May Day ~ Graduation

Preschool Graduation…no seriously

As is the custom of the people in my village, any chance to celebrate milestones in our keiki’s lives is embraced and exploited.  Today was Zeth’s preschool graduation ceremony.  I admit to having been a hater of ostentatious events like this in the past but much like the all-knowing soul who judges a mother who has their child tethered to them with a ‘leash’ then changes her tune once they become a parent to a frequent flyer, I have jumped on the overindulgence train. 

The graduation ceremony was short and sweet, opening prayer by Zeth’s daddy, the graduates sang a little song (I have a dream?) with hand motions the kids have been practicing for months, a certificate and project portfolio presented to each kid as their teacher recited what they want to be when they grow up.  Zeth wants to be a doctor, “so I can give everybody shots.”  Next were some tearful thank yous and good byes from his teacher, Auntie Mele, who will be taking a break next year and was just a little sentimental.  No, make that a lot sentimental, she personally bought all 19 kids (including the ones not advancing yet) in the class a very nice backpack and filled them with school supplies for kindergarten.  Her generosity amazes me.  Then the leis, goodies, & pictures really began flowing.

But that’s not all.  Then the kids went into the playground area where there were two giant jumpers and free shave ice for everyone.  Parents were welcome to stay for lunch and enjoy the “Fun Day” they had planned for the kids but those who had to leave were able to do so with little or no drama from their kids who were too distracted to care.  It may be a shock when he goes back to the same school again tomorrow and it’s just a normal day.  In fact, he’ll be attending the same class through summer until Kindergarten starts on 7/30 (yes, it does seem a bit early to start school in July!).  He is so ready for elementary school.  He has been wearing his new school uniform t-shirts almost every day since I bought him some a month ago.  Just can’t wait to be an official Jr. Red Raider!

May Day

As is the custom of the people in my village, the kids both had May Day performances this month.  Zana was in the front row again strutting her gift of dance.  Zeth was the first up for the boys too which was surprising because he always acts shy when invited to dance in front of people.  He’s showing signs he’ll be taking after his sister, mom, & dad…all of us have been performers at some point.  My video of Zeth’s performance is awful because I was standing on 2 chairs with my arms up in the air to try to see over the parents in the front who were obviously under the impression they were the only ones who wanted to see the kids dancing…but I digress.  Anyway, despite the shaky video, I was so proud of them and their dances were so darling I had to post them on youtube for the world to enjoy. J  Zana’s class theme was “The Roaring 20’s” and Zeth’s class did a Tahitian performance.

Yesterday was Ram's birthday.  We celebrated as per our family custom, with crepes for breakfast.  When I asked what he wanted for dinner he replied, "le Cassoulet".  Well that's just great.  Cassoulet is a can of French style pork & beans w/ sausages which is not sold anywhere on the island.  I've looked.  It really is an acquired taste sort of thing that just reminds him of home.  To me, it's not anything I'd ever crave but that's what he wanted more than anything for his birthday dinner.  Luckily for me, he just happened to have one can stashed away in his office for a special occasion which he produced as a compliment to the meal the rest of us ate.  For dessert, it's hard to beat a Ted's Bakery Chantilly cake - so that's what we did.  (BTW, if anyone happens to be coming for a visit from Tahiti anytime soon, we sure could use some more Cassoulet!)

I put a bunch of May highlights so far in an album if you just can't get enough of us.

Mother's Lentils

Mother’s Day

Before motherhood finally came my way, Mother’s Day used to be such a painful experience for me.  Happily the pendulum has swung to the other end and this year was such a blissful day.  It was simple but happy.  It started out with breakfast in bed which Zana helped make – and eat.  A gorgeous “Christina” orchid lei, pot of happy mums, and handmade cards from the kids made the morning very special.  Off to church where the youth took over teaching all the Primary classes so the women could all attend Relief Society for a change.  The bishopric came through brilliantly with roses and heart shaped gourmet brownies for all the women in the ward. 

But rewind to Saturday when the kids asked what I wanted as a gift, my reply was a whole day with no fighting, arguing, or whining.  I realized that in order for my wish to be granted, I couldn’t just sit back and allow them to govern and entertain themselves but I had to stay actively engaged with them.  So I did my part and we kept busy but relaxed all day.  There were several times Zana had to take some deep breaths to not give in to Zeth’s prodding for a response and I was so proud she did it.  They were so well behaved and mannered all day right up until 8:00p when Zeth needed a bath and Zana asked to join him.  Water toys gave way to splashing which gave way to a water fight which ended up with a ball in the eye and Zana retaliating.  Guess I should have moved bed time up to 8:00p.  Other than that we had a very successful day.

To reward them for their efforts, Monday morning I made them breakfast in bed.  Crepes are a special breakfast event normally reserved for birthdays but I thought they deserved a reward for making Sunday so happy.  It was a splendid start of the week.

 

Lentils

One of my husband’s favorite meals as a result of his mother’s cooking is lentils & rice.  Even with the sausage, carrots, & onions mixed in the thick soup served over rice, it’s not the most exquisite of meals but it’s one of his favorites because that is what he was raised on.  Monday evening he prepared a pot of lentils big enough to feed his family of 14 (well maybe not anymore with 9 men in the family), which was more than enough food for our little family of four.  I think we’ll be eating lentils for a week.  Sadly, our children have never liked lentils in the least so as dinner began, so did the complaints and requests for additional options.  Ramond was quickly done eating and busy with other things so that left me to make sure the kids ate dinner, got some nutrition other than the grapes they were packing away like chipmunks, and learned to appreciate the food they have.  Hard line mommy night.  I tried every tactic, “the Anderson kids love lentils!”, “OK, I’ll put soy sauce on the rice but you have to eat the lentils too”, “eat your lentils & rice or go straight to bed, it’s your choice”, “look, sausages are like hot dogs – they’re cousins in fact”.  I wasn’t making much progress.

Realizing threats & force would not end up in a pleasant evening for anyone; I decided to attract the bees to the flowers rather than dumping soup on their heads.  So I came up with an incentive plan, we needed to go return some videos at the library after dinner so I finally gave them a 10-minute timeline and said if they finished their bowls in that amount of time, we would go get ice cream after the library.

It was as if someone just started a pie eating contest at the state fair.  I’ve never seen Zana shovel food as fast.  She was holding her nose so she didn’t have to taste the food but downing huge olive-green scoops all the same.  She finished her 10-minute bowl with 5-minutes to spare.  Zeth meanwhile was having a hard time turning the corner on his decision whether the ice cream was really that worth it.  I think he only ate about 4 bites total but as time was winding down and I had to decide if he was making enough progress I had to also factor in how Zana would feel after finishing her bowl if he didn’t do the same and still got the treat.

So I delegated the decision and said if Zana thought he did a good enough job, he’d get an ice cream too.  Tough spot to put her in, I know, but she didn’t seem too worried.  She took out a notepad and scribbled a large number on it.  As time expired and he was still working on swallowing his last mouthful, she held up the notepad and proudly declared he had earned an “8” and that an 8 out of a possible 10 is still a passing grade.  The law of mercy in action.  They both passed the test and you never saw two happier kids with their McDs sundaes.  I was so relieved that the bed time ritual of brushing, changing, & reading went smoothly and everyone went to sleep happy.  Until the next time we try to feed them lentils of course…