The Well Rounded Mama

MERRY CHRISTMAS (In July!)

We celebrated our second annual CHRISTMAS IN JULY on July 25.  It's a great way to spice up the summer and a great way to spend a fun day together as a family.

Last year, we did it as a complete surprise for the kids.  My favorite part of the day was Caleb waking up, seeing the tree, and saying, "I'm SO glad it's Christmas!"  This year, we decided to let the kids know it was happening.  That way, they got to be a part of it.  They helped get out a few decorations and decorate the little tree.  They loved it!  It was a lot simpler than even last year, but we've had such a busy summer that I didn't want to take the fun out of it by making it a big ordeal that I had to plan for days.  A few stocking stuffers, a few small gifts, some yummy food...CHRISTMAS IN JULY.

 

Katie really wanted to help hang the ornaments.  Apparently, she thought they ALL should go on the same branch!

Our little tree, all decorated and waiting for little people to be ready to open gifts!

I wasn't feeling well so Jason, bless his heart, wrapped the gifts for me.  He was quite pleased with the "Christmas Tree" stacking toy that he wrapped for Katie.

Stockings...haven't found a place to hang them in the new house yet!

Before stocking and presents were opened, we feasted on our now-traditional Christmas in July breakfast: red and green Thai sticky rice.

 

Alaina and Caleb with their stockings

Miss Katelynn...

Caleb...who told us at least 100 times that he loved ALL his presents (all two of them!) and all his stocking stuffers.  Easy to please!

The littles with their stockings

Katie breaks into her tree

Levi with his new animal puzzle...this kid could do puzzles ALL. DAY. LONG.

Apparently Katie likes her puzzle too!

She's a pro...

Levi opens yet another set of plastic animals.  He just LOVES them.  They live in his nightstand drawer and they are his #1 go-to toy on airplanes.  He just sets them up and plays with them for hours!

Now, this may seem like the oddest gift for a six year old EVER, but for Caleb, it was the perfect gift!  What is it, you ask? A TAPE DISPENSER! He was so excited to add it to his growing selection of office supplies on his desk.  He absolutely ADORES organizing and setting up his desk...everything having a place.  With a new bulletin board and a new tape dispenser, he informs me that all he needs now is new paper and glue.

So from our house to yours, MERRY CHRISTMAS (in July!)
 

Scrapping the Summer Away!

Life in Asia takes patience...sometimes, LOTS of it.  We are STILL waiting for internet at home (first applied June 14!).  It's getting a little old.  Oh well...at least it is summer and needing internet means a trip to the hotel and pool.  I think the kids are happy :)

Anyway...we're keeping busy on our end.  We've been doing lots of little things for the house...organizing the garage, getting pictures printed, ordering new bedding.  We are really starting to love the new place!

We have also been trying to get other "stuff" done.  For me that means working on some of my scrapbooking and planning for another year of homeschool.  For Jason that mean doing some reading for his certification update.  Thankfully, the long summer days allow us lots of time to work AND play.

I've posted a bunch of layouts that I have done this summer in the album, but here are a few of my most recent/favorites:

 

 

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And no worries....I haven't forgotten about my PROJECT 365.  It's just a matter of finding the time to do all the uploading...I have almost two months worth!

My Indian Princesses

One of the things that Alaina wanted most on our trip to India was a new Indian outfit.  They are called a Salwar Kameez (or Punjabi suit in other parts of India).  They are worn by many girls and women all over India.  When we lived there, I wore one all the time.  They are amazingly comfortable and they come in every style and color imaginable.  There are casual ones, dressy ones, and everything in between.  The common thing is that they have a long shirt/dress that goes over a pair of pants.  The paints can be tight, loose, or a combination.

When we lived in Malaysia (where there are a lot of Indian) we bought Alaina a few outfits.  She has since outgrown them so she was desperate to get a new one.  She wasn't sure what she wanted and we had a little trouble finding a store that sold her size, but finally, we found one that she loved.  And then we picked out one for Katie. The next morning (our last day in India), Alaina wanted her hair up in braids "like the Indian girls wear it" and wanted pictures.  I was happy to oblige.

 

After we went inside, Katie just kept saying, "ME PRINCESS!  ME PRINCESS"  So...we got her dressed too and went out for a few more pictures.

 

Most of the time, though, she just wanted to make faces

So Alaina jumped in and helped out!

 

 

 

I love my little Indian Princesses!

More Photos

We're still sick...Levi has now joined in on the festivities.  Poor Jason has been cleaning up lots of messes.  Thankfully, I am a bit better today and can actually get out of bed.  Yesterday I pretty much felt like death.  Hoping we can get past this and start enjoying the rest of our summer! 

More photos from our trip...

A beautiful day in Ooty...just like all of my memories

Alaina posing in the archway of our old Church

A 4th of July lunch of hot dogs and chips and apple crumble with new friends.  Katie, my ever-so-Asian child said, "I want rice!"

The story behind these two photos:  In the front room of our friends house there was a box that the kids were using as a fort.  Caleb asked me if it was a box for a washing machine.  I said, "No, it is a box for a dryer."  He responded with, "What's a dryer?"  (Obviously we don't own one).  I then tried to explain to him what a dryer was and since he was looking so confused so I brought him in to see theirs.  He just sat and stared and exclaimed, "That is the COOLEST thing I have EVER seen!"  Levi then took his turn watching!  Ahh...the life of TCK'S (Third Culture Kids).

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Before I show the next pictures, you need to understand a few things about life in Asia.  Although much of Asia is developed, nice, and up to Western Standards, not nearly everything is.  That is especially true when you are in a small town in India.  One day our friends called us and asked if we wanted to go to a local tourist site that they had never been to -- WAX WORLD.  I've been to a couple of wax museums and they were amazing...so, I was eager to go.  I should have known better.  The place was small, dark, dusty, and quite creepy. The wax figures were often distorted and all were covered in a thick coating of dust.  There was no rhyme or reason to the figures either...so were famous Indians and some, well, were not.

Mother Theresa

The kids had an interesting discussion about whether or not this was Jesus. Most of them decided it was NOT, because Jesus did not have blond hair!

When Katie saw these Indian street men/sick people, she told me to, "Shhhh! Boys night night!"

You should take the warning of this sign seriously! Consider yourself warned. Notice the details of this gruesome picture!

Remember, don't drink and drive!

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After the rather scary trip to the wax museum, we decided to try another local tourist point -- a thread garden.  Our travel book didn't have anything awful to say about it, so we thought we would give it a try.  It was...um...interesting. More dark.  More dusty.  More things to laugh about.

It is an entire "garden" made from thread.  Each of the flowers was wound with different colors of thread.  It took 50 people TWELVE YEARS to make it.  The sad part was, it was so dark in there you could barely seen, they kept you behind a wood barrier, and the dust was so thick you couldn't appreciate any of the work.

At least the signs in the place were amusing!  It isn't everyday you get to see a "world miracle."  My memory will "not willingly let it pale."

Katie getting her usual attention from the Indians

The next day we all took a train ride to the next town.  It was a gorgeous drive! Katie focused more on taking care of her baby than looking out the window!

Beautiful tea fields...

By far, the kids' favorite part of the trip was riding everywhere in rickshaws.  Since they are called "auto rickshaws" (as opposed to the older bike/hand carried ones), the kids had an ongoing debate about whether to call them "autos" or "rickshaws".  It was cute :)  My favorite was Caleb's phrase of, "I love riding in Otters!"

While we were waiting to order lunch and the kids were playing on the playground, we had an invasion of the monkeys!

After a long lunch and a slight transportation fiasco, we decided to switch locations and walk to a nearby coffee shop. Two families with a total of eight kids is quite a sight!

In this pictures you can see the two superdads.  The friends we spent an entire week hanging out with were amazing.  Jason and the other dad (Ryan) have got to be two of the most amazing dads ever.  They were always doing everything they could to help, taking the kids (especially the two little ones) and sometimes even taking ALL EIGHT KIDS out by themselves...BY CHOICE.  Angie and I are two lucky ladies!

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The next day Alaina and I had a little girls day out in town. So fun to spend time with my girl!

I had to laugh every time I passed this sign.  So does this mean that if I park here, they will chop off my big toe??

A quick stop for coffee and a smoothie...

 
And then lunch at our favorite place

Tomorrow I will be back and show you Alaina's favorite purchase of the day!

We're Home

Well, we're home.  I wish I could say that we are all well, but in the love of irony, after trying VERY hard for three weeks to NOT get sick in India, our first day back in Indo three of us got very sick...from Pizza Hut! I wasn't feeling too well last night but I assumed it was just from being overly tired.  But then I got really sick...and then Katie came into our bed and puked all over it...and then as Jason was getting a new blanket from the girls' room he sees that Alaina, too, had been vomiting.  Lovely.  Anyway, hoping this is just the 24 hour type of sickness and after a good day of laying in bed watching videos and reading, we will be on the mend.

In any case...here are some more India photos.  Last week we took the kids into the local market.  It is really quite the experience!

The kids check out one of the meet aisles.

The boys check out the chickens (which they later chose to watch be killed!)

The butcher

This is one (of many!) vegetable stalls in the market.  The kids really wanted to know how the guy got in and out of his stall.

So he showed them his secret rope :)

And then, of course, the kids wanted to try

One of the flower stands

The guy tying the flowers.  And as usual, the little blond kids scored free stuff. 

Katie wasn't too sure what she thought of her flowers

But my little Indian Princess loved them

Next up was an aisle with tons of bamboo.  Caleb was especially excited to see a ladder "just like ours."  No surprisingly, the kids wanted to climb it.  Not surprisingly, dad said yes.

Caleb was having a hard time deciding between watching his siblings climb the bamboo ladder and watching the guy weave baskets.  He tried for a compromise.

Jason demonstrates how to work a rat trap

The home and garden section

...MORE TO COME (after we stop throwing up).

India Photos part 2

We haven't had a lot of sunny days, but when the sun does come out, it is the perfect excuse for a picnic!

Or to build a "dog house"

One of things that Alaina was most excited for on this trip was the chance to see her first house and her first room.  Alaina was born in Bangalore, about six hours from where we lived, and we brought her home at three days old.  Her she stands in front of the door to her very first bedroom.

Cold days are a good reason to stay home and play games and build a fire

The kids had fun watching the guy make their pizzas at one of the local cafes

Katie is a popular gal with the Indians.  They are constantly picking her up and taking her wherever they please.  This particular guy went beyond the norm and actually took her out of the restaurant, only to come back a few minutes later with Kit Kat bars for all the kids.

MY favorite part of the trip is eating chicken tikka and Indian bread every day.

Jason's idea of vacation

Katie enjoyed running through the garden

She also liked helping Jason hang laundry

Some friends came over and the kids all put on a fashion show for us.  Katie shows how cute she can be as a ballerina.

The cutest cowboy in India

The Eastside High Wildcats have never looked so good!

A perfect Saturday at the pool with friends

Katie points out the monkeys that invaded the pool area

After everyone else finished their meal, Levi decided to finally get out of the pool and have some lunch

Foggy, foggy days in Ooty

...MORE TO COME

It's been ages!

I know it has been a long time since an update...that should clue you in to how FULL life has been!  On June 5 we moved into our new house and spent the next week or so getting settled and Jason finishing up the school year.  Then my dear friend Ruth Ann and two of her girls came to visit from a different part of Indonesia and we enjoyed four wonderful days together.  Then on June 18th we left in the wee hours of the morning for a three week trip to India!  Since then we have travelled to Malaysia for three days, then on to India -- to the beach for a few days, then a ten hour train ride, then a three hour taxi ride, then to a hotel for one night, and then onto the house of some friends at our old campus!  Busy would be an understatement!  Mixed in that has been some really hard things...like having my wallet lost/stolen...but we have been enjoying being back in India.  We spent three years living here (2000-2003) and we became parents here. We brought our sweet little Alaina home to this campus where we are staying at just three days old. So many memories of this place are precious to us and it is so fun to share some of it with the kids.  

I am sure I will have more to share later, but here are a few photo highlights of our trip so far (and please excuse the photo quality...my laptop has serious color issues).

A six am flight to Malaysia

  Happy travellers...I am always amazed at how well the kids do with travelling.  They are always super troopers...they all carry their own little bags, they always do what they need to do. They LOVE it (and always say the airplane is their favorite part of the trip!)

My sweet little Cabe...the lack of routine and structure of travelling can be hard on him but he does SO well. I love how the first thing he does at new hotels/houses is make his bed and set up all his stuff.  It makes him feel settled and secure.

Papa John's Pizza in Kuala Lumpur...SO good.

Father's Day was a little unusual this year...Jason took the kids out to play all afternoon while I got to sit in Starbucks alone all afternoon.  It wasn't ideal for Father's Day, but with not knowing if/when we would have internet on our trip, I had three weeks worth of work to do before we hopped on a plane the next morning.

Fort building on the flight to India...thankfully the flight was pretty empty and so they didn't bother anyone!

Playing tag in the Trivandrum airport while Mom and Dad stand in a very long line waiting to get through immigration.

Once we got out of the taxi, one of the first things my kids said was, "You're right mom!  People in India DO carry a lot of stuff on their heads!"

We finally made it to our hotel.  Jason and I used to stay at this place when we came while living here. The only thing is...the hotel has gone up six times in price and added a pool, TV's, hot water, and a fridge.  It is wrong that we were a little irritated at having to pay $30 a night for a view like this? 

We stayed at a place called Lighthouse Beach and did something we had never done while there before...climbed the lighthouse.

The view from the top...looking out over the beach and strip of hotels.

 View from the other side...looking out over the gorgeous water

Goofy kids at the top of the lighthouse

Messy hair and the bluest eyes I have ever seen           

Walking down the lighthouse steps...at little nauseating if I do say so myself.

When the kids weren't in the pool, they spent lots of time building a playground out this little stick things.

On our last afternoon at the beach, Jason decided to take the kids on a little "field trip" to show them the tea stall where he has been getting our coffee and tea for the last few days. Why pay 35 cents for a tea at the hotel when you can pay 15 cents? That's my boy!

The kids loved watching the guy "pull" the tea.  This cools it down so it is a drinkable temperature. He just pours it back and forth...and never spills a drop.

Ahh...tea and biscuits (cookies). The perfect way to spend the afternoon!

Alaina settling in for the ten hour train ride...thankfully there are beds on the train (and A/C!) and it is a rather enjoyable trip.  The kids did great!

Jason reads up on the things we might do/see on our trip

And this is how Caleb passes the ten hours on the train

We were planning on spending the night in Coimbatore (the city the train comes into which is about three hours from the town where we were heading) but due to a conference in the city there was NO place to stay, so after a quick stop at Dominos and a ridiculous taxi fiasco, we headed up the mountain to our old town.

Katie enjoys a bucket bath at the hotel...it was the only way to get warm. Aren't those little toes so precious??

Finally we made it to the house where we will be staying for about two weeks.  Our dear friends are back in England for the summer but graciously offered their house for us to stay in.  There is nothing better than getting to stay in a kid friendly house!  The kids have made themselves quite at home with all the toys and videos.  They have declared they want to live here!

New toys to play with have kept them occupied for hours (and don't worry Alex, we'll do our best to put everything back where it belongs!)

Yesterday we made it back to the main campus and the kids had fun seeing our old houses, seeing the classrooms, and playing on the playground.

                

"Me Do It!"

The phrase, "ME DO IT!" comes out of Katie's mouth all day long.  She strives for independence in all things (whether she is capable or not.)  She refuses all offers for help and works tirelessly to accomplish things on her own. It is both endearing and aggravating...all depending on my mood and whether we need to be somewhere or do something in the next, oh I don't know...hour.  Take one of yesterday's finer "Me do it" moments.

         

 

When I pointed out to Katelynn the fact that her shirt was on backward and that I was willing to help her fix it, she responded with her second favorite phrase: "No no, fine!"

A Tree House Breakfast

It's a long weekend for us here (though I can promise you it isn't because it is Memorial Day in the States).  A long weekend means extra family time!  Friday morning, after talking with Grandma on the computer, we had a nice breakfast in the tree house. Simple pleasures.

A gorgeous morning at the house we love so much

Caleb wore his superhero cape

We ate Yummy Cinnamon Baked French Toast

Even scary crazy doll had to come in her {not so}high chair

And Levi brought his baby too, of course

Alaina wanted to make silly faces at the camera

Naturally Maggie wouldn't let herself be left out of the festivities

We chatted and ate and drank coffee

And Katie was puffing up her chest to say something

A wonderful breakfast with wonderful people.  Man, I love my life.

RADICAL

I listened to this series a month or two back. Jason is listening to it now. And we look forward to reading the book. It has played yet another part in sharpening a fuzzy vision in our hearts and minds. We refuse to waste our lives on things that will not last. We're just praying for vision, wisdom, and clarity to know how God does want us to spend our lives.

P.S.  Sorry the video embedding doesn't fit.  Click on the video to be taken to youtube