Really?

Anyone else think this blog is boring? It's kind of a rhetorical question, so maybe don't answer it in the comment section. But if you have any questions you've been wondering about Thailand or life in Thailand, ask and I'll see if I can answer.

I keep thinking there isn't much to blog about because this 2nd year in Thailand isn't too exciting, which I have to say, is kinda nice. It's just life for us. But a progressively busy life for us. We've signed the 2 big kids up for soccer (we would have signed Kylie up but she had to be 4 by Sept. 1), we have Life groups starting up this week for church, my Women's Bible Study begins this week, Dan is helping out with the worship team at church (playing the bass guitar) and I am going to start meeting with an 8th grade girl to do a bible study 1x a week! Lord willing, we will be able to do it all well.

There's been a little of this:


A LOT of this:
The 2nd time for this (a haircut for me in Thailand - 180B - $5.29)


One time of this ("free dress" day at school):


And THANKFULLY a lot of this (hanging out with a really great family that we are getting to know better - they have 4 kids Megan's age, Jack's age, Kylie's age and a bonus little 2 1/2 year old boy!)

Baptism!

After church on Sunday our church had a "Welcome Back Pool Party/Picnic" at the Nichada Club pool right behind the church. It's nice, because the church backs up to the pool, so this one day a year they open the back pool gates and we can go out the back of church right to the pool. They had the main course provided by the Nichada Club but all the sides and desserts were brought by the families....

...but before the picnic began, they had a Baptism! I chose to be baptized this Sunday after thinking about it for many years. I was baptized as a baby, which I am thankful for, but really wanted to make this my decision and my declaration that I am a Christ follower. Three other people were baptized the same time as me - Ridge (the boy), my friend Susan and my friend Cat. It was a really great service and baptism and I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to do it. Here are some more pics of it for you...

Shoe shopping

I had asked the kids before we went back to the States this summer if they needed new sneakers for school. The answer? No.

Then I asked the kids the day before school started. The answer? No.

4 days into school they came home and both told me they needed new sneakers because their toes hit the front of their's. Awesome.

Finding "good" sneakers here in Bangkok is not easy and not cheap. We drove down to meet Dan after work at the mall and look for new sneakers. Found a pair for Jack - New Balance with a "cool" velcro strap so we don't have to teach him how to tie his sneakers for another couple of months. Looked EVERYWHERE for sneakers for Megan...stores either didn't have the size we needed or they were over $100. Cute pair at Adidas for $132. Not quite what we were planning on spending. We finally found a pair of Adidas at the department store...for $60. And they are a Women's size 6 (she definitely has room to grow in them, but still). Dan says that Megan got the "Mommy and Abby feet." (I wear a size 12 and our niece wears a size 10 or 11 and she's almost 12 years old!)

Our Week

We had a good week this week, minus the fact that Dan was traveling. The kids had a holiday on Wednesday for Her Majesty the Queen's Birthday and we had our little friend Jaya over. She was adorable and such a good girl for us :) We got to keep her for the night and the kids had such a good time with her, while her parents went downtown to celebrate their anniversary!


Kylie and I got to go to Chatachuk (the world's largest flea market) with 5 other ladies and shop for things for our women's Bible study kick-off! It was a great time, Kylie did great and it helped that other ladies were great with her :)

Dan came home and brought presents, which is always a highlight!

And both kids had a great first official week of school!

Pictures

You know the painting Kylie was working on in the last post? Well, I talked Dan into hanging 2 kid's artwork frames and put the pictures that Kylie and I painted in them. My guess was that, when she woke up the next morning, that she would say, "I don't want it up there." You know what? I was RIGHT! If it was Megan's picture, she would have been thrilled. Kylie just likes to be contrary. I told her it was too bad, the picture was staying. :)

We had a temporary teeny Thai stove that Dan's work gave us when we moved into our house.
We've been waiting for a US sized one for the last 7 months and got it this last week!
Baby Stove

Big Stove


My painting hung in the kitchen


Orchids on the buffet - so fun and 30B (less than a dollar) for all of them!


Our broken desk chair. Kind of funny...


And a verse I painted for Kylie's room - we're working on decorating her room :)

1st Day of Kindergarten for Jack!!!

Today was Jack's 1st day of Kindergarten!!! He was excited to go, no crying or sadness like last year. I think, because he was in Pre-K at the same school last year, that today was kind of anti-climactic for both him and us. Which is good, I think, considering he didn't really want to go last year and was really excited this morning!

Jack gets to ride the bus to school and home from school with Megan, which is fun and he was so excited when he got home today! He told me all about his day: his friend Jetta is also in his class and her mother is his Thai teacher! He had chicken and more chicken and then some cheese sandwiches for lunch. He saw his best friend John on the playground. He had art class and learned how to draw a face. He learned how to say "Can I please go to the bathroom?" in Thai (for Thai class). They have centers in his classroom, but they weren't allowed to do them today, but will tomorrow!

I asked him later what his favorite part of the day was and he said, "When I got to come home on the bus and see you and snuggle you and play with your hair." Then I asked him what the worst part of his day was and he said, "Early in the morning, at school, my teacher had us sit on the floor and she read a book and we had to sit quietly and listen." Hmmm. Welcome to the next 13 years of schooling. And then college...

Oh, and by 6:30pm tonight he kept saying, "I just want to go and lay down on the couch for a little while...I'm ezausted." Poor tired boy. He'll get used to it :)

Me and my Moopert
Ignore my lack of early morning make-up. They get on the bus at 6:45am!

My Sweet Boy


My Stinker


We painted this morning after the kids left. She was disenfranchised that it was not with Mommy's craft paints, but with a paint with water book. Eventually she got over it when I did my own...

Something Different

So I seriously needed to get out of our neighborhood this weekend. And do something. I'll say that it didn't really matter what we did, but it did. I wanted to do something we had not done yet. We've been the Croc Farm 2x's, Safari World 2x's, the Aquarium 5x's, the Children's Museum...so I asked around for suggestions. I got a range of answers - from one friend I kept getting ideas for expensive trips - Hong Kong Disney, Chaing Mai, Hua Hin, Phuket...not things that we could do during the day on Saturday. So, we finally settled on going down, parking at Dan's work and walking to Lumpini Park, then take the BTS (sky train) to MBK shopping mall.

Not the most adventurous or exciting things to do. And the kids and I have been to Lumpini. Dan's been to Lumpini (though not with us). Dan goes to MBK often at lunch and I had been there 1x when Dan and I came out here to see what Bangkok was like. And it wasn't until the end of the day that I realized that we did spend the day doing things that we hadn't done together as a family before.

And that was good. We went to Lumpini together. Saw monitor lizards everywhere and played on the playground. Walked back to the BTS and took that to MBK. The only other time the kids have been on it was last year this time and Kylie was sound asleep the whole time. Went to MBK with the kids, walked around, bought a few fun items and ate a yummy lunch. Got ice cream at Burger King (10B each - so fun)! Took the BTS back to our car and came home. A fun time out. Kids did well walking quite a bit for the day and it was pretty nice out. Which is funny when you think it's a nice, cooler day and the temp is 90F out.

1st Day of 2nd Grade for Megan!!! (part 2)

So, I don't know if anyone saw Dan's comment from yesterday's post, but if not - here it is:

"It was great to get home from work today, ask Moo how school was and hear her response be "I love my new class and can't wait to go tomorrow!" What an answer to prayer!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Yup, she loved it. Lord willing, she will continue to love it. She and 3 other friends made a plan to meet by the water fountain every recess so they can play, she had Thai class with only 4 other kids in it (apparently a lot of kids switched over to Spanish this year) and ate a lunch of mashed potatoes, rice, watermelon and pineapple. Maybe not the most nutritious, but she loved it. Oh, and had pumpkin bread for a snack!

I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for when she got home and we had one with milk when the little kids woke up :)

Jack met his teacher this morning and she seems nice. He'll have his first day of Kindergarten on Monday!

1st Day of 2nd Grade for Megan!!!

So we went up to the school and looked through the class lists. Megan got the teacher she wanted, but her closest friend is NOT in her class. She took one look at the list, amidst 4 other families clamoring to see the board, and burst into tears. After assuring her she had 1 good friend in the class, even though it is not her best friend, we went and found out where her classroom is. And we also found out that Jack's best friend is not in his class, either - which I think will be good for both of them. Hopefully we can still have playdates but not have the boys so attached to each other.

This morning went a little better than last year - not as much weeping and gnashing of teeth from Megan, which was nice. Dan got me up with him, I got some stuff done before I woke the kids up for the day. Megan was very unthrilled about school. We ate breakfast and debated over her choice for bottoms for her uniform (between a black skort, a khaki skort and khaki horts). The shorts are boy shorts and are a bit big on her, but she really wanted to wear them. And they turned out fine. Lord willing, she will have a great day and we will be excited to hear all about it when she gets off the bus this afternoon. I'll have to make a special treat for her...