October in Asia

After settling in, we got our grill up and running. Sophia loves to eat 'meat off the bone', here she shows her skills at a bone-in pork chop, it was about as big as she was.

Tobin shows his angry: 'no' expression, a word he is fond of. He is one busy little boy!

Bella playing on her school playground

 On Fridays I take Tobin up to play with the girls on the playground. He can do almost all of it by himself and it is not a big place so it is easy to keep up with him here and he LOVES it.

Sophia shows off the picture she drew at school, she was especially proud of her butterflies and flowers.

all on the slide

we rearranged some furniture in our new apartment (we still don't really have anything on the walls), and we acquired this looong book shelf (for free from a friend!). Before I put books on it the kids made their dwellings. I missed the pic with Tobin curled up on the bottom shelf.

 He did climb up with Bella

With a five year old we have officially started homeschooling (by official, it means I am actually now accountable for her progression...we were ahead, and maybe still are, but now there is no rest for the weary!) I may post about what we are doing and how it is going (great so far), but we are only 5 weeks in! We started our semester mid-October remember! Sophia's favorite thing is art, which we do not do every day, but this day the weather was too good to pass up, We moved the whole activity outside and I let Tobin run around with markers, something he never does!

 These kids! They love baskets as much as their mommy!

USA Chronicles: the last post!

 This was literally the day before we left. For two months Sophia asked about these beautiful dresses and what they were for. I had no idea CC intended them for dress up, so have at it girls! They had a blast looking so adorable.

Bella acts a little shy for the camera. 

I thought these hilarious!

And then there were none.
Our time in the U.S. certainly was a whirlwind, but we were overwhelmed by the blessings from times with our family and friends.

We enjoyed the last few nights of some 'Blokus' games with Poppy and CC and the nightly 9 p.m. snack, which supposedly is not so sweet and calorie-filled when we are not around (we enjoyed every minute/bite of it all).

The following day we woke up at some insane hour to make an insanely early flight. But we did make it!
Thanks for reliving the journey with us. More to come on these Asian adventures...

USA Chronicles: swimming lessons

 Once Sophia took her floaties off and started swimming we knew there was no going back. To capitalize on her enthusiasm, Poppy and CC called a friend and got both girls swimming lessons every day for the last week we were there. It was COLD, and the first few days while the pool continued to warm, the girls would come home with blue lips. Brave souls. This time was SO helpful in building Sophia's confidence and really teaching her how to swim. The last day we all went to watch,and it was helpful for us to, to know how to teach her at this stage. Their teacher was incredible!

head down in the water swimming. Eventually she got her swimming the side length of the pool while stopping for breaths only a few times. Two weeks prior to this Soph didn't like going under water.

 They really practiced floating on her back (she called it the 'waterbed'), she added kicks to this and moved across the pool on her own!

she taught both girls what to do if you fall in, and they practiced it a bit, and what to do if you accidentally get down in water that is too deep for you.  

Bella did really well most days. On this particular day she was not super keen on it all. But the teacher doesn't really take no from a three year old, and Bella did great. 

 She started blowing bubbles, and putting her face in while swimming some.

And the going under at the end, she didn't love this time, but these were huge steps forward!

USA Chronicles: Early Oct. boat and park

 We did make it out on the boat, something we had hoped to do all summer. The last week in the U.S. good weather and Poppy made it happen. It was a gorgeous day.

And we had one last visit to the neighborhood church park, a place we frequented.

USA: October kids

 Tobin still could not get enough of any kind of ball. Yes, his hands are big enough to get around the football.

Bella the hippy chic, you just never know what is going to come out of her mouth, or what she is thinking.

Sophia the ringleader.

USA: Oct: Time with Grandma Donna

 Here is Sophia hugging on Grandma Donna. We spent one of our last days with my mom, sis, and Isaiah and Sammy. This was a great outing, We had fun eating lunch together and walking around The Shops at Southpoint. These few hours with my mom were precious, and I was so glad we were able to do it. The kids had a blast as well.

 We found a little play area and watched the kids and talked.
Making memories these last few days.

USA: October begins

We went out for Mexican, one last time. We do not tire of this particular restaurant, which has moved inside a mall now. We finally started asking about their salsa recipe, which we jotted on a napkin. There were no measurements, just ingredients, which in my experience is not how you make salsa anyway. The key ingredient is fried jalapenos. We can't get those, but I am trying something new tonight and will let you know how it goes.

This mall has one of those trains you can ride, and every time the girls begged to ride it. On our last visit there we said yes!

 The whole family got on!

Back at Poppy and CC's the kids loved 'playing' the recorder. Tobin could even blow in it and march around to his own little beat. One thing the kids loved to do was get behind this chair and play. 

The fourth child there in the corner is really a doll, in case you can't tell.