A Busy Weekend

Last weekend was BUSY!  Here's what we did:

On Saturday morning, Ashlynn and Eric picked up her 134 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. 

Our family then drove down to my parents' house to watch the Camellia Parade.  This year they made the festival bigger, so the parade route was altered and we weren't able to sit in our usual spot.  We ended up having a rather unusual view of the parade, right where it ended.

We came home for about half an hour, ate lunch and then Ashlynn and I headed out to Girl Scouts "Thinking Day".  A number of troups got together and each had a presentation about a different country (well, and "London", which we recognize is a CITY).  The little girls went around to the different country booths where they learned a little about the country, did some kind of related activity, and sampled some food.  I don't know if they learned a lot, but they had fun!

Here, one of the troop leaders, Bonnie, taught Ashlynn's troop about Norway.

 The troop

 Trying hockey at the Canada booth.

 Learning fun facts about London.

 Doing a random craft

 Sophia having "wine" and cheese at the French booth.

We left Thinking Day early to get home so Ashlynn could get dressed for her soccer game.  (Sorry, the photos weren't good.)

Carter was less than thrilled about going to another one of Ashlynn's soccer games.  Still, it was a good game.  The team played the strongest team.  They lost, but the score was only 3-2, and Ashlynn's team played well and fought hard.

After showers and a little bit of relaxing, we headed out for dinner.  Eric had been craving Chinese food, so we ate at Yang Chow.

 Their chopsticks skills could use a little work (she is better than this photo suggests).

To end the evening, we stopped by our local high school for a Star Party.  Two astronomy clubs set up their fancy telescopes for visitors to check out.  The astronomers said that it wasn't a great night for viewing, but we did see Jupiter and its four moons and Orion along with some "baby stars" in that constellation.  It was pretty cool.  Ashlynn LOVED it!

On Sunday we went to church.  Before leaving, the kids put together the orders for the church people who had ordered cookies from Ashlynn.  Carter was a great helper for his sister.  She would tell him the boxes for each order and he would get them for her.  She filled out an order card.  My job was to tie the boxes and order card together with string.

After church, we chatted with our friends, the Besolis, for so long that we ended up going out to lunch with them. 

We arrived at home for a little bit of down time before Eric and I headed out again.  For most of the afternoon we were at a memorial service for my parents' friend, Henry.  I've pretty much known Henry's wife, Linda, for my whole life, and gotten to know Henry over the past 20 years, since Henry and Linda got married.

I think one of the saddest things about memorial services is hearing the stories about the person who passed.  People have some amazing stories to tell, but we often don't hear them until they are gone, if we're lucky. Henry was born on a farm in East Prussia (now Poland) in 1930 (I might have some of this wrong, but you'll get the idea).  His family had to flee their home into Germany when Russia invaded in 1944.   In Germany, he was separated from his family at age 14, and spent like the next year and a half wandering as he searched for them.  He came to America because he knew his dad had a brother who lived in Los Angeles, and some organization (I think at a refugee camp) helped find the uncle and get Henry to him.   I can only imagine the hundreds of stories associated with that time, and other experiences in his 84 years.  I sure wish people wrote more of their stories down, or that we took the time to listen to them. 

In addition to being a time to remember a family friend, the memorial marked the first time my parents, Eric or I had been in my childhood church for about 11 years.  It was strange to see faces I hadn't seen for so long.  I found long-forgotten memories deep in my brain, most of which brought a smile to my face.    

After the memorial, Eric and I headed home, where we ate dinner with the kids and Eric's dad, who had watched our kids during the memorial service.

And then the new work week began... a week filled with sooooo much.... grading, report cards, silent auction basket, birthday gift purchasing, snacks for the soccer game, cake and decorations for the soccer party....  I'm exhausted, and I'm not even through most of it.  Wish me luck!

President's Day

Yay for our country's presidents!  Yay that we had last Monday off to celebrate their birthdays. :)

The weather was so lovely, that we decided to explore the Arboretum on our day off.  The kids' main objective was climbing in one particular tree, so that was our first stop.

 Eric did a little climbing too.

 There was a Star Wars style battle with sticks, which you can tell wasn't too intense since Eric participated with his hand in his pocket.

We explored other parts of the Arboretum.  We were sad to see that the main pond is drying up as a measure taken by the Arboretum to deal with the drought.  Still, the place is lovely.

 Such a great day!  We are so lucky to have great climate in Los Angeles.

The First Half of February (Plus One Day)

Our February is off to a good start.

On Saturday the 1st, Ashlynn had a great soccer game.  Her team didn't win and she didn't score, but her team worked well together, and we were proud how Ashlynn worked hard, stayed focused, and kept a positive attitude (something that is tough for her when she feels discouraged). 

She is an especially good offensive player.  For half of the game, she played left forward, my old position back when I played AYSO as a kid.

 She took her turn sitting out for a quarter.  She made the most of it by watching the game and trying to see what she could learn from her observations (this is also not always the case, so I was proud).

On the evening of the 1st, Eric and I went out on a REAL date.  He had given me tickets to an a capella festival as a Christmas gift, so we made the most of the night out by first enjoying a nice dinner in Old Town Pasadena.  After, we drove to the site of the concert, USC.  Yes, USC.  It was my Bruin husband's first time on the campus.

We really enjoyed the concert, which featured the group that won "The Sing-Off", Home Free.  They are so talented and put on a fun and impressive show.

I knew the concert was only a few step away from Tommy Trojan, USC's mascot statue, so after the concert was over, we went over and took a few pictures.

 Mature, huh?

Since Carter is in kindergarten, he learned all about Groundhog's Day, so he was excited when the day came.

 What he wasn't excited about was taking a photo wearing his headband and holding his groundhog puppet.

February 3rd was the 100th day of school for the kids.  Carter had been eagerly anticipating that day since about the 40th day of school.  Fortunately, it fell on my volunteer day, so I got to be a part of the celebration.  After school, I insisted on documenting the big day for my big kindergartner with some photos.

 See, he made 1-0-0 with his hands and mouth.

 My cute boy

On the second Saturday of the month, the kids and I went to a science presentation at the library.  I had high hopes that the topic, stars, would be enjoyed by my space loving kids, especially Ashlynn who says she wants to be an engineer, maybe at JPL.  The presentation was okay (not really kid-friendly), but the kids didn't seem to mind.  The highlight of the time was getting to look at the sun using a special telescope. 

On Sunday we went to the movies.  For most people, that is a common activity, but for our family, it was a big deal.  Seeing Frozen was Ashlynn's third trip to the movie theater, and it was Carter's FIRST movie in a theater.  Carter has a bit of a phobia about movies.  Well, really anything with drama.  He pretty much refuses to watch movies, even in the comfort of our house.  Sometimes he gets nervous about the dramatic parts of books, like when he knows Curious George is going to get into trouble, he gets all anxious.

So, Carter survived the movie.  To be honest, it wasn't easy.  He seemed anxious from the moment we got in the theater and the sounds was loud.  At many times during the movie he wanted to leave, but we stuck it out.  We felt like as a five-and-a-half year old, we needed to work to get him more comfortable with watching movies.  Being a parent is tricky; it's hard to know how much to push them to overcome challenges and encourage growth.

February 12th was Abraham Lincoln's birthday, so Carter walked out of his classroom looking like our 16th president.  

While taking the photo of Ashlynn and Carter, one of Carter's classmates, Samar, came over and asked to take a photo with Carter too.  Random, but okay!

 Isn't he cute?

Valentine's Day fell on a Friday, so that meant school and work for all of us.  The kids had their school's walk-a-thon that day, so that added to their fun.  However, the day was filled with many emotions because a very close family friend (of my parents), Henry, died suddenly on Valentine's Day morning.  My parents had double-duty as they took care of our kids (outside of school hours) and provided support to their dear friend of over 35 years, Linda.

Here's Carter as he checked out his valentines:

 Before dinner, Eric had gifts for the kids and me (oops!  I hadn't done any shopping, so nothing for Eric).  The kids both got little Lego sets and I got the pair of Converse I had asked for at Christmas and didn't get.

 After dinner, I found Ashlynn climbing the door frame.  The kid hadn't even had sugar!

On the day after Valentine's Day, Carter was a bit of a sad grump, declaring that this year's Valentine's Day was not good because we didn't do a few of the things we usually do, like making valentines for each other.  In response (and probably out of guilt), I made some ridiculously pink and ridiculously sweet strawberry pudding cookies (some with chocolate chips). 

In the evening on Saturday, after a pretty lazy day at home, we got out of the house with my parents and drove down to LA to Phillipe's for dinner.  Yum!

 I hope your February is going well!