Christmas Eve Snow

The past few days have been cold and rainy. It's been hovering at 33 and 34 degrees. I selfishly prayed that the temperature would drop just a few degrees. There are very few signs of Christmas, only what's in our hearts and homes. So I knew God could make a little snow and give us a beautiful decoration.

With school out I've been sleeping in a bit (thanks to my sweet hubby). The day finally came that I thought would never come - the kids are learning the art of sleeping in, too (until 8:00 anyway). This morning I woke up around 8:00. I stayed in bed and whispered some morning prayers while under the cozy covers. As Annie bounced in my room around 8:30, she slung open my curtains. While we were sleeping, about 2-3 inches of snow covered the ground. It wasn't long before the kids were rolling around in it. Here are a few pictures of our first snow...on Christmas Eve nonetheless.

Jolly Lotto

Jolly Saint Nick. He adorns a lot of stores here, but the only "live" Santa to be found here is in the city's largest mall...passing out lottery tickets. No center stage where kids line up to tell wishes. Only waiting in the middle of the mall for those seeking lottery tickets.

You can see the stack of lottery tickets in his hands.

The kids wanted their picture with Santa (truth be known, I wanted their picture with the skinny Santa), so he was kind enough to pose with them.

Really Green Tea

For Christmas break the kids have an entire month off of school. We are on week 3, and cabin fever has officially struck. We had to do something to mix things up. We found a store here that sells a lot of pranks. This one cost 75 cents. Mike loves tea, so we fixed him some authentic green tea!

Emma's tooth could cause 2 special people to meet

Dancing with the Stars...kind of

3 guesses on who created this and posted it.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

In Our Spare Time...

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Pumpkin Carving Party

Lisa here. It's time to try my online wit once again. So, I'm going to tell the story of our Pumpkin Carving Party through a series of pictures.

A fun thing about living overseas with other Americans is you feel a unique bond when American holidays roll around. Some friends of ours who have access to the base commissary hosted a Pumpkin Carving party. They bought over 30 orange pumpkins for us to carve. We can get pumpkins here, but they're a grayish-green color. So, here's our Pumpkin Carving Party.














Doesn't Mike look in the fall festival mood in his beautiful orange coat? Lookin' good, honey!



















The best part about pumpkin carving.



















Annie and a buddy with her "Angry W Eyebrow" pumpkin.












David and his buddies and their vomiting pumpkin.












We can't get Dr. Pepper or Root Beer here, so this refrigerator was a rare sight for us. Yeah, I took a picture of soft drinks.












After the pumpkin carving, we played a game. Each child received a number, and he/she got to pick an American goody. Our friends who hosted the party have access to the base commissary, and they stocked their home with American goodies.









Good choice, son! David picked 2 cans of icing, orange extract, food coloring, and pumpkin tins for baking cakes. Wow. I was impressed with his choice. The next day we made 2 pumpkin cakes with orange-flavored icing!












Abby's choice was a jumpy spider. Didn't she see the Boo Berry cereal??? Or the Franken Berry cereal??? Where have I gone wrong? A jumpy spider?









Once Annie and Emma saw how cool the jumpy spider was, they BOTH chose jumpy spiders as well. That's a total of 3 jumpy spiders in our house. Didn't they see the fruit roll ups???









After the game was over, Annie changed her mind. She traded her jumpy spider for the Ooz'n Eyeballz. Did I mention there was brownie mix up for grabs, but they chose the jumpy spiders?









After lamenting my girls' poor choices for jumpy spiders, a friend brought me a box of Boo Berry cereal the next day. I don't deserve such friends!!!

Mike's Book of the Year

Thanks to some dear friends here, we have received a copy of the book pictured here. In case your eyes do not work as well as you'd like, the book is entitled In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day.

If you are looking for something to read and don't mind books that confront you and make you uncomfortable, may I recommend this one to you? In short, it talks about how we can be lion CHASERS!

Let me know if you take the plunge and dare to read it!

A Different Kind of Protein

Last night, I (Mike) was craving some walnuts. Thankfully, they are in abundance here and we had some waiting in the pantry. As I opened the jar, a MOTH flew out of the jar and barely missed my mouth!! I quickly squashed the moth and put the lid on the jar. Then, as I looked at the jar, I saw another moth flying inside the jar as he/she/it tried to escape. That is a little more protein than I am needing at this point in life. BTW - in case you are looking at the photo next to this and asking, "What does that have to do with walnuts?", I could not find any pictures of a nut and so I found a picture of 4 nuts!

Worth The Wait?!?!?

I was at the local bank branch this week and picked a number to wait in line like everyone else. (By the way, what are those machines called that spit out the numbers, anyway?!?!?!?!?) I was waiting to add credit on our gas card to heat our apartment this winter, so I had to pick a special number between 800 and 899. I was given 807 by the machine, but noticed that the last number called was 869! So, I figured I was 37th in line and decided to be productive and do some homework while waiting. After about 40 minutes, we were at 898 and 899. But, instead of rolling back 800, the board read "700 and 701".

Confused, I started asking a few people waiting if they were putting credit on their gas cards. When I found someone who was, he had number 713!! I showed him my number and he just smiled and laughed. After thanking him, I did some quick math in my head and realized I was not 37th in line, but 137th in line!! That equated to about 2-3 more hours of waiting...and I did not have that much time, patience or homework!

After meeting with my teacher to check my homework, I realized that it was NOT worth the wait because my homework was about 137th out of 137 students! HAHAHAHA!! The moral of the story: if you don't laugh while trying to learn a new language, you will cry!!

Cologne Clones

Sorry for not writing much as of late!!! We have had busy days and nights with lots of stuff happening. Thanks to those of you who faithfully check in. For all of you, here is an experience that is one of my (Mike's) strangest yet in a new culture:

I was at the bank one day waiting for a friend....no big deal. While there, I watched the bank security guard greet another man who he obviously knew...no big deal. As they talked, the guard opened up his desk drawer and the man pulled out a bottle of cologne....no big deal. They joked, laughed and smiled...no big deal. Then, as the security guard took the bottle of cologne back, he started spraying the other man with cologne!! He was not joking around or playing a trick on his friend: the man was quite pleased as he raised his arms, sprayed his hands and wiped it on his face and neck...no big deal?!?!?!?!? Weigh in with your opinion................

Daisy

Tonight we went to the park to let the kids ride bikes and eat dinner at a nice, cheap restaurant with outdoor seating. We took our seat at the restaurant and the kids noticed the lady beside us holding an object in a towel. At first I thought it was a newborn baby. Then, the kids (in their loudest English) started yelling that it was a dog! They were so excited, and the owner let us pet her dog. She explained that the dog was really old (15 yrs. old) and that's why he/she was wrapped in a blanket. When I asked the dog's name, to my surprise, it was Daisy, but the owner knew no English. She pronounced Daisy perfectly, though. I think Daisy is the no.1 dog name in America. I know 2 dogs in my old neighborhood named Daisy. Now I know one here as well. So here are some pictures of Daisy, the 15-year old, cradled, hair-cut-too-short, doggie in a blanket.And here's Emma and Abby riding their bikes at the park...









And David throwing a football...

Residue

I've got this little petpeeve about sticky things on the windowshield of cars I drive. I don't like them. I had a parking sticker thing in college, and it took me forever to get all that sticky residue off the windshield. Well, last school year at Emma's preschool I was required to have one of those sticky things on the windowshield of our car. Without it we would not be allowed to enter. So, I had no choice. But I DID have a choice on how much sticky I'd allow on the windshield. I had a brainchild. Instead of peeling the back off the sticky thing, I took some packaging tape from the house. I placed packaging tape on the back of the sticker and then applied it to the windshield. I figured once the school year was over it would peel right off and I'd have no sticky residue to mess with. So, here's a picture of our windshield now that I took the packaging tape off the windshield. Notice the nice clear square where the sticky thing would've been. Any suggestions?

Reservations

Last week Mike and I went on a date to a restaurant that only seated by reservation. So Mike went by the restaurant earlier in the day to make the reservation (easier than the phone, or so we thought). When the hostess asked Mike his name, he said, "Michael." So the lady wrote down "Michaels." The lady went on to ask Mike his first name. Knowing it would take too much energy to explain that Michael IS his first name and extra brainpower and energy to explain why his last name sounds German but he's an American, Mike very quickly and confidently responded with "John." Mike came home and told me our reservations are under the name "John Michaels." I thought it was so hilarious. He said John was the first name that popped in his head when he was asked. I'm glad he didn't respond with George.

Fireproof

I don't think this movie will make it overseas, so go see it for us! We've heard about it on various podcasts and the internet. Let us know what you think of it!

Linguistic Thoughts

Languages are interesting. I'm not a linguist, but I am really curious about how much a country's language reflects its values as well. For example, right now in my language study I'm studying cause and effect. In English I would say "I'm wearing a jacket because I'm cold" or "I'm eating lunch because I'm hungry." However, in the language I'm learning I would reverse the order and say "Because I'm cold I'm wearing a jacket" or "Because I'm hungry I'm eating lunch." It has been very difficult in my mind to think in reverse order while also thinking of the correct vocabulary, verb tense, etc. So as I've been thinking of the cause and effect order of sentences, I think why Americans say the result first is because we like the Bottom-Line-Up-Front. Just tell me what's going on, and then give me all the reasoning. Just tell me the main idea. Whereas here, one would probably give you a lot of reasoning and explanation before you get to the bottom line. Maybe I'm overevaluating things, but I'm just trying to reason these languages out.

Another big difference is how we address strangers. I've been called "aunt", "big sister", "dear", and "sister" by complete strangers, almost daily. In the states I wouldn't address a stranger by any of those titles. I prefer the sweet titles I'm called here, as opposed to ma'am or misses.

So that's it for my linguistic thoughts for today.

A Kentucky Moment

Many of our friends here like to send us weird stories of people in Kentucky who make the news. For example, do you remember the lady who "won" the Charmin toilet paper contest and received a free wedding in New York...with a dress made of 100% Charmin toilet paper?!?!?!?

Well, last week as I was heading to a different area of town by bus, I saw a first for me here - a red convertible Corvette SR-1!!!! I have seen a Porsche, Ferrari, Viper, Land Rover, Hummer H3 and other less-than-common vehicles, but none of those lesser cars are made in the Bluegrass. I knew the only place in the world where those are made are right in Bowling Green, KY! I had flashbacks to the Corvette Museum and the manufacturing plant you pass on I-65. And for a moment, at least, I forgot about the toilet paper wedding!

REAL popcorn

While in the village over the weekend, we hit the local open-air fruit and vegetable market. Beside all the fresh jams made by the village ladies (I bought some strawberry jam made from little mountain strawberries...yummy yum) was a bag of popcorn. I had never had real popcorn from dried corn before. Hmmm. I asked a friend if she thought it was popcorn, and she said yeah, it looked like it. So I paid a dollar for a bag of popcorn. I got in the van, and the kids were pumped that we were going to have popcorn that night. We were already planning on a movie, so I was thrilled to have found real, totally from scratch popcorn.

We got the kids settled in for a movie, and I grabbed a kettle to pop the popcorn. We put the oil in it, added some salt, and then we poured in the real popcorn. Mmmmm...smelled like popcorn. 5 minutes later simmering in hot oil it still smelled like popcorn, but no pop. 10 minutes later it had a nice aroma, but no pop. 10 more minutes, and I'm pretty sure this popcorn ain't gonna pop. It started to have that nice burnt smell with some dark smoke and no pop.

I'm pretty sure I bought chicken feed. No matter how long you cook it, it won't pop.

friend of a friend of a friend

A friend of a friend of a friend let us use his beach house this past weekend. We took off for 4 days with another family with 5 kids, a family with a 6-week old, the grandmother of the 6-week old, and our family of 6. We squeezed into 3 bedrooms and shared one shower and one squatty potty. It was all squatty all the time, my friends.

The house we stayed in was in a village, about 5 miles from a beach. The cow next door mooed throughout the day, and the kids climbed trees for the first time in 1 1/2 years. Growing up in KY I never lacked a tree to climb, but in a modern city of millions, our kids aren't afforded that opportunity. So they spent the majority of their time climbing trees, picking fresh fruit from the abundance of trees in the house's backyard, and taking trips to the beach. The trees in the backyard consisted of fresh figs, quince, walnuts, and apples. A fresh fig just plucked off the tree is really delicious! It doesn't taste a thing like a fig newton, but that's the only thing I knew of figs before moving here.

We hit a beach in a really small village the first day, and the water had at least 5 shades of blue. It was the most beautiful beach I've been to. The second day we tried a different beach in a more touristy area, and we were welcomed by a swarm of jellyfish. At least I think they were jellyfish. Their tentacles were itty bitty, and they didn't sting. However, it did sting when Annie got hit in the face by one in their jellyfish tag game. The kids collected them, squeezed them, and played jellyfish tag.

So thank you, my friend of a friend of a friend who let us use your beach house. I am so refreshed. Even though most all the kids slept in one room camped out on the floor, we heard the little 6-week old throughout the night, we were squeezed in tight quarters, and we shared one little squatty, I feel absolutely refreshed from my time away. It's amazing how good friendships do that to you. I feel strengthened.

Emma-isms

My baby starts kindergarten tomorrow. After 12 years of being blessed to stay home with our 4 children, a new phase of life starts for all of us. So tonight as I was tucking Emma in bed, we had the following conversation:

ME: Emma, you're starting kindergarten tomorrow, and I will be praying for you all day. Is there anything special you want me to pray for?

EMMA: Yeah, I have this problem. When I blink I can't see.

ME: You mean you can't see when you blink? That's what you want me to pray for?

EMMA: Yeah, I think I may need glasses. But I don't need surgery.

ME: How about if you just don't blink?

EMMA: No, that's too hard. Good night, mom.

This conversation reminded me of 2 other recent Emma-isms. Just the other day we were going out on the town and we were going to do a lot of walking. I wanted the kids to wear good shoes with some socks. So, Emma came out of her room sporting her crocs. I know crocs are comfortable, so I didn't mind, but I thought socks might be a good idea since pebbles get lodged into crocs. Here was the conversation:

ME: Emma, we're going to do a lot of walking. You should wear some socks with those crocs.

EMMA: I am. They're invisible.

ME: Emma, without socks your feet will hurt after a while.

EMMA: Mom, I'm wearing my invisible socks. You just can't see them.

That response was so quick and witty that I actually let her get away with it. We went out, and she did not give one complaint the entire day. The invisible socks were amazing!

Emma said one other thing recently that cracked us all up at the dinner table. We were discussing the possibility of going to London one day. Emma's response: "If we go to London, do we have to use that English accident?"

See why I'm going to miss having my baby around all day???

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Well, back into the frying pan.....we need to pass on our Congratulations to the big winners: TinaK was first to respond and BrendaM was first to carry out past the decimal point on the Fahrenheit conversions!! Where are the men, I ask?!?!?!?

Anyway, on our return trip, it was a delightful 21.5 C when we left the mountains. 20 nauseating minutes later as we were at the bottom of the mountain, it was 28 C. About an hour later as we were driving, the temperature reached 33.5 C. Then, an odd occurrence - a dark cloud loomed and strange dots appeared on the windshield. After consulting wikipedia (the internet's most reliable source of all information that anyone can edit from anywhere in the world!), I believe we saw rain drops!! Whatever the alien invasion was, the temperature dropped quickly to 28 C. But, fear not..when we hit our street, it was 35 C.

For those still wondering what it all means: Fahrenheit = 1.8 x Celsius + 32. Happy Computing as we keep dreaming of a white Christmas!

Beating the Heat

For the last couple of weeks, we have been sleeping with wet wash rags, ceiling fans and oscillating fans to deal with the summer weather. I (Mike)even used a "Blue Ice" pack from the freezer...it's quite relaxing if you sleep on your side: simply place under your arm and your body temperature drops immediately! Any other helps are gladly welcomed!

Well, our best way to beat the heat is to retreat to the mountains. We are about a mile high, though not in Denver! When we arrived for a few days of rest and focus, I noticed the temperature outside was 33 Celsius. 20 minutes later as we climbed out of the car, it was 23 Celsius. Lisa and Annie actually wore jackets this morning because they were cold!

For your homework, I am curious who will be the first to correctly calculate the celsius temperatures to fahrenheit!! I'll be waiting!

commitment

Many of you know that my mother has Alzheimer's Disease. Many of you, too, have a loved one who is affected by this disease. I want to share a clip with you about a man named Robertson McQuilkin. His wife also had Alzheimer's Disease, and the following clip is a small part of his story. His story is being told by Dennis Rainey, host of Family Life Today.

Rain

Yesterday showed promise of rain. It was mid-morning, and the dark clouds gathered and the winds picked up. It hasn't rained in months, and what a relief it would be to the sun-soaked land and to our souls as well. So we watched and waited.

It was early afternoon and the weather still held promise. The winds were telling us of a change, and doors were slamming all throughout the house as a sign. I studied the sky, and it sure looked like some other parts of the city might be getting rain, so we eagerly waited for the drops to fall in our neighborhood.

Late afternoon came, and I was still holding out hope. The overcast sky remained, a much-welcome change for this mid-August day. On my occasional trips to the balcony to enjoy the cooler breeze, I anticipated and begged the heavens to pour upon this dry and dusty land.

In early evening, just before the sun set, a few drops fell right on our street. It was a silent rain. You could barely see it, you definitely could not hear it, but if you stood in the open you could feel it. I held my arm off my balcony and felt five drops sporadically hit my skin. And that was it. The rain evaporated from the street as quickly as it fell. Ten minutes later there was no sign of rain. Just overcast skies.

The rest of the evening brought in a little cooler weather, but the people and the land are still crying out for rain. All day we were teased with hope but only received a drop of relief. This is where I live.

Let. it. rain.

The World According to Emma

Emma is getting so excited about starting kindergarten in a few short weeks. To impress us as parents, she is showing off her ever-growing vocabulary. For example:

1) While recently having a friend spend the night, she was trying to explain how they were going to sleep on the love seat which folds out into a double bed. Well, when Emma explained it, she said, "Guess what?? We get to sleep on the love couch!" Not to be outdone, only a few days later....
2) It was a Sunday and I was shaving before we headed out the door. Emma walked by the bathroom and saw me. She asked if she could watch and quickly got the stool as I was splashing water on my face. Once as close as humanly possible, she asked me, "Dad, when are you going to put the whipped cream on your face?" I asked, "What whipped cream, Emma? I don't shave with whipped cream." "Yes, you do, Daddy! You know, the white stuff that you scrap off your face!" she replied.

Well, as you can tell, Emma is well on her way to becoming a Fulbright scholar........though we are sad that our baby is going to school!! :-(

uncle, eggs, and heat

Has it really been 3 weeks since my last post? To my faithful friends who check this blog, I'm impressed that you checked in again that by chance you might find something new. Here we are!

Here's a basic recap on the past few weeks. The highlight is that Uncle Brad came to visit. That would be single, bachelor Uncle Brad that the girls are perpetually trying to set up with one of their teachers, neighbors, or any cute girl in the 30-something range. We did some sightseeing with Brad, fed him lots of local food, and took a 3-day trip to a more villagey location.

Other than Uncle Brad visiting, the rest isn't very exciting. Our refrigerator broke down completely (yeah, the brand new one we bought in April '07). When that happened, I had to distribute my food in 4 different refrigerators at friends' houses. The repairman came, looked at it, and said he couldn't fix it that day. We survived on pb&j, and he returned the next day and got her up and running again. I recollected my food and now it's nice and cold. It's really nice and cold in the back where it actually freezes the food. Like ice on my veggies. Should I call the repairman again?

Did you know that if you get eggs at a market (they are not refrigerated there), and you put them in the fridge where they get cold, and then your fridge breaks down and the eggs get warm again, that no one gets sick if you eat them once the fridge gets repaired and they're cold again? I had a local tell me they'd be fine to eat. I took her word for it, and no one got sick. It was risky, but everyone was fine (eggs are not cheap here).

Other than Brad visiting and the fridge breaking down, I guess the only news (which really isn't news), is that it is just blazing hot! I daily have to remind myself why life is better without air conditioning. I'm reteaching my body that heat is good. I'm actually learning lots of tips on how to stay cool. So, here are my summer tips for staying cool:

• Don't open your windows if it's higher than 80 degrees outside. Opening a door or window on a hot day is like a blast of heat from the oven. No kidding! It's actually cooler with the windows closed.
• Wrap a blue ice pack in a washcloth and sleep with it like a little teddy bear.
• Spritz sheets with cold water before going to bed.
• Avoid the oven or stove! We have a gas stovetop, so when it's on there's an open flame going in our kitchen. We eat salads, sandwiches, smoothies, etc. About twice a week our dinner is sandwiches and a fresh smoothie (juicy fresh fruits from the market mixed with yogurt).
  
• Go to the air-conditioned food court in the mall...linger for a very looooong time.
  
• Eat outside in the shade. It's cooler than inside the apartment.
• Have lots of squirt gun fights.
• Fans are your friends.
• Reminisce about summer camp and how much fun it was to be in that cabin without air conditioning. Just think...our kids get the same experience without the expense of camp.
• Reminisce about your freshman year in college in the only dorm without air conditioning and relive all those precious memories before graduating to the other side of campus.
• Know that sweat is cleansing your body from toxins.
• Have contests on which melts faster in the kitchen...a piece of ice or a tablespoon of butter. Time the results and the loser buys ice cream.
  
• Keep a positive attitude and know that fall's around the corner.
  

Happy Birthday, Mike!

Annie wrote 2 songs for her dad's birthday, and as a present she wanted to post them on the blog and surprise him. We'll show them to Mike on his birthday. So, here are 2 original songs for her 39-year old dad. I love the name of the first one...gotta love the kid's honesty. Happy birthday!

So Many Years Ago

Life Can Be So Hard

Instinctive love of water

Do you know what happens when you take a golden retriever to a park with a lake? There is an unusually strong magnetism between the two. My friend was dogsitting, and we thought it would be nice to take my kids and her dog to the park for the day. We underestimated the power the lake would have over the dog. The police warned us more than once to keep the dog out of the lake, but Sophie (the dog) didn't care if we landed in jail. The third time the dog overpowered my friend, at least it was in a spot where the police could not see. It was a hot July day, there was a nice lake to swim in, and golden retrievers were made to swim! So here is my friend "swimming" the dog on a leash.

I just looked on Wikipedia, and it states that the golden retreiver has "an instinctive love of water." Yes, I'm well aware of that. Tell that to the park security!

After Sophie's illegal swim in the lake, here is Annie rewarding here.

Explosive Airheads

Did you know if you put Airheads candy in your carry-on baggage, every time it goes through a scanner the airport security will think you have explosives in your bag? Neither did we...until today. Yes, it's true my friends, and I'm posting this to save you the trouble. Some friends came to see us today, and before they came they asked if there was anything the kids wanted. The kids said they wanted Airheads, the taffy-like candy. So this sweet friend of ours bought a Cosco-sized box of Airheads candy, and he put it in his carry on. Evidently, Airheads looks a LOT like the putty that is used for explosive material. This sweet man was taken by security in two separate airports over the Airheads candy! He eventually got here safely, and so did the Airheads! Our friend's advice to other travelers is to put Airheads in your check-in baggage. Who would've thunk it?

the coveted toilet chore

Summer break started last week, and so did our summer chore chart. We sat down last Sunday night and handed each child his/her chore chart. We talked through each child's responsibilities, and we had a most unusual and unexpected response. We started with the youngest and went over Emma's chores...things like watering flowers, sweeping the balcony, and making her bed. With each child, the chores became a little more complex. Last but not least we came to David's chores. One of his chores was scrubbing the toilets. When Abby and Annie heard that David got this responsibility, they said, "No fair! I wanted to do that! Why does David get to scrub the toilets? Why can't we do that?" Since Emma saw that this was a coveted job, she began to beg to scrub the toilets as well. Mike and I were completely bewildered. We quickly reassured the girls that we would switch the chores around every couple of weeks so everyone got a chance to scrub the toilets. This made everyone very happy. I'm still perplexed!

David is 12

David turned 12 last week. In honor of his birthday, I'm interviewing him:

1. Favorite food - "Steak, the kind in America."

2. Most boring thing to do - "Nothing."

3. Favorite fruit - "Star fruit"

4. Favorite sport - "Football"

5. What do you think about Michael Jackson? - "Do I have to answer that?"

6. Morning or Night person - "Both"

7. Food you miss from America - "Steak"

8. Favorite subject - "Math"

9. Favorite ride - "Vortex at King's Island"

David is short and to the point on most things. Since he did not elaborate on his questions and gave such vague answers to a slew of other questions I asked but did not print, I thought I'd make a few observations of my own. David is a saver. He saves his allowance and calculates carefully before buying. David is a builder. He creates magnificent things with legos. David is a neattie. He does not have clutter in his room and I rarely have to ask him to clean it. David is a chef. He has cooked entire meals and really enjoys working with me in the kitchen. David is a writer. He has written a novel that is over 70 pages long. David is easy-going and goes with the flow. We rarely hear a complaint from this sweet son. At the age of 10 he moved across the world, and he rarely ever complains about the vast differences or inconveniences. He's easy to love and quick to smile. And even though he said the word "Elmo" before he said "Mommy", I love him with every ounce in my being.

For David's birthday we took him and 9 friends to a local park. They rode go karts, played soccer, had a picnic, played football (which drew admiration from onlooking nationals), and then rode some rides similar to ones at a county fair. Here are a few pictures from the big day.

Life is just a ...

Life is just a ...

Sorry. I just couldn't resist. The cherries are now in season, and we are fully enjoying them. I've learned the hard way that there are 2 kinds of cherries: the sweet kind you eat right off the stem and the super duper sour ones that only the brave at heart eat raw. We have been enjoying both, and the kids' faces were priceless when they unknowingly bit into the sour ones.

The picture above is the super sour ones that are unbelievably delicious when cooked with twice as much sugar and placed in a pie, cobbler, or jam. I went to the open air fresh fruit market today and bought 2 kilos (I'm telling you how many pounds that is...waa haa haa haa) for about 3 dollars. Cha-ching! Last week I made a bunch of cherry jam, and it rocks! Now before you think I'm just really ambitious, I'll have to tell you the jam thing is mainly inspired by my pocketbook (as my Grandmother Tuggle would say). Jam or jelly is around $6 a jar, so even the simplest of minds (yours truly) can do the math on that.



Emma is carefully holding the sour cherry. It's not coming near her mouth.

Happy Father's Day (A Poem by Annie)

With a house full of bookworms, Dr. Seuss happens to be a frequent
favorite book to read. So, partly inspired by Dr Seuss and partly by
Shel Silverstein, Annie decided to wax poetic for my Father's Day
present. Enjoy!

Father's Day, Father's Day, it used to be on the way.
But now I'm really glad to say that Father's Day is today!!

Father's Day is super cool, we might even go to the swimming pool!
The only other rhyming word is mule! (spelled "muel" by Annie)

Father's Day, Father's Day, it used to be on the way.
I'm really glad it's not in May 'cause I'm glad Father's Day is today.

squatty potty laundry room

Almost every home here has a squatty potty bathroom. We have one right off our entry, but we also have 2 western toilets (BIG smile). Because we have a bathroom off our hallway and an itty bitty bathroom off our bedroom, we took the advice of some other foreigners and made our squatty potty bathroom into our laundry room. Otherwise, our washer and dryer would've been in our main bathroom.

Doing this feat required fine electrical skills provided by our American friend several blocks away. Since there are no electrical outlets in the squatty potty bathroom, he made the light fixture serve as the electrical base. Somehow he rigged up the electrical flow through the light fixture.

So we have a power strip dangling behind the washer and dryer, and that's where we plug everything in. It all worked so well for several months. Then, Mike changed the lightbulb. Tragic mistake! Things started to get interesting.

We've had to try various things to get our washing machine, dryer, and light fixture all to function at the same time, but it's quite tricky. We never know what mood they're going to be in, so we have tried a variety of things. The light fixture went out all together a few months ago, and it refuses to give us light. We continue to do laundry in the dark because we can't figure this one out, but we have managed to try a variety of things to get clean clothes...

• The washing machine and dryer typically don't like each other. If they're both on at the same time, they'll flip the breaker so nothing works. So, we only run one machine at a time.
  
• The washing machine and dryer's relationship has so deteriorated that not only do they not want to work at the same time, but they don't even want to be plugged in together. Now we have to unplug the washing machine if we want the dryer to cooperate (and vice versa).
• The washing machine and dryer like the dark. They will not allow the light fixture to work, and sometimes they will not allow the entry hallway light to be on. Sometimes we have to turn off the entry light if we want clean clothes.
• The washing machine is picky about its water. Sometimes it won't add water to the wash unless you manually reach your hand behind the washer and turn the water knob.

Has anyone seen The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars? The cute little toaster goes to Mars where he meets the angry appliances. The evil Wonderluxe appliances devise a plan to blow up earth, led by the Supreme Commander who is a huge refrigerator. My washing machine could've easily been cast as Supreme Commander, with the dryer as his top aid.

I've included some pictures of our electrical wiring and our washer and dryer. Sorry the pictures are so dark...the appliances like the dark and refuse to allow the light fixture to work. I had to use a flashlight to get some sort of light, thus the spotlight.

Emma's Doctor's Visit

No, this is not a horror story from the doctor's office. It is simply Emma trying to talk her way out of treatment!! I (Mike) took her to see the dermatologist last week because she has a wart on the palm of her right hand. She actually wanted to go because it is getting painful. We met the doctor and she offered only one real option for a small child: freeze it off. We explained it to Emma and she was happy to let the doctor "spray her hand and make it cold." That was...until she actually did it!! We told Emma we would count to 5 while the doctor sprayed her hand. After that, we would do it a second time while she counted to 5 and she would be done! Well, after the first time, she was ready to leave. Her hand hurt and was cold, so she pulled out every excuse she could think of and made up some new ones. With big, sad, blue puppy dog eyes, here were some of my personal favorites: "Can my Dad spray it this time?", "I'm thirsty. Can we go to the store and get something to drink?", "Can't we just use an ice cube at home to make it cold?" and "Can I come back with Mommy?"

After running into the doctor's next appointment, we finally had to coax Emma and her juice box into my lap so we could spray her palm a second time.

The real bummer is that it looks absolutely no different! She goes again on Friday - this time with her Mommy!! :-)

Elvis lives

Emma's preschool had an end-of-the-year production. We had no idea what she'd be doing, but we figured it would be singing and dancing. The classes before hers performed some dances from songs of this country. However, when Emma's class took the stage we were surprised that she was dancing to Elvis! Her class did a few other numbers that weren't in English, but we thought you might enjoy watching Jailhouse Rock from Central Asia.

I only posted half of the production to save you the download time :-)

another trip to the grocery

Today I tried a new grocery store. Annie was at a birthday party at an indoor kid's play place, so after I picked her up I went to a new grocery store because it was in the same mall.

Annie wanted to ride in the cart, so I lifted her to ride in the big part. As we entered the store, the security guard stopped me. He taped up my bag from a previous store. Then he handed me the blue cloth thingies we always get at doctor's offices, museums, the preschool, and other public places that allow you to wear shoes as long as you cover them. I looked around, and no one else had the blue cloth thingies on. Through our Tarzan-speak and hand motions, I realized that Annie needed to put them on because she was sitting in the shopping cart. It was completely fine for me to wear my dirty shoes throughout the store, but since Annie was placing her feet where food would go, she had to wear them. Once I finally figured out who was supposed to wear them and why, I put them over Annie's flip flops (which was an awkward fit). The security guard was happy, and I was allowed to proceed. I just smiled and said, "Sorry, we're foreigners." Nothing like stating the obvious.

The trip got even more interesting when we got to the check-out counter. I had enough groceries to last our family of six for a week. After the cashier rang up everthing and I bagged it, there was a problem with the register. After calling two supervisors, I had to take all the food out of the bags and let her ring it up a second time. She did so, but again when it was time to give the final tally, there was a problem at the register. She consulted her two supervisors again, and she explaining to me a lot of things I didn't understand. I just knew she could not finalize the bill yet. So, for the third time she didn't make me unpack my bags, but she took the old receipt and entered every singe item by typing in the bar code number. Abby, Annie, and I sat there and ate the very rare find of donuts ($2 a piece). I offered one to the cashier to lighten things up for her, but she refused. After she entered every single bar code number of every single item in my cart, I was able to pay. However, she was not finished.

At this point, a friend of mine who knows the language very well showed up (I love small towns of 6 million and little run-ins like this). She translated and said there was a problem with the register and the juice boxes. The cashier then had to ring up one juice box at a time, finish each transaction, watch the money drawer open, and then close it. She repeated this action about 30 times. Then I paid her the total sum for the juice boxes.

I think I was at this one register for around 45 minutes.

Annie still had on the blue cloth thingies over her flip flops, I had my 30 juice boxes -each individually transacted, and we merrily went on our way.

KY in The News!

Here is a link from a dear friend who visited KY last year and has not been the same person ever since. He is always up to date on what is happening in the commonwealth!! Here is a link to a great story: http://usatoday.feedroom.com/index.jsp?fr_story=FRdamp275343

In my (Mike) personal opinion, this still does not top the story my brother told me a few years ago. One day while coaching basketball in Bracken County (rural KY for those who do not know), he had 2 players who were unusually late for practice. They were very apologetic, warmed up quickly and joined practice. During a break, Brad asked if everything was OK. They said it was and he asked if they were OK as well. Then, the punch line, "We're sorry we were late, Coach, but we had to help our dad catch the cows that got out when the fence was left open." Oh, I miss the commonwealth and days gone by!! If you know "My Old Kentucky Home", please sing along.........

Mama Midnight

Our street has enough cats to populate a small town in Kentucky. Most of these are street cats, but our neighbors across the street have a really sweet cat that our kids call Midnight. Several weeks ago Midnight, who the kids always thought was a boy, had kittens. The kittens stay inside the house, but they've just recently worked up enough courage to peek outside. I love the first picture of the curious kitten and the second picture of Midnight being a good mama and watching her baby.

With the birth of the kittens the usual barrage of questions has begun..."Daddy, why do you have to be allergic to cats?" "Can we keep him? We promise we'll keep him on the balcony." And on the upside of having the Stray Cat Strut lived out on our street, I've yet to encounter one rodent anywhere. Go, cats!