A McCall Gettaway

A wonderful reprieve came in the form of a trip to McCall where the kids and I would meet my parents.   After I had gotten our crew there in one piece, I realized that my parents had taken care of the planning and organizing of all of our meals and activities for the week. There is no greater gift to an overburdened mama! 

My dad further sealed a place in my heart forever by quietly taking the older 3 out on crack-of-dawn adventures so that the rest of us could sleep in. Sleeping in. The very definition of vacation. (Of course, my idea of "sleeping in" - 8am - has changed drastically in the last decade. By about 3 or 4 hours. *sigh*)

I'd like to title this picture "Kumbaya Kohen"

One morning my parents pulled out the cool bug catching kits they brought the kids and went on a bug hunt. I could hear squeals and a scream or two from clear down the road. Surprisingly though, there wasn't much in the way of creepy crawlers.

I told the kids they'd surely have much better luck at home in Taiwan searching for bugs. You may not even have to go outside.... and unfortunately, you're gonna need a bigger container. For reals.

Uncle Justin made the long drive over from BYUI and it was so great to see him. The children were all excited to have grandpa and Justin to climb all over and wrestle with.

There is a distinct but important difference between "milk ice" (which you find camouflaged under the guise of 'ice cream' in Taiwan) and good old fashioned ICE CREAM! God. bless. America.

I love this picture of Justin studying with Scarlett in his arm. Check out her little crossed feet. LOVE.

Painting rocks and ceramics with "Pixie" and Papa John.

My children were soooo excited to go ice skating in the middle of summer. Having received a concussion 2 years ago during a Mutual activity that Nathan and I took our youth on (I was even wearing a bit too big helmet at the time), I was a little nervous to get back on the ice. It's just so, hard. My quad of skaters were not, however, nervous at all.

I kept my skating speed to about .05 mph and mostly stayed within reach of the wall. Aly and Kohen needed a lot of help initially but were inching along pretty good by the end. Justin and I stayed close to help the wall flowers. Kennedy went skating once before and between that and her roller blades, she did awesome! I was so impressed with her. And my dad.

For an old guy, he's still got skillz ;) Ander didn't want skates on but once my dad scooped him up and zoomed around the rink with him, Ander couldn't get enough. He skated around in his shoes in between rides with grandpa. The kids ended up lasting way longer than I would have guessed. I pooped out before they did.

My dad braved fishing one morning with the older 3. They all caught fish and they were all beyond excited about it. I was so happy they got to go!

Back at the cabin my dad obliged Kohen and was teaching him how to gut a fish. Throughout the hands-on experience I kept hearing this small spitting noise. Over and over. Finally I realized it was Kohen, who kept spitting because the task was "just so gross!" Even after when I sent him into the shower I could still hear him spitting, over and over. Too funny. 

We've got a live one!

I'm framing this. 

Like immediately.

On the weekend Uncle Shayn, Aunt Ashley and Aunt Natalie came up. We headed to the "beach" down at McCall lake and spent the afternoon enjoying watching the children run around.

My mom generously offered to stay with a sleeping Scarlett for most of the afternoon. But we did eventually go back and get them to join in the fun. The whole week my mom was always offering to take the babies or let me go do activities, I was so grateful for her!

No I swear, ignore Ander's face. We were having fun.

After the beach we headed over to a pool we had access to and let the kids swim (and by swim I mean, hopefully get the sand out of cracks so I don't have to tend to it).

We ate tons of delicious food and laughed and visited and enjoyed each others company.

McCall surprised me and ended up being the best week of our trip this summer. Could have only been better if Nathan could've been there. Thanks mom and dad, for making the trip doable for me and so fun for all of us!
xoxo

Weeks without Nathan

I've been trying to find the right words to describe how I felt during this summer when we went home. Nathan and I finally decided on this: the highs were high but the lows were pretty low. 

It was also the first time when I had all 5 children at home and I was doing the cooking, cleaning, laundry etc. by myself -but most notably, without Nathan- for 5 weeks.   

I felt in this strange in between place where I wasn't at home in Taiwan with neighbors and friends but I also am not a part of any real network in Idaho anymore, either. It was hard.
We were privileged to be able to stay in Bonnie and Norm's lovely home while they are in the final stretch of their mission in Seattle. I enjoyed learning a bit about keeping up the pool and we all enjoyed using it.
Did the neighbors enjoy hearing my children squabble play and watch Ander strip down and run naked through the front yard sprinklers at 8am? Maybe not so much. But we did our best.
Our friends from Taiwan were in the area and came over one afternoon to swim. It's always so nice to be able to have a conversation with someone who understands the realities of expat living, (i.e: shopping for enough clothes for a year for 5 children, guessing how much they will grow by the spring, paying full price for clothes that you know will go on sale two days after you leave, seeming to spend so much time and money and having so little to show for it, and on and on). But griping is just one of many reasons it is always fun to see Taiwan friends in the U.S. :)

Looking back I realize I didn't get out that much in the weeks before Nathan arrived. I did get to go out with my SILs for a lunch here or there, I always love gabbing with them SO much, they are intelligent, funny and are all awesome mothers, wives and friends. 

Another night I went out with both of my sisters for Ashley's birthday. It was so much fun for me, I love any chance I have to hang out with these girls. 

(***Is this a good time to put in a plug that most of the times I went out, one of my awesome nieces would be babysitting my kids? I am so blessed with amazing young women growing up in this family! I love them dearly!)

As July was getting going Bonnie's father, Joseph Glen Cheney passed away. Bonnie and Norm came home from their mission for about a week to be with family and to arrange his funeral services. The byproduct of this was that my children were able to see and spend some time with Gma and Gpa Jensen, and at 11 months old, Scarlett was finally able to meet her grandparents.

 It was a highlight for me that my kids were able to have time with grandpa, doing projects, riding bikes, working a bit in the yard and swimming.

 Bonnie had less free time, of course, but she made great use of what time she did have. Her grandchildren just gravitate to her and want to be around her, I love it.

Joe's funeral services were beautiful. I loved hearing more about his life. I sat in this room full of people, his family and friends, and I thought about how grateful I was for this man. Without him and the choices he made throughout his life, my husband wouldn't be here and he certainly wouldn't be the man he is today. I felt gratitude, and a great sense of pride to be a part of such a good group of people.

Scarlett's Swim

I remember the first time I saw a video of a baby who had had ISR lessons. I had massive anxiety the whole time I watched it. It doesn't look natural and your parental rescue instincts are kicked into high gear. Ander was older when he started lessons so it was less distressing. And this year Ander was even more confident and completely took off. He learned the Swim-float-swim technique that enables him to breathe before continuing on swimming. This video shows a few of his skills, the flip at the end is my favorite, it shows how he completely loved his lessons, and never wanted to get out of the pool at the end. 

He is a total fish in the pool now. He's swimming, jumping in, going down the slide on his own, diving down to retrieve things, and generally trying to grow gills by spending so much time in the water. Even still, Nathan and I stay close by in case he does something like knock himself out jumping in too close to the edge.
Speaking of, Ander accidentally fell in the pool the other night when no one was swimming and we all got to see if he would actually do what he has been taught. It was a nervous and long 10 seconds for me watching Ander flail around until the shock wore off and he realized he had the skills to help himself and he swam to the side. If you are wondering how deep his emotional scar will be- he spent the next hour jumping in and swimming around the pool.

This year Scarlett started ISR's self rescue lessons. I was suddenly witnessing my own little 10 month old being taught to roll to a float no matter how she may fall or be set in the water. It took several weeks before she would go through a lesson without fussing through at least part of it. It is hard but important work she has been doing. Dotty had Scarlett floating on her own by the second lesson. Dotty's amazing. The program is amazing. In this short video Scarlett is wearing clothes and a diaper to simulate accidentally falling in water, as she would likely be in clothes. She does great even being weighed down. I'm so grateful for these lessons and the survival skills these babes have learned.

If you want to learn more about Infant Swim Resource you can click here to learn more about their programs and "Not one more child drowns" Mission.

A Right of Passage

This summer was time for a right of passage for our growing girl Kennedy. She had decided that since her best cousin Laynie had gotten her ears pierced that she too, was ready to gather her courage and get it done. She looked forward to it for most of the year so the anticipation was thick. 5 Aunties, 2 cousins, her sister and her mom were all there to cheer her on. It was fun to all be stuffed in the Claire's store together for this small but special moment.

The piercing on tape: she doesn't even flinch or break her smile, I did notice she squeezes that bear pretty darn tight though! Way to be brave Kennedy!

Every girl remembers getting their ears pierced, but I doubt many have as fun a memory as Kennedy does now. Lucky girl!

Battling Jet Lag

(Checking out the horses before the parade)

Living overseas with a bunch of other expats you learn that most of us have ideas about what helps with jet lag. Nathan has about 15 years of experience so he's definitely earned his tenure.
We've learned it's important to get on the eating and sleep schedule of your destination place as soon as possible. For example, if you get off the plane and just feel blah but it is dinner time, you should still try and eat. Then the goal is always to stay awake. At least until 7pm that first night, but the later the better. Another key that is super difficult for me to not give in to is NO NAPS. Because if you take a nap in the middle of the afternoon, your body feels like it should go into a deep sleep like you would be back at home where it is the middle of the night - it'll mess you up for days.

So this year we got off the plane after roughly 24hrs of travel and headed to Meridian Diary days. My older 3 had essentially not slept on the plane at all but were so excited to see their cousins and Aunts and Uncles that they all had freakish amounts of energy (this is a phenomenon I do not understand but envy deeply).
My BIL does the shirts for the Dairy Days parade and so this year Nathan walked the parade with Kennedy, Kohen and Aly, throwing t-shirts out to the crowd. They had such a fun and memorable time. I guess Aly did get a little tired during the parade so she was able to ride in the truck and hand out shirts from there. But they had a great time. Thanks Tara and Brandon! for letting them participate.

I watched the parade with my SILs and BIL and Ander and Scarlett. Scarlett passed out in Trevi's arms before too long, and Keith helped me keep Ander from getting run over. I just worked on forming my sentences properly and not acting as mentally handicapped as I felt from lack of sleep.
When I picked up Nathan and the kids we were surprised to find it was already 9pm! The sun stays up so late in the summers here and we always forget in the beginning. But it worked out so perfectly for getting us a good head start on jet lag.
Poor Nathan had to turn around 24 hrs later on Father's Day and go back home to Taiwan. It's a darn good thing he is our families resident expert on jet lag.

Aly's 6th Birthday

Shortly after our arrival in Boise our sweet Aly, who is both middle child and middle sister, turned 6 years old. Aly is a friendly, outgoing, comical, creative child and I feel like her placement in the birth order in our family has probably enhanced some of these qualities even more. 

 She really is the comic relief of the fam. Aly will do ANYTHING for a laugh. We actually have to remind her on a pretty regular basis that she is funniest when she doesn't try. But once she gets a genuine laugh out of us you can bet she is going to repeat the same winning phrase or obnoxious sound until the spontaneity and charm are completely beaten out of it.

Aly spends a large portion of her time in this life make believing she is in some other more beautiful, romantic, funny and dramatic world. Her imagination is engaged more than the average 6 year old and I love to sit and listen to her weave magnificent tales in her pretend play.

(Scarlett, 10 months)

 This year she was a good sport about "spreading out" her birthday. This is another trait I admire about Aly, that she has a sunny, positive disposition. Reality was we were all jet lagged and I was trying to get my feet under me with all of the kids and Nathan now gone and I couldn't quite pull off everything for her birthday in one day. So she would happily announce to people that she got to have her birthday for days because we were just spreading it out.

Though really, who doesn't love spreading out their birthday?! On this day the cousins came over to swim and have cupcakes and wish Aly a very happy birthday. It was a great time.
I love this cheeky middle child of mine. I am proud of how she handles challenges in her little life. Love, Love, LOVE her.

Third Culture Kids

There is a new label that is used to describe expat children who grow up without "roots", among other things, called Third Culture Kids. As I learned more about it I have wondered if my children have been out of their country long enough to actually be out of touch with say, pop culture, or even just cultural norms. I felt like we were pretty in the loop until we made the jump and entered the "time warp" back to the good ol' U.S.A a week ago. 

The change happens for me personally, the moment we get off of the plane in America. First of all, it's instant anonymity. We no longer stick out for being Western. Maybe because we have 5 kids, but not because those 5 kids are American. Secondly, and I'm just gonna be honest, I'm always shocked by how fat Americans are. You always here about our obesity problems, but it's such a stark contrast when you're not used to seeing it and you step from one country into another.

The next thing I notice is that I am suddenly literate again. It's like if your vision is blurry and you put on a pair of glasses and instantly everything comes into sharp focus. I can read every single sign and every ad and trust me, there is a noticeable difference in marketing. 

Asian marketing rarely appeals to me. Their commercials for instance, are always silly with high pitched voices and jingles, adults acting juvenile or even cartoonish themes. And don't get me started on how much they love their mascots. So it's interesting how I feel when I see ads that actually catch my eye rather than make me want to smash the little screen at the check out counters. 

Well, one of the first places I've noticed my children are out of touch is also in the marketing area. Turns out they like American marketing as well. They are suckers for it. In example, when our family walked into (seemingly) giant Winco for groceries early Saturday after we arrived, my children were completely overwhelmed by all of the food choices. Beautiful row after row of perfect looking fruits and veggies was just the beginning.
The real obvious difference came at the check out stand where there are an array of colorfully wrapped candies and goodies begging you to impulse buy them. My older three must've sounded like they'd been locked in a cellar their whole lives. They were holding up bubble tape and saying, "Hey look! This says it's gum!" or "Mom! They have M&M's! How much is nine...nine?" Or my personal favorite, when Kohen could not figure out how to push the big square button thing to make the items move down the conveyor belt so you can self bag them. He was lifting up the flap, trying to push it with his hand, and generally being conspicuous. *sigh*
We had a 'moment' when I took all 5 by myself into Walmart for the first (and hopefully last?) time. My goal was to not make any scenes big enough to land us on People of Walmart. com, but since Ander behaved things were relatively smooth. We walked through the toy isles and pretty much everything my children said must've sounded strange to anyone listening. They were extremely excited about each and every item they saw. They also asked if they could maybe have every single item for Christmas. I mean really, whose never been to Walmart before?! Truth is, I just don't think they remember much about it.

The discoveries continue to happen, today at church Ander noticed the water fountains. At our chapel in Taipei there are the big water jug dispensers instead of drinking fountains, so this was a new circus attraction for Ander. And once he had discovered it there was no moving him until he had the whole thing figured out.

So while there have been many noticeable small lapses that I've observed, overall I think it could (and may someday) be much worse. After a few weeks here the children will probably not be so astonished by their surroundings. And I mean hey, Kennedy did quietly plead for me to get her that Justin Bieber doll for Christmas. I guess she couldn't be that out of touch!

(She is sooo gonna die if she ever finds out I wrote that!)

And He Dwelt In A Tent

Remember that one time I wrote all about how Ander was so "busy" and outsmarting us all of the time and pretty much wearing. me. out. member that? 

Well things reached a fevered pitch when Nathan went out of town for two weeks - ok, technically it was 2 days short of two weeks, but as the Single Parent Survivor of said trip, I reserve the right to round up. Anyway, Ander was playing until 10pm-ish, keeping Kohen awake, then doing his morning rounds waking everyone between 4:45am and 5am. Not even Scarlett was exempt. 

I was sleeping fitfully, waking all night long expecting to find Ander had left his room, the house, or even the premises. When I finally couldn't take it anymore I engaged in some desperate brain storming. I remembered this tent thing I had seen a few months ago at a store. I remembered thinking at the time that I wished I had access to a crib tent so I could make Ander stay in a while longer. But now, in my current sleep/safety crisis, I realized that the tent which is designed to fit a cot and keep the mosquitos of off you, might just be the perfect solution.

:::Cue Hallelujah! chorus::
It's perfect. The tent saves the day and suddenly Ander is back to sleeping 8:00pm - 7:30am. And since I don't have to worry as much about his escaping, I am sleeping soundly again too. If you are inclined to judge me for literally locking my 2 year old up to sleep, be my guest. I feel no guilt. Heck, I even pull the inside zipper pulls to the outside and run the shoe lace through all four pieces before double knotting it. I knew he couldn't have anything to work with or he would make his escape.
He proved me right when a babysitter left the two inside zipper pulls on the inside. He was able to pull enough that some of the teeth on the zipper track opened a hole big enough to squeeze out of.
I'm telling ya, Ander bides his time, sitting there sucking his fingers, looking all innocent. But he's really just at work plotting my next undoing.

 Nathan and I's relationship with this kid reminds me of a line from the Rescuer's Down Under when the bad guy shouts, "My mental facilities are twice the size of yours, ya pea brain!"
It's fitting because whenever Nathan and I think we have bested our crafty toddler, he unravels our carefully laid plans in the blink of an eye. It's a pretty regular exercise in humility. But for the moment, brief as it is likely to be, the tent has given us a small respite.

Best tent feature? It folds up into a small circle and weighs nothing. It was the first thing I packed to take with us to the states this summer.

Not-So-Altered Ego

 When soccer started in November and we arrived for practice Kohen asked me to write his name on his jersey for him. I had grabbed the marker and started writing when he added a little request, could I please add a cape to the "K" on his name. Knowing his appreciation for any and all super heroes, I saw no problem with adding a super cape to his name. I felt it was pretty fitting, actually.

 A few weeks later I started noticing the new addition show up on his school papers coming home. Being his mom, of course I smiled to myself thinking how much I love that kid, but figured the little trend would pass.

 7 months later and you will still find his emblem of a caped K on his name. If you look really closely (below) you can see that the little "k" on the cape, is sporting a cape as well. Adorbs. Never mind it probably takes him 20 minutes to write his name.

Kohen's teachers caught on quickly this year to how certain things just explode his imagination. Monkey's and also Super heroes being 2 of the main ones. So they really encouraged him to imagine and develop his thoughts and ideas into his drawings and stories. 

It probably doesn't surprise you to learn then, that Kohen has recently created his own Super Hero Alter Ego. But the details must remain TOP SECRET until he is ready to reveal. This pic is a little hint though.

For now you get capes on K's.

Simple Gifts

I guess it was in early 2012 that I was really feeling like all I was doing was nursing, changing diapers, cooking, cleaning, nursing some more... in short, I felt like all I was doing was mothering. Don't get me wrong, I love it, and I'm grateful for this job even when it is exhausting. But I needed to find some outlet, some thing that could fall out side of the realm of constant mothering. It doesn't hurt to mention this was around the time Ander started his slow and steady escalation of "busy-ness". I needed to take a page out of his book and escape the premises for a bit.
My friend Carrie has been in the ICC choir for years and I have actually been to many of their performances. So when Carrie suggested I join, I was unsure if I could hack it.
Desperation may or may not have played a minor role in my decision.
In January I got up my courage and joined the Taipei International Community Choir, the first official choir I have sung in since high school.
Never have I been so grateful for what I had learned in those h.s. choirs!
There was so much music, we moved really quickly and our director Helen Wood is a very accomplished (but strict) singer/director. She has credentials for days. I was intimidated at first.

 As difficult as it was, I pretty much loved it. It felt so good to raise my voice for a joyous cause for once and not at my children. And to help ease my stress some nights Nathan would play my music on the piano for me after we put the kids down, and go over parts I needed help with (I. love. him.).

By March though we had an increase in practices and I realized a bit late that I had committed to more than I was prepared for. 4-6 hours a week of practices became difficult to manage. Especially when my kids were asked to sing a song in a children's choir at our performance, so we added their practices onto my own. 

Our final performance, Simple Gifts, was May 5. We performed at a little Catholic church and all of our proceeds go to the St. Anne's Orphanage. 

It was a great accomplishment for me, a lot of hard work, and a lot of fun.

Just a few of my favorite girls after the performance, which turned out beautifully. If you need further proof I will attach a video of one of our songs. Listen for Matina and I's couple of notes at 1 min 43 sec and 2:43.

Away From the Roll of the Sea

The kid's song is here: Rainbow Connection
(and yes, I was just grateful Aly's dress didn't make it over her head.)

Kennedy's Orph Performance

In 3rd grade at TAS each student needs to pick "Orph" or strings. Kennedy chose orph which includes some singing and dancing and it seems a lot of percussion. She really loves this class and I know the extras like music are often the first to go when budgets get tight in public schools. I am so grateful Kenna has the chance to learn some of these fun and cool things.


You can barely see Kennedy in the back but she is playing base so listen when they come in to hear her handiwork.

Easter Fun 2012

Yes, this might be an Easter post in May. Let's work with me here. This was a fun afternoon to be remembered. My mom was still visiting at this point, seems so long ago already.

 We did our Easter games and baskets on Saturday before Easter. The 5 Statham kids + one of the Chile's came up for an egg hunt. The more the merrier on those types of activities, right?

 It's nice when we live so far away from our extended family to have neighbors who will scoop up your baby and snuggle em up for a bit whenever they get the chance. Scarlett is content with Jeremiah any time, which can't be said about just anyone these days.

 Even in sports mode it's hard to get a good picture of this one. All these pics are thanks to the Stathams and their new camera. We had about 350 pics from the afternoon. Action shots add up fast!

 Aly found the golden egg with the mulah! Lucky girl.

 Next we went out in our yard for some Easter races. There were sooo many funny pictures, literally about 100. Here are just a few to give you an idea. The first race was the bunny hop, with the finish line being the trampoline.

 It's pretty hard to hop like a bunny actually...

 Poor sweet Aly had by far the best bunny form, and because of this she came in dead last 3 heats in a row. That about broke her heart. We complimented her on her fine form to try and help her see that she was truly the best at that. Hard lesson though. Grandma had to take over from dad and console her.

 As any one who has ever had the privilege to give him chase would remark (usually with some level of surprise), Ander. is. fast!

 Pretty soon we started having the older kids do a one legged bunny hop to try and handicap them a bit. They kept racing for a long time, I was exhausted just watching.

The finale was when the kids started chanting for the parents to race, then proceeded to make our rules for how to hop. The Dads had to have their hands behind their heads, the Moms had to pretend we were holding our baby bunnies, and all of us were to jump one legged.

I was so happy to see how strange we all looked in every frame. Apparently I'm not as athletically graceful as I'd imagined.
I'd like to note that this was when I was first sick, thus the pj's, and also, it's super hard to jump like a bunny! I even just ran at the end and I still didn't win.
What a fun afternoon of Easter activities.