Presents Galore!

Thank you to our family and friends that have sent Christmas presents for Maddy and Us. As you can see from the picture, we can't fit anymore under the tree. I couldn't resist opening up Aunty Mona's package from Hawaii as it had some yummy goodies that I wanted to eat right away LOL The rest will be left for Christmas Day for Maddy to unwrap.

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Christmas and New Years.

(One thing we haven't quite finished is decorating the tree as I can't seem to find the rest of our decorations LOL)

"I wonder what's in this box"

Our Advent Calendar (Thanks Nanna)

They Won!

The Black Knights Basketball team won their first game on Saturday, 6 - 4 and what a great game it was. No scores are taken but Daddy and I were keeping count anyway. The first half of the hour was spent on skills testing like running relays and dribbling skills and the second half was the game. They played for six minutes each quarter and did quite well. Maddy came off the bench on the second and last quarter and had a good game, defending and passing the ball to his team mates. It was nice to see all the parents there cheering their children on.

Aunty Lu and Uncle Steve from Connecticut arrived that afternoon too and came to watch the game as well. Uncle Steve had a meeting in DC so they spent the weekend with us. We went bowling Sunday afternoon and then had dinner at Sakura - Japanese Hibachi Cooking Restaurant - YUMMY.

I forgot to take the camera with me so no pictures were taken but when I get a chance, I'll take one of Maddy in his uniform.

More Basketball Training

Third week of practice and the boys are improving on their basketball skills. Tonight they practiced their dribbling, bounce passing and shooting and ended the night with a scrimage. Their first game is on Dec 13th - not sure who against but we will find out at next weeks practice. Their team name is Black Knights and they will be receiving their uniforms next week.

Dribbling Practice

Bounce Pass Practice

Defence Practice

Scrimage

Thanksgiving Dinner

Last Thursday, we spent Thanksgiving with the Palombo Family at their apartment in DC. They cooked up a feast which consisted of turkey, stuffing, green salad, green beans with cheese sauce and mashed potato and gravy. Juice, water and red wine was also served, which made the meal even more delicious lol.

We provided dessert - pumpkin pie, pecan pie and apple pie (yum) with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream lol what a FEAST! Matt couldn't even fit dessert in and had to wait till we got home to enjoy it. I was able to eat one slice of apple pie with a scoop of ice cream, and that was about it.

Maddy and Nikolino spent the entire time laughing and playing x-box games (Madagascar) while we sat around enjoying our wine and each other's company. Nikolino also has a younger brother, Dominico Jnr (1 mth old) but he was fast asleep in the bedroom most of the time.

Basketball Practice

Dribbling Practice

Shooting Practice (1)

Shooting Practice (2)

Raingutter Regatta

Tonight, the Boy Scouts had their Raingutter Regatta boat race at Maddy's school. This is the first time he has ever participated in something like this. He and his Dad were given a small wooden boat, to put together and paint any way they wanted. Maddy chose a silver spray paint for the base of the boat and decorated his sail with lots of different stickers. He also painted a dragon on the top and signed his name.

The tigers started their race around 6.45 pm. Maddy won his first race but lost his second. He still had fun though and did really well, blowing his boat along with a straw. He won the next three races and almost won the last one. He came 2nd overall and was presented a medal as his prize. All the other boys did really well too and were given medals and ribbons for participating. Well Done Tiger Scouts!

I forgot to take the camera (unlike me) so had to use Daddy's phone to take pictures and videos of his races. You might need to tilt your head slightly to the right for the video though LOL

Practicing before the race

2nd Race

Receiving his Medal

Bowling Birthday

Maddy was invited to Jason's birthday at the Bowling Alley in Annandale today. Jason is Maddy's friend from his 3rd Level Swimming class. Talk about a competitive bunch, these boys were gunning for each other and wanted to win, especially Maddy LOL. He did really well considering the last time he played was when he was 4 1/2 years of age with his Daddy's family in New Zealand.

Check out Maddy's cool slide moves LOL

Pizza Time

Jason with his cool chocolate chip cookie birthday cake and bowling pin signed by all his friends

Scouting for Food

This morning the Boy Scouts got together to collect canned foods for the local foodbank. Last weekend was spent delivering the plastic bags around the neighborhood, and today was spent collecting them. The three Tiger Cub Scouts that turned up were Maddy, Gregory and Zachary. They did really well in walking around and checking the porches of every house in the area we were assigned, and collected lots of bags for the Foodbank.

We tagged along to help out and make sure the boys were safe. It was hard to keep up with them especially when they ran from house to house.

All-in-all it was great to be able to take part in a community service like this. Well done Boy Scouts!!

Heritage Festival 2008

The Heritage festival was held last night in the school gym. All grades performed various songs from different countries and there were a few individual performances as well. There was also a fashion show where students showed off their national costumes and a food tasting part where parents and students made food from their home countries for everyone to taste. Maddy didn't want to wear an ie faitaga and shirt to represent Samoa, so we put him in jeans and a top and he joined his class in singing "Come Little Children" and "Let Freedom Ring." We video'd both songs but they are just too long to post here - they sounded beautiful too :)

Dentist Time

Maddy had to have one of his top front teeth removed because the gum around it was infected. It was almost ready to fall out anyway, but because a white small 'pimple like spot' kept re-appearing above his tooth, on the gum, it was hurting everytime Maddy brushed his teeth. The Dentist said the gum around the tooth was infected. He suggested to remove the tooth altogether so the infection can heal.

Maddy was very brave and said it didn't hurt a bit. They did numb the area though but by just watching how the Dentist extracted it, had me squirming.

They also cleaned his teeth and found a few cavities which will need fillings. I also had my teeth cleaned and will need to go in for a deep root cleaning in a few weeks. Not looking forward to that as I'm sure it's going to hurt!!! ... I hate going to the Dentist LOL.

$2 from the Tooth Fairy

Trick-O-Treat

Trick O Treat

Smell my feet

Give me something

Good to eat

Maddy, the Red Ninja

Maddy, Danny (Darth Vadar), Michael (Black Ninja) and Danny's Sister

Maddy and Ashley

Halloween Parade

Maddy the Red Ninja

Halloween Parade @ School, Friday, Oct 31st.

Another Lesson Over

Maddy passed his Level 3 Stroke Development swimming lessons last night - YAY!!!!!! We weren't going to let him take the last lesson because of his cold/flu, but since the pool wasn't too cold, and he had his full body swimsuit on, we thought he would be ok ... and he was!!

They were tested on various swimming strokes, glides and kicks as well as water safety rules. Susan, his instructor said that she was not able to push him as much as she would have liked and that he will find level 4 more challenging.

Anyway, Maddy is taking a break from swimming, and will be playing Basketball during the Winter. He will have one training a week and one game in the weekend with two of his friends from school.

(I just hope I can refrain myself from yelling when I'm on the sideline, watching him get pushed (unintentionally) on the court LOL)

Just a Reminder ...

Popcorn sales for the Cub Scouts end November 7th so hurry on up and fill your order/s before it's too late :) These make wonderful Christmas gifts for family and friends!!!

If you have ordered online, please send me a copy of the order so Maddy gets credit for the sale/s. (Batgran, did you manage ok?)

A big THANK YOU to family and friends who have already done this and for those who have had the popcorn sent to our place, I will send them off as soon as I receive them (Sachi, we have to replace one of your tins because *cough* two big mice ate the chocolate one LOL).

For those who placed their order and paid through me (manually), the popcorn tins will be distributed to me on December 6th and then I'll send them to you.

Thanks once again and we appreciate your contributions towards Maddy's fundraising activities.

Alofa Atu xxx

Not Feeling Well

Maddy is home today with a nasty cough. He picked up a cold last Friday and hasn't been right ever since. He woke up at 3.30am very thirsty and feverish. I was able to cool him down after an hour or so, applied Vicks to the bottom of his feet and covered them with socks, to help suppress his cough so he could go back to sleep - An old wives tale I've been told, but it definitely works.

When he awoke at 7.30am the coughing started again (sounded worse too) so I called the school and left a message that he wasn't coming in today. He wasn't happy about missing school, nor is he happy about missing the Tiger Cub Den meeting tonight because they are going on a visit to the local Fire Station. Oh well, we will have to complete that elective in our own time.

He is now lying on the couch, (sort of) watching a movie called "The Waterhorse," drinking juice and water and ordering mommy to get this and that LOL.

Hopefully by tommorrow he will be ok to go back to school.

Museum of Natural History

Matt, Maddy and Melody spent yesterday afternoon at the new and improved Museum of Natural History. This link gives more detail on the current exhibitions on display. http://www.mnh.si.edu/exhibits/current.html . Here are a few pictures of what they saw :)

Merrifield Fall Festival

Watching a show

Melody climbing the wall

Getting ready to throw baseballs

Maddy in action

Painting Pumpkins

Maddy's Pumpkin

Bobcat Badge

Maddy receiving his Bobcat Badge

What A Busy Week!

Maddy received his 1st quarter interim report and is progressing well in all academic areas and developing satisfactory social skills and work habits. His teacher commented that "he loves to read, and everytime he finishes his work early, he is the first to pick up a book." She also states "he has a very positive attitude and is a kind friend." Good job Maddy!


Tuesday afternoon was spent at Annie's place with Michael on a playdate. They had fun on the trampoline and playing games. He came home all sweaty and stinky haha!

On Wednesday night, he went with his Dad to a cub scout meeting. They went on a short hike and spent time learning the cub scout promise and other core requirements to receive his Bobcat badge. It will be presented to him on Friday at the Pack meeting. As part of that ceremony there is a tradition where the boys are held upside down to receive their badges. LOL I feel for Daddy because Maddy weighs 65 pounds. I'll take pictures and photos and post them this weekend.

Last night he had swimming lessons. Maddy had to swim several lengths of the pool and I'm proud to say he did a really good job. Last week his lesson was cancelled because of a "code brown." Someone had pooped in the pool so they closed it down.

Today afterschool, Maddy joins the school sports program where they get to run around and play all sorts of sports for an hour. Tonight is the Cub Scouts Pack meeting where Maddy will receive his Bobcat badge.

Tommorrow he is going to Gregory's birthday from 12-2pm and on Sunday he has been invited to Danny's birthday from 5.30-7.30pm. It's going to be at 'Ajax Amusements', which is a private party zone featuring classic arcade games, pool table, air hockey, skee ball, bubble hockey, basketball, dance machine, pinball, Xbox, Play station games, WII and many more. Sounds like just the place for boys haha. I'm buggered just thinking about it LOL

Monday is a holiday and I'm sleeping in!

Maddy the Fireman

Home Depot held another free kids workshop today where Maddy made a firetruck. Three local Fireman also came in a real Fire Truck for all the kids to see. Maddy had fun putting together his kit and enjoyed climbing in and out of the truck. They also got given a plastic firehat, a goodie bag and information about fire and safety.