I love when I find pictures like this on the "Facebook" of this side of the world. I don't often see her during her black belt class, so this was a nice surprise :)
These girls are trying to get in some last minute swimming before the pools close! They said the water was pretty cold this day :)
Ok. I just had to screenshot this text message that I received from one of my children at 11pm...I laughed out loud because I could so see him saying this.
It's here! The first day of school! Hudson 2nd grade
Lauren 4th grade (We later realized that she wore the same shirt last year for first day of school pictures...haha!)
Katherine 5th grade (check out those long fingers! and the socks and sandals...well, sure, why not) :)
Benjamin 8th grade (also with crazy long fingers)
Regan 9th grade (in high school already!?)
Then a group picture with "the teacher" haha!
They are studying hard. Tonight at dinner Katherine said, "What week are we on? 5 or 6?" I said three. Her reply was priceless..."Oh no! Then I've done too much work. I thought we've been doing school longer than that!"
NorthStar Academy...high school...lots of work, plus she takes taekwondo nearly every day, takes violin lessons, and helps me teach some little ones English.
He's starting strong this year...he's got quite a bit heavier load than last year. It's going to be tough, but I think the coffee he's started drinking every morning puts him on the right track ;) He's growing up, too.
Grace correcting Lauren's Chinese characters
So, this girl right here. She is determined. Their is a professional ballet coming to town from another country. They were holding auditions in our city for kids who wanted a part. They would then choose 20. Lauren's teacher asked her if she wanted to audition and then helped Lauren on a solo dance for the audition. (Because I'm so late on the blog, I already have the results.) She was chosen!!! She will be a fairy in Sleeping Beauty. She was so excited because it's the only kid part that uses pointe shoes. I can't wait to see it!! It's fun to see the kids doing what they love!
This guy right here. He set his alarm for 6am so that he could get up and make a healthy breakfast for everyone. It was REALLY good!! The reason I know what time he got up is because that's when he came into my room to wake me up and ask where to find a hairband because his cookbook said if you have long hair you should pull it back. :)
The finished product. Sunrise Muffins. He made so many and it's a good thing, too! They didn't last very long.
Poor Lauren. She was walking the dogs when I ran into her on my way home. The dogs were trying so hard to get to me.
Again. I like finding my kids on different things. Katherine really enjoys soccer. I am so glad she found something she loves (and now has a really good friend who is playing with her)!
Spoiled Puppies. The girls snuck them into the bedroom to work on their schoolwork. Hmmm.
An early birthday present from Ayi....Seaweed! One of her favorites!
The call before the storm...Actually the calm between two storms. A smaller typhoon had just come and gone.
But we new the super typhoon was headed our way when they started sending all of "our" boats in the bay up the river further inland.
Regan finished all of these puzzles...now it's time to clean them back up.
Everyone started preparing for the big storm. I get the sandbags...the saran wrapped guard house was a nice touch ;)
Yep, all the boats are gone!
And so is all the food!
These are just some of the preparations some people made...it made us smile.
Let's built a big brace to hold our sliding glass door in place!
My friend said that she hoped she had enough food for 3 days. I guess she is going to eat the same HUGE bun every day for every meal! My fridge did NOT look like this ;)
interesting
This one was taken from the girls' bedroom window. Yes, those are blankets on the car and sandbags holding them down.
Once the storm started, we just hung out. Katherine and Ayi were playing cards.
Gracie found a safe place with Regan.
This storm was pretty wild. The storm surge, the wind, everything. It was really interesting because the wind completely changed directions as it passed through. So, I enjoyed looking out occasionally to see which way the trees were leaning.
During some of the roughest winds, the dogs decided that they needed to be right with the kids. They all enjoyed watching 101 Dalmatians. :)
The flooding around our house
We did lose power, but had candles...
...and battery powered Christmas lights. The lights came in handy when trying to cook some noodles to eat.
candlelight dinner. We were pretty tired by this point because we had three different rooms where water was pouring in. So while the kids watched some shows, we were doing damage control.
The next morning was still pretty windy, but these girls came with me to walk the dogs (who refused to go to the bathroom in the house the entire time!!!) I think they might have set a world record ;)
This cat has a great laid back personality! He's getting so big! Hard to believe he's not quite 5 months yet.
Katherine teaching Grace how to make banana bread
The kids decided that Cookie needed a thrown. He was pleased ;)
After the storm, the kids all helped clean up.
And we took a walk to survey some of the damage.
It was AMAZING how fast the city got cleaned up. There were soon many people (paid and volunteers) pitching in to get it done.
The girls caught a frog. Grace's face cracks me up!
Lauren was the only one brave enough :)
Regan had a science experiment...look closely at the top right...it's the S from a Skittle. It's the only part of the skittle that didn't ever dissolve...and it stayed in it's shape perfectly. Makes me wonder what that S really is if and acid can't dissolve it.
The younger girls planting some seeds.
After the storm we were pretty low on food, so we went out to eat.
The dogs were about to go get a haircut/bath.
Benjamin LOVED that his homework told hime to draw on his hand. A topographic map
A friend of mine moved to a new apartment. She sent me these next two photos.
brothers bonding over Minecraft
Katherine and Grace heading to soccer class.
