Feelin' the Love!

Allison and her amazing chocolate chip cookies.

Josh and Matt love to sample the cookies.

Watch out! Ninja Cookie Girl.

Boys basketball warming up. (Check out the blue socks. My officers dyed them.)

Some of my officers selling ribbons.

The PJ video game crew

Still going....

Our vicious dog Cocoa waiting for love.

...so sweet.

Happy Valentines Day! Steve and I spent the afternoon at a friend's wedding. It was very nice; we even danced a little.

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Steve spent the week before in Vancouver at the Assistant Principal Conference. He had a great time and learned lots. Of course, the rest of us in Moses Lake missed him and were trying to keep up with all the crazy week. I orchestrated a Cancer Awareness Week at the high school. We recognized a different type of cancer each day with PSA's on the announcements. We also sold over 1000 bandanas in the different colors throughout the week. We also dressed up in those different colors. We bought team warm up jerseys and both the girls and boys basketball teams wore socks (that we dyed) in pink and blue in awareness of breast cancer and prostate cancer. It was a new undertaking for my ASB kids, so we weren't quite sure how well it would be accepted. Amazingly it went great. My officers (and me) spent the evenings at both basketball games selling ribbons and taking donations. We ended up gathering almost 1500 dollars with the proceeds going to our local Cancer foundation. It was a huge undertaking and it felt great spreading the awareness message. Of course, I was sick during the whole event, but I went to school every day keeping the momentum moving forward.

Last Friday, my officers and I also put on our annual Couch Olympics assembly. It was another huge event that went well, but I am truly glad that it is over. And next Wednesday we host 70 + students from high schools around the region in a big leadership conference. I'm planning to have my breakdown the following week. :) (I keep threatening.)

Cub Scouts keeps moving forward. Josh is very close to finishing his wolf badge. After Matt completes another overnight trip with his troop in the next few weeks, he will also advance. I am really grateful for the day off tomorrow for Presidents Day. Hopefully I can breathe a little bit. Miss you all. :) Deb

Pinewood Derby Fun

Matt eating pizza.

Cubmaster Mom gives Josh his certificate.

Proud Mom and Dad with Josh and his winning car.

Josh had a great time!

The crowd watches the race!

The boys bond with Cocoa.

What another fun week! This Tuesday was our annual Pinewood Derby race- Josh's first. We had a fun time. Pizza and cookies for everyone at the race. The whole family went, and we had a great time watching the races and hanging out with friends. Josh ended up with first place in the Wolf division, so its on to districts in March.

The girls had young women's game night on Wednesday. Alli's favorite was the game "Apples to Apples." Thursday was piano; Steve took Matt and Alli. Shawna and I spent over an hour shopping at Walmart with my ASB president for high school events. On Friday, Shawna helped me after school get ready. We finally left around 5 and went straight to Steve's school. My ASB officers helped lead a middle school leadership retreat. I mostly got to sit back and enjoy as my officers did their thing. They did a great job. Steve and I got to hang out and supervise. Steve had stayed home with a sick Josh on Friday as well. Shawna hid in a classroom on a computer, so she didn't mind. We finally left about 8 pm. I spent Saturday in bed sick mostly, other than running the girls everywhere.

Shawna and Allison spent the morning at a young women's conference at the stake center from 9:30 to 2:30. Then at 4:00, Alli auditioned for our stake play "Beauty and the Beast." She did an amazing job, even though she refused to sing in front of me. Then, she went into town again for the "Rock Band" night at the church.

We are gearing up for a really crazy one next week. Steve leaves on Tuesday for his vice-principal conference in Vancouver, so I'm playing single mom this week. Of course it has to be a huge one at the high school, so I'm just hoping to survive all the chaos.

We miss you and love you all. Have a great week! :) Deb

January woes- I need some sunshine!

It was a fairly uneventful week. We had Monday off for MLK day, a two hour delay on Wednesday due to ice, and Friday off as a record keeping day.

We are currently keying up for Pinewood Derby on Tuesday- Josh's first one. Steve and Josh spent Saturday at school using the shop to cut out and fix his car. The pictures are attached as proof that Josh did most of the work. I don't know how many cub scouts actually do their own cars; I think it is a dad's excuse to make a car. ???? Oh well. Josh had a great time.

Matt spent Friday morning at school in a full run through of his play Annie. For those of you that are interested, his play is on Thursday, March 5th in the evening. It should be a fun show. He also spent Saturday morning at a merit badge clinic doing his citizen merit badge. He should be promoted any day to the second class rank. Pretty cool!

High school starts new semester classes tomorrow with new students. Shawna is excited to attend Science and History this semester- her favorite subjects. I start two 9th grade English classes and my ASB group- mostly with new students. My officers stay the same, but the rest are new.

Alli stays after school at least three nights a week to study for her Science Olympiad event coming up in March. This year she is doing a building event- Bridge building. She loves every minute of it!

We are all looking forward to a little needed sunshine. I'm tired of the cold, and I am very much looking forward to Hawaii over spring break! Miss you much. Try to stay warm. :) Deb

Winter Mayhem

MLHS ASB board 2008-2009.

It went from really cold with mountains of snow in our yard, to puddles of muck in a day. I know western Washington got it worse than we did, but it did make quite a mess.

Matt got to have a bit more winter fun when his Boy Scout troup went up to Winter Camp north of Wenatchee. He passed off a few things and then spent the rest of the day sledding. He had a great time. His Scoutmaster reported that Matthew was a diehard. Everyone else got cold and headed to the lodge, but Matt kept going and going and going. I don't have pictures yet; hopefully I'll have them soon.

Steve and I went out on Friday night and played pool at a friend's birthday party. Though I haven't played in about 20 years (wow- how is that even possible?) we had a great time and even won a few games. Saturday night, I went out "with the girls" in our ward for a group visiting teaching event and watched "Bride Wars." It was cute, but very chick flicky, so I'm glad to have friends to share with.

I'm posting some pictures from my ASB Christmas party that I haven't posted yet. I am blessed with a great group of officers, and we have lots of fun working together.

Miss you all! Deb

Snow Day!

We awoke suddenly on Monday morning with a phone call that informed us that school was cancelled for the day because of snow. Woohoo! So we loaded up the family in the suburban and headed off to the snow covered sand dunes for some major sledding. We took the four wheeler and covered even more ground. We had a great time together on our bonus Christmas vacation day. :)

The rest of the week was back to business as usual with scouts, young women's activities and school. I spent the week grading papers and getting ready for the end of the semester (only 8 more school days).

We are off to another crazy week upcoming. Miss you and love you all. Banda family

Happy New Year!

Katie loved her new High School Musical shirt.

Shawna helped Katie finish her Brown Bear puzzle.

A puzzle work in progress.

Katie loved her new shirt from Aunt Debbie.

Cocoa rested on Shawna's lap during the trip.

Shawna and Allison all dressed up for New Year's Eve.

Katie loved to hear Matt read to her.

Alli played with both Cocoa and Jem.

It has been quite a week around the Banda house. We have basically spent the week in denial avoiding the topic of school starting again tomorrow. (Boo!) We spent the weekend in Wenatchee at Greg and Michelle's house playing cards and avoiding the world. We had a great time! Greg cooked a turkey, so we had a Thanksgiving Two and exchanged a few presents. Cocoa got to meet their new dog Jem. They had a great time chasing each other over the yard.

For New Year's Eve, the girls attended a dance at the church. They had a great time hanging out with friends and dancing. The boys and I hung out at the house and watched the ball drop.

School starts tomorrow. It is hard to believe that the semester is almost over. Wish us all luck. It is currently snowing, and we are all hoping for a two hour delay. Much love to all, Deb