Something....

I felt like I should give a little update since I don't talk to a lot of readers everyday.  Pretty much Mom is the only person I talk to everyday...and Dad a little bit before he's off to work.  Which talking to them every morning is really, really nice.  I think it's keeping me grounded.  Sorry, I digress....

School is going much better for the girls.  Alexis is beginning to feel challenged again with her school work in all subjects with the exception of spelling.  But, she fortunately has inherited my ability to spell (I thought about misspelling a bunch of words in that sentence) and spelling is an easy subject for her no matter what school system she's in.  I think it has a lot to do with her reading ability as well.  But, they are working on the same multiplication tables that she worked on last year.  That was a weak spot for her and I think that doing them again and building her confidence is going to do wonders for her.  It was difficult for me to see the difference in her attitude last year when she was in the MAP class.  She was so down on herself and her self esteem was just so low.  I didn't like seeing her feel that way about herself.  Mostly because I think she is the most wonderful person in the world!  She truly is and anyone who knows her thinks highly of her.  But I can see her gaining her self confidence back.  She is most likely the smartest person in her class.  But at the same time she is learning new things and gaining a wealth of social and cultural knowledge.  That girl has a keen sense of right and wrong.  I wish I could have had her as a friend growing up....what a great influence she would have been!

On to Kaylee...it's no secret that the transition has been difficult for her.  Leaving Nursery School in our home church with teachers who were more like family....only going to school three days a week for two hours at a time and switching to a strange environment where most of the kids speak a foreign language and being at school for 7 hours a day 5 days a week....I would have a hard time adjusting!  Lunch time seemed to be the most difficult for her.  She was always worried that she would be the last one done eating.  So to solve the lunch time tears, I began packing fun lunches for her.  Kaylee eats like a bird most of the time anyway, and the kids have two snack times during the day as well, so I felt comfortable just packing a cereal bar that she loved and some crackers or breadsticks and a piece of chocolate.  It broke the cycle of her crying and this past week, I've been able to pack some more nutritious items in her lunch.  I had also promised Kaylee that if she went an entire week without crying at school that we would take her to Planet Bowling.  This past week she did it!  She went the whole week without crying at all at school and we just rewarded her tonight with her bowling party.  We invited some friends to join us and we had a great time.  We also got the girls some patatas bravas to munch on (that's french fries with ketchup and mayo...sometimes they'll have a spicy ketchup too).  The girls had a great time...and we adults did too!

So, in a nutshell, that's what we've been up to.  There were some other things going on too like a flat tire and visits to the chiropractor, but that's just boring stuff...