Jack at the Pool Party

 

 Adam, Jack, Faisal and Talib

 Jack came home Thursday with an invitation to go to a Pool Party that AFTERNOON at a friend's house.  We had Back to School Night and the plan was to drive 15 minutes away to pick up a friend and her son, so our babysitter could watch the boy as well as our kids so the Mom could go to Back to School Night.  The party was supposed to be from 5-9pm.  I had to pick up my friend at 4:45pm, drive back to our house 15 minutes the other direction, drop off all the kids with the babysitter and then fight traffic back to school!  I told Jack there was no way it was going to happen - I hate last minute plans like that, especially when I've never met the kid or his parents.  Nor had I ever heard of his neighborhood.  Jack was heartbroken.  And pitiful.  I finally looked up his neighborhood on the computer.  It was about 10 minutes the other side of school from me - so about 20 minutes without traffic.  I told Jack to call his friend and find out if there was any way I could drop him off at 4:30 and pick him up after Back to School Night at 8:15.  I called, because having Jack do it wasn't going to work, and the Mom was really nice and understanding about it.  

So, it's now 4pm.  We get things together, Jack got his swim bag with swimsuit, goggles, towel and swim shirt.  We get in the car and I tell him that if traffic is bad, then we just won't be able to go - since I had to pick up my friend, drop kids off at home and get to school.  Thankfully, it wasn't too busy.  I dropped him off at 4:30pm exactly, then made my way to my friend's house - at 4:45pm exactly.  Then we pulled up at our house at 5:05pm, after ordering Papa John's on the way, and the babysitter asked if I wanted her to come then instead of 5:15!  After giving the babysitter the rundown, we were out the door, and thankfully pulled into school at 5:30pm - a half hour early!  It took us 50minutes last year, so I was glad it didn't this year!  

I picked Jack back up after Back to School night and he had a GREAT time, to say the least.  Got to play with 3 buddies - swim in his friend's pool in their basement (yes, of their house - impressive, isn't it?), play playstation and eat pizza :)  The Mom sent me these pictures she took of them!

Back to School Night

 Tonight was Back to School Night at the kids' school!  It was great to meet their teachers, as well as their Spanish Teacher, Megan and Jack's Arabic teacher, the Band teacher and Art teacher and get an idea of what to expect this year in each of their classrooms!  

 Megan's story about her summer :)

 And her note for us on her desk

 As well as her Hopes and Dreams for this coming year

 Kylie's hope and dream for this year

(I hope to read better and write better!!!!)

 Her story of what happened last weekend, which I will post pics of later :)

 Jack's nametag on his desk that he drew

His hope and dream

And Kylie's color self portrait in Art!

Welcoming a Friend

 A friend of ours arrived here in Kuwait - so we made muffins and signs to decorate the front door for him and welcome him :)  

And while out shopping this weekend, came across some funny sunglasses with hanging mustaches...sadly they only had 2 pairs in the store for the big kids to try on...and we got chastised by the sales lady that we aren't supposed to take pictures there...but they look fun, nonetheless!

First Day of School Thoughts

Jack:  My class seemed really good.  My teacher seems really nice and like a good teacher.  I think Arabic will hopefully be easy.  I have Talib and Gun Ha in my class again.  We have really big desks and could pick anywhere where we wanted to sit.  I sit with Talib, Gun Ha and Adam.  We have lunch and then recess, so you don't really want to do anything.  I played soccer at recess with millions of people.  Spanish seemed a little bit harder because we have a new teacher.  I got to see Bader at recess.  We have cubbies inside our classroom.

Megan:  We got off the bus and the school bus rang, so we didn't have any time for walk and talk, we had to go directly to our classes.  I dropped Kylie off at her line and then went to mine.  We only had 5 girls in our class today and 9 boys.  I found out a certain girl was only going to be in my class for 2 weeks before she moves, but she wasn't there today.  We started off our day with choosing seats - we have to sit boy/girl/boy/girl.  I sit with Tarek, Lara, Faud, Fawaz and Yoon Jae.  My teacher had us come sit down on the rug and did morning meeting.  We were supposed to ask the kid on your right what their name was and a one word description of how they were feeling.  My one word was Excited.  We talked about the class rules and school rules.  We realized we never had snack, so we had to eat our snack with lunch.  We had a new Spanish teacher, which surprised me, and Arabic was even crazier.  We also had PE and we played dodgeball with a pushup start.  I picked Kylie up from her class to walk her to the bus in the afternoon.  My teacher seems okay, very organized.  I haven't made up my mind yet on him.  I'm very thankful Mom made tollhouse bars for when we got home! 

Kylie:  I like my teacher.  She is very nice.  She was not strict.  She was a fun teacher.  We got to make a small book and write about something we did this summer.  I wrote "I went to two weddings" only I didn't know how to spell two and the teacher thought I meant "to".  I had a really fun recess.  I got to see all of my friends.  I got to see James, Ahmed, Aws, Sami, Hanya and Luba.  We just got out there for recess and there was just a little recess left.  I got to run around with the boys - chase them and try to get them.  And I like my friends.  I like Spanish and I like Literacy (what she takes instead of Arabic).  In Spanish I got to draw a snake because the teacher was teaching me how to say Snake. I like everything in my class and everything we do.  I like math.  Yousef E, maybe Rajaa, Amnah and Faye are all in my class from last year.  I made friends with Sarah and another girl.  The other part of my day was that I got to see the computer teacher.  I didn't get to do her class today but I saw her.  The bus ride was good in the morning and the afternoon. 

 View while waiting for the kiddos in the afternoon

 Getting off the bus!!!

 With the Gulf in the background

And eating Tollhouse Bars after telling me all about their day!!!

First Day of School

 

Today is the First Day of School for our...

 1st Grader

 3rd Grader

 5th Grader

 Backpacks on, lunches and water bottles in their backpacks and school supplies all ready to go!

Last Days of Summer

 We went to the Aquarium to see an IMAX movie - The Last Reef in 3D :)  We got the kids to pose with a small Kuwaiti boat in the lobby while waiting...

Had them take a picture with a shark

 Got ready to watch the movie - complete with 3D glasses and headphones for English, since it was in Arabic

 Enjoyed a cookout with friends and a ton of yummy food!

 Kylie shared a seat with our new little buddy - even if he didn't want his picture taken :)

 And Jack posed with Jonah, who DID want his picture taken :)

We went and found out our teachers today - each kid has a teacher new to the school.  It was fun to see teachers we loved from last year in the halls - including Ms. Ladner, Megan's favorite art teacher - she said she had the picture Megan painted for her up on her door :)  So we had Megan pose with it!

School starts tomorrow :(