Kids and Activities

Just wanted to jot down some things about school and life and activities before I forget!
-The kids are really getting into our Egyptian history lessons...they will be sad to move on to something else. In the car a few days ago, Jonah said, "Mom, the Egyptians were realllly interesting people." I said, "I know, that's why we are studying them." He said, "They did all that stuff and didn't even have TECHNOLOGY!!" He just cracks me up. They especially were interested in the gross parts of embalming (like when Egyptians removed the brains with a brass hook through the nose before embalming...ewwww). They have also been into hieroglyphics and we made a replica of the Nile river that represented how the flooding each year used to water the crops grown close to the river -- here's some pictures:




-Soccer is going -- well, o.k. Jonah is a good goalie and is now starting to pick up some foot skills and be effective on offense -- in fact, he nearly scored last game and surprised us all! I think Jonah is really liking playing, but the coach quit, leaving me in "charge". Luckily we only have 1 more practice and 2 more games left, and then the end of season party. I'm half hoping that I can coach next spring...


-Mattie finally perfected her scratch spin -- she's been working on this off and on for a couple months, and really needed to "get" it to move on to the next level, and I think she's got it down:

She will be performing again in the Christmas program, both in a group and on her own as well.

And Kaisa is doing well - she's starting to make some friends, understanding her classes better, and doing some afterschool activities. She joined the Disc Golf club and is taking skating lessons as well. She is really an awesome kid, and it's nice to have her here.


That's all for now!

Hello, Blogspot, My Old Friend...

*cue up Simon and Garfunkel*

So, it's been crazy busy, and September is looong gone.
I just wanted to post a few pictures to update our blog.
Jonah has been playing soccer, not winning much, but playing his little heart out. It's good for him to have an activity of his own -- I'm sure he's getting sick of sitting at the rink watching Mattie skate.

We went Up North as planned, and the weather was a final gift before Fall hit...it was warm enough to swim and tube...and cool enough at night to take a sauna. It was a wonderful and relaxing weekend.




Then we came home to Homecoming week at BHS, and Kaisa really enjoyed participating in all the events and special dress-up days.

Soon it will be Kaisa's birthday and Tim's too! And of course, the kids are beginning to discuss their Halloween get-up....
:)
Sarah

Finnish Alphabet

Sorely Needed Update

It's been waaaay too long since I've written here, so I will try to bring everyone up to speed. This summer flew by, of course -- and got even speedier towards the end when we "acquired" a new family member. Three school years ago, we hosted an exchange student from Finland, and her sister was in the States this year. She was really unhappy with her host family in Indiana, and her mom emailed us to see if we would be willing/able to take her. So, after a mountain of paperwork and phone calls and emails, we picked Kaisa up on August 16th!

Then we took a whirlwind tour of every touristy place nearby, showing Kaisa the sights: Greenfield Village, Metroparks, Toledo Zoo, Tigers game, the mall, Crosswinds Marsh, etc...

I had planned on starting school early this year, but once Kaisa was here, we decided to follow her schedule instead, to make it easier on everyone. Not sure what happened to my enthusiasm, but it started really waning as school started getting closer -- I really was having back-to-school envy, worrying about whether I was capable, or whether I was "depriving" the kids of the school experience. I was also concerned about Mattie's developing attitude with me, and had several long talks with her about how she had to be willing to have me teach her things without eye rolling, sighing, and all those other oh-so-wonderful behaviors.
So I worried and I prayed and I talked with Tim...and worried some more.
The first day of school was....
Very nice! Kids were well behaved, really into checking out all the new stuff, receptive to the ideas I had for the year! Whew!
So long story short, things turned out better than I expected (as usual -- I think it's God's way of constantly reminding me that my worrying is completely ineffective and a waste of my time).
This Fall will probably race by too..we are planning a trip to the cottage for our 10 year anniversary at the end of September, and the kid's activities are all starting up again: soccer, skating, science at the nature center, and zoo classes.
I hope to update much sooner than I have this time! :)

Hiatus

I've had a week-long hiatus because we were on vacation. We go every year (at least once) to my BIL Jeremy's cottage. It is called the Westcottage, and was built in 1950 by his parents for about $3000. It has so many good memories and so much interesting history and sits right on one of the cleanest lakes in MI -- it's just a fantastic vacation spot, no matter how you spin it. The weather wasn't much good for swimming, but we did take a couple dips in the lake. Tim has been going to this cottage since he was 12 years old, and I have been going since I was 18. I am so glad this is a part of our children's lives.
Highlights included:
-Visiting Michigan's Adventure on our way up. This is a great little amusement park with a really large waterpark attached. For the fairly low price of $26 per person, you get admission to both parks. The rides were just intense enough for my kids to think they were exciting without being so big that they were terrifying.
-Fishing. We fished and fished and fished some more this trip. We caught at least 100 fish, some bluegill, lots of rock bass, a couple of really nice lake trout, and surprisingly, some catfish. We'd never seen catfish in the lake -- EVER. It was a little strange.
-Beach walks. The kids and I found a big patch of wild mint, some cool stones, and all sorts of nature treasures. I also found some not-yet-eaten wild raspberries. Yummo.
-Reading. We are thinking about keeping bees next year, so I had a bunch of books from the library about bees that I took with us. It was great reading. I also found a biography of Kennedy that I read up there, and inside was what looked like a funeral announcement as a bookmark. It was interesting.
-Tubing. Kids tubed about 4-5 days -- they got braver and braver each day.
-Movies. Mattie got to see Harry Potter 6 (Jonah and I didn't go, thought it might be too scary), and both of the kids got to go with Uncle Jeremy and their cousin to see Ice Age 3.

I didn't get to sail this year because Jeremy was working on the sailboats, but the final day, there were about 6-7 sailboats out on the lake, and they were really beautiful to see.

Overall, a very nice relaxing vacation. We're hoping to go back for a long weekend this Fall.