Dancing dwarf

Ben's school had their Christmas presentation yesterday. Fortunately, Ben was feeling well enough to participate. His class's part in the program is a dance number (I must confess I didn't understand the presentation at all, which was something like a cross between Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, and something else). He was one of the dwarfs, and he did his jumping and dancing on stage along with the rest of his classmates. It was short stage time, but he enjoyed himself very much. Here are some pictures.
Ben in his dwarf costume
Happy face
Dancing onstage 1
Dancing onstage 2
In his classroom after opening Santa's present
Onstage after the show
Anyway, we're heading home to Baler on Wednesday morning. We'll be spending the holidays there with Papa. More pictures to follow later.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!!

Christmas pictures

Finally got the "official" Christmas pictures of the kids last night. I have them taken every year because I want to keep some kind of a record of how Ben is growing over the years. Thought I'd share them
Ben
Miguel
Daniel
Me and Ben (as usual, I look like a dork :-D)
Ben has been down with a cold the last couple of days, so he missed his school's Christmas party and today, he's missing the dress rehearsal for their Christmas presentation. The show is on Saturday so I hope he'll be feeling well enough by then so he can join. I'll have pictures of those later (hopefully).

Is it nearly Christmas already?

It seems almost weird that Christmas is just a dozen days away. Somehow, the feeling hasn't really rubbed on me yet.
Ben is busy preparing for his school's Christmas presentation. I was surprised when they informed us that it was to be Hansel and Gretel in the Big Woods. I don't know. Somehow, Hansel and Gretel didn't seem like a fitting story for a Christmas presentation, but I guess they made some changes. Ben will play a dwarf (I never knew there was a dwarf in the original). For the past week and a half, he's been spending 3-1/2 hours in school for practice. This Wednesday, they'll be having their Christmas party. Then a dress rehearsal on Thursday, and a final rehearsal on Friday. The presentation itself is this coming Saturday at 5pm. Of course, there'll be pictures.
Next week, we'll be heading home to Baler for the Christmas holidays and we won't be back until Jan 2. Ben doesn't have school until then. There'll be lots of pictures from that too.
Back to Christmas...I still have to do my Christmas shopping!!!

A birthday and some goodbyes

Papa celebrated his 71st birthday last Tuesday (22 Nov). Auntie Nena (my New York-based aunt) and her husband threw a party for him, which also served as a send off dinner for my cousin Trixie, her husband Ariel, and their son Angelo. They are moving to Canada and are leaving this weekend. So it was a fun night, but kind of sad too. Everyone seems to be leaving to try their luck somewhere else. To be honest, I've thought about it myself, but I don't know yet.
Anyway, the kids had great fun. Ben and Jaden actually played together, a first actually since before Jaden had been to shy to play with him. So I've got some pictures here from that night.
Ben with his Lolo Emon and Lolo Miguel
Ben and his cousin Jaden
Ben and his Kuya Angelo
Ben and Gwen
Getting writing lessons from Kuya Jovin
Kuya Daniel, Kuya Angelo, and Ben enjoying a little video game

A new haircut, and a great school report

Well, the trip home to Baler was okay. It was pretty much raining the whole time we were there, so we stayed mostly at home. Ben did get a short side trip to his favorite Biklat River to cross the hanging bridge, but wasn't able to join us to visit his Lola Pen's grave.
He also got a haircut in Baler, and I thought I'd post a photo of him. He's a bit chubbier now.
Then just this afternoon, I had a talk with his teachers in school. Two weeks ago, he had his mid-year assessment, and this afternoon, his teachers told me that he has been doing very well in school. There are some things that he needs to improve on, but on the whole, he's doing great. The teachers said he's quite advanced for his age. So I'm real proud of the little bugger. I also scanned his report card and the assessment report from his teachers to show off. I'm giving him a prize as a result. Anyway, second semester starts on Monday, and he's already excited to go back.
Ben with his new haircut
Ben's assessment report for the first semester
Ben's report card, page 1
Ben's report card, page 2

Ben's first stage performance

Ben's school had their UN Day Program this afternoon, and wonder of wonders...Ben actually stayed in his place (well, for the most part, anyway) and danced. Quite a big difference from his roaming around hour during the dress rehearsals. I have a short video of their performance, but I still need to have it transferred to a disc so I can upload it.
It was a good show. Our booth, for which yours truly is the coordinator, won the Best Booth award. It was a nice end to a week of hard work. Of course, I got a lot of help from the other mothers who took the time to help me out. Here's three pictures of our winning booth (from three angles):
Our Brazil booth from the front
From the left
From the right
And now, of course, the main man...
Taken by the official photographer
Ben with some of his classmates and his teacher, Jasmine
Ben taking his place on stage...
...and a-dancing he goes:

Dressed for rehearsal

Ben is having a dress rehearsal today for their UN Day Program this coming Saturday. He was excited to wear his costume so I thought I'd take a shot and share the picture. I'll go and watch the rehearsals later, and hopefully, he will really be taking part in the dance number and not roaming around the stage this time.
Of course there'll be more photos posted after the program.
There's my little Brazilian boy