Bubble Bath Boy

Gavin had so much fun splashing in the tub and playing with the bubbles this morning.





Flashback to when Kaleb & Noe were his age and they too had fun in the tub!

World Vision

I wanted to add this map that has Africa on it too.


I saw this on my friend Natalie's blog. At first I thought it was hilarious, but then I thought it was kind of sad. I'd like your opinion. Do you think this is really how Americans view the world, or do you think this is how other people think Americans view the world?

Characatures

Kaleb and Noe made these life-size self-portraits in their art class this year. I think they're so cute! I can't believe there's only one more week of school left and then they'll be out of Kindergarten and on to First Grade!


I was in a whimsical mood a while back and thought if this is our illustrated family journal, then I should draw an illustration of our family. When I was in 3rd grade, I won several drawing and art contests. It's too bad my skills didn't develop beyond that!

Watch Out World, He's Walking! (finally)

Gavin's been taking baby steps for over a month now, but the highest he got to was 10 in a row.


However, this week he walked all the way across the floor.


And then he turned the corner, and went down the hall.


We're so proud of him, and he's proud of himself too.


He's gonna get a big hug from mommy now!

Allegiance

I haven't celebrated Memorial Day for the past 6 years, but I am a very Patriotic American and love my country, and have been thinking a lot about it since this past Memorial Day weekend. My husband is Canadian and we are currently living in Taiwan and I respect both of those countries too. However, I want to instill in my children the values that America stands for. They go to an "American" school, but that just means it uses an American teaching style. It is an International School with about 30 countries represented, so there is nothing taught about America the country. I grew up saying the Pledge of Allegiance to my flag every day in school. Since my children don't do that at their school, we started doing it in our home each morning and these are the words we recite:

I Pledge Allegiance
To the Flag
Of the United States of America
And to the Republic
For Which It Stands
One Nation
Under God,
Indivisible,
With Liberty
And Justice
For All

I'm getting teary-eyed just typing those words. America is criticized a lot these days, but I like how Tony Blair (former Prime-Minister of the UK) says you should judge a country: how many of its citizens want to get out? and how many citizens of other countries want to get in? Judging America that way, I think you'll agree that America is a wonderful country. Of course, it has flaws but I think it's doing its best. I think America is mainly criticized in regards to its foreign policy. Again, there may be flaws in that too, but there are some corrupt and despicable governments in the world and I think America is trying to bring basic freedoms to every citizen of the earth. Many countries are helping us, but many are acting cowardly. If all of the noble nations of the world worked together we really could bring freedom (and with that freedom all of the other good qualities of life), and I'm glad my country is doing something instead of nothing! I didn't mean to get on my soapbox. I miss my country though, and I do love it.


I have often asked Leonard what identity our children will have. Will they be Americans, Canadians, or what? He said they will be "Reil's" and that made me smile. I want our children to love America, and in all fairness Canada too. Each morning we have family prayer, American Heritage (pledge to flag), and Canadian Heritage where they say "God save the Queen." (Although I do tease Len that she is the English Queen, he assures me she is the Canadian Queen too. He grew up singing that song everyday at school and said the Lord's prayer, oh I wish our kids could do that). We then give them hugs and kisses and send them off to school. I hope they will have a special place in their hearts for Taiwan too (especially Gavin, since he was born here), and respect people from all nations. I guess I wish 4 things for them: 1) to be grateful for their North American roots, 2) to know that they are Reil's and we will always love and support each other, 3) to know that they are children of God and He will always love and bless them, and 4) to know that every person on the earth is a child of God too and deserves kindness and respect.

* Gavin is 17 months old now, I really need to update our picture frames on that table!

Teddy Bear's Dream

Noe's Dance Recital is this weekend. We couldn't get the costumes until right before the first show, but I still got there early, so we'd have a chance to take some pictures outside. She's a little ray of sunshine.


Isn't she lovely? All the little ballerinas wore double pony-tails last year, but this year they all had to wear ballerina buns. On the rare occasions that she wears make-up, I feel like I'm getting a glimpse of her as a teenager. Please don't grow up too fast.


I wanted to get a shot of her in the dance room, so I had to do some creative posing and cropping to get only her in the shot.


It's time to line-up as classes. She's in dance #10 of 27 (you can see the stamp on her hand in the previous picture.)


All the lovely little ballerinas with their teddy bears. Noe is second from the right. They were all so darling and I was beaming at my sweet little girl!



I cropped a shot to get this close-up of her face. Can you count her cute freckles? Oh, she makes me crazy sometimes, but she makes me smile always!

Ladies Night

Before Leonard and I moved to Taiwan, I got pneumonia and was obviously very sick. My home teachers offered to give me a blessing, which I gladly accepted. In my blessing, not only was I promised that I would heal from my illness, but also that Heavenly Father was preparing friends for me in Taiwan. I thought that was a little unusual, but I was comforted by that added promise. I was excited to move to Taiwan, but also very sad- sad to be that much farther from our family, and also our adoptive family in Ottawa. We arrived in Taipei, and 2 days after we got settled into our new home the Bishop's wife, Carrie and another friend from church, Amy picked me up to give me a tour around Tien Mu. The following week, Natalie & Ginger invited the kids and I to play at the park, and Ginger & Bev invited me to go shopping with them at Costco. I knew my blessing was true, and that I was being blessed with great friends. I've always appreciated having the gospel in my life for spiritual and temporal reasons, and the biggest temporal reason is for friends! The saddest part about an ex-pat's life is that if you're not moving this year, your friend is. I've had to say goodbye to great people each summer we've been here, and this summer I will have to again. I will miss such wonderful ladies! But, in trying to stay positive- I will keep in touch with them, and hopefully I'll get to meet more great friends in the year to come! This month for Ladies Night we decided we should all go out to the Macaroni Grill, for one last hurrah. I had a wonderful time with beautiful friends!


Kay, Katie, and Kaoru.


Lori, Camille, and Courtney.


Lydia, Jenny, and Me.


The whole gang! (We missed those who weren't able to make it too.)


What a coinky-dink, my friend Robin and some of the visiting students from BYU Hawaii also planned a night out at the Macaroni Grill. We were able to get our tables right next to each other. How fun!


Can you say DECADENCE? I love food at the Macaroni Grill, but I would gladly skip dinner to eat their dessert! Doesn't the tray look soooo tempting? We ended up getting 3 pieces of their lemon cake to share, and it was DIVINE!

Goliath

I just finished watching the finale, and I must admit I'm a little shocked. I wanted David Cook to win, but was expecting David Archuleta. I wish them both the best of luck in their future careers. Next year, I'm watching the whole season!

David vs. David

This is the first year that Len & I have watched "American Idol," and we started watching from the top 12 on. From the beginning I thought it would come down to the David's. Since I'm not in America and can't vote, I'd love to hear who you voted for or would have voted for! I think David Cook is a crush-worthy rock star! His style of music and his voice are definitely my thing, and I would love for him to win! However, David Archuleta is as adorable as a puppy dog and he does have a golden set of pipes, so I would love for him to win too. Tomorrow's the big day, good luck to the David's!

Gold Medalist

After the last game of each sport's season they have a little celebration. They get a yummy barbeque followed by an awards ceremony where each player is given a medal and their team photo. Kaleb has quite the collection now.


Nets Basketball 2008.


Celtic Soccer 2007-2008.


Angels Baseball 2007.


Celtic Soccer 2006-2007.

*I think my little Kaleb is a Champion and he's an All Star! He earned stars for: Fun, Effort, Skills, Teamwork, and Fairplay!

Nothing but Net(s)!

Kaleb played all 3 team sports this year: baseball, soccer, and basketball. Leonard was also able to coach each of his teams. Kaleb enjoyed learning new skills and playing with his Nets teammates each week. I'm so proud of him for trying new things. I'm also proud of Leonard for volunteering to coach! I wonder if Len will have the opportunity to coach Gavin someday?


I think all of my basketball boys are so bold (and beautiful!)


Noe and I enjoyed cheering for our boys each week. Way to go!

Blog Book!

If you read my Creative Pursuits blog, you'll already know about this, but for those of you who don't I wanted to share here. I finished turning my 2007 blog posts into a book through blurb.com about 2 weeks ago and ordered it. Well, it arrived this week- wahoo! I L-O-V-E it!!! Of course, I wish my pictures were all professional grade and I wish I could make my own templates for each page, but overall it is a great keepsake of our family history (for the year 2007 anyway.) Yep, I've found my new way to preserve our stories- blog them and then slurp them into Blurb and then bind them into books (it's so cool!)

*A side note, this is like a textbook- 338 pages! I wonder how many pages 2008's book will have?

My baby sis is engaged!

My beautiful sister Erika got engaged this weekend! I am so excited for her and Tom. It looks like they will be getting married in the Kona Hawaii Temple and then having two receptions in Vegas and Salt Lake. I love weddings and I am so happy my princess sister has found her prince!

So Happy I'm a Mother!

Today has been a wonderful mother's day because I have such a wonderful husband and wonderful children! Oh they drive me crazy too, but I'm so grateful that I have them in my life. This morning I woke up to sweet plaster hand prints that Kaleb and Noe made me at school. There was also this sweet poem:
What makes our Mommy the Most Amazing Mommy in the Whole World?
She brings Joy into our lives
She is full of Empathy
She Nurtures us every day
She makes us each her Number one
She is Innovative
She teaches us Faith
She feels Excitement with our accomplishments
She helps us to Remember it all
That's What!
We Love You, Mommy! Love, Kaleb, Noe, and Gavin- And Daddy, too!

Of course, it made me cry.


I'm so grateful for my mother Linda, and all of my other mothers and grandmothers too- Gwen, Marlene, Wanda, Rita, Alice, Glenda, Dora, and Vera.

A Little Princess

This morning Kaleb & Gavin had a Moda in Baby job, so Leonard took them for a boys day out. Noe and I had a girls day in at home. I needed to finish up my Relief Society lesson, so she worked on art work while I did that. Her writing, drawing, and coloring skills have improved so much this year. She told me "I have to be honest, I don't write very well." I thought that was so sweet, but it broke my heart a little bit. I don't want her to ever think she can't do anything. She still struggles with her fine motor skills since her battle with encephalitis. But she never gives up, she keeps on persevering! I assured her that her writing has improved tremendously and the more she practices the better it will become. She is such a great dancer though! She asked if she could listen to my Fiona Apple CD and the girl seriously had some great moves! I love this little princess and am so proud of all she does!

Just Be Yourself

Today was Kaleb's class play "Just Be Yourself" by Steve Tiller and Harry Teague. They performed it in the morning for all of the Kindergarten kids (Noe's teacher said she was so proud of her brother- how sweet!), and again in the afternoon for all of the parents. Leonard was able to take off work to meet Gavin & I there. All of the kids did such a great job, but of course I was so proud of my little man reciting his 12 lines wonderfully! All of the kids were barefoot, wearing jeans, and Mrs. Winter even provided red shirts for all of the boys and pink ones for the girls. They all had fun props too. After the play they sang a song "See Me Beautiful" and then brought out red carnations with pink cards they made for all of the moms. I was so sad that I forgot my camera. However, Mrs. Winter recorded it and is going to give DVD's to all of the families.

We then went to another celebration. The students led us to their classroom that had been transformed into a lovely tea house. There were white linen table cloths on all of the tables sprinkled with red and pink paper flowers and lovely vases of carnations as centerpieces. There were even cute pink name cards with red bows that each child made for their mom and matching plates, and napkins, etc. The kids then served all of their moms cake, cookies, and punch. It was a wonderful Mother's Day tea party, and Kaleb was the perfect little gentleman. All of the mom's were also given special gifts that I can't wait to open on Mother's Day!

It was a wonderful day to honor the kids that have worked so hard, and it was so nice that they honored all of the moms that do so much to help the class too. I sure love my little Kaleb, and all I would ever want him to be is just himself!

Baby Love

Yesterday when the big kids were playing with their friends, I took this random picture of Gavin. I love this little guy so much. He is seriously the biggest sweetheart. He wakes up each morning telling us fascinating stories (in baby language of course). He must have some great dreams at night that he wants to share with us. He started taking baby steps about 3 weeks ago. However, he's only taken 5 in a row before he'll carefully lower himself down to crawl. I think since he can crawl so much faster, he prefers to use that form of transportation. Lately, when I'm playing with him on the floor he'll stand up behind my back and play peek-a-boo over each of my shoulders and he just laughs so loud. I love it when he gets tickled, he laughs so hard and scrunches up his eyes, it's just so cute. Since we changed his diet, his vomitting has become a thing of the past (hooray!). A couple of weeks ago, he did throw up 2 days in a row and got me worried, but then it stopped again. Just like his siblings, he loves music and loves to dance. He can also do all the "moves" for patty-cake (clapping, rolling, marking the B). He's been sleeping through the night for a while now, but just this week he's let me put him down for his nap without crying. He grabs his little teddy bear to snuggle up with and drifts off to dreamland. I just love this kid! I just wanted to add one more thing- his favorite word, which is "kooka" as in "cookie" which he loves to eat. Luckily, they're the organic Disney animal cracker kind, but still he's a cookie monster just like his mama!