Halloween-Christmas

I think we're behind on blogging. We just got back from a wonderful trip to the US, but I'm not even going to post about that today. I have to play catch up. The sad news of the month is Will's better-than-words-can-express pre-school is closing it's doors for the final time this June. :( I don't know what I'm going to do, but we'll figure that out soon enough, I suppose.

I took Will into school late this past week and they were already heavily into their music circle (we humorously call it the drum circle). All the kids were dancing in a circle with their drums, and they were singing to the Earth. "Now Children, the Earth is a circle, and everything in life is a circle. The Indians would dance around the fire and pray to the Earth". Then the teacher had all the girls circling one way, and the boys circling the other, and they were singing and drumming, "The Earth is our Mother. We must take care of it..."

I dropped Will off and left in tears. Gosh, I just love this gem of a school. 

Each month his school has a family day, and we eat together and do some sort of activity. This was the Halloween Family Day. Will's good friend is sitting behind.

 I pictured the desserts above because I made the spider cupcakes on the right with the licorice legs. The The kids really appreciated that.

 playing games in costume. He was Batman with an added touch of creativity-nacho libre cape and mask. 

 I don't W. think liked how to play this game so he made his own rules-grab the donut with your hand.

 W. with his buddy. They are best friends.

This is Taylor's best friend. Look how happy they are together ;)

We are sad that these good friends of ours are relocating. In our expat community it's not uncommon for this to happen-people come and go as their work dictates. We know this, but it's still hard to see good friends go. We are thankful this family is from CV, so we will see them in the summer.

 bowling with a gourd.

 Full costume. I forgot W. added in a pirate sword to complet the look.

 Then the kids paraded around the complex in their costumes for all the see. One teacher had his guitar and was leading the kids in rock songs.

 Princess J.

 parade

 We were able to witness this race and cheer him on. Thousand Islands. 4 hour drive for us.

I was so proud I almost cried when he crossed the line in 4th place. I could not have been prouder. This guys got some talent. W. was so happy to see Baba 'win the race'. He is a great example to our kids that when you have a dream, you go after it. You set goals. You work hard, and you accomplish those goals. And you never quit. Good life lessons. 

  Looking at a fountain overlooking one of the thousand islands.

 At school W. enjoyed being a member of the sewing club. There were about 5 clubs offered during the fall. I asked Will which one he chose, and he didn't know, so I asked him to describe. He said he was in a room upstairs and they used sharp things, on flowers...Ha. I just thought it was the cutest thing. And this is his final product. Pretty impressive. He was very proud of his accomplishment.

 doing hair with a friend.

 On the way to the big bus. They had a field trip to a large park where they were on a hunt for fallen leaves for Fall crafts.

 At the gates of the park. W. is back row 3rd from left.

 Leaf hunt.

 biking to school. W. loves doing this when the weather permits. He lifted his arm up 'like Baba does when he wins races'.

 he's got good control on the bike. Future cyclist in the making...?

 These kids love to paint. I thought it would be a great activity for them to do while I prepared dinner. 

 It quickly got out of control. That's paint on the floor. It's black because they mixed many colors.

 Thanksgiving feast at our most favorite, splurge of a buffet. All very happy.

 Best quality food ever.

 Early December we had the luxury of H. visiting us for 10 days while I saw another hip doctor in Thailand. Thankfully we were back in time to have some fun time to play with H. We had a lot of fun. H., do you remember these shorts? Ha ha! Good laughs.

 We explored part of the city, and I found something I've never seen before--a fruit and nut cake, made purely of dried fruit, nuts, and honey, I think. Very creative. It was huge! We bought a small piece, and realized he took advantage of our foreigner faces and overcharged us. Typical. It was yummy, though.

 Bro and sis

 W. loved having Auntie H. They had lots of fun. I enjoyed having a running friend for a week. We went out quite a bit, and got some wonderful running in. 

 Exploring a water town. I took Tr. to this same town, and H. bought the same comforters, at the same stall. Good price!

 For my birthday we went to one of my favorite restaurants. I loved seeing a flower in my salad, and the red crunchy quinoa was super tasty. A work of art plate of food.

 Making gingerbread cookies, and house for the holidays. My favorite cookie. It was my birthday month, remember?

 Remember how I said good friends come and go often?...well, this beautiful lady on the right is one of them. She is simply fabulous. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to mingle and make friends with this beautiful lady. She was my faithful visiting teacher, and went above and beyond what was required. She taught me a lot. She was firstly my friend, then my VT. I was so sad to see her go. The lovely lady in the middle will also relocate in the summer, and I will be equally sad to see her go. 

 Christmas stockings!!!

 This is the mandala W. made for us at his school. This was his gift to us. He worked so hard on this piece of art over many days. Super special, and super beautiful. 

 happy!

 happy!

 joy!

 joy!

 LOVE!

 Oh Christmas tree!

 quickly getting carried away in their painting project yet again,

 But having fun.