It's a Christmas Miracle

Consider this an early Christmas Miracle...an actual post on this blog.  I had all intentions of posting at least once a month through the fall, but take one new full-time job, add a middle school volleyball coaching position and throw in an international student for kicks and giggles and there you have all my best intentions.  To paraphrase...it has been a little nuts around here.  So nuts that I have hardly taken a picture all fall.

 This is our international student, Hee Jin.  She is from South Korea, is 15 years old and is meeting Ben Franklin for the first time on a recent visit to the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.

 This is Junior at a local orchard.  The next several pictures are from the same day.

 Although you would think they are all flashing the peace sign, it is actually a Korean "pose" that Hee Jin flashes in every single picture.  

 Jim turned 42 in November.  I turned 29.  Don't ask me why there are only 5 candles on his cake.

 For the last two months I've been planning our school's auction.  This is a mosaic of Van Gogh's Starry Night that Brown Sugar's class made.  It sold for $2400.  Not bad for being made out of magazine scraps.

 This is a tapestry that Sparkle's class made.  It sold for around $300. 
This picture doesn't do it justice.  It was beautiful!

Our favorite kindergarten pilgrim.

That's it.  Not another picture to be found.  

• All three of the girls are in the church production of "The Gospel According to Scrooge".  Hee Jin is playing in the orchestra and the other two are in a school house scene and play extras.  Tuesday night starts dress rehearsals and then they go straight into 5 weekend performances.  They have another 5 performances the following weekend.  
• After having our Odyssey for 10 years, we bought a new one.  The old one is for sale.  Just saying.
• Junior is doing well in kindergarten.  Although he likes to fuss about doing his homework because "I already know how to write my letters.  Why do I need to do it again?"  
• We spent Thanksgiving in Philly.  Marnie treated us to a fabulous meal, we went to the Thanksgiving Day Parade, saw the light show at Macy's, walked through Dickens Village, saw the light show of the future at the Comcast Center and had an all-around wonderful time.
• Sparkle played volleyball on the middle school team this fall.  I coached along with another mom.  It was fun, but I have a whole new appreciation for coaches.  Much, much easier to be the player.  Out of 12 players, 9 had never picked up a volleyball before mid-August.  
• She signed up to play Girl's Lacrosse in the spring.  Have no idea what that sport is about.  
• Junior played on a rec soccer team.  Brown Sugar is still taking piano lessons and doing quite well.
• Hee Jin plays the flute.  When she arrived, she told me she had only taken 4 months of lessons.  So I hooked her up with a teacher, told the teacher she was a beginner and left it at that.  After the lesson, the teacher says, "How many months did you say she has taken?"  Me:  4.  Teacher:  She is easily advanced intermediate"  And if you could hear her play...you would be shocked and amazed.  I don't know if we should call her a musical savant or what...but I don't know of any kid who after four months is playing complex pieces of classical music.  And is in an orchestra, to boot.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up the highlights of the last four months.  I'll be sure to post pictures of the girls from the show!!

I promise :)

First Day of School?

Today was the first day of school.  For the first time in seven years, it rained on the first day so we had to take the traditional pictures inside.  But it didn't just rain, the remnants of Hurricane Lee are here and it has been pouring for a few days.  The school day started at 8:00AM and by 9:30 school districts started announcing early dismissals because of severe flooding.  Our school was cleared out by 1:30.  Day two isn't looking too promising either...the rain is still falling and the rivers and creeks have yet to crest.  Some schools couldn't event get their kids home and are having to house them at the schools tonight.  Yes, it is that bad here!  So while we build an ark, enjoy my very dark and grainy first day of school pictures. (Joanne was conveniently missing during picture time, but she was a happy freshman today :)

Sixth Grader

Daddy and the kindergartner who could not remember a single detail of his first day of school.

Looking dapper in his tie and sweater vest.

Fourth grader.

Ridiculous

Jim cleaned out his closet and this was the pile of tee shirts he gave me to take to Goodwill.  The ridiculous part is that almost all of them have never been worn.  And the even more ridiculous fact is that there are about the same number of tee shirts still in his closet.

Canal Boat Road

Columbia Street 2.0 Redux

We took two steps forward and one step backward tonight.  

We added a sprinkler and ice pops to the fun of "Columbia Street" but we lost our chairs.

Two-Wheeler

A trip to Indiana would not be complete without a child learning to ride a bike under the tutelage of Uncle Deke.

Columbia Street 2.0

Only a very few of you will understand the humor in this title and picture.

I'll just leave it at that.

Powered Para Gliding

If you thought watching Jim jumping out of an airplane was crazy, let me introduce you to my Uncle Deke who recently took up Powered Para Gliding.  He 'wowed' us with skills tonight as he took off and landed, basically, in his yard. 

The gist is that you wait for a little wind to lift up your parachute, start running and if the science of aerodynamics is correct, you have lift off.  You wear a motor on your back that can power you for up to three hours.

 

   

 

 

 Coming in for a landing.

 Perfect view of the motor strapped to his back.  It's like a giant fan.

Jeff served as the ground crew.

CRAZY FUN.

To see Uncle Deke in action, you can watch his solo flight here.

Made in China

Here are some funnies from the boys:

1. They are cracking up at everything they find that says "Made in China". Which is basically everything.

2.  Tonight we took them bowling, and I think it is safe to say they have never bowled in their life.

3.  They didn't want to go bowling at first.  They wanted to go shopping.  So far while in America they have bought:  iTouch, iPad, Playstations, Nike apparel, Video games, Puma apparel, Reebok apparel, watches, and other stuff.  Some of them barely brought any clothes with them so they'll have room to take all this stuff back.

4.  We made them banana splits for dessert.  Another first.  Another homerun.

5.  Mike (aka Yuming Zhang) wore a sweater and jeans today.  Did I mention it was 99 degrees with 85 percent humidity?  And they had an outdoor picnic to attend.  And rode on school buses for two hours.

6.  Jim is upstairs right now showing them how to sleep in the bed under the covers.  Some things are just not elementary, my dear Watson.

7.  We also had to have our third discussion (in as many days) about how to use the shower. And then after each took a shower, Jim shone a bright light on them and asked if they had put the shower liner IN the tub,   and closed the shower curtain.  Or the bathroom door for that matter.

8.  When you are bored the next time, Google "Chinese bathrooms" and "Chinese showers" and wait to be disgusted and intrigued all at the same time.

9.  We also have had to demonstrate repeatedly what to do with toilet paper.  I'll let you use your imagination as to what they do with it.

10.  We determined that Harry is the ringleader of the group.  That's the title you get when you are the only one who seems to understand English.  Thank you God for Harry (aka Congyu Wang).

11.  As Jim was checking on the bathroom he discovered that the boys were washing their clothes in the sink and hanging them up wet all over our furniture.   So he collected all the wet skivvies, and sent them to the basement where I continued to razzle dazzle them with one of those new fangled washing machines.  There was an audible "WOW" from the crowd when I turned it on.  Wait until they see what I can do with a dryer.