Crazy two weeks

It seems like the whirlwind of activities haven't subsided yet for us. Last week was spent attending a funeral, boyscout meetings, talent show practices, field trip and building a raised bed. The highlight of last week is the field trip. The students went to a Wildlife Nature preserve in Sherwood,OR in style. They were riding in style and it was grand. The school rented a double decker bus which is the only kind in OR and has been on the road only twice, first for the 4th graders and the 1st graders being second. The bus is just enormous, everybody of course sat at the upper deck and the lower deck was empty. The parent helpers were not allowed in the bus for liability and insurance restrictions apparently. Anyway, the bus had a bathroom, tv and some fancy accessories which was exciting for the kids. They sure had a good kick out of their fancy ride. The field trip was nice specially since it was very sunny that day. Next highlight is building the raise beds, it took us about two days to build the whole thing. Even Joshua helped in pounding in the 2 inch stakes using the 5lb mallet. So now, we have some tomatoes,peppers, zuchinni, cucumbers, cabbages and hopefully some okra,eggplant,long beans and peas there sometime soon. We built a 4x8 ft long raise bed so it is a pretty good size.


Here's the fancy ride for their field trip...

This week was all about helping the boy finish his school project, Grandma's finals, boyscout meetings again, field trip again and talent show. Joshua and his friend Ethan did a great job with their talent show. No, they didn't do a hiphop dance as they were planning but instead we got them to do basketball tricks. The boys did a good job despite of them dropping the ball a couple times. At least they were brave enough to sign up for it. It was great watching the kids present their talents, most of them played their musical instrument of choice, a couple boys did a human chess game and some girls danced. School is almost over and so it is nice to see that the kids are doing more fun stuff towards the end. They are actually done with most of their academics and so it is mostly just fun stuff now. I am volunteering twice a week to help the teachers with the students during swimming. It is great to see the kids get better at swimming with the short period of time they've had. I guess overall, I would rate this school year a really good year. I have seen a lot of improvements on Joshua both academically and as a person in general. I am glad we got in to this school. I have no regrets so far.


I have a video of Joshua's talent show but I will have to do some editing since P took a video of the whole thing even the interview part of the program so it is a pretty huge file. We'll see what I can do.

Spelling

So, what's wrong with his spelling? Nothing, except it was the wrong word.

He doesn't even know what word he was suppose to be spelling but he sure wants to spell "vanilla"... It was hot last week and yes he did have a vanilla ice cream that week. Now, I know what other things he thinks about when he is daydreaming at school. At least the teacher found humor in it but I also like that she still gave Shua a deduction despite of the correctly spelled "wrong" word.

Spring project accomplished

The floor in the dining room is done - yipee! It is beautiful and Thanks to my very skilled sweetheart, we just have the kitchen and living room to do. Both projects will have to wait for next year though but I am happy with our accomplishment so far. So here you go, check out the floor...it might be where P will sleep for the next nights until he gets rid of his Fu Manchu.

Fu Manchu

OK, People, brace yourself...
I definitely don't like this Fu Manchu look and I already told him, either he gets rid of it or he'll be sleeping anywhere but near me or our bed - ewe, horrible!

Joshua would have been a mini-me version of his Dad but that Fu Manchu look just throws me off - yuck!

Acrostic

Needless to say, I am a happy Mama despite of me not being familiar with the term "acrostic"... that made my Mother's day extra extra special...


This is what prompt the lovely card. I made a homemade vanilla, mango ice cream. It was my first homemade ice cream and I might just keep my record that way and not make another one. I am known for being good at first attempts then I falter as I keep making them.

Plea

I find it interesting that my youngest sister is pleading her case to me rather than to my parents. Anyway, it all started with my Dad making some silly promise that he will buy her a laptop. I obviously did not like the idea since we already are having trouble with her owning a cellphone and that her owning a laptop with internet connection will just make our troubles more. She's got some text messaging addiction and it is a pretty bad one since apparently that is what she does non stop. From what I heard, it is a from dusk-til-dawn kind of habit and my siblings can't seem to contain that problem. I guess my parents did realize that but how did my Dad approach to fix it?

Here is the email I got from her ...

"i need some laptap in cavite not for friendster or chatting its for searching assignments and for my skill developtment, Papa said you are the one who doesn't want me to have a laptop" - Rhiza

Yup, that is how my Dad is fixing the problem. To let me deal with it instead!

Genes

Joshua's teacher mentioned to me before to have his eyes checked since he has been doing a lot of squinting in class and just more recently has actually complained about not being able to read things from a distance. So, I took Shua to the eye doctor today and indeed he needs glasses. It is not a strong prescription glasses and he doesn't need to use it all the time. He only needs it in class or when he needs to read things from a distance. The optometrist mentioned that since he is very young, it is highly probable that it is genetic and is not due to him reading a lot. She didn't think kids his age read that much :)

That was the first diagnosis, then came another one - the optometrist has a strong suspicion that he is also color blind. When she did her test, she asked Joshua to tell what numbers he can see from the book and he only managed to read 1 out of 10. When she showed me the book, the numbers were definitely visible and so it was very surprising that Joshua didn't see any. Again, she turns her head to me and asked me if there is anybody in the family who is color blind...and I really didn't know if there is anybody who is color blind in the family. It doesn't matter anyway if it was genetic or what. The thing is you can't fix color blindness but at least you can still function normally - but of course there goes the chance of Joshua becoming a Pilot in the future! When he heard that, he just simply said - I don't want to become a Pilot anymore anyway, I'll just be a race car driver...

Patience

It is what I need right now. I just realized that I am a very impatient person and that it has escalated during the last 6 months. I need to find ways and learn how to handle my impatience and/or lack of - very fast and soon. I guess in some ways, at least I think I made the right choice of not becoming a teacher - that would have been a disaster if ever I became one. Being a teacher, tutor or mentor to my Mom has been really tough. I can not wait for the time when I become the daughter again. Technically, I am but I haven't been in that shoe for a while now.

I am glad I am able to go to the gym and workout. I take out all of my aggression and frustrations there. I think I also need to dig out my punching bag in the garage. I need some more avenue otherwise, I'll be a worse person than who I am now.