Who Loves Popcorn?

The Cub Scout Popcorn sale is now on until November 7th. This is the Pack's ONLY fundraiser so the money raised from the popcorn sales support the boys activities for the rest of the year.

Come and support Madison and his Tiger Den club by purchasing online or send me your orders and I can process it on your behalf.

Go to http://www.orderpopcorn.com/ and enter the order key #TE31NU. Select the different types of popcorn you would like to order and enter our home address in the shipping address area. I will make sure when we receive the orders that they get sent on to you. Lots of yummy popcorn treats to choose from like:

Chocolate Heaven (5-way chocolate lovers tin),

Chocolate-Caramel- Cheese combinations,

Chessiest 3-way tin,

Regular or light microwave popcorn,

Caramel Corn,

Gourmet Caramel Corn with Almonds, Pecans and Cashews combination, Peanuts, cranberries, raisins, M&Ms, almonds and cashews Mix and More

If you're not into popcorn then how about supporting the US troops by donating a gift of popcorn to the value of $25. Donations of any amount are also accepted.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUING SUPPORT OF MADISON'S ACTIVITIES

NB If you do order online, please let me know the details so I can make sure Madison gets credited for the sales. There are also lots of prizes for him to win too.

Tiger Cub Scout

Maddy joined the Boy Scouts Pack 1132 on Friday and is now a member of the Tiger Den. We spent over an hour talking with the Pack and Den Leaders while the boys (60 odd) had fun and games in the school cafeteria. Two of his friends in his class, Jack and Gregory are in the same Den too so he was very happy about that.

The information they gave us along with the Tiger Den booklet, spells out all the activities and things he needs to take part in throughout the year to achieve his awards and badges and be able to move onto the Wolf Den. It looks like it's going to be a very busy year, but with lots of fun and games, community activities, camping as well as fundraising events. (Speaking about fundraising, I'll post on that next LOL).



Maddy couldn't wait to get started and managed to convince his Dad to take him shopping to buy his new scout uniform. When they picked me up from work that afternoon, he was already wearing it.

Back to School Night

Before Maddy's swimming class tonight, I attended the "back to school night" for parents and got a chance to see some of Maddy's school work like writing, science, social studies and word study notebooks. I even saw some of his artwork displayed on the hallway walls and took a picture of one.

Ms Reeves briefly went through the different things they will learn throughout the year, and showed us how to access class information using a site called BlackBoard.

She also mentioned that each student will have a chance to share with the class one week out of the year, where they show and tell anything they want. Maddy can choose to share photos of a family trip one day, then read a favorite book the next, share a favorite board game or talk about his favorite animal and so on, for a whole week. I thought that was a great idea and maybe (if he's interested) he might want to share about growing up in Samoa.

I'll also be volunteering again and taking part in as many class activities as I can. It's going to be a fun year I think!!

"Silky Smooth Stroke"

... was the comment we recieved from Maddy's swimming coach tonight. She told Matt that he has a 'silky smooth stroke' and swims further than any of the kids in his class.

WOW ... we were impressed by her comments and pleased to hear that he is doing very well. Of course, when we told him, he rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders and said "it was easy." LOL

Losing His First Tooth

Maddy lost his first tooth at school today and is expected to lose another one in a few more days. He put his tooth in a plastic bag and brought it home. As soon as he stepped off the bus, he showed it to me and I told him when he gets home, to clean it and place it under his pillow. He is excited about the tooth fairy/ies visiting him tonight. I wonder how much they are going to give him for his first tooth? umm 50c? I overheard him talking to his Daddy about wanting dollars and not coins LOL

A Hole in One

We spent Sunday afternoon at the park just up the road, which also had a mini golf game. Matt started off really well shooting 2 per hole, and then I made the first hole in one. Maddy wasn't far behind and when we reached the water hole, we managed to tape his hole in one - was awesome! Matt got it in as well but my ball stopped 2 inches from the hole (WTH?!?). I won overall with Maddy coming second and Matt dead last (haha).

Looking for Maddy's lost ball

Level 3 Swim Lessons

Maddy started level 3 swimming lessons and got off to a good start. There are only four (2 girls & 2 boys) in the class which is a good size, as his swim coach will be able to give him more personal attention. Susan seems very organized and had emailed a day earlier introducing herself then called that night to find out more about where Maddy was in terms of his lessons and what he's learnt so far. He really enjoyed his first class and made a new friend named Jason.

Guatemala Trip

My latest trip was to Guatemala and Belize. My colleague Brett (who is a bit of a photography buff) was kind enough to share some of the pictures he took while we were there.

One of the many volcanoes that surround Antigua, Guatemala where we stayed

The street that leads to the hotel in Antigua

Leading the staff training session

At the panaderia (bakery) in the morning

Conducting the Volunteer training session

Working with Victor, the local IT Specialist

Setting up machines on the weekend

In the server room with the local IT Specialist, Victor

Maddy the Multitasker

Maddy and I got a haircut yesterday afternoon and as you can see, he is a multitasker.

He is not about to let a haircut get in the way of the serious business of playing on his Nintendo DS.

He told me that he would simply brush off any hair that fell on the screen.

I'm sure the hairdresser found it amusing.

Mr. Funny Face

These pictures were taken while Maddy was having a break from doing his homework the other day. By then he had enough of it and wanted to stop. As soon as I started lecturing (I mean encouraging) him, his reply was "blah blah blah" and these silly pictures. He's lucky I was in a good mood LOL.

Maddy Singing

I recorded three videos of Maddy singing sometime ago (the first two last year) on my phone and only discovered them again while clearing out messages and stuff. They are just too cute and had to post them!!!

Singing ABC as fast as he can lol

He was meant to say "frolicked" not "frocket" LOL

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Hope you have a lovely day!

Love Maddy, Rachel and Matt xxx

A Birthday Message for Aunty Sachi

Enjoy your day and hope you have fun!!

Alofas Maddy, Rach & Matt xxx

Happy Birthday Aunty Mary!!!

Enjoy your special day :)

Alofas Rach, Matt and Maddy xxx

Happy Birthday Jonathan!!

Missing you very much,

Love Couzie Maddy, Aunty Rach and Uncle Matt xxox

Woodwork

We attended a Home Depot 'how to' workshop for kids this morning. It was a lot of fun sanding, hammering, glueing and screwing peices of wood together. Maddy and Dillion built a paper football game and this is what it looks like. In addition to the kit, they get a kid size Home depot apron and an achievement pin. They hold these workshops on the first weekend of each month, so we are going to make a habit of attending as many as we can. At the next workshop, they will be building a Whistle Fire Truck.

Hammering away

The finished product

Maddy the Builder

You're A Star

Maddy received a big stamp on his hand that says "You're A Star" for being really good in Music class today. He said he got it because he was paying attention and listening to the Music teacher as well as following the rules of the class. There were only a few that received the stamp too. Way to go Son!!

On another note, we are off to the PTA Ice Cream Social tonight at 7pm. Lets hope tropical storm Hanna hasn't reached us by then. We are expecting lots of rain and strong gusty winds and it's suppose to carry on through till tomorrow afternoon.

We have also been invited to a free woodworking class for kids at the Home Depot, with Ilma and her son Dillion (swimming friend) tomorrow, so fingers crossed the weather doesn't stop us from going their either.

On Sunday we are off to Alexander's christening, so we will be spending the day with Fati and Vai at their church.

Because of our busy weekend coming up, I doubt that I will have time to come online, so I wanted to wish all the Fathers out there in NZ and Aussie an early Happy Father's Day. :)

Uh Oh, Where's Maddy?!?

I got a bit of a fright today when I went to the bus stop to pick up Maddy. When the bus arrived, all the kids that usually get off at our stop, got off the bus, but there was no sign of him. I asked the bus driver where he was and she said "That was all the kids she picked up from school."

She paused, and I paused and I could feel my heart pounding. I pulled out my cell phone and started to call the school, when a few seconds later, he walks off the bus.

Feeling very relieved, I asked him if he was OK, and he stood there quiet, saying nothing, so I waited till we got home before I asked him again. I think he was shy to tell me when he noticed the other kids were looking at him when he got off the bus late.

Apparently, he was day dreaming about being a Tyrannosaurus Rex (his favorite dinosaur) and had not realised the bus had arrived at his stop. He said they were at the school library today and he found a reading book about Dinosaurs and couldn't stop thinking about it when he got on the bus.

I was just glad he was on there, or else I would've panicked bigtime. This has never happened before.

Back to School

Maddy was extra excited today about going to school. We both had a hard time falling asleep last night, tossing and turning only to find two hours had gone by and we were still awake lol. His nose started to bleed for a short time and while I was attending to him, somehow I strained my neck and it wouldn't stop aching. He eventually fell asleep and I stayed up applying a heat pack while watching a movie.

We did get up at 6.45am when the alarm went off and even though I felt tired, Maddy jumped out of bed eager to get ready for school. He got himself dressed, washed his face and brushed his teeth, while I made breakfast and his lunch. He didn't want cereal nor toast, just apples and mandarins with a cup of milk. I fixed his hair, took some pictures and then headed out to the bus stop at 7.50am.

There were only 4 other kids waiting for the bus. I think the others were dropped off to school by their parents. I asked Maddy if he wanted me to meet him there when the bus arrived and he shrugged his shoulders and said "If i wanted to." I think that meant "No Mum, I'll be OK." He wouldn't give me a hug nor a kiss, so I waved him goodbye and off the bus went.

It's now 1.48pm and I'm wondering how his day is going. I hope he tells me about it when he gets home as I remember this time last year, all he said to me was "I can't remember."