Monkey Bean-Sprouts: March 2014

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Liam's School Spectacolo!

On February 26th Liam had his little school play/spectacolo. It was fun to finally be allowed into the school, and to see a little of what they do. They put on this funny little show with Princes, princesses, ogres and witches. I had heard Liam talking about the stuff they were doing over the last month, so it was fun to see how much he was able to be involved.

He was able to hang in there with the choreography, and even sang one of the songs in Italian. I recently spoke to his teacher Christina, and she commented that his Italian is improving and he is even speaking some now - including counting from 1 through 20. So at least that's good! I have certainly had my doubts about him at school, and I still am not sure of everything, but it is good to know that there is some language being transferred. He has also been talking about playing with the Italian kids at least a bit more, which is an improvement.

All the kids at the beginning (Liam in the turquoise shirt as a prince in the back)

The witches

The Princes and Princesses doing their little dance

Prince Liam and daddy

Liam in front of his picture

The prince that Liam made (With help from teachers!)

Monday, March 24, 2014

Ayyam'i'Ha and Eowyn's Birthday

Ayyam'i'Ha snuck up on us pretty quickly this year. Especially since I arrived home just 2 days before. Needless to say, we didn't manage to do anything too dramatic and just kept things a little more low key - both for Eowyn's little birthday celebration, and for our Ayyam'i'Ha party.

Since Eowyn's birthday fell on a Thursday we decided to have a few people over after early pick up on Weds just to sing happy birthday and have some "cake" (really just apple cinnamon muffins!) It was a short and sweet little event, but I think she enjoyed the singing part, and of course biting into her very own muffin.

Eowyn - Liam and Stirling playing

Happy big brother always likes a celebration

Jamison and Carolyn

Grayson hard at work on something

Cassidy's outrageous curls

Approaching her cupcake/muffin

Tucking in!

On Saturday we had a lunch party for Ayyam'i'Ha. We ended up keeping it small because the weather wasn't great and I wasn't up for a huge crowd. So we had the Dibberts, the Doves, the Millers (and the Walsers didn't make it). We had a pretty good time despite the lack of planning ahead of time, and it was the perfect opportunity to share some of the legos we received with our friends.

The back story to the legos: A TASIS parent had asked James if she could give us some of her son's old stuff, including legos. We said sure, expecting a little box. It turned out to be 6 or 7 whole sets of legos, which felt like WAY too much to keep for ourselves. So we decided to share them with others as our gift giving, along with some cookies that Eowyn and Liam helped make.

Calvin, Stirling and Liam chatting over lunch

Eowyn eating and hanging out with the big kids

Liam and Eowyn had the best time playing with the legos we did give them!

Liam loving the dragons

Shiri's Wedding

While it was such a major event in our family, it seems strange to post anything about the wedding and my trip to Boston when it doesn't include the kids. After all, this is a blog about them really. But I have some beautiful photos and such happy memories so I think that warrants a wee post.

I missed having James and the kids with me for sure, but looking back I am so sure that it was for the best that I came on my own and was therefore able to be more present for Shirin and really spend time with people and give them my attention and energy. I slept less than I normally do at home, but it was a fun packed few days filled with great people and good times. Just a few of my favorites (and I mean a few!)