Dress Up

On a recent Saturday, ready for a play date at a friend's house

 Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun. - George Scialabba

I'm one holiday and almost a month behind, but these were too sweet not to share. Our Dear Aunt B sent the above quote on a birthday card to Asa a few years ago, and I love it. Whether true or not, we have imagination in abundance in our home, and it makes life joyful. Halloween was a few weeks ago, as you no doubt remember, and although it's not widely celebrated here (but the creepier parts are creeping in and retailers are more and more cashing in on the trend!), our little ones gave some consideration to how they might celebrate in costume, dug through the dress up box, and here's what they came up with...

Poor lighting, but Puss in Boots was quite dashing.

Thank you again for this cuteness, Aunt Crystal!

Dress up is not to be confined to a particular day, though...especially for Asa, for whom dressing up is an almost daily event, and little brother is following closely, as little brothers do.

Papa's WWII headgear gets plenty of wear by our little warrior.

This photo fits a bit with the dress up theme- the final day of last month's Thai module, in which we studied Thai culture. We were asked on the last day to wear traditional clothing from our culture, and a few of us did. Our country is a bit tough on this front, with no easily available or discernible traditional costume, melting pot that we are, so I fell back on the trusty old red, white and blue. Not as exciting as the beautiful Thai costume, but it will do.

This one I just had to share, even though I look odd (don't bend awkwardly in pictures), because this precious little baby, whose nickname is 'Peace' was born recently to our dear friends, and we had the privilege of visiting her in her early days. She is simply beautiful. If someone handed me one of these sweet bundles on the street, I would be sorely tempted to walk away quickly without asking questions.

And a recent Ju-ism I will document for posterity...

J: Mommy...

Me: (distracted by two other simultaneous voices) Just a minute, Ju...

Me: (turning to him after a minute) Okay, buddy, what is it?

J: Ummm, well...I lost my mind. (translation: I forgot:)

Going into Thanksgiving tomorrow, thinking of many loved ones we will miss (are, in fact, missing at this very moment) from afar. So thankful for the abundance of love that God has given to us.

Sand and Seaweed

Completely staged, but too much fun not to include

We're fortunate to live relatively near a beach. Not one of Thailand's gorgeous world-renowned beaches, but a sweet little crabby beach on the Gulf of Thailand with a big beautiful ocean nonetheless, that we can drive to in about 3 hours. We also have friends with a condo that they graciously allow us to rent on occasion. School's October break happened a couple of weeks ago, coinciding with one day off from language study, so we took ourselves off for a long weekend away. There's nothing like time away from the city, all together, to refresh and reset. I love these people so much.

Our traditional meal on the way, at an Isaan (northeastern Thailand) restaurant. Sticky rice, somtam and grilled chicken, claws and all. Beaker went along for the vacation and even had his own hook at the table, enjoying bits of cabbage and basil. He's a pampered bird, for sure.

I find it mind-boggling that someone so long-legged and beautiful once grew inside of me. I imagine I'll always feel that wonder; yes, grandparents?

Our artist sketching at the artist village we visited. Love his intensity!

This Wonder Trio has been busy with all sorts of special things, including digging through the dress up box for another scorcher of a Halloween; will share that cuteness soon. And a couple of recent tidbits to round out:

Mommy: Em, did you like the seaweed in your lunch today?
Em: Oh, yes, ma'am, and it traded really well, too!

Ju: Daddy, how do you say สับปะรด in English?
Daddy: Pineapple :)

This Week

This week, the view from our roof looked like this. This weekend Thailand is waiting to see what will come from tropical storm Gaemi, which will be heading over after pouring on Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Em's school principal announced this afternoon that the older students should take books home over the weekend in case school has to be canceled at the beginning of next week.

This week we celebrated the life of my best friend, who has been part of my life for the last 22 years. He is a giver of joy to us and to all who know him, and he reflects the love of God in his daily life. We had bratwurst and apple pie and generally a big time.

This week there were some avian 'suggles' happening. This picture is a new all time favorite. 

This one is a close second. I call it 'The Kiss'.

This week the boys had lunch at a roadside restaurant. Asa gave it high marks.

And this wasn't actually this week, but I've just begun a new language module and this was last module's class. I loved this group of people and this teacher, one of the heads of the school, was my most excellent yet. Two more months... อีกสองเดือน...

Bird in Training

Making good progress...

...enjoying our little feathered friend.

A Little Learning

Our friend Whim took these charming pictures of Ju's preschool co-op. A glimpse into the hard work of learning letters, numbers, Thai, the Bible...and just how to be in a group. This is Ju's first real extra-familial experience, so each Tuesday morning he's slowly warming up, faithfully sitting on his square, and learning more about the wide world around him.

 circle time- photo by Whim Jingjit

all the little bags- photo by Whim Jingjit

hard at work- photo by Whim Jingit

A Big Girl, Brothers, a Bird and Birthdays

Our big girl is a month into 4th grade. 4th grade! She heads off to school every day with a spring in her step, and she's having good days. Math can be her nemesis, but she doesn't let it sink her ship, she's reveling in the fun of her very first male teacher and enjoying new friends as well as old. Life as a 9 year old is pretty good.

She and her daddy generally do the early morning train ride together, as he is more skilled at pre-dawn wakings than I, and they have sweet time together. We're thankful for where our girl is in her journey and seeing more each day how God is weaving her story.

 

 sleeping on a raft

Meanwhile, it's brother time at home. One of our hopes in giving our September birthday boy another year at home was that this might be a time for his relationship with his brother to deepen. We're seeing good glimpses of that, imaginative play and camaraderie, along with the occasional fists and raised voices that seem to go hand-in-hand with the story of brothers. One of the great joys of my life is feeling two little boys climb into bed with me early in the morning for a 'suggle', as Ju so sweetly says. 

stringing beads

Decisions, at our new favorite restaurant right across the street. Everything on the menu is 35 baht ($1.12), so you can see why it's our favorite!

these things are tricky!

Ah, the laid-back nature of home school! This experienced kindergarten student is reading, writing and arithmetic-ing his way through the mornings, with plenty of lego breaks. He's doing beautifully. And meanwhile little brother is having his own adventures...

Not to be outdone, our little man is donning a uniform of sorts and trotting off to his very own preschool co-op one morning a week! The parents are taking turns teaching, and while Mommy is still studying Thai in the mornings, Daddy is taking his rotation as Thai and Language Arts teacher! They have matching t-shirts and bags for their weekly letter show-and-tell item, and it's all very adorable.

B is for Bird: This is Beaker, named in honor of this fellow, and he is a delightful squawking seed scatterer who has added to the life (and noise and messiness) of our home. He inhabits the Beak Boutique, so christened by our long-haired bird enthusiast. Since the onset of The Great Cat Allergy Tragedy, which dashed so many dreams, we have been entertaining the possibility of an avian pet. And really, we needed something else to sweep up after.

Em has spent much time diligently working toward training Beaker. It's our hope that he'll be finger trained at some point soon, and we have visions of going about our business at home with him perched on a shoulder, evoking the lore of Pop Brown (Tim's great-grandfather) and his beloved bird. After he's finger trained, we might even be able to teach him to say a word or two. We're open to suggestions of what those words might be...

We've had a little birthday season around here. Asa was due on my birthday six years ago, and although he declined to make his appearance on that auspicious occasion, our birthdays are just one week apart. Tim and I were able to get out for a night on the town...

...and then we celebrated with lunch after church at our favorite Lebanese restaurant the next day. Sweet friends, dear family, and beautiful cake made from scratch by the love of my life.

And now for a cuter birthday celebration...we had the joy last weekend of marking 6 years of Asa's life. He is unique and precious and wonderful, and we reveled in the chance to honor and celebrate him. There was much anticipation on his part and a paper chain to mark the days until the big day finally arrived.

traditional birthday cake in bed

We spent part of the day at a local water park, per the birthday boy's request. We had a big time tumbling down the water slides in a heap with all of the Thai teenagers. Alas, no nifty red and green light regulating water slide traffic!

We had dinner at Asa's favorite fish and chips spot...

the birthday boy and his best buddy

our little man and HIS best buddy!

Finally, home for cake and presents. Now, isn't this at least in the running for coolest cake ever? Asa requested lego ninjago, and poor Tim, who was just recovering from a horrible sickness (as was I- we had a rough week last week), was left in the kitchen at 9 pm the night before with a chocolate cake, a bowl of white frosting, red food coloring, and some forgotten Twizzlers we found on top of the refrigerator. And just look what he came up with! Delight abounded.