Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Or in other words Happy New Year 2008! We had a low-key, but fun New Year's Eve. We played games with the kids until they went to bed. They had another slumber party (they have every night since Christmas Eve). Len & I then watched "It's a Wonderful Life" since we didn't get a chance to before Christmas. I fell asleep on the couch, but Len stayed up until midnight so he woke me up right before hand. We stood on our balcony and watched a dozen different firework displays. Taiwan definitely knows how to put on a fireworks show! We watched the 101 building light up the sky, drank some Martinelli's, ate some truffles, and shared a smooch. A great way to welcome in the new year!



On New Year's day we went out and about for a little while. We went to the Macaroni Grill for dinner. I'm so glad my diet hasn't started yet- tee hee. Everything was so delicious! We started off with bruschetta, then Len & I had pasta dishes (I had Penne Rustica) while the kids shared a margherita pizza- even Gavin ate a whole slice! We also ordered Italian Sodas.


The highlight of the meal was our piece of Lemon Passion Cake! This cake is truly to-die-for good!!! We went to the 101 building afterwards to window shop and burn off some of the million calories we just consumed.


This is the closest we got to a white Christmas this year. While we were here at the 101 we saw their Ferrari and Maserati car show. Kaleb loved seeing all of his fun toy cars in real life! I love days like this with my family. I hope 2008 brings lots of them!

Paparazzi at the Zoo

The kids and I went to the zoo with our friends Kay, Lizzie, Lori, Sophie, and Lucas. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed seeing all of the different animals. We stopped at these penguin statues to take some pictures of the kids with them. While we were there a young girl asked if she could take pictures of them too. The kids said yes and soon there was a whole group taking their picture. The Taiwanese love my kids' light hair. Noe gets shy after a while, but Kaleb loves the attention and just hams it up.


Noe and Kaleb posing on this turtle's belly, and my own little turtle Gavin in his own stroller shell.


Me and my sweet kids.


Our nice friends the Hedquist's and the Robinson's.

American BBQ

We were really missing our families on Christmas, but the wonderful Lanshe's invited us over for an American Barbeque to help us with our homesickness. The Palmer's, Robinson's, Lee's, and Buhler's were also there. We had savory chicken and sausages from the bbq, side-dishes (I actually made green bean casserole) which included my favorite sweet potato casserole, and lots of yummy Christmas goodies too.


It was nice to visit with friends. The kids all brought toys to share and watched DVD's too.


There was even a round of the new Here & Now Monopoly. Leonard was in heaven!


We are so grateful to have great friends that changed our lonely holidays into loving ones!

Christmas Morning

Santa did come to our house last night! Gavin was the first one to wake up at 6:15, but he slept through the night! I brought him to bed with us and nursed him. He wanted to get down from our bed at 6:45. Noe came into our room in the night and slept on our rug. Gavin crawled over to her and woke her up. She ran to check if Santa came and when she saw that he did, she woke Kaleb up at about 7:00. Kaleb is usually our early bird, so it was unusual that he was the last one up today. We did have a late night though last night, and I'm glad the kids slept so well. We began our morning with family prayer, and then started opening presents at about 7:15. We were all done by about 8:00, then the real joy began as the kids started playing with their new toys. We are all very thankful to Grandma & Grandpa Green Eyes, Gramma & Grampa Blue Eyes, the Martin's, the Cameron's, Rhonda, our friends from church, our friends from school, and of course Santa Claus for all of our wonderful gifts.

Daddy-Claus and Mommy-the-red-nosed-reindeer...

Kaleb-the-snowman and Noe-the-angel...

Gavin-the-elf and flashback to last Christmas- our best Christmas present ever!

The aftermath! Yes, our living room is trashed, but all 3 kids are entertained- hallelujah!

We ate Christmas Eve quiche and danishes for breakfast, watched A Christmas Carol, talked to our Lee, Pittl, and Reil families, and then went to the Lanshe's for a Barbeque. We had a wonderful day!

Christmas Eve

We left out cookies & milk for Santa...


We left letters and pictures for him too...


The kids opened one gift each and got new jammies and blankies...


Kaleb & Noe had their traditional slumber party on the hide-a-bed...


Gavin had his own slumber party with his stuffed animals. (He'll join his siblings once he sleeps through the night- hopefully next year!)...

Visions of sugar-plums are dancing through our heads. I hope Santa comes to our house tonight!

Mongolian BBQ

The Palmer's threw a fabulous family party on Christmas Eve. The Robinson's, Hedquist's, Park's, Shumway's, Lee's, Ben, Vanessa, Chris, & Steve joined the festivities. They had it catered by a Mongolian BBQ company, and it was SOOOOO delicious! Everyone else brought side-dishes or dessert. I cheated again and just brought Cream Puffs from Costco, but they were pretty yummy too!


We all mingled while we ate, then we did some fun activities. We all sang the 12 days of Christmas together with each family singing a different day's gift.


All of the children then acted out the Nativity story. Kaleb & Noe played Joseph and Mary. Isn't the baby Jesus cute? Mason was going to play that part, but he was sleeping, so puppy did a great job.


The kids played upstairs so the grown-ups could do a White Elephant gift-exchange. We ended up with the Walt Disney classic "The Tortoise and the Hare." The kids will love it!

The Palmer's also collected donations for an orphanage. I just love the Christmas season- celebrating with friends and helping others. What could be better?

Sugarbread Houses?

We didn't end up making Gingerbread houses this year, but we had such a great time making sugar cookies as a family! Amongst my 101 cookie cutters I found a haunted house that we just converted to a 2-dimensional gingerbread house. I think these turned out just as cute!

Our project lapsed 3 days. On Saturday we made up 2 batches of dough and then refrigerated it.

On Sunday we rolled the dough out, cut it using 12 different Christmas shapes, and baked them all.

On Monday we decorated them with 6 colors of frosting, star sprinkles, and mini m&m's.

We made 36 beautiful and delicious cookies (3 were already eaten before this picture was taken). I think Santa will really like what we leave out for him tonight!

Santa Baby

Gavin, you are so lucky to have a December birthday!




This summer when I was home, I made my usual trip to Toys 'R Us to start my Christmas shopping. While I was there they had an amazing clearance sale in their clothing section. I found lots of great summer clothes for Gavin for really cheap- wahoo! I also saw this darling Santa outfit and just couldn't resist it. I have to share my excitement for what I paid for it too. Now, it cost $20.00 retail, but I spent a whole $1.20 for it! That's right, only $1.20!!! I'm so glad I got it, I think Gavin makes a super cute Santa!

My 3 Boys

My darling Gavin, who just turned one...


My sweet Kaleb, who is now 5...


My honey- Leonard, who is now 32...

These are my 3 boys that I love so much (and I love my Noe girl too)! Here they all are at about one year old. Do they look alike? What do you think?