A Few Things...

Ramsey had soccer after school on Monday. I thought it was at Burgess from 4-5pm. It was at his school from 4-5pm and he called me to say he would stay at school but could I bring him his soccer things? I found him doing homework at the lunch tables and as we were walking to our car, he told me (in a somewhat sad voice) that a boy ripped his puff puff while fouling him during lunchtime basketball and could I fix it. I looked at it and the trip is at the left pocket upper corner and is through the material. I sewed it up by hand -- can you tell? Yes, there is a huge pucker but so far it has held for 2 days.



I bought both boys advent calendars from Trader Joe's a while back (because last year they ran out early and the boys did not get advent calendars). Ramsey asked me if I could get him a lego advent calendar instead (one small lego thing per day!) but Anthony was super excited and has woken up on Tuesday 12/2 morning saying, "I get my calendar chocolate!" and ate his chocolate before breakfast.



Tuesday 12/2 afternoon, Ant and I went to Encinal to sort all the uniforms into different teams (there are 21 teams). Meanwhile, I had to drop off Ramsey's "Halloween outfit" to him at Rowan's house as Ram, Rowan and John are partners for a Spanish project and they were filming their skit and Ramsey is the game show host announcer. His "Halloween outfit" has come in quite handy. Ram didn't finish at Rowan's house until 6pm.

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After a quick dinner (of croissant turkey cheese sandwiches), I left Ant at home and dropped Ram at his NJB basketball practice which started at 7pm. Hen has a busy week and is out for work Tues, Wed and Thurs this week. I came home and spent time with Ant and then went back to pick up Ram at 8:30. I arrived about 5 minutes early and took the above pic and video. Ram seems to really enjoy this team because everyone on the team is a good basketball player.



I volunteered in Ant's art class on Wed 12/3. When I arrived, I found they had completed self portrait sketches last week. They had to use wax paper and trace the sketch with a fine tip sharpie.



Then they were told to go read while everyone finished that step. Check out Ant -- he's not fooling around, he really was reading.



The teacher then demo-ed the coloring portion with sharpies and skin toned markers. Ant got right down to it and then insisted on drawing a yellow and a pink duck next to his self portrait. He then went to Casey's area and taught Casey how to do the same (and Casey has a yellow and a pink duck next to himself too…his whole class knows he likes ducks…he told me in the car, "Guess what my expert topic (writing essay) is about?" I said ducks. He said, "Why does everyone guess that? My whole class kept asking me if I was writing about ducks Mom. No, I'm doing the Houston Astros."). Check out his completed self portrait: sharp chin, big ears, he thinks he has spiky hair.



Since I volunteered for art which is 1:30-2:30 on Wednesdays, I stayed and drove Ant home. When we got to our front door, I saw how nice the fall colors are and made Ant pose for some pics. The little Japanese maple tree to Ant's left is the one whose colors were so brilliant a week+ ago and I made Ram pose in front of it. We are also taking care of our neighbor Rhoda's cats while she is away. Ant loves this orange one named Natasha. "I want to go pet 'Tasha Mom!"



I went out at 4:30-ish to pick up Ram from his Hillview 7th grade basketball practice which is 3:45-4:45. Ram stayed after school though complained that the wait form 2:30 (school ends at 2:30 on Wed and Thurs and 3:05 otherwise) was way too long. The clouds were so pretty at the time we left his school at 4:55-ish.

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Ant had his 3rd grade basketball practice from 5:30-6:30 on Wed. I left to take Ant as soon as I got home from picking up Ram.. Ant is very active and engaged at practice (and uses up so much energy! Hen and I think he is like a bright burning star -- blue giant stars burn bright but have short lifetimes -- everyday he uses up all his energy so fast (like how he uses up any money that he has so quick) and then is a huge grumpapotamus in the evening with us with temper tantrums galore) and the coach told me (and told Hendrik on Sunday which is their other weekly practice) that Ant is a pleasure to coach because he is so coachable and engaged. Huh? Can we have a bit of that at home??