Has Spring Sprung?

Happy Passover & Happy Easter to

all of our family and Friends!

We are at the end if March in Nebraska and the reaming snow from last week is finally melting. Everyone I talk to is just about fed up with the snow and is ready for Spring. Me too!!!

 

It has been a couple for really busy weeks for both Zoe and her brother Nathaniel. Both of them had their parent teachers conferences.  Zoe's teacher indicated that Zoe is doing really well with both her progress and her school grades.  You have to remember that Zoe has been in the United States less than 2 years and she has almost caught up with all of her classmates. Her teacher was pleased with her progress.  However, her teacher was not going to let us leave on a positive indicating that Zoe has a tendency to be aggressive (hitting or saying mean things on occasion) with the other children. So, we have something we will need to continuously focus on.

 

Zoe has been very busy away from school...she received her next ribbon in gymnastics and also received a certificate of accomplishment in her dance classes. Sonja is exploring a cheer leading program in Omaha and she has again signed her up for T-ball this summer. So she will continually be busy with fun activities through the Spring and Summer. 

 

Sonja and Zoe currently are upstairs cleaning Zoe's room.  I can truly say I have never seen anything messier than Zoe's room. I have thought about nominating her for an episode of A&E's Hoarders show. You virtually cannot walk without stepping on something. I can hear Sonja's family chuckling right now saying it's payback for Zoe's  mom's room when she was younger.  While they were in Zoe's room Sonja found Zoe's original traditional dress  that we purchased while we  were in China. We wanted her to have something very special that she can have tied to her birthplace in the Yunnan province. So they decided to stop a few moments from cleaning and dress Zoe up, really is cute on her. This is the tradition dress from the original Chinese The Bai or Baip which Zoe is a part of is one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.



Nathaniel too has been very busy.  His parent-teacher conference was very positive. He is currently ranked 18th in his class with almost a 4.0 GPA. We are proud of both Nathaniel and Zoe as they both received very positive grade reports.

 

He was in the midst of his High School tryouts where he made the JV team for his high school as a regular player plus will be asked to pitch on a regular basis. Unfortunately due to the late snows and cold weather his first four games have been cancelled or postponed so we are still waiting for his first game. He has a game this Monday, April 1rst that we are hoping they will get to play.  He is still practicing freestyle wrestling twice a week. He now is a regular full time driver and is now aloud to drive where he wants as his restrictions expired on his birthday earlier this week.

 

All is well here...hope you have a nice early spring!

Spring is right around the corner!

Slowly but surely I can feel spring is near.  Major League Baseball recently had the pitcher and catcher report to Spring training, the last snow fall has all but melted but for the few piles in the parking lots of the neighboring business and Zoe has her first school break of the New Year!

Zoe is really beginning to blossom at school.  She is very active learning her alphabet, recognizing a large number of letters.  She has many friends and is active in a few activities. She is excelling in gymnastics, loves going to dance class and goes to weekly swim lessons. The pictures of her are her gymnastics picture taken with her team.  She is inquisitive, apparently is very social which we are made aware of daily when she receives a green, yellow or red.  Typically we can expect two days of green, two days of yellow and unfortunately at least one red on a weekly basis.  She tells us her goal is 5 days of green….she has the ability but not sure if she has the will.  But it is a great goal.

Zoe's Gymnastics Class

Zoe has been preparing for Valentine’s Day.  She has all of her valentines written out and ready to go.  She also has her valentine’s box ready for the Valentines from all her friends.  Zoe and her mom worked on the box over the last few days. It is awfully cute.

I think Zoe is as excited as we are about Nathaniel’s wrestling season coming to an end. It is a grueling sport for friends and family who watch. Imagine what it is like for a 5 year old girl. She does pretty well, but being trapped in the stands when she wants to run around has to be tough for her. At least during baseball season, it’s warm and she is outside where she can run and play with others children.

 Nathaniel had a fantastic season as a sophomore.  He has a very strong record of wins with the JV team with 12 pins and a really high winning percentage and was asked to wrestle with the varsity towards the end of the season.  His varsity record finished at 5 wins and 5 losses. Three of his losses were against the numbers 2, 5 & 6 rated wrestlers in the state.  Taking two matches to a decision. He went 4-1 at the varsity conference meet and 1-2 at districts. I know his grandfather would have been very proud of his achievements.  His coach said “I was very pleased with how Nate ended this season. I was incredibly happy to see him win a match at districts and I told him after his last match that I am finally starting to see him wrestling to his potential.”  But most of all, I think Nathaniel is excited he can eat again. His Mom brought him and his lunchtime wrestling teammates 6 boxes of pizza, they devoured every piece like a pack of wolves. It was a celebrated end to dieting until next year.  I call it more like starving than dieting!

So Nathaniel is now focused completely on baseball.  Not that he isn’t the rest of the year as he practices year round.  He will play JV ball in the spring and he has been invited to play with the varsity American baseball team this summer.  I think they were really pleased with his pitching last year while playing JV baseball in the summer. 

Well it is still winter and Nebraska is not out of the woods for snow into the month of April.  However, this is been the warmest January and beginning of February on record.  So my hopes are for a shortened winter.  We are all read to be outside. All is well here and we wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Valentine’s Day!!!!