Ryan has finer hair than Scott and 2 bad cowlicks. I looked at his hair one morning before school and told him that his hair was "cattywampus." He said "what does that mean?" I sent him to look in the mirror and saw how his hair was sticking up everywhere. I don't know where I had even heard this word-is it an old fashioned Southern thing maybe?
So now Ashley says it too-she told me last night after we had been swimming in the rain and I had dried my hair off with a towel that I had cattywampus hair. It's funny to hear her say that!
Thanksgiving 2017
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Ashley and her clothes
At least this was a "dress up" outfit but she is wearing ice cream pajamas, a green Tinkerbell costume over that, flower print sunglasses (from the $1 bin at Target, her special "Aunt Todd" blanket as a cape, carrying her Cinderella wand that makes noise and "poofs" people and purple crocs. If you ever wonder what to wear call Ashley and she will select something stunning for you!
It's a little complicated to teach a 3 year old about not wearing patterns that are too busy and compete with each other. Today she put on a pair of pants-white with small hearts on them. The hearts are pink, yellow, and purple. They came with a shirt that is yellow and has a butterfly on it. I don't know what she has against that shirt but she has told me several times that she doesn't like that shirt. So instead she wore it with a shirt that had princesses on it-unfortunately it had gotten put away dirty-Briar Rose had dried chocolate on her face. I had her change before we went to the mall. Then when she got up from her nap, she wanted to put those pants on again. This time with a floral print shirt (that came with solid purple pants). When I told her they didn't match she said with a very serious face and pointing finger to help me understand "the purple matches the purple the pink matches the pink and the yellow matches the yellow!"
Ashley also doesn't understand about shades of color yet-she wants to wear a pink shirt with pink pants and doesn't care that one is light pink and one hot pink or even sometimes that they are 2 different shades of hot pink.
Some very entertaining pictures to come soon. Don't let them hurt your eyes!
Church last Sunday
I have been meaning to post about the service last Sunday all week long. We went back to Victory. The music ministered to me so much. Here are some of the phrases from songs we sang
"God is with us everywhere you go"
"He is your shield"
the song "Here in your presence"
The one about God being with us EVERYWHERE we go is understandably very comforting to us being somewhere new. I will never forget our wild, crazy enthusiastic College Sunday School teacher at Taylors First Baptist Church who asked us EVERY Sunday "if you don't feel close to God, guess who moved" We even had t-shirts with that on them. I know that I want to be "found in His hands" It is so nice to know that God goes with us even to the other side of the globe.
However I also thought about this not as God just going with us to a place far away but a new circumstance-we moms have been sending kids off to school, some for the first time to preschool, some to schools where they don't want to go, some to teachers who aren't believers. God goes with us and our children, as believers, through hard circumstances like the loss of a child, job, and every disappointment and difficulty we face no matter how large or small.
I thought about God being our shield also related to kids starting back to school. As moms we do everything we can to protect them and sometimes it is hard to let them go. I have talked to many friends about the hardest part of my kids starting school was all the outside influences they would now be exposed to. God is with them and is their shield and ours too. If you have a child in school you need to found out more about Moms in Touch-an international prayer group for kids and their schools. It's awesome!
http://www.momsintouch.org/
Another phrase from this song that really struck me was "wonderful, glorious, beautiful, matchless in every way" I am guilty of trying to fill my desires, at times, with many things other than God. We think that if we just have ______________ we will be perfectly content and happy forever. Then we get the ______________ and we add another thing because the first one didn't work. As women, I think we are particularly bad about comparing ourselves to other women-if only I had her clothes, job, house, husband, always well-behaved children then I would be happy. I don't know about any of your friends (and I have some terrific ones) but they don't measure up to God.
He is truly matchless in EVERY way!
"God is with us everywhere you go"
"He is your shield"
the song "Here in your presence"
Found in Your hands, fullness of joy
Every fear suddenly wiped away here in Your presence
All of my gains now fade away
Every crown no longer on display, here in Your presence
Heaven is trembling in awe of Your wonders
The kings and their kingdom are standing amazed
Every fear suddenly wiped away here in Your presence
All of my gains now fade away
Every crown no longer on display, here in Your presence
Heaven is trembling in awe of Your wonders
The kings and their kingdom are standing amazed
Here in Your presence, we are undone
Here in Your presence, Heaven and Earth become one
Here in Your presence, all things are new
Here in Your presence, everything bows before You
Bridge:
Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way
Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/n/new_life_worship/here_in_your_presence.html ]Here in Your presence, Heaven and Earth become one
Here in Your presence, all things are new
Here in Your presence, everything bows before You
Bridge:
Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way
Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way
The one about God being with us EVERYWHERE we go is understandably very comforting to us being somewhere new. I will never forget our wild, crazy enthusiastic College Sunday School teacher at Taylors First Baptist Church who asked us EVERY Sunday "if you don't feel close to God, guess who moved" We even had t-shirts with that on them. I know that I want to be "found in His hands" It is so nice to know that God goes with us even to the other side of the globe.
However I also thought about this not as God just going with us to a place far away but a new circumstance-we moms have been sending kids off to school, some for the first time to preschool, some to schools where they don't want to go, some to teachers who aren't believers. God goes with us and our children, as believers, through hard circumstances like the loss of a child, job, and every disappointment and difficulty we face no matter how large or small.
I thought about God being our shield also related to kids starting back to school. As moms we do everything we can to protect them and sometimes it is hard to let them go. I have talked to many friends about the hardest part of my kids starting school was all the outside influences they would now be exposed to. God is with them and is their shield and ours too. If you have a child in school you need to found out more about Moms in Touch-an international prayer group for kids and their schools. It's awesome!
http://www.momsintouch.org/
Another phrase from this song that really struck me was "wonderful, glorious, beautiful, matchless in every way" I am guilty of trying to fill my desires, at times, with many things other than God. We think that if we just have ______________ we will be perfectly content and happy forever. Then we get the ______________ and we add another thing because the first one didn't work. As women, I think we are particularly bad about comparing ourselves to other women-if only I had her clothes, job, house, husband, always well-behaved children then I would be happy. I don't know about any of your friends (and I have some terrific ones) but they don't measure up to God.
He is truly matchless in EVERY way!
Another weird shopping experience
I realized with the rain and the tile outside our front door (yes it's the wet tile again) that I needed to get a mat for outside the front door. There is a covered area but it still gets wet. I had bought one at a hardware store for in our bedroom by the door we use to come and go from the pool already so I didn't think this would be a big deal.
So the kids and I went (you guessed it) to the mall this morning. As we came in we passed a nice carpet and rug store and there was a stack of doormats outside. I asked how much they were and the man told me 100 pesos. That's about $2. I was looking for something larger but thought I might come back. Then I went to a different hardware store than the one where I had bought the pool door rug and was looking around. I found a much larger rug that was what I was looking for, probably triple the size of the first one. Guess how much it was? 2060 pesos-that's nearly $50. I decided that I could live with the $2 rug for now. I was hoping for something in between-maybe I'll find one later.
So the kids and I went (you guessed it) to the mall this morning. As we came in we passed a nice carpet and rug store and there was a stack of doormats outside. I asked how much they were and the man told me 100 pesos. That's about $2. I was looking for something larger but thought I might come back. Then I went to a different hardware store than the one where I had bought the pool door rug and was looking around. I found a much larger rug that was what I was looking for, probably triple the size of the first one. Guess how much it was? 2060 pesos-that's nearly $50. I decided that I could live with the $2 rug for now. I was hoping for something in between-maybe I'll find one later.
Another science experiment
Ryan told me about another experiment that they did in class with air and his explanation was so complicated that I had a really hard time following what they actually did. Out of curiosity I sent his teacher a note. That sweet lady let Ryan bring home for the long weekend 2 huge plastic syringes-about 3/4 inch in diameter that you can connect with a length of plastic tubing. He and a friend had connected their syringes. Ryan kept telling me about pushing the plungers (not the bathroom kind said Ryan). I have never seen syringes this big and could not imagine what you use them for or where his teacher got them. Anyway when they are connected by this tubing when you push the plunger of one the plunger of the other one moves back. Ryan thought this was really cool and spent quite a long time Friday afternoon demonstrating it for me.
In Social Studies they are learning about the Philippines. Did you know that it is an archipelago? That is a big fancy word for group of islands. He had homework last week that asked if he knew something about the history of the Philippines and he told me that he did. I was curious what he would say since I don't know anything (much) about the history of the Philippines. He said that his teacher had told them that a long time ago people lived here who hunted with bows and arrows and that some different people wore things with stripes on the sleeves that were yellow and green and all the rest of the outfit was pink. Again I wrote to the teacher. She said that it was some kind of costume but didn't give me any more details than that. She probably says "these American mommys ask too many questions!"
Ryan also got to do this "way cool" according to him thing with legos in his classroom. It was a kit with a motor that you hook up to the legos to make part of your creation move. The teacher allowed them to choose to build an alligator as the kit was designed for or something else that they chose. Ryan, of course, chose something else. He made a boat and loved that he could make part of his boat move when he plugged in the motor.
Mrs. Avecilla is just amazing in how she gets the children so actively engaged in their learning.
In Social Studies they are learning about the Philippines. Did you know that it is an archipelago? That is a big fancy word for group of islands. He had homework last week that asked if he knew something about the history of the Philippines and he told me that he did. I was curious what he would say since I don't know anything (much) about the history of the Philippines. He said that his teacher had told them that a long time ago people lived here who hunted with bows and arrows and that some different people wore things with stripes on the sleeves that were yellow and green and all the rest of the outfit was pink. Again I wrote to the teacher. She said that it was some kind of costume but didn't give me any more details than that. She probably says "these American mommys ask too many questions!"
Ryan also got to do this "way cool" according to him thing with legos in his classroom. It was a kit with a motor that you hook up to the legos to make part of your creation move. The teacher allowed them to choose to build an alligator as the kit was designed for or something else that they chose. Ryan, of course, chose something else. He made a boat and loved that he could make part of his boat move when he plugged in the motor.
Mrs. Avecilla is just amazing in how she gets the children so actively engaged in their learning.
Random Updates that someone might want to know
The lizard was dead. He and his plastic container went out with the trash on Friday morning.
Ashley is doing great sleeping in underwear. I forgot to go upstairs and take her to the bathroom one night before I went to bed. I was afraid that I would find sheets to change in the morning but was pleasantly surprised! She is very proud of herself and has been dry all night now 3 mornings in a row!
Sorry there will not be any pictures posted later to accompany this post-though Ryan did suggest we bury the lizard I decided not to. I had already sacrificed a plastic container, was not going to give up a spoon to the cause too.
Ashley is doing great sleeping in underwear. I forgot to go upstairs and take her to the bathroom one night before I went to bed. I was afraid that I would find sheets to change in the morning but was pleasantly surprised! She is very proud of herself and has been dry all night now 3 mornings in a row!
Sorry there will not be any pictures posted later to accompany this post-though Ryan did suggest we bury the lizard I decided not to. I had already sacrificed a plastic container, was not going to give up a spoon to the cause too.
"Buggylators"
Wednesday night I took the kids to dinner at a new restaurant. It's called Gram's Diner. The atmosphere reminded me a little of Steak and Shake. Scott and Ashley had macaroni and cheese. Ryan had chicken fingers and I had chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes, and veggies. The food was okay but not great. It is one of those places that serves breakfast all day-maybe I should have stuck with a breakfast food.
Anyway after dinner we went to yet another grocery store looking for Scott a replacement lunchbox. In the days before cell phones my dear childhood friend, Stan Howington, and I said that if we were ever kidnapped the police should start by checking out phone booths because we had stopped in to call our mothers. If I ever go missing in Manila, Greg should start at the malls and the grocery stores.
Okay back to the lunchbox hunt-you go into a foyer at this grocery store that is in a strip shopping center and there are immediately these things that look like escalators with no steps or a moving sidewalk from the airport that is on an incline. This was the first time the boys had ridden one of these and we talked about why they were needed when a grocery store was upstairs in a building. Scott and Ryan decided that they should be named "buggylators." According to a sign on one of them they really are called walkalators but I thought the boys name was pretty good. By the way, we didn't find a lunchbox there.
Anyway after dinner we went to yet another grocery store looking for Scott a replacement lunchbox. In the days before cell phones my dear childhood friend, Stan Howington, and I said that if we were ever kidnapped the police should start by checking out phone booths because we had stopped in to call our mothers. If I ever go missing in Manila, Greg should start at the malls and the grocery stores.
Okay back to the lunchbox hunt-you go into a foyer at this grocery store that is in a strip shopping center and there are immediately these things that look like escalators with no steps or a moving sidewalk from the airport that is on an incline. This was the first time the boys had ridden one of these and we talked about why they were needed when a grocery store was upstairs in a building. Scott and Ryan decided that they should be named "buggylators." According to a sign on one of them they really are called walkalators but I thought the boys name was pretty good. By the way, we didn't find a lunchbox there.
Ashley and school again
I do find it mildly humorous that the shirts have a school bus on them but the school does not have any buses.
Since this was her first Friday officially enrolled at her school, I got some papers that she had done and a little notebook that her teacher had written in after every day that she had been at school. It was very sweet and something that I will treasure. I'm glad as the mom that her teacher writes about each student daily but I am also glad that I am not the teacher that has to do the writing.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
The boys' friend Parker
Parker lives in Greenville and his mom, Amy is one of my dearest friends. Parker and Scott were in the same preschool and the same school in K-5 and 1st grade. Amy and I began the school's Moms in Touch prayer group together. She emailed me that she was helping Parker clean out his room recently and she asked about some legos. He told her that he was saving those legos because they were the last things that Scott and Ryan had built when they were last at his house.
I haven't told the boys this because I was afraid it would make them sad and miss Parker even more but I thought it was one of the sweetest things I have ever heard from an 8 year old boy. We are settling in here but it will be really fun to go home to visit next summer!
I haven't told the boys this because I was afraid it would make them sad and miss Parker even more but I thought it was one of the sweetest things I have ever heard from an 8 year old boy. We are settling in here but it will be really fun to go home to visit next summer!
Ryan's Awesome Teachers
I just have to say again how great our kids teachers are. Ryan came home telling me again today about another experiment that they did with air. I'm going to have to get the details from the teacher-he gave such a complicated explanation that I had a hard time following him. Yesterday they went fishing to catch numbers and points. He was all excited about how many points he had gotten and didn't even realize that he was doing math and practicing addition. He was just having fun fishing.
In PE they had word cards and letters taped to the walls. You had to run around touching all the letters that were in your word in the right order. I bet none of the kids went home and said "mom, we had to do spelling in PE" Ryan thought it was a great game.
Having children who are happy in school is as important as having a husband who is happy in his job. After all as my Dad told me for years "School is your job!" I am SO glad that God provided us 2 wonderful schools that our children are happy in.
In PE they had word cards and letters taped to the walls. You had to run around touching all the letters that were in your word in the right order. I bet none of the kids went home and said "mom, we had to do spelling in PE" Ryan thought it was a great game.
Having children who are happy in school is as important as having a husband who is happy in his job. After all as my Dad told me for years "School is your job!" I am SO glad that God provided us 2 wonderful schools that our children are happy in.
Scott and the lizard
Scott was sweeping our bathroom this afternoon and came out with his hands cupped together. I had been surprised not to find a lizard under the towel (that is our current bath mat) earlier today when I picked up to wash it. So I thought maybe the teeny lizard had moved out. Scott managed to find him. and catch him. I got the camera and we went outside, making sure to close the door behind us. At first Ryan said he didn't want to hold the lizard, then he said he did.
I was disturbed (for the lizard) that he didn't move or try to get away when Scott opened up his hands. We left him outside on the porch. Then Scott started begging to keep him. I have relented temporarily and he is in a plastic container, holes poked through the lid, sitting on the counter in the kitchen-not the one we put food on. Scott said that he saw his leg move-I wonder if it twitched as he died. I don't think that we will have the lizard or the plastic container with us much longer and that's ok with me. I'm sorry that he died and am more than happy for us to have lizards outside but this is our house.
I was disturbed (for the lizard) that he didn't move or try to get away when Scott opened up his hands. We left him outside on the porch. Then Scott started begging to keep him. I have relented temporarily and he is in a plastic container, holes poked through the lid, sitting on the counter in the kitchen-not the one we put food on. Scott said that he saw his leg move-I wonder if it twitched as he died. I don't think that we will have the lizard or the plastic container with us much longer and that's ok with me. I'm sorry that he died and am more than happy for us to have lizards outside but this is our house.
Deliveries
You could stay home here in the Philippines and just have things delivered to your house. In the US it's just pizza mainly but not here.
You can have McDonalds (Greg says we are going to have to do this sometime just so we can say that we did), Chow King, Tony Roma's and numerous other restaurants deliver food here-Pizza Hut here delivers as well. The deliveries usually are done on bicycles that have little metal boxes on the back that your food rides in. You can have a certain company deliver milk to your house. We have 5 gallon water jugs (they come in a truck) for our water cooler delivered to our house. I even saw an ad in a magazine for beer delivery to your house.
You can also have massage services done in home and manicures and pedicures too.
Now the downside is that not many people schedule things here at least not to the level of precision we are used to in America. I have called the water delivery people now 3 days in a row and they finally came today-don't know if they had been by before and I just happened not to be home or if they just didn't come until today but now we have water so that's good-we didn't run out.
You can have McDonalds (Greg says we are going to have to do this sometime just so we can say that we did), Chow King, Tony Roma's and numerous other restaurants deliver food here-Pizza Hut here delivers as well. The deliveries usually are done on bicycles that have little metal boxes on the back that your food rides in. You can have a certain company deliver milk to your house. We have 5 gallon water jugs (they come in a truck) for our water cooler delivered to our house. I even saw an ad in a magazine for beer delivery to your house.
You can also have massage services done in home and manicures and pedicures too.
Now the downside is that not many people schedule things here at least not to the level of precision we are used to in America. I have called the water delivery people now 3 days in a row and they finally came today-don't know if they had been by before and I just happened not to be home or if they just didn't come until today but now we have water so that's good-we didn't run out.
Reading Resources
I am generally not a huge fan of little people being on the computer but maybe out of desperation or just because when I sit down with our laptop Ashley always wants to do something too I have to share a GREAT website for kids-learning letters and pre-reading skills-(no you can't take the teacher out of the mommy) or even just kids that like to be read to. I generally do the typing and the mouse, especiallly on a laptop but Ashley sat with me for a long time this morning reading books and doing games and watching movies. It is
http://www.starfall.com/
I have used this to some degree with all 3 of mine and they all really liked it.
The book that Ashley's preschool teacher uses is really cute and has a few others in the series with it-here is a link to it.
http://www.amazon.com/Alligator-Read-Sing-Along-Board/dp/0769644554/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I115A8HT8BV5JF&colid=31Z3C5ILA5LCJ
My other favorite movies/games for reinforcing reading skills at home is the Leapster series-handheld games or my very favorites are the Letter Factory and Word Factory DVDs. They talk about letter sounds and making words and are very fun for kids to watch. Ryan still asks to watch letter factory.
Hope these are helpful to someone.
http://www.starfall.com/
I have used this to some degree with all 3 of mine and they all really liked it.
The book that Ashley's preschool teacher uses is really cute and has a few others in the series with it-here is a link to it.
http://www.amazon.com/Alligator-Read-Sing-Along-Board/dp/0769644554/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I115A8HT8BV5JF&colid=31Z3C5ILA5LCJ
My other favorite movies/games for reinforcing reading skills at home is the Leapster series-handheld games or my very favorites are the Letter Factory and Word Factory DVDs. They talk about letter sounds and making words and are very fun for kids to watch. Ryan still asks to watch letter factory.
Hope these are helpful to someone.
One of my biggest worries
I always worry that I will oversleep when Greg is gone and make us all be late to get wherever we are supposed to be. I have been diligently setting my phone's alarm clock since Greg has been gone. It happened anyway though-the oversleeping part but thankfully not the being late. On Tuesday, I woke up suddenly, realized that it was very light in our room and panicked. I got up quickly, as fast as you can from mattresses on the floor and went in the bathroom to find my watch. My cell phone battery had died during the night! Thankfully it was only 10 after 6. I was worried that we had missed the bus, literally and would have to take the boys to school and even wondered if we could get there on time. Thankfully that didn't happen!
The Many, Many, Many Malls
I could live at the mall here-not because I am such a huge shopper (though many times I do wonder, is there one of ___________ coming on the container or did that get sent to storage?) but because of how malls and shopping are here. I don't know if it is because of the heat, the rain, the culture or what but malls are huge and there are lots of them and if you keep looking you can find most anything there (except goldfish crackers, Chick Fil A, lemon cake mix, canned biscuits (which Ryan dearly loves and Golden Grahams cereal).
Today Ashley and I went to the mall-Festival that is closer to Greg's office-they open at 10. Town Center which is closer to our house doesn't open until 11. We were looking for a few things and just getting out since Ashley doesn't go to preschool on Thursdays. We started at ShopWise-one of the 2 grocery store/dept stores that is at one end of this mall. We looked through there and then started our trek down the mall. I am still learning my way around but am getting better. This is the mall with the double decker carousel in the middle-I'll have to post a picture of that sometime. There are numerous places to eat-2 McDonalds, a Wendys, Sbarro, Pizza Hut, KFC in addition to LOTS of local places. There is a fabric store-which I was very excited to find. There is a movie theater attached, 2 places where churches meet-one in the theater and the other one-where we have been going has auditorium space. Furniture stores, kids stores, electronics stores, cell phone related stores, computer stores, office supply stores, digital picture places, the Pixie Forest-arcade games and rides, the other arcade where the indoor roller coaster and bumper cars are, the train that goes through the mall, and the little cars that the boys have ridden. I discovered today looking at a mall map that there are 4 preschools located inside the mall! I've never heard of that before. There are several hair salons, nail salons and any other beauty service you could want. There is even an ultrasound studio in the mall. Our friend who had a baby here-the one born in the van on the way to the hospital had an ultrasound at the mall.
Ashley and I just did a fair amount of walking, some shopping, rode the train, did a little more shopping and walking and ate lunch at Wendy's. Then we went to the Pixie Forest and rode their miniature log ride-similar but MUCH smaller than the one at Six Flags. She is very funny-when she rode this with the boys she cried and the ride operator let her get out after one trip around the loop. Each ticket gives you 2 loops around. I thought that she had gotten upset when the log boat that she and Ryan were in bumped into the log that was in front of them. Today she went back and forth between laughing and crying during our ride. I thought that she would be happy riding it with me but it is a rather jerky/rough ride. Then she complained about her wet clothes. We left after the ride, came home, finished reading Pinkalicious-those of you with girls need this book if you don't have it yet. Then she took a nap from about 1:00 until nearly 5:00. I think the walking tired her out. Due to this move, Ashley has spent way too much time in malls. Neither of the boys could get on and off an escalator by themselves at the age of 3.
Besides the 2 malls closest to us, I have been to Pavilion Mall near the school, Market/Market, Eastwood and there are seemingly countless others to continue exploring. If you come to visit Manila I will be happy to take you shopping and even to ride something-most are only about $1 per ride.
Today Ashley and I went to the mall-Festival that is closer to Greg's office-they open at 10. Town Center which is closer to our house doesn't open until 11. We were looking for a few things and just getting out since Ashley doesn't go to preschool on Thursdays. We started at ShopWise-one of the 2 grocery store/dept stores that is at one end of this mall. We looked through there and then started our trek down the mall. I am still learning my way around but am getting better. This is the mall with the double decker carousel in the middle-I'll have to post a picture of that sometime. There are numerous places to eat-2 McDonalds, a Wendys, Sbarro, Pizza Hut, KFC in addition to LOTS of local places. There is a fabric store-which I was very excited to find. There is a movie theater attached, 2 places where churches meet-one in the theater and the other one-where we have been going has auditorium space. Furniture stores, kids stores, electronics stores, cell phone related stores, computer stores, office supply stores, digital picture places, the Pixie Forest-arcade games and rides, the other arcade where the indoor roller coaster and bumper cars are, the train that goes through the mall, and the little cars that the boys have ridden. I discovered today looking at a mall map that there are 4 preschools located inside the mall! I've never heard of that before. There are several hair salons, nail salons and any other beauty service you could want. There is even an ultrasound studio in the mall. Our friend who had a baby here-the one born in the van on the way to the hospital had an ultrasound at the mall.
Ashley and I just did a fair amount of walking, some shopping, rode the train, did a little more shopping and walking and ate lunch at Wendy's. Then we went to the Pixie Forest and rode their miniature log ride-similar but MUCH smaller than the one at Six Flags. She is very funny-when she rode this with the boys she cried and the ride operator let her get out after one trip around the loop. Each ticket gives you 2 loops around. I thought that she had gotten upset when the log boat that she and Ryan were in bumped into the log that was in front of them. Today she went back and forth between laughing and crying during our ride. I thought that she would be happy riding it with me but it is a rather jerky/rough ride. Then she complained about her wet clothes. We left after the ride, came home, finished reading Pinkalicious-those of you with girls need this book if you don't have it yet. Then she took a nap from about 1:00 until nearly 5:00. I think the walking tired her out. Due to this move, Ashley has spent way too much time in malls. Neither of the boys could get on and off an escalator by themselves at the age of 3.
Besides the 2 malls closest to us, I have been to Pavilion Mall near the school, Market/Market, Eastwood and there are seemingly countless others to continue exploring. If you come to visit Manila I will be happy to take you shopping and even to ride something-most are only about $1 per ride.
Scott's Class
Ashley and I had fun on Tuesday when we went to school to read to Scott's class and have lunch with him. We read a book that I had checked out from their school library entitled What do teachers do when you leave school? It was hilarious because the teachers play, make messes, and break all the school rules. Scott's class seemed to enjoy the book. Then I told them that I wanted to play a game with them and tried to guess all their names from a class list that I had-it was an entertaining game. A couple of them I knew, some I could tell because they would smile or point at the person when I called out the name, others I got totally wrong! I told them that maybe, if they sat in the same place in the reading corner next time, I would be able to remember all their names again-not likely. There are 16 of them and let's just say that their names are not ones that I am used to.
It was fun being with Scott and meeting the friends I have been hearing about. His teacher is SO nice and has been very helpful answering questions that I have had about school things and life here in the Philippines.
We also got to enjoy recess with Ryan and getting new books at the school library. When we had some time to kill between activities we went to yet another Mall about 10 minutes from school which also has a grocery store attached to it, a fish pond, and a playground that Ashley enjoyed, and a stop to have some frozen yogurt that was delicious and refreshing. I laughed because in the fish pond there was a sign that said not to feed the fish. If they had known I was coming they would have added one that said No people in the fish pond, but thankfully we both stayed dry.
It was fun being with Scott and meeting the friends I have been hearing about. His teacher is SO nice and has been very helpful answering questions that I have had about school things and life here in the Philippines.
We also got to enjoy recess with Ryan and getting new books at the school library. When we had some time to kill between activities we went to yet another Mall about 10 minutes from school which also has a grocery store attached to it, a fish pond, and a playground that Ashley enjoyed, and a stop to have some frozen yogurt that was delicious and refreshing. I laughed because in the fish pond there was a sign that said not to feed the fish. If they had known I was coming they would have added one that said No people in the fish pond, but thankfully we both stayed dry.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
I have said this before
but after the blog I have been reading this evening, it needs repeating. Those of us who have healthy children do not appreciate them enough! At least I do not!
I know that there are so many families out there who have been through amazing experiences with their kids-some that ended happily and some not. I just had to share this one that I found-wandering the internet (now you know what I do at night with no tv and Greg gone on a business trip)-an adorable blonde toddler who had major brain surgery today! I cannot even begin to imagine. If you think about it please pray for Oliver and his parents-Stephanie and Andrew.
http://lanierlanding.blogspot.com/
I know that there are so many families out there who have been through amazing experiences with their kids-some that ended happily and some not. I just had to share this one that I found-wandering the internet (now you know what I do at night with no tv and Greg gone on a business trip)-an adorable blonde toddler who had major brain surgery today! I cannot even begin to imagine. If you think about it please pray for Oliver and his parents-Stephanie and Andrew.
http://lanierlanding.blogspot.com/
A great new kids book
Ryan has been telling me about this cool book he had seen in the library. It's called Fast Food and the food is made into vehicles. The pictures are really neat and the story is cute too with lots of rhyming words. Here is a link to it on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Joost-Elffers/dp/043911019X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314169970&sr=8-1
Especially if you have boys who love cars, trucks, trains, planes etc (and I don't know any boys who don't) you should check out this book.
http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Joost-Elffers/dp/043911019X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314169970&sr=8-1
Especially if you have boys who love cars, trucks, trains, planes etc (and I don't know any boys who don't) you should check out this book.
Ryan update
He is getting SO big and grown up. As I have said many times, he has come so far since that little 3 1/2 pound baby.
He has lost his second tooth (ever) both since we have been here. I pulled it last night. He loves school-science experiments, math problems, and is doing very well in reading. He was quite pleased to show me the 50 pesos that the tooth fairy had left him last night. The tooth fairy was lucky that she had correct change. I have pictures of him showing the double "hole" in his mouth. He has lost both of the bottom teeth in the middle.
We have talked about being responsible for your things and looking around before you get off the school bus to make sure you have all your things. Ryan got to class one day without one of his bags and he started to cry about it. He was upset because he wouldn't have any of his notebooks for the day at school. The teacher explained that he didn't need to worry about it because someone would find it and the "bus mother" would bring it to his class. I was glad that he was able to be prepared for class. However it strikes me a little funny that the school in multiple publications has written about training our children to be responsible but the "bus mother" brings things to class that get left on the bus.
Ryan feels very grown up and enjoys riding the bus. The Early Learning Center (ELC) students' day ends before the "big school" by 10 minutes. So Ryan rides home on the bus without Scott. There is a boy in Ryan's class named Angel who lives in our neighborhood and he and Ryan enjoy the ride home together.
Another fun science experiment that Ryan's class has done is making a parachute. They are talking about air in science. They got to stand in their chairs and drop their non-sticky plastic wrap and string parachutes with paper clip passengers. His teacher has been at Brent since before she was married and now has 2 sons there in 9th and 12th grades. I'm glad that he has someone so sweet and dedicated to her students.
He has lost his second tooth (ever) both since we have been here. I pulled it last night. He loves school-science experiments, math problems, and is doing very well in reading. He was quite pleased to show me the 50 pesos that the tooth fairy had left him last night. The tooth fairy was lucky that she had correct change. I have pictures of him showing the double "hole" in his mouth. He has lost both of the bottom teeth in the middle.
We have talked about being responsible for your things and looking around before you get off the school bus to make sure you have all your things. Ryan got to class one day without one of his bags and he started to cry about it. He was upset because he wouldn't have any of his notebooks for the day at school. The teacher explained that he didn't need to worry about it because someone would find it and the "bus mother" would bring it to his class. I was glad that he was able to be prepared for class. However it strikes me a little funny that the school in multiple publications has written about training our children to be responsible but the "bus mother" brings things to class that get left on the bus.
Ryan feels very grown up and enjoys riding the bus. The Early Learning Center (ELC) students' day ends before the "big school" by 10 minutes. So Ryan rides home on the bus without Scott. There is a boy in Ryan's class named Angel who lives in our neighborhood and he and Ryan enjoy the ride home together.
Another fun science experiment that Ryan's class has done is making a parachute. They are talking about air in science. They got to stand in their chairs and drop their non-sticky plastic wrap and string parachutes with paper clip passengers. His teacher has been at Brent since before she was married and now has 2 sons there in 9th and 12th grades. I'm glad that he has someone so sweet and dedicated to her students.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Rain
Rainy season has not been as bad as we expected. We thought it would rain all the time, but it doesn't. Sometimes it will rain and before you can stop what you are doing and get inside, the rain has stopped. However sometimes we do get really heavy rains. We would love to have a rain gauge to put outside to measure the rainfall, but I can't find one. I have looked at 3 hardware stores, 2 grocery stores, and Wilcon's Home Depot. No one even seems to know what I am talking about when I ask for one. So I have posted a message on the American Women's Club website to see if anyone else has ever seen them here. I'll let you know what I find out.
I find it very funny that I can't find a rain gauge. They sell umbrellas everywhere and hotels/resorts advertise come have fun here during the rainy season, salons say come get beautiful during the rainy season but I can't find a rain gauge so that we can measure what seems to be unbelievable amounts of rain that fall sometimes.
I find it very funny that I can't find a rain gauge. They sell umbrellas everywhere and hotels/resorts advertise come have fun here during the rainy season, salons say come get beautiful during the rainy season but I can't find a rain gauge so that we can measure what seems to be unbelievable amounts of rain that fall sometimes.
Funny story about my Aunt Todd and Gran
I posted about my Aunt Todd who passed away since we have been in Manila and later realized that I had forgotten a memory of her that I could leave out. I was reading on a recipe blog about shelling peas and beans. This reminded of countless hours (I'm sure theirs were much more productive than mine) of sitting in the swing under the tree in Gran's yard "helping" her and Aunt Todd with peas and beans. I thought it was fun. Two of my other aunts have also talked about how talented and quick Aunt Todd was at "putting up" corn, beans, tomatoes-you name it.
The really funny part was that Aunt Todd and Gran didn't travel but would "go on vacation" every summer. That meant they would just sit in the swing-not doing beans or peas but would run the cord out the bedroom window and watch television while sitting in the swing. This was funny to me even as a child but they always enjoyed their vacations.
The really funny part was that Aunt Todd and Gran didn't travel but would "go on vacation" every summer. That meant they would just sit in the swing-not doing beans or peas but would run the cord out the bedroom window and watch television while sitting in the swing. This was funny to me even as a child but they always enjoyed their vacations.
More tales from the grocery stores
I bet all of you have eaten Pringles potato chips. They have some very creative people working for them who come up with new and interesting flavors to produce. I bought a can today to try of extreme dill pickle and they are pickle-y, don't know that anyone else will eat those but me and I could only eat a few at a time-not a bad thing I guess. However I have to tell you about the Pringles I did NOT buy-Seaweed flavored ones, Indonesian satay ones, and Bangkok grilled chicken wing ones. Have you ever had Seaweed flavored Pringles???? I don't think they even sold them at the Woodruff Rd. Wal-Mart! I also saw shrimp and prawn flavored potato chips today.
If you judge purely by what I have seen in the 7 grocery stores that I have been in-everyone on the island could live on vienna sausages (sadly the pork kind isn't to be found) canned tuna-in an unbelievable number of varieties, and marshmallow candies-I like candy and junk food as much as anyone, but I'd much prefer chocolate over these squishy things.
Another funny thing-which is more funny now that we know we can get "normal" milk here is that I read on the grocery store aisle label-goat milk. This was just a couple of aisles over from bottled fish. Since Ashley was at school this morning and I was roaming the grocery store, with no extra "helpers", I decided to see what goat's milk looked like but I sadly couldn't find anything that I thought was it.
At S and R, they have pink milk-surely, you think, I am kidding but no. Ashley saw it and wanted it. I read the label and it is strawbery milk-she would probably like it and not want the boring old white kind anymore.
A few other interesting things I saw-
-something called grass jelly-It sort of looks like Jello in a glass jar and there are shelves of that too-what's wrong with buying it in a box and making it at home-according to wikipedia it is
Grass jelly is made by boiling the aged and slightly oxidized stalks and leaves of Mesona chinensis[1][2] (member of the mint family) with potassium carbonate for several hours with a little starch and then cooling the liquid to a jelly-like consistency.[1][3] This jelly can be cut into cubes or other forms, and then mixed with syrup to produce a drink or dessert thought to have cooling (yin) properties, which makes it typically consumed during hot weather. The jelly itself has a slight bitter taste, a light iodine lavender flavor, and is a translucent black. It can also be mixed with soy milk to produce a milky white liquid with black strands in it.
doesn't sound or look appetizing to me!
-sadly, I did find string cheese butdidn't buy any because it was $6.00 for 8 pieces-another reason to miss Wal-Mart
Well-please send me an email and put in your order, when we come home next summer, I'll be glad to bring you some seaweed Pringles or grass jelly!
If you judge purely by what I have seen in the 7 grocery stores that I have been in-everyone on the island could live on vienna sausages (sadly the pork kind isn't to be found) canned tuna-in an unbelievable number of varieties, and marshmallow candies-I like candy and junk food as much as anyone, but I'd much prefer chocolate over these squishy things.
Another funny thing-which is more funny now that we know we can get "normal" milk here is that I read on the grocery store aisle label-goat milk. This was just a couple of aisles over from bottled fish. Since Ashley was at school this morning and I was roaming the grocery store, with no extra "helpers", I decided to see what goat's milk looked like but I sadly couldn't find anything that I thought was it.
At S and R, they have pink milk-surely, you think, I am kidding but no. Ashley saw it and wanted it. I read the label and it is strawbery milk-she would probably like it and not want the boring old white kind anymore.
A few other interesting things I saw-
-something called grass jelly-It sort of looks like Jello in a glass jar and there are shelves of that too-what's wrong with buying it in a box and making it at home-according to wikipedia it is
Grass jelly is made by boiling the aged and slightly oxidized stalks and leaves of Mesona chinensis[1][2] (member of the mint family) with potassium carbonate for several hours with a little starch and then cooling the liquid to a jelly-like consistency.[1][3] This jelly can be cut into cubes or other forms, and then mixed with syrup to produce a drink or dessert thought to have cooling (yin) properties, which makes it typically consumed during hot weather. The jelly itself has a slight bitter taste, a light iodine lavender flavor, and is a translucent black. It can also be mixed with soy milk to produce a milky white liquid with black strands in it.
doesn't sound or look appetizing to me!
-sadly, I did find string cheese butdidn't buy any because it was $6.00 for 8 pieces-another reason to miss Wal-Mart
Well-please send me an email and put in your order, when we come home next summer, I'll be glad to bring you some seaweed Pringles or grass jelly!
Funny Preschool Things
Ashley's preschool is truly a gift from God-I think that she would have been really sad and bored with me at home if I hadn't found a place for her to go. There is one other little girl in her class named Zoey-she is quiet but seems very sweet. The boys are Diego, Matthew, and Korean twins named Jun (pronounced like the month June) and Chan. The teacher told me that sometimes she calls them Jackie and Chan-one of the boys heard her tell me this and started laughing). I thought it was hilarious! The teacher (Miss Rheena) also told me that they take a long time to eat lunch because all of them (except Ashley) bring rice to eat. Having taught preschoolers I just thought getting them to eat a sandwich was a slow process-I can't imagine how slow and messy rice would be. I don't know if they eat it with spoons or chopsticks-maybe I'll get to see sometime.
I have realized that children universally all love bubbles! Matthew brought some to school one day and the teacher started blowing them inside and all the children started jumping up and down excited and trying to pop the bubbles.
I am SO thankful for Ashley's preschool and her sweet and loving teacher!
I have realized that children universally all love bubbles! Matthew brought some to school one day and the teacher started blowing them inside and all the children started jumping up and down excited and trying to pop the bubbles.
I am SO thankful for Ashley's preschool and her sweet and loving teacher!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Lizard Update
Thankfully they have been leaving us alone, for the most part, while Greg has been gone. or maybe I just haven't been looking very carefully because I don't want to have to do anything to try and get them out of the house. So far, since Tuesday, the only ones I have seen are the little itty teeny one that lives in our bathroom-less than an inch long and a couple on the house walls outside-where lizards belong.
Ashley and I did see a frog in the yard while we were swimming. I was climbing out using the ladder to go jump with her and saw it jump in the grass. We watched it for a while and she was disappointed when it hopped away and we couldn't see it anymore.
Ashley and I did see a frog in the yard while we were swimming. I was climbing out using the ladder to go jump with her and saw it jump in the grass. We watched it for a while and she was disappointed when it hopped away and we couldn't see it anymore.
Fruits
I also bought a mango-on the sticker it said it was ripe and none of us really cared for that either-yes I know you can buy those in the states but they grow a lot of them here.
Ryan discovered (by my shopping mistake) that not all grapes in the world are seedless and seemed really unhappy about that.
We have bought and enjoyed tremendously slices of fresh pineapple and look forward to buying whole ones when I have a knife actually large enough to cut one open.
Our Saturday Trip to Ark Avilon Zoo
Here is Ryan holding one more of the birds
We met an orangutan named Jenny who was wearing purple pants and blue crocs on her feet. Ashley gave her a hug and she held our hands.
My mother would have been twitching and squealing in terror because the four of us sat on a bench and held a snake so long that Ashley had the tail and I had the head-it was very long-yes I have a picture of this.
We saw a white tiger, a sun bear, a puma, a jaguar, lots of fish, turtles, various lizards. I held an owl on my arm with a glove and another larger and heavier bird of prey. The boys held some smaller birds-a large blue macaw and sun conures (that are yellow and orange and we have seen in a cage at the Greenville zoo).
We fed carrots to rabbits and guinea pigs and leafy greens to goats, sheep, and pigs. To watch Ashley feed animals was hilarious. We were hot and they had ice cream there so we couldn't pass that up-doesn't everyone eat ice cream before lunch? It was Saturday. Scott and Ryan chose their ice cream bars and Ashley was looking into the cooler saying "I want a PINK one!" So she ate a strawbery flavored one. Does anyone know of any healthy pink vegetables? Maybe I could get her to eat those better.
It was a good trip-I can't wait to add those pictures. There is another zoo affiliated with this one (called Avilon Zoo) that is the largest zoo in the Philippines that also looks like a very neat place to visit. I think we'll save that one to do with Greg sometime. It was also fun that as we were getting ready to leave we ran into a family with 2 boys that go to school with Scott and Ryan. Greg would laugh and say that (just like my dad) I can't go anywhere-even thousands of miles from home-and not run into someone that I know.
On a side note, as we were driving home we could see the airport from the expressway and you would have thought my children had never seen airplanes before. Granted Greenville has a very small airport but they enjoyed watching the planes which looked very large because they were so close and our driver was even kind enough to drive very slowly so they could look at the ones on the ground. This was the airport we flew into but it was late and dark the night we landed so they really haven't had a chance to see much of the airport.
Playing at School
On Thursday afternoon, Ashley and I went to school to take care of a few things and exchange our library books. I told the boys that morning that we could stay after and play on the playgrounds. I took the camera with me so that I could get some pictures of the school fish pond-yet another one, but hopefully a less embarassing deal than the one at the hotel. I wish I had pictures of that one but I am not about to return there to take pictures.
Anyway, we played on Scott's playground and then went to the fish pond. There is a bridge over the little pond and benches-I think it is called the meditation garden on the school map. It would be a great quiet place to sit and read if you didn't have noisy children with you. I took pictures of the kids there and the fish and thankfully no one slipped, fell in, or even got wet-though Scott was just itching to put his fingers in the water. I'll post the pictures when I can.
Something funny about the bridge though-there are spaces between the boards so that you could look down and see the water. Ashley was hilarious to watch-she was walking so tentatively-like she thought the bridge was going to collapse on her at any moment. She did this the whole time we were there-it was funny.
Sadly then as we were walking to Ryan's playground she fell on a sidewalk and got a pretty good skinned knee but we got her cleaned up, played some more and went home for a nap-which always helps.
Anyway, we played on Scott's playground and then went to the fish pond. There is a bridge over the little pond and benches-I think it is called the meditation garden on the school map. It would be a great quiet place to sit and read if you didn't have noisy children with you. I took pictures of the kids there and the fish and thankfully no one slipped, fell in, or even got wet-though Scott was just itching to put his fingers in the water. I'll post the pictures when I can.
Something funny about the bridge though-there are spaces between the boards so that you could look down and see the water. Ashley was hilarious to watch-she was walking so tentatively-like she thought the bridge was going to collapse on her at any moment. She did this the whole time we were there-it was funny.
Sadly then as we were walking to Ryan's playground she fell on a sidewalk and got a pretty good skinned knee but we got her cleaned up, played some more and went home for a nap-which always helps.
Sticks out like a sore thumb
Today we were shopping at S and R-our version of Sam's. I was trying to hurry, had Ashley and Ryan in the buggy that I was pushing. Scott was trying to "help" push and just as in Sam's on a Saturday it was pretty crowded. I had to laugh though when I heard a chld, not too much older than Scott say-"Look there is an American family!" At least he didn't say that he had seen a bunch of "pink-y skinned people."
Ryan and his love of science experiments
Ryan's class is talking about matter and air in class. They have been talking about weather and wind and how you know that air is really there since you can't see it. They were all given a balloon, straw, a paper bag, a feather and some other stuff one day last week. It thrilled Ryan to no end to fill his balloon, put it on the straw and then push it off to make it fly around his classroom. His classmates thought it was so funny that the teacher let him do it again.
He was super excited to tell me about the experiment another day where you can keep a paper towel dry. You wad up a paper towel and put it in the bottom of a container-a cup, bowl, tupperware will do. Then you turn the container upside down and put it straight down into a sink or tub full of water. If you keep the container completely straight-put it down into the water and pull it straight back up out of the water, then the paper towel stays dry-you have to use one hand to keep the towel in the container you are using. Ryan explained to us that the reason it stays dry is because the air takes up space in the bowl and so the water can't get in-if you keep the bowl straight. We had to try this out with multiple different containers from our kitchen in the swimming pool on Friday evening.
It is so fascinating to me to see the way a child's mind works and hear what they are really interested in. I'm sure that Ryan will go to school Monday and tell his teacher that we did their experiment at home.
He was super excited to tell me about the experiment another day where you can keep a paper towel dry. You wad up a paper towel and put it in the bottom of a container-a cup, bowl, tupperware will do. Then you turn the container upside down and put it straight down into a sink or tub full of water. If you keep the container completely straight-put it down into the water and pull it straight back up out of the water, then the paper towel stays dry-you have to use one hand to keep the towel in the container you are using. Ryan explained to us that the reason it stays dry is because the air takes up space in the bowl and so the water can't get in-if you keep the bowl straight. We had to try this out with multiple different containers from our kitchen in the swimming pool on Friday evening.
It is so fascinating to me to see the way a child's mind works and hear what they are really interested in. I'm sure that Ryan will go to school Monday and tell his teacher that we did their experiment at home.
Ashley says it is unfair
As I have mentioned on more than one occasion, Ashley loves being like her big brothers and doing whatever they are doing. Recently she told me that it was unfair that they slept in underwear and she still had to sleep in a diaper. That in itself made me laugh. So I decided that I would try letting her sleep in her underwear too-what mom wants to be accused of unfairness-ha ha! I have been pleasantly surprised at the results-2 nights in a row, with me waking her up and taking her to the bathroom 1 last time before I go to bed, she has woken up dry! Maybe we won't need all the diapers we brought with us after all.
Friday, August 19, 2011
The Headband
Ashley has been asking for a headband for a while. I have bought her one at the grocery store since we have been here. I had a hard time finding one that I thought would fit her head and actually hold the hair back out of her face. She loves wearing and playing with it-we don't wear it at school for that reason and I have to threaten to take it away often at meals. It is-you guessed it pink! So it matches most of her clothes.
I didn't know why this was something she wanted so much until she was wearing it around and saying "I have a headband like Katie does." So our niece Katie who loves her rainbow headband and wears it quite often when all of us are together has influenced Ashley's hair choices. So glad that she has a sweet big girl cousin to look up to.
I didn't know why this was something she wanted so much until she was wearing it around and saying "I have a headband like Katie does." So our niece Katie who loves her rainbow headband and wears it quite often when all of us are together has influenced Ashley's hair choices. So glad that she has a sweet big girl cousin to look up to.
A book at Ashley's preschool
Miss Rheena uses an alphabet book with Ashley's class that made me laugh. It has a cd that goes with it and the tune has been stuck in my head. It starts with a is for alligator, b is for ball, c is for caterpillar, d is for doll. The other little girl in Ashley's class always says here "I have a doll!" Her name is Zoey and apparently she really loves her doll. What I thought was so funny was that in this book m is for mitten and q is for quarter-both things totally foreign to most kids here. The alphabet is printed in the back of the book and at the end of the song everyone gets to point out "their magic letter" i.e. the one their name starts with.
She had another great day today-her favorite thing was that they made play-doh. The school does a 3 day free trial, which Ashley has done this week. So now she is officially registered and has 3 Little Apprentice t-shirts to wear to school. Of course one of them is pink, one is green, and everyone has to have a white one to wear on field trips. She is already excited about going back on Monday. I'll have to take a picture of her in her "school uniform" to post later.
Something else that made me laugh-as I was filling out forms today, I was requested to list Ashley's "fetchers" from school. At first I didn't know what they were asking for-then I realized they meant who was allowed to pick her up. I explained that I would usually be the fetcher (not a title that I have called myself before) but Greg might need to sometimes or our driver in the case of an emergency.
She had another great day today-her favorite thing was that they made play-doh. The school does a 3 day free trial, which Ashley has done this week. So now she is officially registered and has 3 Little Apprentice t-shirts to wear to school. Of course one of them is pink, one is green, and everyone has to have a white one to wear on field trips. She is already excited about going back on Monday. I'll have to take a picture of her in her "school uniform" to post later.
Something else that made me laugh-as I was filling out forms today, I was requested to list Ashley's "fetchers" from school. At first I didn't know what they were asking for-then I realized they meant who was allowed to pick her up. I explained that I would usually be the fetcher (not a title that I have called myself before) but Greg might need to sometimes or our driver in the case of an emergency.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
A visit to Ashley's Preschool
Yesterday I went to stay at school with Ashley for part of her day to observe at the teacher's invitation since Ashley is new. I was impressed. The teacher did a great job with all the children guiding them and helping them but expecting to do work on their own, listen, and follow directions. They had circle time-talking about the number 5 and doing activities with that, they did a worksheet where they were tracing their name, tracing the number 5, and coloring umbrellas with 5 on them-she talked about coloring neatly. They went outside to play and did a fine motor skills activity decorating painted toilet paper roll binoculars with glue and sequins. Teacher Rheena told me that she has been teaching at the preschool for 3 years and 3-4 year olds are her favorite age. She had been working on her Master's but missed the children too much so she came back. She is very kind to the kids but firm with asking them to stay in their chair or wait their turn to do something. I think it will be a great fit for Ashley. She was already asking "when do I get to go back to preschool again?"
Another good driver story is that on Wednesday, Chris, our regular driver is off. So Greg makes arrangements with someone at his office for us to have a different driver. This usually requires several phone calls and he has been standing in the driveway a few Wednesdays waiting for someone to show up. I texted someone to make sure that we would have a driver and was assured that it was taken care of. He was supposed to be at our house around 10. When no one was here at 11 I started texting again and the guy showed up and admitted that he had forgotten us. Too funny! It was okay-we weren't late to school or anything but another funny story about life here.
Another good driver story is that on Wednesday, Chris, our regular driver is off. So Greg makes arrangements with someone at his office for us to have a different driver. This usually requires several phone calls and he has been standing in the driveway a few Wednesdays waiting for someone to show up. I texted someone to make sure that we would have a driver and was assured that it was taken care of. He was supposed to be at our house around 10. When no one was here at 11 I started texting again and the guy showed up and admitted that he had forgotten us. Too funny! It was okay-we weren't late to school or anything but another funny story about life here.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Things that have particularly reminded me of my Parents
My mother would LOVE all the flowers and plants here. She always enjoyed tropical flowers in the Cayman Islands when we went there to scuba dive. She would also be happy for me that our pool guy also takes care of our yard because I did not inherit that love/talent for growing things from her.
I saw a sign for a dive shop the other day that made me smile and think of my Dad. He was always a very hard worker but played even harder when it was time to play. The sign said "Dive now, Work later" Daddy first learned to scuba dive when he was at Ga Tech in the 1960s-all rubber wetsuit and a round mask without a separate space for your nose. When I was 15 and he came home and said "hey would you like to learn to scuba dive?" I had no idea the fun that I was going to get to enjoy. We took lessons from an instructor who came to our pool-me and 3 dear friends and many more later. Greg said that Daddy wouldn't let him marry me until he was a certified diver-not really the truth.
I think that Daddy would also be amused at some of our electrical/plumbing issues we have dealt with since being here-plugs, how to explain to our kids what bidets are, and having to get the contractors to fix reversed handles on one of our faucets-"Why does hot water come out when I turn on the blue faucet?"
I also noticed that on the sign as you come in our neighborhood it says that Ayala Alabang Village is a bird sanctuary. My grandmother (mom's mom) was a bird "NUT." There is just no other way to put it-she enjoyed watching them, collecting bird figurines, and even had one of those crazy clocks. "GreatMommy" would be happy to know that we are living in a bird sanctuary.
I saw a sign for a dive shop the other day that made me smile and think of my Dad. He was always a very hard worker but played even harder when it was time to play. The sign said "Dive now, Work later" Daddy first learned to scuba dive when he was at Ga Tech in the 1960s-all rubber wetsuit and a round mask without a separate space for your nose. When I was 15 and he came home and said "hey would you like to learn to scuba dive?" I had no idea the fun that I was going to get to enjoy. We took lessons from an instructor who came to our pool-me and 3 dear friends and many more later. Greg said that Daddy wouldn't let him marry me until he was a certified diver-not really the truth.
I think that Daddy would also be amused at some of our electrical/plumbing issues we have dealt with since being here-plugs, how to explain to our kids what bidets are, and having to get the contractors to fix reversed handles on one of our faucets-"Why does hot water come out when I turn on the blue faucet?"
I also noticed that on the sign as you come in our neighborhood it says that Ayala Alabang Village is a bird sanctuary. My grandmother (mom's mom) was a bird "NUT." There is just no other way to put it-she enjoyed watching them, collecting bird figurines, and even had one of those crazy clocks. "GreatMommy" would be happy to know that we are living in a bird sanctuary.
Other unusual things I've seen
Vehicles you don't see driving around the US-sometime I will take pictures out the van window and hope our driver doesn't think I'm too crazy:
Tricycles-these look like motorcycles with a side car attached and are covered usually
Jeepneys-this history is from Wikipedia-When American troops began to leave the Philippines at the end of WWII, hundreds of surplus jeeps were sold or given to local Filipinos. The Filipinos stripped down and altered the jeeps to accommodate more passengers, added metal roofs for shade, and decorated the vehicles with vibrant colors and bright chrome hood ornaments. The jeepney rapidly emerged as a popular and creative way to re-establish inexpensive public transportation, which had been virtually destroyed during WWII. Recognizing the widespread use of these vehicles, the Philippine government began to regulate their use. Drivers now must have specialized licenses, regular routes, and reasonably fixed fares.
I saw a scooter (small motorcycle thing) with 4 people riding on it at once-3 of them were children-none had on helmets. They also have no carseat laws here-our kids are continuing to ride in the ones they were using in the US-except when the boys are on the school bus.
Funny signs I've seen-
"No Swerving"-does anyone do this on purpose?
"Don't text and drive"-texting is HUGE here-you can even communicate with businesses by text.
"Male Urinal"-this was on a little booth thing on the side of the road-I had to re-read the sign because I thought "surely that isn't what it really said?" when I read it the first time There are also no doors on these little booth things
Tricycles-these look like motorcycles with a side car attached and are covered usually
Jeepneys-this history is from Wikipedia-When American troops began to leave the Philippines at the end of WWII, hundreds of surplus jeeps were sold or given to local Filipinos. The Filipinos stripped down and altered the jeeps to accommodate more passengers, added metal roofs for shade, and decorated the vehicles with vibrant colors and bright chrome hood ornaments. The jeepney rapidly emerged as a popular and creative way to re-establish inexpensive public transportation, which had been virtually destroyed during WWII. Recognizing the widespread use of these vehicles, the Philippine government began to regulate their use. Drivers now must have specialized licenses, regular routes, and reasonably fixed fares.
I saw a scooter (small motorcycle thing) with 4 people riding on it at once-3 of them were children-none had on helmets. They also have no carseat laws here-our kids are continuing to ride in the ones they were using in the US-except when the boys are on the school bus.
Funny signs I've seen-
"No Swerving"-does anyone do this on purpose?
"Don't text and drive"-texting is HUGE here-you can even communicate with businesses by text.
"Male Urinal"-this was on a little booth thing on the side of the road-I had to re-read the sign because I thought "surely that isn't what it really said?" when I read it the first time There are also no doors on these little booth things
Receipts, Money, and Buying things here
I think that I mentioned in an earlier post that they like to test things in stores here to prove to you that they work before you buy them. Even though they work in the store, we have had a couple of things that didn't perform exactly like they were supposed to when we got them home. Ashley's cd player-the play button works but not the stop button-generally not a problem since we turn it on when she goes to sleep and it stops when the cd is at its end. Scott's digital clock has one line that doesn't light up-this is his second clock. After having to exchange the first one I decided not to exchange it again over one line that didn't light up. We have also found out though that sometimes houses here have some 120 volt outlets and some 240 volt so that may be part of the issue. Greg is going to check this out when his meter arrives on the ocean container.
So today while grocery shopping I bought 2 lightbulbs. I laughed when the guy wanted to test them for me. He had a little wooden board with sockets underneath, plugged in the bulbs and showed me that they lit up. Then when I went to check out and pay for them, the cashier asked if they had been tested for me. On this same grocery store visit though I successfully returned a clock that I had bought, brought home, put a battery in, and it didn't run-oh well!
Receipts and the keeping track of how money is spent is usually an interesting topic between couples. Greg and I joke that we have come a long way in this area in our 17 years of marriage-meeting somewhere in the middle. I never saved a receipt unless I thought I was going to need to return something. Greg saved them ALL for decades and I'm not joking. We still sometimes had trouble with ATM receipts because it is easy to spend cash and not keep track of it. Here that issue has been greatly multiplied because many places here do not accept credit cards. So, of course, Greg has created a cash accounting place in our Quicken software and we were entering items into that last night before he left for his trip. We were kidding and laughing as we tried to remember where we had spent all our pesos-there are about 43 to $1 so the numbers are also a lot larger. We try to jot down cash spent in places where you don't get a receipt. I had written down one of Ashley's carousel rides but had forgotten about a 10 peso ride on a giant stuffed animal. When Greg calculated how much money was "missing" he asked me how many times she rode and just to get him I said that I paid for all the kids in the mall to ride an animal. We had to pay for a neighborhood id for the pool guy and then finally remembered that Ryan had lost a tooth and the nerve of that tooth fairy to not leave a receipt-HOW TACKY! We finally got to where there was the equivalent of about $10 "missing" and Greg called it quits and entered a balance adjustment and entered how much cash we had in the house. I told him that I was impressed that he didn't have to have it balance to the exact penny or centimo (as they are called here).
As if all the dealings in cash aren't bad enough, the larger stores that do take credit cards give you 2 receipts to sign and often 2 or 3 receipt copies that are yours. Some of them say "this is your official receipt" and sometimes if it is something that Greg's company is paying for we have to have that kind of receipt.
I wish that my receipt loving (but otherwise very dear) sister in law Jodi could just move here and be our personal receipt keeper and enter-er.
So today while grocery shopping I bought 2 lightbulbs. I laughed when the guy wanted to test them for me. He had a little wooden board with sockets underneath, plugged in the bulbs and showed me that they lit up. Then when I went to check out and pay for them, the cashier asked if they had been tested for me. On this same grocery store visit though I successfully returned a clock that I had bought, brought home, put a battery in, and it didn't run-oh well!
Receipts and the keeping track of how money is spent is usually an interesting topic between couples. Greg and I joke that we have come a long way in this area in our 17 years of marriage-meeting somewhere in the middle. I never saved a receipt unless I thought I was going to need to return something. Greg saved them ALL for decades and I'm not joking. We still sometimes had trouble with ATM receipts because it is easy to spend cash and not keep track of it. Here that issue has been greatly multiplied because many places here do not accept credit cards. So, of course, Greg has created a cash accounting place in our Quicken software and we were entering items into that last night before he left for his trip. We were kidding and laughing as we tried to remember where we had spent all our pesos-there are about 43 to $1 so the numbers are also a lot larger. We try to jot down cash spent in places where you don't get a receipt. I had written down one of Ashley's carousel rides but had forgotten about a 10 peso ride on a giant stuffed animal. When Greg calculated how much money was "missing" he asked me how many times she rode and just to get him I said that I paid for all the kids in the mall to ride an animal. We had to pay for a neighborhood id for the pool guy and then finally remembered that Ryan had lost a tooth and the nerve of that tooth fairy to not leave a receipt-HOW TACKY! We finally got to where there was the equivalent of about $10 "missing" and Greg called it quits and entered a balance adjustment and entered how much cash we had in the house. I told him that I was impressed that he didn't have to have it balance to the exact penny or centimo (as they are called here).
As if all the dealings in cash aren't bad enough, the larger stores that do take credit cards give you 2 receipts to sign and often 2 or 3 receipt copies that are yours. Some of them say "this is your official receipt" and sometimes if it is something that Greg's company is paying for we have to have that kind of receipt.
I wish that my receipt loving (but otherwise very dear) sister in law Jodi could just move here and be our personal receipt keeper and enter-er.
Monday, August 15, 2011
The School Bus and Preschool
Since we weren't sure we were going to be in the right place we rode with Greg and our driver, Chris this morning to the bus stop. Ashley and I just decided to ride on to the office with Greg to have a few extra minutes with him. She immediately started asking "Can I go to preschool now?" She wasn't dressed in what she had said that she wanted to wear and hadn't really had breakfast. We said no that it wasn't time to go yet. We saw the boys' bus pulling away as we drove back to our house. By the time the driver and I got home with her, she had asked so many times that even Chris was beginning to laugh at her.
We read books, talked to Grammy on the phone, ate some breakfast, and got dressed. A little after 11 we went back to Greg's office so that he could join us for the first day of preschool. It was the same with all of our kids-they could have cared less if we stayed even for a minute. She went in with her pink Hello Kitty lunchbox and immediately sat down to play. I had to ask for a kiss good-bye. I was thinking that it would be more sad taking my "last one" to preschool but she was so excited that it was easy just to be excited for her. I do have pictures but will have to post them when Greg gets home from his trip. After we left school, Greg and I went to have a nice grown-ups only lunch-it was very nice!
According to Ashley she painted, played outside on the playground, and learned. They talked about the letter T and she had a great time. When I went back to pick her up I was told that they were amazed by her talking. She told her teacher that she wanted to come back tomorrow-she doesn't understand that she only goes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She had fun telling the boys about her own day at school when they got home too.
The boys did both arrive home and safely on the bus, just not exactly how I expected-it was on 2 different buses. The Early Learning Center (K-2nd grade) gets out 10 minutes earlier so Ryan arrived home first, saying that he had enjoyed riding the bus and got to sit next to a friend in his class on the way home. Scott arrived on another bus a few minutes later and said that he had had fun riding too. A good day of firsts for everyone!
The Weekend
Before the promised after school ice cream and swimming we found out that Greg was ready to leave the office. We stopped by to pick him up on the way home from school and found out that our car had arrived-not ours from the US but the one that would be ours while we are here in Manila. So we pulled in the parking garage, moved carseats, and brought our new van home. It is gold-more easily recognizable-it seems like there are thousands of white vans here. The boys kept wanting to play with the "mood lighting" buttons on the ceiling that changes the color of lights in the car. I've never seen a van with mood lighting before. We did get home and have our ice cream, an evening swim, and sloppy joes for dinner.
On Saturday evening we went back to the mall and tried out another play area called the Pixie Forest. The kids rode a mini log ride, Ashley and Greg rode a ferris wheel where the buckets you rode in were shaped like flowers, and the boys rode an airplane ride and they played some games. We also ate dinner at Outback that night.
Sunday we visited Victory Christian Fellowship again and the sermon was wonderful-the pastor started a new series called All In-in the Christian life. He is preaching from Ephesians. He talked about what a privilege our direct access to God the Father is. He shared the illustration of how his children ask him for things boldly because of the relationship that they have with him and that we can do the same with our Heavenly Father. The kids enjoyed their classes again also. It was nice to have a relaxing weekend-since Greg leaves on Tuesday for a business trip to Vancouver, Canada.
On Saturday evening we went back to the mall and tried out another play area called the Pixie Forest. The kids rode a mini log ride, Ashley and Greg rode a ferris wheel where the buckets you rode in were shaped like flowers, and the boys rode an airplane ride and they played some games. We also ate dinner at Outback that night.
Sunday we visited Victory Christian Fellowship again and the sermon was wonderful-the pastor started a new series called All In-in the Christian life. He is preaching from Ephesians. He talked about what a privilege our direct access to God the Father is. He shared the illustration of how his children ask him for things boldly because of the relationship that they have with him and that we can do the same with our Heavenly Father. The kids enjoyed their classes again also. It was nice to have a relaxing weekend-since Greg leaves on Tuesday for a business trip to Vancouver, Canada.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Friday
The boys' school has chapel every Friday and parents are invited to attend. So Ashley and I stayed to go to chapel with Ryan today. It was really nice! It was in the ELC lunchroom. We prayed and sang a welcome song. The very lively PE coach led us in singing God is good all the time-with motions. Ashley had a ball, clapping and dancing in her chair. Then the principal read a story by Katie Couric about new kids at school. The school's chapel theme for the year is Be Loving. The principal talked about 1 Corinthians 13 and emphasized being patient and kind. It was a really neat program and I was proud of Ashley for mostly sitting still and quietly.
We were going to walk Ryan back to class and I was so surprised to see him walking toward us with tears in his eyes. He said that he wanted to stay with us. This is the first time anything like this has happened since we've been here. We talked about what great days he has been having at school and that Ashley and I were going home and he wouldn't want to miss PE and fun the rest of the day at school. He settled down pretty quickly and I peeked in on him before we left and he was fine. I guess he got to thinking about being new a little too much after the story.
Ashley and I came home, did a few things, and now she is having an early nap so that we can all swim when the boys get home.
I had to laugh at a conversation that Scott and Ryan were having in the backseat of the van coming home one day-about people in their classes and how it's hard to remember their names because they are different. Scott said that there were he and 2 other "pink-y skinned" people in his class and they were all new to Brent this year. Then Ryan pipes up and says that he is the only "pink-y skinned" person in his whole class. We are definitely in the minority at the school but that is part of why we thought this would be such a great experience for our kids-to learn that everyone in the world isn't just like us and that it is fun to have lots of new and varied friends-whether there skin is pink-y or not.
We were going to walk Ryan back to class and I was so surprised to see him walking toward us with tears in his eyes. He said that he wanted to stay with us. This is the first time anything like this has happened since we've been here. We talked about what great days he has been having at school and that Ashley and I were going home and he wouldn't want to miss PE and fun the rest of the day at school. He settled down pretty quickly and I peeked in on him before we left and he was fine. I guess he got to thinking about being new a little too much after the story.
Ashley and I came home, did a few things, and now she is having an early nap so that we can all swim when the boys get home.
I had to laugh at a conversation that Scott and Ryan were having in the backseat of the van coming home one day-about people in their classes and how it's hard to remember their names because they are different. Scott said that there were he and 2 other "pink-y skinned" people in his class and they were all new to Brent this year. Then Ryan pipes up and says that he is the only "pink-y skinned" person in his whole class. We are definitely in the minority at the school but that is part of why we thought this would be such a great experience for our kids-to learn that everyone in the world isn't just like us and that it is fun to have lots of new and varied friends-whether there skin is pink-y or not.
Thursday
Thursday, Ashley and I went to a Newcomer's Coffee for the Alabang Ladies Group here in our neighborhood. She enjoyed playing in our hostess' playroom for a while. I chatted with our next door neighbor and a recently moved to Manila friend of hers, met a lady that I had emailed with about the coffee, and saw the president of the group-she had come over to our table to introduce herself while we were eating dinner at the same restaurant over the weekend. There were 30-40 ladies there and it was really nice. We had a time of announcement after mingling and snacks (real ones, not even served out of a hello kitty container). Then during the time of ladies going around and introducing ourselves she started to get fussy so we ducked out a little early for a nap before time to get the boys from school.
Ryan has to read out loud every night for homework and I can tell he is improving already. They both have assignment books to put homework in and are getting into the routines of their new school. I am so thankful for a place they are really enjoying and 2 really nice caring teachers.
Ryan has to read out loud every night for homework and I can tell he is improving already. They both have assignment books to put homework in and are getting into the routines of their new school. I am so thankful for a place they are really enjoying and 2 really nice caring teachers.
Tuesday and Wednesday
Now that we have employees we have to register with PhilHealth for their insurance and Social Security here. Greg had filled out all the paperwork for me and sent me the addresses of the offices we needed to go to because we were having internet problems at home that day. So I thought we would just go on Tuesday and take care of both of these things but it was not to be. PhilHealth is a little farther away so I told Chris that we needed to go there and he started driving he was about to turn the direction we needed to go on a major road and remembered "oh it's Tuesday we can't go there." I guess as a pollution control method, cars can't go towards downtown Manila or North of Alabang (the area we live in) on certain days and it is based on your car's license tag. Tuesday is our day-so no PhilHealth.
Next we go to Social Security where we get a number and are told where to wait-thankfully not very long. However when it was our turn, we were told that we didn't really need to fill out and turn in those papers-even though their website said that we did. Oh well!
Then we went to the mall-at least that was productive-this time we went to Festival mall, closer to Greg's office. We were able to find a store that printed pictures to get some printed for a project for Ryan's class, ate lunch at Wendy's, bought a broom that doesn't shed straws on the floor as you sweep with it, and stopped to explore yet another grocery store on the way home. That one is called Pure Gold-really it's a grocery store not a jewelry store. I bought Ashley a cute t-shirt with a cupcake on it and found powdered sugar-which is a required ingredient for Greg's favorite dessert, Gooey. So I was able to accomplish some things today-just not quite what I had planned.
Wednesday, the substitute driver took me and Ashley to PhilHealth after taking the boys to school-with no mishaps today. This time I was awfully glad to be waiting with only 1 child, because we waited about an hour. When it was our turn though, a lady typed some info into her computer, printed us some papers, stamped some papers, and we were finished. Then we got the driver to take us to a neighboring area to this place called Market Market. I thought it was just a grocery store but should have known better-it was part of a 5 story mall. We wandered the mall a little, ate pizza for lunch at (Sbarro-just like the ones at the malls in the US), and most exciting for Ashley she got to ride a giant stuffed animal. It was a motorized thing that you steer after putting in a token-costs 10 pesos-$1 is about 43 pesos. She wanted to ride the pig, probably because it was pink. She didn't do a very good job steering though, she ran into a teenage girl sitting on the edge of the area where kids rode these animals.
The most exciting thing for me was finding a box of Greg's favorite cereal at the grocery store and 5 boxes of Toy Story Cheez It crackers-I bought ALL 5! The kids were very excited. Now I know why our pantry is so big, I am learning that if you see something you like and don't buy it you will probably regret it because who knows when you will see it again?
The funniest thing about Wednesday-
We were out of milk so I planned to leave Market Market in time to get back to our area of town, stop at S and R to get milk and leave it at the house before getting the boys from school. I had texted our driver to pick us up from Market Market and just as we were getting in the car Ashley said "I have to go to the bathroom." If I had been at Haywood Mall at home I would have just walked her back into the mall to go but I had no idea where the closest one was or where the driver would have to go back to while we hunted a bathroom so I just kind of ignored her request. Not a good idea! It was totally my fault-I should have thought about how much she had had to drink that morning. When we got out at S and R, her clothes were wet. She said that she still had to go, so we found their bathrooms and were so excited to discover that they had SEATS AND TOILET PAPER! This is a first in a public bathroom since we have been here. So I shopped quickly and our trip home included getting dry clothes too!
We did all that and still managed to get to school on time and since Thursday is a late start day at school we stayed after and played on both boys' playgrounds before coming home to do homework. After all this we were really hot and sweaty-Ashley offered me some pretend ice cream-I asked her if she had a Cherry Limeade from Sonic but she said no. She was correct-there are no Sonics here but we really enjoyed the a/c on the ride home. Thursday school doesn't start until 8:50-the teachers meet that morning before school. I would have loved that, as a teacher, instead of having after school meetings that seemed to drag on into the afternoon.
Next we go to Social Security where we get a number and are told where to wait-thankfully not very long. However when it was our turn, we were told that we didn't really need to fill out and turn in those papers-even though their website said that we did. Oh well!
Then we went to the mall-at least that was productive-this time we went to Festival mall, closer to Greg's office. We were able to find a store that printed pictures to get some printed for a project for Ryan's class, ate lunch at Wendy's, bought a broom that doesn't shed straws on the floor as you sweep with it, and stopped to explore yet another grocery store on the way home. That one is called Pure Gold-really it's a grocery store not a jewelry store. I bought Ashley a cute t-shirt with a cupcake on it and found powdered sugar-which is a required ingredient for Greg's favorite dessert, Gooey. So I was able to accomplish some things today-just not quite what I had planned.
Wednesday, the substitute driver took me and Ashley to PhilHealth after taking the boys to school-with no mishaps today. This time I was awfully glad to be waiting with only 1 child, because we waited about an hour. When it was our turn though, a lady typed some info into her computer, printed us some papers, stamped some papers, and we were finished. Then we got the driver to take us to a neighboring area to this place called Market Market. I thought it was just a grocery store but should have known better-it was part of a 5 story mall. We wandered the mall a little, ate pizza for lunch at (Sbarro-just like the ones at the malls in the US), and most exciting for Ashley she got to ride a giant stuffed animal. It was a motorized thing that you steer after putting in a token-costs 10 pesos-$1 is about 43 pesos. She wanted to ride the pig, probably because it was pink. She didn't do a very good job steering though, she ran into a teenage girl sitting on the edge of the area where kids rode these animals.
The most exciting thing for me was finding a box of Greg's favorite cereal at the grocery store and 5 boxes of Toy Story Cheez It crackers-I bought ALL 5! The kids were very excited. Now I know why our pantry is so big, I am learning that if you see something you like and don't buy it you will probably regret it because who knows when you will see it again?
The funniest thing about Wednesday-
We were out of milk so I planned to leave Market Market in time to get back to our area of town, stop at S and R to get milk and leave it at the house before getting the boys from school. I had texted our driver to pick us up from Market Market and just as we were getting in the car Ashley said "I have to go to the bathroom." If I had been at Haywood Mall at home I would have just walked her back into the mall to go but I had no idea where the closest one was or where the driver would have to go back to while we hunted a bathroom so I just kind of ignored her request. Not a good idea! It was totally my fault-I should have thought about how much she had had to drink that morning. When we got out at S and R, her clothes were wet. She said that she still had to go, so we found their bathrooms and were so excited to discover that they had SEATS AND TOILET PAPER! This is a first in a public bathroom since we have been here. So I shopped quickly and our trip home included getting dry clothes too!
We did all that and still managed to get to school on time and since Thursday is a late start day at school we stayed after and played on both boys' playgrounds before coming home to do homework. After all this we were really hot and sweaty-Ashley offered me some pretend ice cream-I asked her if she had a Cherry Limeade from Sonic but she said no. She was correct-there are no Sonics here but we really enjoyed the a/c on the ride home. Thursday school doesn't start until 8:50-the teachers meet that morning before school. I would have loved that, as a teacher, instead of having after school meetings that seemed to drag on into the afternoon.
Fun Just Girls Time
I have been trying to do some fun things that Ashley would enjoy since she starts preschool next week. One afternoon we left a little early to pick up the boys at school and played at one of our neighborhood playgrounds along with checking out the neighborhood grocery store that it's beside. We found a few good things there and it was a great place to run back in to get some cool water for the ride to school.
We went swimming one morning, just the two of us. She likes to play "party" on the steps of the pool. It is almost always a Hello Kitty party and we almost always have pink Hello Kitty cupcakes to eat. Quite often I ask if she has any Chick Fil A to eat-I don't care if they are nuggets or a sandwich-just wish there were some available. We have several American fast food places and restaurants here but sadly no CFA, which is one of our MOST favorites. Sometimes Ashley will tell me there are chicken nuggets but sometimes not. Most often whatever the first thing I ask her for, she will say "we don't have any of that." It's funny. We also usually swim and bounce and play with pool toys at her "parties."
We went swimming one morning, just the two of us. She likes to play "party" on the steps of the pool. It is almost always a Hello Kitty party and we almost always have pink Hello Kitty cupcakes to eat. Quite often I ask if she has any Chick Fil A to eat-I don't care if they are nuggets or a sandwich-just wish there were some available. We have several American fast food places and restaurants here but sadly no CFA, which is one of our MOST favorites. Sometimes Ashley will tell me there are chicken nuggets but sometimes not. Most often whatever the first thing I ask her for, she will say "we don't have any of that." It's funny. We also usually swim and bounce and play with pool toys at her "parties."
The Driver Miscommunication
Monday, Aug 8th began the kids first whole week at school. We arrived at school at 7:30. Ryan wanted me to go with him, just one more day. So Ashley and I got out with him at the ELC and went in. I told Scott goodbye, to have a good day, and reminded him where we would meet him that afternoon. I thought I told the driver that I would text him when we were ready to go home, meaning me and Ashley. Either our driver, Chris, didn't understand or I didn't tell him clearly enough that he was supposed to take Scott to the other building to drop him off.
Ryan, Ashley, and I went in, played on the playground, and then Ryan went to class. Ashley and I went to the library to read books. We had been reading for quite a while, it was 9:00am-school started at 8:00. Scott and Chris coming walking in the library. My first thought was that Scott was sick and his teacher had gotten in touch with Chris for some reason. Chris had sent me a text at 8:30 but I hadn't heard the signal on my phone.
He and Scott had been SITTING IN THE VAN the whole time expecting me to text. Chris felt SO bad that I tried to keep the look of horror off my face. We went to the Lower School office, got Scott a tardy pass, and walked him to class. I stuck my head in and apologized to the teacher and said that we had a miscommunication with the driver. She laughed and said "that happens all the time here." I sent her an email that night to explain and she said it very well that we are divided by a common language here. It made a great story for Scott's writer's notebook that day. I'm sure that Chris' ears were worn out after spending that long in the van with Scott! Oh well-doesn't everyone want to be tardy on the 3rd day of school?
Ryan, Ashley, and I went in, played on the playground, and then Ryan went to class. Ashley and I went to the library to read books. We had been reading for quite a while, it was 9:00am-school started at 8:00. Scott and Chris coming walking in the library. My first thought was that Scott was sick and his teacher had gotten in touch with Chris for some reason. Chris had sent me a text at 8:30 but I hadn't heard the signal on my phone.
He and Scott had been SITTING IN THE VAN the whole time expecting me to text. Chris felt SO bad that I tried to keep the look of horror off my face. We went to the Lower School office, got Scott a tardy pass, and walked him to class. I stuck my head in and apologized to the teacher and said that we had a miscommunication with the driver. She laughed and said "that happens all the time here." I sent her an email that night to explain and she said it very well that we are divided by a common language here. It made a great story for Scott's writer's notebook that day. I'm sure that Chris' ears were worn out after spending that long in the van with Scott! Oh well-doesn't everyone want to be tardy on the 3rd day of school?
Ashley's underwater swimming
We have been amazed and loved watching the kids enjoy our pool so much already. Ashley has decided that she is going to swim "underwater." She is still wearing her swimmies but takes a big breath, that in itself is a hilarious thing to watch, and then puts her face in the water and swims. All this with her goggles on. So frequently we will hear her say "want to see some underwater swimming?" We always say yes! We are also working on trying to swim without her swimmies. I get her to hold onto the wall and step just a little distance away and tell her to push off the wall and swim to me. She tries but we will keep working on that. Scott is continuing to spend more time underwater than above and Ryan is almost that way now. He can even get diving rings off the very bottom of the pool at the deepest part-about 6 1/2 feet.
Our Weekend
The boys love Fridays because they don't have homework and we all love Fridays because Greg sometimes gets to come home a little early! Yeah for weekends! On Saturday we had a relaxing morning at home.
Rona, the house helper that I have found, came by to meet Greg and the boys. We don't know yet when she is starting but I am happy to have found someone that I think will be a good fit with our family. She is 26, speaks very good English, and at her last job worked for a family with 2 young boys. She says that our boys remind her of them. They left Manila and moved back to Germany where they were from.
We played cards and read some more of The Magician's Nephew-actually the first book in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe series by CS Lewis-this is a great read aloud series for kids-boys or girls. Scott and Ryan seem to really be enjoying it.
Saturday afternoon we went to the mall closest to our house-across the street from one of the gates to our neighborhood. We did some errands and tried a new place for dinner. Kids eat free on the weekends-that was what attracted me to the restaurant. It is called Italianni's and they food was great. They had a tv that was showing cartoons and then soccer and the kids were glued to it-so it was an unusually quiet dinner for us.
We overslept on Sunday morning so we didn't go to church but enjoyed another day together at home and went swimming that afternoon. Hope you all had a nice weekend too!
Rona, the house helper that I have found, came by to meet Greg and the boys. We don't know yet when she is starting but I am happy to have found someone that I think will be a good fit with our family. She is 26, speaks very good English, and at her last job worked for a family with 2 young boys. She says that our boys remind her of them. They left Manila and moved back to Germany where they were from.
We played cards and read some more of The Magician's Nephew-actually the first book in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe series by CS Lewis-this is a great read aloud series for kids-boys or girls. Scott and Ryan seem to really be enjoying it.
Saturday afternoon we went to the mall closest to our house-across the street from one of the gates to our neighborhood. We did some errands and tried a new place for dinner. Kids eat free on the weekends-that was what attracted me to the restaurant. It is called Italianni's and they food was great. They had a tv that was showing cartoons and then soccer and the kids were glued to it-so it was an unusually quiet dinner for us.
We overslept on Sunday morning so we didn't go to church but enjoyed another day together at home and went swimming that afternoon. Hope you all had a nice weekend too!
Ashley and her lunchbox
Ashley wants so badly to be like her big brothers, which is part of why she is SO excited about going to preschool. We bought her a Hello Kitty lunchbox last Friday so she would be prepared. She has loved playing with it and it even came with a container to put food in-this will come in handy since our ocean container (with the kitchen things in it) isn't here yet. Ashley loves playing that there are snacks in this container and will bring it to us and offer us snacks. Sometimes there is actual plastic toy food in the container and sometimes it is all pretend and the container is empty. Last Saturday Ashley had been in the den to offer Greg and I some snacks several times. She was also serving snacks to the boys. One time she comes stomping in very indignantly with one hand on her hip and the other carrying her empty container. She said "the boys keep eating the pretend snacks ALL GONE!" She wanted to offer them choices and give them what they asked for, etc but anytime she got close with her "snacks" they just started making these rude gobbling noises to eat everything all up. You have never seen anyone so upset over "bad" pretend snack eating. Greg and I both had to hide our laughter from her as we were telling the boys not to eat all the "snacks." Sadly though for me I still had to fix lunch even after all those "snacks."
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