The kids had to go back to school on Tuesday, January 2nd.
Back to school meant back to homework.
Good thing there's "Homework Dog!" to help.
I'm not sure how much "help" he gives.
He's just there for moral support really.
And for cuddles.
Mikey made a paperbag Infinity guantlet for Huzbend.
It matches Mikey's paperbag Infinity Gauntlet.
I guess they can rule the galaxy together now.
The first weekend in January began the kick-off of Girl Scout Cookie sales.
Katie's troop hosted a "Cookie Rally".
A "Cookie Rally" is an event held to teach younger scouts about cookie sales.
There are booths with topics such as:
Marketing, Money Matters, Goal Setting and "Making Your Pitch".
Katie was in charge of the Money Matters table.
She had the girls count back change.
It was pretty busy.
She and her troop worked hard for about 3 hours that day and ended the event with some Girl Scout songs. So far, she really digs being a Cadette.
That evening, we were invited to join some friends for a celebration of "Dia de los Tres Reyes".
Or translated...Three Kings Day.
(It's on January 6th and is the Mexican version of Epiphany for you religious people out there).
Mikey dressed for the occasion?
Three Kings Day is a celebration of the three wise men finding and bringing gifts to Baby Jesus.
In Mexico, at least where our friend grew up, they get together with friends and eat A LOT of food.
Awesomely delicious food.
And, they play loteria.
It's like bingo, but instead of numbers there's images.
Each image has a name that the caller calls out.
Getting faster and faster and faster.
If you fill up your board, you win!
Here's Mikey and his tabla (board).
Here's a close up of the tabla.
All the names are called in Spanish, so you really have to be on your toes.
It's a quarter to play.
Winner takes the pot.
Next up, it was time to cut the Rosca de Reyes.
(AKA King's Ring).
It's a circular cake that has little tiny Baby Jesus's hidden in it.
If you cut a piece and find a Jesus, you're blessed.
This cake had multiple babies to be found to make it fun for the kids.
Oldest cuts first.
Huzbend was not the oldest. As you can see, there are two other pieces missing.
The kids took their time finding the exact "right" spot to cut.
Katie found a Baby Jesus!
Mikey gave it a shot. But had no luck.
The cake was super yummy.
Katie couldn't eat it because of the gluten and Mikey couldn't eat it because it was made in a bakery and we weren't sure what was in it.
So, Huzbend and I pigged out on Rosca de Reyes.
Don't worry, we brought GF & NF brownies for the kids.
Not sure what is happening here.
Four kids are squashing one of the dads.
It's a good thing he only had one piece of cake.
Besides all the fun, food and cake, there was also tequila.
Lots of tequila.
A few rounds of shots were taken. These were my first shots ever.
Tequila burns.
I also learned that it can clear your sinuses.
I'm watching you!
Katie entered the PTA Reflections Art contest and won herself a Judge's Choice award.
Again!
Not much else happened the rest of the month.
Just normal life stuff - school, afterschool activities (art/coding/spanish class/cadettes), PTSA stuff, etc.
Mikey finished playing Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Katie got sick and napped a lot.
With tissues sticking out of her nose.
Then, Huzbend finished Breath of the Wild.
Towards the end of the month, Mikey's grade had a field trip to the Pacific Science Center.
Here's our group eating lunch.
I wore a Goofy hat we got at Disneyland in December.
They gave each of us adults a CHAPERONE sticker.
I stuck it on my hat.
The kids soon advised me that my name was now....
"GO CHAPERONE-Y"
There was a dance that went along with it, but I'll spare you.
We had a good time racing around the museum in record time.
They gave us, like, an hour.
We hit up the Butterfly Garden and for the first time, a butterfly landed on me.
I think he was amused by "GO CHAPERONE-Y".
This thing is wicked cool.
The point of the field trip was to "Do Science".
They accomplished that with a class on bugs.
Mikey did, with just a small protest, pet the hissing cockroach.
The "worst part" though, according to him, was when they had to pick through Tupperware bowls to find the different life cycles of a mealworm.
Egg through larva through pupa through adult (beetle).
The problem was that it smelled.
Somewhat horribly.
One last Mom/Mikey pic before we left.
That next day, we documented Katie's IV infusion.
(You can read more information about that here)
On to February!
