Student of the Month

Willa was student of the month and her teacher wrote wonderful things about her: Willa works well with others and is a friend to all her classmates. She cares about doing a good job and isn't afraid to ask for help. She can always be counted on to be helpful to anyone in need. Willa is very imaginative and does a great job with anything that asks her to be creative. It is wonderful to have Willa in our room.

We are proud of you, Willa!

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy New Year!

We love Valentine's Day. We always adopt manatees. Jia chose Elsie again and Willa chose Flicker (Tampa Bay manatees).

 

 

 On the night of the 14th, we attended the Taiwanese community's Lunar New Year celebration. As usual, there was terrific food, red envelopes, great crafts, and an interesting program. This year it included cooking tips, a sign language interpretive dance, and each family received a bottle of thick, hot soy sauce. The girls danced in the program too!

 

  

Afterward, both girls talked about how scared they were to dance. Willa said, "I couldn't imagine anyone in their underwear, as a toilet, or as a watermelon!" Nevertheless, they were all adorable!

Wonder Women

We saw the Wonder Women exhibit at the Nash Gallery with friends Zeynep and Azra. Fabulous work by female artists inspired by popular culture.

Some of our favorites were portraits of breast cancer survivors.

Love this so much. 

 

"We will no longer be seen and not heard."

  

 

Afterward, yummy chicken fantastic and fried plantains after at Afro Deli!

Later, Jia purchased a new case for her iPod. Jia says she likes Wonder Woman because she "is inspiring to women."

Skiing Panda

It's always good to ski with a friend.

Little Rock Star

Willa went to her first guitar lesson with her red strings, pink picks and rock star attitude!

Ice Harvesting Festival

We channeled our inner Kristoff at the Ice Harvesting Festival! We sawed blocks of ice, weighed them, made ice cubes, went kicksledding and learned how to escape after falling into the water. The most exciting part? While we were watching the water rescue demonstration, the ice buckled under all of us spectators! We left feeling thankful for our refrigerators.

Scoring the ice.

Drilling holes and testing depth.

 Sawing away!

 

Pulling out the huge blocks of ice!

  

Getting ready to weigh the block!

 Making ice cubes.

 Water rescue (made extra dramatic by the ice buckling under us spectators!)

We love kick sleds!

Taking all sorts of measurements.

 
Playing the Native American game of snow snakes.

 Learning how to save herself if she falls into the water by using a special ice pick tool.

Frozen Falls

We visited frozen Minnehaha Falls. Wow! You can actually see the water rushing down under the ice. Afterward, food and games at Chatterbox.

 Crash!