Lexi the Wexi

Lexi's school had their first Eltern Abend of the school year last Thursday. Which translates as a parent teacher conference, which lasts for about 3 hours. They have 2 each year and my stomach does somersaults each time I have to attend one. I spend all week dreading the meeting knowing full well how long they last and of course they speak only German. After 4 years of Eltern Abends I can understand the topics that are being discussed and most of the details. Speaking Deutsch is the major problem, when asked a question I go into panic mode. We were voting on something and I had no clue what we were voting on and I am not the type of person to raise my hand just because everyone else is. I was sweating bullets. I must have looked like a deer caught in headlights, because one of the Dad's turned around and said, "Just raise your hand." He finally said, "We are voting for the class parent, do you want to keep Herr Strach as the class father." Panic mode over. The first hour of the meeting I am very attentive, the second hour, my mind begins to wander and I start looking through the German Dictionary to learn new words, the third hour, which is late in the evening, I start thinking about everything that needs to be done at home and what I could be getting accomplished, although I think I look as if I am still paying attention, at least I hope so. Needless to say the meeting went well and I was able to speak to Lexi's teacher after the meeting, in English. Well she was speaking German and I was speaking English and we were able to communicate that way. Towards the end she felt a little more comfortable and spoke English. What Lexi's teacher, Frau Schattner-Gunter (now that is a mouthful), had to say was a mother's dream . She said Lexi had grown-up quite a bit during the summer break and no longer seemed to want to be the center of attention. She said Lexi is very attentive, helpful and gets her work done without any complaints. Lexi has taken 2 tests to date; the first was a Diktat in Deutsch. Lexi got a 2, which is the equivalent of an A-, very tough grading scale, considering she only missed 2 from a total of about 6o words, approximately 10 sentences with many articles. One of the words she missed, she wrote correctly 5 times in the Diktat and then missed it in the last sentence. The second test she had was last week in English which we haven't received the test back, but I would hope she gets a 1, which is an A. I know I sound like a bragging Mommy, but I am just so proud of her, as is her Dad.

Enough on Lexi's education. For those of you who haven't seen Lexi in awhile she is turning out to be a wonderful girl. When I look at Lexi my heart just melts, I just love her so.... much. She is beautiful on the inside, as well as on the outside. She has a heart of gold and is so kind. That, I think is the most important thing of all. She has figured out how honesty and integrity works and that to be honest is one of the most important characteristics in life, she also realizes being kind is extremely important.

Lexi has 2 friends in school whom she is very close to, Julia and Nadine. They are the 3 Musketeers, with the glitches of what comes with 3 girls being friends at their age. They are into exchanging Diddlina or Diddle writing paper. They buy pads of the Diddle paper and then give each other and other friends a few sheets, storing them in a notebook. Diddlelina is very popular here, they have key chains, water bottles, backpacks, clothes, paper and many other things. My friend said they now carry these items at Toys R Us in the states. I am curious to see if it becomes as popular in the US as it is here. Hello Kitty and Strawberry Shortcake are other popular characters.

Lexi also has a few other good friends outside of school, Brianna, Amy and E.V. Brianna and Amy are Americans and Lexi knows them from various activities on base and I am good friends with their Mommies. E.V. is British/German, she lives in the next village and I met her Mommy through Bunco and we are friends as well.

This year Lexi has a very busy schedule, mainly because third grade is much more difficult and she loves being involved in her extracurriculars. Lexi goes to Gymnastics in our village on Monday evenings, she has been doing this for 4 years. Tuesdays and Thursdays she has homework help in the afternoons. Homework help is designed for foreign nationals and was just implemented for the first time this year in our school district. A pretty wonderful thing to have, although many of the foreigners are not taking advantage of this gift, so they may not continue it next year. Lexi has Jungshar on Wednesday evenings which is a YMCA Christian youth group, she has been participating in this program since she was 5. Fridays are designated for Brownies on base and she absolutely loves the Girl Scouts. She keeps me busy and has the most active schedule of anybody in the family. She wants to continue to do ballet and begin tennis, but unfortunately there aren't enough hours in the day, especially with swimming starting this January. This is a mandatory class throughout the school, so no choice there.

Well, I just wanted to let you know what is going on in Lexi's life. She is such a wonderful daughter, sister and person. Lexi is such a fantastic helper around the house and with her brother and sister. Perhaps you can come and visit us and see for yourself. The photos I am posting are of Lexi throughout the years, although they may look like Alexander or Anika they are of Lexi. Compare them to my next 2 postings, which will be about Anika and Alexander. They look so.... much alike. Who said cloning wasn't possible,LoL:)