Carter has been playing floor hockey as one of his after school sports. The Athletic coach put together a group of boys and took them to play in a unihoc tournament at the Sultan's School. The TAISM boys did a great job -- especially considering they've been practicing with hockey sticks and a ball and unihoc is played with a puck and shorter, rounded ended sticks.
The nice thing about the iPhone is my camera is always with me, but it really struggles in gym lighting. It would have been better to have my big camera with the zoom, but this is what I got.
Snacking on the chapstick she found in my purse. Seriously, she puts it on her lips and eats it.
Carter is the blur in the gray shirt
Fighting for the puck
Unfortunately I was moving too slowly and I missed his shot, but you can see that the video starts just as he scores.
The team: 4th and 5th grade boys. Girls play after school hockey as well, but this was a boys-only tournament. They didn't win any games (they played 4), but they improved as the tournament went on.
This morning it was his gym bag that was missing. He swore up and down that he put it by the front door yesterday when he got home. Someone must have moved it. Riiight. The guys that came over for Bible study last night ran off with a gym bag full of sweaty clothes.
He didn't need the bag because he had other PE clothes to wear, but he didn't like my suggestion of putting his clothes in a grocery bag or just sticking them in his backpack. Nope, he kept looking for his bag (skipping breakfast in the process). Josh asked him if he left it at school. "No! I remember bringing it in the house and putting it here." Okay then.
The bus came. He gave in and put his gym clothes in his backpack. We walked out to the bus. There was the bus monitor, holding his gym bag. Hmm. So much for remembering bringing it in the house . . .
He boarded the bus and then tossed the offending gym bag at my feet. Really? Then he reconsidered and asked for the bag back. Off he went and I was left holding an armload of old clothes. I think I'm going to buy this book . . . Yes, Your Teen is Crazy! Loving Your Kid Without Losing Your Mind. I certainly need help with the not losing my mind part.
Off to re-read the suggestions in the comments of my previous post. You all had quite the conversation going there . . .
Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it certainly bestows many privileges. Unfortunately the government money gravy train is about to run out and we'll be back to living among the unwashed masses as of June 13th, the last day of school. No more parking pass, no longer part of the TAISM family, no more uniforms (the greatest thing ever for easy mornings), no more special concerts or catered teas for volunteers. Now I'll have to go to Starbucks or Costa for all of my cappuccinos instead of popping into the cafeteria . . . :sigh:
I've been busy this week volunteering in Caleb's classroom. His teacher is expecting her first child in July so she has to leave school two weeks early to fly home to the United States where she will be giving birth (while she can still fly). I feel a special kind of sisterhood with her as I've been in her shoes -- packing for a move in the last stages of pregnancy and the subsequent rush of paperwork as you hope for birth certificates and passports to be expedited so you can get them in time to head overseas. All I did was organize some cupboards, take down some things from the walls, and photocopy some assignments for the kids, but she seemed to appreciate it. I'm happy for her family, but I'm going to miss having her as Caleb's teacher. She has been fabulous with him.
Yesterday I finished up the little knit shirt that I made for "baby B." It still needs to be washed and blocked before her farewell party on Wednesday.
Regretfully counting down the days I have left in the private school "club" and enjoying it while it lasts! I know the kids will be fine at their next school, but I'm going to miss being treated like part of a family.
This morning I was lamenting Calvin's lack of organization and his inability to find "missing" objects that are in plain view. Today it was his planner that he insisted "was right there last night!" only now it wasn't.
I don't know why I participate in the madness -- maybe because I feel like it's the only way to get his day started off on the right foot, but once again I found myself scanning countertops and bookshelves for a missing item.
The bus honks and no planner, but another missing notebook was located (in his backpack, who could have ever imagined?) so it wasn't a total waste. Just as the bus was pulling away, Josh opened one of the desk drawers and there it was. He managed to hand it off to our visually-impaired child who once again went to school without eating breakfast because he "ran out of time."
I don't understand how he can be so disorganized and absentminded. Whether it's homework that he forgot to do, or never heard that it was assigned, or shoes that he can't find, or clothing that "disappears," his life is like one big game of "hide and seek" that never has a winner. Neither Josh or I can ever remember being like that. Maybe my parents would say differently, but at least in the area of schoolwork I know I had all my stuff together. They weren't reminding me to do my homework or helping me locate lost library books.
Carter said something about Calvin getting married "soon" and I realized that in a sense, he's right. If Calvin were to get married when his dad married me, he'd be walking down the aisle 9 years from now. I can't fathom how he's going to get from THIS to responsible, adult man in such a short time.
In completely unrelated news, my sunhat has been missing for 2 weeks. I was really wanting to find it before we go to Atlantis next month, but I haven't had any luck. Right after Calvin left on the bus Josh found my hat sitting on one of my clothing shelves at eye level. I wonder how it got there. I swear it wasn't there yesterday . . .
My friend Angela has been teaching me to make beaded bracelets. The beads are sewn/woven in-between two pieces of leather cording so the bracelet looks like a ladder of beads that coils around your wrist. Angela has great style and it was her idea to string 4 different kinds of beads so it looks like 4 different bracelets stacked together. She saw this type of bracelet on a website and asked her mom to send her the supplies. She learned how to do it by watching a YouTube video. Beautiful, isn't it? It's even more amazing when you find out that the originals sell for $250-300 dollars.
ETA: close up of the "ladder." The beads are blues, browns and purple.
I finished up mine today and made a tiny bracelet for Camille. She's showing it off.
Next we ran over to the framer's to pick up our Omani people shadowboxes. Almost all the wall space in his tiny shop is covered with framed pictures of the Sultan.
Today he had a new piece that was framed and waiting to be picked up. It's the Sultan embroidered with silver (yes, actualsilver) on leather. It's the same kind of handwork that they do on the khajars (the traditional Omani knives).
Look at the silver work close up. It must have taken forever to do that many stitches. And what happens if you get a knot in your silver?
I had my "goats in the wadi" piece framed and this one that I call "Camille with camel." The purple matting brings out all the purple in her dress and in the camel blanket. It's going to hang in her room.
Finally I got home and we went to lunch (me, Josh and Camille). Gotta do it while we can since who knows what Josh's schedule will be like once he goes back to working regular hours. And yes, it's as hot as it looks. We're only about 25 yards from our house and her face is already red.
On the way home, waiting in the shade for daddy to finish talking to some friends.
Be forewarned: As I get closer to the end of my time in Oman, I'm finding less and less to blog about because my thoughts are moving ahead of my body. I can't very well blog about how I'm imagining Bahrain will be. But I spend plenty of time thinking about where we're going to live, and wondering how we're going to manage living in a hotel for a month and a 1/2 while we look for a place to live, and whether we should live in the city (close to work) or out on the island (peaceful, but a commute). So expect plenty of this cute face over the next few weeks:
As part of Project Sleepy Camille we took a trip to the mall this afternoon. We are having to get creative when looking for things for her to do because we're in the ridiculously HOT part of the year (and will be for at least the next 5 months) and there isn't much she can do outside other than get cooked.
So we took her along when we went to the embassy to check mail (and she explored the ground floor while Josh went up to his office) and then we took her to the mall so she could run. And since she's the baby of the family she got ice cream.
My iPhone camera shutter is so fast -- I can take a photo/second. So I did.
Tonight before bed she sat with her big pile of books and "read" to herself for about 30 minutes. I wonder who she gets that from . . .
I am usually not a fan of doing what everyone else is doing or joining the latest trend, but today I became one of those people. An iPhone user.
Now I can post all my hipster instagram photos to Facebook, upload photos of my meals, and "check in" with my location everywhere I go. But I won't, because that would be really annoying.
But what I might do every now and then, just because I can, is blog from my phone. How crazy is that? Supposedly I can add photos from here too, but haven't figured that part out yet. (although if you're seeing photos, I guess I did.)
I really hate those people who are all, "OMG! The iPhone is the greatest thing evah!" So I won't say it (I'll just think it).
Calvin had beautiful long hair, but hair in the eyes and basketball didn't mix.
We went to watch him play and after that first game is when we declared that the hair had to go. He played OK, but he looked sluggish and for the first time ever he didn't score a single basket.
We were cheering when he missed the shot because it was the closest he came all day to scoring. He wasn't shooting -- probably because he couldn't see the basket.
The first game after his locks were shorn I walked into the gym and I could see the difference right from his warm-up. He was sinking baskets, moving more fluidly, and keeping his head up (since he wasn't having to look under his bangs to see). Hallelujah!
The funny thing is that his first day at school with short hair 7 or 8 people said, "Why did you cut your hair? I liked it better longer." It turned out that all of the haters were girls. Of course they liked the long hair. They probably also liked how he would toss his head to flick the hair out of his eyes. When he explained that his mom made him cut it for basketball some of them said, "Why don't you just quit basketball?" I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or roll my eyes.
Part of the fan club -- our next door neighbor who Camille loves to play with.
My boy can see!
This game was a scrimmage among the TAISM 7th & 8th graders. They divided into 4 teams (blue/red/white/gray) and played 20 minute games Round Robin style.
Calvin played awesome. A few swishes, one almost-3 pointer (feet on the line), some slick passing, and several assists. I would have taken some video, but my camera battery died (and I was too busy jumping and cheering to hold a camera steady).
Watching him play well was almost as great as having him come off the court with a sheepish grin to say, "You were right."
One of the things that I love about Caleb is his persistence. It's also one of his qualities that can drive me crazy, but this story is about how his hard-headedness makes me proud.
Every quarter the elementary school offers many different after-school activities to choose from. The boys have participated in soccer, watercolor, basketball, hockey, swimming, puppets, gardening, etc. Caleb has been wanting to take Irish Dance for months, but the Irish Dance class is always on the same day as AWANA. Since he made a commitment to AWANA at the beginning of the year, he needed to finish what he started.
The final quarter's activity schedule was released last month and once again Caleb was desperate to do Irish Dance. (In case you hadn't guessed, all his girl friends take Irish Dance . . . ) I looked at the calendar and saw that there were only 3 weeks left of AWANA so I gave him the green light. We decided he could go to Irish Dance for those 3 weeks and I would come to school and walk him across the street to the church after class. Win. Win.
Camille and I came and watched a little bit of his class -- my funny little boy perfectly at home surrounded by 30 girls. He doesn't care that he's the only boy in class. He's more upset about the fact that I won't buy him the special shoes and that he doesn't have a costume/uniform like the girls do. (I was not paying 18 rial/$50 for shoes that he'll wear for 7 classes!) The Irish Dance uniform for the boys is black pants/green t-shirt, but the girls have a special skirt/leotard. I did look all over for a plain green t-shirt, but when I couldn't find one he had the idea of turning a shirt with a logo on it inside out. Even though he could wear his regular school clothes, he insists on changing into that green shirt before class.
Camille and I came a little early to watch the end of his third class.
Ooh, Cinderella backpack? Yes, please.
Half the class doing one of the dances. Caleb dances like an athlete -- I can tell he is mentally scrolling through the combinations and attacking the different steps. It totally cracks me up.
Same dance, in pairs, so the teacher can evaluate their progress.
At the end of each class they play a dance version of red light/green light where they skip in a circle and then freeze whenever the music stops. The last one standing wins. He loves it.
I'm proud that he is so sure of himself and so confident. It's a gift to be able to do what you want without worrying what other people think.
We made it to the church in time for the AWANA awards ceremony. The cotton candy is because it was circus themed so there was plenty of popcorn, cotton candy and clowns. She liked everything but the clowns.
Carter participated in a program at church called Knights/Princesses of the King (or something like that) for 4th and 5th graders. They spent a day learning about manners, friendships, becoming a man/woman of God, etc. At first Carter was disappointed when he found out that there wasn't going to be a class on making swords, but he ended up having a good time and learning a lot anyway.
As a celebration at the end of the class they had a family dinner where the students made a public pledge to follow the Bible's instruction as wisdom for life, to treat others the way they would want to be treated, to give others grace, to be mindful of how their behavior affects others, and so on. You would think I could remember all the details of the pledge since I heard it repeated so many times, but for much of it I was herding Camille in the foyer. The program didn't start until 7 so I had this grand plan of taking 2 cars, having Camille ready for bed, and then slipping out as soon as Carter finished his part in the program. Unfortunately he ended up being almost last (of course!) so we didn't get out of there until after 9pm, but it was worth sticking around for.
After each child said his pledge, a parent came up to give his/her child their blessing. This is what Josh wrote and said to Carter:
My
Blessing
Carter,
tonight I want to bless you as your father and on behalf of your
Heavenly Father who created you to have a personal relationship with
Him.
I
bless your birth and life in our family as our second son, your
character and personality, and your unique creation for His purpose.
It's hard to imagine that He was more excited than your mom and I
were about your birth, but He was – and He is still so excited
about your future.
He
desires to have a close relationship with you and I bless the
development and nurturing of that relationship so you will grow in
wisdom and strength of character in the Lord. I bless your walk with
Him, that you would stand close to Him through both easy and
difficult times. Just as God blessed Noah and his sons for their
faithfulness, I trust that God will bless you for your faithfulness
to Him.
Psalm
106:3 says, “Blessed are those who act justly, who always do what
is right.” Carter, I bless you as a man who will seek justice for
those around him and as a man who strives to live a life glorifying
to God.
God
has great plans for you and I bless your work – at school now –
and later in your job – that God would be glorified through your
confident, determined, and competitive personality. And that you
would grow and develop these and other gifts to be used for God.
Carter,
know that you are a blessed son of the Living God, Creator of the
universe and Creator of you and that you share in the same
inheritance as Jesus Christ His Son, in whom and through whom I bless
you tonight.
Nice, huh?
Yep, that's my girl. She's quite the lady-like princess.
All the knights and princesses
Caleb and a friend were making faces at each other and Camille started copying them. It was about 2 hours in and they just couldn't sit still any longer. At least they were being quiet . . .
The team: 4th and 5th grade boys. Girls play after school hockey as well, but this was a boys-only tournament. They didn't win any games (they played 4), but they improved as the tournament went on. 
And they had fun doing it. 
