PreK & K Meet and Greet

This week Ethan and Rachel began their first week of school.  Caleb and Michael will not start until Tuesday, so their teachers had their meet and greets this week. Both of the boys were super excited to finally get to meet their teacher and see their classroom!

First up was Michael's school!  When we walked in,  I thought this was Michael's classroom, but after I took the picture I realized his is across the hall...ooops. By then he didn't want to take a picture, oh well..they looked the same :).  His little face is red from all the walking we had to do before we arrived.....

Poor kids were so excited to see some toys to play with ( our belongings from the States have yet to arrive )..it took all I had to get him to look at me for a picture..lol

He LOVED his teacher, Mrs. Christine!

Their class mascot are the ants, so I wanted to take a picture of him in front of their bulletin board.  I asked him " Michael why are you standing like that?".  Mom " I'm an ant!"...Oh!

Michael left very excited about going to Preschool.  He will go three days a week for three hours each day...it will be SO strange to not have any children at home ( even if it is for a couple of hours )

The following day it was time for Caleb to go and meet his teacher, Mr. Hayden.  At first I didn't know what to think about a guy teaching Kindergarten.  Most of the male teachers I have ever known taught the upper grades in elementary school. Before I met him I was a little worried because Caleb is a child who will not respond to someone who has a strong personality. Well, I have to say all that went away after I met him.  First of all, he talks in such a calm, but firm voice and really took time to get to know Caleb.  Then he took me through their entire day showing me what they would be going on in the classroom.  Plus, he explained the reasoning behind everything he does..... LOVED that!!  He does a lot of things that I did when I taught school and from how he explained how he teaches,  his teaching style is a lot like mine was too!  He's been teaching in the DODDS school system for about 15 years and has taught K-2 grade, which is rare in the elementary grades.

Caleb was not in the mood for taking pictures when we arrived....lol.

By the end of our meeting, Mr. Hayden had Caleb smiling & all was good again..here he is giving Caleb a sticker for behaving so well!

He also let Caleb give Michael one <3

This picture cracks me up...apparently Michael decided he wanted in on the picture too!  I didn't realize that until after I uploaded them, sneaky little boy!

Until Next Time,

Michelle :)

Teacher Meet & Greet...

Today the class lists for the elementary school were released and we got the chance to go meet their teachers.  The kids were so excited to finally see their classrooms and to see if they knew anyone in their class.

Our first stop was Ethan's class.  His teacher's name is Mrs. Anthony.  We arrived a few minutes early so we really got to talk with her for a bit.  She is going to be such a perfect fit for Ethan!! She has the sweetest personality, doesn't mind a talkative child, and they are going to do a lot of hands on projects...perfect for him.  There are at least three other children in our neighborhood in his class, which made his day.  He was bummed that one of his really good friends isn't in his class, but hopefully they will see each other during specials or recess.

After we left Ethan's class, we were off to meet Caleb's teacher.  I was surprised to walk in and find that his teacher was a male.  That is a rarity in the earlier grades, especially kindergarten. His teacher's name is Mr. Hayden and I was also impressed with him.  If you know Caleb, he is a child that will completely shut down on you if you come on to strong.  So I was kind of worried, but when Mr. Hayden introduced himself to Caleb he was so sincere and kind...Caleb immediately liked him.  I've heard great things about Mr. Hayden, so I believe this will also be a great year for Caleb.  I didn't get a picture of him with his teacher because we are going back next week to talk with Mr. Hayden more.  The kindergarteners here start school a week later than the rest of the grades.  The teachers use this time to have one on one meetings with the child & their parents.  I really like that idea.  Some of the teachers do home visits, but Mr. Hayden has them come to the classroom. I love that because they get an entire hour to talk to him, look around the classroom, and ask any questions they would like.  Here's Caleb at his desk...he was SO proud!  My heart broke a little seeing him sit there!!  I feel like Caleb has been with me a long time.  When Ethan and Rachel were little I was still teaching, so I had gotten used to them not being at home with me because they were in day care.  Caleb, however, has been with me from the first day he was born....so it's been a little different with him.  He looked SO big sitting in that desk :(.

Finally, we went to Rachel's class.  At first she was a little nervous because one of her friends she met here was not in her class and she was afraid she wouldn't have any friends. Well, she was super excited when she walked in and saw three people she knew!  Her teacher's name is Mrs. Erickson.  I haven't quite gotten a feel for her ( she seemed nice, just not overly talkative), but I believe Rachel will do well in her class.

Hopefully, they will get to start school on Monday...this is in our forecast for the beginning of next week!!!  It's expected to bring anywhere from 6-12 inches of rain and wind gusts of 50 knots.....so we will see!

Until Next Time,

Michelle :)

Camp Humphrey's Water Park...

Today was another great day here in Korea :).  The kids and I went with the  PWOC ( Protestant Women of the Chapel) group I attend here on post to the Camp Humphrey's water park.   Camp Humphrey's is another Army garrison about 2 hours south of Seoul.  We had planned to do this trip last month, but the day we were going a typhoon decided to come through so we had to cancel our plans.  Well, wouldn't you know that a typhoon is also expected to come this weekend too!!  We didn't know for sure if we were going to get to go or not, but PTL the bad weather held off and we had a great time!!

We ended up with two bus loads full of moms and their kiddos.....here's a portion of the kids who were riding our bus

These are some of the ladies I "Facebook" met before moving over here.  It was so great to finally meet them in person....they are SUPER sweet & a lot of fun to be around !

We arrived at the park around 11:30, however the park itself did not open until 12:00.  Since our kids said they were starving, we all headed to the restaurant next door to eat.  They had a menu you could order from, but my kids and I ate at their buffet.  On this particular day it was mexican food.  I'm not sure if that is what they serve everyday for lunch or not. My kids loved it and I'm thankful they ate a lot because once we got inside the snack bar they had was closed :(.

After we ate lunch it was water park time!!  I was very impressed with this place!  They had a large pool you could swim in, slides for the bigger kids, an area for smaller kids, a playground, and a hot tub! My kids played from the moment we got there to the moment we left.  They were so sad when it was time to go.  I'm sure this will be a place we will visit a lot next summer!

Until Next Time,

Michelle :)

Wordless Wednesday: Tea Time

Until Next Time,

Michelle :)

Neighborhood Kickball Tournament...

I say this time and time again, but we are blessed to be in one of the best neighborhoods we have ever lived in.  We have some of the nicest neighbors and there are a TON of kids for our children to play with!

This past week two of the teenagers in the neighborhood, set up a Kickball Tournament for the younger children, complete with juice boxes, popsicles, and face painting!  The sweetest part about it is they did this all on their own.....do we not have some of the coolest teenagers ever!

The two girls who made this event happen :)

I have to thank our wonderful neighbor, Trish, for these amazing photos of the kids! As you can see, they had a BLAST!

I don't know if our kids will ever want to leave here :).  The picture below is just part of the kids that live in our neighborhood!  We've only been here a month and they have made so many new friends.  We constantly have a flow of kids knocking at our door wanting to play, even Caleb & Michael have kids asking for them :). That is one blessing about living on post...our kids meet other kids who are in the same boat as they are and they form bonds really quick. 

Here's to making wonderful memories with new friends!

Until Next Time,

Michelle :)