February has been off to a pretty fun start!
On Saturday the 31st (okay, so still January), We picked up Ashlynn's Girl Scout cookies. This year is a little stressful to me because unlike last year (and years in the past) when customers would order cookies and then you'd receive the cookies people want, just needing to distribute and collect the money, this year we didn't do pre-orders and instead ordered boxes (and cases) of cookies we hope to sell. So, when we picked up 13 cases of cookies, we didn't have a plan for where those 150+ boxes would be sold.
So, if you want some Girl Scout cookies, we can totally hook you up!
That day we decided to get out of the house for a fun lunch. We ended up going to a German restaurant on the other side of LA called Wirsthaus. It was pretty good, and I enjoyed eating a German meal that I didn't have to cook. Eric got a beer flight and three of the four of us got schnitzel plates (Carter got Bratwurst). Another interesting aspect of the time was seeing members of the local Jewish community walking in the neighborhood on Shabbat, some wearing shtreimels (big fur hats), which is something we rarely see in our local community.
After lunch we went to the Grove. We watched the fountain, visited the American Girl doll store, and let the kids play on iPads at the Apple Store while we asked silly questions about our iPhones.
Since we had a huge lunch, we decided to wreck dinner completely with a late afternoon stop at Cheesecake Factory for cheesecake (of course!).
On Sunday, after church, Ashlynn started selling Girl Scout cookies. She visited a few neighbors and then joined three friends in her troop to sell cookies to people passing by our friends' house (not an official "booth"), hoping to catch people on their way to Super Bowl parties.
In the afternoon we had my parents, Eric's dad, and my brother, David, come to our house to watch the Super Bowl. That gave me a good excuse to make spinach and artichoke dip. Happy girl!
Monday I got to enjoy lunch with my friend, Meril. I love getting to have lunch with friends! It is seriously one of my favorite things.
Monday was also the 100th day of school for the kids, so Carter got to do some fun activities in his class.
On Monday afternoon, Ashlynn had a Girl Scouts meeting. I was in charge of the snack and the craft. They made pretty Valentine's Day vases out of empty spice jars and tissue paper.
On Tuesday I got to join Carter's class on their field trip to the Los Angeles Zoo. Each mom chaperone had four kids in a group and each group got their own docent to give us a tour.
A mama and her baby (above and below)
First graders hopping between lily pads.
A highlight of the trip was going to the petting zoo.
Here I am with my friend, Sylvia, and our goat friend:
Another goat selfie
Carter's class
My group
Wednesday was crazy hair, hats and socks day at the kids' school as a reward for a reading challenge. They had fun participating!
The weather has been so lovely that after school I took the kids to a park for scootering. They had a great time, until Carter fell and skinned his hand and knee up pretty badly.
On Thursday evening Carter's Cub Scout den had a private tour of our local historical museum. It was the first time visiting for all four of us, and we were pretty impressed. Monrovia has an interesting history! What made me super proud was how well behaved our two kids were during the tour. They were great listeners!
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| Citrus growers label |
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| Doctor's buggy |
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| An old kitchen |
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| Trying on police gear |
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| Gabrielino dwelling |
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| Trying out old fashioned phones |
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| Learning about Rosie the Riveter |
Friday night was spent at our church's Potato Bake and Chocolate Cake event. It started with a stuffed baked potato and salad dinner, followed by a cupcake decorating contest. We ended up sitting with three members of the Peters family and a couple with an 18 month old girl. Our group's mystery bag of supplies for the contest came with paper stars, mini plastic cameras, some streamers, and some candy. It somehow turned into a pretty creative movie premier creation which included a limo, red carpet with people walking on it and paparazzi on the sides, and a stage with "people". I even found a mini-flashlight in my purse that served as a spotlight.
We had fun working as a team to created our display.
And guess what! We won the contest! Yep, out of at least 15 groups, ours was judged as the most creative!
Our team!
Well, after that fun week, we woke up this morning to the sound of Carter throwing up. After surviving months without any major illnesses, germs have finally made it to the Vales house. Pray that those germs aren't shared with the rest of us.
At least in the midst of my nursing duties, I can look back on this past week and smile.
