Pictures Say 1000 Words

I haven't posted anything in almost a month.  That is largely because we have had quiet times.  Everyone is back to school, and while we've been busy, it hasn't been with extraordinary trips, excitement, or zaniness.  But for the most part, the kids are supposed to adjust to every day life, and that is what Ine has been doing--participating in daily life.  Since there isn't a whole lot to say about these pictures, I will just post some photos of what we've been doing with short descriptions.  Pictures speak louder than words, right?

Ine decided one night to make Belgian pancakes for everyone, so I invited my sister, my friend Amber, and my friend Andy over to enjoy the pancakes.  This kind of stressed Ine out a bit, cooking for 5 children and 5 adults, and there was a lot of consultation with her mom about quantities and whatnot.  We had so much fun eating pancakes.  Ine did a great job!

Manning the stove

A finished pancake

 

Ine said her favorite way to eat the pancakes was to sprinkle sugar down the middle and roll them.

It turns out I'm not good at sprinkling sugar.  Andy had to help me do it right.

Andy and his pancake

Ine has continued to compete all season with her swim team, which is doubly impressive given that she battled bronchitis for a good part of December and January.  (She got to experience the American medical system, which she deemed 'very different'.)  The last 2 meets she was in I was able to post live to my Facebook so her parents could follow the races she was in.  That was so much fun!

Ine talking to her coach (in the blue shirt and brown shorts)

They made me a race timer, so I got to enjoy being a swimming official during 2 meets.

Ine and her teammates during an away meet at St. Michael's HS

Ine after completing one of her races

The swim team recognized the graduating seniors and gave them flowers.  My stupid finger is in the way.

Ine post-warm up and pre-competition

During her last home meet, Ine swam a 100 yard breast stroke.  It was close, but she actually beat the other competitor in her heat, the first time she came in first all season.  I was so excited I cried!

One night, I invited my mom and her fiance, Craig, to dinner.  We were sitting around after eating and Ine grabbed a cough drop wrapper and turned it into an origami frog.  She is quite good at origami, she made me several amazing pieces for Christmas.  Since I enjoy origami myself, I had some paper, so Ine taught all of us how to make little jumping frogs.  We got lots of giggles.

My mom and Craig making frogs

Ine and her frogs, plus she made a boat

Every time I tried to make my frog jump, he fell on his back and 'croaked'. Haha

Snow days... The kids have had two snow days so far in January.  Both have been for less than 1 inch of snow and kind of ridiculous.  But I love having the girls home with me, so I don't mind the snow days at all.

The first snow day, we made monster M&M cookies and we went to see Annie at the movies.  It was a pretty awesome day.  I taught the girls the fine art of sneaking food into the movie theater.

This week, they had Tuesday off.  Leah had a teacher work day at her school and Ine had a snow day at hers.  Ine had wanted to buy a new bathing suit, so we went all over, but she didn't find one she liked.  Eventually we took a break and had lunch together at Bravo's.  Leah and Ine had a grudge match at Tic Tac Toe.  Afterwards, we went bowling.  It turns out Ine loves bowling.  Leah has the patience for exactly 1 1/2 games, it has been that way all her life.  However, the bowling alley said it was cheaper if we played the flat rate of 2 hours unlimited, which is what we did.  Ine had never bowled away from the computer before, so once I showed her how, she took to it and really enjoyed it.  In fact, we wound up bowling 4 games!  She won the first two, then I surged ahead during the third, and so we decided to play the 4th to see if it was a fluke or I was really bad.  We wound up tying!  It was so fun, but man, I was tired and sore afterwards!

Here are some random pictures of the month that defy categorization...

Ine is fiercely proud of and protective of her fingernails.  She refuses to let Leah polish them.  Leah LOVES nail polish.  this is a tug of war.  So far, Ine is winning.  Leah thinks she is crazy.

We had another potato chip tasting, this time with Maple Bacon, Mild Green Mojo, and Buffalo Wing.  Meh.  No clear winners, but none of us liked the Maple Bacon.

Leah won Student of the Month at her elementary school.  To celebrate, we went to Sweet Frog for frozen yogurt.  I figured the place would be Ine's worst nightmare--too many choices to make about what kind of ice cream she wanted and what toppings.  It was slightly overwhelming, but she had fun and was happy that they had white chocolate as an option!

Downton Abbey Season 5 has finally come to America.  Every weekend I prepare English cuisine from the Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook.  It has been amazingly delicious, and we've had fun experimenting and picking recipes.  Ine isn't that into Downton Abbey, but she's a good sport about watching and eating with us.

So that is our January in pictures...  Tonight we have a science fair at Leah's elementary school, tomorrow there is only swim practice, and Saturday Ine has a swim meet, which I'm not going to.  Sunday is the Superbowl and Downton Abbey.  We keep busy.  Time is absolutely flying by.  Ine has been here 142 days and has about 150 days to go--I'm not totally sure of her departure date.  Pretty soon, the balance will shift and she'll have less time than she has put in.  That is hard to imagine!

I asked her parents to write a blog post for this blog, and so pretty soon I hope you will hear how it is from the sending parents' perspective to see what their feelings are about sending their child to live with strangers for a year.  Stay tuned!

Remember, it's never too soon to sign up to host an AFS student.  Go to AFSUSA.org and click "Host".  Follow the instructions and you can have a student yourself.  Each experience is so different, unique, interesting, hard, fun, and special.  You can be single, married, gay, straight, old, young, have children, not have children.  It's something you will never regret doing!