Life is just Busy

There's really no other way to explain it. We're just busy here. We started up lifegroups this week, so we hosted ours Tuesday night (with a super yummy new recipe which I'll post at the bottom), our friends Patrick and Susan over for dinner and Settlers on Wednesday and our friends Ken and Amy and their 4 kids over Friday night for dinner. And that was just nights this week.

Kylie and I went to the mall and lunch with our friend Sarah and her little girls Allie and Samantha on Monday, had a little friend spend the night Monday because her Mommy was in pre-labor (thankfully it was stopped and she's doing well now), spent 2 hours at church Tuesday morning setting up rooms for EW Bible studies, had EW on Wednesday then had Amy and Kevin over for lunch following it, then were busy running errands the other days of this week. Like I said...Busy.

Thursday night the Space Station was going to fly over Bangkok and you can see it for approx. 2 minutes in the sky if it's clear. We tried to go out and see it. We couldn't because it started to rain the minute we got outside. But it was fun anyway...you can check out the tracker here.

Ingredients

1 cup JET-PUFFED Marshmallow Creme

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

36 RITZ Crackers, crushed (about 1-2/3 cups crumbs)

1/2 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 square BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted

MIX marshmallow creme and peanut butter in medium bowl until well blended. Add cracker crumbs and chocolate chips; mix well.

PRESS crumb mixture lightly into greased 9-inch square pan; drizzle with chocolate. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes or until chocolate is set.

Samantha, Allie and Kylie

Allie and Kylie riding the train at the mall

Funny antics in the kids' tent.

And more funny antics...

Megan and Jack walking out to see the Space Station pass by. It was dark outside and I kept taking pictures from behind - but they kept thinking it was lightening. It was pretty funny to watch them...until I told them it was the camera flash and they both chased me!

Right after we realized it was too cloudy to see the space station...

by the time we got back to our house, it was raining pretty good...and we were wet! (and it was officially past bedtime!)

New dress we bought Megan. Supposed to be a long tunic to go over jeans for a lady, but works as a dress for Megan - so pretty, hand-beaded and made in northern Thailand!

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...