Yes, life has caught up with me. the realities of work and the crazy-busy days, nights and attempt at relaxation on the weekends has reorganized my priorities....hence, the lack of posts in the past month. YIKES!!
So, here goes.....the past month.
Lucas and I spent one day at the Guangzhou Science Museum. There were so many different areas to explore, experiments that kids could participate in and activities to try. What a great day!
Lucas had been going to the after school soccer team on Wednesday's after school. After a couple practices, the coaches asked him to try out for the weekend under 8 team, which is a competing team. So, last weekend, we went to the tryouts. They have asked him to continue on this new team, which is a great opportunity for him to learn more skills and play with other kids who are a bit more experienced. He is very excited about this new opportunity!!!
He really loves to play soccer and the coaches have been impressed with his drive and determination when he is going after the ball. It has been really exciting for me to watch too, time to just be a mom, watching her kid. :) Especially since I have NO soccer skills, I am in no danger of being asked to assist in any way. I can just enjoy watching him play. :)
Soccer has been a big part of our last month!!
The school soccer team
And the new soccer team
At school, my year 5 class started buddy reading with Lucas' class. It has been a really nice opportunity for him to have some big buddies to hang out and read with him.
In my card making class, which I have offered as an after school activity this quarter, Lucas has had a chance to make cards along with the other kids. and he has made some pretty cool ones
In Lucas' class, they were studying family traditions. I had the chance to come into his class and share about some of our family traditions, which was a great opportunity for me to come into his class. At the end of the unit, they had a showcase and invited all of the Year 5 big buddies to come so they could share with us. Lucas read about his tradition that he chose to share and answered questions his big buddies asked. It was a PROUD MOMMA moment being able to see how my big first grader was sharing the great work he had done
In my class, we also completed our first unit and then had our very first Family Night of the year, which was a HUGE SUCCESS! I was proud of how well the kids did explaining difficult concepts to their parents and how proud they were to show off their work
.
Here on the homestead, we have explored our new complex, finding a "spooky" path behind the buildings. During this 'hike' we also discovered a hidden garden, a beautiful flower bush and a teensy weensy little frog. During this trip, Lucas had taken one of his books and was keeping a journal of the things he saw along this journey. This got him all geared up for drawing, and once we returned home, he began giving me drawing lessons, which he said I would have to take a couple times each week....
Lucas and I also went on a different day with Camilla, Majken and Solveig for foot and back massages. It was really relaxing and a great way to spend an afternoon!
We had a chance a few weeks ago to go with Lucas' friend Katie and her dad to see the Minions movie, IN 3D! Oh man, if you haven't seen it, it is funny! We had a really great time, and the best part was that it was shown in English right near our house in Longdong, awesome
The last thing that has taken our (well, actually, mostly MY) time is baking and making new, healthy and delicious foods. Since we live so far from town and the foods we tend to buy (imported ones) are rather expensive, it has been my new mission to make instead of buy. This has inspired: multi-grain bread, granola bars, cheese crackers (think cheese-its), soy nuggets, and most recently salsa, YUM
soy nuggets
bread
cheese crackers
Salsa --yep, I cheated with 2 small cans of tomato paste
Then FINALLY, is was time for the holiday.We spent some greatly needed friend time during our last weekend and last family night before heading off four our week-long adventure, here we go!
