new careers?

i am thinking shallan and i might need to go to design school.

"glasses: all colors and shapes to fit your face.."

they went with one of our Bible stories/verses.. i'm thinking of the many things now beyond pipe cleaners. oh the possibilities. and man, the kids look good.

play-doh goooop

this semester one thing we have been working on in preschool is learning our letters. i will forever sing "A es por agua-a,a,a. E elefante- e,e,e. I es por isla- i,i,i.." ..and hopefully they will too. i mean, i still remember how mom helped me with my letters: "A is for apple- a,a,a.." yep, got the song from you, momma, and made it all spanish-like.

to keep letters exciting, we've paraded around in E-elefante masks, painted A's with agua, gone on letter hunts around the room, hopped like rabbits and ran like horses for C (conejos and caballos), eaten cookies (galletas) in the shape of G, etc. did i mention i LOVE preschool?

what could be more fun than play-doh letters for practice? slimy, gooey, melted play-doh from being in the heat so long. imagine play-doh. then multiply the stickiness by 5 and add 10 points to the level of difficulty it is to get it off your hands. then you have our play-doh. FUN.

this is how it went (ish..):
1. get to work making those letters- yeah little ashley! (really. she's only 3 here and she is rockin' that play-doh E)
2. get a little dirty in the process maybe.. 3. wah-la!! here we have it, ladies and gentlemen! (amauri was super proud of his A :)

and that's how it goes. in my head of course.. you know, sitting around coming up with lesson plans for the day, this is more or less what it looked like. you always have to expect, though, that nothing will turn out like you expect it to. aaand that is another reason i love preschool. check marileidi out with her letter ?? in play-doh:

maybe she is an artist. no need to make a letter.. thinking outside of the box? maybe??

i need new socks

i need new socks.. i wear my lame sandals to school and in walks gustavo lookin' all suave one day in his little outfit. i bet if i were 4 i would totally have a crush on him. what a stud.

could you be any cooler?

quite the little model, huh?

perfect combination of style and sophistication.

sesame street and matching socks.. dang.

medical team visit

for a week in november, a medical group came to do check-ups and treat our students and their families. part of the medical plan for our preschoolers and friday Bible students includes an annual check-up. it was wonderful to see the school transform into a little mini-clinic for a couple days. the team also went out to chichigua to see some families of our preschoolers.

jack showing luis fernando how to listen to his heart beat

cara and cristina translating for the doctors with one of our families

claudio, cristina, ruth, and ashley (cristina's daughters- 2 of my students) waiting for their family check-up :) the girls are dressed up because going to the doctor is absolutely an occasion that calls for pretty dresses

nurse laura outside with yunairi, agle, and islan

anne and phillis in chichigua

all that jazzz

tanda, shallan, me, and laura waiting for the musica
shal and jonathan are ready to hear some rock? ..or jazz
hey, look! we made it..
aaand the show begins. an hour and a half late.
more people at lax than i have ever seen. big tourist weekend..

so we'd been excited about this jazz festival weekend in cabarete for awhile.. finally made it there for the last night because we were working on saturday with the medical team. we were ready for the show to start at 8:30 (which is like an hour before we'd normally plan to be in bed). so we waited.. and it started after 10pm. welcome to the dominican republic. we heard a couple songs and then me, shallan, jonathan, jonathan's parents, cara, and robin travelled 45 min back home. hey, at least we got to hear a few songs, right? totally worth it. the whole day was fun and we were excited for more time with jonathan's awesome parents and time to hang out.

murder mystery dinner

so for halloween night, sharla had a brilliant idea:

MURDER MYSTERY DINNER!

theme: who killed jed manhattan?? (hollywood's biggest hearthrob was shot in beverly hills)

because we were all suspects and somehow related to jed, we were invited to a dinner to figure out through conversation and time who did it! we were all given things to say during different courses in the dinner. dinner itself was AWESOME (appetizer: deviled eggs, guacamole. dinner: chili and cornbread, dessert: pumpkin cake, after dinner: apple cider). you have no idea how big of a deal all that special food is.. ahh.

meet the dinner guests:

Jonathan as Nigel LeFunk (Dominican wannabe-rapper, Jed's roommate)

Garrett as Humphrey (big-time director)

Sharla as Lady Elizabeth (fancy, talented performer from London, Jed's ex)

Melissa as Zane (communicator with the dead)

Me as Denise Devine (Jed's ex, soap opera star)

Anne as Soya (superstar.. 7 world tours, people)

Shallan as Hilda (Jed's maid and confidant)

Soya, Hilda, and Denise waiting on the other guests to arrive

*disclaimer: these individual pictures were taken before dinner and i neglected my camera during dinner because we are all really into our characters, eating, and trying to figure it all out. before dinner, robin, cara, and amanda were stuck on the highway because it was flooded and their taxi refused to drive.. quite an adventure before they even got to the dinner party! anyway, their characters were FABULOUS and hilarious. you can see in the group photo.

Robin: Zena (Greek woman, Jed's mama)
Cara: Ivy (talkative, famous talk show host)
Amanda: Janice (obsessed fan of Jed's, formerly on Big Brother)

THE GUESTS post-accusations and the confession..

so who killed jed manhattan???

well, that would be spoiling it, wouldn't it? HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

strike a pose

so as you know, we moved to a different makarios house..
welcome to our room.

and welcome to our photo shoot/ song interpretations in front of the closets..

shallan and i rockin out..

sing it, ladies

ok so i am short.. and crazy?

aaand this one made us laugh for like 10 min. melissa does have a head. she is wonderfully and beautifully tall.. and we are jealous.

funnn roommates :)

and that's just a peek.