Christmas Stockings

Here are three of the Christmas stockings I've been working on over the last couple of weeks. I have a few more I want to make (still need one for Jon and a couple extras for Christmas guests), and I need to put the cuffs on these three. I'm quite pleased with how much I've gotten done and how they're turning out.

Here's the typical Christmas side of two kids' stockings (Denis gets to choose which one he wants and Kid Two will get the other someday!) and my gingerbread stocking:

Flip these over, and here's the Christmas-at-the-beach side of the stockings:

Denis says he wants the monkey stocking. We'll see if he changes his mind come Christmas time.

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Halloween today by carving our pumpkin and going to a party this evening. Denis was Thomas the Tank this year (thanks, Granny!) and was much more excited about Halloween than he was last year. He loved the trick-or-treating, the Garfield Halloween movie, and most of the costumes of the other kids - except for the one that brought him to tears. Poor D!

All in all, it was a happy Halloween. But Denis definitely needed extra hugs and a prolonged tuck-in at bedtime tonight. I can see how a three-year-old would find this night a bit frightening. Here's hoping for a restful sleep!

Here are some shots of Halloween 2010.

Denis has changed so much in the last twelve months. Take a look at Halloween 2009 here. Sorry, no cute little video this year!

Go Tigers!

Today we had a school-wide assembly in order to welcome volleyball teams from China, Korea, and Japan that are gathering at CA for an APAC tournament. Each elementary class in the school was 'assigned' a team to root for for the duration of the tournament. Denis's class was assigned the Tigers from Western Academy of Beijing. After school, Denis and I had a brief conversation about the day's events:

Me: "Wasn't that a nice ceremony this morning? There were so many teams there! Did your class go back to the gym later to watch a volleyball game?"

Denis: "Yeah. We went to the big gym. But do you know what?"

Me: "What?"

Denis: "Tigers weren't playing volleyball. People were!"

How wonderful it must be to be three, when anything is still possible.

Here We Go Again

Jon and I are starting the adoption process again. We recently decided it was time - time for Denis to have a sibling, time to add another member to this family. We're working with the same agency - FTIA - and plan to adopt from Russia again. If it all works out the way we hope, we'd like to adopt another child from Kaliningrad. We completed our home study visit this weekend, and are currently gathering documents for our first dossier. There won't be much news to report for a while, but we'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

So You Think You Can Dance?

Well, no, not really. But do I think I can chaperone a dance trip to Beijing? Oh yes! That I know I can do. How does a librarian in Japan get herself invited to a dance competition in China, you might be wondering. She does so like this: She sits down at her desk on a regular Thursday morning and opens up her laptop in preparation for the day. She reads an email from the school's Activities Director that begins, "Would you fancy chaperoning our APAC Dance trip to Beijing?" And she thinks, "Yes, I would fancy that."

Our school's dance team will be participating in the Asia Pacific Athletic Conference in mid-November, and since the dance instructor isn't a CA teacher, the school has kindly asked me to go along as an extra chaperone. Lucky me!

It's these perks (and many other things) that make working at an international school so enjoyable. I'm really looking forward to this trip. It'll be nice to have a change of pace and scenery for a few days, and I should be able to catch up with some friends from our Peru days who now teach in Beijing. Oh, and then there's the visit to the Great Wall. Lucky me! Or did I already say that?

I wonder which view I'll get in mid-November? Doesn't matter. They're both spectacular!

Rainy Day Project

It's been a while since I've sewn, or done anything crafty at all, and I must say I miss having a project on the go. Today's forecast for an all-day rain provides the perfect excuse for whiling away the hours with a stack of fabrics I recently purchased. A while ago I decided that this transient family needed a set of double-sided Christmas stockings. Since it seems we'll have a 'typical' Christmas some years and a beach holiday other years, I wanted a little something we could easily bring with us wherever we happen to be for the holidays. Non-breakable, easy-to-pack stockings seemed the answer. So, one side of each stocking will show a typical Christmas and/or winter scene, and the other side will be of a warm beach scene.

I'm starting with my stocking today. For the typical Christmas scene, I'm using a fabric called Ginger Delights. It's a cute print of gingerbread cookies (my holiday treat of choice), ornaments, candy canes, etc. When I ordered the fabric, I wasn't sure about the brown background. But I've decided I love it. It has such a warm feel to it and I can almost smell the cookies baking! For the beach scene, I'm using a fabric called Fruit Ladies. Don't you just love their bottoms?! Guess which one Denis said looked like Mama? On second thought, let's not go there... Anyway, what a fun piece of fabric! And let's face it, we're all a bit fruit-shaped in one way or another. The two sides of my stocking will look something like this:

I don't have a pattern to follow, so I'm hoping I can figure this out as I go. Wish you were here to help, Mom! More on this project later.

For Your Listening Pleasure

What you're about to witness below is a common scene in our house these days. Only the instrument of choice changes. The scenes could be titled Denis Plays the Flute... Denis Plays the Drums... Denis Plays the Shakers... Tonight it happened to be Denis Plays the Violin. Please try to ignore the fact that tonight's performance could also have been titled Denis Nearly Gouges Out His Eye With a Couple of Errant Strokes of the Bow. The bow being a random stick, and what exactly is that he's using for a violin?

Track 1: The Littlest Birds by The Be Good Tanyas

Track 2: Fruit Salad by Denis

Froggy Denis Learns to Swim

Bubble, bubble, toot, toot, chicken, airplane, soldier! Denis is learning to swim! We've signed up for swimming lessons this semester, and so far Denis has had two classes. He loves getting in the pool, splashing about, and following his instructor's every move. While you certainly can't call what he's doing swimming, he is going through some very important motions - like learning to get his face wet. "Someday," I tell him, "you'll be able to swim like Froggy."

Denis is on the far right during the stretching session.

Tell me, all you other Froggy Learns to Swim readers out there, what does bubble, bubble, toot, toot, chicken, airplane, soldier actually mean? Is it just froggy-gibberish, Jonathan London-gibberish, or is there some hidden magic in that phrase that instantly turns kids into swimmers?

While Denis works on perfecting his swimming techniques, I've decided I'm going to focus on perfecting my pool-side, fruit-inspired appearance. You can be sure I'll be taking cues from the ever stylish, ever fashionable Mrs. Froggy.