it’s the end of the year

Monday the kids and I flew to the states and met Jeremy in Dallas. I was happy that we breezed through immigration in S. Africa with all the new laws regarding traveling with children. Perhaps that’s a post for another time. We endured four flights, but the kids were troopers, the benefits of traveling with older children.

The days leading up to our departure were full, making the days pass faster until we saw our much loved husband and father. The kids wrapped up their school year with end of school parties and awards ceremonies. I am so proud of them for doing so well as third culture kids in a new school. They made friends quickly and did well in their academic studies. My biggest shock was Emma Grace receiving academic excellence in Afrikaans. This girl had to take two languages. Apparently she has a knack for them. She spoke Afrikaans to me the whole way to the states. When I try to answer back, she just laughs at my accent. I’m not so good at languages.

We also made sure to thank our teachers for such a job well done. My kid’s education is our responsibility, as parents, and I’m so thankful for the teachers that put in so much time investing in our children. Combined, the kids had about 14 teachers we needed to thank, so I had to think of something that was lovely but could be mass produced. We settled on some homemade goodness with cloth gift bags stuffed with chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodle, and jam thumbprint cookies. A little beaded keychain was attached for that extra flair. Emma Grace was a master seamstress as she sewed all the bags…just a simple dishtowel cut in half and then sewed up the bottom and side with a ribbon sandwiched in between. We printed thank you cards from here and here, and the kids and I wrote our own words on the back. Emma Grace also made lovely name tags for each gift. We packaged it all together with recipe cards for each cookie. Thank you, teachers! We appreciate you!

We are now in full holiday mode, decorating the tree, making our annual gingerbread house, and squeezing in a game or two here and there. I hope you are having a lovely holiday season, savoring the goodness all around you!