Sheep, sheep and more sheep

Lucy lost another tooth this week and decided to use just a dab of makeup for her dance concert ... oh boy! I don't have a picture but Fred was a good sport and let Lucy add some blush to his cheeks too.

In preparation of Tabaske, a very important Muslim holiday celebrated here, the Israeli embassy donated 70 sheep to individuals in need. They have been doing this for 7 years and I had the opportunity to attend the ceremony as a guest of the ambassador and his wife. The ceremony was at an orphanage and it was a memorable experience, really nice to get out of my usual routine. And this year, Tabaske falls the same week as Yom Kippur. Apparently, I was on the local news Friday evening when they showed footage from the event. These sheep, along with all the others that have been hanging out on the roads around Dakar waiting to be purchased, will all be dinner on Friday in honor of the holiday.

And if you need to transport your pirogue, just throw it on the back of a pick up and hold on tight!

We ended the week celebrating Maite's birthday

Happy New Year!

We had a rainy week in Dakar ... crazy drive to school on Monday which the kids thought was very exciting. Luckily, most of the other morning drives to school weren't quite as exciting.

Lucy lost a tooth just as school was ending on Monday, so off she went to the nurse's office to get a prized treasure box to put her tooth in. A few minutes later, Charlie and I met her at the nurse's office after he got bitten 3 times by a queen ant. Moments later we were headed home with a pink tooth treasure box and a much relieved Charlie after getting cream put on his bites. Never a dull moment.

We remembered to take a picture at bedtime just before putting the tooth under her pillow Max had his first soccer game on Wednesday and he played great as a striker. They got their uniforms just before the game started and I'm pretty sure they'll be able to wear them for the next several years! His coach is great - lots of positive reinforcement with the boys, emphasizing teamwork and skills improvement and good sportsmanship. Max is getting into the school rhythm, especially all the homework he now has and the emphasis on using the Internet. All of his teachers have google classrooms where they post assignments, what's being covered in class, upcoming quizzes, etc. And most of his homework is also submitted to the teacher electronically. Max doesn't seem fazed by any of it, but I hold my breath every time the lights start to flicker in the afternoon, wondering if we'll have power or Internet long enough for him to finish his work. Luckily, the way they set the schedule, you have 2 nights to complete homework for any given class (they have 4 of 8 classes each day) so if Internet isn't working at home, you have time to use the school's Internet the next day after school. We'll find out this week if he got into robotics as an after school activity he wanted to do in addition to soccer.

Max is in the black uniform, number 2. Still working on action shots that don't wind up completely blurry. Lucy will be doing arts and crafts after school (she also wanted yoga and dance but they were full so she'll do them next trimester) and Charlie will be playing basketball and dodgeball as his after school activities. I'm usually better at planning out their activities but somehow it worked out that they each have activities on different afternoons so I'll be spending some quality time at the school this trimester. On the positive side, the kids will each get 1:1 time with me while their siblings are at an activity.

We ended the week with a great Rosh Hashanah dinner at the Israeli Ambassador's home. There was quite a crowd, lots of different languages spoken, and the kids loved hearing the shofar blown. For the last few weeks we've been talking about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that have led to some great discussions with the kids about what we can each do to be better selves in the new year. The emphasis with the kids has been on personal responsibility, words and actions. From little things like being responsible for packing your backpacks the night before (remembering reading glasses, homework, etc) to how you respond to parents, teachers, siblings, and friends - words that are helpful and words that are really, really not helpful in a situation (especially when directed towards your brother). Lucy seemed to focus on tangible things like being a helper at home, so she eagerly grabbed the vacuum cleaner to help me clean the floors ... and then asked me to take a picture of her.

Back to building forts

Our biggest accomplishment this week was Charlie getting his broken tooth fixed (at least temporarily). The dentist used filling material and shaped it to his tooth and by the end of the week, he was back to his old self, minus eating whole apples ... we'll be slicing them for awhile. Fred and I celebrated our 15th anniversary last Thursday by attending the elementary open house at school. We visited Lucy and Charlie's class. They're going to have a great year! Charlie wrote us a note that included gems like "Welcome to my desk. Please don't scratch it" and "let mom do all the talking." He also had to write a page of "I Am ..." The first few lines read: "I am funny dad and angry mom. I am no climbing on the furniture and homework first. I am mine craft and youtube." His teacher said he has a great sense of humor. :) Lucy continues to be an enthusiastic learner and loves everything about school. Max has adjusted well to the new middle school routine (lots of teachers, lots of homework). He's playing middle school soccer and will start other after school activities soon - he's hoping to do Science Lab. We'll find out later this week which activities Max and Lucy will be doing first trimester. Charlie is hoping for basketball and Lucy for yoga and dance. Yesterday I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of the kids all week for the blog, so I quickly took a few ... eating crepes at our favorite creperie for lunch yesterday, followed by swimming at the school. Max likes getting his picture taken as much as his dad. Please note Lucy wears jewelry even when swimming. Its her Frozen ring that gives her superpowers. Have a great week everyone!