Amy's Birthday

Saturday was Amy's birthday. I got to celebrate with her, not only on Friday night for a super yummy and fancy dinner out with her, Ken and 2 other ladies (it was Ken and a harem) but also on Saturday night for a fun taco dinner with tons of kids and cakes!

This weekend was our church's Amazing Race for high school students - where 80 high schoolers participated in running through the streets of Bangkok to complete 20+ challenges (from eating a pigs tongue to figuring out puzzles to making som tom salad to finding golf balls hidden in the sand)! The kiddos and I got to help (I'll post about it later) and Ken was a chaperon for a car - so Amy watched 3 extra kids that weren't her own on her birthday, plus had us over for dinner!)!!! We had a blast and a fun 2 nights with her!

Amy and Ken at La Bouchon for dinner

Amy's family with balloons we brought her (plus guacamole, salsa and chips)

Ken made his first ever cake for Amy's birthday, but had to run out the door before he could ice it...so Amy iced it and gave the little girls the beaters to lick! They loved it!

Afternoon with Friends

Last Thursday and Friday were parent-teacher conferences. We had conferences on Thursday and watched a friend's kids on Friday! Another friend and her 2 youngest came over at the same time to hang out - which was a lot of fun! The big girls got bored and I had them break out some of Megan's crafts she's received for her birthday but hasn't completed yet and the little girls did some paint with water pictures...while the boys played the xbox :) Nicole and I learned how to make origami cranes (which were supposed to be for 7 year olds to make)!

Nails

Kylie and I got our nails done last week...and friends took their little girls to get their nails done this past weekend - here are the results!

My Soccer Bug

So, today should have been a great day for Kylie. It was the first day of practice for soccer...which she has talked about for a year! For the last year she's talked about playing soccer with her friends when she turns 4! Well, we spent all day talking about it and she kept saying yesterday and today, "I don't even know my coach's name!" And I would say, "That's okay, we'll learn it tomorrow!" She got dressed and chose a pair of Jack's shorts from last year to wear and an old shirt of his to wear. We got out her shin guards and cute pink soccer socks and new black and pink cleats...put her hair in a ponytail and got her waterbottle. And she was fine until it was time to go down to the coaches. Then she burst into tears!

I think I forget that because she is with me all the time, she doesn't have to do new situations often without me or one of the big kids. I forget that for all her sass and attitude, she's really quite shy and doesn't like new situations.

She cried for a while and wouldn't go sit with the kids or do any of the drills. She came back up with me and sat down. Then we went down about 3/4 of the way through practice to do drills with the parents...and she stayed for a bit to do 1-on-1 drills, then left again when she wasn't getting the ball on the first try. I think she's actually a better soccer player than either Megan or Jack - she has a lot of "natural" skill...but is totally freaked out by the unknown. She kept telling me in what I call her "ugly" voice (that just means that's she's not being nice or saying not nice things), "I'm not doing soccer anymore. I don't like it." The reality is that she does like it, she just needs to get used to it. And she has some good little friends there at practice, too. I'll keep you updated on how she does...

Standing and refusing to run with the other girls. She stood biting her nails (a sure sign she's uncomfortable).

Pitiful.

Game Night

Kiddos and Dan ready for Panther Spirit Night!

Two weekends ago (yes, I'm behind on posts), we had planned to attend a "Panther Spirit Night" at the kid's school to support Varsity Soccer and Volleyball (I think). We headed over, only to discover that due to a storm we had in the late afternoon, the power at the school was out. Which meant they were fine as long as there was daylight, but couldn't have any lights on the fields on at night! So, we promptly abandoned that plan and hung out for a bit before Dan and I had been invited over to a friend's home for a game night!

It was a blast to be there for the game night! We planned Cranium and then a couple rounds of "Spoons" :) For Cranium, we split into 2 teams and played Guys vs. Girls. The Girls WON and we had a blast (and yummy food) - then had fun playing Spoons!

Fun Cranium Board

The guys debating the answer to a question

Dan doing charades

The Ladies
Brittany, Me, Jenn, Mali and Shantel

The Guys
Dan, Walter, Richard, Brian and Brent
(notice how none of them are touching each other...cracked me up)!

Youth Pastor Search

Chaengwattana Community Church (CCC), a non-denominational, international, evangelical church located in a northern suburb of Bangkok, Thailand, is looking for a Youth Pastor with a passion to enter the lives of students and help them discover the life-changing love of Jesus Christ. In this unique overseas setting, the candidate will work primarily with the students of expatriates (North American, European and Asian businesspeople working overseas) who attend the International School of Bangkok (ISB). These students have led unique lives living in many different cultures, experiencing the upheaval of frequent relocation, and have a deepening need for authentic relationships. Candidates must have a creative passion for engaging and discipling students, and strong leadership and communication skills with both students and adults. Students authentically engaging God through small groups, large group gatherings and meeting the needs of those around us (near and far) are pillars of the ministry. While the primary role is Youth Pastor the ideal candidate for this position will also be flexible in other ministry roles. Candidates must have a college degree, and five years of experience on a church staff would be preferred. PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Here is my original post a year and a half ago when they interviewed for this position the first time we were here.

Cold Stone!

The rumors abounded this past April that Cold Stone Creamery was going to open downtown in CentralWorld. Well, if you don't remember - here's what happened to CentralWorld. And the Cold Stone in it.

Alas! We had a Cold Stone open up in our mall a couple of weeks ago! We waited until tonight to try it...mostly because we wanted Daddy to be home to enjoy it with us. I have to say - we definitely enjoyed it. We had only been maybe 2 times in the States because it's so expensive. And it's the same price here, but had I tried what I had tonight, I'm sure we would have gone more.

We ordered 1 Cookie Doughn't You Want Some and 1 Peanut Butter Cup Perfection. They were great and we split them between the 5 of us :) It more than made up for the random leftovers from the week for dinner...

Kiddos watching their ice cream creations being made!

Yummy!

Jack and Mommy

Daddy and the Girls (can you tell Kylie was grumpy about our flavor choices?)

Super fun treat tonight! And yes, Kylie enjoyed the ice cream even though she didn't want to! :) Thanks for taking us out Tweeter!