Clara's First Piano Recital

We have been so fortunate to be able to find a fantastic lady to begin teaching Clara how to play the piano.  She teaches several other children, in addition to being a mother plus having a job teaching at a local school.  She is very talented, and we are so thankful that she continues to manipulate her schedule to fit us in.

Clara began at the end of the last school year, and we were able to fit in several lessons over the summer as well, then weekly this school year.  Her teacher put together a recital for the children to showcase their efforts.  We think Clara did very well, as did all the other children.

The video below is Clara playing "A Happy Song".

Clara playing "Back and Forth Waltz"

Happy Halloween!

Halloween 2013 was a blast.  Clara went as Ginny Weasley and Zach was Batman.  I dressed up as a witch and Charlie was a zombie.  His crew did a haunted house, which was quite the hit.  Everyone did such a nice job with decorating and making it special for the kids.  I wish I took a picture of the food!  We brought zombie fingers, but there were edible bandaids, pumpkins, etc.  Quite a nice thematic spread!  After all the fun, we switched out of costumes and had dinner at Chakras.  We were all exhausted from waking super early and being busy all day so it was off to bed once we arrived at home.  Now I just have to see how many times we can wash Clara's hair to get that dye out before her piano recital.

Oh, we actually had a group of kids show up as we were about to get in bed.  I couldn't understand what they said, but their faces lit up when I handed out candy.  Such fun!  Last year there were no ToTers, but we did have kids show up for St. Martin's Day, which is fast approaching.

Owl Pellet Dissection: Day 1

We've been having lots of fun in science this year and including Zach when possible.  As we move into studying food chains and webs, a fellow homeschooling mom recommended dissecting owl pellets.  I really knew little about them, so checked into it and the kids and I became really excited to give it a try. We started yesterday and managed to remove quite a few bones.

After cleaning the bones thoroughly we will try to reconstruct the skeletal remains discovered and identify it using the bone sorting charts!

Update

Lots of time has passed since my last post!  We have certainly been busy, and enjoying life but I have taken very few pictures.  I'll see if I can recap what all we've been doing.

First off, we have been busy sponsoring a new family.  They are lovely people and I have enjoyed helping them get settled here in Tallinn.

Clara continues to learn to play the piano.  We finally broke down and purchased an 88-key keyboard she can grow with that operates much like an actual piano.  I am starting to sit down and read her lesson books and am trying to learn.  So far, I'm pleased with the progress we are both making!

Charlie and I participated in the SEB Tallinn Marathon.  Charlie ran the half-marathon (21 kilometers or 13 miles) while I did the 10K (6.2 miles).  The picture below is of Charlie with his youthful Marines.  See the old guy on the left?  Yeah, that is Charlie.  He is 39 years old.  He was the first of the four to cross the finish line, taking 2 hours 12 minutes to complete.  See the girl on the right, she was just three minutes behind the old man.  Those fit 22-year-old guys...22 minutes behind her.  I did the wimpy 10K, with an official time of 55 minutes 13 seconds.  

Additionally, we were finally able to find new homes for the gecko and fish that we adopted when another family moved back to the states.  An Estonian family took the gecko.  They were so very nice and I really enjoyed their visit.  They brought us fresh produce from the country and the kids a box of chocolates.  I made cobblers from the apples and sent one to the family and we had crispy zucchini fries from the zucchini.  Yum!

 Another recent development was the loss of another tooth!  A better mother would know exactly how many teeth her child has lost, but I have lost count.  Anyway, the tooth fairy came and made a little girl very happy when the fifth Harry Potter book was loaded to her iTouch.  As you can see, she has a sizable gap where she is missing a top and bottom tooth in the same spot.

That Friday night was a blur for me as I was wakened a couple of times by Zach.  Luckily he went back to sleep easily. Clara woke at 3am that morning to bring me the above letter.  She was so excited, but I told her that was great but to go back to sleep.  She came in at 6:30 to inform me which book the tooth fairy had brought.  I went to bed early Saturday night.

This past weekend we enjoyed a nearby adventure park.  I forgot to put the memory stick in the camera, so have no pictures.  Grrr.  I did find a couple of videos to show you what they did.  I supervised Zach on the little course while Clara went with Charlie and the Marines.  Both kids did great!  I was pleased to see them handling all the responsibility for their safety, gain confidence, and have a good time.  Charlie and I are planning to do a date day and go solo soon.



This is similary to what Zach was doing:



I cannot think of much else.  We have definitely been busy and having fun.  Clara is officially 1/8 through the school year.  We submitted her first major set of tests covering all the material we've learned so far yesterday and started the next portion today.  Zach is enjoying school, especially science and social studies.  Well, I must wrap this up as my little one is demanding some attention.

Summer Vacation Ends

We have had a lovely summer!  The weather has been amazing, Mimi visited, we've hit lots of local attractions, made it to Italy, added a dog to our family, etc.  Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to as we prepare to go back to school, and a typical daily routine.

We just love Jose!  He has been a fantastic addition to our family and I think I can say he loves us.  I've been working with him a little bit on some simple commands.  While he is quite well-behaved at home, he does get excited around others.

Mimi introduced Zach to Zorro while she was here.  Of course, he wanted a costume so he could dress like Zorro.  Mimi did not disappoint.  This costume arrived shortly after she made it home and it has been a big hit.  He has plenty of room to grow into the full body stuff, and even friends that come over dress up in it too.  Thanks Mimi!

Last Saturday, we were invited over to a friends to pick currant berries.  Unfortunately, Clara and Charlie were not feeling well so it was just me, Zach, and Jose that went.  It was fun, and our hostess had made a delicious pie with the berries that our gathering shared.

I do not have pictures of it, but I did meet up with friends at SkyPark for a last hurrah before school starts.  The kids had a blast, we had some ice cream, and ended the fun by witnessing a child carried out to an ambulance in a neck brace.

The day before we started school the kids and I went on a bike ride, with Jose, to allow Zach to collect leaves.  We will do a project to compare summer leaves to fall leaves.  Of course, he had to bring a magnifier to inspect nature in general.

With the end of summer and beginning of the school year, I have decided to implement lots of structure and accountability.  Each child has a chore chart and I created a weekday schedule from waking to sleeping.  Here are a few pictures of the kids engaged in a couple of their chores.

Zach is supposed to Furminate the dog each day.  I admit that I have to assist, but he tries.  Jose is a sport.  And yes, part of the Zorro costume is generally in use at any given time.

One of Clara's chores is to vacuum all of the downstairs each day.  This was day one and she now has a new appreciation for my work!  And yes, this costume was put on for cleaning.

The kids are also required to help clean up the kitchen after dinner.  

Then we started school yesterday.  It was a big day for us.  Charlie had to get up for work at 4:30, and unfortunately Zach woke and would not go back to sleep.  Clara also woke rather early (the schedule does not require them to wake until 7am).  So, we had a great first day.  Zach did engage in some decent preschool activities but did not get as much as I had hoped.  Clara's day went really well!  After school we had to take Jose to the vet for vaccines.  Anyway, Zach fell asleep in the car and we could not rouse him.  This was after we were trying to wake him and he eventually was sleeping like this.

Anyway, we celebrated a successful first day of school with the WORST thing we could eat, McDonald's.  I do not feel too bad though as we rarely indulge in this treat.

All in all, I'm loving the structure and so glad to be back to school!  

Garmin Watch

Apparently, Charlie noticed I've been trying to run regularly lately.  My sweet spouse surprised me with  my very own Garmin GPS watch!  It arrived today, and even though I'm miserable with allergies and had just eaten my weight in Indian food for lunch, not to mention the torrential downpour that just passed I HAD to try it out.  I'm pretty slow, but am overall happy with my run.  What is really nice is that after the run I feel overall better!  Thanks Chuck!

Genesis 9:13

We always get excited to see a rainbow.  I believe this is the second one we've seen since living here, the other not long ago.  Beautiful.  

I'm such a dork!

I was able to order Clara's 4th grade books through Calvert.  Additionally, we purchased some supplies at the exchange in Naples.  When we got back, the Calvert materials were here!!!  Even though I have tons of laundry, etc to do, I couldn't help but break everything out and set it up in the school room.

 I really like Calvert Math.  We used the third grade book last year and it worked well for us.  I checked out Singapore Math over the summer but decided to stick with Calvert.  Hopefully that was a good choice.

 This year she will read novels for reading.

 I forgot the grammar and usage book, but she is definitely covered in all aspects of language arts.

 I'm very excited about doing world history this year.  She will not learn everything, but it will give her a great framework to begin creating a timeline of the world's history.  Of course, there is geography too.  Since we will be settling in Alabama, I also ordered a weekly magazine that addresses Alabama history as I believe it is typically covered in fourth grade.

 There is the grammar book!

 Science is going to be fun too!  Clara and Zach both enjoyed looking through the science kit.  I think I'll be including him in on the fun stuff.

Zach is going to have a more structured experience this year.  I'll continue doing Funnix reading and math with him but also ordered his level of the social studies and also the science weekly magazine from the same company that makes the one for Clara's Alabama history.  It should be fun!

Napoli!

Charlie had a conference in Naples, Italy and after much deliberation decided to get plane tickets for me and the kids to add another country to our adventures.  Our plane left Tallinn at 6:05 so it was a rather early morning for us.  Here, you can see us chilling out in Frankfurt, Germany.  

 We checked in at the Navy Lodge on base, and enjoyed going to the commissary and exchange for the first time in over a year.  Charlie had a few things he had to do, and it was very hot, so when I saw Despicable Me 2 playing I jumped at the chance.  We enjoyed the movie and then made our way back to our room for baths and showers.  The kids loved having bunk beds!

 While the Marines were conferencing, a few wives got together to visit Pompeii.  This required us to walk outside the base, catch a bus to the Aversa train station, get tickets to take us to Napali Centrale station, and switch trains to get to Pompeii Scavi.  This was a very hot trip and required us to constantly be hydrating but it was awesome!

I had to spend the next day doing laundry, filling out CDC paperwork, school supply shopping, and getting a new military ID.  We also had a very nice bowling night for the adults while the kids had fun at the CDC.  I met some really neat ladies!

Wednesday, some of us gathered again to take an excursion into Naples.  The base is not very close to anything and a taxi ride is a minimum of 60 or 70 Euros, so public transportation it was.  We took the bus that runs between the support site and the Navy base (Capo), got off and had to walk off base to catch the Alibus to the port where we got off and explored.

 We got off the bus at the port, which is right at Castel Nuovo.  This castle is very impressive!

 Here, we are looking at the Galleria Umberto I.  We then walked inside.  It was absolutely beautiful!

 Entering the galleria...

 We were so hot!  After buying some water, we decided to enjoy some gelato.  Yum!  

 We then began walking along checking out sites.  

 We picked a pizzeria to enjoy.  I had the diavola pizza and split it with the kids, along with a lemon ice.  Oh my!  The pizza was fantastic!

 As we made our way back to the bus stop, I couldn't stop myself from entering this bakery and purchasing cannoli for Charlie since he loves it and couldn't be there.  

 The ladies and I ended up sharing a taxi once we got off the Alibus since the one going between bases was taking a break.  Splitting the taxi made it much more affordable!  The guys were playing frisbee that night and we grilled out as a group.  The kids and I were tuckered out so went back to the room for baths and showers to make it an early night.

The next morning we took a guided tour to Sorrento and had to be at the bus stop by 7:15.  The Marines were taking a field trip to the Salerno War Cemetery while we took our trip.  Sorrento was absolutely amazing.

 Mt. Vesuvius!

 Piazza Tasso

 Old Sorrento Mill

 Inlaid Wood Demonstration

 Tasso, the poet

 Cathedral of Sorrento

 Roman Column

 Sorrento is known for its lemons & olives

 Here, we were able to sample some yummy treats and the adults sampled lemoncello drinks!  Yum!

 We then stopped in at Primavera's to have some gelato.  

 After a bit more kicking around, we made our way to Restorante Pizzeria Tasso.  The staff there were so nice to us and were very playful with the kids.  I had more pizza, and loved it.  

 The waiters were quite taken with Zach, calling him Superman and all.  At one point, they were tossing him in the air.  I tried to get a picture but wasn't fast enough.  

 We decided to make our way down to the beach.  The public beach was very small, but we made our way through the towels to step in the Bay of Naples.  The part of getting down there was a bit...gross.

lemons!

 Charlie was back before us, but as soon as we met up with him in our room, we began another trip via bus into Naples for him to enjoy a pizzeria.  He was NOT disappointed!  

 Even though we caught our first bus to get into the city at 4:40 pm, we didn't get back until 9:30.  All we did was rode into the city, ate, and came back.  That should give you an idea of how time consuming it is to get in the city.  We really wanted to go to Da Michele's, but just didn't have the time.

The next morning, we were checked out and at the airport by 10am.  It was a long day of travel for us and 13 hours after arriving at the first airport we touched down in Tallinn.  The kids were tired, as you can see as we were waiting for our bags at baggage claim.

 This trip was packed with amazing experiences and I am so thankful for the opportunity to go.