GEMS awards night

The girls completed their first year of GEMS Bible club.  They had a blast meeting every other Wednesday night with these girls.  They each worked hard and earned a lot of badges :)

There were three Lydia's in her class!  Ack!  How in the world did we choose such a popular name?

Julianna seems tall to me but this night I noticed that she was shorter than all but one of her classmates (all 4th graders).  Hmmm, maybe she's not as tall as I thought she was ;)

With their teachers, Ms. Denise

and Ms. Anna.  Thankful for both these ladies and the time they invested in my daughters!

the girls are looking forward to another year in GEMs starting next fall :)

pizza night

Make your own pizza night.  Always a crowd pleaser.

Especially this particular night because I really let each kid make theirs and only theirs and do just what they wanted.

[I counseled John Paul against his "pile the toppings in the center" strategy but what does a momma know?}

 

[also, I was in a bit of a rush and didn't get too many perfect circles with the pizza dough rolling!]

Isaac's grump face because his was the last to go in, and the last to come out, of the oven! Rumbly tummy syndrome.

It does take a while to get all those individual pizzas through, even baking on both racks.  But worth it, for the fun of getting something that is exactly what you wanted, and made by you and just for you.  yum.

soccer at school (for Isaac)

Over the past few weeks Isaac has spent extra time at school with his soccer team.

They were preparing for the "opening ceremony" of the spring sports days at school.  

He would rather just play soccer games, and more soccer games (and preferably win all of them) but working on this group soccer show was fun too. 

He likes school ok, but he likes soccer a lot, so having soccer at school is a big plus.  And he's working on teaching the little brothers a few soccer things too.  Last Saturday he had them out on the basketball courts in our complex, working on kicking :)

Any school-wide performance at this school is a big deal (2000 students grades 1-9) and he was nervous on the morning of the big show.  All the students marching in, lining up by class and grade, and the center of the field as the 'stage'.  It's an impressive deal, and he was brave to walk out with his soccer crew into the middle of that big field surrounding by all those fellow students and school staff!

when the skies are blue

No one can stop talking about our gorgeous weather.  We just don't get sunny days like this, certainly not all in a row, yet they keep on coming.  It feels a bit like we are playing some weird weather slot machine and we keep pulling the handle and, against all odds, we keep winning, so we wake up the next morning and pull the handle again!

One sure fire way to raise my spirits is with sunny blue skies, so needless to say this has been a great week!  We keep thinking of more ways to spend more time outdoors!  One morning we took a picnic blanket outdoors and I did read-aloud.  The same afternoon the girls dragged camping chairs downstairs for more sun-baked reading.

While the girls read I took the little boys to the neighborhood bike repair man for some help with Luke's bike.  This sweet man and his wife operate out of a little push cart parked on the side of the road just a block from our house.  Luke's chain falls off, again and again and again.  I'm tired of being the resident 'get your fingers greasy fixing the chain' fix-it person.  I wasn't interested in trying to shift the rear wheel back to tighten the chain a bit.  (and matt is out of town.)  This guy captivated our interest, and fixed the bike - all for less than a dollar.

and even when the skies are blue, we still stay inside sometimes ;)  the afternoon quiet with these two is priceless.  I love the cuddles on the couch, and the piles of books, and the sweet little heads resting on my shoulder while I read.  On this particular afternoon we were finishing up a puzzle before the reading started.

It took a long time, longer than I would have liked, but Luke is finally a fan of preschool.

He's often one of the first to arrive.

And he is proud to help his teacher set out the outside toys and supplies.

So thankful that he's in a good groove here!  (and hoping that leaving for the summer doesn't throw us off too much and we can settle back in quickly this fall!)

tadpoles and tadpoles

If I had to pick ten words to describe this spring 'tadpoles' would surely be on the list.

These kids have spent hours and hours catching tadpoles, watching tadpoles, torturing tadpoles, carrying tadpoles in buckets and nets and cupped hands.  They have been the perfect outdoor pet - ha!  The apartment complex supplies the pond, all I have to do is the extra laundry that results from all the accidental dips in the water :)

And then yesterday I finally agreed to let some of the precious tadpoles become indoor pets.  Each tadpole bucket has one with no legs, one with only back legs, and one with front and back legs.  This morning we noticed that one of our front and back legged tadpoles was even perching on a rock to breath air, and then disappearing back under the rocky habitat the kids designed for him.

[I quickly informed everyone that every tadpole that jumped out of his bucket was evicted immediately, it's "back to the pond you go, buddy".]

Isn't that cool?  This guy looks exactly like the fourth picture in the "stages of metamorphosis" charts in one of our science books!

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous, one of those beautiful spring days where you think you could stay outside forever, and then you do :)  

summer uniforms

Our weather has definitely made a solid turn towards spring temperatures!  The big kids are in summer uniforms and the countdown is on.  5 more weeks of home school and we are done for the year.

And six weeks from tomorrow we fly to America for the summer.  whoa.  Once homeschool is done I'll have to launch into packing mode.  I'm hoping to fly light and keep things simple.  You know, it's so simple to take the seven of us halfway around the world :)

we shall see...  in the meantime, it's fun to start feeling the "almost summer" excitement and energy coursing through our veins (if only we can keep those easily-distracted minds focused on the bookwork for a few more weeks!)

goodbye season

This is how life rolls around here.  May and June?  We say goodbye.  Sometimes for a summer, sometimes for years... regardless of how long they are leaving for, at the end of the school year people start rolling out of town.

{and this summer we will be some of the ones leaving town....}

Our first goodbyes this year to our dear babysitter Maja

And her sister Ailah

They stopped by Sunday afternoon for final hugs and some goodbye play.  We were so blessed by these two girls, and now praying God would provide another babysitter!  [At least for the next few weeks we have some random people lined up, but I do really love it when we have a steady babysitting presence, so we'll be hoping the Lord will provide again for next fall!]

our last baby passport

Thursday afternoon I met Matt at the U.S. consulate to renew Luke's passport - our last baby renewal :)

In the past 12 months we have done renewals for the girls (they are both on passport #3), then Matt, and now Luke.  And when we get Luke's new one in a few weeks all SEVEN of us will be passport valid until fall 2018 (when Isaac and John Paul renew again)!  That's a really long time! 

In the world of child passports (only valid for 5 years.... but really it's more like 4 1/2 years because you can't do much with only a few months of validity) and lots of children born in very quick succession..... well, for the past decade we've been dealing with child passport issues regularly - applying, renewing, obtaining certificates of birth abroad, etc.  

So this feels like a big deal - 2.5 years of no renewing passports or any child passport paperwork of any kind!  Of course, we still have visa issues to deal with :)  But those tend to happen in big chunks, and all of us go through a similar process at the same time.  Our current visas are valid until May 29th, and we booked flights leaving on May 28th :)  

In a few weeks we will go back to the consulate to pick up the new passport for Luke (and yes! we are so grateful we now live in a city with a consulate!) and then we'll be all set until the summer when we work on getting visas again!  

two more days of Stevie Joe Joe

Tuesday morning the little boys went to school, the big kids did home school and Stevie Joe Joe worked at the kitchen table.  By lunch we were ready for some more adventuring.  First up, dropping the big kids off at local school.  [No worries, uncle had some fun tricks up his sleeve for the big kids at pick up.]

Then the little two and I showed Stephen the subway ropes, straight into the heart of downtown.  It's an impressive place to explore and we did a little souvenir shopping too.

And then met the big kids at the school gate, they left to get some milk tea (big treat) with Stephen and I herded the little boys back home for a short rest before dinner.  We picked up Stephen and the bigs and went to a really cool dinner theater.  I'd never been but we will definitely go back - dinner, then watch a show of traditional drama? is that what you'd call it?  I'm not sure but it was definitely entertaining.

The tour continued Wednesday morning and we were off bright and early to the panda research base.

It had been a while since our last trip, so fun for everybody.  Cool, even misty (and raining by the time we made it back to the van), which is actually perfect panda viewing weather since they tend to get lazier as the temps warm up.

Spring flowers, green grass, bamboo eating panda.

And then Wednesday evening rolled around and it was bye-bye to Stevie Joe Joe (Matt drove him to the airport at 5am for the first leg of his long journey home).

We played a little more basketball and (after the kids were all asleep) we ate a little more shao kao (street food) and the visit was over.  But he will be back!  And we will be eager to see him again.  Just a sweet time for everybody!

Stevie Joe Joe

So Stephen is here, and no one will be surprised to hear that he has charmed the masses.  It's been so much fun to watch him enjoy our world, and to watch our kids enjoy him!

In a more-than-slightly-mispronounced version of the word for Uncle he has named himself "Stevie Joe Joe".  And it fits him perfectly.

Sunday bike ride (of course we had to do this!) and the weather cooperated wonderfully.

walking home from dinner with Stevie Joe Joe is a bit more interesting that your average walk :)

Look what Auntie Jen sent the little ladies of the house :)

and then Monday (national holiday here ) we did a little visiting of city highlights -

Shopping at everyone's favorite sports mega-store

and a trip to the largest building in town.

Today we tried for some homeschool this morning and then this afternoon while the big kids were at school Stephen and I took the little boys downtown to see the sights and for dinner we went to a theater and watched some traditional art/dance/etc.  Tomorrow it's off to the pandas.....

you will never ever guess....

Look who is visiting us!

I have to admit - when Stephen first emailed about coming to visit and even proposed a date I still didn't really think he would come!  But then earlier this week he landed in Hong Kong (business trip for him) and on Tuesday Matt helped him buy a flight on to our city for Friday evening.  And here he is!

He landed late Friday night and woke to excited nieces and nephews this morning!  We had a nice first day, showing Stephen around our neighborhood.

Pineapple on a stick, of course.

and a little shopping too

And then some FaceTime with my parents (who are in France).

He's here for a few more days before heading back to Panama and it's a public holiday Monday, so we are making our list of spots to visit.

swim meet 2016 {Julianna's first)

Julianna's first experience with competitive swimming.  A huge success.

The meet was hosted by an international school on the far south side of town.  They have an amazing facility (it's also where we play the soccer tournament in the fall).  Four teams participated - three international schools and team home school.

There weren't that many participants... well, I guess total there were a lot of athletes, but in Julianna's age group only about 15.   That's nice when it's your first meet, because you're in a good spot to come home with some ribbons :)

and as it turns out, Julianna can swim!  She did quite well, surprised herself I think, and built a ton of confidence too!  We will definitely be back next year!

The entire event was very well run.  Here she is sitting with the girls from her heat in the 25 free.  This is where swimmers "entered the pipeline" that eventually emerged at the blocks for the start of their race.

Across from the swimmers staging area (most of the swimmers were in the attached gym until six races before their own, when they started preparing).... anyways, across from the swimmers were the fans.  I hope it goes without saying that Julianna's fan club was one of the largest.  There are perks to big families!

That's Julianna, second lane from the right, swimming for a strong finish in the 25 free.

She ended up with one first place ribbon (50 breast), third place (25 breast) and fourth place (25 free).  She did very very well, and she's motivated to improve... and in our homeschool sports calendar she has a long time to work on it ;)  It'll be next spring before swim team starts again.  And we will be ready :)

Homeschool only fielded 7 athletes - next year Lydia will be old enough so we are hoping that with one more girl we can even enter a relay!

Loved seeing these two encourage one another, even with they raced each other!

And her biggest fan of all?  Me! of course!