Happy Halloween

I love the fun festivities that come with Halloween....dressing up, trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving, and everything pumpkin! We don't really have trick-or-treating in this part of the world (though Ike's school actually did it this year), so instead we invited some friends over to do the other fun stuff!

We had firemen, cheerleaders, cowboys, farm girls, and even Secret Service agents show up!
We painted some pumpkins...
Colored some Halloween pictures...
Made some pumpkin, ghost, and Frankenstein pizzas

Carved some pumpkins..
And watched them glow...
The artists and their pumpkins!

Ellie's turn!

Poor Ellie is fighting some sort of virus that has given her a sore throat and a super cute hoarse voice (can I say "hoarse voice?). For a girl who doesn't like to take naps, she sure fell asleep pretty quickly after lunch, and without being told to!

To keep the boys entertained, I had them trying on all of the bargains I found in Taipei yesterday. Here they are in their fireman coats that they may use on Halloween (or at least I think that is what they are).

Sleepy Boys

I've been way out of the blogging loop lately. Truth be told, I haven't even taken too many pictures lately! This one made me smile, though! The kids get done with school around noon, and then Ike and I do some home schooling in the afternoon. I had gone upstairs to get ready for his classes and it got REALLY quiet downstairs. This is what I found when I went to get Ike for class....I guess they were pretty tuckered out from school that day!

Retreat time!

We were just blessed by a wonderful time with the Wiles! They spend half of the year traveling all over the world encouraging missionaries, and we were blessed to have them visit us again! Here are some pictures of our weekend retreat with them...

Taking time for a hike in a beautiful forest!
Joey found a pine cone to play with.
By the end of the first full day I had 3 very tuckered out kids!!!
Uncle Mike and I took Elle and Joe for a walk thru town while the others played games. We found this foot pool to soak our feet in (the town we were in is known for their hot springs).....
....I didn't know until after our feet were in the water that there were little fish in there to eat the dead skin off your feet....ewwww (Joey thought it was GREAT though)!!!!
Brother sister love!
A final meal together (well, 3/4 of us were there) before we all headed to our own homes.

All tuckered out!

When I left to take Ellie to ballet on Friday I could tell Joey was pretty tired, and this proves it! He NEVER falls asleep while watching tv, but he did Friday (sadly it was 4:30pm which means he was up until 11pm). This afternoon we realized he is getting a cold (and pink eye), so I guess his body was just trying to get him to rest awhile.

Isn't that just precious?

I love this close up because you can see the sweat on his forehead (it's still in the 90's here)!

And we're back in school......

This week Andy and I started school....AGAIN! After nearly 5 years in Taiwan we decided it was time to start learning Mandarin Chinese (we learned Hakka Chinese first). We are already enjoying our classes and can't wait for our Mandarin to catch up with our kid's Mandarin (I'm sure it will be awhile)! Oh to be a kid again and learn as quickly as they do!!

Wishing Dad good luck before he leaves for his first day of class.

Heading out for my first day of class. The kids were in school, but thankfully Andy was available to walk me to my class!

We have a 1st grader!!!

And he's off....to elementary school, that is! Elementary school starts in 1st grade here, so today was Isaak's first day! What a day it was! The school had a big program planned with traditional Hakka activities for the kids to participate in. We had no idea what we were in for today! Lots of fun! Ike came home saying, "Mommy, that was FUN!" Should I tell him that not everyday of school will be like that? Nah!

Time to go....bright and early!
Ike's class getting ready to be pulled by an ox (or water buffalo...I'm not sure)!
He even got to ride on it!
Ike's class with his teacher (left) and principal (right). There are only 10 kids in his class...LOVE IT!!

Swimming Lessons

Ike and I have spent the last 2 weeks at the Jubei pool! It was his first time in swimming lessons and he LOVED every minute of them (and after them when he got to go on the water slide over and over and over....)!

An Unexpected Package!

The kid's got a fun package in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa K! Inside were lots of fun clothes (like Twins t-shirts and princess jammies) and some other "treats" for the kids!

Look close and you'll see that Joey has 3 shirts on (you can only see 2 of them). He decided that was the best way to try on his new clothes!
Check out this excited girl! Is it over her new princess backpack or jammies or fun clothes? NO!!! It's over her new band-aids (though she does love the other stuff, too)!
Ike's pretty happy about his band-aids and clothes, too!
What do you know? All 3 kids love the band-aids, and they've sure had lots of owies ever since they got them!!

Joey's First Day of School!

I am way behind on this, but nearly 3 weeks ago now, Joey started his first year at Chinese Kindergarten! Hard to believe he is ready for school already! It's been a rough start because he's been sick off and on and has had to miss a few days, but overall he loves it!!

Ellie showing him the way to school (and apparently carrying his school supplies for him). It was Ellie's first day back to school after a WHOLE WEEK of summer vacation!
Trying out his new backpack!
And one more pic, this time in his "chicken clothes" (ie school uniform)!

While Daddy's away.....

The other week Andy was gone for a couple of days so I the kids and I decided to put up a "tent" in the boy's room. The kids LOVED it! We laid Joey's quilt over some of their chairs (making for a really LOW ceiling), then brought books and games in the tent to read and play with. We'll definitely have to do this again!

Family Vacation

Last week we went on our first ever, "just the 5 of us", family vacation. We didn't want to go too far away, so we headed a couple hours south, and into the mountains just a bit, to a cooler part of the island. We had a nice couple of days, despite the nearly constant rain, courtesy of a hotel with a pool!!!

First stop, Museum of Entomology.....butterflies, bugs, and more!

Elle next to some ishy bugs!

A Taiwan beetle (well, one of many of them)

Next stop, Sun Moon Lake. We were there in Dec and it rained, too. Oh well! We took a shuttle boat to the different tourist stops around the lake.

We had to purchase cheap slickers for the kids. Much easier than umbrellas, and it left their hands free so they could use the binoculars they bought with their very own money!

The perfect use for a slicker....a GIANT bib for the ice cream cone they got before heading back to our hotel!

We almost made it to the top of HeHuan Mountain before the kids woke up. All they wanted to do was go back and swim. So....

.....we happily obliged...

...and they spent the next couple of hours in the pool!

Then it was back to our comfy room for dinner, showers, and bedtime!

Last stop was to visit friends who took us to a park with fun rocks to climb on!

...and make Mom nervous!

My Little Helper

It's peach season, so I decided to make a peach crisp (I've never made one before). Ellie was right there to help me and she made a GREAT crisp!!!

Joey's last day home alone with Mom!

Joey's off to school on Monday, so on his last day home alone with me we went out for a "treat." He LOVES food from 7-11, which is a bonus for me....nice and cheap! We headed to the one at the train station and he got to pick out his lunch. Then we went to the Starbucks next door so Mommy could get her treat as well. I'm going to miss my little guy, but I am so excited for him to meet new friends and learn lots!!!