birthdays and miscellaneous....

September always seems to kick of our busy time of year, and then it quickly blends into Christmas - so hold on.....and here we go.......
Well, with Andrea off to collage, we aren't as busy with high school events, but with McKenna in the middle school, there still is some school spirit to share. Homecoming at the high school was already this Friday, so McKenna's school had 3 themed dress down days. Each day was carefully planned and accessorized over the weekend. For example, she crafted all three pairs of shoes,

And splatter painted in the studio,

The first one "Patriotic Day" (9-11 - yep, my birthday),

The second one "Super Hero Day", and Secret Agent Perry the Platypus 

(from Disney's Phinius and Ferb cartoon), is her favorite,

And the last day was "Spirit Day"!

It's been crazy busy at work with more than 475 Kindergarten or first grade students either creating their first painted paper collages or trying watercolor crayons for the first time! However, I still get to see the students for a full hour once a week and in my own beautiful classroom. So many of my fellow art teachers in this area can't say that anymore. 

Now that my birthday falls on a national day of mourning and with a husband who is a firefighter and 

bagpipe player,

we can be sure that he and his brothers will be honoring those who were lost on 9-11. So, we just moved my birthday to Friday the 13th instead!! (These photos are awful, but I give up.) We started with a traditional dinner at the Japanese Steakhouse, Kotobuki's,

Then we headed down to Orlando for the night and woke up and hit my favorite Disney Park, 

Animal Kingdom! 

We visited Pooh,

and Tigger, too!

And of course a visit with Simba and the Festival of the Lion King show!

And although it was really weird without Andrea with us, we finished the day with a delicious dinner at the Yak and Yeti! A favorite Asian restaurant there in the park.

 All in all, a very nice way to celebrate my 49th year on the planet! Still thinking about that tattoo to commemorate my youth....'cuz starting next year, I'll be VINTAGE!! LOL!

And finally, what you really might be reading this post for......an Andrea update!! :o)
The best I can tell, she is doing really well! There have many activities that she's participated in and an archaeology club, too that she says she likes a lot. She's won a VERY nice pair of headphones from the bookstore and a gift card to Target for 3rd place during gaming night on the Wii for Just Dance! She sent a photo of the "screen". I couldn't believe it!  

Scott, McKenna and I visited last weekend and I couldn't get over how amazing she looked, older and more confident. I still had to resist the urge to stay with her!  I just like it there so much and I hate missing out on making these memories with her. But I'm thrilled for her all at the same time; hard to describe. She says the classes are about the same as her classes in high school, so not too difficult yet, but none to easy either.
We'll bring her home for a visit closer to her birthday in October and you can bet it will include our traditional visit to Kotobuki's......'cuz this little girl of mine misses it!!

Andrea's

 first birthday at Koto's and her first kimono! 

Oh how I miss you sweetie, but we'll see you soon!!!