Sophia's 5th: the party place

After nap/rest time we got ready to go:
Here are the Coker girls:

 We picked up one friend of Sophia's and then headed to the party place a little early. They were so excited.

She instantly fell in love with this hat, which she wore later at the appropriate time for the finale!

Here are the various stations that the kids got to participate in:

 

Being 'chefs', making mantou, a type of bread here.

 This place had a mini rice cooker and microwave.

Being nurses/doctors: baby dolls, that were life size and looked so real, awaited. I will detail the events later. This is just the set-up.

The dress-up station. With make up too.

The salon/hairdresser:

And there was also a 'post office' where they got to 'be postmen'. And a craft station. Crazy fun.

A year ago and pressing on

My Grandma Pinnie died a year ago. July 4th, 2011. A day or so later we traveled to Thailand and watched her funeral on the internet, live. Surreal for sure. Here we are again in Thailand. We have had an incredible, soul-enriching time. I wish I could detail it all right here. But lingering here in my head are thoughts of Grandma, and the reality that I don't fully remember that she is gone. We will go to the States in a month, and I have to remember that she won't be one we visit this time, and I think the loss will really settle in for me in a new way. Grieving once more, not having fully grieved, perhaps. My sister's recent post is a sweet reminder of my Grandma.

As I thought through some of these things we continued to meet with various friends, listen to various people talk, and hear some INCREDIBLE praise music. We felt real community, not hyped up, facade-type, but poured-out, encouraging tales of heart break and victory.

And then there was one man.
Fifty years overseas on and off, in war-torn places, his sweet gentle spirit, his strong command of 'right'ness, his ideas of what really matter in this life, his candidness of it all had us hanging on his every word. He told a story and said: 'I was fit to be tied', and I laughed out loud, as I had heard my Grandma say that phrase in her stories too. This man is eighty years old (I asked him point blank), and his is a life from which to glean true nuggets of wisdom. We took notes, and he was simply telling stories. But his stories...they were filled with sweet lessons learned. Not easy ones, not comfortable ones, no, his life lessons are fraught with hardship but he has endured. With joy. And he is not done yet.

He hugged my neck like any grandpa would, and I teared up at a life so well lived, and yet so humble. I pray for the grace to persevere with the same passion and love that this man has. And I thought of my Grandma.

Birthday morning gifts

 We next let Sophia open her gift from Bella. I took Bella to the bookstore to buy some good travel sticker books and while there I let her pic out two of these foam model things. She chose the airport for Sophia and car wash for herself. We had a very good time doing these together.

 Doesn't this car wash look super cool? like the real thing? The girls have never seen one of these before, so they don't know.

The airport included an airplane, helicopter, and people as well.

Next we did our gifts for her, the big one was a gift for both girls, but we waited for Sophia's birthday to give it out to not ruin the surprise. The girls love to play 'tea', so I looked all over town for a pretty set that was pretty sturdy. This is what I found.

 We let them get out some apple juice, and a little sugar in one dish. Then they got some milk. Mix those together and you get--gross. David said it tasted a little like applejacks.

 Her tutor brought over this doll/piggy bank and these paper foldings she did with a birthday blessing written on them. It was beautiful. She loved these too.

 She definitely wanted to 'mop for real' and so I let her. And then we did her little bag of gifts which were basically similar gifts to what Bella received.

 Umbrella, little purse, pretty peacock mirror and comb.

Birthday breakfast, etc.

 I decided to do her birthday post in many posts, mainly because I am having problems with internet speed here in Thailand and the pics are not cooperating. When we get to the actual party you will thank me, so many pics of the fun. Back to business. This top picture, Sophia finished her 'Early Readers' Bible, right on her birthday! Very fitting. Good job, girl.

 Tobin loves to play with umbrellas. We love his expressions! The other day Sophia said: 'he is the cutest baby I have ever seen', she loves her little bro.

 I made the standard birthday pancakes and tried everyone's number on for size. Tobin eating his '1'.

 Bella excited about her much improved '3'.

And Sophia with her '5'.

 We eased into the morning, and as Sophia finished her other Bible, David presented her with this one, She was thrilled, but a little intimidated I think. It is for ages 6-9, they have taken out most long-syllable words, and it is the NIRV (readers verseion).

Always look at the feet

Here is our five year old. She is hilarious, and keeps us on our toes. She often speaks with a British accent these days because she has been listening to The Chronicles of Narnia (again and again). I think she even sassed me a little one day, in her British accent, and I overlooked it, because it sounded so proper. Oops.

I will post about her birthday soon I hope, though we do travel to Thailand tomorrow. For now, I will just give some tidbits of our first born as she turns 5:

• Recent quote. After we read an Aesop's Fable, 'The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing', at the end I said, 'and the moral of the story is (reading from the book): 'The evil doer often comes to harm through his own deceit' and I discussed the saying, "beware a wolf in sheep's clothing" to which she emphatically said: 'and always look at the feet!' good word.
• She spent over thirty minutes the other day detailing all that she had learned in school about what to do in a thunderstorm. This whole discussion really impacted her. She said it made her scared to go outside, this is one who loves to play in the rain, and I do let her some (when it rains 14 days in a row, you have to give a little). The details she gave were quite incredible. I was impressed with her ability to understand it all, and would quiz her a little by saying: 'now how did your teacher say that' or 'what is that word in chinese', she didn't skip a beat, but she was unwilling to retell it all in Chinese. She now knows exactly what to do or not do in a thunderstorm, even if she is freaked out a little now.
• Sophia loves princessy things for sure, and still LOVES twirly skirts. But when not at school she holds her own hanging out with Caleb S and they do some sword type play, etc. She loves to fight off bad guys...
• She is a huge helper and would cook every meal if she could, I have to limit her help, of course, but I appreciate her willingness. She loves to 'get a rag and wet it' as she says, and then dust the whole house.
• She and Bella are great friends, but lately they fight a lot. I imagine we may deal with this for a while. Still trying to train hard in the 'share, ask, gentle' categories. 
• She is our outgoing, never met a stranger kind of gal. She loves to read good stories and act them out, and has a great imagination.

Happy Birthday Sophia. Love you girl.

Olympic hurdler, or not

 Here is our new apartment's front yard. The fence is plastic, but fairly solid. In this whole 'new apartment' renovation, keep in mind, our landlords are paying for it, it is their place, but they are letting us choose almost everything since we signed a longer lease than normal. This is pretty nice, they tell us what store to go to and we choose stuff (within reason, of course). However, there are a few things we are paying for or paying for part of. Paint color, for instance. On my to do list a week or so ago was to get the paint people over to look at the place, talk about color, and price. It happened to be one day when no one was working inside. The tile had been laid and they must have been waiting on the door framer. Either way, no one was there and I did not have a key. I gently climbed over this fence, walked up to the front porch door to find that it was locked. I then told that to the paint company guy and his girlfriend. But....apparently...I don't know...for some reason, maybe he didn't believe me....he decided to back way up, get a running start, hurdle the fence, and try the door himself. Which would have worked out great, had he actually hurdled the fence. Oh no, he hit it, ripped it all completely up and over and fell himself in the process. I really appreciate what he was trying to do, but had he listened in the first place he would have saved himself a little trouble, and our fence the destruction.

In the above picture, while still quite broken, the fence had actually been put back together. He was quite embarrassed, and I felt sorry for him, he was just trying to help out. This was the same guy who told me if we still had some red left from the room in the other apartment and needed more we could just add white to it. Really? To get some very pink walls, no thanks. Not color savvy, this guy. His girlfriend, however, who is the girl that I had been working with and talking with all along is very good at her job. Really very good, we were thankful for her and how she worked with my peculiarities and indecision. She was very patient.

An inside look. Before painting.That far area in the back with the bigger window will be the red reading/homeschoolish room. Crazy but true. I think if the kids just walk in that area, with all the bright reddy goodness and light shining through, they are bound to learn something, right?

Birthday Eve fun

Since Bella's birthday was also Father's day weekend we had a special Mexican meal. For Sophia's birthday she asked for Lasagne. I then asked her if she wanted to invite Anna and her family for dinner, they just got back in town. She was super excited about this, and this is great for David and me because we love hanging out with this family. The kids play really well together. Since we have been running around with our heads chopped off, this was a great time to reconnect with them, enjoy lasagna and chocolate pie, and great company. They also confirmed that they will be coming to the party tomorrow, so at least one person will be there.

We have been telling Sophia that even if no one comes we will still have fun, and she knows it, because she saw the place we are going and all the fun stuff to do. I am not too too worried if kids don't come, but I do know she wants to enjoy this WITH her friends. Which is what I love about her, she loves being WITH people. She teaches me a lot this way, to get out of my comfort zone and enjoy new and old friends.

The plan: pancake breakfast, ease into the morning, check on the status of the new apartment, play, open gifts, lunch, rest, PARTAY! then, scurry finish packing for Thailand and go to bed at 8 with the kiddos (yeah right! I can dream).