Workin' at Grandpa and Grandma's house

 Mowing the grass

 sweeping the floor (in Grandma's gardening shoes)

opps

Pretend City

 On February 9, Hannah and Xavier met Andrew and I at Pretend City.  We decided to purchase a year membership so that we could enjoy it over and over again.  A daily ticket is $12.50 per person, so as long as we go 6 time the yearly membership pays for itself.  The other huge benefit is that you can go in an hour before the general population.  In the photo above, you can see that Andrew LOVES the place and took off without much worry.

 There is a special member story and craft time that Andrew was so into!  We read Curious George and made our own smily face with hair and bubble eyes.

 As always, Andrew loved the theatre.

 We saved the best for last with the marina--the boys got themselves completely soaked (like expected).

January Disappearance

January Disappearance=Midwinter Prep, Pep Rally and Dance

 Dave did a few projects at home (balloon stands, lollipop walk-way, lollipop stands, foam cutting) and Andrew helped.  Andrew loved all the extra time spent outside while daddy worked.

 My Freshman had the Lord Licorice section of the gym and started working early (November) and then continued every Tuesday until they finished (way early too).  I had a few seniors in my group and enjoyed watching/helping the seniors mentor the freshman; there were a few moments of total nerdy teacher joy involved.

dance centerpieces in the process

 I also had a ten other committees of 3-4 kids that were responsible for other little projects for the pep rally and dance.  Although they should have started early, most of the groups didn't start working until Finals week (Jan. 15-18).  I supervised/encouraged/taught the groups after finals from 1-5ish each day.  Although it was a lot of "my" time, it was great to watch the kids rise to the level of my expectations, help each other, show great talent, and most importantly, show a huge desire to be involved.

lollipop walkway

 Dave and Andrew stopped by to help finish some of the construction jobs.

the front stage (minus the red carpet)

 Pep rally set up was January 31st from 4-9 pm.  Putting all the pieces together is always time consuming, but awe-inspiring.  Not only was the gym decorated well, but the kids were proud of their work. 

 The freshman section

 Friday (Feb. 1) was the pep rally and all went well.  Friday afternoon, we moved all the pep rally decor that we were using for the dance to the venue, I packed a very last minute items and tried to sleep.  At this point I was also REALLY, REALLY sick (and trying to ignore it).

 Saturday morning (Feb. 2) my dance committee met up at the Vecino building to decorate for the semi-formal dance that night.  We sent the girls home at 11 am and the rock-star advisers finished decorating.  My mom came to help and make the candy bar look fantastic!

 Cassie, my partner in crime, was an amazing helpmate for the day!

My fellow ASB Advisers

Back Row: Cassie, Lisa, Louie, John, Melinda, Theresa

Front Row: Jennifer, Ivette, Claudia

Wordless Wednesday: Devil Child

Orange Empire Railway Museum

On New Years Day, we joined Louie, Kristin, and baby Enrique for a cold trip to the Orange Empire Railway Museum.  Their website promoted that everything was open and the trains were running and we were both free!  Louie was more excited that anyone!

 Andrew immediately recognized the trains and began the pointing and "ohhs" and "awws" over the choo-choos.  He enjoyed the view from his multiple layered jackets and blankets!

 It was pretty empty (literally we were the only ones there for the first few minutes and then another family added to our tour) so we had our very own tour guide.  He led us into and out of several train "barns" giving us information and history about the trains and other items in there.

 There were several of these mini play trains to climb in and out of--all the boys got in!

 Andrew's favorite part was ringing the 10 different types of bells and whistles.

 To end our trip, we rode the trolley around the entire museum with our very own conductor.