Highlights from Japan

After a 13.5 hour plane trip, Mommy and Daddy arrived at Narita Airport in Japan and waited about 5 hours for the connecting flight to Osaka. A short plane ride later and a bus ride to the hotel, almost 24 hours after leaving NY, it was time to go to sleep in Kyoto.

On Tuesday morning, Mommy and Daddy took a tour of Kyoto.

Paper Mache

Today, Clara and Emma were excited to see Mommy and Daddy.

From their Club Lunch teachers

"We did paper-mache using our shoes! After the children decorate their shoe creations next week, we'll send them home.

Ask them how they did it!"

This afternoon, Clara worked on a project with perler beads and both enjoyed one of the many Hello Kitty gifts- pocky sticks- they are like long thin crackers with some strawberry yogurt type food covering half of it.

Coming Home

Last night, Mommy and Daddy came home from Japan. Clara and Emma were sleeping when Mommy and Daddy arrived home.

It was fun to see the poster completed- an activity they did every single day- where they got to write (or tell Grandma to write) what they did and their favorite part of the day. It also had a little note each day from Mommy and Daddy.

And, there was a big sign saying "Welcome Home."

But no one can beat the hugs, kisses and smiles Mommy and Daddy got this morning.

HUGE thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Frome and Grandma and Grandpa Gornstein for watching the kids and making it possible for Mommy and Daddy to take this trip to Japan. And, thanks to all the other family, friends, teachers and more that helped out.

Communicating With Kids

While in Japan, Mommy and Daddy were able to video call almost everyday from Tokyo and email (see word of day entry). Grandpa Frome also sent some updates about what the ladies were doing in New York.

Sunday Update
Clara and Emma awoke at 7:30 in a wonderful mood -all smiles.They had apple juice cocktails. At their suggestion we took them to I Hop for their usual.We dressed the girls and proceeded to I Hop or as they sometimes said hi pity hop . The were terrific.  Clara had her choc chip pancakes Emma had plain pancakes andthey finished them! After a pit stop we were off to Stanford. Using our I phone 's directions we arrived parked free  at about 10:30. They sat  in their stroller and sometimes stood on their stroller with us.They had a wonderful view. They received balloons, slinkys and scarfs. The parade started with the Governor,Federal congressmen and the mayor. After clowns and bands, the balloons came from Kermit,Elmo,Big Bird(poor Alyssa),Popeyes,and those were only a few,the prerequisite HS BANDS ,elementary school dancers and music. They loved it.We all felt it was a grand parade and they loved everyinute of it.Emma fell asleep going,Clara coming home.

It was a grand sunny day.

David and Kathy Frome

Monday Update
They keep outshine themselves. Just give me ten percent of their energy and I could live in NYC for a year.

They had a good night sleep. Emma got up once and after she got her blanket again she went back to sleep.They had picked their clothes out with Grandma the night before .They had a potty session and dressed themselves mostly. They were on a terrific mood.Emma awoke Clara and it took Emma a little more time to awaken fully. Breakfast was no sweat. And off to school we went.The detours were not bad and we arrived fifteen minutes early. .

The girls seemed happy and we left for Therapy, No problems getting there . The therapists love C and E. No homework for Clara. The asked for and received stickers. The lassies had snacks that in the car.oh they both went potty at therapy as well. Came he watched TV for a short time when Chelsea arrived.. She drove to Chef central.we followed and watched the girls make Turkey cookies.They seemed to enjoy it. Chelsea took them home have them dinner and readied them for bed. Hope you guys are enjoying the time andvacation. All your pages of help make it much easier.. Ahavah.
David and Kathy Frome



Tuesday Update
The young ladies awoke later today. I read them your morning message. Emma had a white cheese roll and Clara had challah and her cream cheese but no bites.Both went into the car and switched car seats. We went early because the road work, but it seemed to be complete except for the line drawings. Went into school and the ladies hit the Lego table. The girls had their lunch boxes for the lunch bunch. They made pumpkin cookies at school.They came home from school to watch tv and relax.
They are excited to go to the library for activities.  Saiyanora.

David and Kathy Frome


Wednesday Update
We woke Clara and Emma at about 7:16 am. Clara was particularly tired. They played and they got ready for school. Clara is becoming shy.She was dressing behind the chair but in front of the windows. After a few notes where Emma out ate Clara we went off to school and made sure the recycling was out. Mom came with us and we went to school. Met their friends. They had a turkey Feast today with their pumpkin cookies from yesterday. They sang songs but they were relatively quiet.

On the way to therapy they fell asleep. Woke them up and after some fussing settled them down. The therapist for Clara said "she has improved so much."
.
After therapy we will take them home, make supper, prepare for Alyssa and Ryan,meds, sleeping bags. Hope you are having a good time.

Ahavah

David and Kathy Frome

Japanese Word of the Day Emails

Mommy and Daddy sent emails each day with a Japanese "word of the day." Here are the emails:

For Monday
Dear Clara and Emma,
Good morning!Hope you are doing well.

We took a long plane ride- longer than Argentina!! But Mommy and Daddy are here in Japan.

Here is your first Japanese word- ko no chi wa- it means hello!

Have a good day at school and therapy. Chelsea comes later too!!

Hugs and kisses,
Mommy and Daddy

For Tuesday

We had a very busy day and toured Kyoto.

The word of the day is Arigato- it means thank you.

For Wednesday

Hi
We will try to call later
 
Hope everyone well.
 
We are heading to Tokyo later today
 
Word of day is sayonara which means goodbye
 

Love, Mommy and Daddy

For Thursday
Dear Clara and Emma,

We had so much fun talking on the video phone with you! It sounds like you are having a busy and fun week. We hope you are taking care of Grandma and Grandpa too!!

Today's word of the day is Kampi (kompie) which means cheers!

Happy Thanksgiving - we will call you later!!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

For Friday
Dear Clara and Emma,

We hope you had a yummy Thanksgiving and that you had a great sleepover at Auntie Alyssa and Ryan's house!

We are doing more touring today around Tokyo.We take the subway everywhere here.

Have fun sleeping in the penthouse tonite!!!

Today's word is Urashi- it means happy.

We love you!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

For Saturday
Dear Clara and Emma,

It is nite in Japan and we are going to bed. In the morning, we have Uncle Dan and Yukie's wedding.

We hope your sleepover at the penthouse was fun!

Here is your word of the day- Kawaii it means cute.

Have lots of fun today!!

We miss you! Hugs and kisses

Love, Mommy and Daddy

For Sunday
Hi

We went to Uncle Dan and Yukie's wedding- it was a traditional Japanese wedding. We sent some pictures- check them out!

Have a good day and we"ll call you later!

Here is your word of the day - fu fu means married couple.

Have a wonderful day!

Love Mommy and Daddy

Nursery School Update

Native American Names

The kids have been learning about Thanksgiving at school this week and are very excited for the holiday.

Emma picked out a book from the school bookshelf and started reading. "This book is about Native Americans." Well, at least she is paying attention.

Clara and Emma chose Native American names at school this week. Clara picked "Blue Sky Princess," and Emma picked "Princess Butterfly." Perfect names that describe the ladies!

Ballet Open House

Today was the Open House for the ballet class that Clara and Emma take each Thursday. It meant that Moms, Dads, Grandparents and sisters got to come and watch the whole class. Clara and Emma were so excited for it and kept telling people about it.

They shared their warm up stretches and showed off their knowledge of ballet positions and then did a performance of Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

It is quite special to see their smiles from ear to ear as they danced.

4s Fall Parent/Teacher Conferences

In advance of tonight's conference, Mommy asked Clara and Emma about school at dinner.

Clara said "I love school and we have a good time." Emma shared that "school is so much fun." Well, you can't beat that response.

And, when Mommy asked what their favorite part of school, they both agreed- "seeing friends, free play and playing outside."

Now in their 3rd year at the school (wow- time flies)- the kids have really grown there and have made great friends.

It is always nice to speak about each girl and hear about how they are doing in school. Their teachers share that they both love school. It is true- they run in on most days with huge smiles and barely remember to say goodbye to Mommy.

Their teachers shared that Clara loves building (see- future architect), art and dramatic play (aka games of family that they play) and that Emma enjoys dramatic play, dramatic play and dramatic play.

One more nursery school conference and then coming too soon is the big world of kindergarten. As their teachers reminded Mommy and Mommy shares with the ladies - enjoy being in the 4s!!

"E"

No idea where Clara got this one, but she started calling Emma, "E." If she was in another room, she'd start saying "E, come here. I need to show you something." Kinda thought it was cute!

Leaves!

A favorite activity for the ladies is jumping in the leaves and helping Daddy clean them up. This morning, the gals feeling much better, had a blast in the piles of leaves!

They also enjoyed lunch out with Grandma and Grandpa Gornstein and a trip to the book store!

Here We Go Again...

After about two weeks of a cough and an occassional runny nose, Clara woke up saying her ear was itchy and was hurting in the middle of the night. She couldn't fall asleep and slept next to Mommy. Finally, some of the pain was relieved by a combination of some medication and draining of the infection.

Tired, everyone got a late start to the day. Mommy took the first appointment at the doctor's office for both kids. While it is obvious from the draining that Clara has an infection, she needed to get a prescription for drops. And, while there, Emma got checked and had an ear infection too. Yep, a really fun morning.

Mommy had won tickets to see the New York Ballet Theater's performance of Cinderella- a hour long show. The kids loved it and it was nice to do something different.

Hopefully, tonight will be better!

Nursery School Update

This week in the 4's Nov. 10, 2011

Monday's music with Marcy found the fours singing musical scales, playing the drums and pretending to be Fall trees losing their leaves.

Justin's mommy came and read us a book about the Leaf Man and his journey over the Fall landscape. Justin brought in a whole bag of leaves for the fours to use to make pictures. Some of the children made people out of their leaves, smiling faces, and even butterflies. They are on display in the hallway for all to see.

On Tuesday, jackie asked us if we would make American flags for the Veteran's Day dinner on Friday night at GHC. The fours did a greta job and even noticed the pattern in the flag. We read the poem "Hug of War" by Shel Silverstein, and talked about peace.

I will not play at tug o' war
I'd rather play at hug o' war
Where everyone hugs
instead of tugs
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug
Where everyone kisses
And everyone grins
And everyone cuddles
And everyone wins.

Gina visited our classroom. It was fun for her to see how grown up the four-year-olds are. She read us a Thanksgiving book with many new words. On Thursday she came back to see if we remembered what the new words meant. We sure surprised her! We are happy to help Gina with her studies because we know she is going to be a great teacher.

Nature on Wednesday: There was a white tree frog with smooth, rubbery skin. His name was Spiderman. You know why! He lives in the rain forest and his skin feels wet. There was also a bearded dragon named Velcro, who puffs out when he gets scared, and Panda the ferret. It was fun to touch the animals and see how different they all felt.

On Thursday we continued working on our pre-math skills of patterning. Each child created their own pattern of beads, and the strung them on to a necklace. It was amazing to see the perseverance and patience that the children displayed. They have grown up so much!
We also talked about Fall and sang songs about the falling leaves and the squirrels hiding their food.

Next week it's all about Thanksgiving!

Shabbat Shalom to all our friends!

The New Four Letter Word

LICE. Yep. It has hit the Gornstein house in full force this week!

On Monday, Mommy got an email from school that a child in the 4s class had lice over the weekend. Mommy checked the kids after school and knew Clara had been itchy- but everytime Mommy looked, she saw Clara's dry skin around her ears.  Mommy didn't see anything and took the kids to their therapy sessions.

Of course, Mommy decided to check again. And, saw a little bug running through Clara's hair. Mommy jumped up, called Daddy and then a few friends. Soon, it was off to Dale Longworth's home- she is a lice expert. Three hours later, five lollipops per kid, a promise of the barbie dolls that they've been wanting-all the Gornstein's had been checked, shampooed and combed through.

Thank goodness the sitter, Chelsea, was there to help- it made the experience a little more manageable.

This week has featured more loads of laundry than Mommy would like to ever do again, vacuuming, shampooing and combing out (really the hard part).

Treatment will be continued for another few days and things will be a little different in the future- Clara and Emma will wear their hair up for a few weeks, they'll have product in their hair (it doesn't like lice) and spray to make sure they don't come to the sweet Gornstein gals again.

Nursery School Update

This week in the 4's Nov. 4, 2011

Snow in October! What a trick!

Here in the fours we are working on learning about Fall leaves and why they change colors and fall to the ground. The fours made leaves with green on one side for a summer leaf and beautiful fall colors to represent autumn on the other. Outside on the playground, the fours are busy collecting leaves and acorns to bring home as treasures. We have also been singing songs about leaves falling on our heads and changing colors. The children also noticed that many words rhyme with fall, such as call, ball, wall, hall, mall and tall.

With Thanksgiving coming up, we also read some books about the first Thanksgiving. We talked about how the Pilgrims came to the New World and how the Native Americans helped them learn to farm and hunt.

In conjunction with our Thanksgiving curriculum, the Bruce Museum paid us a visit. They talked to us about the Woodland period 500 years ago and how the Native Americans lived their lives. Melanie from the museum told us that Thanksgiving was a big dinner with the Pilgrims and Native Americans to celebrate the New World (for the Pilgrims), freedom and the harvest.We learned that the children had special chores like gathering nuts and berries for the family, and were the ones that dug out the canoes from trees to make them smooth and deep enough for people to sit in. This was done with sea shells! We also saw some artifacts and models of things from those times, such as a wig-wam (Native American house) and cooking pots and baskets that they might have used, all made from things in nature. We also got to touch different kinds of animal skins which they used to keep warm.

We have been playing with our pattern games, identifying and creating patterns, the beginning of the mastery of life-long maathematical skills. Stringing beads, using colored blocks and building with Legos can all be used to understand the concept. See if you and your child can identify patters as you go throughout your day. There are patterns everywhere! We even found them in our clothing and on the soles of our shoes!

Cantor Janet came on Tuesday to sing with us. We are learning Hebrew phrases, like Shem Sheli (my name is)... in song. It is so much fun.

As the weather is changing, please dress your child for the outdoors appropriately. The fours are the first ones outside in the morning, and it can be quite chilly.

Have a great weekend. Shabbat Shalom to all!