I'm an April fool!

I learned this poem back in 6th grade and somehow it's stuck with me all these years. I thought it was appropriate to share today, so here goes:

One bright day in the middle of the night
Two dead men got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot each other
One deaf policeman heard this noise
And he came and killed these boys
If you don't believe this lie that's true
Ask the blind man he saw it too!

Back when I was a freshman at BYU I had the funnest April fool's day of my life. After I woke up and showered I went to get dressed. My roommates had taken ALL of my clothes out of my closet. I walked down to the kitchen to see what was up and there they all were eating breakfast wearing my clothes, I just had to laugh. That afternoon our FHE sisters (who were also our best friends) came over and stole all of our silverware. I'll never forget the image of Melissa eating a bowl of cereal with a huge ladle. Later on Diane scooped out the cream from OREO's and replaced it with white toothpaste. She then went around sharing with everyone (luckily her roommates were spared her generosity- but now I love the new mint OREO's!) The best joke though was from later that night. Len and I were going out on a date. He normally picked me up at my dorm, but I offered to meet him at his dorm as I had made him a chocolate cake that I wanted to drop off there. I arrived in his lobby with a plate holding an upside down circle cake pan slathered in thick creamy chocolate frosting. Len came down, started drooling at the sight of the cake, and took it back upstairs to his room. He came back down and we started our date. I kept waiting for him to say something about his cake, but he never did. After our date he walked me back home, then headed back to his place. About 5 minutes later I get a phone call and he says, "I bet you think you're so funny!" Yep, I did. He was so anxious to sink into his cake, but his fork struck metal and that was the end of that. He said he did scrape all of the frosting off the pan though. So he sort of got a treat still. Fun memories!

Funny Lyrics

This morning on our way to church we listened to our CD of the songs for the Primary Program this year. When we got to "Called to Serve" I hear Noe singing along and laughing at herself. I listened to what she was saying, and when she got to the line "sons and daughters, children of a king" she was saying "Joseph, Mary, chicken ala king!" What a silly goose!

Larger than Life

As our reward for cleaning hard yesterday, we went to Core Pacific City's Living Mall. It's downtown, so a good drive away, but it is by far my favorite mall in Taipei. It follows the "American" style floor plan where each company has it's own store. Many of the malls here have the "Japanese" style floor plan where there are no walls in between stores, kind of like the old outdoor markets, they're just inside. Anyway, I particularly chose this mall because my friend Jocelyn told me that there was a poster of Gavin up there. Of course, we had to go find it! (There was also a cute poster of her son Jack, and many others of friends from church and school.)


Gavin was so excited to see himself so big. Of course, he may not have even realized it was him, but he was squealing at the picture. This ad is for Les Enphants.


After we get done taking his picture, I look up at the Osh Kosh store next door, and lo & behold there's a poster of Noe too. This shoot was a fun day because all 3 of the little boys who worked with her are our friends- Eli, Sam, & Oscar!


After we found Noe's poster I wanted to find one of Kaleb, but we didn't this time. However, at one of the shoe stores they were playing the DVD of the fashion show they were in last year. Kaleb & Noe had fun climbing Jack's beanstalk though.


After all our window shopping, the kids wanted to go for a ride. I love these animals! You put in 5 tokens (worth about $0.75 US) and you actually drive these animals all around the mall, wherever you want for 5 minutes. I told Leonard that I wanted to go for a ride myself. Maybe that will be our next date night?

The Eloise Influence?

While I was scrubbing the shower earlier, I hear Leonard say "does that look like paper?" 'Oh dear', I think, 'what have the kids colored on now?' I go to investigate and this is what I found: Noe's name written many times, in marker, all over her wall! That little stink! The girl loves Eloise- Eloise books, Eloise movies, Eloise cartoons, and little Miss Eloise has her name written on her bedroom wall. Hmmm, I wonder if that's where Noe got the idea?


She was very repentant and promised she wouldn't do it again. I told her she wasn't in trouble, but that we'd have to buy some paint and she'd have to help us paint over it. She was all smiles then.

Now Kaleb, is usually our little rule-enforcer. Not that he always follows the rules, but he lets us know if someone else isn't. During Noe's little lecture he was quiet as a mouse though. Upon further inspection I found his signature on the wall as well. Another little stink! Gavin watched the whole drama unfold and was quite entertained with all of us. But as Kaleb typed earlier, "I love you crassy familie (crazy family)." Me too, bud!

Spring Cleaning

I don't know if spring cleaning is different than day-to-day cleaning at your house, but it is at ours! And that's what we've been doing today. Len vacuumed all of our floors (moving all the furniture to get underneath and included all the baseboards) and washed all of the windows (on the inside, we do live on the 8th floor). I dusted all of our furniture and scrubbed all 3 bathrooms top to bottom. I love our jacuzzi tub, but let me tell you I hate to clean it. The jets get disgusting and it's so hard to get into all the little nooks and crannies where mold loves to grow- sick! However, I love that all 4 of our shower/tubs have detachable shower heads. After scrubbing everything down they make rinsing it all a snap!

While I was cleaning I was reflecting on how my life in Taiwan is very surreal. How does this relate to cleaning you ask? I'll tell you. Most of my friends back home do not have domestic helpers. Most of my friends here do! Many have full-time live-in helpers that help with the cooking, cleaning, child-care, grocery shopping, etc. Many have part-time helpers that come 1-3 times a week, etc. I have to admit that I have been very tempted to get a helper myself. However, the lure of buying our first home when we move back to Canada has kept me saving all our spare pennies. And it actually felt great today- working hard scrubbing, feeling the fresh breeze come in through the open windows, and hearing all the sweet birds chirping in the trees. Everything looks all sparkly now and smells great too! Another surreal moment though- as I mentioned earlier, I have a jacuzzi tub! Even though I look forward to "real" life back in Canada, I will definitely miss many of the "surreal" things of our life here.

Now to reward our hard work, we're going to do one of my favorite pastimes and go shopping at the mall!

If you read my silly cleaning post, please tell me your opinion on the age-old debate: Is it better to dust first, and then vacuum. OR- Vacuum first and then dust? Happy cleaning everyone!

Book Worm

I love to read! However, I am not good at pacing myself like I used to be. In college I would read a chapter a day or at most an hour each day of pleasure reading. Now- once I start, I can't stop until I'm done. Yesterday I grabbed this book off the bookcase and today I finished it. It was another international mystery, but this time it took place in Venice instead of Barcelona. It was a quick, enjoyable read. I have to share the story about how I bought this book though. Noe and I were out on a date back in January. We went to Chili's for dinner and afterwards we went down to FNAC to check out their newest selection of books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, etc. There was a table full of books that all had a sticker with 66 followed by a Chinese character on them. I thought it was an awesome sale advertising that all the books were $66NT (about $2 US). I looked through all the titles and chose a dozen. When I went to the cash register the first book rang up at a substantially higher amount. The cashier must have read the confusion on my face. Oh I wish I could speak and read Chinese! Luckily, she could speak a little English. She told me the sticker was advertising the books to be on sale at only 66% of the original price. Not 66% off, 34% off. Not such a good sale afterall. I told her I wanted to go through my books again. I got over my embarassment and put half of the books back. I still spent more than I had originally planned, but since I can't use the library like I used to, I figure it was money well spent after all.

Thanks Easter Bunny!

My favorite Easter Eggs- blue, pink, and green!


We had a great Easter weekend! On Saturday we went to the Hedquist's super fun Easter party. The kids had so much fun at the Easter egg hunt, and the ham dinner was such a treat! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me. We had a full day that started with a birthday party, Kaleb & Len's basketball game, and then the Easter party. My original plan was to go home and get it before hand, but we ended up not having time. I'm sad to say that this was my kids' very first Easter egg hunt. We'll have to do it again next year, and I won't forget my camera!


Sunday morning the kids were happy to discover that the Easter bunny had come! He brought some candy eggs, some new clothes, some books, and some little toys. I had wanted to take some pictures outside with the pretty spring flowers, but it had rained and was too soggy out. Hopefully we'll get another chance before it gets too hot out.


We had a beautiful sacrament meeting full of Easter music and narration. I am so grateful for that first Easter morn that brought the miracle that we can all be resurrected and forgiven of our sins. I'm reminded of a saying, "without Easter there would be no point to Christmas." I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me...


After church we were fortunate again, to have another delicious ham dinner at the Buhler's. I really miss our extended family, especially during the holidays. Easter snuck up on me this year and I just wasn't prepared to invite anyone over here. I'm grateful for the sweet friends we have that invited us into their lovely homes. Spending time with our family and friends is what makes the holidays special for me.


This is a little craft I taught at last year's Enrichment meeting. I pulled out my old school scrapbook and tole painting supplies and was happy to get it done last year. This year I looked at it some more and I think it's kind of cute. Now I want to go back to IKEA and get more plain frames and make one up for each of the holidays. Another project?! I'll get it done eventually! I hope you all had a very happy Easter!

Glitter Eggs

Today we're going to an Easter egg hunt! So yesterday, Kaleb, Noe, and I decorated some eggs to get ready for it. Gavin had fun watching us from his high chair too. After we boiled them, we colored them with crayons, then dyed them, then put glitter on them. They turned out so pretty!

Taiwan has lots of stuff for many "American" holidays- Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's, they even sell turkeys during Thanksgiving. However, Easter is very sparse. I've seen a few Easter decorations, but no eggs, no baskets, no chocolate bunnies, etc. Luckily, when I was home last month I found this egg decorating kit at Toys 'R Us. It used to bug me that we put holiday stuff out so early, but this year I was thankful I was able to get some stuff for Easter before Valentine's day!

Bunco, Bunko, Bonko

Last night was our Bunco night and it was a total blast! I want to take another trip down Memory Lane though. Our first 2 years of marriage, I was a part of a monthly Bunco group with the ladies I worked with at the courthouse. During our 3 years in Canada, I was a part of the Chapel Hill Ward's book group. Leslie always invites me to her monthly scrapbook night when I'm home visiting too. But after 2 years in Taiwan, I was really missing having a regular Ladies Night out. As shy as I am I decided to do something about it. In November we had our first meeting at Coldstone (their ice cream is just so good!), but only 4 ladies were able to join. That's one thing that's hard here- many husbands have to go out of town for work, so the wives have to stay home with the kids. It's not as "stable" as an environment like I'm used to from home. We skipped December (there's always enough festivities to keep us hoppin'). In January we planned to have a scrapbook night. 5 ladies were able to come this time and we ended up just going to Coldstone again and doing some shopping. For February we had a book group on "Twilight." We had 6 ladies make it out to this one, and we decided to have a monthly book group in addition to our other ladies nights. Last night we had March's and we played Bunco. Thank you Amanda for hosting and for the wonderful dinner. We had 12 participants!!! (OK, we only had 11 ladies, but Brandon was a good sport and joined us so we could have an even 12 to play-he even won for most buncos). I had a total blast and from all the hootin' and hollerin' I think everyone did! We decided to have a monthly Bunco night now too. I'm so excited! Now I'll get 3 ladies night's out a month- wahoo!


Lori did the wonderful prizes for: most buncos, highest points, last person with a natural bunco, and the booby prize for the lowest points. She also did a prize for the most average points, and I won that one- wahoo! I got a sweet little photo album covered in Chinese silk and this beautiful plant. Apparently, it's called a pumpkin flower. It kind of reminds me of an orchid, but each petal is like a little balloon. I love it!

Next month Courtney's hosting our regular ladies night and we're going to do jewelry making, I'm so excited for that too. I'm so glad more Ladies have been able to participate and host and have fun evenings together. Thank you Leonard for supporting me with my need to be social!

Animal Experts

This morning I went to Kaleb & Noe's portfolio conferences. They did an amazing job taking me around to all their centers- reading, writing, math, portfolio, and to their dioramas. All of the kindergarten classes have been studying animals and each student became an expert on an individual animal. Mrs. Winter & Ms. Yamazaki were both impressed with Kaleb & Noe's work- as was I! Now, who do you think is the expert on the hummingbird and who is the expert on the macaroni penguin?


Kaleb's favorite thing about the hummingbird is that its feathers change color in the light. He also likes that it can fly forwards, backwards, sideways, and even upside down! Noe thinks it's interesting that the macaroni penguin can't fly even though its a bird, but it can swim really fast! She also likes that it has yellow feathers on its head.

I can't believe how quickly my little babes are growing up! They are learning and growing more each day. To celebrate their successes today, we went to Coldstone Creamery. Way to go kids! Keep up the good work!

As a side note, we were able to bump up Gavin's ultrasound to today. Leonard took him to do that while I went to Kaleb & Noe's conferences. Luckily, there is no deformity with his stomach. The doctor still thinks his sphincter muscle is loose and that after a few weeks of his new diet his vomitting should be a thing of the past. I sure hope so! Today at the school I talked to a couple different ladies who both have reflux problems in their families. One lady, her father, and her son have all struggled with it their whole lives. I hope Gavin will outgrow his situation and have a happy, healthy full life.

Messy Eater

Daddy made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast last Saturday, and Gavin loved them! (go figure) Anyway, daddy also snapped some shots of this cute boy with his messy, chocolaty face.


He looks like he has a baby moustache and goatee.


You can tell in his eyes that he is sick right now, but you can tell by his smile that nothing gets him down!

Twinship

Noe and Kaleb are obviously fraternal twins, even though we still get asked if they're identical- hello! Anyway, I usually don't think they even look much alike, but when I looked at these pictures I changed my mind. Now I can understand why some people think they might be identical (don't understand how they think that's possible with their different genders, but whatever). These two are the best of friends and the worst of enemies. I think all siblings are like that and I'm sure their relationship is even more intense than regular siblings. I do know they love each other very much though, and I hope they are always best friends!

Irish Memory

When Leonard and I lived in England, we decided to spend St. Patrick's Day 2000 over in Ireland. We had a wonderful weekend enjoying the festivities, touring Castles, the countryside, and the city. Now our favorite band is U2. They own a hotel in Dublin called the Clarence Hotel. One night we decided to go there and maybe have dinner or something just to check it out. When we got there there was a huge crowd of people waiting outside. We wondered what was going on. We heard people saying Chris Evans (England's version of David Letterman) was staying there. We decided to leave because we didn't want to brave the crowd just to see Chris Evans. We got half a block away, and decided to turn back. What if it really was U2 everyone was waiting to see? We joined the group standing near the door, when all of a sudden some police officers came and pushed us back to put up some barricades. In the shuffle we got right up front and personal. Now helicopters began to swarm the hotel, news media vans arrived on site with their camera crew poised and ready to catch a story, and then 4 black Mercedes pulled up. Soon after that, we could see inside the hotel Bono get off the elevator in the lobby. I felt like a giddy teenager. We then waited for what seemed like an eternity, (but it probably was only a few minutes) when all 4 members- Bono, The Edge, Larry, and Adam all came strolling out of the hotel. We were literally 5 feet away from them! My heart was beating so fast and my knees were knocking. A news reporter asked Bono a few questions, then the boys got in the Mercedes' and drove off to receive the key to the city. I remember at one point screaming, "America, Canada, and England love you!" What a dork! Len and I both had a huge adrenaline rush afterwards. We walked off into the Dublin night laughing our heads off. We couldn't believe we had just seen U2 nose to nose. It definitely was a case of being in the right place at the right time!

3 Dr's in 1 day

Gavin has been throwing up lots, frequently, and very forcefully. We had taken him to the doctor twice before, but he wasn't getting any better, if anything the situation was getting worse. We made another appointment with our family dr. this morning (tired of just getting the walk-in dr.'s). Dr. Kao talked to us and examined Gavin and he said it could be a gastric-intestinal problem or a neurological problem. He wanted to start there and gave us a referral to a pediatric neurologist at a hospital. Of course, I was freaking out about this, but I wanted to get to the bottom of this and if there was something seriously wrong, I want it to be treated. We went there, and after more paper work and waiting, we were finally able to see Dr. Lin. We told him our story again and he examined Gavin too. He didn't think Gavin had any brain problems as he is developing normally and is a happy guy. He said if there was a problem there he would have lots of headaches and would be in a lot of discomfort. I was so relieved there wasn't any problem there, but we still needed to find out why he's puking so much. He referred us to the gastric-intestinal specialist. After more paperwork and waiting, we see Dr. Lau. We explained our story for the 3rd time and he examined Gavin again. He thinks his sphincter muscle between his esophagus and his stomach is loose. He gave us some dietary recommendations (more protein, less milk, etc) to help strengthen it. We also have an appointment for the 28th for an ultrasound for Gavin's tummy. Hopefully, there won't be any serious issues and we can just strengthen that muscle and make everything all better.

Love notes from Kaleb

dear daddy you are a grat cookr vantastic fabyoolis.you are the best cookr iv ever seen and a grat daddy.
(Dear Daddy, You are a great cooker- fantastic, fabulous. You are the best cooker I've ever seen and a great daddy.)

dear mommy you are a grat halpr,homewrc halpr, lojwe halpr and a grat mommy.
(Dear Mommy, You are a great helper, homework helper, laundry helper and a great mommy.)

dear noe you are sily,wiyold,you are cyoot and a grat sistr.
(Dear Noe, You are silly, wild, you are cute and a great sister.)

dear gavin you are a cyoot baby and you are lrning how to woce.gavin you are a good bruthr.mistr baby you are vantastic.
(Dear Gavin, You are a cute baby and you are learning how to walk. Gavin, you are a good brother. Mr. Baby you are fantastic.)

Centerpiece Sale

Courtney has a great eye for decorating, and a good sale! She told me about these flowers that were on sale at HOLA and I saw the beautiful centerpiece she made from them. She has a great heart too, because she let me copy her! I absolutely love it, and I love that it was inexpensive too.


This is the look for spring and summer...


...and this is the look for fall and winter!

Life is Good

The other day I was cleaning the kitchen and could almost hear Gavin's thoughts...
I've got the whole couch to myself,
I've got a full bottle,
I've got a fresh diaper,
I've got Baby Einstein on TV,
Life IS Good!

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a

Leslie gave us the High School Musical DVD back in the summer of 2006 and the kids fell in love with it. Flash forward to summer 2007- we're preparing for our road trip around Alberta , so we bought the soundtrack. Again, the kids fell in love with it and it quickly became the CD of choice whenever we were in the car.

After we got back to Taiwan, we saw the soundtrack for High School Musical 2 (including Bet On It in Chinese- so cool!). We had to get it, and it quickly became the favorite to listen to, even though we hadn't seen the movie yet. The Hawaiian song (titled above) was also the favorite to sing along with. The movie finally debuted on the Disney Channel here (about a month after North America), but we were surprised that there was no scene with the Hawaiian song in it.

For Christmas we got the DVD of it, and again we were surprised that there now is a scene with this song in it. Now the kids can't wait for High School Musical 3 to be finished. It's rumored that it will play on the big screen too, so that will be even more exciting to watch!

**The kids were playing dress up in their Hawaiian digs, so I thought it would be fun to take some pictures of them in our back yard. They had fun posing for me and hula dancing. Spring is starting to arrive here, but it was still a bit chilly so our outdoor fun didn't last too long.

Bad Deja Vu

Well Kaleb & Noe were feeling great this morning, so they headed off to school. I felt a little better, but still weak (you know how you feel beat up after every cell of your body has been under attack). And as I feared, Leonard got sick in the middle of the night and has been hit hard today. I thought little Gavin was getting better, but then he started puking again. Ugh! I really wish I could get some pepto-bismol here! My little sweet Gavin, is just precious though. During one of his upheaval's he managed to cover his entire face. The poor bubby even got his eyes covered. I rushed him to the bathroom and sat him in the tub. As soon as he saw his tub toys he started playing away paying no attention to the condition of his face. He didn't cry once! (But this little guy cries when Len sneezes. He's just like his big brother was and hates loud noises.) I don't think I would have been that brave if I were him!

I was reminded of the time when Len and I got food poisoning when the twins were 18 months. We were two pathetic souls who spent the entire day laying on our couch and loveseat (or kneeling at the porcelain throne), each with a package of saltine crackers. We turned on TVO kids (Canada's version of PBS) and the kids entertained themselves watching TV, playing with their toys, and eating crackers all day. Poor babies. Luckily, we all survived that incident, so hopefully we'll survive this one too!

Sick of being Sick

Leonard and I have been up since about 1:00 this morning taking care of all 3 of our sick babies. By dawn the bug had bitten me too. I've spent a miserable day battling my umpteenth fever of this past year. I swear when I was nursing Gavin I had mastitis every other month. Today I've also been battling the stomach flu. I seriously think I've caught every strain of this nasty virus the past year too. I must have the immune system the size of a flea's. Luckily, the kids are all starting to feel better now, so hopefully by tomorrow morning I will be too. Leonard was great and took the day off of work to take care of all of us. My only fear is that he will come down with it tomorrow. I hope not! I'm ready for some healthy days. I think I've filled my quota of illness for the next five years- ha!


Even though my body was reeling with the aches and pains associated with the flu, I was able to slowly but steadily finish our book for book group this month. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon translated by Lucia Graves. It was an interesting story with multiple plots and subplots. There was a bit of profanity and a few racy scenes to just skim over, but the characters were very rich and I loved feeling the human connection with the book. I would be hesitant to recommend it to those who only like wholesome books, but if you can overlook a few paragraphs here and there it was an enjoyable mystery to unravel. Here's to healthier days and happy reading!

Little Love Bug

Now don't get me wrong- I love Leonard, Kaleb, and Noe with all my heart, but there's just something about babies. I am seriously in love with this little fella! He's just a little teddy bear that I always love to snuggle with. He's been thinking about walking more (as long as he's holding on to me or some furniture), but still a little cautious. I don't blame him, falling down on our marble tile (on top of concrete subflooring) is painful. He's sleeping through the night too! He started that little trick while I was on my solo trip to Vegas. Len trained him (he's my hero). He also trained Kaleb & Noe when they were 19 months while I was on an overnight youth trip with our church. Len says as soon as I wean our next one, I have to go away again, so he can do sleep training again. Sounds good to me! Gavin is holding his binky in this picture, but the only time he ever took it was when he was in the NICU. He just likes to play with it every now and again. He still just has 6 huge teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom), but he drools all the time still. He jibber jabbers all the time and lately has been making a cute "O" shape with his lips. When he's in a playful mood he always says, da da da da da. When he's hungry or tired it's, ma ma ma ma ma. His hair is getting so long, blond, and curly. But I just can't bring myself to get it cut yet. Remember how Kaleb was baby bjorn with his cool 70's feathers before I finally got his cut? I know this post has been rather random, but I just wanted to record some of my thoughts about this sweet little love bug!

Now We Are Six

When I was One,

I had just begun.

When I was Two,

I was nearly new.

When I was Three,

I was hardly Me.

When I was Four,

I was not much more.

When I was Five,

I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.

So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

(A.A. Milne)

I sometimes wish I could freeze time and keep my babies six forever. However, watching them in each new stage has been wonderful too and I know there will be lots of excitement to come! The party yesterday was a great success! I will post more pictures later. Today our poor little Gavin has thrown up multiple times. This evening Noe did too a couple of times and had some diarrhea. Through out all the clean ups, Leonard and I just laughed and smiled at each other. No, it was definitely not fun, but we are still SO glad we are parents!

Tom Dragon Extravaganza

Tom Dragon is "the" place to have your birthday party if you are a Kindergartener! So of course, Kaleb & Noe wanted to have theirs there. Their friend Julia has her birthday just 3 days before them, so we had a party for all 3 kids with about 50 of their friends!!! Len had a work conference that he couldn't miss that day, so Gavin went to my friend Kay's to play, and I did my best at playing hostess. Unfortunately, my camera battery died as soon as I went to snap my first shot. Luckily, my friends Lauren and Rosaline shared their pics with me.


All 3 kids loved their cakes from Wendel's as did all of their guests.


My rootin' tootin' cowboy!

My little sweetheart!

After a morning full of balloons, playing, snacks, cakes, musical chairs, pinata bustin', and goody-bag entertainment it was time to come home and open all their presents. Their friends definitely spoiled them! Is this our house or a toy store?

I still think their best birthday gift will always be each other! Wish I had a twin- tee hee.