The kids are so glad to be in the full swing of things! They are all finally in classes OUTSIDE the home and loving it! Katherine and Benjamin are taking an art class this semester. It's not your ordinary art class for drawing. This one is very hands on and requires creative thinking...no copying! This is an unusual class around here and my kids are loving it! They have designed (on paper) their home and now they are begin taught step by step how to build a model of it. The teachers have been so impressed with these two that they have offered to let them choose any of their other art classes to take for free!
These two REALLY wanted to do something "fun" and asks if they could go swimming. I agreed to take them but not swim myself. Notice that the pool is empty....there was a reason for that. Rain and no sun for a week makes a pool COLD.
Regan also came to sit with me and used the time to practice her photography skills by the pool. :)
The kids have also started decorating for Katherine's party (still a week away)
Regan surprised Katherine with the octopus. I think she liked it ;)
The kids continued to practice and master some of the bones of the body this week. I put the names of several bones on post-it notes and they labeled the correct bones that way. It was fun :)
Oh My! I do believe Benjamin has had a bit of a growth spurt!!! I couldn't believe how short this pj pants had gotten.
I let Regan use some whiteboard markers to decorate the marrow in the girls' bathroom (an idea we read in a book) The did such a good job! It's hard to see in this picture, but at the bottom it says "I am a child of God" I pray that they each remember that every time they look in the mirror! :)
So intense
Our apartment complex had a celebration for Mid-Autumn Festival. The kids had a lot of fun.
They had several games they could play and got to intermingle with other kids from our complex.
They even got to make their own moon cakes!
There was a clown who made fun balloons for the kids.
This game was ALL of the kids favorite. Who doesn't like throwing darts at balloons. If you popped a balloon there was a red note inside as your prize. The kids were seeing how many they could collect.
These two got hats from the clown! I have enjoyed watching Katherine and Regan this week. Katherine is starting to grow up and have more in common with her big sister. Sometimes she is all games and fun with Lauren and Hudson, sometimes she is completely silly and full of laughs with Benjamin, and then their are times when I catch her having "big girl" talks with Regan about books or their favorite scents of lotion/bath soap. Fun to watch.
Hudson and Katherine both won some dish washing soap and Benjamin won some hand soap. Now those are the kinds of prizes I like! The kids loved winning them and it helps the moms and dads out, too!
After the games downstairs, we stopped by our neighbor's house because they said they had something to give us (moon cakes.....the traditional gift on this day) and when the kids knocked they said, "Come in and play!" (at 9:00pm) So, a fun late night for all.
The next day, our friends from our old city came to surprise us! We ate, played, went swimming, and ate again!
The many side of Lauren...She got to start learning how to spar in taekwondo yesterday! She loved it!
Regan also was sparing yesterday. She's done it before, but she never been able to have opponents her size, so it was much more fun and she didn't have to worry about accidentally hurting someone ;)
We saw this crazy car driving down the street. Where are they going to park that thing? It was huge!
We always like to check out the imported section of the grocery store when we go. You never know. Every once in awhile you find a treasure. And then sometimes you find this...Christmas chocolates...from last year...and we thing they may have been snowmen? or mice? EVERY single one on two rows was completely destroyed. There is no way I'm paying almost 5 US dollars for broken and old chocolate :) The kids had fun trying to guess what it was though!
My little helper. Katherine has always loved loving on Charlie and brushing his fur. We have managed to finally keep him know free with the new come that we bought a few months ago. He is so much prettier, too!
And this is the other side of Lauren (and the one we see most often). My little dancer. She LOVES ballet so much. She would take every day if she could. IT is her goal to be a ballet teacher when she grows up. If you look closely, you can see her through the door of the dance studio. :)
