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.

Family Party

After their solo parties at school, we had our family party that evening. Luckily, their birthday was on a Friday!


We had dinner at their favorite restaurant, Chili's.


Since Chili's is in the mall, we took them shopping at the toy store there. Both of their sets of grandparents sent them birthday money and they were so excited to get to spend it!


After we got home, we enjoyed this Hello Kitty cake that Leonard's assistant, Crystal gave the kids. She's so thoughtful!

Then they got to open their gifts from us, the Martin's, and of course enjoy the gifts they just bought themselves.

Kaleb had a hard time picking out something from the toy store. He loves his futuristic concept car that he finally settled on.

Noe knew exactly what she wanted when she arrived at the toy store. The girl loves Ponyville! Both kids also bought themselves a set of gel pens with 100 pens in each. It makes me happy that they love to do art so much!

Noe's class party

Noe loves fairies, and was so pleased with her cake!


She just beamed while wearing her birthday crown, the birthday cape, holding the birthday bear, and her own kitty that she asked me to bring from home.


After she made her wish, she also got to cut the cake.

Her class enjoyed celebrating with her.

Noe and her wonderful teachers Mrs. Liu and Ms. Yamazaki.

Kaleb's class party

TAS has a great catering service. This year I took advantage of it and ordered the kids' birthday cakes for their class parties from them. I printed up the airplane coloring page, colored it how I thought Kaleb would like it, and voila! the bakery did the rest to make this cute cake!


Kaleb liked it and was so excited for his "own" party. Being a twin is special, but it's also special to have individual recognition. Last year they were in the same class, so this was their first solo recognition.


Make a wish!

The kids thought the cake was pretty tasty!

Kaleb and his fabulous teachers Mrs. Winter and Ms. Alison.

American Born Chinese

I finally got to read this book! I saw parts of the movie on TV and was intrigued with the story. I tried renting it at the Blockbuster here, and they didn't have it- go figure. So for Christmas, this was one of the books I got. For those of you who don't know the story it is about 4 female Chinese immigrants and 4 of their American born daughters. I really enjoyed it and now I really want to see the whole movie!

Since we found out we were moving to Taiwan (back in 2004) I have been rather fascinated with Chinese Culture. I've read several different books on my Chinese theme that I've enjoyed, and since I'm a list maker I want to list them here:

The Good Earth- Pearl S. Buck
The Keys of the Kingdom- A.J. Cronin
Wild Swans- Jung Chang
Bound- Donna Jo Napoli
The Ugly American- William Lederer & Eugene Burdick
The Hundred Secret Senses- Amy Tan

I'm grateful for the opportunity that I have had to experience another culture. I hope I am a better person because of it.

Redneck Mansion

My dad sent this picture in an e-mail to his family asking if he won the lottery if we'd all come live with him. Leonard called dibbs on the green one, because he likes the windmill. Isn't this picture great though? I love it! Do you think someone really lives here? The engineering is pretty cool, for sure. Okay, so I probably wouldn't want to live in a trailor, but I like the idea of each family having their own home and being surrounded by their extended family.


When I was 9 years old, I used to draw pictures of my family neighborhood with a home for each member. I still daydream about things like that. Right now I dream of having 3 rows of condos on Newport Beach. Each row would be for a different family-Reil, Pittl, and Lee (each individual family would have their own condo). We then would have a community area with a pool, barbeque, sports court, etc for all to share. Wouldn't that be cool? If I can't do that now for our extended families, I would love to do it in the future for my kids and their families. Since Noe wants to live with us forever (even when she's married with her own kids), and since Kaleb wants to live upstairs from us (his Asian brain used to apartment life), I think they'd be okay with that idea too. I can see it now- New Eden Court with homes for Len & I, Kaleb's fam, Noe's fam, Gavin's fam, and any future children we have. Of course, I still want our Newport Condos to see our extended fam during our summer vacations! Wouldn't it be great, if these dreams came true?

It's a Rainbow Planet

Tonight Jim Valley gave a concert to the TAS families. Leonard took all 3 kids and they rocked out! I wish I could have gone too, but I was overwhelmed with paperwork to get them re-registered for school next year. They came home with every CD of his autographed, so now we can enjoy his music whenever we want to. He was actually at the school all week and gave several performances for each grade. I think Kaleb and Noe got to see him 3 different times. His songs have great messages of self-esteem, friendship, taking care of our Mother Earth, and some just celebrate silliness- perfect for children of all ages!