Don't pet the crocodiles

I had a productive week. I made a book on ancestry.com of Janie's first two years (thanks to Aunt Marilyn), had two different nights of guests for dinner (one of which I actually cooked for, which isn't too common since we moved here), 4 play dates, and I finally jumped on the Harry Potter bandwagon.

The book was a lot of fun to put together. I really hate scrap booking, so my poor children were bound to not have anything put together for years and years when I finally would make myself do it. But, thanks to a deadline on Ancestry.com, I got something put together in just a few days. It pretty much took over our lives, and of course I thought of several things I wish I'd done the day after I submitted it, but it's done! And, thanks to this project, I'm excited about looking into digital scrap booking which seems much more up my alley then what everyone else does.

We had the Beck family over Monday night for dinner and Family Home Evening, although we weren't very diligent in actually doing a lesson, unfortunately. But, it was a great time and the boys played wonderfully together. I couldn't get them to look, or even talk to me really until we were together later in the week, so this was still in the "who the heck is this woman?" stage.

Tuesday was a playdate with Scarlet and Heather. They came over and played all over the house making special mixtures with all the soap they could find and torn paper. They called it "Konicain". I have no idea where they got that. Heather and I had an awesome conversation about her experience with Donny Osmond, who is one of the only reasons people in London would ever know where Utah is. She interviewed him (she was a journalist prior to coming to Bangkok) and had so many nice things to say about his book and family. Having also read his book, it was fun to discuss what a great family the Osmonds are! She was hilarious when she told me about Donny flashing "his smile" and her completely losing it, not knowing what to even say after already visiting for 30 minutes. She felt like a teenager all over again! I couldn't stop laughing.

Wednesday I took the children out to Nichada to meet up with some women for lunch. I dropped the kids off at my friend Jeanette's home and had a nice, quiet lunch without having to stop visiting to go for several walks, change diapers, clean up spilled food, etc. It was nice for a change, although it was also nice to pick the kids up after and hear about the fun they had without me! This is the kids with the Young Women who came over to play with them. I think they were watching Dumbo.

Wednesday night we had a neighbor (yes, an actual neighbor!) come over for dinner. Belinda lives just two floors up and is from New Jersey. We've visited several times at the pool or lobby, so when I learned that her husband was going out of town, I thought we needed to have her over. She is due with their first baby in just 4 weeks, and she is pretty nervous about it, so it was fun to get to chat with her about different things. No pictures of Belinda, but hopefully, we'll have her over again, with her husband next time!

Thursday, we met up with Catherine Beck and the kids at the Emporium play area. It was crazy that day, but they all seemed to have a great time! We planned our trip to the zoo for the next day and got to visit quite a bit while we played.

This is Janie while we were waiting to meet up with Catherine before the zoo. We were waiting by the park, so we stopped in and bought the kids some chocolate milk, always a favorite treat! Jane and I love these beautiful blooms!

This is the best we could do of a picture of the big kids! We met up with Mary Jane and her two little ones and had a great morning together. From the left: Jane (think her hat needs some adjusting or what?), Narissa, Jack, Lucas, and Isaac. The babies, Alena and Madeline, were in the strollers. We ate at KFC at the zoo and one of the smiling employees came over and said, "we like her (pointing to Jane) because she's chubby". I thought that was hilarious. Janie is losing her baby fat, so I love to hear that she is still at least a little bit chubby!

Some unique signs I saw at the zoo. A little gory, I thought, but luckily, the kids didn't really get it.
The scary thing with this one is that it wasn't there just 2 months ago, so does that mean they had an accident? Look closely. Very interesting.

Janie doing her crocodile impersonation. She's so cute. She sat there and watched these crocs the entire time Jack was dragging me around to read every sign about them he could find. I love that he wants to know so much about everything. As far as I can remember, I didn't care about that stuff at this age. Yet another wonderful thing he's inherited from his father.

From the first time I met Catherine, one week ago, she has been wanting to jump right into the culture, food, and shopping that Thailand is so famous for. I love her enthusiasm. It's pretty unique, from my experience with expat women, so it is quite refreshing! So, we spent Saturday morning, just the two of us, hitting the weekend market. It was GREAT! I didn't buy much, but it was still fun to look and help Catherine find some things she needed. It was a good dose of shopping for her first week. This is us with our "3 Baht" popsicles. This was just our first serving. We are such nerds, I know.

Saturday night, we rewarded Jack for reaching another landmark in his reading book by all going to a movie. We've never gone to a movie all together before, so this was Janie's first. Very exciting! We saw Ratatouille and thought it was fun, although it was a little intense in parts, and the sounds was REALLY loud at times. But, Janie sat through the whole thing and ate popcorn and a sucker. She was loving it.

As far as Harry Potter goes, I've been wanting to get started on the series for years. With all the hype for the 7th book, I just decided it was time. So, I decided I'd just start with book number 7 and see if I really liked it enough to read the rest. Just kidding. Actually, the kids took really long naps one day and I was dying for something to read, so I got out the book I'd bought at a used book sale months back and started into it. It is actually the 3rd book, and Jeff can't believe I am doing them out of order, but I was desperate! Needless to say, I loved it. I found myself letting the kids take super long baths, just so I could keep reading! THIS is why I don't let myself start novels very often. It's been so long since I read fiction (besides The Wealthy Barber which I don't think counts, and the fun books I read out loud with Jack), that I forgot what it was like to completely lose myself inside another world. It was awesome. I loved every page and can't wait to read more. Anyone want to mail me their copies?

Between the book for Jane and Harry Potter, Jeff's pretty much felt like he doesn't have a wife this week. Thank goodness for an understanding husband. On second thought, maybe you shouldn't mail me your copies.