Catching Up

Life has been very busy around here lately. Last week the kids had 2 days off from school for their student led conferences. Hannah went first on Wednesday morning. We had so much fun! We began the conference in the "well" where they also begin their day. We listened to them sing their thrass rap alphabet song and then they talked about the calendar and the weather. The weather on Wednesday was "dull", as the British say, and cold. (The day before we woke up to snow covering everything and depending on when we looked outside, saw hail, sleet, rain and sunshine all in the same day!) After our beginning in the well, Hannah was able to show us math games she has played, her language arts station where she matched up the names of her classmates with their pictures, and she showed us her portfolio with all of the work she has done since she began school. We then moved on to the craft where we attempted to make a kite. Daddy made it just in time for the portfolio and the kite making and then we all had lunch. Nathan's conference was after lunch and it was just as much fun. We saw a video of the class making art projects after their visit to an art exhibit last fall. He showed us all of his work including a book that he had written and illustrated by hand and then typed and illustrated using a power point program on the computer. Amazing what he is doing in kindergarten!

Daddy volunteered to coach Nathan's tee ball team and at the oh so important tee ball draft on Thursday night, somehow ended up as the commissioner of the tee ball league. Yes, there is tee ball in Belgium and no, it is not normal here. It is a group founded by Americans, but the really fun thing is, that European kids do play. One of Nathan's friends from Denmark is nervous to play because he doesn't know what tee ball (0r baseball for that matter) is.

So yes, my husband, The Commissioner, could be fielding a lot of phone calls from angry parents regarding the team lists. That is the rumor. Apparently the lists should remain top secret until released by the BSA (Brussels Sports Association). We had no idea tee ball would be taken so seriously in Europe.

Mommy has volunteered to help with the PreK craft project to be auctioned at Family Day this year. So far I have spent way more time than I care to admit making little animals out of my thumbprints, organizing Hannah's class of 21 kids into groups of 3 and 4, shopping for paint, tiles and a very large tray...I'm a bit overwhelmed by what I've gotten myself into, but hopefully in the end we'll have a finished project that some lucky parent will take home for the bargain price of 200 Euros or so. Yes, that is ludicrous, but a bowl "made" by one of the Pre K classes last year went for 250 Euros. We can all attest that parents do crazy things in the name of love!

So we are beginning another week juggling our new tasks and our old ones. This week Mommy will be spending time in Hannah's class on 3 different days working on the auction project and one day helping out with cooking. Yes, I am finally brave enough to take on cooking outside of my home with 21 preschoolers. Thankfully they are not all in the kitchen at once and thankfully making parfaits constitutes cooking. Ha ha.

Nathan begins swimming with his kindergarten class on Tuesday. He is a lot less nervous now that he has mastered swimming at his weekly lessons without floaties. From what I understand they spend so much time getting the kids organized and on the buses, over to the pool, out of the buses, into the dressing rooms, into their suits and swimming caps, that there is not a whole lot of time for swimming. There are 3 kindergarten classes of about 15 to 18 kids and they all go at the same time. There are parent volunteers to help them change, but then the instructors have them all. Chaos? I think so.

Next weekend will be busy as well. Daddy and Mommy are planning to run a 12K here in Waterloo as a warm up to the 20K we've signed up for in Brussels in May. Hopefully the weather isn't as dreadful as it was today. Palm Sunday at our church consists of an Easter egg hunt and a potluck lunch. Immediately after church is the kick off for tee ball and baseball season--which doesn't really begin until after the Easter break in April, but apparently next Sunday is the best time to kick it off.

We can't believe that Nana and Papa will be here in 2 weeks! The kids are doing well. They had a lot of fun this weekend. Nathan was busy playing tennis with Daddy and friends and then went over to another friend's house for the afternoon. Hannah attended a birthday party for her friend, Oscar, from Luxembourg. It was quite an event with a bounce house, a fairy/magician with a violin, a talking cake and games that wouldn't stop. 3 hours into the party, Mommy pretended to get an urgent call and made up an excuse to leave. These are 3 year olds, mind you! Party all the time, party all the time. She and Sarah both had a great time and I was so glad I had my camera to get some video of the crazy event. I'll share some soon along with a video of Sarah and her friend Josephine chatting and some crazy nose picker in our family.

For now, must get some sleep.