Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We have much to be thankful for this year...family, friends, and most of all a loving Savior! We pray you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We spent the day at the C's house. Elle loves playing with Miss H!
The boys weren't really into their food so they "rested" on the couch
Our friend, John, has been here for the past 1 1/2 weeks, so he joined in on the festivities. He just left today to head back home (I'm sure his family is excited to have him back)!
And a very normal picture of these two....one goofy, one extremely serious!

Harvest time

Today the kids and I walked along an itty bitty road through the rice fields to check out the combine. They were in their glory just watching the combine and the birds that quickly followed behind it!

Fall is finally here!!

Fall temps arrived last week sometime, and it looks like they might be here to stay (for awhile, at least). We are so happy to have a break from the heat AND to pull out the long pants and light jackets, even!!!!

Off to school
Flannel pj's even!
Happy to FINALLY be able to wear his "Cars" jeans!

Model shots???

Just Joey

Can you guess who likes "Jelly" (peanut butter and jelly that is)?

Torture???

I think Elle decided it was time for payback for all the times I have fixed her hair. She really can tug on the hair!!

Happy Halloween!!!

The kids had a fun Halloween and even got to trick-or-treat at the neighbor's homes (they were really just showing them their costumes, but the neighbor's surprised them with candy)!

Our Butterfly or Fairy (depended on when you asked her)
Spiderman (by day)
A confused superhero....it was early and he hadn't had any coffee yet!
Halloween projects. I made them paint their pumpkins because I wanted to keep the pumpkin for fall treats (it's hard to find canned pumpkin here).
Halloween supper...calzones
"Trick-or-treating" time (sort of). By the evening Ike had transformed into Batman and Joey into Spiderman. Elle, well I'm not sure what she was at night....maybe candy corn with wings????

Field Trip Day

I had two very tired kids today!!! Ike and Elle went on a field trip with school so they were gone all day (they usually just go 1/2 days) and didn't have naps. They BOTH fell asleep on the couch watching their new Diego movie (thanks Grandma) around 4:30pm. Ike must have just needed a power nap because he woke up in time for supper. Elle, on the other hand, slept through all of us trying to get her up! Joey tried so hard to wake her, and eventually succeeded!!

Joey trying to wake Elle up
Ike...awake enough to eat 2 tacos, but still pretty out of it
Crazy Joey who just wanted to play with his brother and sister because he was stuck with Mom all day!!!

Time with Daddy

Of course Andy didn't want to take time to look at the camera....baseball was on!!!

What happened???

Today I woke up a bit dizzy. This is the 2nd time it has happened in the last few months, and while this time wasn't as bad as the first, I decided to go and get it checked out. I must have been feeling awfully brave because I ventured down to the local Chinese Medicine Dr (brave because I have never done this before, not because I don't trust them). He did the tests they do and then treated me. This is what my back and neck look like after his treatment (yes, that is one huge bruise)!!! He did some DEEP massage with some tool, and while it was a bit uncomfortable (ok, it hurt), my dizziness was gone. I might even go to him again if I have to. Ahhh, another big step for this missionary!

A trip leads to a fat lip!

Fun with the Bikes

Well, I finally decided it was time to buy the kids bike helmets. I know....they should have been wearing them all along, but better late than never, right??? Maybe not. Anyways, the kids LOVE them and put them on every time they go outside! We'll see how long that lasts!!

Takin' a break for a drink
Posing for the camera. Check out her "beautiful" outfit. She changed into it after school and told me that it matched because there was pink in every piece!

While Daddy's away, this is how we play!

This past weekend Andy was away at meetings, so I decided the kids and I would head to IKEA for some play time (I thought it was a good idea and Andy really doesn't like to shop). It's too hot during the day to play outside, so I figured they could play while I shopped!!! We had a great trip!!!

First stop....lunch!!!
Next stop....toys
And, of course, we had to try out some furniture while we were there. The kids loved the rockers (though this one made me realize that Ike is getting to be a big boy)!

Fun at Nanliao

Sunday afternoon we took a short drive to Nanliao so the kids could run around for awhile. Turns out they spent most of the time throwing rocks in the ocean instead!!

Sunset over the Taiwan Strait
If you look just above Ike's head you can see the rock he just threw
Joey's winding up for the toss

A cute shot I got o
of Elle while she was looking for some rocks

Andy looking deep in thought

The Latte Boy

Elle loves singing!!! We've watched "Taylor the Latte Boy" on YouTube a lot because we both love the song....I think it's hysterical and she just likes the tune. I've caught her singing it a lot, so finally recorded it. She also likes to sing the rebuttal (though I don't think she understands "stalker chick"), but we haven't recorded that one yet!

(if you want to check out the videos, here are the links....
Watch this one first!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXS0nEOx_20

Watch this one SECOND!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK7QsyPJcnw&feature=related)

A Song for our Grandpas and Grandmas

This is a song the kids sing whenever they are on Skype with their grandparents! Joey was "helping" me record it, so it's a little shaky!

He figured it out!

A couple weeks ago Joey figured out how to make his tricycle go without someone helping him. He loves trying to keep up with Ike and Elle now!

So Tired!

This is what happens when Noelle spends the day with Mom and doesn't get to take a nap (sorry about the shaking...I was laughing and couldn't hold the camera still)!!!

A Day in Taipei

On Tuesday Joey and I took the train up to Taipei with my friend Julie. She was on a mission to pick up her new visa...she's moving to Korea (insert a few tears here). After that mission was complete, we took a cab back to the MRT (my VERY FIRST cab ride...so cheap here) and headed to my favorite export store! In all, we were on 6 different trains! Joey was lovin' it!!! Plus, the best part is that he napped for most of the time that we were shopping! Great timing!

Getting creative

Typhoon Morakot kept us cooped up in the house for a few days because of the winds and rain, so we had to get a little creative (at least for us it was creative) in order to keep the kids from going crazy (which would send us to the looney bin as well)! So, in addition to lots of movies, playing with cars, moving their play tent to the boys bedroom, etc...we let the kids ride their bikes in the basement/garage! They loved it and even wanted to ride down there today when the weather outside was beautiful (COOL and breezy!)!

Joey also got creative and decided to start a new Crocs trend...one blue alligator croc and one plain black croc. What do you think??!!!