Oh what a wonderful weekend!

We had so much fun this weekend, there wasn't time for taking pictures!

We had fun on the slides, story time at Keanu's school, tennis, fun at the "farm", lots of time at the park, golf, more time on the slide. First of all, it was gorgeous weather. Second of all, it was a long weekend as we "celebrated" 2/28.

The only picture I've got to share is this one. I love it because none of the 8 that I took of all 4 kids on the swing had everyone looking at the camera. In this picture, no one's looking at the camera and everyone's happy doing what he's doing. Second, it's a great picture of Teresa's growing belly! Sure is nice someone else can wear my maternity clothes!

Merry Christmas!

Finally, I'm getting around to posting about Christmas! When the kids came downstairs on Christmas morning, they saw that the tree was piled with gifts and Kate found one with her name on it even without reading! She couldn't be bothered by anything else under the tree or in her pile of gifts on the couch later. She just wanted to play with that stroller!

Keanu loved opening all of his. By noon, we were ready to go on our next adventure - the Lakeshore Hotel in Hsin Chu. Kevin had made reservations to spend the night there and we had a great time.

First of all, there's heat in the hotel rooms.

Second, there was a pool with a fabulously warm kid's pool.

Third, the kids had a great time with their new toys. This is what they looked like everywhere we went: Hope you all had a great Christmas, too!

Happy Birthday, Kate, part 2

One day in the week leading up to Christmas, Keanu and I stopped at the department store after school to do some last minute shopping. We got home kind of late, but rather than heading straight to bed, we had to have some birthday cake first. Little did I know that I'd choosen Kate's Lunar birthday to go shopping with her brother instead of spend the evening with her! She was evidently quite happy about the event anyway, wasn't she?

Happy Birthday, Kate

Last Sunday we celebrated Kate's birthday with a dinner at TGIFriday's.

There were aunts and cousins:And Ahma:And puzzles to solve while waiting for dinner:And Dora books and stickers:

And Dora Play-Doh:And of course there was the "Happy Birthday" song:And ice cream: And cake:

Twas Thanksgiving Night...

When all through the house, we were decorating the tree...We got a new Christmas tree this year from IKEA. I'm really happy with it since it is nice and full and didn't take alot of tweaking after assembly. Plus, it is rather compact so it doesn't take up a lot of unnecessary floor space. The long needles kinda remind me of the Christmas tree Grandpa and Grandma always had when we were growing up, but I think there've been great improvements in fake trees in the last 30-ish years!

Mid-Autmn Festival

Today is the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, so that means there's a full moon and our last holiday scheduled until Chinese New Year! [Double 10 and New Year's Day fall on weekends this year, so they don't count :( ] I don't really understand why this particular full moon is important every year, but we certainly appreciate the holiday. Typically people celebrate by having a BBQ, giving moon cakes (think fruitcake at Christmas), eating pomellos, and admiring the moon.

You might be wondering, "what are pomellos?" Have no fear because I'll tell ya!

Think of a grapefruit that's about the size of a toddler's head. It's got really thick skin and a mild citrus flavor. They're in season now and that's why they're so popular at this festival. In the days before toys were plentiful, adults cut the pomello skin like a flower and then placed them on their kid's heads as hats and play-things. We've got plenty of toys, but the tradition continues. Here are a couple of pictures from last weekend so you can see what I'm talking about.Kate didn't really like this idea, so she pulled hers off pretty quickly. I did get one quick shot, though.

Later today we're going to meet some friends who are barbecuing, and we'll certainly be able to see the moon since the typhoon over the weekend cleared away all the clouds.

Happy Independence Day!

I know I'm a week and a half late, but I just HAD to share this picture of our little red-white-'n-blues! Hope you had a blast on the fourth!

Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day yesterday with Kevin's extended family. We went for a walk along the river and then when the mosquitoes chased us away, we went to a restaurant for dinner. Here are some of the kids playing on the stage after dinner. How many do you recognize?

Easter Saturday

This past Saturday we went to an Easter picnic complete with egg decorating and a hunt through the maze garden to find some Easter treats. Keanu wasn't much up for participating in those kinds of events, but we had a good time posing the kids in Julie's big basket. You might recall a similar picture last year.

Later, we cooled off with 30-cent ice cream bars while waiting for Kevin's tennis lesson to start. After sampling all three flavors, we decided that the peanut flavor is best - much better than the red bean one!

Happy New Year (again)

Welcome the year of the ox!

Happy New Year!

OK, so I'm little bit behind on some postings, but this is how we celebrated the new year. We were home for the countdown and watched the fireworks at Taipei 101 on TV. In addition, we had a little feast to ring in the new year: fried chicken, sweet potatoes, and cucumbers (all fried, but pretty yummy - Keanu especially likes the cucumbers!) and popcorn!
This is how Kate rang in the new year:

Hope you had a great time, too!

It's beginning to look alot like...

Yes, I know... Thanksgiving is still almost a week away, but the Canadians in our office have convinced me that it's alright to think Christmas already.

You might notice that our tree is pretty small (about 18 inches)! That's the one I bought last year when we had a curious near-walker in the house. Our previous tree was much bigger, probably close to 6 feet. However, jump back to January, 2007 when Keanu was born. Our tree was still standing and beautifully decorated. By the time we got home from the hospital, a Christmas tree was the last thing on my mind and since it wasn't in the living room anymore, I forgot about it. In about April I found it upstairs on the porch, coated with the dirt and dust of the city. Since the tree itself was probably 10 years old (or more!) I decided it was time to replace it and just cleaned up the decorations! As I was lying in bed this morning thinking about Christmas decorations, the idea of getting a bigger tree this year crossed my mind, but by the time I finished this bit of decorating I pretty much decided I'm done, at least for this weekend!

Oh, and I DID have help with this task. This helper decided the lights were pretty, but not fun to wear. Yoyo was here, too, so she was a bit more help!

4 Years, 4 Weeks

Not 4 years AND 4 weeks, but two separate ideas.

Yes, 4 years ago my dear husband and I tied the knot. It's hard to believe it's been 4 years already. Some things have changed (Keanu and his little sister, mostly!), but alot has remained the same. We still live in the same house (1st and 4th floor); we both still enjoy teaching; he still takes me to work in the morning like when we were dating (except now he doesn't have to drive across town at dawn to pick me up!); and we both still adore each other. I wish we could spend more time together (he works most evenings), but at least our weekends are mostly nuclear family time.

About 4 weeks from now we reach our due date. She seems to be doing well and is snug as a bug in a rug as they say. At our appointment last week, she was estimated at about 5 lbs and still breech. As long as that's the case, we'll certainly have another C-section. I'm not looking forward to the recovery with a newborn AND toddler who prefers mommy, but I suppose that's best for all of us. The official due date is Dec 17ish, but I'm content with anytime after Dec. 8 because then my maternity leave will run into Chinese New Year vacation - something I was cheated out of last time around!

By the way, according to Chinese superstition, expectant couples are not supposed to do major preparations for the baby (like moving furniture or putting the bed together) before the baby is born. The weekend before Keanu was born, we put the crib together. This week we got the crib from Kevin's sister and last night we moved Keanu's bed to make room for the crib. Still haven't put it together yet, but... we'll see!

Johnny's Wedding

Friday was Taiwan's birthday (10/10), so we enjoyed a long weekend. We should have gone up for the dumpling making party, but instead enjoyed a quiet day at home. We were supposed to get Keanu's hair cut, but he took an early nap so he missed that excursion, too.

Then in the evening we went to a friend's wedding reception at a nice new hotel. I was actually looking forward to it, expecting some excellent food. I was a bit disappointed, not so much in the quality but in the length of time it took to eat the meal. For those of you not accustomed to Chinese wedding dinners, the meal is served family style at a round table for 10. The meal consists of about 10-12 dishes which are interspersed by wedding activities such as the bride wearing 3 different gowns, a few speeches, the throwing of the bouquet, etc.

Keanu actually did pretty well for a little guy who's not even two yet. The first 6 or 8 dishes were mostly seafood (most of which was pretty good, until the duck feet came), but Keanu doesn't care for seafood and the pomp and circumstances were few and far between. He survived on orange juice and a few pieces of shredded wheat which I'd brought along. Finally, about 2 and a half hours into the event - just before people were ready to leave - they brought out the last 2 main dishes (which included broccoli and fish) as well as a fruit plate for dessert. Keanu was in heaven. He made up for the other food he didn't eat with the three servings of broccoli and 4 pieces of watermelon he devoured as the rest of the guests were leaving. What a meal!


With me being nearly 7 months pregnant, we also made a couple of trips to the loo throughout this long meal (a good distraction for a toddler, too). However, it wasn't until we were about to leave that I discovered the cute little toilet. I've seen restrooms before that have a "mommy and child" potty - the stall is a bit larger with two toilets - big and mini. However, this was the first really cute toddler potty I've seen. Keanu isn't quite ready to really use the toilet yet, but even he thought it was cute. What do you think of the froggy potty?

On a related note, we did a little potty chair shopping this weekend. At the department store they were close to $60US, but then yesterday I picked one up at a local baby specialty store about 25. In the past 24 hours, it's been Keanu's favorite toy after his tennis racket!

Happy Teacher's Day!

For all those teachers out there, enjoy your special day on Sunday - Teacher's Day! Sept 28 is the day we celebrate Confucious' birthday and that means special treatment for teachers. Since it falls on a Sunday this year, we actually get the day off! On Friday at school, the teachers were treated to a "fabulous" nearly 2 hour long program to say thanks for all of our hard work. How do you celebrate Teacher's Day?