January Fun

January 8: When we got back, Keely was ready to play with the Wii again. Jacob had meetings the afternoon after we returned, so the girls and I waited for him to return by playing the Wii. Here she is boxing and she did pretty good. She knocked him out!

January 9: Jordan decided an empty suitcase would be a great place to eat her early morning snack!

January 15: We haven't taught the girls the proper way to eat with chopsticks yet. However, they do like to eat penne pasta with chopsticks. They stick the chopstick into the hole of the pasta, dip into sauce and then eat it! If we eat penne, a chopstick is always asked for!

January 16: Jordan likes to get on my back and hang. Sometimes she wraps her arms around me and I think I'll never breath or at least talk again! I do have to say I'm glad she loves me, but I'm not sure hanging on me while cutting is very safe for either of us!

January 24: "Uh Oh, I got wet."

Not too sure this was much of an accident, but is what Jordan told us when she came back from the bathroom looking like this.

January 27: During our 3 weeks of break from school, we did lots of crafts including finger painting. It's hard for me to remember to make our holiday cards early enough for people to get them in time for the States. We began our Valentine's cards early enough but they still didn't get sent until the 1st just in time to get stuck during Chinese New Year! What can you do? Some of our cards were made out of our finger painting masterpieces.

January 28: Yes, we have 3 ipods. We found a new cookie making game for the Ipod. Keely's favorite way to play this game is for everyone to make the same cookie and decorate it the same way.
(FYI: Jordan's cheeks are so red because she had a high temperature.)

January 29: The girls decided it was Daddy's day. While Daddy was taking a shower, they set up the living room for lots of fun with Daddy. Jacob thought it looked more like a mess when he arrived! The girls even had me get him a unbreakable cup with a lid on it full of water ready for him.

January 31: Right before Jacob left us for 15 days we may one last trip to Costco to stock us girls up. We were pretty brave because we went in the evening right before Chinese New Year. It was just like going to a store any evening in Hong Kong -- so we survived! And we even were rewarded with Mango smoothies!

She Loves Her Daddy

Makes Me Smile

Preschool Presentation

Tonight was the girls' preschool presentation. They have been rehearsing and getting ready for a couple weeks.

Orientation is still going on for Hands On, so Jacob wasn't able to go. The girls still got a picture with Daddy before he had to leave though.

I was a little nervous because the presentation started after the girls' bedtime. However, the excitement of everything kept their energy up. Our friends' little boy was sick so we were the only foreigners there. One of the teacher's husband sat next to me and loosely interpreted for me. The presentation showed bits and pieces of what a day is like for the kids at school. The children sang P&W songs and then separated into age groups to do different performances. The older classes did several English skits about going to the grocery store and in the living room to show the types of things they do to learn and practice their English.

The younger classes sang a couple songs in Chinese and even did a little dance.

Then they did a song in English. They split up into 4 groups. One group had apples and baskets and sang a verse about apples. Another group wore baseball caps and sang a verse about balls. Jordan's group wore fish around their necks except Jordan and one other who were lucky enough to sport fish hats and sang a verse about fish. Keely's group held big paper lollipops and sang about lollipops.

It was fun to see what the kids' day is like and the girls seemed to have a lot of fun. Jordan is the youngest and they had to move her into the right spot a couple times and she did tell everyone her mommy was taking pictures, but she did really well. They did get a bit bored during the singing, but other than that they did a great job! The presentation ended the semester and began a 3 week break for the semester break and Chinese New Year.

She Loves Her Daddy

Spending Time With Teammates

The afternoon after we returned to this side of the world, one of our teammates had to do a visa run and came and joined us in Taipei for a week. A couple days later our new teammate came out and we all hung out getting to know each other. How do you get to know our family? We try to cook and eat good food and play the Wii! My girls were hungry for waffles, so one night I made waffles and bacon. I found out that the girls liked breakfast and that NiNi had been craving bacon. So a couple nights later we had biscuits, sausage gravy (NiNi's first time!) and bacon! Then we played lots of guitar hero and Just Dance 2!

Jordan helping Jacob play guitar hero.

NiNi and Jacob dancing with Just Dance 2.

NiNi and Jenn doing a dance-off.

Then the whole family got into it.
(Notice Jordan's arms -- she's even trying to do the moves!)

We had a great week with the girls and were glad they were able to spend some time with us!

She Loves Her Daddy

I have decided to start a new category as you see above. I realized as I was editing that I have quite a few of the girls where I can just see the love pouring out of them for their Daddy. There may be more of Jordan than Keely at first and it's not that she doesn't love her Daddy, it's just that Keely is very quick about showing her love and I can't get to my camera half of the time. Jordan loves to take her time loving her Daddy. Just a difference in personality! Enjoy!

In The States: The Last Few Days And The Trip Home

Jordan showing off some pig tails.

Jordan wearing Mommy's hat while playing the Ipod.

All of our bags ready to go besides carry-ons. Can you believe there are 9 bags there?
Because Jacob was gold status, he got 3 bags for 70 pounds each. We took advantage of his status. The girls also accompanied Jacob in the lounges too thanks to his gold status while I rearranged our carry-on bags for the next leg.

The girls getting ready to go through security in Springfield for our trip back to Taiwan.

Keely sitting on the luggage trolly while we are waiting for our bags in Taipei.

Jordan taking a load off by sitting on a carry-on while we wait for our luggage.

In The States: Week 8

Our last full week in the States was filled with playing, packing and spending time with everyone.

As we were packing one day, the girls discovered some tulle I had bought for a project. They used their creativity in how they thought it should be used.

Jordan dancing and playing with her guitar.

We had a baby shower for Amy while she was in town. Emily was in town too. The three of us (who grew up together) got a picture together along with our children and coming baby.

The kids playing together.

Liam playing with the Fisher Price farm.

Liam checking things out.

The guys staying out of the way.

On another packing day the girls decided to use the packages of pull-ups for chairs.

Keely in front of Papa classic car.
(Yes, Keely was still in her PJ's -- she'll wear them as long as we will let her)

The girls in the back seat.

Daddy and Jordan.

One night Jordan decided to show us what Uncle John does.
Could conducting be in her future?