A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

Sometimes you get by with what you have and it's the little things that just make your day.

All the stuff animals gathering around for a concert.  It was an overwhelming sight to see as one came up the stairs.

A student lost their tooth guard and asked me to watch over it so no one would take it during class.

The brilliance!  Regular creamer to be no more.  What will I do after the holidays are over?

Getting ready for Basketball season.  I needed smaller hoops for the little ones.

Christmas on the Freeway.

A student made me a box with fake Tattoos inside....so cute!

At the Free Teacher Store.....Amazing

This still strikes me hard about how wonderful this place is for teachers and students.  I was able to separate all the goodies in this box to 30 students who ran the most laps for R4TA and who brought in the most money for R4TA.

Thank you for your donations!  My students need these supplies.

Christmas Tea

I'm finally able to be in town to attend and participate in the Christmas Tea at my church!  I signed up to decorate a table; realizing that my tea sets are packed but yet having a positive and creative attitude.  Another announcement was made that the speaker was going to be wearing an outfit from a foreign country and if we could do the same it would make the speaker feel more comfortable.

Well, how exciting for me....an international tea table.  This would be right up my alley with having local Hispanic stores in town.  Unfortunately, my table was labeled the 'kids table' and I didn't get the memo that we were suppose to decorate with a Christmas theme.

The kids did have the most fun at my table. The gift boxes and Mexican gum was very popular.  And I was very lucky the candles didn't set the pinata on fire.

A little holiday picture taking.

 A good Gramma hug.

And of course I was the only one who dressed up in original clothing from another country, except for the speaker.  This was my grandmother's dress that she bought in Mexico.  My mother just happened to have this hanging in her closet.  The highlights of the dress?  I didn't have to suck in and I could put as much cream in my tea as I wanted.

Next year hopefully, my tea sets will be unpacked and I'll be able to decorate a table for the grownups.

Gingerbread House and Cavities....bring in the new year.

My sister wasn't feeling well so I took on the huge task of helping the kiddos make a Gingerbread house.  This time someone else bought the kit and I will never use this kit ever again.  First,  you had to cute the box on the 'impossible to get to' dotted blue line.  Second, you had to ice the entire box before you could put any decorations on...we had frosting everywhere!  Third, because the frosting had to be thick to hide the writing on the box....which we don't even know how many dirty fingers have even come in contact with the box....(yuck!) the decorations were slipping down and off of the house.

 Each kid got a side.

 Frosting was everywhere!  Bodies, table, rug, shoes, decorations.....

 Kids seem to be having fun so I guess my stress didn't affect them that much.

 A lot of licking of fingers and eating decorations.

 And then I found these in the stash of decorations from the 70's since we were very frugal when decorating cookies as a child.

18 Days of Straight Rain....

 RV parking no more....

 The gazebo is next...

Here are pictures of the park this summer when the river was below normal level.

All underwater.......

This pathway is now covered with water like the picture below.

After 18 days of straight rain!

                                      Now the street to river access and bike pathways has become part of the river.

 But these two make a rainy day seem like the sun is shining!

Dinosaurs Are Coming.....

This party was filled with all sorts of emotions we should have been watching the movie....'Inside Out'.  But the 'Good Dinosaur' was playing and seemed safe enough for a group of kids to see it while they supported mi sobrino turning 6.  UHHMMM...I'm 41 and needed to find some excuse to leave during the movie because the terradactyls were so evil I was ready for some fresh air.  Luckily, one of the kids had already seen the movie so I was able to ask her questions for some stress release.  As she kept on telling me...."Don't worry, this isn't real."  "It's ok, he is just taking a nice trip."  "His dad is just taking a really long nap."  "This is one of the scary parts; don't look." 

 Party City did not disappoint with all the dinosaur party favors.

 My sister made the most moist cupcakes with Oreo cookie frosting.

 Gramma and Grampa supplied the dinosaur table decorations.

 Poor lighting but awesome friendship bonding time.

But wait...once again one birthday party is not enough for these kids.  On his actually birthday we went out to dinner and lo and behold a free sundae appeared.

And our birthday experience was going to the theater production of Zoo Zoo.  This magically French play where the animals come to life and interact with the audience.  Perfect for a family that needed lots of laughter and distractions from hecticness of our schedules.

When did they change movie theatre chairs?

So, I guess I haven't been to a movie in a long time because I just took a 'spur of the moment' movie date with mis sobrinos and what?!?!

The seats recline back?

There is a foot support?

The seats are extremely large?

They are so big you don't have to feel the person kicking your seat from behind?

Guess I will be going to the movies more often.....

Oh wait.....The price is so ridiculously high I would need to sell one of my kidneys on the Black Market to afford it.  Never mind.

Chemo Sucks

Sometimes I want to ask if all the pain and side effects of chemo are even helping my sister kick cancer's ass.

 The ups and downs are unexpected....

 The medications are overwhelming and constantly changing.....

 The 5 hour days of putting chemo in are brutally long.....

And then you have a pharmacist who forgets my sister is there.....for 5 hours....and we have to wait another hour for refills.  Only later to find out that they didn't give her all the prescriptions she needed because 'she slipped his mind'.

Sometimes it sucks.

Thanksgiving was Delish!!!

Here is the secret.....basting the turkey with bacon grease.  Might take a few years off your life but if you live in the moment; it is a moment that will savor in your mouth!

4 sticks of butter and cooking the bird upside down!

Made my own turkey broth for the first time!

Spicing things up!

Nap time before we eat.

Beautiful and the meat just fell off the bone!

Mom helping out with the gravy.

The fam.

Nap time afterwards......making room for dessert.

Pecan Pie for dessert.

Beautiful on the outside....runny on the inside.  Don't know what happened?