EVEN!!

The day has arrived. 

 After years of saying "one day Hudson will catch Hannah".....

 He caught her.

Happy May Day

In this country MayDay is celebrated with a country-wide holiday. This weekend we had some friends come and spend their holiday with us in our town. It was a lot of fun to host them. They have been dear friends since we moved here 4 years ago.

On May 1 we went out to the local park and joined other friends for shao kao, meat on a stick, and a game of baseball.  Here, baseball is something that is known about, but it is not known how to play.  We spent time teaching everyone how to play then standing out in the hot sun while we tried to have a game.  A great time was had by all!

Here, Hudson is very hot and sweaty. He is trying to cool off in the shade of the nearby tree.

 Hudson, my ace pitcher, slinging the ball to the batter.

 Rob giving a little direction to all involved.

To top off our day, Rob was interviewed by the local TV station.  They wanted to know what the foreigners thought of the holiday and how we liked the park.  We obliged and shared with them how much we enjoyed the beauty of the park!

Weather note:  You may be able to tell the sun has come out in full force.  In fact the temperature has been over 100degrees the last 10 days.  But when you add in the humidity, the heat index has been between 112-120 degrees.  Yes, we are hot.

Champions

While we were in Oklahoma , Hudson played basketball with some boys from his school. They played in a league with several other teams from their school as well as a few other schools in the area.  Hudson's team only lost one game in the regular season.  Sadly, he missed the playoff tournament because we had to return here the weekend of the tournament.  However, his team won the tournament and got first place in the league. 

This week Hudson received his championship trophy and shirt with his name on the trophy and on the back of his shirt.  He was so proud!!!  It was a great experience for him and one of his favorite memories!

4

It is so amazing that we have now lived overseas for four years. It was such an amazing milestone, I didn't even mention it.  I forgot it, actually. We didn't celebrate, have a party, or even mention it to one another.   But since I have mentioned, made note of, highlighted, and reminisced about every year we have lived here so far.....I will do so again this year. 

It feels like we have lived here for quite a long time.

Earth Day 2012

This year Hannah decided to have an Earth Day Party.  True to form, she planned, executed, and pulled off a wonderful party all of her own making!  She decided to make our Earth Day party a World Day theme, where we celebrated many different cultures with music and cuisine from a variety of countries. 

Hannah started early making decorations, like the paper machet earth seen below.  She found everything she needed in a local shop and did a great job replicating the world with paper, glue and temra paint. 

 The menu alone was amazing!! She researched recipes from many countries and decided on what she could get and make here in our small town.....which was a challenge. From Mexico we had chips and salsa, from India we had nan, from Austria we had tea cakes, from Italy we had cinnamon gelato,  from America we had BBQ chicken :), and then we had fruit from this country.  Everything you see on the table was made by Hannah herself....and very tasty!

 Hannah even enlisted the help of our 2 college teachers, who played along and brought drinks from many different countries as well.

 Here is a close-up picture of the Austrian tea cakes.....YUM!

This was Hannah's cake she made for the occassion.  And it was soooo good!

 All the girls wore blue and green to match "the world!"  Such a fun day and so proud of my hard-working girl for a great idea, great planning, and a super-fun party!

What we do for fun

Step One: Buy a bag of long balloons.

Step Two: Blow them all up.

Step Three: Tie them all together.

Step Four: Drop them all over the side of your 6th floor balcony.

 Step Five: Continue feeding the balloons over the side because 6 floors is a long way down.

Step Six: Be amazed at how long the balloon chain is

 Step 7: Entertain the neighborhood children, squealing with delight as the balloons reach all the way to the ground.

Step 8: Apologize to your children becasue they didn't know you photographed the whole event.

7th Grade Science

One of the joys of home-schooling is science.  I am not gifted in science and try to avoid it at all costs.  In fact, the last sememster of my senior year in college, my roommtes and I all had the same science class, and none of us wanted to attend.  We bought one book and took turns going to class, only all showing up for tests and labs.  I digress....

Think back to 7th grade.  At Harwood JH I had the privilege of disecting a worm and a frog with a partner, who did most of the work.  I memorized the bold-faced words in the chapter and where they corresponded to the worm in the book.....got an A on the test, no sweat.

And then.....7th grade science....at home.  Last year, Rob was in charge of science, this year, he has had to resign from his teaching positions at our little school on account of his real job.  Why oh why didn't we disect the worm last year ?

The week before, I studied the how-tos and all the instructions in the book.  Then it occured to me, I ordered this box of dead animals to disect last year, I wonder if they rotted while we were in America, what they look like now.  So I gingerly pulled out the vaccum packed dead animals and called/screamed for Rob to come and help me.  They were gross.  Rob kindly said he would help me get the worm cut open correctly.  But no. I said my 7th grader needed her turn at disecting and we would make it through. 

The day of the worm disection.....SUCCESS!!! We learned alot (including the teacher) and had a good time checking out the poor worm who found his way to our house.