Mother's Day

Mother's day was pretty low key for us. We get all the excitement we need in other ways without adding to it! We went to the Outback steakhouse and then to a cafe for chocolate cake. I also got breakfast in bed and a really sweet card from Elijah and Anna.

Mountain-top retreat

After living in a very small house with 6 other people (10 of us total)for almost a month, we felt that our mental health (or at least my mental health as the introvert of the bunch) depended upon the most isolated vacation we could find. Thankfully, we found a mountain retreat house that is owned by our company about 3 hours away. It felt like we had stepped out of tropical Asia and into an English garden. It was blissfully cold enough for long sleeves during the day and huddling in front of the fireplace at night. After wearing long sleeves in 100 degree weather, wearing them in 45 degree weather was a welcome change of pace.

The specialties of the area were was Strawberries and tea. Huge sweeping mountain-side tea plantations overlooked smaller "self-plucking" as they were called, Strawberry farms. With another couple of trips to butterfly farms, it made for a perfect family get-away. Our daily schedule consisted of laying around in the sunshine, eating strawberry scones with milk tea and then repeating until the sun set. Then we lit a fire and roasted marshmallows. We needed another year and a half, but sadly had to settle for a week. I'm certain it won't be the last time we are there.

Brad's Birthday

On March 2nd, Brad celebrated his 35th birthday. Since we aren't the most tradition people in the world (we do chose to live in a 3rd world country after all) we decided to have a birthday pie. Also, the ingredients to make cake icing are not the greatest here and frosting tastes gritty like it has sand in it. The kids were very confused, but came around to the idea as long as I promised to put a candle in it.

Emma's first birthday

This past week was our cousin's (Emma's) first birthday. Happy Birthday Emma! Sorry we couldn't be there with you, but we did make you a cake.

Christmas Morning

Elijah and Anna waited in eager anticipation to open their stockings. It was actually Christmas eve night that they got their stockings. They both took a minute to realize that there were presents in the stockings too.




On Christmas morning, we had their gifts all set up for them to walk out of their bedroom door and see first thing when they woke up.




After hunger finally tore them away from their gifts, we sat down to crepes with peaches and whipped creme. This is a tradition that Brad and I started the first year of our marriage.



After more playing, lots of cookings and even more eating, the kids were ready for a nap. Anna decided to start her nap at the table, while ELijah opted for the sofa. Both kids really wanted to have a birthday cake for Jesus, so we managed to get the candles lit and blown out before both of them went to bed.

Elijah's 4th birthday

It is hard to believe that we are parents to a 4 year old! this was the first year that Elijah really seemed to understand that birthdays mean presents and cake and the world revolving around you for one single but marvelous day. We started with the now traditional birthday meal of hotdogs, baked beans and french fries. A little more expensive these days since they have to be bought at the local import grocery store, but all well worth it.



No birthday is complete without cake. Elijah insisted that he wanted a pink cake, so I tried to make it really dark pink so that we can call it "red" when he is a teenager and looking at the picture.


Elijah got a spiderman costume and Anna got a princess costume (for her little sister gift)among other things. Both costumes were a huge hit and provided hours of quality pretending.

Christmas Decorations

We spent last night decorating the Christmas tree and playing Christmas music. Now all we need is to bake some Christmas goodies and we will be all set. Even in tropical heat, there is something so exciting about Christmas time! The kids loved decorating the tree, and trying on some reindeer ears that they had forgotten from last year. After their baths they suddenly turned into little exhibitionists and streaked around the house wearing only the reindeer ears! I cropped the picture to spare ourselves expensive therapy bills when they are older.