Dan's Birthday

Dan had a great birthday day! It started out with a yummy breakfast he requested (the same french toast casserole as Megan), opening presents and a meeting at church! Then, he played Guitar Hero - Aerosmith that he got from Grammy before we went to lunch at his chosen place...Sudathai! But before lunch, he made me text our friends to see if they could come over for dinner and play Guitar Hero! We had Ken and Amy's family over, Ro and Chris and their 2 little girls and Patrick and Susan! It was a great night - pizza, salad, doritos, mango and a yummy Tim Tam ice cream dessert...plus great time with friends! The guys even managed to play Modern Warfare 2 for a bit while 4 mommies sequestered kiddos in another room (by sheer willpower and imagination...dancing, legos, balloons - whatever we could think of)! It was a great day and he had a great time! Happy Birthday Tweeter!!!

Kiddos with Dan opening presents

The Canopic Jar Megan made Dan at school - with an owl on top


A Blurb book I made him

His own chicken with cashew nuts at Sudathai (normally he splits it with Moo)


Playing Sorry with the crew...Jack took the picture!

Feeling the need to stand on the coffee table while he cranks out Guitar Hero!


Ken rockin' on Guitar Hero


The Birthday Boy getting ready to blow out his candles
(Tim Tam ice cream treat - I mashed 2 whole packages of Tim Tams up, and mixed them with a carton of ice cream - then smoothed it out in the dish and put it in the freezer. When it was set, I added a layer of chocolate fudge and then a layer of cool whip and froze it again! Soooooo yummy!)

Susan (8 1/2 months pregnant) and crankin' it!

Ro and sweet new baby Cadie

The Men playing Modern Warfare 2

The big girls

The little girls

The big boys

Happy Birthday Tweeter!!!

Megan's Birthday

The actual day of Megan's birthday, Megan gets to choose foods for the day! She asked me to make a new to me French Toast Casserole for breakfast - and she LOVED it! Then Kylie and I were able to make her fun sun cupcakes with sunglasses and smiles (to go with her Beach theme) and take them in to share with her class!

For dinner, we had spent the last couple of days coming up with suggestions over where she wanted to go for dinner - different restaurants all over the area...and she kept saying that she wanted to do dinner at Ken and Amy's! So, finally I called Amy on Sunday night and asked her if we could come over to their house for dinner! Amy was so great about it and had birthday decorations and everything! I made and brought tacos/gordita's/and all the fixin's plus ice cream and toppings! We had a wonderful dinner with great friends and a fun night being there to celebrate Megan!

K, Megan, Jack and D

Having Happy Birthday sung to her

After we left Ken and Amy's, we went home to have Megan open her birthday presents!

Posing with a new pair of Thai pants

Looking at some of the 30+ books she got for her birthday...that she LOVES!!!

And sound asleep at the end of the night, wearing her new hooded sweatshirt!

Hi, My name is Kristen vol. 2

...and today I am the Birthday Girl because I am turning 32!

Favorite Foods: Beirut Lebanese food, Indian butter chicken with garlic naan, Lard Naa (realized I can get it almost anywhere here in Thailand...it's just called Rad Naa sometimes), hummus, guacamole from Que Pasa, Caramel Frap at Starbucks, Mountain Dew, thai fried chicken and rice, roti, Mos Burger, green curry chicken made by Khun Heng, mango, orange smoothies.

Interests: Blogging, EW, our Life Group, painting pictures/crafts, snuggling my kids, having Dan play with my hair, reading anything, swimming at the pool, hanging out with friends, having the kids home from school!

Favorite reads this year (write me if you want my thoughts on individual books):
Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
Outliers: the Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
A Bride in the Bargain by Deanne Gist
Coming Attractions by Robin Jones Gunn
Little Women, Good Wives and Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
The Great Brain books by J. D. Fitzgerald
A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
Mornings on Horseback by David McCollough
Johnstown Flood by David McCollough
Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent by Fred Burton
A More Elite Soldier: Pursuing a Life of Purpose by Chuck Holton
Me, Myself and Bob by Phil Vischer
Bob Hope: My life in Jokes by Bob Hope and Linda Hope
The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
Romans by Paul in the Bible
The Jewels of Tessa Kent by Judith Krantz
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Magician's Nephew and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Veritas Conflict by Shaunti Feldhahn

Favorite shows this year: Glee, Mad Men, Gilmore Girls forever, Mad about You, How I Met your Mother, The Office (really just for Pam and Jim), LOST, Bondi Rescue, Little House on the Prairie!

What you might not know about me: I love our church, our Life Group and EW. I am, however, realizing that having leadership responsibilities has a downside - dealing with conflict. I don't like conflict. I realized that in college. I like everyone to be happy and I'm a "fixer" - if you have a problem, I want to fix it for you. Or, if you don't think you have a problem, but I do...then I want to fix it for you anyway! ;) I make food for the exact amount of people. No extras. Good to not have waste, bad to not have room to add more people to the table. I like to do things the easiest way possible - i.e. I'm not a great cook because I don't want to take the time or make the effort to make a great meal...usually. I have a pantry full of food - like my mother. There's something to me having the security of knowing there is food in the house...yet I feel like I constantly have nothing for dinner. Hmmm. I love reading - this year has been full of biographies and autobiographies - so fun and interesting! I love history. For Christmas 3 years ago, I asked Dan for a book on the History of the 20th Century. He got me one and I loved it! I love hearing people's stories - how they grew up and what has made them like they are. I take a while to process things - so I'm not a great advice giver when I first talk to you - give me a couple of days to process it. I love having my kids at home. I love when they have school holidays and summer vacation and the weekends.

Megan's Birthday Party

Megan had her Beach Party on the 14th. We had 5 girls over and know all of them, so it was a blast! They colored beach pictures, played "pass the parcel" with wrigley's gum wrapped in each layer and then a fun pool raft at the center that Kaya won, made seashell anklets, played Beach Mad Libs, ate palm tree cake and ice cream, opened presents and danced to the Beach Boys!

We gave each of the girls a pair of sunglasses when they came and then they left with a fun seashell key chain, a pack of gum and an inflatable beach ball! Each girl came dressed in her favorite beach outfit...which doesn't look much different than the clothes we normally wear here in hot Thailand! :)

Goodie bags decorated by Megan in a beach theme

the living room


Kitchen table set up - fun beach towel, upside down flower pots and flip flop candles Grammy gave me for Christmas!


Getting ready for Pass the Parcel


Mad Libs!


Cake and singing Happy Birthday

Opening Presents


7 Beautiful girls

Crazy dancing

More crazy dancing

The family all decked out for Moo's Beach Party

Hi, My name is Dan vol. 2

And today is my Birthday - I'm turning 34!

Favorite Foods: Chicken with cashew nuts and rice (especially at Sudathai but anywhere else is good, too), Uberwaffle at Que Pasa (huge waffle with sausage cooked into it), Coco Ichibanya Curry, Apple/Pumpkin Pie, fried chicken fridays at work with rice and chili sauce, Tim Tams, Maryland crabs, Papa Johns Pizza, anything at Ken and Amy's!

Interests: anything technology related, XBox 360 and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, iPod, playing bass guitar in church, playing with Kristen and the kids, solving various Rubik's cubes (2x2, 3x3 in many shapes and forms, 4x4 and the 12 sided cube!), reading and our Life Group!

Number of Airports I've flown through, both international and regional: 51

If I could move to anywhere in the world with my family for work it would be: Oslo, Norway

If I could take a dream vacation anywhere in the world it would be: Alaska

Why my Tweeter loves me: For more reasons that I could name, here are top ones: You love Jesus, you love us, you are patient and kind, you do a great job at work, you make life fun, we all adore you and love being with you! When we say you are the best husband and father in the whole world - we mean it, literally! I love you Tweeter!!!