VIP Grandpas!

Friday the 18th of November was VIP Day at St. Paul's - each student got to bring his or her own VIP to class for the day.

Of course Gramps and Grandpa are already VIPs in our book, but it was nice that they could be officially recognized at school and spend the day with the kids!

Gramps and Grandpa arrived at about the same time on Thursday. Deacon hadn't been feeling well at school, so I picked him up early. Funny how he miraculously began to feel better at the sight of his two grandpas!

Baking enthusiast Grandpa decided to bake something with the kids to share with each class. Always up for a challenging new experience, Gramps decided to join in!

Working hard!

Taking a "union break".

Back to work.

Gramps prepares to put the Oatmeal Fudgies in the oven, under the watchful eye of Grandpa.

There they go!

NEXT! Chocolate Chip Cookies with Deacon.

Grandpa was at the Sacramento airport at 6:00 AM and was mixing up cookie dough many, many hours later.

Men at work.

Dinner for the hard-working bakers: In-N-Out Burger!

Friday at St. Paul's: VIP Day!

Grandpa and Deacon (wearing Grandpa's authentic sailor hat, circa 1956). Grandpa served on the USS Ranger, and his navy stories were a big hit with the 4th graders!

Gramps joins Maren in 2nd Grade!

All done.

The next VIP day will be sometime in 2013. GRANDMAS, start planning your presentations now!!

School Pictures!

Presenting this year's school pictures, which just came in today!

Deacon, Grade 4

Maren, Grade 2

Carving Pumpkins!

Just another quick catch-up post... Derek bravely carved pumpkins last Sunday evening, Oct. 30.

Maren's pumpkin:

Deacon's pumpkin:

There was a mishap with, well, most of the face. But Deacon liked it anyway!

The costumes, waiting to be worn the next day.

Next post: Hitting the streets of Burbank in costume!

Catching Up: Trunk or Treat!

Now that our crazy October has ended, I can finally catch up on some things! From October 21... here are a few pictures of the annual school tradition that is Trunk or Treat!

New year, new car, new theme for our trunk! This year, it's all about Angry Birds.

Payton and Maren!

Payton sticks her head in the beak.

A profile of Deacon...

Maren and her class made this pumpkin!

After doing a bit of Trunk or Treating, Deacon spent the rest of the evening at his 4th grade desk, reading! Must have been a good book.

Deacon poses with a friend, who tried on the costume.

Had to get a jump when our car battery went dead (ONLY running inside car lights and music from my cell phone, as all other lights/devices were plugged into the 4th grade classroom)... but otherwise it was without incident. Except for when Maren (in costume) was mobbed and fell into the planter. But other than that...

Check back soon for coverage of Pumpkin Carving and Trick-or-Treating/CCB Fun Fest!

BREAKING NEWS: POTUS visits Burbank

It's not every day this person gets to be featured on the AFB...

Here he is in Car Force One: The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!

Our west coast political correspondents Brent and Mary were on the scene today at the gas station when President Obama and his friends drove by. Here's some raw video, just in to AFB HQ!

This was the scene from Tower Command Central as Derek provided aerial surveillance of the events on the ground, which included Brent and Mary's posts on the street and the President's Marine One helicopter on the tarmac at Bob Hope Airport. From AFB HQ, Terri was on Speaker Phone One relating updates from her Twitter feed.

Marine One and Marine Two fly from Burbank to LAX, where Air Force One was scheduled to depart 10 minutes later. Only the President could get from Burbank to LAX in 10 minutes!

We're very thankful to all of our special correspondents for this in-depth coverage. We feel today's cooperative effort has set a new standard for journalistic excellence.

After today's events, Brent was quoted as saying:

"First I report on Tsunami warning sirens from Maui, then an earthquake in Okinawa and now the President of the United States. I almost feel I should retire from reporting because there is not much left to cover."

Brent has been on the scene of many exciting and important world events, and we anticipate that this is not the last of them. We therefore encourage him to postpone his retirement and remain the AFB's Most Special Field Correspondent of Everything for as long as possible!

Fall Festival 2011!

We survived our 5th annual Fall Festival at St. Paul's!

Here are Maren and Deacon in this year's costumes (which are still in progress, but we did our best to get them ready for the parade yesterday)... drumroll...

Angry Birds!

(Maren is the black bird, Deacon is the red bird. Special thanks of course to Velta, who worked late into Friday night to get these in shape.)

Other noteworthy costumes and generally cute kids... Count Cute-ula himself... here's SETH...

Red Five, standing by.

He never says much, but Darth Maul is impressive in any size.

Daddy with our 2nd Grade winner - Maren!

Deacon has visibility issues... he really can't see anything... so we're going to fix that before his next outing in the costume at Trunk or Treat this coming Friday.

From an Angry Bird to a happy kid. The debut of the Beginner Band, with Deacon on the snare drum!

Now he's on the bass drum. He and Caitlyn, the rhythm section, switch off. Those versatile percussionists!

It was hard to get a good shot of the kids singing in the choir, but if anyone blocks our view we're happy it's Vincent, who's the nicest kid in the school.

Maren, ready to sing.

Finally, Sarah and Terri man the most popular booth at the festival: the prize booth! We were busy, but the shade and the nice breeze made it one of the better places to spend the day.

Much more to come during this very very busy October! Check back soon for an update!

A Short Film by Deacon and Daddy

Special thanks to Maren, Director of Photography.