School Scribbles and Open House

Here's one of Lily's work assignments from school. This one focuses on the short vowel "o". She wrote down the words octupes, cotin los, frog, log, moth, kros, sos. In proper English ;-) they are spelled octopus, cotton, lots, frog, log, moth, cross and sauce. Then her sentence: "I had los of isrem. I had a beleak. I didint know what to do." Translated: "I had lots of ice cream. I had a belly ache. I didn't know what to do."

Last night was Open House in Lily's school. We got to visit Lily's Kindergarten Room and see some of the projects she had been working on. We also got to see the three 1st Grade classrooms and meet the teachers, Ms. Langsdorff, Ms. Cline and Ms. Kehoe. We don't know yet who Lily's teacher will be next year.

Here is a short story Lily wrote in her writing folder: "Rose lives in howiy. There are budrfliyz and ther is swimen puls and hot tubs. And majic iPas at nit."
I am by now used to Lily's spelling mistakes and know the story should read like this: "Rose lives in Hawaii. There are butterflies and there is swimming pools and hot tubs. And magic iPads at night."
I think it is cute, because she obviously is recalling the holiday we spent in Hawaii in early January of this year!

And finally, some photos of Lily showing off her classroom and work!

My little Superman!

Wat hebben we toch een heerlijk jongetje!

Ennio had his 4 year old check-up today!

Stats:

Nederlands
Lengte: 112 cm (7 cm gegroeid op een jaar) (98e percentiel)
Gewicht: 22,5 kg!!! (2,5 kg bijgekomen op een jaar) (99e percentiel)

Ter vergelijking: Op 4 jaar was Lily 107 cm groot (94e percentiel voor meisjes) en woog ze 17,2 kg (78e percentiel voor meisjes). Aan 4,5 jaar was ze ook 112 cm, maar woog toen maar 19 kg. Zelfs aan 5 jr woog ze nog maar 20 kg. En terwijl we toch bezig zijn, aan 6 jaar woog ze 22 kg (dus nog steeds minder dan Ennio nu aan 4 jaar!)

Ennio is dus een grote en stevige jongen, met een gezond BMI van 18.

English
Length: 44 inches (he grew 2.5 inches in one year) (98th percentile)
Weight: 49.8 pounds (he gained about 5 pounds in one year) (99th percentile)
BMI: 18

A strong and healthy boy!

His blood pressure was measured (88/40). His vision was tested and is perfect.

SRF

Enjoying a 15-minute break at our neighborhood park. Nice!

Ennio at preschool

Here are some photos from Ennio at school. They are taken by his teachers, Miss Kim or Miss Alex, and were put on the classroom's Facebook page (a closed group, only accessible for the parents).
They give a good impression of what the kids are doing, how they are playing,... and how tall Ennio is compared to his classmates! The photos are in reverse chronological order (from January till end of April - the most recent photos are first).

Ennio and his friend Harrison

Celebrating one of the kids birthdays.

Ennio and Maxwell

Asher and Ennio

Around St. Patrick's Day

Trains trains trains!

Ennio and Harrison

William and Ennio

Ennio and Harrison

With Phineas and Benjamin

This is how Ennio (right) likes to go down the slide!

Class photo moment!

Ennio's a leftie!

Outside on the bench! (and just before he got his haircut in January)

Another one with Harrison!

Spring Fling!

On Saturday, May 16, Westminster Child Center held its annual Spring Fling festival. There was music (one of the dad plays in a band, The Sunset Drifters, and they had a mini concert on the playground!), there were food trucks and pop-up shops. 10% of the proceeds benefited WCC. Each classroom had made an artwork, that would be auctioned off at a silent auction. Here is a photo of Ennio's room showing off their art project. The start bid was $40. I put down $60 and was very surprised and happy that we got to take the piece home with us! What a nice addition for the kids' bedroom!

Letter writing

This is so cute! Lily's friend Frances wrote a letter to Lily in class yesterday:  
"Dear Lily you are the bestest frend I cud evr have. You are funny at lunch and olmost ol tims and I like yor glasis. I rilee like yor klos to. Frum yor frend Frances Bell." (in grown-up English: Dear Lily, you are the best friend I could ever have. You are funny at lunch and almost all times and I like your glasses. I really like your clothes too. From your friend Frances Bell)

Lily didn't have time in class to write a letter back, so she did it at home and put it in an envelope for Frances. I forgot to take a picture, but it was very sweet too! (something like: "You are so nis to me!")
I hope these girls will be in the same classroom next year, which is not a sure thing because all the kindergartners will be mixed up into different classrooms. We will only know at the beginning of next school year!

Flowers

Mother's Day flowers! Love them!!!

Mother's Day 2015

Ennio's present for me!

Lily's hand-made flowers for me!

My sweethearts!

Ennio's first ever birthday party!

Even though our little guy turned four, this was his first ever birthday party! Lily's been having birthday parties ever since she was born (oh, the difference between a first- and a second-born child!) but Ennio just never had one... We were always on a holiday at the time of his birthday (1st B-day: Florida; 2nd B-day: Tahiti; 3rd B-day: Punta Cana - not bad, hey) that we considered that enough of a treat for the little man! But this year I wanted it to be different. Ennio is slowly developing "friendships" with some of his classmates and I certainly want to encourage that. I thought it would be fun to invite his friends for a birthday party at home.

We had his Snoopy Birthday Bash (Ennio LOVES Snoopy) on Saturday and he definitely was excited. He couldn't wait until everyone would arrive. He was especially eager to open up his presents - which we let him do (very un-American!) and then he played with his new toys for hours (together - or at least parallel - with some of his friends). He also liked blowing the candles on the Snoopy cake (we got a regular chocolate/custard birthday cake at Porto's Bakery and pimped it ourselves with Snoopy figurines and the little train) and hitting the Snoopy piñata. It was a nice size party. Not too many people, so it wasn't too overwhelming, and I was able to have somewhat of a decent conversation with the other parents!

Setting up the kids party table in the patio:

Time for the Piñata!

Time for Birthday cake, singing Happy Birthday and blowing the candles!!!

While Ennio and his gang were playing with the new toys, the girls were watching iPad (and the parents drinking, haha)

I hope you had a wonderful birthday, sweet boy of mine. Keep shining! We love you!