fish with the face of a tiger. These are placed on the roofs of important buildings to protect against fire.

Feeding the Koi and ducks.

The garden was co-designed by the sister cities of Himeji, Japan and Phoenix, Az. Next we went to a little cafe in a historical building built in 1920. It was originally someone's house, as are many of the buildings in the artsy/theatrical part of downtown Phoenix. The homes there are really beautiful, all built in the 1920's and 1930's. If you want a 800 square foot house for a cool 900,000.000, that would be the place to go. Lots of other places to go around that area... theaters, art museums, historical preserved homes that are decked out for Christmas. Maybe we'll go again some time!

Noon Year's Eve....

We spent today at the zoo, Noon Year's Eve, with Jenny, Abby and Gadiel. First we went to a really fun magic show.

Next off to the snow!! It was snow trucked in from somewhere else and dumped by several big dump trucks all over the zoo, but we'll take what we can get. Then a guy came by from Channel 12 and interviewed Abby! It was on TV tonight, but we missed it:(

Next off to the Ice Slide.. which no longer has ice on it, but is still fun, then the Merry Go Round!

Ready, set....

Go....

Learning about coat patterns.

Dancin' to the music:)

Camel Rides!

Red Robin for lunch, where we exchanged gifts..

The Tindall's recently returned from a trip to Paris and London. They got Jazzy a chef's hat with the Eiffel Tower on it:)), plus cupcake supplies, a rolling pin, crafty jewelry kit, organic soaps and lotions, and a Lololoopsy Sewing Game that looks really fun. They got me a Pandora bracelet! and some organic soaps and lotions! Really fun day.... the only exceptions being that our poor little doggie has had extreme back pain for 48 hours. She could not lay down and just stood up or paced for 2 days:(( I tried every possible treatment, including heavy duty narcotics with not much response. Prior to us leaving today, I just gave her heavy sedation, and am hoping for the best. She still is not moving much:( Then, when we were at the zoo, Jenny found out that Mark's brother just died in a house fire that occurred two days ago, so they have to leave right away to go to Indiana for the funeral. Other than those two items, it was a long fun day!