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Tomu and Jade had an end of the year celebration at the Pumapungo Museum. Jade was overjoyed to wear the white dress they required, and was bummed that we only rented it.

We found out in July that their school was closing because of a lack of funding from the Ministry of Education, so we began hunting for a new school. We found one called Corel. Their classes are in the basement of a 3 story cement building, and their recess is in an inside room with fake grass. So not an ideal space, but it was conveniently located on the bus line, still bike-able, and the selling point: the kids do swimming lessons once a week through the school, so we could have our Saturday mornings back. Jade also starts ballet next month. One friend from the old school is going to the same new school, which turned out to be a real blessing. Franco took me shopping for the school books & school supply list, which made a daunting task easy. We bought 2 new uniforms each (sport uniform & daily uniform), including 2 new pairs of shoes for each kid. Then we had to have their names embroidered on any piece of clothing they might take off (sweaters, jackets, hats).

Jade’s preschool teacher is pretty intense. She told us during the parent meeting that she grades them on having shoes shined and hair brushed. However, Jade likes her and has made her several cards. When I asked why she was making her teacher cards, she said it was because her teacher gave her homework. Each class has a WhatsApp group chat where we often get last minute notices, like bring a yellow balloon tomorrow.

Tomu looks a lot like his namesake, my father Tom in this photo. First day of school, daily uniform. Jade loves skirt days (Mondays).

Sport uniform, used Tuesday – Friday.