Our life in Taiwan

Diaper bag

2010-02-23T09:06:00.003+08:00

Not that I need another diaper bag. But women know it's nice to have options. You don't want to use the same purse everyday, so why have just one diaper bag? So, I made a personalized one last week during our Chinese New Year break. Wish I had done this with Harrison. I was very happy with my bag with photos of him, Ryan and myself. That one was pretty personalized too.
I think I might add a few more embellishments later. Just haven't decided on what yet.

THING 2

2010-02-23T08:56:00.004+08:00

Couldn't help myself. I just think he is so adorable in his pajamas. I always think of Dr. Seuss when he runs around dressed like this. He sure knows how to make a mess too!
See what I mean.
"Uh-oh, daddy found me, now who can I blame this mess on?"

Martyr's Shrine

2010-02-19T20:20:00.004+08:00

So, we have lived in the same apartment going on two years now. We live in Shihlin, a district of Taipei. We are very close to the Grand Hotel and not much farther, the Martyr's Shrine. Well, until Christmas break, I had no idea it was the Martyr's Shrine; we pass it all the time but I had never looked up what it was. It is very beautiful and always has tourists. I had always assumed it was a temple. I finally looked it up in a tourist brochure during Christmas break and decided to go. It took two tries, and since the bus never came the first time, the second time we just walked there. It was a great day out with my family! Here is a glimpse of our afternoon.
This is the front gate, taken from inside.
The inside
Harrison and me
Love the Asian architecture
A bust of a famous martyr-this is what is inside the pretty gazebo.
The entrance to the shrine-such beautiful colors, and details
Changing the guard, done every hour.
They stand silently at the entrance to the main hall for about a minute. No one is allowed to enter and can only look through the doors.

Thing #1

2010-02-15T19:34:00.007+08:00

Hello friends. I have joined a group of super cool people on a year-long journey of blogging about 36 significant things we will each be doing.
So, my first thing to share with you is that I have taken up sewing. I know, I started this a little before February, as evidenced by the scarf I made Harrison last month. Since then, I have made:
This pink rattle for Camille, the daughter of our coworkers Nestor and Karina.
This jungle themed changing pad for Marshall.
This evening I made these shorts for Harrison. I made the matching bloomers for Marshall a little while ago. I didn't think to make the shorts for Harry until I went to the fabric market with Alice last week and she suggested I make matching jumpers for the boys. Now I am all about matching clothes for our sons. They might not be crazy about the photos when they are older but for now, I think they will be adorable!
I haven't made anything since high school when I was introduced to the fun of sewing in home economics class where I made my first dress. I have to relearn a little bit and have looked up more than one term on the internet during these projects. But it is so fun making baby stuff!!! I am considering embroidering a small blanket with Tiffany (for Marshall). That's all for now.

Scarf

2010-01-25T08:49:00.003+08:00

Yesterday I was finally struck with the inspiration to make something with my fabulous Christmas present from Ryan, Simple sewing for baby. So, I made Harrison a scarf. After I finished all the sewing, I took him to the store to pick out a button for it. And here is the end result. Thanks to Alice for making this all possible by taking me to the fabric market AND lending me her sewing machine!

Christmas

2009-12-28T22:22:00.009+08:00

Harrison bundled up because it is always cold in our apartment. He is giving the peace sign, because that is just what you do for photos in Taiwan.
Wearing my scarf and posing, Taiwanese style, for the camera.
Our tree with all our presents underneath.
Now- with our presents plus all the presents Kenny brought from our family back in the US.
Christmas eve, he arranged his trains at the top of his pillow and went to sleep.

We have had such a fun and eventful Christmas break, and it isn't even new years yet. As soon as exams were over we took Tiffany to the Adventist hospital to have her teeth cleaned. That weekend we sent her to Japan for a day to renew her visa.

On Tuesday Kenny delivered the presents he had brought from our family back in TN, and took us to the glass museum. Wednesday's excitement was a doctors appointment for me where we found out we are expecting another BOY! - Marshall.

Of course Thursday was Christmas eve. We went downtown, bought a few more presents, had dinner at a Japanese place where they cook in front of you, saw lots of pretty lights and some very large Christmas trees. Then headed home to unwrap presents with a very excited toddler. Harrison barely got his shoes off before running to the tree and yelling "otent prepents" translation: open presents. Harrison handed out all the presents before he sat down to unwrap his. When we finished opening presents, I told Harrison it was time to get ready for bed. He immediately jumped up, grabbed all his trains, went to his room and called us in to have prayer with him.

Christmas morning Harrison actually didn't wake us up like usual (standing beside our bed loudly saying EAT), instead he quietly came to the living room to play with his new train set. Then when the rest of us joined him we opened our stockings and then headed to Alice and Harry Bennett's for Christmas dinner with them and Tamara Karr, all TAPA coworkers. Saturday was pretty uneventful, but we did rent Polar Express for Harrison, boy did he love it.

Yesterday Tiffany and I went to a fabric market with Alice and Tamara, I had no idea of it's existence before. I bought some fabric to make a few things for the baby. Ryan got me the book Simple Sewing for Baby for Christmas. It was a book I saw at Barnes and Noble this summer and told Ryan I wanted it if we ever had another baby. I was very surprised that he remembered.

And now we are at today. We planned to go to the Martyr's Shrine but after waiting at the bus stop for more than 45 minutes in the cold and when it started to rain, we gave up and headed home. We will try again sometime this week, hopefully on a day that rain isn't in the forecast.

Tittot Glass Museum

2009-12-28T21:48:00.005+08:00

Kenny Lee and Tiffany picking out glass for their projects.
Kenny working on his pac-man tray.
The finished project, complete with ghosts.
Tiffany working on the mold for her project.
Tiffany's project after decorating with glass fragments.
Angel made a beautiful and very artsy clock.
Here she is at the beginning stages.
Harrison's beautiful project, not accomplished without the shedding of a few tears.
Very glad Harrison insisted on bringing his backpack he packed with toys, since he was done with his glass art project within about 5 minutes while the rest took around 2 hours.
Ryan designing his map on a glass, before it was etched on.

Last Tuesday Angel and Kenny took us to a glass museum. We had a wonderful guided tour, Kenny translated, and then finished up with each of us doing our own glass project in their workshop. The museum pieces were beautiful although some were a bit confusing. The first floor of the museum was a showroom of pieces that were all made there, by the Tittot artisans. While the second floor had local and international pieces and a brief history/time-line of glass making.

Ryan got to bring his home that day but Tiffany and I have to wait two weeks for ours to be finished. Can't wait!

Getting into the holiday spirit

2009-12-28T20:54:00.004+08:00

This year, we decided to go ahead and splurge on Christmas decorations. We bought a small fake tree and went with very traditional colors- red, green and gold. We put everything up during our Thanksgiving break; and since then Harrison has had many opportunities to reorganize the placement of all the ornaments within his reach, or to simply take them off and play with them. The snowman ornament I bought especially for him and told him it was his and he could take it off any time he wanted, guess in his mind that meant "all ornaments are Harry's to do with as I please." And yes he speaks about himself in third person, so I assume he thinks about himself that way to.

The stockings we had last year. The red ones were a gift from Ryan's parents, with our names on them. The blue and white one says "boy" on the front, I bought it here for Harrison last year, and we used it for Tiffany, hehe.

The pictures in front of the tree are ones we took to send out in our Christmas cards this year.

Thanksgiving 09

2009-11-27T07:56:00.003+08:00

Our first Thanksgiving all by ourselves! What a fun time we had. Ordered our pie from Wendels German bakery, Ryan made the potatoes and gravy (I helped), and I made the corn and rice. The turkey was compliments of Tiffany, she won it at the school's Thanksgiving dinner at Chili's.

Miracles happen

2009-10-12T08:27:00.004+08:00

This weekend was a very enjoyable one. We decided not to make the hour long trek to church, so Ryan and Tiffany got to sleep in on Saturday. We went to the playground with Harrison in the afternoon, until it started to rain. Then we had the pleasure of babysitting little Camille. She was so fun and adorable. She talked and talked to Harrison and he showed her his favorite toy- Bubba, a stuffed puppy. He showed her Bubba's foot, hand, ear, nose, eyes, tummy and back.
On Sunday, Ryan and Tiff slept in again. Harry and I went to the grocery store and when we got back they were still... Sleeping! That afternoon after Harrison and I took a nap, we all went downtown to Eslite bookstore, where I found an adorable memory book. Then we went to a food court to eat some yummy Japanese food, unfortunately that eatery was closed. We did happen across a Godiva store where Tiffany and I each got a truffle! Then we picked up food from about three different booths and ate to our fill, except for Ryan, who- as you probably know, is never full! As it was getting late we headed home knowing Harrison wouldn't be in bed by his regular bedtime. When we got to our stop, Jiantan, on the MRT we deboarded the train and headed to the escalator. When we got about halfway down on the escalator Harrison started fussing and saying "SHOE, SHOE," I looked down and saw his shoe had disappeared into the side of the escalator! I immediately picked him up and tried pulling his leg, it didn't budge though, so i quickly pulled down his sock and managed to free his foot that way, then the escalator spit the shoe and sock back out onto our step. I picked it all up just before we reached the bottom. He was wearing his crocs and the one that had been stuck was completely destroyed. Ryan tossed it in the trash, and I carried Harrison home. All the way home Harrison kept telling us about his harrowing experience. "Shoe, away, daddy. Hurt." Which meant, "Daddy threw away his shoe." And "his foot hurt."
How grateful we are to have been able to bring home our little boy, without even a scratch! God is so good.

Proud moments in a mother's life

2009-10-05T13:27:00.002+08:00

This weekend was pretty big in my book!
In Sabbath school Harrison said the main three words from the memory verse this week. After we say the memory verse together as a group, parents included, I have the kids come and repeat the memory verse to me. Then I give them a sticker to put on a chart by their name, for saying the memory verse. Well, Harrison wanted to put up a sticker too. So I said the memory verse to him one word at a time and he repeated "good to help". I was so thrilled. It is of course my prayer that the Bible will be one of his favorite books and that he will put much of it to memory. I am so happy that he is starting now :)

Then on Sunday morning, while Ryan and Tiffany were still asleep. Harrison and I were playing in the living room and I asked him if he needed to go potty. He yelled potty and ran to the bathroom and pulled down his pullup, sat on his little potty for a while and peed!!! Yay. It's a start anyway. There is much more work to be done.

Pinata time

2009-09-25T21:05:00.003+08:00

Harrison's 2nd birthday party

2009-09-25T20:10:00.005+08:00

We celebrated Harrison turning two at Daan Park on Sunday, September 20. Those in attendance: Harrison (a given!), myself, Ryan, my sister Tiffany, Cha Ye -Ryan's friend, Nestor and Karina - our coworkers, and their daughter Camille.
Here is a glimpse of some of our fun!

Tiffany, Ryan, me, and Harrison

Karina and Nestor with baby Camille

Cha Ye, me, and Tiffany doing our Taiwan pose

Cha Ye got Harrison a book with blocks and pictures of shapes you can make with them.

Harrison loved his cake. I bought the box of cake mix a week before the party and all through the week Harrison kept getting it out and asking for "day day" which means birthday.

I made the pinata and Harrison was so excited! It turned out to be more than he could handle though, and aunt Tiffany had to cut a hole in the side so he could break it open.

birthday song and Sabbath school

2009-09-13T14:38:00.005+08:00

Harrison is so excited about his upcoming birthday. He talks about it everyday. He practices for the big day by blowing out our candles. He carries around his wrapped presents saying "day day!" which means birthday. The above photo is us getting ready for church yesterday morning.This summer I decided we needed something better for the offering time. Up to this point we have used a small brass bowl that one of the kids would carry around so the others could dump their change into it. So, my super great mommy got this fun giraffe-shaped bank for our class. The kids absolutely love it. On the Sabbaths that our organist is running late we get down the giraffe and start Sabbath school with taking up the offering, which takes quite a while now since they do one coin at a time instead of a handful at a time. But I am happy about that; with this age group time fillers are great, especially when they are all involved and enjoying it.
Harrison played on the large lion stuffed animal after class while I put things away.

Ryan and Tiffany came to Sabbath school this week to help sing happy birthday to Harrison.

Tricycle

2009-05-20T17:24:00.005+08:00

Our itty bitty porch, with just enough room for Harrison's tricycle. He loves to sit on it and make motorcycle sounds.

Let me tell you how it is!

2009-05-12T08:48:00.003+08:00

I have already seen him carry things around our apartment and sing into them, like they were a microphone. But this was the first time he had the real deal. He used it for quite a while and when he first picked it up he started singing and dancing, but by the time I got the camera out he was just lecturing! He obviously doesn't take after me, I get so nervous with a microphone in my hand. But he seems to be a natural and loves being the center of attention.
Enjoy

CPR and Baskets, what do they have in common?

2009-05-10T17:04:00.004+08:00

Two weeks ago on Wednesday and Thursday, Ryan and I hosted the Taiwan Red Cross at our school to teach CPR. The first day they taught the class in English and the second day it was taught in Mandarin. Harrison was very interested in the 4 mannequins they brought!
So, our son loves to play in Baskets! The picture above is him in a basket I keep on the shelf full of food. He now regularly dumps it out so he can sit in it or push it around the house. The picture below is him in his laundry basket. We bought it at IKEA and it usually has a turtle lid. He has learned that he can easily get in and out of this basket because it folds down very readily and then pops back up when you let go of it.

Rock climbing Taipei style

2009-05-10T16:59:00.003+08:00

Forget climbing walls when you can have climbing balls.
There is a nice walking/bike path under the MRT lines in Taipei. These two particular climbing balls are under the red line, in Shihlin. I have seen others like these in various places around the city. They have climbing grips fastened all over them and little kids have quite a "ball" playing on them. :)

Conquering the slide!

2009-05-10T00:31:00.005+08:00

I took Harrison to the playground by our apartment on Wednesday. We go there pretty often and he likes to play on this slide but usually I slide with him or hold his hand and walk down the steps next to him while he slides. But he was so determined to do it "all by himself" he wouldn't let me near the slide. He was so brave! and he loved it.

Easter fun

2009-04-12T22:10:00.003+08:00

I went to a couple stores on Friday looking for an easter basket for Harrison- this was the best I found. I had to add the handle, but that wasn't much work, and he picked out the bunny. The little chocolate egg had a toy in the middle. I ate most of the chocolate :)
We went to Daan Park today and picked up lunch on the way, after our picnic I set the eggs out, that Harrison and I decorated this morning with a kit Bomma sent last week (and I'm so glad she did because I didn't find any here.) Here he is after he found them all. He cracked all of them because every time he picked one up he threw it into the basket ontop of the others. After I showed him the first two, he knew exactly how the game was played and enjoyed the rest of the hunt.
He played a lot in this little garden and several kids joined in his fun, here is a little girl that stayed for a while.

On our way back to the MRT station we stopped and looked at two bike shops. I have been wanting a bike since we moved here. At the second one I saw this bike and Ryan said "OK", so we added the babyseat and basket and bought a lock. They even gave me better pedals for free! I am super excited to start exploring the bike paths, now we just need to find the perfect bike for Ryan. When we got back to the MRT station we discovered that bikes are banned on Sunday from 4-7 pm. So, my wonderful husband volunteered to ride it all the way home for me. While Harry and I rode the subway.
All in all, it was the perfect day. SMILES!!!

Pinghsi Sky Lantern festival

2009-03-31T09:29:00.002+08:00

Lantern festival is held every year on the 15th day of the first moon-this year on February 4. It is celebrated in different ways, but in Pingshi, a small village north of Taipei they celebrate by sending up sky lanterns. We went with a group from our church. The sights were so beautiful. Most of Taiwan celebrates with fancy painted and decorated lanterns that sit on the ground or are hung from buildings. Pingshi is the only place you will find sky lanterns. There are shops all along the street where you can buy a large paper lantern, then you write messages on it. We wrote prayers and Harrison even added some decoration. Then they put a small stack of papers soaked in kerosene or some other fuel in the bottom of the lantern and light it. You have to hold the lantern up while it fills with gas before releasing it into the night sky.
This was definitely a worth while trip and will be stored away in our "favorite memories of Taiwan" collection.
This is a few seconds after a group let it go.
Harrison drawing on our lantern.
Holding it up waiting for lift off.
A beautiful, fun-filled night together.
shops along the main street with lanterns hanging out front to display the kind that they sell.

Badminton

2009-03-30T20:55:00.004+08:00

during our spring break we went to Daan park for some fun in the sun. We had a yummy pic-nic and then busted out the badminton. Harry mostly liked swinging his racquet and making daddy hit the birdie.

a day in Danshui

2009-03-28T10:15:00.008+08:00

During our spring break we went to Danshui, a port town north of Taipei. It was a very foggy day but perfect weather.
Here is a view of our stroll along the inlet.

Taking a ride with Harry by my side : )

Had to stop and appreciate some artistic gymnastics

The two men in my life

Stopping in the park to eat our Starbucks lunch and take in some sun.

School Picture

2009-03-27T15:17:00.003+08:00

Harrison's first school photo. As you can see he takes school very seriously. This was taken last month by a student at Tapa, Emily Chi. bonus info: his shirt says "chill'n out, i;m so cool"

Church Retreat

2009-03-17T22:38:00.003+08:00

This is walking down the hill with the NEWSTART building on the left, which is where we stayed for the weekend. We just couldn't get enough of the beautiful view.
Harrison next to the sign for newstart.
Taking a stroll together around the campus of TAC.
Ryan took a lot of pictures of the scenery. Maybe you can tell how much he misses living in the country.
Harrison playing with a little girl at a meeting on the first night there.

clothes

2009-03-12T22:08:00.003+08:00

His GQ pose.
Today I went to the night market to buy an outfit for Harrison. On Sunday we are going to a wedding and then on the 24th the school is having a formal banquet. So, this is what i picked out for both. We also picked up the shoes, I tried them on his feet to make sure they fit before I bought them, and he liked them so much he wouldn't take them off, so he wore them all the way home.
Playing dress up in daddy's sweater. This was last weekend on the church retreat.
"trying to get my hands out of these looong sleeves."
" ah, a perfect fit"

ROAR

2009-01-18T22:03:00.001+08:00

Harrison's favorite animal in his books is a lion. Here he is seeing real lions for the first time. He was spellbound. He kept pointing and saying "ooo"

Ryan's favorite exhibit

2009-01-18T21:58:00.003+08:00

Zoo

2009-01-18T21:39:00.002+08:00

Not exactly sure what all the animals are in this but I was impressed nonetheless.
Harrison and I enjoying the camels from a distance. The ones in the pen right behind us are supposed to be two humped camels, but one of his seems to be falling off :( Maybe that is why the one humped camel next door looks so proud...
Harrison making his monkey sounds as we watch them through the fence.
Asian elephants. Soo cute.
My favorite animal of the day, Mr. Koala! I wish I was that zoo worker, she climbed a ladder just to pet him.

We made a trip to the Taipei zoo during our long Christmas break. It was a rainy Monday, and they don't have all the exhibits open on Mondays :( Oh well, because we didn't make it too all the exhibits, it got too cold and wet. The biggest disappointment was the panda exhibit not being open yet. So, we will definitely be heading back when we hear that it has opened!

more Christmas

2008-12-26T22:41:00.003+08:00

Here are a few more to complete the day: Harrison and I in front of the same tree, my beautiful son, the Tiffany tree in front of the 101 mall, 101 and the moon (taken by Ryan), all tuckered out from a long and fun Christmas!

Christmas

2008-12-26T22:29:00.003+08:00

We started the day with french toast. Then Ryan read the about the birth of Christ from Luke. We showed Harrison how to open the presents and he went to town. Ryan has it all on video. After Harrison's nap we went down to Taipei 101 and bought some stuffing, applesauce and waffle mix from Jason's.

Here are some photos from our day: Harry and I listening to daddy read, our makeshift Christmas tree, Harry's first attempt at bowling, making a silly face at daddy and Harry and daddy in front of a tree downtown.

Cubicle

2008-12-21T10:20:00.003+08:00

Harrison and Brigitta playing in their cubicles. The two of them just love playing together. Last night was the first time we have seen him do this, Brigitta plays in them all the time. You can see how much we are doing with our vacation time :) The last picture has them both in the same square.

Sabbath School

2008-12-13T17:35:00.003+08:00

Here is a small glimpse of our Sabbath school. This month we are doing the story of Jesus birth, so Harrison is a shepherd. He is in the lap of Janine Show, mine isn't available because I'm the teacher. The boy next to them is Christopher, he speaks pretty good english. The little girl in the next picture is Ann, she is so beautiful and sweet. She just turned two a couple weeks ago, we celebrated in Sabbath school with a felt cake and fake cake with two candles, a birthday song and a felt birthday name tag. She has an older sister, Eline, who blew out the candles for her, took her birthday tag for herself and immediately took the little teddy bear gift. I thought it was soo funny, and Ann didn't even seem to notice any of it, I guess she is just used to it. Eline is in the first picture back by the felt board. Ann and Eline don't speak english but their mother does, and she stays in the class with them.

The last two pictures are in a room by the church where we take Harry when he is getting too loud.

Oh, our school just hired another teacher for next semester and his name is Harry, I think he is moving here from Kenya.

Sudoku master

2008-12-09T23:14:00.003+08:00

I'm not the only one in the family who loves sudoku. Thanks Eric and Angela for the great wedding gift, I'm not sure how many years it will take us to do all 1000 puzzles. I bought her a little kitten bed on Sunday, but this is where she napped.
We are anxiously awaiting Christmas break. Finals are next week and Wednesday is the last day. Grades are due by Friday, so I'm sure Ryan will be quite busy all of next week preparing those. This Thursday night is the school's Christmas party, it will be at our church, which is inside the Adventist hospital downtown. We have had secret friends this week and we will find out their identity then.
Tonight we went out and bought a heater, yes, it actually gets cold in Taiwan- thanks China. I also bought Harry a pair of mittens.

Walking to school

2008-12-04T09:41:00.002+08:00

This is the usual route we take to school from our apartment. Tapa really stands out, it is a funny looking four story building nestled between highrise apartment buildings accross the street from the Jiantan MRT station. The building on the left, where I work on the fourth floor, is called the Red building- due to the color of one outside wall. The building on the right, where Ryan works on the second floor, is called the green building- although you cannot see it the wall opposite the red one is completely green. The last picture is a view from my desk in the library, beautiful staircase, but oh so scary with a toddler.

One Cool Dude

2008-12-03T23:05:00.002+08:00

Today we stopped by the smaller of the two playgrounds by our house. Harrison insisted on wearing his sunglasses the whole time we were there. Sadly, we lost them somewhere on the way to school. He loves these little spring rockers. I'm not too crazy about them because he wants to ride on each one and change between them frequently. The park is always a nice treat for both of us though.

Kitten update

2008-11-22T20:23:00.002+08:00

last week I named the kittens Louisa, Brigitta and Gretl. I have since learned from the vet that Gretl is a boy so his name is now Hansel. I am pretty sure Louisa is a boy as well, and if I'm correct his name will be Amos. The inspiration for the original names is The Sound of Music. Then I went from Gretl to Hansel because of the childrens story. And from Louisa to Amos because it was Louisa May Alcott's father's name. Now for the sad news. Little Hansel stopped eating about two days ago so I took him to the vet. They took his temp, listened to his chest and fed him with a stomach tube. All this for just $5. Anyway they said he was weak and hungry. They gave me the feeding tube with the instructions to feed him 5-6 ml every four hours. The first feeding on my own was unsuccessful but I managed the next three. At 7 on Sabbath morning when I got up to feed him his front right leg was really swollen. I was afraid I had fed him wrong and that that had caused the swelling, so I didn't feed him then. The vet didn't open til 10 so he was hungry for a long time. I had to go teach SS so Ryan stayed home to take him to the vet as soon as they opened. They fed him and x-rayed him; found that his shoulder was fractured and he had lost 20 grams in 2 days. They said he would need to be fed every two hours and we would have to take him everywhere we went to be sure and keep him fed. Ryan decided to admit him for a couple days. They will call tomorrow to give us an update.
The other two are doing great. Brigitta opened her eyes on Tuesday, she is so pretty.

sliding all by himself

2008-11-16T00:20:00.003+08:00

I am so glad Ryan caught this with the camera.

Harry has been watching the bigger kids climb up the slide, and trying in vain to do it too. Well, he finally succeeded.

playground

2008-11-16T00:07:00.003+08:00

Harrison had so much energy this afternoon, we had to get him out of the house. So, we decided on the playground a couple blocks away. It was the first time we have taken him there since he started walking. He had so much fun and even made a little friend. He really likes babies now, he is always trying to talk to them and touch them.

all grown up

2008-11-15T23:58:00.003+08:00

Ryan took these three pictures of Harrison, when I saw them I thought he looked so different-older! He is changing so quickly I can't keep up.

The other picture is taken from the playground, it is just a large court where the kids like to ride their bikes and play games. In the early morning or late afternoon groups of elderly women gather by the stage to excercise together.

not enough sleep

2008-11-14T09:30:00.005+08:00

Well, we have had the kittens for two nights now. Ahh, it's like having a newborn again. Feeding them every two hours, getting up during the night, heating bottles of milk. Thank goodness they grow fast. I don't think I could do this for a very long time. Here is a little bit of their cuteness, just after dinner last night.

Kittens

2008-11-12T23:36:00.003+08:00

Here is the big news of today; we have taken in 3 very young kittens. It seems their mother gave birth to them in the athletic equipment locker at school and then the security guard got rid of her (not knowing she was a mommy) :(
So, here we are with 3 little girls, nursing them through their first weeks. Several of the students have already claimed them, but we need parental permission before sending them home, also want them to be a little older so they can handle going without food for at least 9 hours at a time.

The other night we had rice and black beans for dinner. After his first bite Harrison had a bean on the tip of his nose throughout the rest of dinner. He is always so cute!

Candid

2008-11-07T20:53:00.003+08:00

Here is Harry in Daddy's shoes, he is in a hurry to grow up. I took the other two at school. He loves to play under the desks, sometimes I go in with him.

Harrison's new room

2008-11-07T20:39:00.003+08:00

On Wednesday Harry and I went to IKEA to get a bigger bed for him, his legs would hang out the end of his crib when he was sleeping. He also picked out this rug and a stuffed panda, and I picked the curtains. He was so excited when we got home and started putting his new bed together. He kept crawling in little circles on his rug and then all over the bed and up and down, up and down.

It is so cute how he just comes out of his room after his naps or in the morning when he wakes up. After his nap he doesn't fuss or anything we just see him standing in the hallway. I think he enjoys this new bit of independence.

Handsome hubby and baby

2008-11-06T22:16:00.003+08:00

We bought Harry his first magnetic train piece and a toy clock before we hit up Pizza Hut. He was so cute playing with his new toys at the restaurant but he quickly tired of them and busied himself trying to make a mess of everything. I wish that picture had his whole head.

Pizza Hut

2008-11-06T21:58:00.003+08:00

This is the new Pizza Hut that just opened down the street a little way from us. It was quite fancy. We had an interesting pizza, also delicious, pumpkin and mozzarella. I think it was the first night they opened. The front was full of large flower arrangements and on the street corners there were Pizza Hut employees wearing masquerades and giving out flyers for the restaurant. I loved my dessert, some kind of apple yumminess.

Skateboarding baby

2008-11-04T23:21:00.003+08:00

Today I took the skateboard out of the library and put it in the hallway. I was getting tired of Harry using it all the time and then getting fussy when the students would try to help him. Harrison soon discovered it there and found the railing by the window to be most useful when practicing his skateboarding. I also have a short video of him doing this but unfortunately it is sideways and I haven't figured out how to rotate it yet. As soon as I do I will try and post it on here. Maybe next time I will just make sure I don't hold the camera sideways, so I won't have to bother with all this technical stuff.

how about a walk

2008-11-02T19:23:00.003+08:00

The first one is from last night. Harrison climbed into a shoe box where I keep his blocks. This morning he was in it and it broke and he fell out and bumped his head on the floor.

The rest are when we were leaving the park.

what a lovely day

2008-11-02T19:09:00.005+08:00

From the top: a woman in a traditional hat, picking up litter in the park. Yuanshan MRT station. 2 where you can see Taipei 101 in the distance. There aren't many places in Taipei where you can't see it. Harrison was showing us a bicycle he wanted.

Back to the park

2008-11-02T18:44:00.004+08:00

Today we went back to the park for a sushi snack and some frisbee. Harrison seemed very interested in the roller-blading area. It seemed they were having classes to teach young children how to rollerblade.

Spaghetti

2008-11-01T21:47:00.004+08:00

Today was Sabbath, and I taught the combined cradle roll and kindergar- ten class. The lesson was on the lost sheep and we made some little thumb print and cotton ball sheep at the end of the class. Janine helped Harrison with his. The coloring was all done by him (except for the smiley face.) For lunch Ryan made spaghetti. Harrison had his in a bowl that on the bottom suctions to the table. Well, he pulled hard enough to break the suction and the contents of the bowl ended up all over him. So, most of his dinner he had to eat off of his stomach and lap.

Afternoon at the park

2008-11-01T13:00:00.000+08:00

Today was Friday and I don't work. So, for lunch we, including daddy, went to Yuanshan for some sushi and ate at the park across the street from the MRT Station. We spotted this beautiful Indian something tree, that seemed just the right size for Harrison to get his first taste of climbing in. He really loved it and wasn't scared at all. He only fussed when we got down. After this he found a huge leaf and contented himself with it for as long as mommy and daddy could stand the heat, then we headed home.

Welcome All

2008-11-01T12:42:00.001+08:00

Well, here it is, 3 full months into our life here and I am finally starting a blog. I hope this in some way keeps us close to you while we spend our 2 years here. Maybe even a glimpse of what it is like for us living abroad.

We dearly miss our "home" in Tennessee. The hardest part about our move is leaving behind such an amazing and supportive family. And for Ryan having no big franks is proving quite distressful. I am convinced I wouldn't be as homesick if sweet Guinevere was with us, but I would feel so guilty if I put her through all the necessary protocal to get her over here. The only other thing I can think to mention is leaving our friends, fortunately the world doesn't seem soo big with the internet and we manage to keep in touch, although probably not as often.