December

The blogging got away from me there for a while, but I wanted to go back and fill in a bit. 

 On Thursday afternoons throughout the whole term, we trucked down to MusicBugs class at a local restaurant for fun and singing nursery rhymes with Ms. Chaemil. This picture is from the Christmas party on the last week of the term. Noelle always liked pampering "Bugsy" the bear mascot. Joel says, "I liked it, because we never heard so much music, and we never knew about the music that our teacher taught us. I like it because you always get stickers. We practiced playing songs; we played, and we liked the teacher. We have something to remember that class with--our little bears, our tiny little ones [of Bugsy]." While the class itself was probably geared more to Marky's age, the big kids enjoyed it more than he did--probably because it was unfortunately right at nap time, and he was exhausted, unruly, or asleep most of the weeks. Oh well.

 Noelle held on to this tooth in her mouth for....a...very....long...time. When it finally started discoloring, I insisted it be removed. The other one came out at New Year's to much fanfare.

 We tried to get the kids going on some chores. Here, Mark is teaching Noelle to wash the dishes.

 My sister Jenny and her husband Roy blessed us with a visit at Thanksgiving. I did my best to train my lovely nephew, Dayspring, to drink tea. :) I thought it was only fitting for a trip to England. They also joined us, along with about 10 of the students, for a Thanksgiving feast! I was in luck that Christmas turkeys became available at just the right time for an American Thanksgiving. I invited everyone to put their 'thankful' thing on paper, which has become a bit of a tradition for us. Some of the students brought along desserts, and yumminess was had by all.

 Roy patiently taught the kids some chess fundamentals.

Joel may have passed out up here on the way home from a playground visit, but he emphatically wants everyone to know that he was not tired. Because he does not sleep.