Dec 25

Bright and early, emphasis on EARLY, Christmas morning.

Eva's birthday party

pics from this week

Eva's 2!

Could it be 2 years ago already that Nathan and I left Laos for Eva's birth in Thailand?

We are blessed more than words can say

We love that you have such a joyful spirit

We love your beautiful smile

We love that you are an adventurous little girl

We love that you eat absolutely everything on your plate no matter which country we're in

We love that you are full of LIFE (your name means life)

Happy Birthday!!

helefant

So, at this 'zoo' you walk right up and 'pet' the elephants

If you are lucky, the elephants don't eat you
The wise children stay behind the protective small wooden fence
Jan is offering Elijah as an offering to the ravenous beast

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Our Christmas tree is up! Nathan and I pulled it out of its box and got it all put together, but the neighbor kids were so fast with decorating that I decided to just leave it to them. They are so proud of their work! One girl even brought someone to our door after the gate was locked up for the night to show off the tree. :) Another of Eva's friends was proud that she knew how to use a camera and took the picture below, which I am posting for those who have asked for me to post a few pictures of myself! And apologies for Eva in the picture below... as I say, she is potty training :)

Usually, the girls in our neighborhood help me make/frost cookies, but this time I didn't think I could handle a house full of girls while keeping Eva focused on the potty training, so our house helper happily frosted instead.
She really got into it; aren't they cute??
Notice the warm coat below... we are in the "cold season" now with day temps high 80s, low 90s and nights in the 60s. :)

elijah pijah wijah

behind the falls

This one was taken when we were still in Singapore. There is nothing Eva likes better than playing with water, so waterfalls are pretty much the best thing ever for her.

see my teeth?

let the potty training begin!

Hanging out on the potty chair

Turkey In The Belly

The Turkey Tasted Fantastic: A tribute to Lao birds

The 3 kilogram turkey yielded 1/2 a bowl of meat and 1 bowl of bones, all quite delicious!

Thank God for Turkeys!

Turkey Run 2009

After the practice cut I prepared the deadly machete and walked toward the unsuspecting bird.

Thanksgiving Day Turkey - The final moments

The Practice Cut

Weighing "Bob" Our T-Day Turkey

3 Kilos- Feet, Feathers, & All

Thanksgiving Day Turkey - The Real MEAL Deal

Walking back to our house Thanksgiving morning. Little did our little feathered friend realize the delicious end he was coming to.

Our Three Kilogram Turkey we named "Bob". We bought him from our neighbors two doors down. They have, how do you say, a Turkey Farm.

back home in laos

so strong

This little guy is amazing. He has pulled himself to standing several times now and this morning transferred from coffee table to couch!

attacking daddy

Watch Eva Listen To a Dog Bark

standing up while eating!

scooting on the carpet

The scooting faze is so cute! I'm thankful it happened while in Singapore b/c we have carpet here which is so much easier on the little guy. He's rapidly moving into crawling though and has already made his first crawling moves. But for now, here's the little guy trying hard to humor mom when all he wants to do is nap :)

running through grass... eva's first time!!

There's not a whole lot of grass where we live in Tha Kaek, so I was excited to take Eva to some parks while in Singapore. I was also excited to have a place to run myself since the last time that happened was, well, before my pregnancy with Eva. So we went to a track nearby and both ran there. Check out Eva's girly run! :)

happiest when sitting in daddy's lap

the kiddos

loving the food

Hoorah for Indian food!!! It's our favorite, and it's all over! 

It's official- he's sitting!

we are freezing!!

We arrived in Singapore a few days ago for a few weeks of meetings and decided to come 4-5 days early to get in a little vacation time this year. We're staying at the ymca here, which Eva is loving because it has a pool! Elijah is loving the carpet on the floor and is constantly up on his hands and knees trying to crawl. Nathan and I are loving the feeling of being cold. We are constantly in air conditioning because everywhere has a/c, and it is SO COLD!!!! We've been putting the kids in 2-3 layers of clothes, warm jackets for dinners, and we're bundling up blankets at night. Blankets I'm telling you!! We hear people commenting on the hot weather here being absolutely exhausting... and we're finding it a wonderful break from Laos. I guess we've acclimated more than we'd thought. 

swimming w/ daddy