Happy Valentine's Day!

This was an all around fabulous day!

The district had an early dismissal day, so our school used it to make our now annual school wide lip-synch video.  The kids did a phenomenal job and were just so excited about all of it!  The final won't be ready for a while, but here's a glimpse of how it ended.

 

This morning, I mentioned that I thought some students had a surprise for today.   I was right!  One of my ESL kiddos was so intrigued by my stories of Zambia, that she decided she wanted to do something to help the kids I shared with them.  She went to her Advisory class a couple of days ago, shared about the students in Zambia in her best English, and asked them to bring in money to help.  Her little advisory class brought her $34 in just a couple of days, and she presented it to me as my Valentine present today.  Pretty sure that's the best gift this teacher has ever gotten.  It was be sent to help the students that I know so well and help keep Helen Devos at a 100% graduation rate!

Isaac had today off for his flex Friday, so he picked me up at 1:00, and we headed into town to visit the zoo.  It's been in the 30s and 40 for weeks and weeks, but today was in the mid-70s.  Oh, thank You, Lord, for the change!  I know so much of the country would love to be in the 30s and 40s, but I live in Houston for a reason.  It's not supposed to be that cold!  Ugh.  Anyway, 10 days ago, Tara the giraffe had a new baby named Baridi (Swahili for cold because it's been so gosh darn cold), and Shanti the Asian elephant had Duncan a week ago today.  We were itching to get to the zoo to 'meet' these new darlings.  Baridi was totally soaking up the sun and the visitors.  Duncan was inside with Shanti getting a vet check, but he was still showing off a bit through the window.  For an elephant, he's just tiny!  Both babes are precious, and if the weather holds, we'll be back in a week!

Duncan blends in with Shanti's back leg, but you can see his eye pretty clearly!  :)

After the zoo we headed to Central Market for their Chocolate Extravaganza.  We wanted the samples, and they were yummy!  We'll have dinner out tomorrow; neither of us felt like fighting crowds tonight.  And, we have an extra pup this weekend and figured the 3 furbabies had been left home alone long enough.  They're playing and munching doggie strawberry Valentine cookies while we watch the Olympics.  Very, very awesome day!