Trick Or Treat

Maddy and Ashley ready to Trick or Treat

They both managed to fill their entire pumpkin buckets

Whacky Halloween March

Spiderman Mano'o

Maddy's Best Friend Annie who is dressed up as a Pirate :)

Getting ready to go on their march around the school

Azfar, Whitney, Tiffany, Alex P, Anisa, Maya, Maddy, Nathan, Nayeila and Claire

Marching around the playground

Miss Weatherholtz Class - Room 18

Pumpkin Day At School

Pumpkin Day at Maddy's school was a lot of fun. They had different activities with lots of parent volunteers helping out. I was in the library reading books to a few of the kids on halloween and pumpkins. I was even asked to read to the whole class while the parents tidied up after snack time.

In this picture Maddy is scooping out pumpkin seeds and then has to count them and mark them on a sheet. The reason why he is not smiling is because the girl next to him, Nayeila, took some of his seeds.

Playing Bingo

Snack Time

Maddy again was annoyed at Nayeila who seems to be having behaviourial problems according to the Instructional Teacher I spoke with that day. He didn't want me taking a picture with her in it LOL

Painting Pumpkins

At IHOP for a quick celebration dinner

Daddy got a promotion yesterday - Praise the Lord! :):)

Merrifield Fall Festival

Finally, a picture of the All Blacks Flag
Breakfast At IHOP

Building a football jacket holder

Daddy waiting patiently with Baby Octopus

Spiderman Mano'o

Inside the Inflatable Moon Bounce

Climbing the stairs to the inflatable slide

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Volunteering At Maddy's School

It was my turn to volunteer at Maddy's school today - well actually I was asked to swap with Ashleys Mom (Joanne). I was surprised to see how well behaved Madison was and it wasn't because I was there. He's patient with the other kids except for Nayeila who he seems not to like - I'll have to ask him why! He listens well to the teacher and isnt' one of the naughty ones that is always talking LOL.

I helped with the writing center, where they had to draw a picture and then write down some words to describe it. The writing levels range from a few students not knowing any words to a few kids that did. I went around the tables and all the kids wanted to share with me and ask me lots of questions. When I finally got to Madison's table, he had drawn a picture of Daddy, Mummy and himself at the zoo. Underneath he wrote "Dad", "Mum" and "Madison." (caps and small letters all in the right place) :) I was proud of him.

Come recess time he was full of fun and laughter and playing games with his friends Ryo, Annie, Azfar, Claudia, Michael and Matthew. He's a chatterbox and likes to make funny faces and make his friends laugh. It also seems like he has a close friendship with Annie - his new best friend!

I spoke with both his teachers while they were on the playground and they said that Maddy is kind, polite, helpful and friendly and considering he did not go to pre-school (except a month or two in Samoa), how well he socialises with his classmates.

My next volunteer session is at the end of the month, when they have their Whacky Halloween Festival - I'll take lots of pictures then.

Old Wives Tale...

that actually works. I was told by several ladies on yuwie.com about a remedy to alleviate night time coughing by rubbing vicks vaporub on maddys feet and then covering them up with socks. This allows him to sleep soundly without ANY coughing for many hours. So far this is working. He has been asleep for 4 hours and NO coughing at all - wow, who would think aye, vicks vaporub on your feet. Come to think of it, I remember a few ladies at the Development Bank of Samoa use vicks vaporub for lots of things including pimples, cold sores and mosquito bites LOL

Next time you have a cough, try it, I'm going to LOL

From Cough To Bronchitis

Maddy is not a well child today. I kept him home yesterday after a long weekend of non stop coughing and fever. It got worse last night and he even vomited a couple of times. I took him to the doctors this morning (only available day and time) and it turns out that he has a slight case of bronchitis. He has been given chewable antibiotic tablets that he has to take every 12 hours for the next week or so.

He is not happy that he has to stay home as he would rather be at school with his friends. They are preparing for the Halloween Whacky Festival at the end of the month and also practicing new songs for the Heritage Festival early next month. All the kids are performing and singing songs and everyone can dress up in their national or native colors or traditional wear. We haven't decided how we should dress him up - they say you can have them wear the flag of their country or nationality or dress them up in their national clothing. What do you think we should do? Any suggestions family? maybe dress him up in an i'e faitaga and shirt, or screen print a shirt with the samoan, japanese and cook island flags or go all KIWI or ?!?

If you take a look at the school link here under Heritage Festival, you can see the different outfits the students wore - they looked awesome! http://www.fcps.edu/StenwoodES/scrapbook.htm

Literacy Centers

This picture was taken on the same day Maddy's class made the applesauce. Here is Maddy reading the pocket chart out aloud with three of his class friends, Matthew, Annie and Torianne.

AppleSauce Day

During the week of September 24th-28th, Madison's class learnt all about Johnny Appleseed, investigating how apples grow and they even made their own school-made applesauce. Here is a picture of their class enjoying the finished product.

Here is the recipe if you want to make some :)

10 apples peeled and cut

A few shakes of cinnamon

And sugar to taste

Put all the ingredients in a crock pot set on high for three hours. Mash and enjoy!

More Zoo Photos

Sleepy Lion

A Prairie Dog

Panda's Bottom

Resting

A Big Tortoise

Having Fun

Smithsonian National Zoo

What a dissapointing start to the weekend, with the All Blacks losing to the French Unbelievable! We are still in shock and I'm sure all of NZ is too!

Today was Columbus Day Holiday and we decided to spend the afternoon at the Smithsonian National Zoo. We were suppose to meet up with Matt's workmates Sakib, his wife and baby, Rajiv and his wife to play tennis thereafter, but for some unknown reason, they were not able to make it so we have rescheduled for next weekend either before or after the bbq at Candy's place on Saturday.

We saw Donkeys, A Panda Bear (well it's bottom LOL), Lion, Tigers, Sea Creatures, Turtles, Prairie Dogs, Alligators, Crocodiles, Tortoises, Snakes, Lizards, and all sorts. It was a fun sunny day and were soooo tired afterwards from all the up-hill walking. We finished the day with pizza, and about to get ready for bed as Matt and Maddy have work and school tommorrow. I'll be attending the PTA meeting held at 9am at Maddy's school then heading off to the gym to do some light weights.

Have a great week everyone!

Donkeys

Maddy, Daddy and the Lions

Inside A T-Rex Skull

Umm Some Kind Of Lizard LOL

Kimodo Dragon

Maddy with his two new toys, Giraffe and Donkey

Happy Birthday Jared Hunter!

Hope you had a fun first day at SCHOOL and Happy Happy 5th Birthday to YOU :)

Miss you lots, Love Maddy, Aunty Rachel and Uncle Matt

Picture Perfect

Aunty Lagi and Aunty Sachi

To Market To Market

Today we spent the day at the Eastern Market, downtown DC, hoping to find some Taro. Even though they had lots of produce, there was no Taro to be seen. We ended up walking around, taking a look at the different arts and crafts stalls, produce, meats and then buying a few pastries from the bakery. It's a busy little place on Sundays, with lots of people eating and drinking in the cafes nearby, listening to music concerts and others playing different types of musical instruments from their native countries. It reminded me of the Otara Market in Auckland.