A Kid's Life

November has flown by. (Do I say that every month?) Hadley had a speaking part (Joan) in the 4th grade musical. She was super excited about it and had to go early to school at 7:15 twice a week for rehearsal. It was called "A Kid's Life" and was basically about a bunch of kids faced with an afternoon without their "techno-gadgets" when the power goes out. 

Unfortunately, when the power goes out, they cut the lights on the stage, so the kids speaking are a little dark in pictures. At least, Hadley was front and center on stage in the overalls!

It was a musical, so here's a taste of the songs and choreography you missed out on.

Without their devices, the kids had to resort to board games and jump rope, and Hadley's character instructs another character how to make a paper airplane. In keeping with family tradition, she also had a very long and complicated speech to deliver in the musical.

November is the start of the family birthday-stravaganza month, and Uncky Dan was marking a big milestone this year. We secretly decorated their driveway while they were at Disneyland.

Then they came to Katy Asian Town to celebrate with a Hot Pot dinner, where you drop a variety of meats and veggies into a boiling vat of broth in the middle of the table. The 40 necklaces made a reappearance from John's 40th.

Owen found himself a fan by the end of the night. (He was sweetly pretending to sleep when Addy cast her 'sleeping spells' on him at dinner, which quickly won her over.)

Back at school, Hadley and I went to International Night (over 20 countries and cultures represented within our students/staff) and the Thankful Party. Here, Hadley is shaking 20 ping pong balls out of a tissue box tied to her backside as fast as she can. (She beat her opponent.)

Happy Thanksgiving! This sweet girl remembered and initiated our Thankful Station at home at the beginning of the month. She drew the turkey and pre-cut all the little papers for us to contribute things we were thankful for throughout the month. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, we went around drawing them out and reading what we shouldn't take for granted.

 

Lastly, we are thankful for vaccines! These two have now been fully vaccinated (and Mom and Dad have been boosted!) against Covid, and we hope that will eventually lead to a maskless return to normalcy. Happy holidays everyone!

Soccer Ketchup

Owen finished up his fall soccer season today. He got to play on a scrappy team that came together well enough to finish second in their division! Not too bad when at least two of the other teams have been playing together for years and at least two of our players were 4th graders! They moved up to full size fields, 11-on-11, and headers this year. Go Ketchup! (Yes, really, that's what they decided to call themselves...Intimidating, right?)

The best part was that Owen got to play on a team with 3 friends from the neighborhood. We set up a carpool for twice-weekly practice, and the boys had a blast! Although Coach started out giving nearly everyone 50% playtime, he eventually realized that these boys needed to be on the field most, if not all, of the game, every game.

One of the boys (Matthew)'s grandmother is a wonderful photographer and she captured a ton of photos of Owen during one game for me. You'll feel like you were at the game! Owen (#6) played center defender, and he really found his confidence in stealing the ball from the offense and booting it back downfield. They had an excellent goalie, but Owen was pretty good about keeping him from having to do much and filled a leadership role on the field for the defense. He got to do most of the goal kicks and even a few corner kicks.