Volunteering

(don't forget to pause the music on the left before watching a video) Sorry about the formatting, I am having some problems with it. I can't save the page the way I want to. Hopefully it will just get updated later...

I have been volunteering at both girls' school and I really enjoy it.

Fall Decor at Emilie' s Bluewater Elementary School

On Monday, I volunteer in Emilie's art classroom till the end of October. Papy and Maminou are taking care of Claire while I go to school. This month, the kids have been studying Picasso and got to experience first hand by painting their face Picasso style.

Emilie did a great job, it was very similar to her drawing. Judge by yourself...

Mrs Saczynski, the art teacher, and Emilie's kindergartner's class

On the first Tuesday of the month, I volunteer in Emilie's class as well for the Literacy Station. I just need to make sure the kids are where they are supposed to be while the teacher, Mrs. Runyon, is taking the others on a one-on-one.

The second Tuesday of the month is at Claire's Happyland School. I just help the teacher by playing one 'game' with the kids. This week was a shape game. The head teacher, Mrs. Byrd, takes the kids apart as well during that time.

Claire got to bring the Happyland bear home for the weekend. She was SO excited! She fed the bear, brushed her, taught her how to drive in the shopping cart car at the grocery store. She had a tea party for her. She even got to take him to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola with Maman, Emilie, Papy and Maminou.

Claire taking care of the bear

The tea party with Maminou and Emilie --- With Big Bear, the bear Mike sent Anne for their 8th Wedding Anniversary last month. The girls adopted him immediately and called him 'Big Bear'. They take turn sleeping with him...

At the Naval Aviation Museum (Claire bumped her forehead on the corner of a wall the day before the school pictures...)

When she got back to school on Tuesday, she got to share with 'her kids', as she calls the children in her classroom, what she did with the bear...

Then each Thursday morning, I volunteer on base at the Thrift Shop. It is run by the Officers' Spouses' Club. Maminou came and helped me a few times.

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Beach Photo Session

I decided to surprise Mike with a special gift. The girls and I had a beach photo session with Jan (JC Ethridge) last week. It was part of the Hearts Apart Program on base for families of the deployed members. We had a great time and even though it was long for the girls, we ended up with some nice pictures. Papy and Maminou joined us for a few shoots. I think the pictures will be on the website for 1 month.

Enjoy! http://jeth.smugmug.com/ - password: Claire http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/6227374_TxVP8/1/393021111_Kn7nY

Crazy week...

(Dont' forget to turn off the blog music before watching a video - Push on pictures to enlarge them)

It has been a very busy week. It all started with Emilie being sick, not sure what is was just really bad headaches that would make her cry and high peaks of fever. I did not feel great myself either. We both got tested for strep but it came back negative which was good.

I had to take my Dad to the dentist. He has an infection under one of his tooth so that means we will have to have it extracted. Not fun either... But he feels better today. He said : "I had to fly all the way from Belgium to have a tooth extracted!!!"

Claire then ended up with the same symptoms as Emilie. That meant not a lot of sleep for me during the week but it seems like verybody is feeling better now. Just cold/allergies symptoms are remaining.


Emilie likes Kindergarten in Mrs Runyon's project child class. She already had her school pictures last Friday. She was really excited about it.

I started volunteering at her school on Monday. I was wondering how she would react to the fact that I would be there for just that class and then would have to leave. And as I thought, she had a rough time letting me go. I will go back again and see how she does next time.


I am still volunteering one day per week at the Base Thrift Shop as well.


Claire seems to like her school and remembers very well what she did as well as the stories she heard. She is a very smart little lady. She goes twice a week to Happyland Preschool. Her teacher is Mrs. Byrd. She wants to go back every day. (Of course when she attended her Montessori school last year it was 5 mornings a week so it is a big change for her) I will be volunteering in her class once a week as well.








Claire's first day at her new preschool with her sister


I also take her to gymnastics on Wednesday morning. She likes it and is doing very good.



Both girls still do Ballet/Tap once a week.


Pappy and Maminou are doing good too but they don't really care for the Florida heat. We take them to the pool and the beach. They are still tired from the jetlag.

At the Crab Trap after the storm...

The girls are coping as well as can be with Mike being gone but they really miss him and long to kiss him and hug him... Talking on the phone is not the same. Here are 2 drawing they made for their daddy, you can recognize the military clothes on them... We sent them along with a care package full of goodies. Mike loved it!


Claire's drawing --------------------Emilie's drawing

Hurricane Gustav

We got spared by Gustav. We just got a little scared with some tornado warnings but we were thankful my parents flew in from Belgium the day prior... They had lived through one typhoon with us in Okinawa a few years ago (we had to stay indoors for 3 days!) but it is still stressful when you don't know if something is going to hit you or not...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26295161/?preferredName=Gustav&GT1=43001

The girls were stir crazy in the house but they had fun wearing the flower girl dresses from our wedding. My Mom brought them to us. She had them fitted for the girls. We did a lot of games old and new and were able to get out of the house late afternoon to show Pappy and Maminou around.



Mike finally took over during the weekend and is excited about his job over there even though he misses us a lot. We get to speak to him on the phone every now and then and we communicate via email or Google Talk which is nice.

Tomorrow is an exciting day for Claire since she is starting preschool at her new school!

Happy and Sad times

(Don't forget to turn off the blog music on the left side when you play a movie - click to enlarge the pictures)

**Update2**
I also forgot to mention that on her first day of school, Emilie had asked Mike to go to the store with her and buy flowers for me because I had done some shopping and running around before school started and she wanted to say 'thank you'. :-) Isn't she the best...

*Update*
I forgot to mention that Mike took both girls to the 'Build a Bear' store. They each chose a doll. They put a heart for him and one for each girl in the dolls. They have been sleeping with the doll very nice Mike left for Iraq...


This week has been filled with emotions in our household.

We started the week with Emilie's first day in Kindergarten (which is here the equivalent to the 1st grade of Primary school in Europe)at the Bluewater Elementary School!!! . So BIG Deal! Her teacher is Mrs. Runyon and they are 19 kids in her class. Mike was able to walk her to school and pick her up almost every day. She rides her bicycle with the neighborhood kids.
She came back every day with a sticker for her good behavior. She is very proud and very excited to be in the big girl school.


Emilie's classroom,Mike and the girls sitting a her 'desk/table'

The computer and the cubbies and folders


2nd day of school - Red Day

On Tuesday afternoon, both girls are now in the same ballet/tap class which they really enjoy.

Look at Emilie's moves...


Tap

Claire started her first gymnastics class on Wednesday morning.

Friday afternoon, Emilie decided she wanted to remove the training wheels of her bicycle and to our surprise she took off without the wheels in a few minutes!!! and Mike was able to be there for that moment. We then had to get all the neighors and show them!


This was pretty much her first try...



Mike measured the girls to see how much they would grow while he is away...


Mike measuring the girls

We spent the rest of the week watching Mike getting ready for his 6 months deployment to Iraq. As Tropical Storm Fay was getting near, his departure was changed from Sunday to Saturday morning (which weather wise was acually the worst day of the weekend because of the winds and rain).
We drove him to the airport and were even able to get him to his gate. It was very tough on all of us. Emilie looked at me and said 'Why are your eyes red Mamy?'. She kept on saying "Please don't leave Daddy. Stay..." Claire was good at first, she was trying to comfort Emilie by saying 'Daddy has to go on his trip for work but he will be back soon Emilie' then when it was time for Dad to leave, the four of us were crying and I left the airport dragging the girls and crying. We cried till we got to the car then I tried to get it back together for them. Emilie looked at me and said 'Mammy, are you still crying?' I told her I was still sad because Daddy was gone but I was not crying anymore. I really had to hold it but I thought it was better for them. They started to quiet down and I told them we would try to get on base to see his plane take off. We actually managed to see the plane as it was taking off and then it dissapeared in the low clouds.

The weekend has been hard but we were able to speak to Mike a few times since he was still in the USA. As I type this, he is in Norfolk, VA waiting for his Sunday night departure.


Tomorrow is school for Emilie and next weekend Papy and Maminou will arrive to stay with us for a while which will be nice.