Violin Lessons

Elizabeth has started violin lessons! A few weeks ago we visited the violin builder to see what size was best for her.

We first borrowed a friend’s violin until we explored options to loan one for a longer time. Her friend (and our neighbor) has also started lessons too. They are excited to be doing this new adventure together.

Three beautiful violins in a row: Eva’s 1/10; Elizabeth’s 1/8; and my full size. I have enjoyed getting my violin out to show the girls how to play!

There has been a lot of music being made in our home! Maybe this picture is a vision of the future?!

Sarah has been enjoying the violin too!

Today we returned to the violin builder to buy Elizabeth her very own 1/8 sized violin.

She is one very excited and proud little girl!

Music Time

She has been asking me for days to get my violin out for her to play. I’m beginning to think she is ready for formal music lessons!

First Day of School!

Today was the start of the 2016-17 school year in our household. Elizabeth is now in K5 which is the equivalent of kindergarten in the USA. Sarah started K3 which is the same as a preschool program for 3-year-olds.

Sarah has been so excited to start school! She went to bed last night talking non-stop and woke up and immediately resumed talking!

 

 

She had a great first day and was full of stories about all her activities during the school day. No tears! And it definitely helped that she is in the same class as her friend Job (our close neighbor).

 

 

 

Elizabeth had mixed emotions about returning to school. In general, she was very happy and excited to return, but she also felt a little nervous about the changes a new school year brings (new teacher, new routine, etc). She woke up happy to begin her day and the new school year!

She and her friend Eva had fun exploring their new classroom together! She shed a few tears when we said goodbye, but gave a very happy report at the end of the day. She was full of smiles and told me that she loved her new teacher!

The four musketeers of our household. Sarah and Elizabeth with their friends (and classmates), Eva and Job.

Happy 4th Birthday - Party #1

Today we celebrated Elizabeth's birthday with a few neighbor friends. It was a fun and very special afternoon for our sweet almost 4 year old!


Elizabeth requested a snowman cake. I was very pleased with my efforts!



Sweet sisters.










We are off to Holland in the morning. Party #2 with our Dutch family will be on Sunday!

A Moment to Remember

To begin the celebration of Advent, this evening we gave the girls a new Christmas book. Elizabeth asked me "Mama, did you buy us this book?". After I said yes, she responded with a heartfelt "Thank you, Mama" and a big hug. These sweet moments of motherhood are special treasures to remember forever.

Playing School

Elizabeth loves school. Her imaginary play at home is now almost always centered around a school theme. This day she was singing some songs with her “kids” (as she calls them) and repeatedly telling them “we are now going to do something fun!”.

First Haircut

Last week Elizabeth came home with obvious signs that her hair had been “cut”. Well, at least the end of one of her braids had been trimmed. We have been unable to get out the real story as to how this happened, but the most likely scenario is that she and her good friend Eva thought it would be fun to give cutting hair a try one day when at school.

Because her hair was now lopsided, we needed to give it all a trim. J donned his barber hat and set to work. She was a trooper and sat patiently though it all. I think she looks adorable and cute with her little bob! Honestly, it was time to trim her hair, but we are hoping all the beautiful curls will return. I am giving up some of my hope as we are still waiting one week later….

Practicing Piano

Hardworking School Girl

After a period of adjusting to school during the first two weeks, Elizabeth is settling down into her new rhythm and enjoying school. It was an adjustment for her in many ways. Although she has been cared for by a nanny, she still found it hard to be away from me. In hindsight I realize that her nanny is probably another mother figure for her so it makes sense she needed to adjust to this aspect of school. It is also her first time being among a large group of peers, and she finds the energy and rambunctiousness of the unstructured time to be a little overwhelming. I don’t blame her as I too would find 25 kids of her age to be overwhelming (she is my daughter in more ways than one!). She is content with her friendship with Eva, the daughter of our friends who just moved here. But we think that as she grows in confidence in her Arabic speaking skills, her courage to befriend others will also grow. Elizabeth is also an observer before she is a joiner. She has been doing a lot of watching from the sidelines, but we were also glad to here that she is participating 100% in all of the structured classroom activities. And this is the part of school she loves! She comes home from school and is excited to show us her papers from that day. Throughout the afternoon and evening, we hear a lot about her school day through her play and her songs. Sarah is often drawn into her school related play. She really likes both of her teachers (the classroom has one English speaking teacher and one Arabic speaking teacher). And just this morning she asked when she will go to school again (Friday is a weekend day here). When I asked her if she wants to go to school again, with a big smile she answered “Yes, I like school. I think about it all the time.”  Earlier in the week after Sarah had cried when I needed to leave one evening, Elizabeth told me, “Mama, Sarah will learn that she will be OK without you. She will learn that at school like I did.”

I love this picture I took of her yesterday afternoon. She came home with a few papers to do at home. She asked to do the papers as soon as her afternoon rest time ended. I enjoyed watching her happily go about her work with singing and smiles and endless chatter.

School Bus!

The school offers a bus service for students. The service started on the second day of school. I was unsure if Elizabeth was too young and it might be “too much” for her. But she got on like a pro and knew just what to do! And I was glad to see that the school sent a teacher to ride the bus too. The children of our friends joined her on the bus a few days later, and it is now a real party going to and from school each day.

I fully attribute her ease and comfort with the school bus to her experiences in Grandpa’s school bus in April, 2014. During that visit she visited his school bus on a daily basis and even got to go along on a morning bus run to school where she got to observe kids getting on the bus and getting off at school. Grandpa's School Bus

First Day of School

Elizabeth started school today!

She will be in the K4 class at Bethlehem Evangelical School – a bilingual Arabic/English school that offers American track education programming. This is the second year of operation for the school. The administrators of the school also run the Christian school in Hebron that had originally been founded by two Mennonite women in the 1940s. We are excited to have this educational opportunity for Elizabeth.

Elizabeth has been looking forward to this day and has been asking repeatedly in recent weeks – “when do I go to school?”. Last night she had a hard time falling asleep. “Mama, I am just too excited to sleep because I go to school tomorrow!”. But this morning she told me she was excited to go school but did not really want to go to school. I think it was her way to express that she was also a little nervous.

She did great when we dropped her off!! She is growing up. To be honest, I think I had a harder time than her. I had to work hard to keep my tears from coming while I was saying goodbye. She was just excited to go play in the toy kitchen area!

Future Architect?

Today Elizabeth wanted me to build towers with her. The new dimension of today’s play was her drawing the tower before we built it. And she was very serious about it too. She was not pleased if I strayed from her plan!

Beautiful Girl

Beautiful Elizabeth modeling the flower necklace made for her by our friend’s daughter.

Cycling Lessons

The bicycle path behind our friend’s house provided a perfect place for a cycling lesson.

She still needs a few more lessons, but her enthusiasm runs high despite the frustrations!

While her sister cycled, Sarah was happy to create with sidewalk chalk.

Composing

Elizabeth and Sarah both love to sing, and Elizabeth often makes up “new songs”. On a recent day Elizabeth and I were alone in the car going to a doctor’s appointment. This was the new song of the day: “My Mama loves me so much. My Mama loves me. My Mama loves me so much. So much.”

I don’t remember the tune, but the words are forever etched in my heart!

First Trumpet Lesson

She was in awe of her father and the music he was making. She even made song requests!

Ballet Class

Elizabeth had her first dance class on Saturday afternoon. She loved it, and the class was the highlight of Elizabeth’s day!

I really enjoyed peeking in from the hallway and watching Elizabeth be so engaged in the class!

The teacher did great, despite the age difference in the class. There were three 3 year old girls and two older girls. If enough people sign up, the teacher will separate the younger from the older students. But for now, she is doing a great job of making it a fun experience for the little ones too!

Sweet Sayings

Tonight when Elizabeth was trying so hard to postpone falling asleep she said this very sweet thing to me:

“Mama, I love you. I like your face and how God made you”.

Aww…such sweetness! I had to go in and give her another kiss after she said that!

Spring weather!

Warm, spring weather equals lunch in the park with friends after our church service on Saturday afternoons! Today was the first of many of the season. Spring has arrived in Jerusalem! We may still get some rainy and cooler days. But these warm, sunny days will become more and more the norm during these next weeks! It’s been such a cold winter (in our home, mostly), that I am refusing to reflect on the fact that spring turns into the hot, hot summer. For now, I will simply enjoy the perfect weather of the present moment in time!

Baking with Elizabeth

In mid-February, we baked Date Bars to welcome Papa home from his long business trip to India.

The best thing when baking!

She even loves to help with the cleanup!