The Greene Family

Thailand here we come!

2012-01-13T22:12:00.000+08:00

I am sitting here tonight wishing that tomorrow was Sunday and that I was getting on a plane to Thailand. I have spent the whole week being a single parent since John was on a 5 day trip. He walked in the door last night at 7pm and left again tonight at 7pm. This time to DRIVE to Thailand. Yes, in a temporary moment of insanity I agreed to let him drive with his good friend Daniel to Thailand while I flew with our three kids by myself. I would have never agreed but I couldn't say no when I saw the look on his face. It was like a little boy in a candy store. He has been talking about this trip for months. He is SO excited about it. I hope he has a great time. I am just praying that he doesn't get stuck in Laos somewhere. He keeps promising me that when I land on Sunday morning he will be there to greet me. I sure hope so. If he doesn't show then I only have to wait till that night when my parents arrive to get some help. We haven't seen them in about 8 months so we are really excited. Kayleigh has been counting down the days.

It has been a long week. So long in fact that Zeb came up with a "pretend daddy". He would tell me things like "Mommy pretend daddy is sitting next me at breakfast". He would call out something during the day and I would say "Buddy, daddy isn't here." and he would respond "I was just talking to pretend daddy." So I don't think I am the only member of my family ready to be reunited together again. So only one more day and then we leave bright and early at 6am! I'm just ready. Ready for warmth, rest, family, and fun.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T21:54:00.000+08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! Some how we managed to take tons of video of the kids opening their presents on Christmas morning but no actual pictures. Oh well! We spent the morning at home just our family and skyping with the grandparents. Then we travelled out to Josh and Danielle's house to spend the afternoon and night with them. The kids were so excited. Josh, Danielle and now Harvey are some of their favorite people. We had a great time with them. This is their last Christmas in China and since they have been such a huge part of our lives here we wanted to spend it with them. Merry Christmas everyone!

Love this picture of Kayleigh.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T23:20:00.000+08:00

We had quite an eventful Christmas Eve. The foreign owned coffee shop in our apartment complex is moving so their last open day was today. They had face painting, Christmas movies, and a guy making fun things out of balloons for the kids. Zeb and Kayleigh had a blast and didn't want to leave. Then tonight we had our team over for a nice steak dinner and opening presents from our secret Santa. I love Christmas. This year it has been really fun to watch Kayleigh and Zeb get into Christmas more than any other year in the past. They can not wait till tomorrow. More fun pictures to come.

Zeb has a motorcycle balloon in one hand and a sword balloon in the other. Every little boys dream.

I love this picture of Kayleigh laid back in the chair ready to get her face painted.

Zeb requested a snow man yesterday. I was relieved to see that it was one of the face painting options.

My dear friend Kayla saved the day. Kayleigh requested new play earrings for Christmas and I totally forgot! When she opened her new dress up jewelry she was so excited and I was so relieved that her buddies had gotten her that for Christmas.

10 Months

2011-12-22T22:25:00.000+08:00

Layla is 10 months now! There are days when I feel like the time has gone so quickly and then their are days when I really do feel like it has been 10 months since she joined our family. This little one continues to amaze me. I have spent the month of December trying to keep her from eating the Christmas tree and the lights. We have created several different barriers to keep her away from the tree but she has seemed to break through most of them. She can now go from lying down to sitting up on her own. Then quickly thereafter she started to pull up on things to a standing position. I am going to blink my eyes and she will be walking before I know it. You have to take a step down to enter my living room. For months this has been a nice barrier to keep her from other parts of the house. No more I say. She has now mastered the step as well. She is a very social little bug that wants to be where her brother and sister are. If they are off in their bedroom playing she thinks she needs to join them. I hope you have a very Merry 1st Christmas my little one.

Baby It's Cold Outside Part II

2011-12-16T21:36:00.000+08:00

I mentioned in a few posts back that the weather has been colder than normal this year. So I have been bundling up the kids a lot these days. That translates into taking at least 20 minutes to get out the door if we want to go outside to play. I am often approached by the locals for a lot of reasons mainly to talk about my kids. One of the comments I hear the most is your baby does not have enough clothes on. In this East Asian culture they think they are doing me a favor by advising me on how much clothes my child should be wearing. In their eyes I am a young mother that needs to learn the ins and outs of raising children. It is not rude for them to advise me on matters of my children. For the most part I just smile and take their advice in a kind manner. This winter I am getting a little tired of hearing "your baby doesn't have enough clothes on" so I have made it my personal goal to dress Layla in something that the locals could never say wasn't warm enough. So one morning when Kayleigh, Layla and I were off to pick Zeb up from school I put Layla in this:

Layla put up quite a fight getting in it but seemed to like it once the process was done. As you can see it is so thick that she can't even lay her arms down. In my opinion this thing is the warmest thing I could put on my child. So out I marched into the neighborhood proud that I wouldn't get ANY comments about her clothes. Do you think I was successful? The answer is NO! Most of our neighbors seemed pleased with my upgrade of the outfit but I did have one lady tell me that her hands were cold! My gracious! I guess next time I should add gloves to the outfit!

Signs Of The Season

2011-12-04T22:23:00.000+08:00

Every year in our city there is a local Christmas fair. Vendors come to a local restaurant selling tons of things for Christmas or gift ideas such as ornaments, jewelery, and Christmas decorations. I love going. Every year the things that are for sell change and I always make it a point to buy a new ornament to add to our tree. This year John was able to go with me and help with the kids. The great thing is they have fun activities for the kids while the parents shop. It is really nice! Kayleigh and Zeb loved getting their face painted. Zeb was especially sad when we had to wash it off in the bath. He didn't quite understand why he couldn't keep it on forever.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

2011-12-03T22:16:00.000+08:00

We have had unusually cold weather for this time of year in our city. It usually doesn't get really cold here until January and February. So we have been wrapping up the kids really tight! Below is Layla enjoying some outside time in her stroller.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T22:05:00.000+08:00

We had an awesome Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. All our friends came over for lunch around 11:30 and stayed the whole day. We enjoyed stuffing our faces with some great American food. We went back for seconds or thirds for some people at dinner. John and I ended our Thanksgiving night by cleaning up throw up. Kayleigh got sick and I was up half the night with her. I am pretty sure I have had one Thanksgiving with kids that someone was not sick. However, the food and fellowship out weighed the sickness.

9 Months

2011-11-22T21:08:00.000+08:00

Dare I say strong willed? This little girl is going to be something else. She definitely has an opinion and is starting to express it. She is crawling more and more and when she gets into something she shouldn't she gets pretty frustrated when you take her away. She loves to play and actually wrestle especially with her daddy. She has added a tooth since last month. I just caught her pulling up on something the other day! Layla you are a mess and we love you dearly.

All Aboard!

2011-11-15T21:29:00.000+08:00

A lot of Kayleigh and Zeb's pretend play has to do with travel. They often pretend that my bed is an airplane and they pack up to go to Thailand or America. When I stop to think about it that seems crazy! Crazy that my 5 and 3 year old would play pretend travel and their destinations are another country! When I was their age if I ever pretended to travel anywhere it was probably to the beach or mountains in the same state I lived in! A little over a year ago one of Kayleigh's good friends moved to another city. She still thinks that her friend lives in another country! She often asks me how long the flight would be to get there or how many airplanes does it take to get to Julianna. I didn't even fly in an airplane until I was 21 years old! Anyways, this particular pretend time was with a train. As you can see I was the conductor and they were the passengers. We all took turns driving the train. It wasn't going anywhere in particular just through a bunch of tunnels and down lots of hills. I love to watch their imaginations work as they play.

2011-11-08T21:22:00.000+08:00

I put this sweater and hat on Layla today and Kayleigh could not stop laughing. I told her that she also wore this outfit when she was little. I just wanted to share a cute picture of Layla.

Beauty and The Beast

2011-11-06T21:49:00.000+08:00

When I found out that the local international school here in our city was putting on the musical production Beauty and The Beast I immediately thought that I needed to take Kayleigh to go see it. So I rounded up other moms that had little girls and we all went to see it last night. It was wonderful! I must say I was highly impressed at how well the performers did. It was really entertaining. All of Kayleigh's little friends dressed up like princesses for the show. My friend Danielle had seen an earlier show and had warned me that Kayleigh may be a little scared of the Beast. I talked to her about it before we left. During the middle of the show she kept leaning over to tell me that she wasn't scared. Kayleigh loved every minute of it. I hope that I can take her to another musical in the future.

This is a picture of all them after the show. They were all very tired because it did not end till 9:30.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:56:00.000+08:00

8 Months

2011-10-22T21:59:00.000+08:00

Layla has decided just sitting and eating toys on her blanket is much too boring. She is now learning to crawl! Well for now her crawl resembles more like an army crawl or a wounded soldier but she gets where she wants to go. Kayleigh basically never crawled and Zeb did the army crawl at almost a year old so movement at this age is all new for me. I am trying to teach Zeb that not all of his toys are safe to be left lying around now that Layla is on the move. She has also started to babble a little saying "baba". She will sometimes do it on command if you get her in the right mood. She still adores Kayleigh. I think it is safe to say Kayleigh is her favorite person even above her own mother.

A Little Get Away

2011-10-20T22:31:00.000+08:00

We just got back from a little get away with some of our American neighbors. We decided to pack up 100 pounds of stuff we somehow need for the kids and head 30 minutes down the road to a local resort that has hot springs. Kayleigh and Zeb thought it was wonderful that they were able to swim in October. Our room had a giant bathtub that more or less resembled a small kids pool and I would just fill that up and let them have the time of their lives. We also swam outside in one of the hot springs. We decided to go down the road to a local park and play Frisbee and throw the football around. We had a lot of fun until I busted Zeb's lip with the Frisbee. Let's just say I threw it right to him but he didn't quite catch it. It was so nice to get away even if it was only 30 minutes down the road.

I promise these pictures are of Zeb in mid-throw. Quite impressive don't you think?

He had the throwing down just not the catching!

K and Z walking at the edge of the pool. They were dying to get in but this pool was not heated!

Kayleigh's First Dance Class

2011-10-10T21:52:00.000+08:00

This past winter when we were in the States having Layla, John and I realized how much extracurricular activities there were to offer in America for little kids. It made us sad in a way that Kayleigh was missing out on those opportunities especially since she LOVES music and dancing. So when we heard that some local friends of ours with ballet experience were offering dance classes from age 5 and up we were thrilled. What a huge blessing from the Lord. Today was Kayleigh's first dance class and I think she really liked it. I am looking forward to seeing her learn and enjoy her ballet class.

Kayleigh with her friends Lydia and Lily.

Got Milk?

2011-09-25T21:54:00.000+08:00

This is pretty much the scene in my living room every morning. My kids love their milk.

Layla at 7 months

2011-09-22T22:17:00.000+08:00

Layla at 7 months is such a joy. But haven't I said that in every monthly post I have done of her? She really brings so much joy and laughter to our family. She is sitting up now and is happy going through her basket of toys chewing on each one. She now has two teeth which came with a period of waking in the night which was fun for Mom and Dad. I am going to blink and then she will be a year old. It is going by so fast. I just want to enjoy every minute.

Happenings in the Court Yard

2011-09-16T21:52:00.000+08:00

Almost everyday we go out to play in our courtyard. It is the highlight of Kayleigh's and Zeb's day. Kayleigh usually tells me that she needs to go out there to get some energy out. I agree with her! They have lots of fun with their friends that happen to live in our court yard. They do all kinds of things from riding bikes, playing hide and seek to picking flowers and berries off the trees. It is nice for me too because I get to catch up with the other moms. Today Danielle and Harvey came in for the afternoon to visit us. Below Layla and Harvey are in the double stroller ready to go outside. As you can see at 6 and 3 months they aren't too interested in each other. I am sure as they get older they will begin to notice each other more.

Zeb's First Day of School!

2011-09-06T21:41:00.000+08:00

Today was Zeb's first day at pre-school. I was a little nervous about how he would do but he did wonderful! He calls the school "Kayleigh's school" and has been wanting to go for quite some time. He was so excited and even more excited to carry his Lightening McQueen back pack. When I picked him up at school he didn't want to leave! He wanted to keep playing on the play ground. I asked him what they did at school and he said " We ate chao fan ( which is fried rice), and played. Well that sums it up. I can't believe my little boy has started school!

My birthday and thoughts on turning 32

2011-08-30T23:35:00.000+08:00

For my birthday our crew went out to celebrate at a new Mexican restaurant that just opened in our city. Words cannot express how excited I am that we have an actually Mexican restaurant in our city and that the food is wonderful! When John and I go to America we eat as much Mexican as possible while we are there. We just miss it a lot! So I naturally picked to go eat Mexican for my birthday. I share a birthday with a guy on our crew named Justin. He also was excited about going here. Anyways, we had a lot of fun. My dear friend Kayla made me a chocolate on chocolate birthday cake which I ask for every year on my birthday. It was wonderful.

I have been sitting here thinking about turning 32 and my one thought or feeling that has been consistent in my life for a while is tiredness. When I was pregnant with Layla I was tired a lot, more tired than I was with the other two. But then again I didn't have two kids to take care of with the other pregnancies. John and I dream of having overnight get-aways where we just go and book a hotel room to sleep. I was hoping the tiredness would go away but it seems to have settled in for a long term stay. As I thought more about this I thought about my mom. At age 32 she had a 5 year old, 18 month old twins and a newborn. It makes me tired just thinking about it. I am convinced my mother was tired for a whole decade. She had to be. I also wonder if while wiping our mouths for the 15th time or our butts for the 100th if she thought about whether we would ever be thankful for all that she did for us. Well, mom I am now. As I experience life with a 5 year old, 3 year old and 6 month old I look back and think you were amazing. It also gives me encouragement to think that if she survived so will I.

Justin at the entrance to the restaurant.

My dear friend Kayla with her new adopted daughter Jubilee.

The wonderful feast!

Typical Justin and Zack.

Although, Justin and I were born on the same day he does not share my love for chocolate. He asked me to make a fruit pizza for his birthday.

Layla is 6 months!

2011-08-22T21:35:00.000+08:00

Our sweet Layla is 6 months old. She can now roll from one side to the other and back again. This is huge for me because the past month or so she could roll from her stomach to her back but could not get back over which caused lots of problems during nap time. She is also sleeping through the night now which is a wonderful blessing for me. It comes at a great time since I plan to start home schooling Kayleigh at the beginning of September. I love to watch her watch Kayleigh and Zeb. I really don't think I would have seen some of her personality traits come out this soon if she didn't have siblings. You can tell she is a third child and needs to be heard. She will scream at the top of her lungs not in anger but excitement to make sure that everyone notices her. Of course she gets major laughs from her sister and brother which encourages her to do it more.

Ready for Winter?

2011-08-19T21:52:00.002+08:00

I don't think so. My kids would prefer to wear the least amount of clothes possible at any time of the day especially Kayleigh. In fact, if I would let Kayleigh wear flip flops year round she would be in heaven! They found my storage box of hats and gloves and thought that it would be fun to play around a little. They are some crazy kids!

Fun Pics of The Bug!

2011-08-14T22:10:00.001+08:00

Check out that tongue action! She really does have a long tongue.

Classic Layla

Highlights of our time with the Kvernens

2011-08-11T22:01:00.002+08:00

We had a great time with our friends. I am pretty sure I spent some time with Laura everyday and we made sure that Julianna and Kayleigh could do the same. Kayleigh and Julianna had a blast spending the night together. It was just like old times. This time we hope that we will see them much sooner than a year. We are hoping to see them again in February.

I am reading the kids a book while we wait on our pizza. You can barely see Julianna's head between Kayleigh and Zeb.

Conversations with Zeb

2011-08-08T21:12:00.005+08:00

This is the conversation I had at lunch with Zeb today.

Zeb: Mommy, I'm taller than Jesus

Me: Really? Who told you that?

Zeb: Me

Me: I don't think you are taller than Jesus

Zeb: Yes I am Daddy told me!

I then proceeded to go ask John if he told Zeb he was taller than Jesus. When I asked him he just laughed really hard!

Tonight in the bath:

Zeb: Hey Mommy Layla, Me and You all have blue! ( he is referring to our eyes)

Me: Yes buddy we do all have blue eyes

Zeb: Daddy and Kayleigh have black

Me: Well, they are actually brown

Zeb is so creative. He looks at the world/things differently than I ever have. I never know what he is going to come up with next. For instance today at lunch he stuck some pretzels in his sandwich and asked me who's birthday it was. It was actually our friend Josh's birthday so I told him. He then preceeded to sing Happy Birthday to Josh. He was using his pretzels as candles!

Cherished Friendship

2011-08-06T21:29:00.003+08:00

This was the scene in my living room this morning. After a year and two months these two little girls were reunited. They played together like no time had passed at all. In fact Julianna is spending the night with us tonight. If you ask Kayleigh who her best friends are Julianna makes one of the top on the list. These two girls have known each other since Kayleigh was 2 months old and Julianna was 8 months old. Julianna's family came to visit us and some other friends this week after moving to another city. We are SO excited they are here and I am looking forward to some good time with my dear friend Laura.

I am pretty sure I have a very similar picture from a year ago with them all dressed up.

Mountain Peacefulness

2011-07-31T21:40:00.003+08:00

This summer our friends Josh and Danielle were in America. They were so kind to offer us their car for the summer. So right before they left John went and got his drivers licenses. Which is actually not very easy since the translation into English on the test is horrible. We have enjoyed having their car for the summer. It has been nice not to rely on public transportation so much. One of the highlights of the summer for me has been the mountains. The past two Sundays we have loaded up the kids in the afternoon and driven up the mountain for a little hike. The kids have loved it and I have too. It is so peaceful up there and so quiet. When you live in a city of 4 million people ( maybe more) it isn't very quiet around here. We are so thankful we had a car to be able to enjoy some peacefulness for a while. Below are some pictures of the two times we have gone hiking.

You can really see the vastness of the city.

Not really sure what Zeb is looking at on the trail.

Glitter Lava

2011-07-30T21:01:00.001+08:00

About a year ago Kayleigh got a jewelry making and butterfly making kit with glitter lava for her birthday. First of all when a parent reads the words lava on a box it should send out some sort of warning signs. Then you open up the box and on the instructions it says: Adult supervision is recommended on these projects. Really, I thought it would be fine for my 5 year old and 3 year old to be left alone with this stuff. So as you can imagine I haven't gotten this kit out very much over the past year. To be honest I hid it in my craft cabinet in hopes that I could pull it out again when Kayleigh would be old enough to be the supervisor! Well, as luck would have it Kayleigh found it the other day. So I caved and let them play with it. Zeb absolutely loved it! He didn't care one bit about making jewelry (thank goodness). He just loved playing with the lava. By the end he some how got it on his feet and hands and well everywhere. Cleaning that stuff up is a little tricky. Needless to say I hope the lava will be forgotten about for a while!

Layla watching them play. I am sure she will be in the middle of it when she gets older.

Layla Starts Rice Cereal

2011-07-29T20:28:00.003+08:00

It is official Layla started solids today. John has been trying to convince me to start for a while but I have been putting it off. He thinks she seems hungry ALL THE TIME and He is right. We started in hopes this would help her go longer between feedings. I wanted to document this day for Layla's sake and mine so I can remember to put it in her baby book. I am not looking forward to the baby food phase. I remember being so excited when Kayleigh started rice cereal then when I was in the middle of making baby food after baby food I thought it wasn't that exciting any more. We can't get baby food here. Correction! You can if you want to feed your baby something with the title fish and bone on it. Not my idea of the baby food I would want to feed my kid. You can occasionally find something normal like carrots and apples but we don't have the variety that America has. For now she is still trying to get the hang of eating rice cereal. Most of the cereal just rolls of her tongue onto the bib. Once she gets the hang of it, I will be making and freezing baby food for quite some time!

5 Months!

2011-07-22T20:46:00.003+08:00

Layla is 5 Months today! She has started to grunt at us in an effort to communicate. It is hilarious. She will look me straight in the eye, take a deep breath and then grunt this long grunt. I feel like she is really trying to talk in some ways because the grunts have different sounds or inflections. She is such a loving baby and loves to cuddle too!

Mother/Daughter Date

2011-07-21T21:00:00.002+08:00

I have been wanting a pedicure for some time. I have also been wanting to spend some quality time with Kayleigh. When I was thinking about who I could ask to go with me to get a pedicure I thought what better person to take along than Kayleigh. She asks me all the time to paint her toe nails and finger nails. We had a great time and the ladies LOVED Kayleigh. I am no match for these ladies when it comes to painting toe nails because they are masters at doing some amazing looking art on your toes. I let Kayleigh pick out the design she wanted. I thought she did a good job.

Check out the design on Kayleigh's toes. I wasn't sure if they could fit it all on her tiny toes but they did!

Our Layla Bug

2011-07-18T20:28:00.002+08:00

"Layla Bug" has become our little Layla's nickname. Appropriately, she has several outfits with lady bugs on them just like this one.

Foam

2011-07-16T22:07:00.000+08:00

Here in Asia where we live mattresses for your bed are NOT common. What is common to sleep on is a piece of plywood with a nice piece of foam on top! John and I decided that Zeb's foam was getting a little too soft. Until May Kayleigh had been sleeping on it since she was two. So John went out yesterday and bought Zeb a new piece. Kayleigh and Zeb have now turned the old piece of foam into a "toy" of some sort. Using it quite creatively to build forts and such. This morning they thought they would take a rest with their little sister. They sure are a constant entertainment for Layla which is nice for me!

Our Anniversary

2011-07-12T20:39:00.003+08:00

John and I have been married for 8 years today and I love him more today than I did 8 years ago. I am so thankful for him. He knows me more than anyone else and sometimes better than I know myself. He is awesome at speaking truth into my life and really loving me while doing it. He is so thoughtful and considers me and my best interests. In the past year we have seen the Lord do some amazing things in our marriage only to draw us closer to each other. My prayer is that God would continue to do that for many more years to come.

We had a great anniversary. We had a quiet dinner ( with Layla ) at our favorite Indian restaurant then we headed home and put Layla to bed. After she was down we headed out to the South to play miniature golf. We had a lot of fun. We didn't get to play both courses because the lights weren't working on the course. I'm not surprised. By now instead of saying "Why?" I just say "Why not!"

This is how Kayleigh and Zeb spent our anniversary. One of our local dear friends here picked up Kayleigh and Zeb in the afternoon and took them to this kid arcade type place. Then dinner at Papa John's and Dairy Queen for dessert. They had a blast and it was a nice blessing for John and I have to have a quiet afternoon and evening together.

July 4th!

2011-07-04T20:57:00.002+08:00

I grew up being at the lake on the 4th of July. Every year would would get in our boat at dusk and drive to the marina or close to it to see the fire works. I love that tradition and miss it dearly. So this year as I was thinking about what we could do for a 4th of July celebration I decided we should go to the pool. We loaded up the kids in the afternoon and all of our friends joined us at the pool. John was able to find some sparklers so the kids had a blast lighting those before we left.

Layla loved the water. As you can see she is very relaxed.

Zeb Sings Jesus Loves Me

2011-07-03T21:07:00.004+08:00

Zeb was in a bad mood today and found himself singing with Kayleigh. After multiple attempts to finish singing "Jesus Loves Me" and a bribery of candy on our part, he finally landed the plane and finished the song in its entirety. Notice the reaction of both kids after Zeb pushes the "Quack" button for the first time.

2011-07-03T20:10:00.005+08:00

Layla was a little tired when I put her in the Bumbo, but she had a few smiles left in her before she went to bed. She loves sitting up and not laying down. The theme with our children has turned out to be not liking to sleep during the day. So far, Zeb (in his 1st year) and Layla have had a difficult time sleeping during the day time hours.

Layla 4 Months

2011-06-22T21:05:00.002+08:00

Layla is four months today and she is getting more interactive. She has started to scream or squeal in delight probably to be heard over her sister and brother. She is such a happy baby. She loves for people to talk to her. She is already rolling over! I am afraid she wants to be on the move to keep up with her siblings!

This picture was taken in mid-squeal!

Weekend Away

2011-06-19T20:38:00.002+08:00

This past weekend John was away. As I was preparing myself to buckle down and take care of three kids all by myself I was trying to figure out what we would spend our time doing. I remembered that my mom and dad had given Zeb a bed tent for Christmas that we had not yet opened. I was hoping that they would spend hours playing in it to help occupy their time while their daddy was away. I was right! They loved it and did spend hours playing in it! I had a bed tent when I was little and loved playing and sleeping in it. Today is Father's day and although I don't have any pictures of them with John we had a great time making cards for him. I for one was thankful when he walked through our door a couple of hours earlier than I expected. That was a gift just for me!

Sisters

2011-06-15T21:04:00.003+08:00

These two sisters adore each other. Kayleigh loves Layla. She is always begging to hold her and her new thing or idea is she wants to carry her around the house. I am pretty nervous while this carrying happens but Layla is very patient with Kayleigh and just grunts when she may squeeze her just a little too tight. Layla loves for Kayleigh to talk to her and smiles really big when she is around. I am so glad that Kayleigh loves Layla so much. It is such a blessing to see her delight in her sister.

Kayleigh's Pool Party

2011-06-13T21:28:00.001+08:00

Weeks before Kayleigh's birthday she and I lay in my bed brainstorming what kind of party we should have for her birthday. In my mind I was trying to avoid hosting one million of her closest friends in my home since I am already barely making it with three kids. I thought about the things Kayleigh loved to do and swimming came to mind. So I asked her if she wanted a pool party and she said YES! The weather wasn't that great the morning of her party so we were thankful that the pool was heated. Kayleigh had such a good time that after the cake she wanted to get back in the pool and swim more and totally forgot about opening her presents. ( So did her mother since I am losing my mind these days!) We did remember to open her gifts thanks to some friends reminding us! We gave each child a pool noodle as party favors which was pretty exciting since items you can buy to play with in the pool are slim to none in this Asian city that we live. We had such a good time we may just do it again next year!

Some of our "crew" members. Zach, Michelle, Justin and Kate.

Zeb using Layla's pink towel. He had soaked his already and needed a dry one.

The swim caps were required by the way!

2011-06-11T23:24:00.005+08:00

This past Friday, Kayleigh and Zeb went to Toys "R" Us to pick our a toy of their choosing for their birthdays, up to a certain monetary limit. Kayleigh of course chose a piano keyboard. Pink. Complete with microphone for performances. Zeb wanted to play with it so bad, he used his feet to get in on the action.

Happy Birthday Kayleigh!

2011-06-10T21:19:00.001+08:00

Kayleigh, your five! I really can't believe that it has been five years since you came into this world. You are growing up so fast. You love to ask me questions about everything and are really interested to know why things are the way they are. You are a joy and a delight to be around. Your such a big help to me more than you will ever know. I love your excitement about life and your love for others. So happy 5th birthday my dear little one.

We started out our day with Kayleigh opening her presents. Then we spent the day with our dear friend Danielle and her new little one Harvey. We finished the day with dinner at Pizza Hut ( your mother was thrilled) and shopping at Toys "R" Us.

Kayleigh with her Fancy Nancy Tea Party game and Playdough noodle maker.

This pose is very Chinese!

Layla hanging out with "Uncle" Josh.

Zeb the Lion

2011-06-04T21:53:00.002+08:00

Today Zeb put this lion mask on and walked around the house roaring at us. I couldn't stop laughing. I love these pictures especially since his hair seems to blend in with the mask. We have a little comedian on our hands!

Saying Goodbye

2011-05-29T21:23:00.002+08:00

Living here can be hard especially when we have to say good bye to people that have become our family. Today we had a goodbye party for our dear friends Marianne, David and their daughter Sarah. David and Marianne have been here since we moved here 7 years ago. They have been a significant part of my kids lives and mine and John's as well. They are the kind of people you look for at your dinner table for Thanksgiving and Christmas and if they aren't present (like this past Christmas) I cry. So tonight we celebrated their time here and took a trip down memory lane with a video of all their years here in Asia. It was neat to see the impact they have had on so many people. We are going to miss them dearly.

Me and Marianne

All the guys.

Layla hanging out in her stroller.

Layla is 3 Months!

2011-05-22T21:41:00.001+08:00

Layla is 3 months old today! She is such a joy to be around. She loves to smile at us and coo! She really likes for Kayleigh to talk to her. However, with Zeb you can see her brace herself when he comes near! He gives her a lot of tough love. We can't wait to see what kind of personality she is going to have.

Reunited

2011-05-18T21:38:00.002+08:00

Kayleigh and Zeb talked a lot about their friends in East Asia while we were gone. The ones they talked about the most were their friends Bright and Zion. I am pretty sure at least three times a week if not every day Zeb would say "I need Bright and Zion" when he was sad. Kayleigh has a different reason for missing her friend Bright. She says that they are going to get married when they grow up and she is serious about it too! They hold hands all the time when we go places with them. Could this be her first love?? At age 4 almost 5! My mind can't even go there. For now we just laugh and enjoy the funny things they say about each other.

We Are Alive!

2011-05-17T22:05:00.006+08:00

I know, I haven't blogged in almost 4 months. You know the funny thing is I had these big plans to catch up on our blog ( since I was always about a month behind) before Layla was born but then life happened. While in America we had multiple sicknesses including John getting shingles, family surgeries and oh yea, a baby. So the catching up never happened. I still plan to go back and blog about the last 4 months of our lives. I plan to turn my blog into a book some day so that I have some kind of documentation of our family life. My hopes of ever even finishing one of the scrapbooks I started has died so I am counting on myself to really keep up with the blog. My plan is to keep blogging in the present while also putting posts up of what happened the last four months of our lives. If you are a curious you can start scrolling down or looking back to see for yourselves.

As for now we are finally settled back into our lives here in East Asia. It has only taken me two weeks to unpack. In my defense we did have 9 bags! Ten if you count Layla's small one. I just asked John today to put the suitcases away. Life with three is challenging to say the least. I knew it would be hard adjusting back once we left our families and all the help they offered. I am counting on a 6 month learning curve. I hope it takes only that amount of time since that is what it took me with the adjustment to two. My house is certainly not the cleanest it has been but I'm having to accept that.

We are glad to be back and for the first week Kayleigh and Zeb played for hours with their toys because they were like new to them. It was good to see our friends again however, we are starting to say good bye to many of them that are leaving for the summer or for some even longer. For now we are just looking forward to a relaxing summer!

Layla meets her family!

2011-02-23T21:57:00.002+08:00

Yesterday afternoon, my parents brought Kayleigh and Zeb to the hospital to meet their new little sister. I have never seen Kayleigh so excited. They both were in awe of her. I just know they are going to be a great big sister and brother to her. Below is a picture of me with the two best nurses in the whole world. On the left is my roommate and dear friend from college Catherine. On the right is my sister. Since I went into labor and Layla was born two days early ( a story for another post) Catherine happened to be working and my sister too which was a huge blessing. They both assisted with the delivery. It is awesome to have two people that you know so well and know you so well in the delivery room with you. There were actually a lot of laughs going on during her birth. An experience I will never forget.

My parents

John's dad

John's step-mom

Announcing.....

2011-02-22T21:22:00.002+08:00

Layla Rebekah Greene

Born February 22, 2011 at 11:57 am. Weighed 9 pounds 5 ounces and was 20.75 inches long.

Layla was John's maternal grandmother's name and Rebekah is Alisa's Mom's middle name.

While We Wait...

2011-02-20T20:59:00.001+08:00

While we wait on Baby Butter to arrive we have been spending A LOT of time at different parks. My kids LOVE to swing since we don't have any swings in Asia. We are enjoying the "warm" weather in February.

Sweet Savannah

Candy Store

2011-02-12T20:42:00.003+08:00

As the time was getting closer for us to go to America, we began to talk about the fun things we would do there. One of the things that Kayleigh and Zeb's Uncle Henry promised to do with them was to take them to "The Candy Store". So today we loaded up in the van and drove to Lexington to the Candy Store. Henry let them pick out three things each. Kayleigh and Zeb did not know what to do with themselves. They had never seen so much candy in their lives. Zeb was going around picking up everything so it was hard to get him to decide on just three things. I just love this store. It is so authentic and their homemade chocolate candy is to die for!

Snow! Well at least a little...

2011-02-10T21:21:00.002+08:00

One thing we looked forward to as we were coming to America during the winter was snow. North Carolina isn't known for much snow but since it has already snowed several times in NC, including Christmas day, we were hoping to see some white stuff while we were home. We have talked a lot about snow with Kayleigh and Zeb since they don't really see it at all in our city in Asia. This morning when we woke up it was snowing! The kids were so excited! Unfortunately, we only got enough snow to "dust" the ground. None the less we dressed in our winter coats and boots and went out to play in what little snow we did have.

Dear Friend

2011-02-07T20:57:00.003+08:00

Today John and I got to see our dear friend Ellie. She lived with us in Asia for 5 years. She lives in Texas now but was in North Carolina for a quick trip to see her brother so we drove to meet her today. It was so good to catch up and to meet her husband Keith. We had not seen her since 2009.

Daddy Daughter Date Night

2011-02-06T20:47:00.003+08:00

Last night Kayleigh and John went on a date to Chick-fil-a for dinner. Our local Chick-fil-a hosted a Daddy Daughter date night as a pre-Valentine's idea. Kayleigh was so very excited to get to stay up "late" and go on a date with her daddy. John made reservations ahead of time. When they got there a section of Chick-fil-a was marked off for all the fathers and daughters. They had a waiter come and take their order complete with place settings for each table. One of the neatest things was they provided a little booklet of questions they could ask each other to spark conversation. Kayleigh had a blast and the first thing she told me when she got home was "Daddy let me drink sweet tea!" Apparently, that made a big impression on her. They had so much fun they plan to make this a habit and hope to go out once a month.

Carolina/State Game

2011-01-30T21:56:00.003+08:00

Yesterday we went to the Carolina/State basketball game. It was so fun and we were thrilled that Carolina got a Win! My parents gave John and I tickets to the game for his birthday back in December and we have been talking about going since then. John and I love Carolina and since we met there it holds a special place in our hearts. We decided after arriving that we had not been to Chapel Hill since 2005 when my sister graduated. Things had changed a ton since we had been there last. We ate at Sutton's for lunch and one of the guys working there remembered John and remembered what he ordered every time he would eat there! We were impressed. We then took a walk through campus to the Dean Dome. It really was a walk through memory lane. After the game we went to one of our favorite restaurants 411 West for dinner. I am so very glad we got to go for the day. Hopefully, it won't be another 6 years before we go back again.

Us in the nose bleeds!

My family: John, Me, Holly, Hayley, Charlie, and Johnathan

John and I celebrating the WIN!

Children's Museum

2011-01-26T21:56:00.000+08:00

Today we went to the Greensboro Children's Museum. Kayleigh and Zeb had a blast! I was very impressed at all the fun things they had there. They had things like a post office, a news channel station, fire truck, police car, race car, giant airplane, and train to name a few. Kayleigh and Zeb loved playing and pretending at each station.

Zeb sitting in a giant chair at the entrance.

Me and my rather large belly!

John's dad taking it easy.

Christmas in January Part II

2011-01-23T21:54:00.002+08:00

After spending about three days with John's parents we headed down to Lincolnton to see my family. I was so excited to see my sisters and brother and to see my precious little niece Savannah. Kayleigh and Zeb were also very excited to see Savannah. Once again we celebrated Christmas. My sisters and brother with their spouses came over for a french toast breakfast and then we opened about one million gifts. At least it seemed that way! That evening my extended family came over on my mom's side. I have three boy cousins who are all married and have lots of kids. Kayleigh and Zeb were in cousin heaven! It was so very good for my soul to be with our family again and to spend time with them.

My brother Johnathan and his wife Lindsey.

All the cousins making a human pyramid.

We Have A Date!

2011-01-21T22:11:00.001+08:00

I went to the doctor today and they have scheduled my c-section for February 24th. It looks like we will get to meet our little girl then!

Christmas in January

2011-01-20T21:52:00.004+08:00

John and I haven't been in America for Christmas since we moved to East Asia in 2004. Since we were arriving in America fairly close to Christmas our families decided to celebrate with us when we got here. Kayleigh and Zeb had a blast! I have never seen so many presents in my life and neither had they. It was so fun to be in America and celebrate Christmas. I had forgotten what it was like.

Henry and Alana opening their presents from us.

A very jet-lagged Kayleigh with her new shopping cart.

Zeb with his new cars!

We Made It!

2011-01-19T10:25:00.002+08:00

Well we made it to America safely! I would have to say the trip was not too bad. We have to take three planes to get home which Kayleigh and Zeb describe as the Mommy plane, the Daddy plane, and the baby plane. We take the Mommy plane to Korea. As expected, they did not sleep at all on this flight even though it was in the middle of the night to their bodies. They were just way to excited to do any sleeping. Once we landed in Korea we all crashed in a transit hotel room for about 3 hours then on to the Daddy plane. One would expect that on a 12 hour flight that your children would sleep but oh no not mine. Kayleigh slept a total of 45 minutes to an hour and Zeb a total of 0 hours. Yes, that is not a typo he slept none! He did however, watch Toy Story 3 at least 6 times maybe more. I would not normally condone that much watching but since he was happy and not screaming I was fine with it. You are basically in survival mode when you travel with young kids for that long of a time period. When we landed in Atlanta Zeb did what I expected and began to have meltdowns about every little thing under the sun. To make matters worse our flight to Greensboro was over booked and some how I had a seat on the plane but not John or the kids. So we started to pray that someone would take the $300 voucher and a later flight and let this poor exhausted family on the plane. God answered our prayers and we were all able to fly together on the baby plane! We were on the baby plane about 5 minutes and then Zeb was out. His body had finally given up. The unfortunate thing was when we landed in Greensboro he did not remember riding the baby plane and therefore had a melt down because he wanted to ride the baby plane! Once we got back to John's parents house they got their second wind and this it what they looked like:

Do you think he is just a little loopy?

This is what they looked like this morning when they woke up. A little less energy than the night before!

The Countdown Begins!

2011-01-05T09:29:00.002+08:00

Now that Christmas is over and things have died down a bit it is time to start preparing to leave for America. We leave on January 17th. I have lots to do to prepare before we leave this time since we will be returning with a little baby girl. I have started to get out all the clothes I need for her when we return and prepare her room. Zeb and Kayleigh will start to share a room when we get back and our little "butter" will take Zeb's room. I decided that it has become officially blog worthy to tell everyone that my kids refer to our little one as "butter". John tells Kayleigh imaginary stories about our family at night and he has nick names for each of us. Kayleigh is jelly, Zeb is toast and well it just seemed appropriate to nick name our next child butter. Since we don't want to reveal her name until she is born Kayleigh and Zeb call her "baby butter". The name has stuck with our crew and now everyone refers to her as "butter". My only fear now is that when she actually does come out our kids will call her "butter" instead of by her real name!

Kayleigh's Present Has Arrived!

2010-12-31T03:34:00.001+08:00

After getting asked each day of this week if her present would arrive today, it has finally made it to our door almost a week past Christmas. What is this missing present you ask? Her very own play kitchen. She was very excited and wanted to start cooking right away. I am so glad it finally came!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T04:56:00.001+08:00

We have had a wonderful Christmas. This morning we spent most of the morning on Skype talking to our families. Zeb's gift of the day was opening "The King" a CARS character. I am pretty sure that he is permanently attached to it now and it will go wherever he goes. Sadly, Kayleigh's main gift did not arrive today so we had to tell her that it was on a train on its way here. She was a good sport about it and seemed fine. The highlight of her day was opening the "Cat In The Hat" Game. She had played it at the Anchor Home school library and loved it. A friend of mine offered it to me since her kids had out grown it. It was so kind of her to give that to Kayleigh.

I have to admit this has been one of the hardest Christmas's I have had here. We have been here for 6 Christmas seasons and I have never cried till this one. I think it was a combination of things. Missing our families is certainly on the list. Two sets of our dear friends no longer live here with us and although we haven't celebrated Christmas with them in a long time they were in the city to call on Christmas day . I also missed other dear friends that still live here with us but were celebrating with others. It could have been that we have done the same thing for 5 years straight and we changed things up a little bit this year. We didn't get together with friends till tonight so around lunch time when I was usually surrounded by "my family" here no one was around. John says it has nothing to do with me being pregnant! Ha! No matter what it is I am so glad that my Savior can give me comfort and peace.

By tonight I was fine and we were together with our friends celebrating, exchanging gifts, and eating an awesome meal.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T04:37:00.001+08:00

We had a great Christmas Eve! Everyone came to my house for a feast of steaks, potatoes, salad, rolls, and a banana pudding for dessert. After dinner Zach and Kate played some Christmas carols for us and we also read the Christmas story. The kids are super excited about tomorrow. Kayleigh's main Christmas present that we ordered has still not arrived. I am hoping that it will come tomorrow! Looking forward to a great Christmas day.

Kate and Zach playing the guitar!

Zeb and Michelle

Kayleigh and Michelle

I love the look on Zeb's face. This of course is his sad face and he must of not gotten something that he wanted.

This picture is for my dear friends Laura and EA who have been with me through every pregnancy but this one. Finally a picture of my belly for the both of you as you requested!

Happy Birthday John!

2010-12-20T11:01:00.000+08:00

I am sad that I have no pictures to remember this day by. Lately, my pregnancy brain has been in full effect. All in all we had a great day with our family. The kids and I made a pineapple upside down cake for John this morning. I am pretty sure they ate half the batter. Then we headed to lunch at the Wicker Basket with our good friends the Rupp's. Tonight we went to dinner at Bangkok Cafe, one of our favorite restaurants. It was a low key day but lots of fun. We have more fun planned for his birthday on Wednesday. I plan to make a lasagna and take it to our friend's Marianne and David's house. She is making yet another pineapple upside down cake and we plan to have some great quality time with them without the kids!

Anchor Party

2010-12-17T10:35:00.003+08:00

In the fall Kayleigh started to attend a co-op class once a week for home school kids. She goes to a library called the Anchor and it has a wonderful selection of library books the kids can check out as well as home school materials. Kayleigh has really enjoyed making friends there and being a part of the class. Today they had a Christmas party for the all the kids. She had a great time. They played games, made some crafts, and had a gift exchange among all the kids.

Kayleigh making an ornament.

To The Moon!

2010-12-03T09:35:00.002+08:00

If you as ask Kayleigh what she did for her friend Lily's birthday party she will tell you that she went to the moon! In our city we have found a place called Baby Dream Land. I'm not quite sure why they call it that since a child under 3 can not participate in any of the activities but none the less it is wonderful. They have tons of different stations that you can choose to participate in and pretend to be things like a fire fighter, airplane pilot, doctor, and astronaut to name a few. Lily chose for them to all be astronaut and go to the moon. It was really neat. The kids dressed up in astronaut suits and learned all about how a rocket works. I have to give complete credit to my friend Brooke who did a ton of the translating from Chinese to English for the kids. They actually entered a space ship simulation and they closed the doors. The space ship moved all around just like if they were taking off to the moon. Once they landed, another door was opened and they were on the moon! The kids just loved it! All the girls also pretended to be nurses in a hospital and learned how to take care of newborn babies. The pretend babies really weighed around 10 pounds it was crazy! I can foresee that Kayleigh will choose to have her birthday there because she had so much fun!

Our little astronauts!

In the space shuttle getting ready to go to the moon.

Stepping onto the moon.

We took a break and had some cake and the kids decided to get on stage and do a little dance.

The nurses ready for duty. I love their costumes! So 1950's!

Taking care of the babies.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T22:10:00.001+08:00

We had an awesome Thanksgiving. Our friends came over around lunch and we had one the best Thanksgiving feast I have had in a long time. Then everyone stayed and hung out till late tonight. We even watched the movie Elf to start off the Christmas season! We have so much to be thankful for this year. Two precious blessings and one on the way plus so many other things that are too many to list. So glad that we have friends here to celebrate with since we can't be with our families.

Our crew!

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T21:34:00.003+08:00

What are all these kids staring at??

Charlie Brown! We decided to have Kayleigh and Zeb's friends over to watch the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. The show is about the Mayflower voyage and how the first Thanksgiving came about. The kids loved it and I thought it was very educational. They especially liked the popcorn.

This is a sad attempt to get a picture of all of them. It is hard to get 9 kids to smile for a picture all at the same time.

Thanksgiving Activities

2010-11-21T20:29:00.002+08:00

Yesterday we went to my friend Brooke's house to do some Thanksgiving activities. First, Brooke read them a story about the Pilgrims and their voyage on the Mayflower. Then the kids made some Indian hats. Brooke also made the kids these awesome desserts that looked like pilgrim hats. Kayleigh and Zeb had a lot of fun and hopefully learned something about why we celebrate Thanksgiving.

Success!

2010-11-19T21:41:00.001+08:00

Zeb is potty trained! I don't have any pictures to prove it but I do have video. Maybe I can get John to post an awesome video of Zeb teaching Kayleigh's baby doll how to use the potty. It is hilarious. Anyways, I have to say I am very amazed at my little man. The morning I decided to start I had a very serious conversation with the Lord. I prayed for LOTS of patience and very LOW expectations. The Lord far exceeded my expectations. Zeb was just ready and seemed to pick it up quite quickly. I think he likes to be like his big sister. I love not having to use diapers any more for at least a couple of months before it all starts over again with our new little one!

Tea Time!

2010-11-07T20:28:00.001+08:00

Kayleigh loves to play tea party especially if I let her fill her pot with sweet tea! Yesterday Zeb thought he needed to take part in the action as well. After the first pot of tea was gone I decided to just give them water. They really had a lot of fun and water was everywhere which is the reason for the towels under their cups.

Fall Festival

2010-11-06T20:20:00.001+08:00

The annual Fall Festival usually falls on the last Friday of October every year. This year it was a week late. We have taken Kayleigh to almost every one of them since she was about 18 months old. I think this year was the first year she was able to really enjoy it fully. She could actually participate in most of the games and her main motivation of course was candy! Look below for some highlights!

We can't get real round pumpkins here so this background has to do for our fall picture.

They played games like toss the bean bag into the Jack-O-Lantern.

Decorated some cookies that Zeb thought would be best by just licking off the icing.

They also both got fake tattoos.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T22:04:00.003+08:00

This year for Halloween we took a different approach. We have a lot of new people on our crew that were missing the fact that they did not get to partake in the North Carolina Fair this year. So we did our best to try and reenact that by going to a local park near our house. The park did not have elephant ears or vinegar fries for sale but you could buy a pretty disgusting hot dog on a stick. We road the Ferris wheel and our friends road a roller coaster to try and help bring back the feel of the fair. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful day. That night our friend Chad brought us some home made candy apples. They were amazing! That did bring back some memories for me of fall in America.

Track and Field Day

2010-10-27T20:42:00.002+08:00

Back in the summer some friends of ours found a field tucked away behind a concrete wall near our house. It actually belongs to a high school but they don't mind us playing there. My friend Lindsey and I have decided to make Wednesday mornings a regular track and field day. The kids love being able to run in the grass. Not something they are able to do very often. We usually start out with a lap around the track then on to some fun games like "Mother May I" and "Simon Says". They love throwing around some balls and doing exercises. I really like it because it gets all their energy out!

Here they are getting ready to make a lap around the track.

Zeb and Kayleigh's favorite place to play is the long jump sand pit. It makes for a huge mess and a much needed bath when we get back home.

Looking for Blue Queen

2010-10-25T20:50:00.003+08:00

If anyone knows Zeb then you would know that he is obsessed with the movie "Cars". He also loves all the "Cars" characters that he owns. One of these characters is Lightening McQueen. Lately, he has been particularly attached to what he affectionately calls "blue Queen". That would be Lightening McQueen in Dinoco blue when he dreams of being sponsored by Dinoco. Can you tell I have watched this movie one too many times? Anyways, one morning he could not find "blue queen". So I sent Kayleigh on a mission to help him find it. When I came into the living room this is where I found them! Once they emptied the entire toy box they thought it would be fun to play inside. I love my kids. They come up with some crazy things to do sometimes.

Crew Get Away

2010-10-10T14:53:00.003+08:00

We just got back from a trip with our crew. We went to a lake about 2 hours away from our city. We had a great time! I was sad that it rained a lot and was beautiful on the day we left but we found things to do that kept us busy. This lake is one of the few in our country that you can swim in. However, it was too cold to do any swimming. Here we are eating at a restaurant across the street from the hotel. Sometimes little "hole in the wall" restaurants like this have really good food and this one did.

At the end of the hall of our hotel there was a balcony that overlooked the water and an island. The kids loved going out there and looking around. We decided that if it stopped raining we would try and take a boat over to that island.

Here is probably a fisherman rowing around the lake.

The hotel had a bowling alley so while we waited out the rain we did some bowling. Not sure what kind of pose Kayleigh is giving off in this picture. It definitely reflects an attitude.

The rain stopped in the afternoon so the guys headed out to figure out how we could get to the island. They found a way! This is the longest canoe I have ever been in!

We had two guys rowing our boat. I was thankful they handed out life vests.

Here is the entrance to the island.

We hiked to the top and played around a little.

I am so glad that we went and we hope to go back sometime when it is warm so we can swim and the kids can play in the sand.

IT'S A.....

2010-10-06T22:09:00.002+08:00

It's a girl! Yes number 3 is a girl. We went today to the hospital to get an ultrasound to see what we were having. Kayleigh has been hoping the whole time that the baby was a girl. I asked her this morning before we left how she would feel if it was a boy. She told me "Mom, I will be very angry!"

I am glad for her sake that it turned out to be a girl. We took Zeb and Kayleigh with us to get the ultrasound. Kayleigh loved looking at the baby's fingers and toes. She is really into having a little sister and was thrilled with the news when they told us. Kayleigh often talks about holding her and says the baby will laugh when she tickles her. I think it is so sweet that she is so into this baby. She was so young when I was pregnant with Zeb that she didn't really understand. We will see how Zeb takes to her arrival soon enough!

He looks like.....

2010-10-03T22:31:00.002+08:00

Today I dressed Zeb for Church and then I looked at him and thought "He looks like his Grandy ( John's dad)!" John's dad often wears this type of outfit to church. So not only does he share the same name as his grandfather he has taken up dressing like him too!

National Day

2010-09-30T21:57:00.002+08:00

Tomorrow is National Day in East Asia. The whole country will be taking about 8 days off to celebrate this holiday. Kayleigh's school decided to celebrate too with a performance today. John dropped her off this morning and came back home to tell me to go to her school at 10am for the performance. I should have seen it coming since she has been dancing around the house and singing in Chinese for the past couple of weeks. Kayleigh did not warn me of this performance and neither did her teachers. Notice Kayleigh's attire. All the other little girls are wearing nice white dresses and Kayleigh is in her every day clothes. They gave me no warning to dress her up. However, the teachers did compromise by putting make up on her. We were so proud of her. Last year during this performance she just basically stood there. This year was very different. She knew all the moves to the dance and even knew some of the words to the song. She did a great job!

Notice above that Kayleigh is singing on the microphone. I was surprised and proud at the same time!

Hard Hat Zone

2010-09-19T21:11:00.002+08:00

Kayleigh and Zeb's friend Nathan had his 4th birthday party on Saturday. It was a construction party. It was full of fun games like painting a house, a wrecking ball that knocked down boxes, and a race with dump trucks. The kids had a blast! I am pretty sure my friend Brooke ( Nathan's mom) is the next Martha Stewart. She had hard hats for each of the kids with their names on the back. She also sowed each of the kids a tool belt that had goodies in it like a tape measure. She is amazing!

Painting the house.

Dump truck race.

Zeb the construction man!

Kayleigh the construction woman!

Just Hanging Around

2010-09-12T15:46:00.003+08:00

There hasn't been much going on here and I like it that way. Sometimes we need to slow down for a while. We have just been hanging around doing some fun activities at the house. I suppose now is the time to announce to the blog world that I am pregnant. Yes, number 3 will be arriving sometime at the end of February, beginning of March. My due date is March 2ND. Kayleigh is super excited. She is voting for a girl. It is really neat to see her understand this time around. Zeb on the other hand understands a little but I still think he is going to be pretty shocked when this baby arrives. While we wait, I am taking advantage of the time I have to do fun activities with the kids. I know when number 3 arrives my time will be limited.

One day we were doing stamps and Zeb found a bug on his stamp. I am pretty sure he watched that bug for a good 10 minutes. He was so intrigued with it. Maybe I should find him bugs to play with more often so he will sit still??

Kayleigh taking a picture of herself.

And finger painting...

Zeb's version of cleaning himself up from the paint!

My Birthday

2010-08-30T20:56:00.003+08:00

I don't think I have ever met anyone that shared a birthday with me until I met Justin Barber. What are the odds that in our small community of Americans that someone would have the same birthday? I think pretty slim. Not to mention that he was born in 1988 and I actually remember what I was doing in 1988! That makes me feel old. However, Kayleigh made me feel better when she guessed that I was 21! I thought I would take that offer. We had a great time celebrating together. We went to the Japanese steak house which is one of my favorites. Also, my mom friends had a picnic for me in the courtyard with a chocolate cake. It was a lot of fun! Later on this week, John plans to take me to a nice Thai restaurant, just the two of us.

My cake turned out a little crazy looking but it still tasted wonderful! Give me chocolate any day and I will be a happy woman!

Justin and I may have been born on the same day but we are complete opposites in how we like our desserts. His choice for a cake was a fruit pizza. It was good but doesn't beat chocolate in my book!

Rice and Other Things

2010-08-13T21:11:00.002+08:00

In an effort to keep my little ones busy in the morning I am always looking for activities for them to do. My friend Laura had a great idea for them to play with dry rice. They love it! They will spend about 45 mins filling cups with rice, measuring rice, using cookie cutters to make shapes and pouring rice through funnels. I am so thankful I have a balcony because lots of the rice ends up on the floor. Especially, when Zeb gets bored and just starts dumping it on the floor.

Lately, Kayleigh has been saying some funny things. First of all she still thinks you can get small again. I was recently pulling out her old clothes for a friend of mine and she asked when she gets small again if she can wear them. I try and try to explain to her that you only get bigger and older but I'm not sure if that concept has sunk in yet. Sometimes however she gets it. The other day she told me that she thinks when she is 21 she will be able to ride her bike without training wheels. I assured her that she was right!

Friends

2010-08-08T21:22:00.003+08:00

In our second and third year of living here there was a family that lived here with us. The Montague's had 4 girls and were such a blessing to us. They were here when Kayleigh was just a baby and gave John and I a ton of parenting advice. We had to say goodbye as they returned to the states. They decided to return and spend three weeks here this summer. We were so glad to have them come and visit. Kayleigh and Zeb especially loved the two younger girls who showered them with tons of attention. Below is a picture of Mary Van, Kayleigh, Ruthie, and Zeb saying goodbye. Mary Van and Ruthie had made some special things for Kayleigh and Zeb and they loved it. Here is to great friends!

Saying Goodbye

2010-07-31T20:53:00.003+08:00

Saying goodbye is never easy. My parents have spent a month with us and we have had a blast! Kayleigh and Zeb have thoroughly enjoyed having their grandparents around and to be honest I have too! Yesterday we both had flights to catch. Ours was back to our city and Mom and Dad's was back to the USA. We had to say a fairly quick good bye because we were going to miss our flight. It was such a quick goodbye that I didn't have time to get sad however, today is different. The kids keep asking where their Nana and Popa are and well it just breaks my heart. How do I explain to my 4 and 2 year old that they won't see their grandparents for a while? I am pretty sure Zeb was convinced that my parents had moved here. He keeps naming random things around the house as Nana's or Popa's. After 6 years of living here you would think that the goodbyes would get easier but they haven't. In some ways they have gotten harder. The older my kids get the more they remember their grandparents and the more they miss them. However, I feel so thankful that they could come and spend a month with us and see our life here. I wouldn't change that for the world.

Beijing

2010-07-28T20:15:00.001+08:00

As my parents were ending their time here we flew to Beijing with them to see some tourist sights. We had a wonderful time and John and I especially loved eating at Outback Steakhouse! It is a huge treat for us to eat there since we don't have many American restaurants located close to us.

We had a great time at the Great Wall. I can now say that I have been on the Great Wall with every one of my immediate family members except my brother Johnathan. Johnathan, you need to come over here! Despite my mom's fear of making it down the hill from the Great Wall on a sled, she did a great job. I was proud of her.

Everyday we were there we spent every morning site seeing. Kayleigh refused to take naps while we were there but the traveling got the best of her. This is a picture of her on a public bus. It was very crowded, loud and about 100 degrees yet she slept through it all! When it was time to get off the bus we had to pick her up and carry her. She was so tired!

The weather was unbelievably hot there. We would be outside for 15 mins and had already sweat through our shirts. Despite the heat we had a great time and I am so glad my parents got to see Beijing.

Swimming, Swimming in the Swimming Pool!

2010-07-24T20:06:00.001+08:00

We have lived here for 6 years and still find little treasures every now and then. Earlier this summer my friend Brooke introduced me to this awesome pool! Before this time there hasn't really been a good pool for us to swim in here. There is one pretty close to us but because the weather stays around the high 70s low 80s all summer the pool basically doesn't get warm and stays freezing cold. It doesn't make for a good swim. The pool Brooke introduced us to is heated so even on a cooler day we can enjoy a nice swim. The whole month that my parents were here we went to the pool about once a week. We would go for the morning and take a picnic lunch and stay till nap time. I am convinced that Kayleigh would live in the water if I let her. She cried almost every time we had to leave. She even asked me once if we could live there. The pool was extra special this time because my parents were here. Kayleigh and Zeb always had someone to throw them around in the pool or someone to jump to. We had an awesome time every time we went and we are so glad to find another treasure like this one!

West Mountain

2010-07-19T21:13:00.005+08:00

I have lived here for 6 years and never been to West Mountain. I think some of the times when people were going I was too pregnant to do the hike. Then last year when my sister Hayley and her husband Charlie were here, we planned to go till Zeb got sick that morning and we had to cancel. So this time when we planned to take my parents I was really excited and a little on edge that something else might come up to keep me from going again. The West Mountain was as new to me as it was to my parents. We had a wonderful time. We rode a chair lift to the top and then hiked our way back down the side of the mountain. I wasn't sure how my mom was going to take the chair lift but she survived. At times my children became as much the attraction as the mountain they came to see. The view was amazing and beautiful. I was so glad that I finally got to go!

At points in the hike there were tunnels dug out of the mountain for us to go through.

A view of our city from the top.

Green Lake Park

2010-07-18T21:24:00.003+08:00

We decided to take my parents to Green Lake Park. It is by far one of the biggest highlights of our city. We spent the day riding a little motor boat, seeing some awesome dances, and riding some kids rides. My parents liked it so much they asked to go back. I am sure we will make sure to plan another trip there before they leave.

Train Ride

2010-07-17T22:19:00.002+08:00

We have been showing my parents around the town trying to hit all the highlights. One of Zeb and Kayleigh's highlights of course is the train, so we decided to take my parents for a ride. We had a great time and they actually got to see some of the city that way. Kayleigh and Zeb are loving every minute of having my parents here. It is like they have a constant playmate for a month.

As you can tell, Kayleigh took the above two pictures of my parents.

A Day at the Park

2010-07-16T13:17:00.001+08:00

Today we took the Beams to the park to ride the huge Farris Wheel and other awesome attractions. We tried to get Frankie to ride "The Slingshot" but it was not be. The kids love to ride the Merry-Go-Round which is a double decker. We had a good time and finished the morning off with a McFlurry!

A Dairy Queen Afternoon

2010-07-12T17:00:00.003+08:00

Zeb v. Ice Cream
Winner = Ice Cream
Loser = Parents

Today we took Aubie and Frankie and the kids to DQ for a quick and tasty ice cream treat. As you can see by the pictures, it was thoroughly enjoyed by the kids.

Quote of the Day

2010-07-10T20:34:00.003+08:00

Today we took my parents for a nice breakfast of "all you can eat" pancakes at the Wicker Basket. Then this afternoon we took Kayleigh and Zeb to E-kids Island ball pit for an afternoon of play. We finished off our fun day with some great pizza from Papa John's. As we were going down the escalator Kayleigh and Zeb were sitting on the steps. We got close to the bottom and Kayleigh looked at Zeb and said "Stand up Buddy, we are about to land!" Can you tell this child has been on a plane or two in her life?

The Beams are in Town!

2010-07-05T15:15:00.002+08:00

The Beams decided to stop by our house on July 1st and they are already tearing up the road! We have been borrowing a friend's three wheeler to get around town a little easier instead of using taxis. Aubie is already starting to get a feel for the town and enjoys the challenging traffic.

Aubie, Frankie, Kayleigh, and Zeb on the way back from eating lunch.

Zeb loves his little helmet and riding in the open air!

More Goodbyes

2010-06-30T21:32:00.002+08:00

Tonight we said goodbye to some more close friends. My friend Laura and her husband Matt are going to the States for 6 months. When they return to Asia, they will be returning to another city. Kayleigh had to say goodbye to her best friend. She was really sad. Although, they will see each other occasionally it won't be the same as seeing her once a week or so. I have to remind myself that this is part of living overseas and life. People come and go, but I think more often here than in America. I am thankful that there is a time frame that I can tell Kayleigh when she will see Julianna again. We have had some people leave this summer that I don't know when we will see again. That is hard for her little mind to grasp. I'm so glad Kayleigh and Julianna had one last night of fun together before she left.

Julianna, Kayleigh, and Lydia

Finger Painting

2010-06-29T20:23:00.001+08:00

In an attempt to figure out what to do while the rain keeps pouring I decided to break out the finger paint. Lucky for me we have a balcony that we can do all our messy crafts on. Plus this finger paint happens to be washable. Kayleigh and Zeb had a great time painting. I am still not sure if they really knew what to do with the paint. I am pretty sure Zeb's favorite part was playing in the bucket of water to wash off his feet and hands.

The Rainy Season is Here!

2010-06-21T21:02:00.003+08:00

The rainy season is here. Our city has been experiencing a very extreme drought. We are so thankful that the rain has started to fall. This nice stylish rain coat is the one John wears when he rides his electric bike. It covers him and the front part of the bike to keep him dry. Kayleigh and Zeb love to hide underneath the coat. Now it is time for me to figure out what to do with the kids during the rainy days ahead!