Keyser Family: This Weeks Picture Dump

Wednesday:

It was dumping rain outside and Kurt couldn't take the kids to school because he had a work meeting, so I decided to have the kids play hooky. Instead we had an English school day. I've been trying to work with Kelsie on her letters, writing, etc. I don't want to overload her since she's learning Japanese, but at the same time I don't want her to get behind. She's starting to recognize more and more letters which I'm getting excited about. Letters, etc. came so easy to Logan - by 18 months he knew the entire alphabet. Kelsie is 3 1/2 and is still learning them. On the other hand her large motor skills are way better than Logan's. It's funny how two kids can grow up in the same family and have such different strengths and weaknesses.

Thursday:

The kids all ready for school! They are loving school and picking up on more and more Japanese. Kelsie will be sitting at the dinner table and say random phrases. Rather than baby talk - she's starting to make more and more sense. Kurt has also figured out that Logan knows more than we originally thought. He understands a lot of what his teacher and friends are saying, he just answers them in English. Both kids come home singing songs that they sang at school. Each classroom has a piano and their teachers know how to play.

After school on Thursday, we showered the kids because they had a "swimming" day at school and got them ready for Logan's audition for an IKEA photo shoot. Funny note about their "swimming" - the teachers set up a couple little pools like you'd have in your backyard and the kids pretty much strip down to nothing and then jump in the pool. I guess modesty isn't something they really practice with the young children...They pretty much play in the pools on any hot day. I'm pretty sure they don't run the air conditioning very much, so they use the pools as a way to cool the children down.

Train ride to the IKEA audition. As you can tell, Kelsie wasn't a happy camper part of the way. If I remember right she was mad at me for scooting over so Logan could sit down too...

Logan's audition went fairly well. There were TONS of models of all ages - adults, teens, kids. I think Logan did fairly well, but you never know exactly what they are looking for and what groupings they'll decide to use.

After the audition, the kids really wanted their picture taken with this statue.

Friday:

This little girl learned how to use her voice. She usually only screams bloody murder if 1. she's REALLY hungry or 2. she's REALLY tired. I thought she was tired because she shouldn't have been hungry yet, but maybe I was wrong. As much as we tried to soothe her and get her to sleep, nothing worked. :( On benefit of the whole experience was that she did sleep really well that night since she wore herself out!

While Avri was screaming at home, the kids had a blast at yochien. It was watemelon smashing day! I'm not sure what the correct Japanese term is, so that's what I'm calling it. Apparently the kids had a practice run on Thursday in preparation for Friday. We were told to have the kids bring their swimsuits and a towel.

What they do - Each kid is blindfolded and given a stick. Another person gives directions to lead the kid to the watermelon. As soon as they get to the watermelon, they try to whack it with the stick to crack it open. Once it's opened they eat the watermelon. I guess it's kind of like their version of a pinata? Funny this is, watermelons are INSANELY expensive here. Maybe they should have gone with something a little cheaper?

Here's a little video we found on YouTube depicting the process (not our kids school).

Saturday:

Who's the cutest little girl in the world?

:) When she fell asleep like this I just had to take a picture. Saturday we had some friends over for a spaghetti dinner. 10 kids ages 10 and under (& 6 adults) can create a lot of volume and Avri still slept through most of the evening.

Sunday:

The girls all ready for church. Avri is finally just barely starting to fit in her 0-3 months clothes. Kurt thought I was silly for insisting she wear a dress to church...but I did anyways! Thanks Aunt Nancy for the cute little dress.