Friday in El Paso

 Another day has come and gone in El Paso! It was such a good day! We started out as usual, eating breakfast together at school. After eating, we had about 20 minutes before the school bell rang, so we went outside to the playground. There is NO playground equipment at Logan Elementary, and there hasn't been any for many months. Some of the school workers told me that the school is going to be demolished and then rebuilt; but the decision was made to take out all of the playground equipment to make room for the construction that is soon to come. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but it is what it is! But it does leave hundreds of little children with nothing to do outside for recess. This morning, many of the children spent their time digging in the dirt ... of which there is an abundance! And actually, we kind of made a game out of it because the wind had blown a ton of sand across one of the sidewalks, so several children decided to dig the sidewalk out! It would have been helpful if there had been shovels, but the kids made good use of their hands instead. I thought they looked like young archeologists digging through layers of dirt in search of the missing sidewalk.

After school this afternoon, the boys and I completely cleaned their room. I had made a "deal" with them and said that if they were good helpers, we could celebrate a late birthday tonight for Chris. I had his birthday presents shipped here a few weeks ago. It was fun to watch him open them tonight. 

LEGOS is a real favorite with all of the children ~ and Christopher especially loves Star Wars LEGOS. So ... that is what he received! 

Chris did a really nice job building his set of LEGOS tonight. He was able to do the entire project by himself, with no help whatsoever. 

See the finished product? A very cool spaceship from the third Star Wars movie, complete with a min-Luke Skywalker figure. Chris was very pleased. 

And here are two shots of little Kaity-girl. She is a real cutie. I didn't get to see much of her today because she was at daycare most of the day, coming home just in time for dinner, a little play time, and then ... sleep! 

We read some fun books tonight during story time. Last night, we had read the book: "Those Darn Squirrels," by Adam Rubin ~ and tonight we read: "Those Darn Squirrels and the Cat Next Door." Both books are hilarious little stories, wonderfully illustrated. My niece, Shelley, recommended them over on her Book Diary blog. We've also read two funny pirate books. I have many more good books to share with the children, and lots and fun little art projects to work on over the weekend. I'll try to post some pictures of those activities ... soon!