Six days of blessing

Tonight ends the 6th night of putting the kids to bed by myself. John has been out of town since Thursday and he gets back tonight or rather tomorrow at 1am in the morning. Actually, as I wright this post he is on the plane flying home. I am ready for him to be here. This stretch of not having him here has not been as difficult as some of the times he has been away in the past. My community of friends have been amazing. I have only eaten dinner at my house twice since he has been gone and one of those times was a frozen lasagna that was given to me by a friend. I feel so blessed to have such good friends around me that take care of me when my husband is gone and most important keep me company. At the end of a long day or even in the middle it is nice to talk to someone older than 3! I am just hoping that when their husbands leave town I will remember to return the favor!

He fixed my dryer with what???

We have lived in East Asia for 6 years and I have seen various things around my house fixed with some unusual stuff. Once my pipes under my sink were leaking. When the fix it man came to my house he asked me if I had any string. I gave him what I had and he preceded to tie the broken pipe to another pipe so it wouldn't leak anymore. Not the most permanent fix if you ask me.

Then there was the time in our old house when our light fixture had one light bulb left working and we were forced to call the fix it man to come change our light bulbs. Every time that we tried to change them only the light bulb part would come out and the base of the light bulb would be stuck in the fixture. When the fix it man arrived he looked at me like "You really called me up here to change your light bulbs?". I just smiled and kept pointing to the light fixture. After having the same problem that we were having he asked me if I had any chop sticks. He some how managed to fix and change all my light bulbs with a pair of chop sticks.

This week however I think the dryer fix it man has won the prize for using the most unusual object. Before I proceed I must mention that my dryer isn't even a year old yet and it is already breaking. Unfortunately, in this country or at least in the city where we live not many people own a dryer so they aren't made very well. The other night when I turned on my dryer it sounded like two pieces of metal were being rubbed together. Not a good sound if you ask me. So I called the dryer fix it man who actually fixed my old dryer more times than I can count. He showed up and when he turned on the dryer it didn't make that noise of course it sounded perfect! I convinced him to still take a look because I did a little demonstration on what kind of sound it was making. He thought that was pretty funny. He spent some time using normal tools and was obviously fixing something. Just when I thought he was finished he asked John for a bar of soap. Yes folks this is not a typo he wanted soap. So I went into my bathroom and got some. I'm not exactly sure how the bar of soap contributed to fixing my dryer but it worked! It sounds great now. I don't think I will ever understand how things in my house get fixed with such unusual things.

Spring is Here!

Spring is here! If you went by the temperature you would say that spring has been here since February. However, I have just recently noticed that everything is in bloom now. It is so beautiful! Yesterday I officially broke down and let Kayleigh wear flip flops. You would have thought I gave her a big bowl of ice cream! She has made sure to show everyone she knows that she is wearing her flip flops. We went to a park last week just to enjoy the nice weather. Below are some pictures of the blooming trees and some ladies dancing in the park. It is not uncommon to see a group of women dancing together on a nice day. Kayleigh joined in on the dancing for a while. She really liked it.

Just Plain Silly

Can you guess what this is???

It is actually a net that you hang from your ceiling to put things in like stuffed animals. I have never gotten around to hanging it so Zeb and Kayleigh thought of some other creative uses for it. They decided to put their heads in the holes and walk around sort of like a train. The one problem here is that Kayleigh can walk much faster than Zeb so he ended up getting pulled a long by the neck. They can come up with some pretty silly things to do and Zeb is usually the instigator!

Busy Busy Busy

Life has been a little busy the past few days. Want to know why???

This little boy has joined our family till his mom and dad get back from a trip in Beijing. I thought life was crazy with two kids but I stand corrected. Three is a handful! We have had a great time with him being here and Kayleigh and Zeb have loved having a permanent live in friend. They wake up every morning asking about him. I think I have decided to wait a while before we have another child! Although, Brennan came to me walking, talking, and potty trained and you can' t beat that!

Best Friends

Back in December Kayleigh had her first official sleepover with a friend. It was her friend Julianna's birthday and her present from us was for her to spend the night. The girls had the best time playing together. They actually went to sleep pretty fast but I think it was because they were so exhausted. They don't see each other very often. Once a week at the most and that is usually just for a few minutes at Church. Usually one of them cries when they part ways because they don't want to say goodbye. The next day after Julianna spent the night we headed to church and the girls happened to have matching dresses. They loved it! If you ask Kayleigh who her best friend is she will very quickly say "Julianna".

Zeb's First Haircut!

Before we left for Thailand I decided that I needed to break down and get Zeb's haircut. His hair was getting really long in the back to the point where it sort of looked like a mullet. My friend Kayla cut his hair and did a wonderful job. We put him in a high chair and then turned on the movie "Cars" so that he would sit still enough for her to cut it. He did a great job and didn't move too much.

The before picture.

Zeb in the high chair covered in a plastic table cloth ready for the haircut.

The after shot!

More Pictures from our time in Thailand

These pictures show you the last highlights of our vacation. I am mainly going to comment on the first picture. Notice the look on Kayleigh's face. Not a good one. She is eating ice cream cake which is her favorite food in the entire world but she barely touched it that day. I should have seen this as a warning sign since later that evening she threw up! Kayleigh has never been to Thailand without throwing up. I'm not kidding. Once she threw up on me on the way to Thailand while we were still in the airport. She has been to Thailand more times than I can count and each time as successfully fulfilled her duty by throwing up while we were there. We are not sure what the deal is. She seems to love Thailand so we don't think it is a dislike of the place. It has become a joke with John and I about when and where she will throw up on each of our visits to Thailand.

Zeb loved Nemo but Kayleigh kept her distance.

Zeb breaking it down on the stage!