Saturday, July 26, 2008

Friday, July 25, 2008

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Ike's program

On Friday Ike's school had their Kindergarten Graduation. I've heard that K grad. is the most important graduation here, though I can't say that for sure as I have had no experience with the others. It was fun and VERY LOUD! Loud music, fireworks, lots of people, and even a guy selling corn dogs outside. Definitely a fun night and a cultural experience! Ike had lots of fun dancing, too!



Ike and his English Teacher

Ike with one of his friends

Caught!

Elle and Joe were caught while playing with Ike's cars while he was at school. Luckily it was Mom and not Ike that caught them!

This kid needs some meat on his bones!

Enjoying Breakfast Together



Ike and Joe share a bowl of "bird cereal" (Ike's term for Fruit Loops)

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Joey's "crawl"?

Joey hasn't started to walk yet, which is completely fine with us because once he starts....well, you know...the "fun" never stops! He has, however, started to "crawl" with his butt in the air. Very funny to watch!

At Joey's one year check up, we found out that he is only 19 pounds (8.7kg). On the growth chart here he is in the 10th percentile for his weight, but he doesn't even make it onto the US chart (<3rd percentile). Definitely a light weight. He is, however, just over average (52nd percentile) when it comes to his length.

Check out these curls!

It is very humid here right now, so Elle's hair is super curly! I love it!

Ike's turn


We got back late Friday night from TMF, and then Saturday afternoon we made a trip to the doctor. Ike had a case of pink eye that needed some antibiotics. As we were leaving the clinic I noticed that he was warm. Sure enough, he also got the fever that Elle and Joe had earlier in the week. I didn't have a thermometer when we were gone, but did at home so I took Ike's temp....103.6F (40C)....yikes! Luckily, ibuprofen and Tylenol took it down pretty quick, and as soon as his temp was down, you wouldn't even know that he was sick because he was running around and playing basketball!

What a week!

We spent this past week down in Taichung attending the annual Taiwan Missionary Fellowship retreat. For the most part it was a great trip. The kids program was GREAT! Ike was constantly asking to go to his class (except when he was asking to go swimming), and even Joe and Elle had fun in their "class" (the nursery). Elle got especially tuckered out, though, because she had lots of kids to "mother" in the nursery! Here are a few pictures from our week away.

The older 2 kids went swimming every chance they got.

You won't see Joey in any swimming pictures....he screamed when we put him in the pool. I can't blame him though, the water was freezing!

Ike even recruited people to play with him in the big pool!

There is construction taking place on the Morrison campus (where the conference is held), so Andy, Ike, and Joe (in the stroller) spent lots of time watching all the activity.

We enjoyed our last drink at the tea stands with Annalise before she leaves next week for the US. We'll miss you!

My favorite TMF pictures are the napping ones. The kids get SO tired because they are so busy in their classes. We were thankful for the team from the US that took care of the kids program. They were GREAT!!!

Elle and Joe, along with the rest of the nursery kids, came down with very high fevers at the end of the week. Luckily it was a quick bug, so after 36 hours or so, they were 99% better. When the doctor asked if there were any other symptoms with it, I said no. Andy told me that I should of said "irritability". That was definitely a symptom that this little 2 year old had!

When Joey woke up from this nap his fever was gone and his appetite was back. Shortly after he ate 3 good size helpings of spaghetti!

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great time celebrating America's Independence today. We had a great BBQ, sang lots of songs, and lit off fireworks. Happy 4th!
Our patriotic kids (the boys didn't have stars and stripes, so the Twins outfits were the next best thing)
We were even serenaded by a male quartet singing "America, the Beautiful"

How many people can you pile on a cheap IKEA chair?

Swimming again!

A good friend watches the kids for me every Thursday so I can study my Hakka. This week the kids got to enjoy the pool in their apartment. It was very hard to get them out when I went to pick them up. I'm pretty sure I have some fish living in my house. Thanks for the fun C's!

Friday, July 04, 2008

Staying cool!


The kids and I are doing what we can to stay cool. The temps have been in the upper 90's....hot!!! Fruit smoothies work for the kids, I prefer the ice blended lattes...yummy and cool!

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Swimming...Finally!


Today our swimming pool finally came out of the garage. It was definitely hot enough before for it, but Ike couldn't get his arm wet while it was in a cast, so we didn't get it out until today. Joey absolutely hated it so he was in about a minute and then went inside for his nap. Ike and Elle had so much fun splashing around and staying cool!
In 5 short weeks we leave for home assignment in America. We are VERY excited for many things....seeing family, meeting our new nephew (just born on Sunday), seeing how much our nieces have changed over the past 2 years, enjoying American life for a few months, eavesdropping....the list goes on and on!

At the same time, there are many things that we will miss from Taiwan while we are home....friends, our home, the kid's toys, the beautiful mountains, our town, Taiwan rice....this list goes on and on, too.

Today Joey and I decided to show you a few of our families favorite foods from Taiwan. Hope you enjoy!

These are huge mangos....super juicy and sweet.

Here's what they look like cut up and about to be placed in a little boy's mouth

There are tea stands everywhere and they are so cheap. A favorite in our family is pearl milk tea (the picture is of black tea)....yummy!

This fruit is called a lychee. It grows on a type of evergreen tree. Very sweet, also!

This is what the lychee fruit looks like. It almost has the texture of a grape with a huge pit inside.

These 2 pics are of dried tofu. We LOVE this stuff. The kids really love it with a little ground pork, green onion, and soy sauce...easy!!!

This ishy looking stuff is dried white radish. When you scramble it with green onion and eggs you get a very nummy Hakka dish!

This is one thing that we won't miss...powdered milk! The kids don't mind it because it has a sort of sweetness to it (at least that is what I think). Fresh milk is REALLY expensive here ($6 for 3Liters), so it is only used in the Larsen household for the ever important lattes. We only go through about a liter a week, so that still makes it cheaper than buying a latte.