End of the school year

The end of the school year is a very busy time. We have school concerts, conferences, and parties galore. And being expats only compounds the issue because everyone leaves for the summer so there are so many loose ends to tie up at home and at church as well. So this month has been busy with not only school events, but church parties and activities; and on the home front holidays (Mother's day, our anniversary, my birthday,) doctor's appointments, getting organized to lock the door for 7 weeks, and so on. So the calender is about ready to burst. And we missed pictures of most of it, unfortunately. I don't know if it is laziness or craziness.

Maggie had a musical concert at school that was really fun along with a walk-a-thon recently where the 2nd graders walked or ran laps to raise money for several local charities. Maggie has a very philonthropically oriented mind and is always wanting to give things to people (starting at home with her siblings.) She ran 8 laps and walked 8 laps in the 1 hour they had allotted. She tied with one other 2nd grader for the most laps. When she puts her mind to something, she has a surprising amount of endurance. She has also surprised Joseph recently when she has gone running with him. Maggie is wrapping up a fantastic year and has grown a lot. She will say goodbye to "Ms. Fabulous"--that is really what Maggie calls her teacher Ms. Farris, which I concur wholeheartedly.

At the end of the year we go to student-led conferences at the school. This is a chance for the students to lead their parents through their year by sharing a portfolio they put together which represents the year, along with various displays and such in their classroom. We sat down with Abigail at Maggie at their desks and listened to them as they talked to us about their math, reading and writing. Abigail and Maggie also led us around the campus to their "specials" which means art, PE, music, Chinese, and science lab. We visited the art show featuring their art. We played badminton with the girls in the gym, conversed with Abigail in Chinese, listened to Maggie play the gamelon (Indonesian instrument,) and watched Maggie show us how to balance a bird on her nose in the science lab. It really is a highlight for the kids and a chance for them to show us how much they have learned and what they have enjoyed throughout the year.

Abigail had a swim-a-thon event as well and had 15 minutes to swim as many laps as she could to raise money for the 4th grade charitable event. She is not too fond of swimming but she did a great job swimming 14 laps. She also has had a productive year with Mr. Roach, an incredibly energetic and dedicated teacher, who has helped her learn to work hard, challenge herself in reading, research, write with a strong voice, and work independently. I think she was a little intimidated by him and she has worked on overcoming her hesitant nature in approaching others and working in groups.

I also had the privilege to attend Abigail's music concert featuring gamelan instruments from Indonesia. Both girls have a chance to spend part of their music instruction in this room and it is always a highlight. Abigail's 4th grade class did a great job performing traditional Indonesian music.

Shower Curtain Innovation and such

Innovation with a shower curtain . . . and another good reason to turn the TV off (only we don't really have TV anyway.) I had to make a puppet theatre for my activity day girls that I work with at church. They practiced scripture puppet shows for their activity on Wednesday night and performed them for the nursery kids and sunbeams at church on Sunday. It is especially fun to work with the girls at church when 2 of the 16 are mine. Maggie was thrilled to turn 8 and get to come with Abigail and I to the activities.

All throughout the weekend the kids were busy putting on puppet shows here at home. Ella was the targeted audience; however she prefers more interactive shows where she can touch the puppets and go up to talk to them. It turns out that I was the most dependable and desired audience and had the privilege of watching many puppet shows these last few days with Juliet sitting contentedly on my lap. What great imaginative fun.

It is hard to see, but Abigail and Maggie have on little finger puppets and made food displays for their rendition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

We have several setbacks this month (May) with flu's and fevers. It started with a really bad flu virus running rampant in SAS and wiping our entire classrooms of kids. My children all got that one, keeping Abigail and Maggie out of school for an entire week. Then a few weeks later, we had a strange fever starting with Xander, going down the line and hitting a home run with Juliet by the end of a week. And if that weren't enough already, Abigail is now sick with another fever and respiratory ailment. And I can't forget the mysterious "polka dot disease" that began one Monday afternoon with Abigail and quickly spread to her siblings within a matter of 15 minutes. This one was truly baffling. Luckily, it only lasted through the evening and disappeared as mysteriously as it had come.

Ella is quite an active character and loves to literally follow in my footsteps.

And we just don't take enough pictures of Juliet. She is so cute and easy going. It has got to be tough sometimes surviving the noise and chaos of 4 older siblings. Just the other day, I rescued her from a peanut butter and honey sandwich that Ella was so generously sharing by trying to shove it down her throat. Dangerous on 3 accounts.

Busy Day

I had quite the day yesterday. It started early with Xander's surgery to get his tonsils out. After 3 bouts of tonsillitis in the first 4 months of this year alone, not to mention previous years, 105 degree fevers and copious amounts of antibiotics, we decided it was time to have them removed. However, no matter how minor the surgery, it is still a scary prospect to be an accomplice to putting your child to sleep in the OR and then waiting outside while they take something sharp to his throat. The part where he is waking up out of the anesthesia certainly isn't my favorite either, holding him and trying to calm his thrashing about; avoiding looking into his bloody throat while he cries, "no more surgery," as he attempts to jump up and run. I can't speak from experience, but Joseph says that is the worst part of it all: waking up. All said and done, it went well and he came home several hours later to ice cream and his big surprise.

Xander waiting to go into the OR.

And I came home to a surprise as well. A pit viper had crossed through our yard and Marifi spotted another curled up on a leaf in the neighbor's banana tree that used to partially hang over the fence into our yard. Another brown snake was seen in the same tree and most of my afternoon was spent figuring out what kind of snakes they might be and what to do about it. After reading and researching online, and based on the description (green with distinct white bands,) we are convinced it was a viper. I called the pest control company and by the time he finally made his way out here, the snakes were gone, scared away no doubt by the noise and confusion. I was quite disappointed on two accounts: I wanted the reassurance of knowing at least one of our slithering friends was permanently gone; and the pest control man finding the viper and killing it promised to be an exciting show from my front row seat in the kitchen looking out the window. After he left, Marifi quickly cut all the banana leaves that hung over toward us and we will be constantly vigilant from here on out, that's for sure.

This is a photo of the Pit Viper I pulled off the Internet on a site with info on snakes in Southeast Asia, including Singapore.

Headbands

None of my kids have grown hair very quickly, with Ella being the slowest to date. Her hair is growing in curly though and it is rather cute, so I am being patient. I did pull out these headbands that my sisters gave me for Juliet. I thought I might try one on Ella and see how it looked. She loves anything "princessy" now so all you have to do is call it a princess dress or hat to make her more than willing to wear it. Putting one on Juliet first did the trick (Ella adores Juliet) and she was excited for hers. I also love her blue eyes--like her dad's and Grandma Gordhamer's. They are fun girls