Halloween and Things

Sean was quite upset that picture taking is delaying the trick or treating.

Fairy and Witch

Nice spider web decorations at Parker's house.

Sean couldn't gather the courage to go near the man in mask.

Knock knock!

Nana - trick or treat!?

We survived Halloween!  What a fun but crazy holiday it is!  We did quite a bit this year and I am glad there are 365 days before the next one.  Sean was sure sad that it's all over and cried about it before bedtime.  We did the usual neighborhood tour and Nana gave out candies at our house.  The neighborhood turns into a street festival in the dark with kids in costumes marching up and down the street.  Noah stayed back with Nana since he isn't interested in collecting candies but going into someone else's home instead.  The kids had tons of fun knocking on doors to get candies.  Everyone's main event was going to the "scary house" up the hill.  They are the house with flickering lights, smoke machine and zombie masks.  They kept the decorations minimal this year, but they still were pretty scary.  When the trick -or-treater opens the door, a tall man with a mask opens the door and the air is suddenly filled with misty smoke.  It's dark with only flickering light on the background.  Sean and Saya almost made it but they ran back as soon as the guy opened the door.  They were terrified.  That sent the girls begging to go home and that was the end of the night for a cute little witch and a fairy.  Sean stayed back a little with Daddy and gathered more candies.  Their bags were quite heavy by the night ended and Sean's bag even contained a soda can!  Someone must have ran out of candies. 

I had a long day and I am pretty wiped.  America is a fun country to be a kid!  Parents, we run around awfully a lot for the kiddos.   I guess it's all good, but I need to make sure I know when and where to draw the line.  I wish it came naturally to me! 

I know I haven't posted in a while so here is a digest of what we have been doing:

- I started volunteering for both Sean and Alyson's class once a week.  I get to see how they are during the class and observe how the teacher handles the children.  Their teachers are amazingly swift and dry when it comes to addressing problem behavior.  It's very valuable for me to learn their skills to manage all 28 children on their own!  Sean and Aly seem happy that I am there regularly now.  I've been wanting to get more involved and I am very excited to have a chance to this year!

- I had a conference with Sean's teacher yesterday.  He said he is on track academically and he is particularly doing well in creative writing.  That was great to hear.  He showed me an example of his writing and I was quite impressed by his work.  He wrote a short story and the sentence structure he used and mixing in the dialogues in his story seemed like a great skill beyond his age.  He is doing fine in math although he is not found of creating a story problem.  That I knew already since he has a terrible attitude towards such math questions at home  His calculation skills are superb and he is usually accurate.  I connected with the teacher very well and I already can tell this is going to be a great year for him.  He has come so far.  I am so very proud of him!

- Alyson, when she started the kindergarten had a hard time even reading simple words.  She didn't know all the alphabets and I really regretted not teaching her enough during summer.  It's been only two months but she improved a lot!  She can now read simple sentences and using phonics to guess what the word might sound like.  She also started to write a sentence using inventive spelling (she guesses the spelling of a word from the sound).  The teacher said she is starting to volunteer in her class and becoming more vocal.  Honestly, I expected things to be slower, but she is learning everything so fast, it's very exciting!  Hooray for Alyson!  Oh and she is the second tallest kid in her class. 

- Noah lost his tooth on 10/23!  I noticed it when I was feeding him dinner at night and looked for his tooth everywhere in the house.  He looks so cute without his baby tooth on the bottom.  He doesn't seem to mind it and he certainly didn't give me any indication that his tooth was getting loose.  I am glad he is growing up and hitting the physical milestone at the right age.  The handouts and things he brings back home from school tell me that he is now writing letters and identifying words.  Apart from not talking, he is not so far apart from his peer group.  He still loves being hugged and tickled.  He is the sweetest little boy I know!

- Saya is getting better at gymnastics!  She now can do the forward roll from high and low and currently working on sprinting and rolling at the end.  She can hang from the bar with straight legs and do many things she couldn't do the first few weeks.  The teacher at her Japanese school tells me that she is doing much better without her sis harboring around her.  She volunteers during class and works hard on her tasks.  She can write letters in English and Japanese.  She is ready for kindergarten now!  I am teaching her to read together with Alyson, so she will be in good shape by next fall.  She continues to be funny and makes us laugh everyday.   Oh and she had her fist swim lesson today at the gym.  She was refusing to get in the pool at first, but she cautiously went in with encouragement.  A little patience goes a long way and thank goodness the teacher's got plenty of it.  By the end of her 30 mins lesson, she was floating in the water with the teacher and managed to blow bubbles in the water.  I have to figure out some ways to have the other children enrolled in swimming.  Children are expensive!

- Halloween movie party at our house was a success and the kids and their friends (I had 10 kids in total in my house) had a really good time watching "Hotel Transylvania" and eating pizza.  I walked home with all 10 children from school and everyone thought I was brave.  The kids were very good at home and I liked the mix of kids we invited.  I will attempt to do something like that again soon since it was all fun for everyone! 

Did I mention I am tired?  I really am.  I really should go to sleep now.  Oh wait the photos.  Now I have to edit some photos to post here.  My job never ends!