The Fort!

So as all kids at some time, our kids have gotten into building forts. We've had to curtail this behavior some due to some swing-jumping, Tarzan-like incidents that ended in much crying and finger-pointing. But I got some cute pictures one night (before all the crying). So, enjoy...(Mom, I really am trying to be better about posting!) Some of the pictures are cut a little funny because apparently Lydia couldn't wear pants in the fort...who knows!

Here is Calvin, not so sure that he's into the whole fort thing. Interior decorating at it's finest. Bella is definitely Tim's child. She has lined up all the stuffed animals in a neat line. In other news, over breakfast a couple of weekends ago, the kids discussed and decided on who they would marry when they got older. We have some Canadian neighbors that they have settled on. Elijah has decided that either one of the younger girls will do for him. And Isabella has decided that the boy, who is 10 now, will be just the right age. She says that he will 23 when she is 20, so that will be good. Life is so simple at 7 and 6!

Can you spell that please?

Yesterday in church, Elijah sat with us in big church. He busied himself drawing pictures and writing. He drew a picture of a man standing on a hill. He labelled the man "Tim." And then wrote the name of the place where he was standing as "Loowevil." Too cute!

Too funny

As I was looking at my FB page this morning I noticed that one of my friends had posted a picture of herself with her new "beau." I read the title out loud which sparked a funny conversation. Elijah made some comment and I told him that he didn't know what the word meant. He said he did that it was something girls wear in their hair. When I said no, Isabella said that it was something that boys wear around their necks when they are on a date!!!!
This morning, Grandma let the kids go into her closet and play with her shoes, hats, etc. When I came in to see what they were doing, Elijah was having Lydia look at herself in the mirror. He told me they were playing "What Not to Wear!"

I'll do ANYTHING not to pack!

Yep, I'm posting as a way to avoid packing!
No, seriously though, I had to post this. Lydia has been ill for the last couple of days. Just running a fever, no other real symptoms, but she says her head hurts...a fever usually comes with a headache, I suppose. Anyway, this morning Bella (yep, I'm pretty much expendible) dressed her in a hoodie. Lydia felt compelled to wear her hoodie, first because her head "was cold," but later she told me that she had to wear it because her "porehead would blow out." That's some headache. Happily, the ibprophen has kicked in and her headache seems not to be bothering her.
Anyway, back to packing!

A Slight Misunderstanding

For centuries children have been misunderstanding the words of songs. There's the classic: "There's a bathroom on the right." And the unnumbered variations of the Star-Spangled Banner. Elijah is our singer. He loves to sing and sings constantly. He learns the songs that we hear on the radio. Some of his favorites right now are Slow Fade by Casting Crowns and Lose My Soul by Toby Mac and Kirk Franklin. The chorus of the latter makes reference to scripture in the line "I don't wanna gain the whole world and lose my soul." On the way home from Elijah's last soccer game, where he scored 2 goals!!!, we hear the song on the radio. After we came in while I was fixing lunch, Elijah was singing the song: I don't wanna gameboy to lose the store. I felt it was important to teach him the actual words and the meaning, but I'm not sure it's sunk in yet!

Too cute

I haven't posted much about Lydia lately, but she said something the other day that had me in stitches. She has just learned to sit cross-legged, back in the old days we called it "Indian style" and now it's called "criss-cross applesauce." Anyway, the other day she sat on the floor criss-cross and wanted to roll a ball to me. She told me to "put my lap on." Now I've heard of putting your groove or funk on, but as a mother, I suppose I will just be "gettin' my lap on." Hope this made you smile

Baby Buddies and on being "Violated"

Yeah, I'll explain the second topic first. Elijah, like Isabella, is having problems with his eyes. This week was appointment week: dentist, pediatrician and eye doctor all in the same week with a crazy trip to the library! Yesterday was Elijah's eye check-up at which he had to have his eyes dialated. Later when he went to soccer practice, I was worried that his eyes would hurt. When faced with the choice of resting his eyes and not playing soccer or toughing it out, I'm sure you can figured out which he chose. Before practice started though, he was telling another little boy about his day. He said, "I had to have my eyes violated."

Here are some pictures of of Ellie and Noah. We joke about them being "intended!" Hope you enjoy and have a great week.

Can't always be right...

So yesterday Elijah wanted to go on my walk with me. I'm not sure why walking around in a circle is fun for a four year old, but I like the company. One thing that you have to understand is that in Asia it takes MONTHS for them to take the Christmas trees down. As we passed one of the many Christmas trees still up, Elijah realized that the music was also Christmas music. He got really excited and said that today was Christmas. I told him that Christmas had already come and gone. And he, as a four year old, argued with me at some length. He finally asked if it were Christmas somewhere else, like another country. I said no. Christmas was over and done with EVERYWHERE! And then yesterday night, we were watching CNN and lo and behold. I WAS WRONG!!! Apparently, in Russia, they celebrate Christmas on January 7th (maybe the 6th with the time difference). On CNN they were showing a video clip from a Christmas mass. And so there it is, just when you think you are confident of something...CNN proves you wrong! And Elijah was right! Yesterday, it was Christmas in Russia.

The news...

Well, there is none. I have 9 days to my due date. But no baby yet. I promise to keep this as updated as much as possible. We are just passing time here. One of our friends has offered to babysit for us, so tomorrow, the kids get pizza and we are going out to dinner. We are really looking forward to a little time out. And we may do some last minute Christmas shopping. The nice thing about being in a country where Christmas is not a "local" holiday, shopping is just as easy before Thanksgiving as on Christmas Eve!
Isabella has only a couple days more before she starts Christmas break. Elijah is confused because we say it is Christmas time but he can't open his Christmas presents. And Lydia is talking more and more each day. Lately she's been trying to say Elliana, which has turned into "Lana." And "sawasdeekah" (which is Thai for hello and goodbye), which turns into "wah wah kah." Here in Thailand, the kids have rediscovered hot dogs (thank you Dairy Queen!) and cold cuts (yep, they didn't know what lunch meat was).
One last funny story: in the mall across the street from our apartment, there is a Warner Bros. store. I'm not sure that Lydia has ever seen Tweety Bird, but there is a big Tweety statue in the display window. As we walked by it the other day, Lydia saw it and said "quack, quack, quack, quack, quack."

Man of Steel

Elijah for his birthday got a Superman costume...wow! did he like that! He runs around the house now singing the Superman theme song. So here are the pictures (sorry, they're a little blurry) of him as the Man of Steel...move over Tom Welling!On top of all that cuteness, Isabella did the funniest thing tonight. Swimming season is almost over here. Tonight, we went to McD's to eat. When we got back to our complex, we went through the big gate which goes right past the swimming pool. As we passed, a man wearing a swim cap and a speedo came toward the pool. Isabella hollered out, so I looked down. She was covering her eyes and said, "I hate seeing people naked!"
Have a great weekend everyone!

The Beard

For the last almost 2 years Tim has worn either a goatee or beard...well, that came off yesterday!

This event spawned quite a story! I am the one who encouraged Tim to cut it, not because I don't like, I do. I have felt particularly warm this summer, which makes me assume that everyone else is really hot too! So for a "summer do" Tim shaved it off...how long that will last I don't know. But I told him he could grow it back if he didn't like it. A little while later Elijah came into the kitchen to announce that he too was growing a beard! This is medical mystery, but he very proud of the "growth" and tells everyone about it! Some friends came over last night to hangout (or maybe so the wife, who had heard about my beardless husband from her husband, wanted to see!). Elijah also informed them that he was growing his beard. They admired his "whiskers." And he informed them that his whiskers would be poking people soon, so they needed to be careful! So far, thankfully, no one has had any injuries from his "poky whiskers!"

And for more fun, here are a couple of pictures I took of the kids on a Saturday morning. Lydia is chewing a lot these days due to some new teeth, #7 just poked through. Isabella and Elijah are both benefiting from Isabella's ability to read, although he still prefers me to read "The Wild Things" as he calls it! Hope everyone is gearing up for a fun 4th of July...that will be our one year mark to begin the final countdown!

Breakfast

One of the easiest and most convenient breakfasts here is eggs and toast. As opposed to cereal it's cheap and easy to find. Tim and I prefer our eggs over easy while I usually scramble the eggs for the kids. But now that Isabella is growing up she wants to eat things the same way the grown-ups do. This puts poor Elijah in a bad spot. He doesn't care for change or new foods, and I have been too lazy to make his scrambled. Yesterday, I made him the perfect egg. The yoke was lovely and runny, while everyone else's had been broken or a little over done. What is his comment?
"Did you put orange juice on my eggs?"
Looks like I need to quit being lazy and scramble his eggs!

Coffee

As most of you know, saying that coffee is an addiction for me is a bit of an understatement. I drink coffee every morning. And most mornings, I feel like there isn't enough coffee in the world for me. I am usually drinking my coffee while I do school with Isabella. We do Bible, history, reading, hand writing, and copy work. Copy work, as opposed to handwriting, requires me to read a word of sentence out loud and Isabella sounds it out and spells it.

Ok, ok, all this sounds like meaningless drivel...I'm getting there, be patient! I've never told a story quickly in my life.

So...this morning, Isabella was working on math and science with Daddy, and Elijah and I were reading his preschool books (for which he has no attention span!) Anyway, when we finished reading, I went to get a little more coffee. Elijah said to me, "Oookaay, now I'm ready to do my coffee work!"

And I thought that was pretty cute!
Have a good day!