More Pirates and Ooops!

Abby got a couple of shots of her class full of pirates.

Then, tonight while feeding the dogs, she slipped on the steps with a bowl full of dog food. Oooops! She was fine, and I'm sure Trixie will clean up the mess just fine.

Pirate Day

I spent a sleepless night, worried about my house full of pirates. But they didn't kill me in the morning, so at least I get to live another day. (No Daniel's eyelids are not painted, although he really wanted to draw eyeballs on them.)

Opening Day (of Soccer)

Allison, Ruthie, and Daniel all started soccer season today. Allison played quite a bit. But as I watched her, I got the feeling she would much rather be a cheerleader than a player. She played well on defense, but when the girls had the ball on offense, she was so excited cheering them on, I think even more so than when she got to kick the ball.

I did get pictures during the game, but they're so blurry they're no good. If you use the zoom on the camera phone, well, you can figure it out.

Likewise with Daniel's game. The girls on the other team cheered for him, because after our team scored a goal, he did a back flip.

He did get unjustly called for a hand-ball in the penalty box, which resulted in a penalty kick and a goal for the other team. The ball was at his knee level, and his hand was at his head level, but he was called for it anyway. Ah, the injustice of sports. I was the soccer mom today, signing up to drive kids for TSIS (yes, it was at Miras, such a sacrifice), and there was chaos as they rescheduled the 4 games multiple times during the afternoon, so Allison's 4:15 game started at 5:45, and at 6:00 I got a call from Natasha asking if I could open the church, and it took us over half an hour to get home from Miras because of traffic. But everyone was happy and excited. Today the high school guys and girls both play at AIS (Ruthie plays on both teams), and I didn't volunteer to drive.

Commandos

As promised, the guys gathered tonight for some war games and crisis preparation drills. It started off with some warm ups (OK, let's see what happens if we all shoot James at point blank for 5 seconds). I knew we were in trouble when the girls (Abby and Allison have friends spending the night) said, "Uh, dad, I think they broke a bench." Of his own accord, Daniel then instigated the strict "no throwing benches" rule. (It was one of the old benches that we were going to throw away...)



I tried to take a picture of Daniel, but couldn't find him anywhere.



















I think James is getting ready for tryouts for "The Jazz Singer"


We may not have a hurricane heading our way, but we certainly have our hands full.

New Duds and Fish

The guys were pretty happy with their new duds, getting ready for the upcoming season. I'm not sure anyone's getting past these guys.


The girls, on the other hand, looked a little less intimidating. Ruthie is the captain of the JV team, and Allison is happy to be a sub. The elementary girls are having a few games against AIS, but Abby has been relegated to the injured reserve list. She is still sore from rushing back to her locker to get her forgotten Russian assignment, so probably isn't ready for soccer yet.


Mike Tyson? I didn't get the full story on this photo.


Today was school picture day, and the kids did all get off to school showered and with matching clothes and everything. Tomorrow's Pirate Day has been post-poned until next week.

Soccer Practice and Mentos

See, Daniel does more than almost get expelled. He practices soccer with the guys (first game Wednesday) and spends time with his Mentos, perhaps getting them to do his dirty work?

Abby had a better day today, staying 2 hours after school to hang out with Tory, who was watching her brother's soccer practice.

Dinner for 10

I got home at 5, with guests scheduled to arrive at 6, and the house to get ready. Abby and I had a nice chat about girly things, and about how unjust it was for her to have to wait for Allison to be ready to walk home, but we weathered that. Then I got going on getting everything ready. Abby helped me set things up outside. Ooops, I forgot drinks. Azim went and picked them up for me. I eventually got the burgers done and we moved inside for tea. (Yes, tea, too!) I asked Natasha to pick up the groceries, including a store bought salad and cake. She couldn't handle the thought, and made potato salad and brownies. So they had home-made instead of store bought.

Zhumangali, who took the train from Karaganda here just for this meeting, was delayed six hours and didn't show up until 9:30 pm. But we still had burgers and brownies for him anyway. About 10:30 everyone left, and I looked at the mess. Oh well, whatever I don't finish I can leave for...oh, someone isn't coming on Wednesdays. Note the photo doesn't include the counters, full of the other dishes.

Allison went to Bible study, but I didn't get the report as she's already in bed. Daniel said school was "fine," so that tells me a lot. Abby said that Tory said that there was a sleepover over the weekend where Michaela told the girls that Abby is too uptight about her fashion and her tank top layover look and that it just wouldn't work for them to be friends, and perhaps some boy slapped her today, and that it wasn't fair that Abby had to wait for Allison, but Allison couldn't leave early for her, and several dozen other things.

Abby Discovers America

Abby gave her report on Christopher Columbus today. Several other students did as well, and she was quite distressed that they made some significant errors, like reporting that he was born in 1549.

Allison scored house points with her 100 on her science quiz, so she was excited. And Daniel went another day without getting suspended. So we are all happy.

We even got the plumbing taken care of without undue hassle, so we have recovered from the weekend housing disasters.

The Eliminator

Inspired by the American Gladiator Champion, Tim Oliphant, Daniel organized an eliminator obstacle course for our junior high youth group. Allison and Yuliana made it to the finals, where they had to repeat the course with their legs tied together.