Maddie's First Day of School

Maddie is practically a veteran learner at this point!  It’s hard to believe that this is the 4th conclusion to a school year for her.  Ms. Preeti took great care of her in both PreK3 and PreK4, and Maddie has thoroughly enjoyed reading the blog posts from those days.  When she watches the video of the first time she wrote her name in PreK3 though all she can point out is that her “d” is backwards and her “i” looks like a “c”.

Maddie Studies Hard!

Maddie loved Kindergarten with Mrs. Howitt and eagerly looked forward to first grade this year.  First grade was a big leap for Ms. Maddie because all of sudden she had HOMEWORK!!  Perhaps it is my naivety about raising kids in this day in age, but we all were definitely gobsmacked by that one!  She has put her very best foot forward though this year and has loved school.  Most importantly, she’s built friendships, gained confidence and is one of the most polite kids around.

Mrs. Voge was Maddie’s teacher this year and she was quite simply amazing.  Elaine has known Maddie since she was born because Elaine lived with us in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia when we were there.  I taught her son Callum while we were there and now she has taught Maddie.  This world of ours is indeed very, very small and don’t let anybody ever tell you differently!

Maddie and Roqueya

Maddie’s school year was fantastic as she made some new friends and said “see ya later” to some old friends.  I think this is the first year that Maddie really gets the “TCK” status.  Part of being a TCK is saying goodbye to people a bit more frequently than she would if she were growing up stateside.  Maddie said goodbye to her very good friend Roqueya this year as Roqueya is moving back to Canada after being in Shanghai for all of her life.  Maddie met Roqueya when she was in PreK3 and they’ve been good friends for four years.  Skype will keep them connected and I suspect that they’ll stay in contact for many years to come.

Maddie's Celebration of Learning

Maddie’s Celebration of Learning Day was perfect this year as it really showed the vastness of everything she studied and learned this year.  She LOVES science and while I set all squeamish around bugs, she thinks it’s cool to look at them under the microscopes!

Catching up on the blog posting here!!!! One of the benefits of living at the Links are the community get togethers they plan for the kids. This was our welcome back party this school year… I know, I know… I’m a bit lit in posting it but better late than never! Amelia was of course terrified of the entire event but Maddie got her giggles for sure as she hung out with the other kids.

Check out the number of hoops at the end of the video.  And is the girl something like 12 years old?  A veteran!!!

Enjoy the show!

One of the things the girls look forward to is walking near our house to go feed the ducks!  Maddie has been sick for nearly four days now but sometimes you just need to get out or you’ll get cabin fever which in WAY worse! All I have to say is… thank goodness for cheap bread!

Beautiful Oregon days….

Today I woke up sick.  My mom gave me some clothes from Justice and made me feel better.  my mom gave me tylenol and I felt a little bit better.

when I coughed so loudly it hurt my Mom’s ears!