Gingerbread House

Since Dan didn't get home until late last night, we needed something to do - and we made the gingerbread house that Greg, Melissa, Michael and Matthew sent us over a month ago! It was so fun and the kids enjoyed doing it...Jack kept asking when we could eat it (while it is edible, it tastes yucky) and Kylie kept trying to sneak candy pieces. Pretty predictable for us. :) It turned out so cute! Thanks for the kit, friends!!!

Updates

Megan's piggy toes - so cute!

My piggy toes!

Anniversary date night for Dan and I (I put make-up on in the car, so I don't have any on in the picture).

Picture frames we got for our wedding! They needed a spruce-up!

Ta-da! I wanted them black and white to go in our downstairs bathroom!

Our Kitchen (needs curtains)

Dining room off kitchen

Living room from above

Side of living room by stairs

Area between living room and family room

Desk in family room

First part of family room

Rest of family room

Front Entryway
Moo's room, which we love! She is using the comforter we bought for the guest bedroom in Blacksburg. It could not go any better with her room if we had planned it for years! All the fun colors she loves in the comforter, a yellow chair, her perfectly matching rug, her blue bookshelf and her purple corner stool! AND I put no thought into it. It just all happened to match! She loves it!

Kylie's Room - 2 Twin beds



Jack's "all-boy" closet


Jack's bedroom - trains and toys everywhere!


Jack's bookshelf!

It will be fun to actually get more stuff up on the walls and possibly paint! Yay for our new house!!!

Yay for that

Ahh, I feel like i've been off the grid forever! We just got internet about an hour ago. Yay for that. I'm not posting pictures because I don't have the energy...you'll have to wait for tomorrow. The move went great! Dan stayed at our old house with the movers, I dropped Kylie off at a friend's for a playdate (yay Sarah) and then I hung out at our new house waiting for the first load to arrive! We had a small army of Thai men move us - probably around 16 guys, with 1 large truck and a small truck. They had everything moved over and put in the right spot by 3pm that day. Then they just came back the next morning to collect their boxes (while Dan and I finished putting things away!) By far our fastest move EVER! No boxes left in our new house after 24 hours...a new world record, I think! It helped that they moved some of the items (dressers/end tables, 2 cabinets) with everything in them. :)

Kids are settled in - Moo is like a queen with her queen sized bed and awesome room! She loves it! Kylie's room has 2 twin beds in it and is so cute! And Jack's room is great and "all boy" - train tracks, a bookshelf for all his superhero and Star Wars books and he gets the "toothbrushes" in his bathroom - because he has the bathtub! (the girls have showers in their bathrooms). Jack has done well being in his own room - I think he likes having all his stuff and being able to do his own thing. We've set up our living room and tv room, but I'm having issues arranging furniture in the tv room...hopefully we'll figure something out soon for it :)

Other than that, Matt and Tricia came over and played Settlers Friday night with us to christen the new house, then came over Saturday night to watch our kids so Dan and I could go out for our anniversary! We went to a seafood restaurant and had a nice time with "grown-up" conversation and shopping in stores that have fragile items!

Then last night at 1:06am, Jack came in my room and said his tummy didn't feel well. A second later he puked in the sink (yay for that) and continued puking every 15-20 minutes until 6:45am this morning. So, I got around an hour of sleep, Jack stayed home from school and hasn't puked since, I had to miss our EW woman's bible study kick-off but still take the stuff I made for it over to church and our van got backed into by a golf cart. Dented the car, chipped the paint, but I didn't feel like dealing with it, so I told them it was fine. And then this afternoon, we got internet. So yay for that. I'll post pics tomorrow. Thanks for the happy anniversary love...

Our 9th Anniversary!!!

On January 22, 2000, Dan and I got married at Reston Bible Church! We had an amazing reception at the Dulles Hilton and had a blast with all of our family and friends there! In our 9 years of marriage, we've had 3 children in 3 different places (Malone, Bburg, Leesburg), lost 1 parent, Dan's had 5-ish different jobs (dairy farmer, full-time MBA student while driving a bus, his 1st job in DC, his 2nd job there and his current job here), we've lived in 5 houses (Malone, Blacksburg, Leesburg, Tarndong-Bangkok, Nichada-Bangkok), 2 states and 2 countries. We've loved every minute of it :) And we get to move on our anniversary!


I got Dan a blender (how romantic) - but he wanted it and is excited to make fruit slushies with the yummy cheap watermelon and pineapple you can buy on the street. He used to buy a huge bag of frozen fresh fruit at Costco and make them for him and the kids (i don't really like them)! He is going to buy me a small frangipani tree for our new front door! :) So fun and great things we are excited for!

Oh and on a random note, mangosteens are in season and we finally got to try them! They are called the "Queen of Fruit" because the Queen of England back in the day said that she would give any sailor a knighthood if they could bring a mangosteen back from Thailand. They go bad so quickly that it was never accomplished :) Fun Mangosteen facts for you!

We've off to start moving...we'll see when we can get internet up and running again. It's hard enough switching utilities in the States - here we're also dealing with our language barrier in figuring things out. Keeps us on our toes :)

Pray for Us & the Big Move

I think this move to the new house 1 mile away from our current house is actually more stressful and hard on the kids. Jack will be moving into his own room (at least, that's the plan)...he's not thrilled. He's been in Moo's room since he was 2 1/2. He loves sharing a room with her and, at this point, would do it for the foreseeable future if Megan didn't want her own room.

Megan will be sleeping in a queen-sized bed in her new room and burst into tears the other day at the new house when we were asking her where she wanted her bed positioned. She currently has a sliding glass door that leads out to a patio and the view is essentially of all of Bangkok. When there are fireworks in Bangkok (which is surprisingly frequent) she can see them from her window. She likes her "view". She is sad we have to move because her new view will be of the gigantic house behind us. A very pretty gigantic house, but still - a house. I told her we'd take a couple of pictures of the "view" when she gets home today from school. She told me it wouldn't be the same. I had to agree with her.

And Kylie. She seems fine at the moment about moving - we've explained everything in our house will come with us - her toys, her chair, her blankies, her stuffed animals, her furniture. But I'm not okay with the bedroom. It has 2 window-things in her new room. One is 10 glass blocks (like in showers or bathrooms) that let in light, but you can't open (and they didn't put curtains over it, so it's way bright in there). And the other window is about 10 inches wide and very tall. It doesn't open at all and is separated in the middle by a metal frame. So, essentially no easy 2nd way out of her room (although we have figured out that since Thai men are so small in stature and height, a Thai firefighter could fit through her skinny window if he needed to).

It's fine (I sound like A). I think we'll be okay, but I think this move will be harder on the kids (and me) than moving halfway around the world has been. Mostly because we made the assumption that we would be in the current house for 3 years and wouldn't have to move again. And maybe because we didn't really get too sentimental about leaving the States because we knew we'd be back. We've been pretty sentimental about moving out of this house...we have loved it and it has been fun to host House group here, chase kids around in and be able to say something from the basement and have it be heard all the way upstairs because everything echos! And I will miss the way we hear Kylie's feet on the floor upstairs on Saturday mornings when we get her out of bed and she runs into Moo and Jack's room...you know how people talk about "the pitter patter of little feet?" Well, try a 2 or 3 year old on pergo floors...it's a good sound :)

And I know we'll make new, wonderful memories. The new house is great, beautiful and the carpets fit perfectly. Dan's beyond excited about it and the kids like running all over it. It has neat closet organizers. It will be great...just different. Please pray for our transition to be smooth....

She's 3 going on 12

Sorry for the lack in posting...In case you haven't figured it out, we are busy getting things ready for the big move. Switching utilities, moving fragile items to our new house, cleaning our new house, meeting with moving surveyors...just busy. And it will only get busier as we get closer to our move date...and our 9th anniversary on the 22nd! We'll post more about the move when we get internet in the new house hooked up...

Today, we had a 3 year old who thought she was 12. The surveyor from the moving company was supposed to be here at 10am. I was vacuuming the upstairs at 9:10am when Kylie came upstairs and told me that the "mover lady" was at the door. That's right, my 3 year old who is not supposed to EVER open the door by herself came to tell me the lady was at the door. So, I run downstairs and, sure enough, the front door is standing wide open with a lady on the outside! I jokingly said, "Aren't you glad you were greeted by a 3 year old?" She said that Kylie was very professional. Kylie opened the door and asked who the lady was, then said she needed to get her mommy. So, the lady waited outside so I wouldn't be freaked out. Nice. Then, while I was upstairs with the lady doing the survey in the master bedroom, I heard my cell phone ring downstairs. Kylie answered it (why wouldn't she when she was already on a roll today?) and talked to Daddy. Then, hung up on him. So, finally the lady leaves and Kylie tells me that she went potty while I was upstairs with the lady and she wiped herself. Right. You're a 3 year old. Let me check. Not pretty. She changes panties. Then, I'm getting things done around the middle floor and notice that Dan's Red Fanta soda bottle is sitting on the end table in the living room - open from him last night. I figure I need to get to that before (a) Kylie drinks it or (b) Kylie knocks it over all over the rug. If you think you know where this is going - you don't. About 5 minutes later, after I finish whatever else I'm doing, I go to put the soda away...and it's no where to be found. So, I think to myself, "Did I already put it away and not remember?" I look to make sure it wasn't spilled, I walked into the kitchen and open the fridge - there it is! I know I didn't put it there...so I call Kylie in. She tells me she put it away so that Daddy could have some when he gets home. Seriously, what is she - 12?

Game Night

Friday night = Game night at our house! Matt and Tricia came and brought their Wii and their 2 DS's. The kids, Dan and Matt played Mario Kart and then the adults played Mario Party together! Tricia won Mario Party on the Wii. Then, we played Cities & Knights of Catan - which Dan won after a long, long battle. After that - it was 11pm and we decided it would be a good idea to similtaneously play another round of Cities & Knights while playing a game of Mario Party on the DS. I know, I know what you are thinking - we are 4 wild and crazy kids! Dan even upped the ante and threw 500B into a pot for whoever won both the 2nd round of Cities & Knights and Mario Party. But the same person had to with both or it would go back to him. I tossed in the 20B I had in my pocket and Tricia added 150B.

Sadly, Dan won Mario Party and Tricia pulled off a surprise win in Cities & Knights. Thus, nulling the pot. Too fun, though!

Regent

We got the keys to our new house yesterday and went over after Dan got home to run around in it! We move next week and Kylie and I have been running errands trying to get transfer paperwork done for our new neighborhood, cable, internet, etc. Fun.

It was fun to walk in our actual house and show the kids what rooms they'll have and have them run around in it. While we were there, they figured out that there is a "loop" (I know Michael and Heather will be excited for us) to run around on the main floor and managed to put footprints, yes footprints, on our master bedroom wall. Hopefully it will be covered up by our dresser :)

Dan is very excited to move and I have to say that I am not. I'm settled in our current house. I like it and how things are organized here. We have no choice in whether to stay or to go. But it is a free -new- house. It does have real hardwood floors, granite counters, 4 bedrooms and 5 full bathrooms. Each bedroom has it's own full bathroom, but we'll probably just use ours (which has a shower and a separate tub) for the kids to bathe. It's just the aggravation of figuring out where all the furniture goes. The house has windows everywhere, which should be a good thing, but we have oversized furniture - china hutch, dining room table that seats 12 comfortably, 3 huge bookshelves that fit together to be 12 feet long. And there's not any great place to fit any of them. So, it will be interesting. Dan and I will take measurements tomorrow and go over and see where things will fit. It will be good. I know, I know.

Kids in front of the new house

Staircase to go upstairs
Door and window at top are into our bedroom

Right after this was taken, Jack ran headfirst into that wall he's headed for. He got his bell rung.

Just to show you how tall the windows in the front of the house are...by comparison with Dan.

7-11

Suz made a comment about 7-11 on my last post, so I figured I would tell you guys a bit about 7-11 here in Thailand. Click here to see the Thai 7-11 website and then click on the sign for 7-11. It's funny to see their pics of it :)

Sadly, the 7-11's over here do not carry chili cheese nachos...mostly sushi wrapped in cellophane, ramen noodles and other thai snacks. But, they do have slurpees, which ROCK!!! And ice cream and candy still...and the funny thing is that 7-11's are everywhere in Thailand (we have 3 within 2 blocks of us), you pay your bills there (phone, internet, cable) and if you buy airline tickets from a handful of thai airlines, you pay at the 7-11. Oh, and you don't buy a cell phone plan in Thailand. You have a SIM-card and buy recharge minutes from 7-11 every month! Isn't that crazy? Every month, Dan goes into 7-11 to buy me a recharge card and asks for the wrong thing every time and the girl behind the counter always looks at him like he has 3 heads. (He asks for a 321 Go card, then has to go through a combination of numbers until he gets it right - I think it's actually a 1-2 Call card)!

Christmas Presents

I don't think I ever posted pictures of the presents Megan and Jack made us for Christmas at school. Jack made a tile coaster for each Dan and I. Notice how my hair is longer than Dan's. Then Megan's class made one thank you card each and her teacher sent out packs with the one thank you note from each child in the class for the parents to use! So fun!

Vacation - Part 6 - Wrap-Up and Outtakes

So, here's the end of vacation talk. The kids started back to school today (yay for 3 weeks off, unlike the States). Jack cried at school. Megan took a note the Tooth Fairy left her last night apologizing for forgetting to leave her money the previous 3 nights. Kylie ruled the roost again with Momma and watched Barbie as the Island Princess and grocery shopped with me. Dan had to wake up at 5am to go to work. Life is normal.

We are standing in front of a beautiful frangipani tree and I desperately wanted to get a pic of our family in front of it. Too bad the sun was in our eyes and Jack wouldn't look at the camera :)

One last funny story. I had promised Moo on the last day of school before the holiday break (12/19) that she could get her nails done the following Monday (12/22) with any Christmas design she wanted. Sadly, we were sick that whole next week and then the nail places here closed for New Year's break. Poor Moo. So, there was a mini "town" right outside our hotel. Restaurants, nail places, 2 7-11's, places to get suits made. Good stuff. So, I took the girls down to get all of our nails done. We walk in and there are 4 or 5 Thai ladies in there chatting. They were so sweet, asked if we wanted tea or coffee and sat us down. Then, everyone but 1 girl left. She was getting us ready for pedicures, talking to us, trying to get Kylie to talk. Finally, after about 5 minutes one of the originial ladies pulled up on a motorbike with another lady on the back. Apparently, they didn't have enough ladies to do 3 pedicures at the same time, so she went down the street to another nail place and borrowed a girl - she even had her nail file in her hand! They brought out mini-banana bunches for the girls, put on the cartoon network on the tv and chatted. Then, after Kylie was done and just sitting there, the lady brought out a bag of mini-bananas and 2 oranges each for the girls. I kept saying, "Kap kuhn ka, Kap kuhn ka" (thank you). Then, the lady brings out vitamin C tablets and offers one to Kylie, who has it in her hand before I realize what it is. So, tried to politely explain we didn't need it. Or when she offered it to Megan. :) Cute nails and a bag full of fruit for the 3 of us - $8.50 including the tips. So fun.

2 shades of blue for Moo and Momma, purple for Kylie

My piggy toes on the blue floor of the Kids Place

Me pretending to drink Moo's special candle

Jack was fussing and Dan decided to join him

Megan and Momma in the Mirror
(ah, alliteration)



Moo lost a tooth. Her 8th. I told her she looked "Like a Pippo. Without your foof. You know, a Pippo. Who eats cangos and crananas. That grow in the slees. A Pippo." She thought it was funny.

Pics for Mom Mom from a Thai/English Bible in the nightstand
John 3:16

Luke 2:52



It was a great vacation.