The Hot Dog and the Butterfly

October 31, 2011

It's Halloween!  We don't celebrate Halloween at school so I miss out on seeing the super cute little kid costumes (I don't mind missing out on the more adult costumes...).  So, I am always really excited to see pictures of my nieces and nephew dressed up in their costumes.  This year Hannah was a Hot Dog and Georgia was a Butterfly (I don't think Taylar and Luke dressed up).
Here they are:

I know the picture is a little small, but they are cute anyway! 

Happy Halloween!!

The Best Dad in the World!

October 30, 2011

Today is my dad's birthday!  I cannot tell you how blessed I am to have my dad.  I am so thankful for him, and for the amazing dad he has been to my sister, brother and me! 

Although I wasn't there when he was a little boy, these pictures are so cute!  I love seeing them and wonder what kind of little guy my dad was...

 

He's with his little brother in both pictures...

He met my mom when he came to CA in the Navy.  They are such a great example to us, and continue to show us what it means to love each other and grow together over many years of marriage. 

My dad is so much fun, and can always make us laugh!  We always had fun playing with him and trying to figure out what crazy thing he was going to do next.

He took good care of us, overcoming lots of obstacles, back injuries, and years of retraining to support us (with the help of my mom).

Spending time with family is one of his favorite things to do, and we all love hanging out with him and laughing with him.  I'm pretty sure we all learned to laugh, and love to laugh so much because we had such a funny dad.  : )

My dad is so loving and caring.  He is supportive and encouraging.  I cannot think of a time I have talked to him and he has not told me he loves me and is proud of me.  I am so thankful for that kind of dad!

He is also a super great grandpa (Pop).  He is always there for all of us and will do anything for us!

His grand kids love him and love to spend time with him.  Two of my favorite quotes: 

Luke, after watching someone try to fix his toy, "Give it to Pop.  He can fix anything!"

Georgia, randomly: "No one is as weird as my dad."  Me: "Well, there is one person." 

Hannah, Georgia and I all together: "Pop!"

Happy Birthday Dad!  Thank you so much for being the best dad in the world!  I love you!!

Fall Festival and Community Swap Meet

October 29, 2011

We had our Fall Festival and Community Swap Meet fundraiser today at school.  I think it was a big success.  Thanks to all the vendors who bought spaces at the swap meet, all the volunteers who came out to help with the festival (and donated candy) and all the school staff who stepped in and helped to make it a super fun time for all who attended!  We may even end up doing this again next year!

I didn't get great pictures, but here are a few I happened to snap as I ran around:

Some of the games the kids could play in the gym: Ping Pong Ball Toss to win a gold fish, Lollipop Tree, Balloon Pop (with darts), Beanbag toss, a Musical Chairs/Cake Walk combo, Football Toss, and one of the biggest draws: the prize wheel, which you got to spin if you won one of the other games and got a ticket!

Another big draw: Cotton Candy!  They could win this as well, and they loved it!

Outside we had LOTS of food for sale!  Two of the middle school girls were selling cup cakes. 

They were delicious! 

Some people had "yard sale" type booths, while others had new items they were selling. 

It was a really fun day and I look forward to doing it again!

I Love LA Traffic

October 28, 2011

Well, not really!  It's one of the things I really dislike about LA, and I will usually do anything to not be driving during the heaviest traffic times.  But today we had to run to Costco and Party City to get stuff for tomorrow's Fall Festival at school, so Leah and I braved Friday night traffic.  It was actually fine getting over to the area we needed to be in, but coming home was another story!  And the sad thing is that this picture sure doesn't do it justice.

Next time I'm staying home!  : )

Health Education

October 27, 2011

Today was the last day of 7th grade health class.  It has been a fun and challenging quarter with this class and we have talked about some really good stuff.  As a final project the students all had to create a poster to hang around the school to help educate the other students on how to have a healthy lifestyle.  I was so impressed with their final posters!  They did a great job making them and presenting them to their class.  I'll be sure to hang them up around the school next week!

My favorite is the advice: "Don't Get Diseases".

Next week I start 8th grade health class... never a dull moment!

Learning to Love

October 26, 2011

Over the past few years (well, a lot longer than that...)I have been learning how to love others like God loves.  It's not easy, but the other day I found a "poster" that gives me a simple break down of ways to love those around me.  I have this hanging by my desk in my classroom so I can see it all day long!  I say simple because it is in simple language, but it sure isn't a simple thing to do!

Spanish Mid-Term

October 25, 2011

Tonight at my Spanish class we had a mid-term.  It wasn't too hard, but I just don't love taking tests!  The part in class was ok, but we also have a take-home section.  We have to read a paragraph, find the errors and correct them.  Then we have to write a letter to a friend talking about a dream vacation.  Thinking up the dream vacation will be the easy part (writing about it in Spanish the not so easy part)!  I didn't feel brave enough to take a picture in class while everyone was taking the test, but I took a picture of the take home sections once I got home. 

Here's the paragraph we have to correct close up... anyone see anything wrong with these sentences?

Spaghetti Squash

October 24, 2011

I went to the grocery store today, and was super excited to find spaghetti squash!!  You can't always find it at my Fresh and Easy or Ralphs, so when I see it, I buy it quickly!  I'm not sure when I will be able to cook it up, but it will be soon, and I will love every bite of it!  : )

Beach House Day Two

October 23, 2011

Our second, and last, day at the beach house was great!  We started off today at Spudnuts Donut shop, yummmm!!  My favorite are the cream filled donut holes (which I think are more like cream puffs, but because they are from the donut shop it is perfectly acceptable to eat them for breakfast!!).

After our nutritious breakfast we headed back to the house to clean and pack up.  After a few stops along the way at the Dollar Tree and Big Lots, we headed to Andria's for a lunch of fish and chips before heading back to LA (yes, we ate a lot on this weekend get away!).  My family came to meet up with us at Andria's and it was great to get to spend time with all of them together before I came home. 

We had such a great weekend at the beach house, although it went by way too quickly!  I love getting to work with and spend time with people who I can truly call my friends!  Thanks girls for a wonderful get away, I can't wait to do it again! 

Beach House Weekend with the Girls

October 22, 2011

This weekend we got to go to the beach house!  Janice, Meredith, Leah, Stephanie and I headed out after our day of prayer and fasting and got to spend Friday night, Saturday and Sunday (tomorrow) relaxing at the beach house.
We started off our time all hanging out upstairs reading!  It was great!  Here is a picture that was really taken yesterday, but I wanted to use it on today's post to show our amazing reading times.

We love the big comfy couches up here, perfect for hanging out and reading!  



Today we started off at Big Daddy O's for some breakfast burritos, and then headed out to downtown Ventura to shop at the thrift stores and shops on Main Street.  We found some good deals in the thrift stores and some great finds!!

Leah found this amazing jacket straight out of the 80's!  With the big poofy sleeves and all!

And Mer found this book about the Rock, and was so excited!!

After shopping for the whole afternoon, we were exhausted and hungry.  Thankfully my parents had invited us over for dinner!  My mom, Hannah and Taylar made a delicious dinner of Italian Chicken, salad and blueberry cheesecake bars.  It was great, and just what we needed after our day out and about.

After dinner we stopped by Old Navy and found some more great deals, then headed back to the beach house and hung out reading some more.  I loved this day, and am looking forward to another great day tomorrow!!

The Pole Spot

October 21, 2011
I have this friendly competition with a guy named Bryan, that usually only comes around once a month.  We both try to sit in a certain spot during our World Impact LA monthly gathering.  The spot is right next to a column in our multipurpose room.  We both love that spot because it is in the back of the room, it's near the door and you can lean against the column for extra support during the service (and I like it because it is where I sat for chapel every week for my first 5 years at LACS). 
Anyway, this month we had our day of prayer and fasting in that same room, and so the competition was on!  At first I won, because I put my phone on the chair before Bryan noticed, but then we decided to set the room up in a triangle (don't ask) and a chair was placed on the other side of the column.  With two chairs against the column we technically both won (although I was the real winner!!).  It's a silly competition, but one that has stood the test of time!  I can't really remember when it started, or how, but it's a fun little game that we play. 

We love our column!

Yep, Bryan thinks he won, but he knows I was the real winner that day!



Musica en Espanol

October 20, 2011
I have been enjoying a lot of Spanish music lately.  I love it!  I have a friend who knows a lot of good music in Espanol, and I have collected quite a bit over the years.  So I made a "Spanish Dance Music" play list on my iTunes account, and have been dancing around my apartment!  Fun!!

Sorry, no pictures of me dancing!

More Flowers!

October 19, 2011

One of the best parts about doing flowers for parties or weddings, is that you get to keep the left overs!  All week I have been enjoying little bouquets of flowers around my living room made with the extras from Susie's baby shower!  I have a bunch of little vases, so I just paired up two or three smaller flowers and filled them up!  Here is one of my favorites.

I'm so thankful that God made flowers!  : )

School B-Day Lunch

October 18, 2011

Today the amazing mom's of our students made a delicious lunch for all the school staff to celebrate the September and October birthdays.  They are so sweet to do this for our staff once a month.  We are so spoiled by the parents of our students!  It's great!  This month we celebrated Chris, Juan and Grace's birthdays.  I just got a picture of Grace with the cake, but we all celebrated the three of them with a lot of fun and yummy food! : )

A Sure Sign of the Holidays!

October 17, 2011

One of the sure fire ways to know that the holidays are just around the corner is when you can break out the Peanut's Holiday movies!!  You have to get them out a little bit earlier than the other Christmas movies because they have Halloween and Thanksgiving movies in the pack as well.  I grew up watching these, and still love to sit down and watch them throughout the holiday season!  Yay!!

Flowers To Brighten Your Day

October 16, 2011

I went down to the flower mart yesterday to pick up some flowers for the shower and one of the places was having a special on sunflowers, $2.50 for a bunch!  So I got some for my house.  I was so happy to see them all day today!  Flowers really do help to make a day more cheery, especially when your not feeling so well.

They look so pretty on my kitchen table!

I also had one extra gerber daisy from the arrangements I made for the shower. 

So I had to include a picture of this one too.  I love flowers!

Baby Shower part 2

October 15, 2011

Tonight the baby showers continued, with a shower for Susie, preparing to welcome Amayah Gamaz into the world very soon!  It was lots of fun celebrating with Susie and lots of guests. 

Susie is in the flowered dress.  Eiko is with her and will have her baby Monday!! : )

Playing a design a diaper game.

Praying for Susie, Marcos and Amayah.

The 4 pregnant ladies!  Laura, Susie, Danielle and Eiko

Congratulations to all of them and the new babies we will soon be welcoming!

Baby Sprinkle

October 14, 2011

Tonight we had a baby "sprinkle" for two of the ladies on staff who are pregnant.  They both have other children, so we just made sure they were pretty stocked up on diapers, onesies, wipes, burp cloths, soap, lotion and all the other essentials for the first few months of their babies lives.  It was really fun celebrating the soon to be new arrival of baby girl Gutierrez, and baby boy Cummings!  Unfortunately, I only took one picture, and tuned out HORRIBLY!! But, I'll post it anyway.

Danielle and Laura, at their about to "Pop" party!  : )

Hangin' With Ronny

October 13, 2011

Tonight we got to go to the Ronald Regan Library in Simi Valley to attend a dinner for Prison Fellowship and World Impact's The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI).  We got to go through the museum for free if we got there early enough, so Steph and I headed out right after school and had some fun in the museum before going to the dinner.  Mostly that meant taking funny pictures with Ronald and Nancy Regan.  Here they are:

Our self portrait with the Regans!

Steph giving her Evita speech behind the Presidential Podium.

We saw Jim on our "tour" and he took his turn behind the podium too!

Just walking the halls and laughing with the president!

And this is actually where we had our dinner.  Amazing view and right under Air Force One (which we did get to walk through as well, but you can't take pictures in there)! 

Phewwwwwww...

October 12, 2011

I don't really need to say anything more that what this picture says:

It's hot!

Pot Luck

October 11, 2011

Today we had a pot luck in my community Spanish class.  It was so much fun, and very delicious!  Half of our class is learning English and half is learning Spanish, so we got a great mix of foods.  The only bad thing was that I got full to fast, I wanted to eat more!  : )