Scarlett at 18 months

 

Here is Scarlett at one of her first photo shoots. We had really burned out doing modeling over the last 3 + yrs and we are now much pickier about when and who we will do it for. So these were especially fun to see of mei mei.

I took these pictures in short succession one day and was amazed at the spectrum of emotions and faces she could display in about 12 seconds.

 Scarlett loves the pink silky blankets like her siblings before her, but specifically, she loves the soft tags. She has very specific self soothing techniques, as you can see.

But that's fine because it translates into more snuggles for us!

When Scarlett was playing in this box I thought, "Cute! I'll take a quick picture!" But the flash on my phone alerted her each time and she would make the strangest "cheese" face right at the last second.




 I had 22 pictures in varying degrees of this... I was having a pretty good laugh, and she just thought she was doing what she was supposed to.

I eventually turned the flash off and found the smile I had been looking for.

Kennedy likes to make a 'special bed' for Scarlett some nights, where she goes in before hand and spreads out all of her blankets just right, then lays her sister in bed and tucks her in using about five layers. Scarlett must love the ritual because she stays put, which she doesn't do under any other circumstances.

 I put these cute Chinese silk shoes on Scarlett for church one day and admired them in my mind each time I saw her scamper around in them. Later on after we got home,  I discovered Scarlett had dumped her shoes in the toilet. Apparently she did not think they were as adorable as I did! (For the record, I rinsed them off, set them under a fan and put them on her the next week!)

At 18 months old Scarlett is not speaking. Yet she manages to communicate plenty. She is the loudest little girl I have ever known. She actually knows quite a few words (Dad, more, drink, please, Aly, stop, sorry, bye, buhboo, peek a boo, uh oh) but she hoards them and refuses to use them when you ask her to. She will dole them out sparingly and only on her own terms. Let me put it this way, if she brings me the animal crackers and squawks at me to give her some, if I suggest for her to say More, or Please, or Eat, she often will be so stubborn that she would rather go without the crackers than use a word to ask for one. Not sure yet how to mold this trait into a positive quality...

Last but not least, my little mei mei has turned 18 months and gone to nursery. Someone make it stop! Time is stealing away my sweet baby...

Kennedy's Choice

Recently Kennedy had a really tough decision to make. 

She still struggles to make close and lasting friends at school. It had been more than a year since she had been invited to a birthday party so when she read the invitation from a friend she was jumping up and down, so excited!... Until she read that it was on a Sunday. She totally crumpled up in tears, and my heart was in shreds just seeing her. We stick to family stuff on Sundays, and have always declined to attend birthday parties on that day. Generally, it's a family day and the day we go to church, a day of rest.

Nathan and I spent several days discussing and praying and thinking with Kennedy about whether or not she should go. As we watched her agonize over what she should do, we were sorely tempted to just send her on her way and tell her to have a great time. But we knew it was important that Kennedy make the choice, and more importantly, be comfortable with whatever choice she made. 

I was so proud of her honesty with her feelings and her courage to do what she knew was the right choice for her (because let's face it, there are a lot worse ways to spend a Sunday other than celebrating your friends Birthday!). But she believed that the principle of keeping the Sabbath day holy was important.

In the end she decided she wouldn't go, but was still heartbroken to be left out of the fun. So Nathan came up with the idea for an outdoor movie night where she could be proactive about making friends. The offer sealed the deal, Kenna was suddenly inspired and excited. 

It was so fun to watch her make her list of who she would invite, and sweet too, as she explained to me that two of the girls she didn't really know but had noticed that they didn't have many friends either. Who is this child? And how was I so blessed to have her?!

Seven out of eight girls were able to come and thanks to our unusual but wonderfully mild winter, it was actually one of the first days where it hit 70*. It was truly a perfect night for an outdoor movie . 

Mirror Mirror was the movie of the night and a giant hit. An impromptu dance party ensued when the credits rolled, the perfect finale.
I am so proud that Kennedy chose to keep the Sabbath day holy. I'm grateful that she used faith in making a decision that was difficult. I am humbled that she recognizes that she kept her promise regarding Sunday, and she was not penalized for it. The chance to make friends and have fun might not have happened how she first expected it, but turned out even better than she had hoped.
Of all the "parenting" and interactions that go on between us and our children, the clear successes seem somewhat non-existent elusive. I was grateful Kennedy threw us a bone on this one. Love that girl.

CNY with Pixie & Papa John and a trip to Toroko

 My parents came for a visit over Chinese New Year! What a way to welcome in the year of the Snake!  It was the perfect time because our kids were out of school for a week and ready to play.
First we went shrimping! We did it once before two years ago but with Gma and Gpa we had much better luck. Kennedy was our shrimp whisperer this day, catching 6 or 7 shrimp!

 But everyone had some luck which makes for a better time.

 The chinese guy running the place turned on the basketball game for Ander and stood him up there. Ander wasn't at all excited when he made a basket...

 Papa John with one of his shrimp.

 My parents have come over several times but hadn't yet made the trek down to Toroko gorge. So this was the trip to make it happen. Traveling with all of us is always an ordeal but they didn't seem too much worse for the wear. We grabbed some food in Hualien before heading towards the gorge.

 My dad loved this guy, mobile produce section all on one scooter!

 The silt in the water makes for this beautiful color, we all just stood there looking at it in awe. Beautiful.

Kennedy was excited because she finally got to stay up to see the traditional dancers with Papa John. She even got to get up and dance at one point, and she was thrilled about it. 

Kennedy also had a memorable sleep walking episode one night where she jumped out of bed and ran out the door of the hotel room before my parents could catch her. They immediately looked for her but she was gone. 

After chasing Ander through the halls in her dream, Kennedy finally came to, after running a full lap around to the lobby (it would take several minutes to do if running). Confused, she went back to the room and reported she thought she had just been sleep walking... technically it would have to be classified as sleep running I think! Needless to say, my poor, freaked out parents bolted the door after that!

 This picture is to show you some perspective of how giant the marble boulders are everywhere in the gorge. Incredible, right? We went on a little hike in a dark and drippy tunnel through a mountain, that opened up into a beautiful area.

 It didn't take but a minute before Ander was getting ready to go swimming!

 Grandma Pixie and Papa John

 Our Traveling Circus

 The gorge from above

 This is the Martyr's shrine, but there are 3 temples as part of it, you can barely see the third at the top left of the picture. So, we figured out how to hike up there...

 Pixie stayed in the car with Scarlett (thank you mom!) but the rest of us climbed a bunch of stairs and were rewarded with quite the view.

You could see the middle temple below

A different crazy suspension bridge then we've been on before, makes me nervous just looking at it!

 Remember how giant the boulders are? The ones above are the size of a small house. Such a gorgeous gorge!

Back at Silks they had a bunch of free activities set up for the kids to do for CNY. They were awesome, lanterns that work, leather working, clay making, traditional Taiwanese candy making (not sure what it means that I am starting to kind of like the taste of that stuff...).

Not sure what was with Kohen's side ways hat wearing but my hope was that if I ignored it, it would go away, I think my plan might've worked.

 When the kids went swimming Papa John tried to keep Scarlett distracted from the pool by taking her on little walks, but eventually...

 She won.

 We survived the trip and when we got home it was Papa John's birthday. Scarlett thought we were noisy so she was experimenting with covering her ears... if only that actually helped.

 I made a cake but I am seriously only now realizing that we didn't even have one gift for him to open... that's lame of us! Ah well. The cake was delish which helps everything right? Happy Birthday to my dear Dad who is a really good sport about coming a long way to roughhouse with his grandkids! Thanks for coming Mom and Dad, it was so wonderful to have you!!!

Thailand with my Girls

Though we talked about it sometimes, I never thought a girls trip to Thailand would really happen. But by January we needed to provide our friend Lori, currently living in China, with a brief escape. And after discovering Matina missed her calling as a travel agent, we were booked for a long weekend in Thailand before we knew it. 

 Because we were kidless we were able to enjoy this gorgeous view and scenery without worrying about things like children falling over the balcony. So nice! Our temporary digs totally exceeded our expectations, since by now all of us have lived in Asia long enough to know to keep them low.

 The first day three of us headed out to the Phi Phi Islands on a speed boat tour. The sea was angry that day my friends! We were violently tossed around and my recently whiplashed neck and shoulders did not appreciate that. But we got to our destinations, spent some time laughing at two random girls trying to take provocative pictures of each other in the rough surf, then moved on to some islands where the scenery was truly breathtaking.

 At Koh Phi Phi Leh we all took turns jumping off the front of the boat. The pictures were shot in sports mode and our resulting gracelessness provided us with lot's of laughter when we went through them later.

Next we stopped at the beach where apparently Leonardo DeCaprio filmed the creatively named movie The Beach. It was the most crowded beach I've ever been to and I didn't see Leo any where, so.... 

This is probably my favorite picture of the trip; me and my chicas relaxing on our own little spot of beach, reading our books and enjoying each others company.

So maybe this picture needs a little explaining...

 My friend Lori is deceptively hilarious. Meaning, you think she is quiet and a little shy, then at some point she will say something so funny and unexpected that you laugh until you snort. Having said that, she brought us all a little present from the Peeps Repub, it's truly all the rage there on the beaches filled with skin-conscious Asians.
I give you, the FACEKINI!
We had 700 some odd pictures from our trip and 90% of them are us goofing off in our Facekini's. Everything becomes hilarious when someone dons the freakish thing. Our abs were so sore from laughing! The most repeated phrase of the trip was "That'd be funny with a facekini!" followed closely by, "Our husbands are not gonna think this is as funny as we do!"

But seriously, what's not funnier with a facekini? 

Our long boat driver actually wanted to know where we got it, and wished he had one because he's on his boat all day. But I'm too genteel and couldn't part with mine as I need it to protect me from the harsh rays of the sun... and to wear it at obnoxious times to make my friends laugh.

 The best thing about a trip to Thailand is the FOOD!

 And FRIENDS!  (Me and Brandie, Matina & Lori above)

 We rode this little scooter and side car around town and it fit the four of us perfectly! Ok, well, no. We were just trying it on for size to see if we could roll like the locals.
On second thought though, that would be a lot funnier if we were wearing our facekinis....

I Don't Do Resolutions

Why? Because that is the quickest way for me NOT to accomplish something. So normally I don't even bother making New Year's Resolutions. But this year in my head I thought, "It's not even a "real" resolution, I will just work on not always being a month behind on blog posts this year." Thus the NYE post that has stood as sentinel of this blog for the last 2 months.
What can be said for a blog unkempt is behind every 2 month gap is a very full and busy life. If you want to use the "treading water" analogy, I'd describe us as trudging up the steep stairs to the water slide, brief moments of happiness and fun as we slide down the water slides of life, and before we know it, we are back to treading water again, doing our best to just keep our heads up. But at least we got to ride the slide, right?
So, after flirting with the idea of letting my blog go, or just keeping it up privately, I realized that this system has worked for me for 6 years, and if I try a little harder maybe I can keep on top of things... Or not. Whatever I decide though, it will NOT be a resolution!