I bought couch cover/dog beds that go on the couch for the dogs. They are satisfied with them.
Besides new dog beds, this week has been a big one for Xander. On Monday, his class hosted the Lower School assembly and everyone in his class got to read part of a book. I was super excited I was able to stay and see him read. He also had a special reading assignment and got to read the instructions for the activity that came after the book they read. I don’t know where this 7 year old gets his confidence and poise, but he did such a great job!
Tuesday was his last basketball practice until next session (which is in 2 weeks, so not that big of a deal). Thursday was his Grouchy Ladybug play in drama class. I wrote a whole separate post about it here. He was confident, so cute, and I was so proud of him.
On Friday, 1st grade presented their Troll Story projects. They’ve been working on these projects since after Christmas break. They wrote a story, which includes multiple characters, story development, several rounds of editing and finally a typed, multi-page bound book. They illustrated it. They built dioramas of it. And on Friday, all of the parents came to school to first listen to Xander’s teacher share her troll story. She is an amazing writer and reader and included each kid’s troll in her story. It was so fun to watch them LIGHT UP when they heard their character mentioned. After she read, we all spread out and the 1st graders read to their parents. Xander was so proud and I couldn’t believe what an elaborate, impressive project that he had created. I can guarantee that I was NOT doing that kind of work when I was in 1st grade!
On Saturday, Xander’s basketball team was in the all-YMCA tournament. It was a very well done production with 90+ teams involved. Xander’s team has only won one game this season, so I was relatively sure that we would only be there for the fist game, but his team has a lot of spirit and he did a great job and I have a feeling that next season will give us a few more wins. Mr. Myles, Xander’s kindergarten aid (and the MPA boy’s basketball coach) and ABSOLUTE COOLEST person at MPA came to watch Xander play and cheer him on. Xander was adamant that we print off the schedule for Mr. Myles and invite him. I didn’t think he would want to spend a Saturday afternoon at a 1st grade basketball game, but there he was. And I appreciated it so much. It meant a lot to Xander because he absolutely adores Mr. Myles.
Nate has been working on assembling my Christmas gift for a few weeks now and he finally finished it! I was excited to take his picture, but Xander grabbed my phone and said, “BOTH OF YOU, I’ll take it!”
In other family news, KT, our foreign exchange student moved to a new host family this weekend. His mother was concerned that our house wasn’t an adequate environment for studying, which is interesting since KT was literally in his room every moment he wasn’t at school or eating, so I’m not sure how he could possibly be more focused. Unfortunately hosting didn’t really turn out the way we’d hoped. These students are not here for a “study abroad” experience with lots of fun cultural experiences and friendships. They are here to be perfect students and get into ivy league schools and that is it. Nate has described this experience as “net neutral”- not bad, but not good. I would host again, under different circumstances, but I am also happy to close that chapter of our year. I think KT will be successful and hopefully think back with fond memories of his time with us.
For the next 2 weeks, the boys are on spring break, so there will be some fun, some balancing work/kids for Nate and I, and a long stretch of no routine, so send good vibes our way….