We picked up a pizza and arrived at the Gopals before lunch.  Logan was hungry and wanted to eat first, so Connor and Rohan decided to have a slice as well.  As soon as they were done, they ran off to play.  They tagged each other with their stuffed animals, then marched around like soldiers.  Later they were playing “Duck, Duck, Goose”; I watched them from a different room and the boys played nicely with each other.  They tapped on each other heads, then ran off being chased and came back sitting down for the next turn.  They played for quite awhile and they finally started coming over to ask for permission to play video games.  Connor did not play much as he is not as good at those console games, so he later asked to watch TV in the other room.  Then Logan and Rohan played Skylander and a Sonic game.  They talked with each other about sharing and switching between the gamepad and the controller, and they played nicely.  After 4 hours of hanging out, we decided to wrap up to go home after everyone enjoyed some ice cream too.

    I suddenly felt like making and having wontons tonight, so we went out for the supplies during the day and I recruited the boys to help me wrap them this afternoon.  Connor was excited to help as usual and Logan just felt obligated.  Logan initially did not want to get his hands dirty, but once we started, he did not mind too much.  They both did fine and wrapped the little dumplings as instructed.  Logan was not as patient compared to Connor, and he was quite worried how many wrappers I had and how long it would take to finish.  The three of us chatted while we wrapped and sang some Christmas songs too, but every now and then, Logan interrupted Connor and made Connor mad.  Overall they did well.  Toward the end, Connor declared that he was tired and done; he did not help wrapping the last few while Logan actually hung in there and finished up with me.  It was a yummy dinner that we all enjoyed.

    Earlier this week I received an email from Logan’s teacher letting the parents know that the kids would be bringing home their second STAR reading test result and that for those below the range she recommended more readings at home.  The email built some suspense and we looked forward to seeing the report to know how Logan did.  Fortunately Logan did fine, above average; he was on track with how he did on his first one.

    Connor brought home his self portrait from school.  It is adorable and Connor was proud of it!

    I took out Logan’s one (from two years ago) to hang on the cabinet together with Connor’s just for fun.  I like that they both have big smiles.

    It was Logan’s turn today for his performance.  Logan had not talked much about it prior to today, so we did not have much of an expectation.  After dropping off Connor, Logan and I arrived at his school.  Since it was raining, Logan went straight to his classroom instead of lining up at the blacktop and I went to the Superdome (the assembly hall) to find a seat for Stuart and I.  Before the show started, Stuart arrived and soon after the three classes of first graders entered the stage.  Fortunately Logan was standing in the back row and in the middle, so we had a good view of him.  However the guy in front of us was very fidgeting from the get-go, so he made it difficult for us to take the group pictures or the video.  Logan saw us, or at least me, and he waved to me.  The performance then began.  The music teacher worked with the three classes to sing 6 songs.  The show was great!  Afterward, the principle tried to arrange for “controlled photography” which did not really work well.  It was quite a chaotic scene with all the parents trying to take pictures of the classes.  Stuart was smart enough to gather my things and go to back to stay out of the crowd.  Even though each class was supposed to take its turn to have their parents come up to shoot photos, but the crowd just never cleared and I did not want to push my way to the prime center spots.  I managed to take a few photos and gave Logan a good cheer before Stuart and I took off back to work.

    We were invited to our neighbor’s (the Ricchios) open house this afternoon.  We had a small lunch before we walked over to their house.  We chatted with the hosts, their guests and several other neighbors while Logan and Connor munched on the snacks and bread.  The boys were the only kids in the house; they were quite curious and wanted to explore the new environment, so Stuart and I had to remind them to be respectful periodically.  Later it was just best to keep them in their backyard, so they were more free to play.  While we were there, I received a text from Michelle for an impromptu dinner gathering  for one of my favorite food too, so of course we accepted the invitation.  We hung out at the neighbors’ house for a bit longer and the boys were thrilled to receive a Christmas gift from the Ricchios as we said bye to everyone.

     We stayed home for around 30 minutes to rest and to allow the boys to play their electronic games before we took off to the Kaos.  We stopped by the store for a couple of things and arrived at their house before the early dinner time.  The boys were off to play with Mckayla, Marcus, Brandon and Peyton while we chatted with the adults.  The adults decided to start eating on our own first as the kids were occupied with playing.  Most of us enjoyed the Ted’s delicious home made cioppino and Stuart enjoyed the potstickers they served as well.  I had a huge feast and it definitely fulfilled my crave for cioppino and crabs.  The kids slowly trickled in to have their dinner.  Both Logan and Connor had a relatively small dinner as they wanted to return to play with the others.  Ted and Michelle cleaned up and the rest of us went to check on the kids.  They were playing with the “Roominate” that Mckayla was sharing.  Later when Dave offered ice cream, all the kids were happy to help clean up the toys in order to earn a share.  Logan really liked the peanut butter chocolate ice cream while Connor enjoyed a brownie and a small piece of the Mckayla’s homemade cookie.  Afterward Mckayla wanted to share their “Just Dance” game, so they were allowed to play one song.  Connor was up on the dance line with Mckayla and Marcus, and Logan, Peyton and Brandon preferred to watch instead.  But once the song started, Connor decided not to dance and gave up his spot to Stuart.  After the one song of entertainment, the boys were copying Mckayla to do some stretching, then it was time to go home for the night.  We thanked the Kaos for the lovely dinner and said goodbye to everyone.