Simon's school had Sports Day this week. The parents were told to make sure they saw the opening ceremony at 9:00 a.m. I had an appointment at 10, so I told Simon that we could see the opening ceremony or some sports later. He told us he wanted us to see some sports later, so that's what we did.
After my off-compound appointment I drove my work car back to work and got in our personal car with Johnathan. When we got to the school we had to park on someone's yard because there were cars everywhere.
When we got into the school we found Simon in his blue team shirt with blue paint in his hair and a 2nd place ribbon on his shirt. He told us he got it for playing football (soccer). He almost immediately started asking for us to take him home. It was a really hot day and he was obviously tired. We told him we weren't going home.
The school really went all out for Sports Day. There was a snacks vendor with cakes, cupcakes, and snow cones! We had a cherry snow cone, and it was horrible. Johnathan loved it, though we ate less than half of one. I resisted the very strong urge to have a cake or cupcake. That was not easy at all.
Simon found a shell and wanted to wash it and go to the bathroom. At the end of this long ordeal, I heard the head-teacher calling out for Simon so we rushed outside and he entered a potato sack race. The poor guy was so tired. He did get third place, but I feel like he would have done better if he wasn't so hot and tired.
After that there was a long time that Simon didn't do anything. Johnathan and I decided to go to lunch. I'm not a huge fan of being really hot, or super loud crowds of people. So to have those two things at the same time made me eager to get out of dodge. Simon repeated his desires to leave, and we had to tell him we weren't going home. As we were walking out of the school he was walking to the playground, so I think he ended up being fine. I wish I had a picture of Simon at Sports Day. I thought I took one with my phone and can't find it.
Then we went and had sushi at Roe, a nice-ish Jamaican restaurant. We need to go again because they have rice-less sushi. It's wrapped in thinly sliced cucumber. We're gonna have to check that out.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
The big 5!
Last month Simon turned 5!
Johnathan and I agree that 5 is a big year. We wanted him to have a great time, and we asked him what he would want to do. After Malachi's birthday in November, Simon really wanted a Lego Movie party. We told him that he had to do something else. After some consideration he decided that he wanted an Alien birthday. Some friends of ours asked us what movie to show their daughter because she didn't know what an alien was.
Keeping that in mind, and the fact that some five year old's parents wouldn't even say the word "dead" in front of their kids, we made a kid friendly party. Johnathan designed the party around the idea that the kids were the aliens and they crash landed on Earth. They made eye scanners and then they had to go to our yard and find the parts of their ship that fell from the engine. Then they had to rebuild the engine. The kids had a great time at the party and just like his brother's friends, Simon's friends were disappointed when the games were done.
Simon's last year was pretty great for him. He finished out his time in the Philippines and enjoyed his summer break in the U.S. Then in the fall of last year something major happened. He started pre-school! He's really enjoying it too! He's made some close friends, and is enjoying learning. It's amazing what he's learning. He has brought some homework home lately and one of the (hand made) pages that the teacher sent had multiplication on it.
He's enjoying Jamaica. He loves going to school, and can't wait to go to the big school with his brother in a few months.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Bad Mommy
I have been a bad blogger. That, I only feel a little guilty about. But one thing I've been fairly good at on this blog is chronicling my children's birthdays. However, last November someone turned 9 and I failed to document the occasion.
As I sit here and consider the fact that my first born had his last single-digit birthday I get a bit weepy. I so clearly remember much of his early life. His birth was quick and fairly easy. I bawled for 20 minutes straight on his 1st birthday, he thought that was quite funny. His second birthday was surrounded by friends his age, and friends our age. His third was our last in Dallas, though we didn't know it at the time and he had a balloon filled time with his friends. His fourth was our first in the Foreign Service and he loved his fish pinata. His fifth birthday was his first in Costa Rica and surrounded by friends from multiple nations. His sixth celebration was a spy party; he and his friends loved their mission. His seventh party was a haunted-house party that he and his friends delighted in. His eighth birthday was his final in Manila and he celebrated with friends at Lazer Xtreme.
His last single-digit birthday was his first in Jamaica and was a Lego Movie party and movie night. Johnathan did a great job of planning games that the kids really loved. In fact, after it became apparent that we were done with games the children protested. They were not satisfied! Malachi really enjoyed it and that's what matters most.
Malachi had a big ninth year, and an amazing start to his tenth. He finished out second grade at International School Manila. He had a great year with Mr. O'Neel; we all agree that second grade was a major success. He quite enjoyed his time in the US visiting with many friends and family, and enjoying lots of great American food. The move to Jamaica wasn't overly easy, as he was missing his friends in the Philippines. But it wasn't overly hard. This is possibly the easiest transition we've had. His new teachers and principal noticed some difficulties he had in school that other teachers and principals have noticed. We went forward with some testing and figured out how to better serve Malachi in his educational endeavors. His second semester this year has been amazing. He's doing so much better in school, his teachers and principal have only good things to say about him. It's been so great these last couple of months.
In November he's going to be ten. TEN!!! I can't believe my first baby is soon leaving his single-digit living. I'm going to ignore this part of my life as long as possible. Starting right now.
As I sit here and consider the fact that my first born had his last single-digit birthday I get a bit weepy. I so clearly remember much of his early life. His birth was quick and fairly easy. I bawled for 20 minutes straight on his 1st birthday, he thought that was quite funny. His second birthday was surrounded by friends his age, and friends our age. His third was our last in Dallas, though we didn't know it at the time and he had a balloon filled time with his friends. His fourth was our first in the Foreign Service and he loved his fish pinata. His fifth birthday was his first in Costa Rica and surrounded by friends from multiple nations. His sixth celebration was a spy party; he and his friends loved their mission. His seventh party was a haunted-house party that he and his friends delighted in. His eighth birthday was his final in Manila and he celebrated with friends at Lazer Xtreme.
His last single-digit birthday was his first in Jamaica and was a Lego Movie party and movie night. Johnathan did a great job of planning games that the kids really loved. In fact, after it became apparent that we were done with games the children protested. They were not satisfied! Malachi really enjoyed it and that's what matters most.
Malachi had a big ninth year, and an amazing start to his tenth. He finished out second grade at International School Manila. He had a great year with Mr. O'Neel; we all agree that second grade was a major success. He quite enjoyed his time in the US visiting with many friends and family, and enjoying lots of great American food. The move to Jamaica wasn't overly easy, as he was missing his friends in the Philippines. But it wasn't overly hard. This is possibly the easiest transition we've had. His new teachers and principal noticed some difficulties he had in school that other teachers and principals have noticed. We went forward with some testing and figured out how to better serve Malachi in his educational endeavors. His second semester this year has been amazing. He's doing so much better in school, his teachers and principal have only good things to say about him. It's been so great these last couple of months.
In November he's going to be ten. TEN!!! I can't believe my first baby is soon leaving his single-digit living. I'm going to ignore this part of my life as long as possible. Starting right now.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Lame title
So, we have been busy. We're a busy bunch (too busy to think of a good title)!
We've been here for five months now. Five months, you say?! That's right! We've now been here a week over five months. It's hard to believe that it's been that long already. In one month, we'll already be done with one-sixth of our time in Jamaica. The other five-sixths have potential to go by very quickly.
So, in case you're wondering what's up...
Out of the six of us, there are only two at home during the day.
Johnathan has been busy managing in the Consular section. He enjoys his job, his co-workers, and his local staff quite a bit. He's continually making me jealous of them because he cooks for his team meetings. His current team isn't very big, and he wonders what he's going to do when he moves to a bigger unit in the section next year. He has an amazing garden growing in our backyard. We're constantly using tomatoes, lettuce, dill, and other things from our garden.
Sara (yeah...I do third person sometimes) has been busy with her Housing Assistant job. For a month, her coworker was on a well-deserved vacation, and she handled the job of two people. Sometimes she did it like a rock-star, but there were times where she wanted to just give up. She's learning that being in the GSO section is hard work. She's learning that she prefers to not work in Management section jobs, but is going to make the best of her situation. She's been playing Dungeons and Dragons on a monthly basis with some friends.
Malachi's second semester is going very well. He's been enjoying school more, has more friends, and is even enjoying math this semester (this kid really gets fractions!). This semester his after-school activities include Lego-Yuh Mind Robotics, and he's continuing his private drum lessons. He's been rocking the Skylanders game on the Xbox, as well as the Lego Movie game.
Simon is killing it in pre-school this semester. He brought home some homework last week and was so excited to do it. In fact, on Monday he asked Johnathan to make him some homework (I think he wants to be like his brother - we'll see how long this lasts). His birthday is coming up soon and he'll be five - yes, five! As crazy as that sounds, it's true. He's asked for an alien-themed birthday party. So we're trying to trying to figure out an alien-themed birthday party for kids who may not know what aliens are.
Coen stays home with Lucy and chills out with her. He plays on his own, as well as helps her in the yard, or in the house. He loves to help anyone with their task. Last night he wanted to help me with dinner, but I was dealing with a very hot pot of food, that was splattering. The answer was no. Poor Coen. He's so excited to go to school this fall. I had been worried about him and going to school. He has introvert tendencies, and at someone's birthday party wouldn't sit at the table to eat with all the other kids. I thought - how is he going to go to school?! But I think he'll do well. He's been wanting to go for so long, that I think he'll jump right in.
Lucy is doing well. She has a church community that she likes, and she has two close friends. On Sundays sometimes she goes to the mall with her friends for lunch and shopping. She's also often on the phone with friends in the Philippines. She seems to be happy, and I really hope she continues to be.
Everyone has been struggling with allergies and colds to some degree. I hope that as the rainy season ends we'll have fewer sicknesses (and fewer mosquitos!).
We're liking it in Jamaica and are looking forward to the next five-sixths of our time here (sorry for the lack of photos - we're too busy living life to take them!).
We've been here for five months now. Five months, you say?! That's right! We've now been here a week over five months. It's hard to believe that it's been that long already. In one month, we'll already be done with one-sixth of our time in Jamaica. The other five-sixths have potential to go by very quickly.
So, in case you're wondering what's up...
Out of the six of us, there are only two at home during the day.
Johnathan has been busy managing in the Consular section. He enjoys his job, his co-workers, and his local staff quite a bit. He's continually making me jealous of them because he cooks for his team meetings. His current team isn't very big, and he wonders what he's going to do when he moves to a bigger unit in the section next year. He has an amazing garden growing in our backyard. We're constantly using tomatoes, lettuce, dill, and other things from our garden.
Sara (yeah...I do third person sometimes) has been busy with her Housing Assistant job. For a month, her coworker was on a well-deserved vacation, and she handled the job of two people. Sometimes she did it like a rock-star, but there were times where she wanted to just give up. She's learning that being in the GSO section is hard work. She's learning that she prefers to not work in Management section jobs, but is going to make the best of her situation. She's been playing Dungeons and Dragons on a monthly basis with some friends.
Malachi's second semester is going very well. He's been enjoying school more, has more friends, and is even enjoying math this semester (this kid really gets fractions!). This semester his after-school activities include Lego-Yuh Mind Robotics, and he's continuing his private drum lessons. He's been rocking the Skylanders game on the Xbox, as well as the Lego Movie game.
Simon is killing it in pre-school this semester. He brought home some homework last week and was so excited to do it. In fact, on Monday he asked Johnathan to make him some homework (I think he wants to be like his brother - we'll see how long this lasts). His birthday is coming up soon and he'll be five - yes, five! As crazy as that sounds, it's true. He's asked for an alien-themed birthday party. So we're trying to trying to figure out an alien-themed birthday party for kids who may not know what aliens are.
Coen stays home with Lucy and chills out with her. He plays on his own, as well as helps her in the yard, or in the house. He loves to help anyone with their task. Last night he wanted to help me with dinner, but I was dealing with a very hot pot of food, that was splattering. The answer was no. Poor Coen. He's so excited to go to school this fall. I had been worried about him and going to school. He has introvert tendencies, and at someone's birthday party wouldn't sit at the table to eat with all the other kids. I thought - how is he going to go to school?! But I think he'll do well. He's been wanting to go for so long, that I think he'll jump right in.
Lucy is doing well. She has a church community that she likes, and she has two close friends. On Sundays sometimes she goes to the mall with her friends for lunch and shopping. She's also often on the phone with friends in the Philippines. She seems to be happy, and I really hope she continues to be.
Everyone has been struggling with allergies and colds to some degree. I hope that as the rainy season ends we'll have fewer sicknesses (and fewer mosquitos!).
We're liking it in Jamaica and are looking forward to the next five-sixths of our time here (sorry for the lack of photos - we're too busy living life to take them!).
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