Friends

Almost two years ago, a family joined our team that had a little girl with the same birthday as Keely. We celebrated their first birthdays together and when we got back from the States the girls have played a lot together. For the past couple months, the girls have been going to two playgroups a week together (and many times have only played with each other). They are in childcare together at Sunday fellowship as well, which as made dropping Keely off so easy! They even have a little dance they do when they see each other! I'm sad to say that this family is leaving tomorrow. I have told Keely a couple times they are leaving and she won't respond to me so I'm pretty sure she understands and just doesn't want to talk about it. I know good-byes are part of our lifestyle but it's really hard on me as a mom to watch my daughter have to go through it. Below are some pictures of the girls together in the past couple weeks (I never have my camera with me or it isn't a good time to take pictures so we don't have very many)!

The girls loving on Jordan

We are going to miss you Chloe!

Vacation--Easter

After a couple nights in Singapore, we took a ferry to an island in Indonesia. The pool was great and had a lot of different areas to keep the kids interested-- a slide, a kid's pool and a bubble (jacuzzi) area. Our first morning, was Easter. We hadn't done the Easter basket and egg hunt thing with Keely since this is really her first year to really be interested and we didn't have any plastic eggs last year! I brought some eggs back this year and our friends filled the eggs and the guys hid them for the kids. It took Keely a minute to grasp what we wanted her to do and then she was all over the area looking for eggs. It was wonderful to spend Easter with good friends and kids Keely's age.

(I do need to credit Jacob in all of the pictures in the past few posts-- he took all of the pictures and edited most of them (that's why some are a little "artsy"--guess they really belong on his photo blog but that's ok, huh?)

Jordan enjoying one of Keely's treats from her basket

Jordan eying the other kids' baskets and their goodies

Jordan starting to get tired from the morning's events

The kids looking for eggs

Can you tell this is father and son? Too cute!

The two older kids with their baskets and eggs (I just couldn't decide between these two pictures so I posted both!)

300th Post Giveaway!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled posts to give you a giveaway!!

In celebration of our 300th post and our move to Hong Kong, I wanted to give away something that really says Thailand to me. Celadon pottery is made here in Thailand (and are the dishs Jacob and I bought before we got married...different friends helped carry them back to the States for us and then we shipped them back when we moved!) and elephants are a big thing here. If you are a tourist here (or not) you probably have gone to an elephant show. If you have lived here, chances are you have seen at least one elephant walking down the street or highway.

SOOO...a green celadon elephant (that can be used as an ornament) is our giveaway!


Anyone can play, just leave us a comment about something you would like to know more about us, our lives, etc. We'll randomly select someone Sunday evening our time (Sunday morning in the States). So please leave your comments and someone will be the winner of this elephant! Thanks for playing!

Vacation-- Singapore Zoo

After our retreat we flew to Bangkok and then on to Singapore to meet some friends and their 2 boys for a week of vacation. Our first full day we went to the zoo. Keely went to the zoo here last year (with these same friends) but was too young to understand. This year she was really excited. We started telling her about the zoo a couple days before and she would name off all the animals she wanted to see. We managed to see them all but a sheep (I tried to explain that sheep weren't normally at the zoo, but then we passed the petting zoo but still no sheep). She's really into Curious George these days and was excited to see the monkeys but informed me that the man with the yellow hat was not there (she's requesting his appearance for her birthday--hope I can find a yellow hat for Jacob in the next few months!). When it was getting close to lunch she told me, "We go see the lions and then go eat lunch." The giraffes were across from the lions and it was cute to see how excited she was when I asked her what animal was behind us and she ran over to see them. I think she enjoyed getting to see the real thing after playing with her Little People Zoo and reading about animals in books. As you can see in the picture above, it was really cute to watch her and our friends' older son hold hands as they walked through the zoo. We had a lot of fun!

The mom's visiting while pushing the younger kids

Jordan zonked out for her morning nap

Towards the end of the zoo, Keely was really taking her time looking at things...so we were trying to catch up with the group!

"So, when do I get to get out of this stroller?"

The adults with the kids (minus Jacob and Keely)

Retreat at the Beach

Two weeks ago, our team went to Phuket for a retreat. Keely had been asking about going to the beach for weeks and was SO excited when the day finally came that I don't think she actually believed us!! We got to the resort in the late afternoon with enough time to go to the pool before dinner. They had a water slide and I asked Keely if she wanted to go with me down it. Right away she said yes. I tried to warn her that we might go under water, but I don't think I warned her well enough. We started picking up speed and I couldn't stay sitting up so when it spit us in the water we went way down (and it's only at waist level!). Jacob said we were down awhile...needless to say I scarred Keely and she never wanted to go down the slide again! Poor thing! The next day we spent the morning at the beach. Keely got to play the morning away with her friend Chloe and other friends that would stop by our area of the beach. Jordan enjoyed crawling around the beach (unfortunately i didn't get pictures of that!). Jacob stayed in the water most of the time while I played with the girls on the beach. The second full day we played in the pool and then in the kid's play area. We had a lot of fun as a family and as a team!

Keely playing in the sand

Keely and Chloe playing in the sand

Jacob and Jordan in the pool

Jacob and Keely in the pool

Oh my goodness!!

Are you serious? It has actually been a month since we last posted?!?! CRAZY! And here I am posting when I really should be going to bed...because my girls have decided to no longer be good sleepers and get up way too early! But I want you to know that we are still alive!! Out of the past 30 days or so...we were gone 10 of them (on a team retreat and vacation). And of course it takes me about a week to get ready to leave that long and the girls got sick and we had several fellowships. I don't have a clue what happened the week before that!

Jacob has been taking lots of pictures and edited them over the weekend...so hopefully when I am trying to stay cool (it's over a 100 degrees right now and often doesn't feel a lot cooler inside!) during nap time tomorrow I'll try to get things updated!! (As long as I don't get distracted by fun things like new actions for Photoshop like I did today!) I'll leave you with a little sample from Jordan's 10 month photo shoot today (13 days late...so I'm late on everything these days!!) and the new Photoshop actions.

Jacob's Second Time in HK

We absolutely love HK, in fact, I fell in love with the city the first time I visited in December 2000. That was before my digital camera days, and so those photos are back in America, in some random box at my in-laws house. Here is a picture from my second time in HK, April 2002.

We're Moving...

to HONG KONG!!

We move June 1st! We can barely believe it and it probably won't seem real until we actually get there. This will be our first move with kids, first move where we get to take most of our belongings and first move that those belongings will be traveling in a container by ship. Lots of firsts, so probably lots of things to figure out!

Hong Kong Christmas 2005

Hong Kong July 2007

We would love to hear your moving advice!

If you want to hear more about our move, let us know in the comments with your e-mail address (if we may not have it) or e-mail us.

Bits and Bites from Monday

1. Late Friday night we discovered our dryer was broken...just in time for my marathon washing day Saturday! If I had known earlier it wouldn't have been as big of a deal. Since I don't normally air dry all my laundry I don't have drying racks or a line...but one good thing about it being hot inside and out is that our clothes dried quickly! So I had a busy laundry day today! ( I know some of you don't have dryers...so I don't really have any room to complain)

2. At the grocery store today, two ladies with two carts and two children started following us around the store. Then they blocked the way at the end of the aisle we were on and we had to go all the way around to get out of the area! (I've been taking the double stroller to the store...so we are a pretty wide load!)

3. At the same store, we were trying to turn down an aisle and a lady stopped her cart right in front of the aisle and starts talking and touching Jordan (after being followed I just wanted to get through the store!)

4. THEN at the same store, we were at the check out lane and both of the girls start crying. We attract a crowd around our check out lane and start laughing!! I was more annoyed at the crowd then the girls!

5. The girls latest thing is to copy each other in the sounds they are making (i.e. laughing, growling, crying, scream, etc). Hence the dual meltdown at the check out lane!

6. While I was washing some dishes and the girls were playing I heard one of the girls scream their screams are similar so I really didn't know one it was). I ran out to see what was going on and Keely was trying to ride Jordan like a horse while she crawled. Oh goodness.

Oops!

When Jacob got home from work, Keely was still watching her show in the living room and Jordan was playing in the living room. Jordan got a little fussy, so Jacob brought her into the dining room to play a couple feet from the kitchen door. We started working on dinner and enjoyed the unusual moment of us both working on dinner and "forgot" about our new crawler. Of course she was just playing with her toys right? Jacob turned to take the food to the dining room and says, "Oh no you spit up Jordan." From where I could see, I could just see her legs and white stuff on the floor and I said, "Oh wow that was a lot and your in the middle of it." Then at the same time we realized what had happened! We have an ant cabinet that sits in cups that hold baking soda that keeps the ants out. It's also one of the most intriguing things to children that we own. Jordan had quietly crawled over to it and had been playing in the baking soda! That's what was all over the floor including her arms and legs! Oops...we have an active crawler again! Guess it's time to put the baby gate at the kitchen door again!

A Conversation With Keely

Me: "Keely let's get in the truck so we can go see Daddy."
Keely: "No truck, just bye-bye."
Me: "Ok, let's get in the bye-bye sweetheart."
Keely: "No sweetheart, just Keely."
Me: "Ok, let's get in the bye-bye Keely."

What's in your bed?

As I was changing sheets yesterday, my findings were very interesting.

Our bed: sheet, blanket and pillows

Jordan's bed: musical light up seahorse, 3 pacifiers and 2 flannel receiving blankets

Keely's bed: pillow, 2 flannel receiving blankets, stuffed elmo, stuffed bear, 20+ books, car, 2 monkeys (from monkeys in a barrel game), and 2 balls

Fears

Since we have come back to this side of the world, Keely has seemed to find some fears-- things that scare her. It's probably just part of the age she is...but it seemed to happen suddenly. Every neighbor has a dog and some have two (why we say we are looking for more doggies when we go for walks) and they seem to bark a lot at night. Our first few nights back it really scared Keely and she would ask us to go take care of the doggies. We also had to explain to her that they couldn't come into our house but they were outside. I even showed her the gate and how the gate kept them outside. She is at that age of repeating everything we say so when she is scared she says, "Doggie can't come in our home." We also have a lamp on the landing (it's a bit abstract so doesn't look like a normal lamp) and it has started scaring her this week. So much so that she makes me walk either up or down to the landing first and then she comes down. She will say, "It's just a lamp. I'm not scared of the lamp. It's just a lamp." (Don't you like her self-motivational mantras?) The air-conditioner in her room has a green light on it and it casts a dim shadow on her ceiling. Sometimes if she can't go to sleep or wakes in the middle of the night it will scare her. One night Veggie Tales was in her room and it was their car that she was seeing and it was scaring her. Another night she woke up crying and she told me she was scared of the lion and then pointed up to the ceiling. Oh poor thing...I hope this fear stage passes quickly!!

That's a great song

Keely only likes to listen to her Veggie Tale CDs in the truck (err...bye bye). While we were in the States we bought her a P&W Veggie Tale CD so we could sing along once in awhile (if she lets us). Our CD player wasn't installed correctly when they transferred it over to the truck we are using now (Jacob installed it the first time so it was correct then) and so the CD starts over each time we turn the truck back on so that we hear the same songs over and over. The good thing is that we like the songs and Keely has them memorized. It is very sweet to hear her sing along to them. After the first song she always says, "That's a great song. I sing." At bedtime, Jacob and Keely sing the choruses of the three she knows the best every night. I heard them the other night and it was really sweet. One day I tried to skip to a song we hadn't heard in awhile and she got upset and said, "I want courts." She was referring to "Better is One Day," she loves the chorus! I couldn't refuse a sweet request like that!

Our Very Different Girls

I hadn't taken a chance to compare pictures of the girls in a long time and decided to do so and I can't believe how different the girls look! Yet of course you can still tell they are sisters too!!

Keely 8 months Jordan 8 months

Doggie Ate My Ball

...well not quite but almost.

When Jacob got in the truck yesterday at lunchtime, this is the first thing Keely told him. And then repeatedly told everyone we were eating lunch with and us a few more times on the way home. (Do you think the incident I'm about to tell you about made an impression?)

They came to spray our house for bugs yesterday morning (which it really annoys me when they don't contact me beforehand and so they come during naptime...but anyway) and Keely and I went outside to play in the street. (Don't worry our street is very quiet and it's too smelly to stay in the yard!) I grabbed a yellow rubber ball on our way out to throw around. There are two dogs that live in the middle of our street a couple houses down (I don't think anyone owns them...they have just claimed that part of our street as their home). We started throwing the ball around and the dogs start slowly walking towards us. I moved Keely to the other side so I would be between her and the dogs and then later we moved so that she was closer to the house and I could see them better. Everytime we would throw the ball they would get closer. I was trying to keep the ball out of their reach and even though Keely has a pretty straight throw...it veered off once and I already knew what was coming so I didn't make a super quick chase for it and one of the dogs grabbed it and they both went running down the street. Keely SCREAMED! I picked her up and tried to calm her down and reason with her...because I don't know these dogs and I wasn't going to go get it from them. A lady that lives in the house next to where they have claimed stake was outside sweeping and heard the scream and came to see what was going on and got the ball from us. And after that Keely has been claiming that the "doggie ate my ball."

The Things They Say (And Do) #2

I've been writing this post in my head for a couple weeks...so we'll see if I remember all of the things the girls are saying and doing lately.

Keely

1. This one was just sweet. Keely was having a rough day Friday and we figured she was missing Jacob. Jacob asked her if she wanted to do something special with him on Saturday. First, she told him she wanted to "walk and see more doggies" (that's what she says when she wants to go walk around the neighborhood...we look for dogs. Jacob asked her if she wanted to go somewhere to eat. She got excited and say, "yes, pancakes." "Just by ourselves?" Jacob asked. "And Mommy and Jordan too," she said. So sweet...she has been missing us all being together.

2. What Keely calls our truck. "Let's get in the truck, Keely." "No truck, it's bye-bye."

3. Keely is starting to use the past tense, but sometimes when she doesn't and is talking about the past she'll say, "I did, I did." "I go tee tee." "You need to go tee tee?" I'll ask. "No, I did I did."

4. Keely is starting to associate feelings with things but it appears that to her sad is bad and happy is good. So if you tell her it's nap time or night night time she informs you that she is happy. Sometimes in the car I will ask Keely if Jordan is asleep and if she isn't she'll say, "No, she's happy."

Jordan

1. Keely was playing with her pretend hamburger and was going around to all of us saying, "Bite." She went up to Jordan, put it up to her mouth and said, "Bite," and Jordan looked at her and blew a strawberry. So tell us how you really feel, Jordan.

2. This is something that I do and made me laugh when Jordan did it. If I will pat her or touch her somewhere she doesn't want me to (like sometimes I'll pat her tummy), she will put her hand on my hand to make me stop. It is amazing some of the things you think are learned actions and then when a child this young does the exact thing it is crazy!

Our Other Big Girl

...has started to crawl! The past couple weeks she has been trying and would take a "step" here or there and then would get frustrated and roll over. The past couple days she has figured out how to sit up...which is quite a process but she can do it none the less! If she's on her back she will roll onto her stomach and then pull her legs up and sit up. When she was crawling to me...yet again it was quite a process...she had one knee down and one foot down and she would move her knee and then her foot. It was a hilarious limping crawl.

It looks like she is about to sit back up, but this is how she was crawling!!

As soon as she got to me she pulled up to a stand.

Her next move was a little more of a normal crawl. It'll just be another day or so before she is all over the house!! She is already pulling up...any chance she gets she will try to pull up-- either on me, a toy, table or whatever she can get near. So I'm really in trouble now. And I thought they kept me on my toes before now! HAHA!

Jordan stretching getting ready for more crawling!

Sisterly Love

I enjoy watching the girls interact. Many times when Jordan is in the high chair, Keely will stand on the front bar and talk to Jordan. Jordan gets this look in her eye that reserved only for her sister. It is so sweet. I'm not sure if Keely has seen people pinch Jordan's cheeks or where it has come from...but she will come up to Jordan and with her fingers together tap her on the cheeks. In the picture below Keely is sitting in Jordan's lap. They are too funny sometimes!


Though I am amazed how a 2 1/2 year old and 9 month old can "fight" too though! Jordan will reach and reach and finally get one of Keely's toys and Keely will go bazeerk. Or Jordan will have the diaper cream tube while I'm changing her diaper and Keely doesn't think she should have it so she'll take it from her and Jordan will cry. Oh they keep me on my toes!!

Only In Asia

So, wanted to share an "Only in Asia" experience with you. The A/C is out in my office, and the repair guys are here, for which I am grateful, as the afternoon temperatures are already hitting 97+. However, the part they are working on requires a blowtorch to remove the temperature sensor and install a new one. Well, the A/C happens to be above my desk, and though they have moved my desk a bit so I am not right under it and they are, the blowtorch is still only about 2 feet from my head, and all the computer equipment sitting on my desk.... Only in Asia!!

A Few More

New Pictures

I realized it has been a while since some new pictures of the girls have been posted. For all of those waiting on them here you go.

Our Big Girl

About 10 days before Thanksgiving, we began to potty train Keely. She did really well with a few accidents here and there. About two months later, we took the long trip back to Thailand and we had a few more accidents due to going to unfamiliar bathrooms and that type of thing but she did well. Two weeks after that she was in childcare for 12 days or so and did really well telling the teachers she needed to go. That was her first time to have people she didn't know well to help her. Last Sunday, we were at a mall that on one side has bathrooms that only has squatty style potties and then in another area there are Western style potties. When Keely announced she needed to go we were near a squatty bathroom...so she tried it out for the first time. Let's just say she didn't squat low enough before she started going and I got wet!! Practice makes perfect, huh?

When we got back to our home here, we got out Keely's step stool so she could get up to the potty by herself and to the sink. The independent girl she is, decided she liked my kitchen stool better and uses that. The past 3 days, she has come to me with no pants on announcing she has just gone to the bathroom and wants me to go see. And she has! This morning, Jordan was napping, Keely was quietly playing by herself upstairs while I worked on the computer. Keely got up went to the door and said, "I be right back, I go tee tee." I was about to get up and she said, "No, no I go." So, she went downstairs, got her stool and went to the bathroom! They grow up so fast don't they?

Some Ramblings

It's been a little over a month since we have been back on this side of the world!! We got back from our big annual meeting Friday night. The whole two weeks and travel there and back were adventurous but we made it back!! The past three days, Jacob has had IT meetings and I've been trying to get the girls on a routine! When we left, I had a sleepy 2 month old and a 23 month old who still rested in the mornings. Then Jacob was home with us for 5 months. Now I have a very active 8 month old and almost 2 1/2 year old and everyone has to be coerced into napping and resting! I may have found a great way to get Keely to rest a few minutes in the morning however!! (I've been missing my morning break I had before we left!) After trying to tell Keely to rest and read her books a few minutes and to write out what time I'd be back and for her to watch it on the clock, I decided to try the kitchen timer! I demonstrated at breakfast with one minute how it worked and she was really excited. Monday we did 10 minutes, Tuesday 15 and today 20! Oh glorious kitchen timer. The hardest thing is that our washing machine and dryer is outside and so it's really difficult for me to do laundry when either one is up so a few minutes of rest time can let me get a load of laundry done in the morning! Or something else! YEA!!

We haven't really talked about it on our blog, but there are a lot of changes going on in our organization and we don't know what the future will hold for us. So, when you come across our blog and wonder why we haven't posted -- there is a lot we can't say because we don't know anything! So, if you'll say a little prayer for us we would appreciate it! And we'll try to come up with things to say while we are in this waiting chapter of our lives (but all of this makes us really tired too)!

Quick Update

We took Jordan back to the doctor tonight, and discovered the reason she was up so much last night. She has a urinary track infection, and is now on more medicine. Let's hope they get rid of it quickly. So far tonight she is sleeping, so we'll see how the night goes.....

We ARE Back...

In case you have been wondering...we are back. We arrived back in Thailand Thursday, Jan 8th. The sleeping part of jet lag wasn't too bad. I think the girls were up maybe 3 nights...though I don't remember! However, I don't know if anyone else deals with this, but it takes about 2 weeks for the girls to get back to normal personality/schedule wise! So, we are still working on that part of the transition of things! The Saturday after we got back, Jordan started having a fever and finally that following Monday we took her to the doctor. She was given antibiotics but it upset her tummy! She finished her medicine Saturday and seemed to be feeling better. However, Saturday night was a really rough night. I actually had to nurse her twice, which I don't think I even did that much when she was a newborn! Last night she woke up about every 1 1/2 hours or so. We aren't sure if she's just still not feeling good, trying to get over jet lag or just trying to get back on schedule. I have no idea!!

We leave Thursday for our big meeting. Jacob will leave bright and early and drive. The girls and I will be flying later that morning and then taking a van the 2 hours down to the city our meeting is located. I'm a bit concerned on several aspects of it! I really wanted to take the flight that would allow us to arrive in time for our afternoon nap, but that didn't work out. Instead we'll be traveling during afternoon nap time! I'm also nervous traveling with the two girls myself. I am traveling with a friend and her 10 week old...so we won't be all alone! Taking Keely to the restroom could be interesting. Also, even though Jordan does have a seat I can't lug the car seat and the two girls and Jordan doesn't sit still on my lap so that could be interesting while trying to entertain Keely! So this trip looks to be interesting!!

Merry Christmas!

First Sip

Tonight Jordan had her first sip from a cup. She was so cute, and I think if Sara had let her, she would have drunk the entire glass of water.

Adorable

First Snow

We had our first snow of the winter today, and I LOVED it! Having grown up in Florida and now living in Thailand, it is nice to be in Missouri for another month and to enjoy the cold weather. Here is a shot of our car sitting out in the snow after a small amount of snow had fallen. More fell, and now it has stopped. Perhaps more next week?