The End of June

Nathan reappeared again at the end of June. Poor guy was jet lagged and wanted to rest but there is no rest for the weary when 3 of your kids are dying to show you the Lego Star Wars Encyclopedia that Kohen had checked out from the library. Nathan was completely smothered in kids during this "quiet time". That's pretty typical though, usually when Nathan first gets back after being gone he can't even use the bathroom without kids following him and excitedly talking his ear off. (That would be nothing new for most moms though, eh?)

Immediately up on the docket was to celebrate Aly's birthday. This year marks the last time I can fudge her actual birthday to wait for Nathan. She is too dang smart. I had been being vague and putting her off ever so slightly until we went to pick up Nathan in the airport and it was like in one instant she had suddenly put together all my vague-eries (go with it) and in distress she says, "So, I already turned 5?! When did I turn 5?!" I felt pretty bad. But don't worry, once Dad was home we did it up right.

First we met Auntie Ashley and Natalie for lunch at Red Robin. Milkshake and presents from Aunties = happiness.

Next we had a little celebration with just our fam and Pixie. This was Aly's Tangled spread, a little thrown together but she didn't notice.

My favorite idea was this gift bag. This gift was from Kohen and Kennedy so they each colored on a side of the bag and it was adorable. Kohen drew Tinkerbell, Mater and Sally from Cars. Kenna drew Aly with two of the Tinkerbell fairies, the personal touch was just too cute.

I love Aly's reaction as she opened their present, not to mention Kennedy and Kohen loving her reaction. They love Aly and they so wanted to make her day.

The biggest surprise was her Rapunzel doll. Woo hoo!

Happy 5th Birthday Aly!!!!

Every day after Nathan arrived was jam packed every minute. It's always fun but always a little tiring. When Nathan, my sisters, Shayn and my mom took the kids to Jumptime, an indoor trampoline place, EVERYONE was sweaty, exhausted, and happy. I showed up late (since my bladder is currently serving as a trampoline for a little one) and everyone was winding down from exhaustion. They had an amazing time. 

Physical activity for the kids seemed to be a theme. "The Jungle Gym" aka: Uncle Shayn, could never be within a 10 ft radius of one of the kids without them starting a wrestling match. Thank goodness he doesn't (seem to) mind!

Uncle Justin came home from school one weekend to hang out and he enjoyed Angry Birds with quite an audience. They have a surprising amount of advice...

There were also a couple of fun trips down the street for some ice cream.

 Papa John has a busy schedule up in Spokane these days, but he was able to come down several times. Also the king of Rough-housing, the kids gave Shayn a little break whenever Papa John was around to try and pummel. Especially Ander, loves to wrestle and rough-house.

So, when things weren't scheduled, impromptu get togethers happened with our 'neighbors' on our front porch.  So fun!

 If this ^ is what I always look like when I laugh then I need to make a public apology about that, and warn each of you for the future to avert your eyes, yikes! These too few evenings were so much fun. Lot's of laughing, good conversations and junk food. Blessed, good ol' American junk food. Nathan was worse than me by far. One night he came home with basically the whole rack of Little Debbie treats. Not because it's his favorite treat but because we tend to see something and think, "I haven't had that in so long!" followed by "It'll be a whole year before I can have that again!" Aaand into the cart it goes.

 Homer Simpson "mmmmm, doughnuts..."

And now I am about to divulge a huge secret I've been dealing with, to the blogosphere. I hope that you all can love and support me in spite of what you are about to hear. I have been dealing with an addiction.   It started in September of 2007. I was in Boise, Nathan was working in VA and it was a very difficult and lonely time for me. One evening I found myself in the snack aisle in Albertsons. A black bag caught my eye. And for the following 2 years I went through several bags weekly, until our overseas move threw me into withdrawals. Now I only occasionally get a bag in the mail from a thoughtful enabler

loved one.

Until we get back to the good ol' U.S.A.: 

I have it on good authority my example has spawned at least 3 other happy addicts, you are welcome ;)

And per usual, we close out the end of June with Nathan and I's Anniversary. Our 11th!! xoxo

Survival Swim

We are lucky enough to have a pool at our house in Taiwan. But with the pool comes a lot of anxiety for  me. The more mobile Ander became, the higher my anxiety grew. After a lot of research on pool and gate alarms, and even buying the Turtle Alarm (that goes on the child as a bracelet and will set off an alarm should it get wet)- I still didn't feel secure. There is so much room for human error! Then I came across a site that teaches infants and toddlers drowning prevention techniques. Well, there are lots of places that claim to teach but it all goes back to ISR and the research they have done. ISR has literally 40  years of research and they have really honed and crafted the way they teach with the goal not being a beautiful breast stroke, but rather that your child posses the skills to save themselves should they fall in the water. The teachers go through rigorous training and keep up on it yearly. It is an amazing program. I could go on and on about it. If you let me corner you I will! Anyway, I was thrilled to find Dotty who is certified in the Boise area and has been teaching 25+ years. She knows her stuff.

 It was a big commitment to get up and go almost every single day of our vacation for these 15 min lessons with Dotty, but I knew after the very first day that we had made the right choice. If you've seen Ander in action you can imagine where my worries come from. And the kids were mostly good sports about coming along for the ride. They were cute, they had fun encouraging Ander and cheering him on.

 Dotty made Nathan and I feel good by telling us how awesome Ander was doing, how unusually quick he was learning these new skills. Our little guy worked hard during his lessons, but he also seemed to love that he was learning how to move about and help himself in the water.

 Dotty had him floating by the end of the first week. She is amazing.

 Kohen making Pinecone Men to pass the time.

A stick to stick in the water as soon as the lesson is over...

Ander's favorite mid-lesson toy, the gator. He would literally try and swim with the gator in his hand. It was good for him to discover it's tricky to move through the water when your dominate hand is preoccupied.

Love this picture of Ander's stamps for doing "Big Kickers"

This video is one of the latter lessons where they have the children wear clothes -in this case, pajamas and a diaper- to simulate how if an aquatic accident were to occur, chances are they would be in some sort of clothes (the next day he wore jeans, a jacket and shoes, heavy!). What I love about this video though is that you can see that he loves it. She's all dropping him in the water and he is still all smiles. I am just SO grateful we had the opportunity to do these classes and I hope they will continue to benefit Ander for years to come.

Accomodations

Nathan brought us over and 24 hours later turned around and went home. But this year we had a unique housing situation. A house one house down from my little sisters house was put up for rent as a "vacation home" meaning we could rent week to week and it would be furnished. It was so incredibly ideal. We had our own space but we could walk over to each others houses, borrow a cup of sugar, come see the kids, or gather on the porch to hang out in the evenings. 

In our first weeks there we got to see our eldest niece Maddie's Senior piano recital which thoroughly blew my mind. It's like, you know someone is "good" but then you hear them just go to town and it almost gets me choked up just thinking how proud I am... and I'm just the Aunt!

Grandma "Pixie" was staying one house down at Ashley's but she came over many nights and would help me get the kids down which was so wonderful. Not to mention she and Kennedy would keep our stash of  granola freshly made, YUM!

And Aunties (my older sister arrived a few days after us) were always nearby and poor Uncle Shayn was always engaged in a wrestling match when he wasn't at work. He brought home giant balloons one night which were a major hit. Got all the kids properly wound up before bed just like any good uncle can do. Having our own place was so nice, but having family for neighbors was even better.

 The house we stayed in was great but the lady renting it to us was definitely  probably a lush and though you might not notice it when you first walk in, after a good look around you could tell she does her best decorating when she's 3 sheets to the wind.  First of all there were random artwork pictures everywhere. In one bathroom, for example, we have this weird ^ girl sitting there having a smoke with Marilyn Monroe as her background. Next wall over there was a scenery painting of like an old town...

 Followed by this girl power Joan of Arc copper picture thing. All squished on the walls of a very small bathroom.
Besides all of the "eclectic" art work thrown up on every inch of wall space, there was this creepy picture of a boy. I actually liked it at first. Until I realized he was always watching me.

 No matter where I went in the room, there he was, staring at me.

 Those creepy eyes that just follow you everywhere. Like on Scooby Doo, how the bad guy is always watching from behind the eyes...

 SO CREEPY!!!!!

 It got to the point where the picture was creeping everyone out so bad that we finally had to just take him down and keep him out of sight.  So weird.

Um, hi :)

Be honest now, did you think I was done blogging? Did you think over time my blog would drop further and further down your "recently posted" list? Ah well, I was just having a little break. Truth be told, during our 6 weeks in the States I was quite literally too busy to watch my usual summertime shows, waste time on Facebook, or even blog. But now we are back home in Taiwan not even a full day yet and I am ready to get back at it. 

 On Monday we had a false start to our trip when we showed up to the airport only to discover our flight time had been changed and we had not been notified, therefore missing our flight. Thankfully they had record of not being able to get a hold of us and due to Nathan's status (meaning how much he flies) they were soon bending over backwards to try and get us on Tuesdays flight with Business upgrades. My aching pregnant body was ever so grateful.
Not to mention we got to squeeze in one more day of our vacation which was an unexpected treat.

The trip home was as good as can be expected. It was a solid 27 hours door to door and we were stuck in Japan for a 4 hour layover after having gone Boise to San Fran, 2+ layover there, then 10 hour flight to Japan. Our bodies all thought it was well after midnight and after playing around in the "Family Room" in the United lounge for 2 hours, I buckled Ander into his stroller and made everyone lay down and they were all out in moments. Then I was stuck pacing around since the chairs are all insanely hard in there and I could not get comfy. Oh well.
Not sure if you can tell from the picture but Aly had spent the better part of 20 min. massaging the complimentary lotion from the long flight into her face, neck and ears, which all immediately turned bright red, swelled and got real itchy. Luckily I had Benedryl but you can still see the aftermath of her in flight spa treatment today.
Anyway, just thought I would let everyone know we made it home safely and I am going to get myself organized and be posting again in no time!

Inches, Not Feet

Driving in Taiwan is often done within inches of each other, not feet. This takes some serious getting used to and even those with the most adept skills will occasionally get a small scratch or ding parking or maneuvering in all the narrow places. Thankfully, it is so common place that body work on cars is super cheap and reasonable. That may be why it's pretty much unheard of to leave a note if you ding someone else's car. Learned that one the hard way...

I got this picture taking Aly to school this morning. About 8-10 cars passed this truck on the left while we waited. As far as I could see the truck never actually touched the parked cars on his right, he probably even had an inch or two to spare. 

Driving here has been compared to a video game, and I've found that's pretty accurate. You are always waiting for someone on a bike or scooter to suddenly cross in front of you, cars to pull in front of you, look out! for that construction guy sticking his head out of the man hole with two orange cones out in front to alert oncoming drivers and protect him, wait patiently while the car in front of you does an "illegal" but commonly used U-turn. The list goes on.

But for as crazy as driving is here, I have come to think that it might actually be safer. Here is why. In the States we have rules, we obey those rules. Accidents mostly happen when someone unthinkingly breaks a rule, and the rest of us don't have ample time to react. Like running a red light for example. You start going when the light turns green because, well, the light was green! Never checking if everyone else stopped like they were supposed to.

In Taiwan you are always on alert. You truly can do nothing else but concentrate on driving (and occasionally shout at your kiddos to keep their hands to themselves) because where you are driving is a constantly changing scene of unexpected obstacles. But because everyone is paying attention (mostly) we all work around each other and traffic moves around obstacles easily like a river flowing around a large rock. I swear I drive at least a fifth of the time on the wrong side of the road, just going around buses, people double parked etc.

Anyway, my friends and I were recently discussing how nice it will be when we go home this summer to actually be able to relax a little when driving. How crazy is that? I guess it comes down to a matter of offensive vs. defensive, and offensive is just a bit more relaxing :)

Here is a video of a short cut that Nathan and I have termed "THE GAUNTLET". As you watch, keep in mind that this is a "two-way"road and this type of thing is pretty common, as is me telling Nathan he has "Plenty of room, at least X amount of inches". I video'd it out of our sun roof, in case you are wondering, which explains why it's a teeny bit bumpy ;)

White Flag

I find it annoying when the wealthy Asian parents whose children go to school with mine, have nothing better to do but plan and attend gobs of parties and performances at school. Maybe if I had two children and 3 live-in helpers I could swing it, but alas that is not the case. So these last few weeks of school are kind of torture for me. 

Class Funds: At the beginning of the year the happy, outgoing, well meaning room moms for all 3 of my children's classes asked for a steep 1,000 NT which is about $35 U.S.  Not much you can do but shell out the mullah. If you don't, some uncouth room mom's like to casually send out a cheery email to everyone with a list of those who haven't yet paid -so you'd better pay up or be prepared to be outed. 

This money, they say at the beginning of the year, is for all class parties and gifts for the teacher. So then why, one wonders, did I receive 3 more rounds of emails asking for more money for the teacher's gifts at the end of this year? It ranged from one asking for 336 NT ( about $12) to one asking for another 1,000 NT more. I was ignoring the emails while I debated what to do when I got the email that broke the proverbial camel's back.

The email was not from the room mom in Kohen's class, but from another mom saying, "Wow, didn't so and so do a great job this year as room mom? I think we should all give 150 NT to get her something to show our appreciation." I was flabbergasted. Completely. 

If she was an amazing room mom why wasn't she able to manage the party/gift budget with the $600+ U.S. she started with at the beginning of the year?! And it's not like I'm against showing appreciation for a job I know I don't want to do, it's just that, what's wrong with a card and some flowers? Why do we need to get her a gift of $100 in gift certificates?! That is completely over the top as far as I'm concerned. Am I crazy? Am I just stingy? This is your chance to tell me. Seriously, I need to know. 

In case you're wondering, I didn't pay a second round to anyone.

Next disaster:
So speaking of how the parents all create unnecessary reasons to celebrate at school, Summer Birthdays are starting to bug me. I now loathe the fact that two of my children have them, because every other parent of a kid with a summer birthday makes a big whoop out of celebrating the b-day, and then if I don't my kid is left out and crushed. Total peer pressure.
I finally set a date to take in cupcakes for Aly. That sounds pretty harmless right?
My morning started off just great. I got everyone dropped off at school, waited there for someone to pick something up from me as a favor which saved me a 1/2 hr drive, then went home and walked hiked our ginormous and steep hill, pushing Ander in the stroller. I was then super-mom multitasking getting Ander and I breakfast and starting the cupcakes when I had the "Mom Moment" that seemed to change the momentum of my day.
I had to use the restroom, okay? Ander was locked in his high chair so I hurried in knowing I had seconds, maybe 2 min if I was lucky, before he got annoyed. 45 seconds later, he starts squawking. Then simultaneously, the IP phone that is calls from the U.S. (aka: family) starts ringing. Then my cell goes off as Nathan texts me, aaand to top it off, the timer for Aly's cupcakes starts blaring. It was quite the moment.
Cut to me pulling the cupcakes out of the oven and they look beautiful and perfect. 5 minutes later they were shriveled up versions of their former glory. I was horrified. (see above pic to join me in horrification).

I knew what was wrong, it's our stupid oven. You have 4 temperatures in C* on the dial and you have to just guess if the temp you need is in between. So you spend a lot of time watching the thermometer that is set inside the oven to see what the temp really is. In my haste (meaning, I didn't have 20 min to adjust and wait and adjust again) I must not have had the temp right. All the cupcakes failed.
I stood there and told myself this was just my pride and nothing a little frosting wouldn't disguise for a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds. So I sucked it up and convinced myself to take them anyway.
All you mom's out there know that even though it's stupid to feel that way, you do feel your "cupcakes" are a reflection of your abilities as a mom.
I patted myself on the back for my maturity, grabbed Ander- who by now had smeared his left over breakfast all over his hair- and raced upstairs to get ready.
Because Ander is a maniac these days, I ran a bath for him to keep him occupado while I showered a few feet away but within sight. I was running out of time. I jump out, dry off, grab the hair dryer, flip it on, and the power goes out. To the entire house. For real. I knew right away I was in trouble because the gate to our house that also let's our car in and out runs on electricity and you aren't going anywhere if you don't have power.
So now I've shelved my pride with the cupcakes, my self-esteem with my hair and make-up not getting done, and I'm still trying to figure out how to get those shriveled up cupcakes to Aly!
I dress Ander and race downstairs to frost the cupcakes when Nathan texts and says, "I called a cab, it'll be there in 6 min." Cue Ander walking into the kitchen with a soaking wet doll he just put in the toilet, I'm standing there with wet hair and unfrosted cupcakes and finally, FINALLY, I call it. White flag my friends. Waving it proud.
I told Nathan thank you but cancel the cab. I called the school and explained that I was stuck and wouldn't make it. And then I sat down and tried not to cry.
Luckily I've got Ander so I couldn't sit for long.
When I picked up a heart broken Aly 2 hours later, her teacher was wonderful in helping me smooth things over and explain that we would have a re-do the next day. When I told her she could even have a cupcake when we got home it fixed everything. See! I knew those 5 yr olds wouldn't bat an eye at my deformed cupcakes!

ps- take two with fresh cupcakes went off with nary a hitch. Why? Nathan was home packing before a trip so I had help :)
p.p.s- Are the lavish parties/gifts and annoyingly involved in all the wrong way parents like this in the states? Maybe I just think it's weird cuz I'm here but it could be this way everywhere... in which case am I the only one kicking the pricks? Just curious...

Swan Dance

Kennedy just had her very first dance recital. Her performance was "Swan Dance" and I have to say Kenna gracefully fluttered her swan wings all over that stage. I was the proud mama for sure.

Now if you want some back story: There are gobs of after school programs offered at our kid's school and Kennedy was excited to try ballet. Unfortunately it wasn't long before, like her brother in gymnastics, Kenna started complaining that she didn't like ballet. Having taught beginning ballet and gymnastics, among other classes, I know what the problem is. A complete and utter lack of fun. There are mostly Chinese teachers and the Chinese aren't exactly world renowned for their enthusiasm and fun, are they? 

 So when the paper came around to sign up for the recital which we found out would be held on a Sunday, I was glad it wasn't going to be an issue. I was a little shocked then, when Kennedy was curiously adamant that she wanted to participate in the recital. Dang it! After a lot of discussions and trying to casually talk her out of it, we finally agreed she could perform.
It was frustrating when 2 weeks later, after $ had been paid, that she started complaining she didn't want to do the recital after all (other activities for the rehearsal Saturday prompted the change of heart) and so our lesson on Sunday Activities suddenly shifted to Finishing What we Commit To with a happy attitude. Who knew that choosing your battles as a parent includes changing said battles in the middle of one?

 We did want to emphasize that there are few and rare things like a recital that we may participate in on a Sunday, and when we do -like any other activity our children are involved in- we would all be there to support and cheer each other on. This time that included an hour longer of waiting due to someone's poor English telling me the wrong time. Ugh. It made for extra fun during Ander's theoretical nap time. It's cool though, a little wrestling match before graceful ballet- the juxtaposition is just beautiful.

 ANYWAY, Kennedy was all dressed and ready to go.  They rent the costumes and they were quite pretty. This experience was completely different than my competitive dance days and dance recitals (as in laid back to the point of sloppiness, most of the kids having zero idea of what they were supposed to be doing. I wasn't too surprised, or impressed). But that didn't stop it from being a completely nostalgic experience for me. I'm gonna blame it on the hormones but I may have gotten a lump in my throat a few times. So many good memories for me.

 But since the days of "Me" are long since past, back to reality here. Aly so wished she was in costume and makeup like her big sister, she was so excited for her.
Kohen's comment during Kennedy's performance was, "She is just so lovely!" He said it several times and I have to admit, even I was impressed by Kennedy. She was a surprisingly graceful swan and one of the only ones who actually finished each step and smiled through the whole dance.

I was SO proud.

 And I wasn't the only one either.

 Broadway (or even Studio "D") it was not, but we couldn't have been more proud of our Big Sister and Daughter. It was a great family afternoon. Way to go Kennedy!!!!

Father and Son's Camp Out 2011

As we've mentioned before, Kohen has some issues with anticipation. So he knew the Father and Son's camp out was coming up but he didn't know when. The week before in church he spent the entire Sacrament meeting drawing pictures of his list of things to pack. Then he promptly came home and packed all of it up, and there it sat for a week until the big day finally came. He was all business helping Nathan get the car packed up to go. He couldn't have pretended he would miss me had he wanted to.
I had a fun time teasing Nathan about taking Ander with too -after all he is also a "son"- but in the end Ander stayed with the girls to keep us company.

 And we had big plans of our own. We had a get together with several other mothers and daughters and while the girls had their princess pajama party, the moms got to hang out and visit too. NO BOYS ALLOWED was strictly adhered to (I got a sitter for Ander) though there may have been one nursing baby boy, but even he was disguised in a princess night gown, which gave all of us a good chuckle. We had a great night.

 The boys had a great night too (this is where Nathan requested I add that he made a dutch oven roast and a dutch oven cobbler that was "unbelievable", I suppose he earned himself a legit shout out for that). The next morning after breakfast the boys all walked over to Fulong Beach (it's about an hour or so from our house) and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, lovely ocean water and sand.

 The boys all romped around out in the surf and then busied themselves digging holes and building castles in the sand.

 Just a side note, a common mistake in Taiwan with the regular overcast look from the skies, is to feel safe from the sun. Yeah, you (hopefully) only make the mistake once. It doesn't take but a few minutes even when it's overcast to get a serious sunburn. And holy smokes if the clouds part and that sun comes through, the temperature shoots up like 50* (well, it feels like it anyway) and you'd better take cover if you don't have sun screen. There's very little wiggle room with the sun in these parts.

 There also happened to be an international sand sculpture contest going on and there were some really cool looking sculptures that Nathan got some pictures of. Am I the only one who really wants to just touch the sculptures???

Ah the cowboy hat. Kohen wore it religiously on the camp out and I'm not gonna lie, it's so Kohen and so adorable. I love him. In this picture he was in the process of tipping his hat to ya'll, cuz, you know, he's just a gentleman like that.

Digging Into Boring Pie

Not a lot of posts on Asian stuff lately. I think the reason why is because, as we've been living here almost 2 years now, few things seem to phase me or surprise me. All the weird stuff is still weird but it's much less shocking after so long. For the most part these things that were once so alien to me are normal and just a part of life. 

One exception is the cultural tradition of gift giving. In Taiwan gift giving is a big deal and part of most business deals right down to making new friends. Because of this Nathan brings home lot's of different "gifts" from clients. These have ranged from meats that looked like hot dogs dying of the bubonic plague, to delicious pomelo fruit or  interesting moon cakes. Many times we've been given expensive "delicacies" that we simply cannot properly appreciate. We do our best to distribute these things to some lucky Asian who will appreciate, usually Nathan's assistant. 

These custard eggs were a unique gift. They were real egg shells that had been hollowed out and filled with some kind of custard. Nathan and I tried one, they weren't disgusting per say, but they weren't really appetizing either. I just kept wondering who had cleaned out the eggs and what if they hadn't done a thorough job... I psyched myself out for sure.

 This next one came in really nice packaging and there were two big jars inside. Jars of what exactly, I am still not sure but I was told it should be added to "any meal" for flavoring. I guess some Taiwanese are 'crazy for cocoa puffs' for this concoction which, as far as I could tell was beans, red pepper, and tofu???? maybe????  When I offered to put some in the kids oatmeal one morning, they all were quick to pass. Actually, for as popular as this stuff supposedly is, we kinda had a hard time finding a new home for it.

A really fun part of living in Asia is the Chinglish. It's everywhere and it's hilarious. 

 This was part of another "gift" we were given that had these nonsensical words of wisdom on them.

You would think that if you were printing something in a different language on your product that you would make sure it made sense. Therein lies the beauty of Chinglish. 

 When I was really sick Nathan bought a little freezer pizza out of desperation, for me. 

 As you can see, it is touted as a "Hawaiian" pizza, complete with mystery meat chunks, 2 pieces of pineapple and a plethora of corn. As far as Asian pizza's go, this is nothing, but that's a whole different post. Anyway, the other night it was late and I was hungry and Nathan decided to make this pizza for me since I think he got the hint that I was never going to go there on my own.

 As he sat there de-corning the pizza, we started reading the directions. They were printed in Chinese as well as "English". I don't know if it was just late and we were slap happy, but we got a kick out of these Cooking Directions.

Here they are, punctuation, spelling, it's all verbatim:

Diractions: necessary put the defrosted and soft pizza into the oven. How to prepare.

Oven-Put the defrosted and sofe pizza into the oven, and set the temperature to be over 180*C; two minutes later after the oven is heated, or at the time, the surface of cheese is golden and the fragrance overflows you can take out the pizza.

Frying & Banking-Wipe the pan clean (the oil shall not be poured in); put the defrosted and soft pizza into the pan; cover the lid and slowly fry for several minutes with the gentle heat; wait until the pizze's surface is golden and the cheese is paste-lice, and it's ready to serve.

Micro Oven-Put the defrosted and soft pizza on the plate. and put it in the microwave oven to heat; wait until the surface of cheese is bubbling and the fragrance overflows and it's ready to serve: however, the effect of the microwave oven is not so fragrant and crisp compared with that of the ordinary oven.

I bet you didn't know you could Fry and Bank a pizza, did you?! And I realize now how important it is to wait for the fragrance to overflow when dealing with pizza with paste-lice cheese. I really learn a lot living over here. 

Anyway, after a good Asian meal (which that pizza was NOT, in case you were wondering) always remember to THANK FOR PATRONIZE.

S.O.S.!

On Sunday during Sacrament meeting Ander was getting restless so eventually Nathan picked him up and took him out. A few minutes later I could sense they were hovering near the door. Against my better judgment I looked over where they were and of course, accidentally made eye contact with Ander. Not wanting to miss an opportunity for freedom, he immediately smacked his hands together in the sign for "Help!"


I may have laughed out loud.

Ander Videos

We were on the giant Ferris Wheel in Neihu when Ander decided to try and kick a hole in the side of our compartment, I caught just a few of the many seconds he was anxiously engaged in the activity.
Speaking of kicking, Easter morning we were all watching Ander find his soccer ball Easter basket in one of his fave places- the fireplace- and he pulls it out, drops it on the floor (I was thinkin, "what's he doing?") then winds up and gives it a great big kick! It took me a second to realize that the thing I see as only an Easter basket, he saw as only a soccer ball. Though he was pretty pleased to find this soccer ball had candy inside.


This is Ander's latest phrase. We are making him say it here but he uses it regularly throughout the day: when he finishes eating, when he climbs onto the table, when he chucks something and it shatters- his response is always the same, including the arms.

I find Ander playing the piano a lot these days. He will sit and plunk away for up to 10-15 min at a time and I love it because I know where he is and what he is doing. I also love his "monkey bum" on this outfit he is wearing, it is so unbelievably fitting of him these days.

Big News For Kohen

On Easter Sunday Kohen had some big news too. For a month or so his permanent teeth have been coming in behind his baby teeth. Surprisingly Kohen had zero interest in working his baby teeth out. 

 During Sunday school according to Kohen, he was chewing on his tie  -classy, I know- and suddenly his tooth was super loose. When we got home Nathan pulled it out and Kohen totally bawled. I think he was just scared, because it didn't even hurt him, it was the weirdest reaction! And it made for a really sad picture :(

 A little later he was in much better spirits for pictures. He left a note for the Tooth Fairy asking if he could keep his tooth. He even left a silly band for her to say thank you. He was pretty much giddy that she took the band and left the tooth. Not to mention the $ he found!

Loosened and out in about two hours on an Easter Sunday, not bad!