Christmas thing I just had to go back and post

All 3 kids had a Christmas Program and I helped with the 1st grade Christmas Party so I just had to share some pictures from those-

I was in charge of one of the games, called the reindeer relay.  I got vaseline (aka reindeer nose glue) and used red ovals to turn all the kids into "Rudolph" and they ran across the track and back.  It was hilarious!  I wonder what the mowers and even the big kids thought as they discovered all these red ovals laying in the grass.  If you run too fast without holding on your nose, it could blow off and when you are a kid you don't stop and pick it up! 

Below is my Ashley with our neighbor Ashley who is also in 1st grade.  My Ashley didn't want to wear her Santa hat for long because it made her head hot but I had to try to look Christmas spirited-I have ordered us all Christmas t-shirts for next year-they were shipped to Grammy's house but didn't arrive in time for her to bring them to us this year.

 The 3 Rudolphs in our family!

 Who is the fastest Rudolph?

 Another game-the present unwrapping relay-we used cereal boxes and any other boxes we could find for the "gifts"

 I will ALWAYS volunteer to read a book to a bunch of children!  It was kind of funny though-since all of our Christmas books went to storage in the US and the kids had had to turn in their books from the school library, I had to beg to find something to read-the librarian already had all of hers packed up but a teacher managed to get one for me!

 a quiet brother sister moment

Scott's Christmas Program-He is in the middle, next to a girl in a red sweater and headband.

 Scott's Christmas Program-their programs are really big, nice productions-lights, drama, great costumes, and the real reason for Christmas-it was great!

Playing with Daddy-this is another funny Ashley story-I bought her this gold Brent house shirt to wear to school things and now she thinks that she has to wear it anytime we go to Brent.  It cracks me up that I found something that she loves to wear that isn't pink-she reallly wants to be like her big brothers!  She even says "it's not fair they get to ride the school bus and they get to go to school all the days"  I will remind her in a few years that she was disappointed to only go to school 3 days a week.

 Here are Greg and Ashley with our big 3rd grader after his program!

 Ryan's program was hilarious-it was the whole Early Learning Center-Nursery (age 3) up through 2nd grade.  Some of the younger groups were very entertaining to watch!

 The "main" ornaments

 Ryan is in the middle

 All the ornaments dancing together-the drama in this program was that the main ornaments didn't think the special ornaments didn't belong-like the hula dancers.

The manger scene at the end with the younger students in animal costumes-they were great!

Ashley's Program was the last one-

 I thought it was funny that Ashley was the only one in short pajamas-they just told us to put them in pajamas-I would have had to go out and buy her long ones anyway!

 They had the older kids talk and it was funny because Ashley is normally such a huge talker but was shy with the microphone in front of her.

This was funny to me-it was the last song and Ashley's class sat down on the floor in front and wasn't supposed to sing-I couldn't have gotten a picture of her if I had wanted one.  This made me elbow Greg and say "you just think I take too many pictures!"  It was a sweet fun program that we enjoyed-always fun to watch preschoolers dance, sing, and do motions!

Things to make you Laugh!

This is my 4th and final post for the day-yes I am trying to get caught up on what we have been doing lately!

 This is Ashley showing off her new Hello Kitty hairbows made for her by Grammy at Christmas!

 No these are not Ashley's shoes.  I went to by a new pair of tennis shoes and found Keds at a price I was willing to pay-slightly more expensive than at home.  The problem was me though!  I wanted a pair of white ones and was told that the largest size they had was 6 1/2 in white.  I thought that I was being told that the white didn't come in larger sizes.  I read somewhere just after we arrived here that unless you wear a very small size in clothing, it is hard to find here and that as a foreigner you are "an extra large alien."  So after this I thought I was an "extra large alien with huge feet."  I decided to have fun and buy the shoes in pink instead.  I did question the salesperson and found out, at least it seems, that they will get more white ones in larger sizes in-they were just out of stock currently.  However, here when you are told out of stock no one ever knows when they will be in stock again-if ever!  So I came home and showed Ashley my new shoes-she immediately wanted to know if she could have some pink tennis shoes too.  I told her that they didn't have the pink ones in sizes small enough for her here but that I would look for some for her here and when we go home this summer!  Of course she wanted them, they are VERY pink!

We enjoy playing wii as a family and bowling has been a favorite game since we got the wii for Christmas in 2009.  It is absolutely hysterical to watch Ryan and Ashley bowl because they jump, spin around, swing their arms around wildy, and in general do crazy things that would never work if you were really bowling-which we have done with them and is also hilarious.  One afternoon the kids and I were playing and Ryan was THRILLED that he beat all of us.  In case you don't have a wii, you get to create what your people look like and we have miis (what the characters are called) for our aunts, uncles, cousins, Grammy, and one for GG.  It's fun because they show up as spectators in bowling or on a team in baseball or in some of the games.  Ryan ran screaming to the door when Greg came home that night to tell him that he had beaten EVERYONE in bowling!

I had been waiting for it to happen and am surprised that it took almost 7 months to happen-one of the kids fell fully clothed into the pool!  It was last Friday-we were going swimming at a friend's house and I had sent Ryan out to get the masks and a few pool toys and he took the corner too sharply coming back to the door and fell in.  I didn't run to get the camera because he was crying but it was a little funny!  He was mad because his clothes were wet and he wanted to wear "those clothes" to his friend's house.  Oh well-he changed, calmed down, and we were on our way to play at a friends.  As always he loves Friday afternoons and comes off the bus saying "NO Homework!"  a great idea they have at the school!  I love it as much as the boys!

New Year's Eve

 I realize this is just a little late but the pictures were so funny that I had to post them anyway!  I have mentioned the Elliott genetic love of ice cream here before so you will understand that we carry on Greg's family tradition of making ice cream sundaes on New Year's Eve.  Our kids all think it is hilariously funny to have whipped cream straight out of the can-don't worry I always hold the can and don't let it touch anyone's mouth-no need to be afraid to eat whipped cream at our house!

 We also began devouring our gingerbread creation around New Year's!

Which piece do I want?

Go Fish with Ashley

Greg was playing "Go Fish" with Ashley tonight at our game table and finally called me in to tell me some of the funny things she was saying.

As you can imagine, she isn't good at keeping her cards a secret and often lays them out face up for anyone to see.  You don't even want her on your team because she will tell what cards you have if you are holding them.

Greg had asked her for kings several times.  Then she drew one and he tried to get her to ask him for his kings.  She wouldn't do it and finally said "you can have him daddy because he is a boy!"

Earlier he said that she had told him that she wanted all the queens because they are girls.

At one point during their game she had all her cards sorted into a red pile and a black pile and said that Greg could have all the black ones because that was a dull color that no one liked anyway!

If you need a good laugh, try playing a game with a 3 year old!

Weather in Manila

There are several funny things about the weather here that I have been meaning to post about:

1.  It gets dark here about 5:30 every night!  That was a huge change from what we were used to in July in Greenville when we moved.  Though it is nice when putting kids to bed at 7:00 that it is already dark.

2.  When we first moved in July (yes, we are one week short of having lived here for 7 months-hard to believe in some ways but not in others!) it started getting light about 5 am!  Man, that was early, especially when our neighbors' (jet lagged, because they had been in the US) children were out in their swimming pool as it got light in the morning.

3.  Now it starts getting light between 6:30 and 7 am-much more "normal"

4.  The temperatures lately are highs in the mid to upper 80s and lows in the mid 70s.  Greg said that it was hotter here in May when he visited than when we came in July.  A friend of mine asked me recently if we had lived here a whole year yet.  I told her no and she said "just wait in April and May you will want to come to school in your bathingsuit it is SO hot!"  Several of us moms were standing around sweating on the playground on a particularly warm day recently when she told us this.  I am curious to see what it feels like because we have adjusted so much since first moving here.  We used to run our "air cons" what they are called here-all the time as hard as they would go!  Now we have some units that we rarely use at all. 

I have realized how much I miss the changing of and the 4 seasons at home since we have been here but am enjoying that I swam on Saturday!

Grammy's last day in Manila

 Bev ran in our neighborhood several mornings and decided that it was really fun to swim afterwards.  The kids joined her sometimes.  This morning, she, Scott, and Ryan played "baseball" with the beachball and a water blaster for a bat-quite a humorous game to watch-I was the outfielder.

 Watching and enouraging the bike rider

 and joining in basketball

 That evening we did our gingerbread house-including some engineering help to get the roof to dry in place.

 Watching over the hamsters

 having ice cream sundaes-an Elliott tradition-I think that Elliotts are born loving ice cream!

All on the sofa watching Shaun the Sheep-if you have missed this British cartoon, it is hilarious

Now to the fun part-decorating-really I mean eating the candy!

Ashley and Grammy found this flower on their walk before dinner and the chocolate covered marshmallow on the left of the picture with a banana shaped candy on top-according to Scott is a banana tree in the yard of the gingerbread house.

The kids ate at least as much candy as they put on the house!  but we enjoyed our last evening with Bev.  The boys were given the choice to join me to take Bev to the airport on Friday morning-we left the house at 5am.  They both said they wanted to go.  When I went into Scott's room-he said, "give her a hug and kiss for me I'm too sleepy!"  I laughed because he is usually the first one awake in the house.  I went to Ryan's room next (he is the one that says he didn't get enough sleep almost every morning).  He bounced out of bed and said "yes I still want to go"  So I went back to Scott's room and when he heard that Ryan was going he decided to join us.  Bev and I both noticed though, that it was probably one of the quietest we have EVER heard Scott be-I don't think his mouth or his brain were fully awake yet-it was funny!  After many many hugs we said goodbye and let Bev go into the airport and are so glad that we will see her again in just 5 months!

Seeing Brent School and Enchanted Kingdom with Bev

 Bev wanted to see the boys' school.  Ryan showed him all around her building and we played on his playground for a few minutes.  The kids are having a race across the track to the main building.

 Ashley is showing Grammy a teeny lizard that she found on the step

 We had a picnic and fed the fish-no one got wet!

 Here is Scott giving Grammy her tour

 Here we are at the entrance to Enchanted Kingdom-no one wants to look into the sunshine.  We had fun still but it was MUCH more crowded that the day we went back in the fall. 

 Ashley decided that she would bungee jump this time-last time, she said the trampoline was too hot.

 She LOVED it!

 Scott and Ryan couldn't pass up another opportunity to do it either!

 Then it was Grammy's turn!  She had as much fun as the kids!  I have to tell what Ryan said to her on the ride down to Enchanted Kingdom when Bev said that she wanted to do it too-he said "but you are old!"  Greg and I just laughed-which we got in trouble for.  You have to know that this is Grammy who runs half marathons and was thrilled with the gift from all of us to go hang gliding in Chattanooga this spring-not your typical Grammy!

 She enjoyed the jumping and the kids had fun watching her!

 I had fun seeing the Christmas decorations up at Enchanted Kingdom-apparently they don't put them up as early there as most places in the Philippines.

 Greg, Ashley and Ryan on the log ride-about to go up the big hill, to come down, and get wet.

 Splash!!!  Ashley loved it!  They wouldn't let her ride this last time, but she either grew a little or with someone different measuring her-appeared taller!

 Next is Scott and Grammy!

 Riding the Ferris Wheel!

 We saw these people dressed up as Christmas things while riding the ferris wheel

 Ashley and Ryan rode these spinning dinosaur rocks-sort of like the Disney teacup ride-they must have enjoyed because they rode 3 times!

All of us rode the grand carousel together before we called it a day!