Merry Christmas!

I was hoping to have a family Christmas picture to share with this post, but something has happened every time the past two weeks I have planned on us taking one! I was hoping this week would be relaxing and we'd get to do lots of festive things but most of my plans for the WHOLE week were hijacked! The primary reason for two of the days was Jordan being sick. She got sick Monday night and didn't sleep well Monday or Tuesday night. I hijacked tonight's original plans by feeling icky. Then while we were out Jordan got sick and then I got sick when we got home!! I'm afraid Jordan and I may not get to enjoy all of the yummy things I spent half the day preparing and making!!

We wish each of you a Merry Christmas and we'll try to finally get a family Christmas picture taken even if it happens after Christmas to share!!

She Did It!

When Keely first got her bike she had problems riding it. Because it has handle bar breaks and not on the pedals, so she is able to pedal backwards! That has gotten her a bit confused! My parents had more of a tricycle rather than a bike with training wheels and it was a lot easier for her to pedal (she was having trouble getting the pedals all around). We hoped that break through would help with her bike. The first night Jacob and her tried in our apartment she still was having trouble. However, she did come up with her own way to make it work. She would pedal halfway around and then would pedal backwards to get back to that point! We took her outside the next day and getting her some momentum and lots more room really helped her! She finally got it! The next day she went all around the park several times and even asked us not to walk with her the last time! YEA!! It took awhile, but she got it!

Presents

I had been working on projects and hadn't gotten presents wrapped until late last week. As I was about to wrap them all we decided that the girls would enjoy them coming out two at a time (one for each). (FYI- They aren't all from us- they are from friends and family members too) Saturday morning was when the first two appeared and they were so excited. They took them out from under the tree (yes I let them because it was just too cute -- I know I'll be sorry when they get unwrapped or torn before Christmas!) and examined them and looked at them. Keely would look at the tags and say, "Yep this one is mine," or "No this one is Jordan's." It was cute.

Later in the evening I looked into the living room and Jordan was in the middle of the room holding her gift. I ran to get the camera and when I came back she was gone. I got nervous wondering if she had gone to hide and open it! But of course she had gone into the play room where Keely was working at the table and took it to her. Keely says, "No this one isn't mine." Then she starts to tell Jordan to go get hers, which I'm sure she would have if I hadn't interrupted by explaining we couldn't play with the gifts. When I went to put it back under the tree there was a statue made by legos. I brought it back into the play room and Keely got upset and said, "No that is for Jesus' birthday!" We also have a little purple bag with a lego in it under the tree. Keely told me it was for one of Daddy's friends at the office!

A Fun Find

Friday on Tip Junkie, she had a post on creative gift wrapping. Included was this tutorial (from a friend of a friend's blog that I use to read (small world!)) on making gift bows with magazine pages. Growing up, it was my job to put the bows on the gifts. As I got older, I stopped using gift bows and used curling ribbon more. After moving overseas, I used regular ribbon a lot. However, I had been thinking that the girls (especially Keely, but don't leave out Jordan!) would enjoy putting the bows on the gifts. I haven't really had time to search for gift bows, but the one place I thought might have affordable ones did not. Therefore, I was excited to find this tutorial! I gave one a try and it turned out pretty good and was fun to make.

After the girls went to bed, I made 5 more. Those took a little longer than I thought they would and some are better than others, but I'm still excited about them! (The red and white one is from a TGI Fridays ad!) Halfway through I stopped using the staples and started using double sided tape. However after two bows, I realized the ones with the staples looked best! I did use double sided tape instead of glue dots. I also realized that you could just do six strips (leaving out the 3 longest) and you would just have a smaller bow. I may try this for the rest of our bows to save time.

Calling for e-mail addresses

My computer decided to reformat itself last week! Or at least half of itself! All of my office programs reformatted, including my e-mail. I happened to have my contacts exported and my computer didn't decide to delete that file (yes, my computer randomly deleted things!). However, my groups aren't there anymore! It's not a big deal because I did classify how we knew people when I made the list so I know what people in my contacts where in our update group! However, I thought this might be a good time to call for e-mail addresses of anyone who would like to be on our update list. If you aren't on our list or aren't sure (don't worry we haven't sent out updates in awhile!), please e-mail me at sararoonie at gmail dot com with your e-mail address.

While I'm venting about my computer, it also randomly deleted some of my pictures that were in the IPhoto library that I hadn't moved over to another file yet! I just downloaded like 100 pictures the night before and it looks like I have 40 now from that group! That is making Project 365 interesting!!

Christmas Program

Friday was Keely's school Christmas program. Her class was shepherds. They asked us to send a Daddy's size polo shirt and a tea towel for their head covering. She had missed 5 weeks of learning the songs, but she had been singing some of them at home the past week so she seemed to learn them pretty quickly. Monday they had a photographer come take pictures of them, and Wednesday a videographer videoed their dress rehearsal. For the performance Keely didn't sing or do the motions -- so we'll see if she did for the viedeoed dress rehearsal. The other two classes were angels and wise men -- all of them were super cute. Jordan actually stayed still and enjoyed the performance. The angels were super excited and full of energy and Jordan LOVED them! We obviously didn't get very good pictures, but we still have some sort of memory and we'll see what we get from the school from the dress rehearsals. It sounds like at least a group picture!

In the picture at the top, the little boy above her is Daniel. We hear about him ALL of the time. According to Keely (and her teachers too) her, Daniel and another little girl, Perla, play together all of the time. Daniel rides the bus and it passes by us as we walk to school in the mornings. He always waves at us as they pass. We got to meet his mom after the program and found out that he talks about Keely all the time too! I've heard from four different moms that their kids would come home and tell them that Keely was still in the United States while we were gone. I found it cute that so many went home telling their moms that!

At one point the kids danced around in circles together-- and this is what they are doing here.

Cinnamon Roll

This week is red week at school for Keely. Every day she picks out something red to take for show and tell. Yesterday Keely chose a little red purse that says FSU and has a picture of a Seminole on it. I was the classroom volunteer on the first day of show and tell, and Keely took our blue funnel. She likes to call it her tuba and plays it like an instrument or uses it as a megaphone. I didn't see any harm in her taking it and calling it that, but then her teacher corrected her and showed her how to use it properly. It wasn't a big deal and it didn't bother Keely, but I like to prep her a little bit now. So we told her that the picture was of a Seminole and was from Daddy's school. She repeated after us several times Seminole (so we thought), then she said, "I like to eat cinnamon rolls!"

Culture 101: Bus Etiiquette

When we first moved to our flat, we noticed a notice posted that children older than 3 years needed to pay the bus fare. On the MTR it is based on height and on the other buses it is 4. We weren't sure for awhile if it meant once they turned 3 or 4 since the other buses were 4. After rereading it a couple times, we finally decided it was 3 and decided that Keely would start paying when we returned from the States. I had witnessed a bus driver refuse to start driving until a lady a paid for a little girl, so I felt that if we didn't start soon we too might get that reaction from a bus driver! That sounds easy enough, right? I thought so until our first evening out. Our mini buses only hold 16 passengers and everyone must be sitting. In the evenings, the buses fill up at the terminus pretty quickly. We get on and Jacob, Keely and I all pay and we take 3 seats with Jordan on our lap. However, we got a really mean look by a lady when we didn't put Keely on our lap so she could have the seat. Two ladies in front of us had two children with them. One was a baby and the other was around 3. It appeared that they paid for the boy but he still sat in their lap. I was starting to get confused, because I didn't understand paying when you weren't using the seat even if they were older than 3. I understand the cultural stand point of respecting your elders and therefore making a younger child sit on your lap when the bus is full. However, Keely wants independence and so those two things are hard to balance. Until another night's experience I also struggled with paying and not having a seat for her. Then on another night, Keely was really tired and wanted to sit on Jacob's lap and so we paid not using our seat. A lady with a boy that looked 7 was the last to get on and the bus driver let her even though there was only 1 seat. She just paid for herself and the boy sat on her lap! What to do, what to do? What I have decided until a bus driver tells us otherwise is to pay for Keely when we are leaving from our flat and when it isn't full, but on evenings when it will probably be full not pay if we can convince Keely to sit on our laps. The flaw in this plan is that it's inconsistent and Keely is not good with inconsistency! However, I hate to be seen in our community as the rude foreigners! Isn't it fun when things in reality aren't black and white when they appear to be?