Ganson Family Scrapbook: March 2022

We had a Zoom call with the twins on March 5. It was so good to see them playing with other kids and having fun. Our translator, Carl, still remains a horrible photographer. 😆 Marvens is in the blue shirt and Marvel is in the white.

This was the best Zoom call we've had yet because 1) the boys didn't seem as sacred of the translator, and 2) we actually learned some things about the boys. Their daytime nanny, Monize (Moneeze? Monise?) seems to have a good bond with them. She said they say lots of kids' names and will repeat words after others. They also tell each other to "Couche!" when they are in their cribs, which means "Lie down!" She said they jump a lot in their cribs, climb out, and pull everything down. They don't like wearing clothes. The translator was like, "Um, I don't know if this is offensive or not... but I think the closest word she is using to describe them is "brat??" 😆 Their favorite friend is a little girl named Sephise, another 3 year old. She said they tried to push their cribs out of their room into her room. Everyone jokes that M&M will have to fight over who gets to marry her. :) When they are hungry, they say, "Esther, Esther!" because she is the cook there.

Kinsley is the little boy in orange, and Paulson is the boy in blue I think...

House of Agape food prep...

Ballerina with her cool high-tops Anna gave her...

'Merica...

Dennis and Machelle came to visit for an extended weekend, so Natalie and Jenna slept in the twins' room, and Den and Machelle slept in Abby's room. Abby took over our closet. :)

Sunday morning donuts! Notice the sunburns on both Micah and Caleb. Those were from a long Saturday track race we sat through. (Just a reminder to listen to Mom when she offers you sunscreen!)

Just another one of Micah's many "hang out" times...

Caleb's wearing his sunglasses so his sunburn lines aren't so obvious. 😆

Northwestern raced Blythewood one evening. Once we got there at 5 pm, we found out they would be starting an hour late because Blythewood's bus got stuck in traffic. And then everything was so unorganized and sloooow. We went home at 9:00 once Micah ran his event, but Micah stayed. At 10:00, they weren't anywhere near the end of the events, but they canceled the rest because a Mom got hit in the head with a shot put and had to be rushed to the hospital. (She had a crushed skull, but she lived! They thought she was dead when they first got to her on the field. She was in the hospital for a week or so, and last I heard, she had recovered almost all of her hearing and is pretty back-to-normal.)

The first meet the kids were supposed to have of the season was canceled because of weather. The second meet was the Trojan Relays on March 12, the weekend Dennis and Machelle were visiting. I believe there was supposed to be 12 teams represented, but only 4 came because it was horrible out. The morning started out with rain, and by the time the races started, there was no rain but it was FREEZING and windy. Literally like 20 degree wind-chills, which is super unusual this time of year in SC. Poor Micah didn't have any track pants to wear, so he bundled up then stripped down right before running. He did a relay, running the 1200 meter portion. What a miserable race!

Micah passing off the baton. (Notice everyone else wrapped in blankets.) 😅

One evening Ben drove an hour to Micah's race (Micah has to ride on the bus with the team) and I stayed home with the other two. Five Guys for dinner. :)

Abby did Memory Masters for the first time!!! She worked so hard, and pulled it off with flying colors. He tested with me first. Then she tested with Ben, then Leif (her tutor), and then finally was proofed by Julie, the director. Here she is getting goofy proofing with Ben...

"M" for Memory Master!

A new Memory Master with an old Memory Master... :)

After proofing with Julie and being declared an official Memory Master!

Director proof in progress...

Ben wanted to buy river rocks at Michael's for an illustration at church, but we had a little too much fun with the "foam head aisle." We were laughing so hard.

Two Scoops! So happy to have a good ice cream place in Rock Hill...

Micah got to run this race against his buddy Nathan (who runs for South Pointe)...

Meanwhile...

This was Micah's 3rd fastest PR (personal record) of the season for the 3200 meter (~2 miles)...

This ended up being Micah's 4th fastest PR for the 1600 (~1 mile)...

Poor un-socialized homeschooler. However will he fit in?... 😆

When he notices his picture is being taken...

Abby likes when I take pictures of girls talking to Micah... 😁

Faces of History program! (Pictures loaded backward.) After the program, all the Dads and kids took over the basketball court. Several times Knock Out came down to Ben and Matt Shaw...

Abby as Queen Esther...

Caleb as Archimedes...

This year, they did a Wax Museum for Faces of History. Kids memorized a short speech (based off of the papers they wrote) and then stood all around the gym as frozen wax figures. Parents and guests walked around pressing the "buttons" on each kid's hand to make them come to life and hear their speech ending in "Who Am I?". Then they would write down on a paper who they thought each kid was. After everyone was done, guests hung out in the fellowship hall while each student walked through the doors from the gym and announced themselves in character. It was so, so fun!

We had snacks afterward based off of the countries where each character was from...

We made Purim cookies because Abby was Esther...

I made Greek pasta salad for Caleb's Archimedes...

That hairpiece isn't going to last much longer... 😆

Abby had been struggling with a little bit of anxiety (much of it surrounding Memory Masters), but when she got in place at the Wax Museum, she felt great and had such a fun night!

Memory Master proofing with Ms. Leif

Debate #2 for the year: Should the USA reduce imports from foreign countries?

Mathias and Micah were the affirmative team:

Putting together the Archimedes costume... a white sheet, brown pillowcases I found at Goodwill, and a set of beards ordered off of Amazon..

I was pretty impressed with our Esther costume! I found a blue saree at Goodwill which I cut along the bottom and made a slit up the middle. Then we glued gold ribbon along the edges. Abby wore a white dress underneath (the one she wore as flowergirl in Kelsey's wedding.) Her headpiece was a cut of fabric from an old sheer curtain I found at Goodwill and then glued gold ribbon around it.

Testing out the wig creation. I had put the "pantyhose" (which was actually something I ordered from amazon that people wear under wigs) around a volleyball in order to glue the hair on it. It was rough, but it worked!