Budding Artist

Audrey says she wants to be an artist when she grows up. She is always creating things. Mommy is not sure what to do with all of Audrey's art.

There is a tree branch with yarn hanging from it. There is a box with pieces of scrap fabric and painted macaroni glued to it. Mommy has drawings and mosaics all over the walls. The creative juices just keep flowing!

Audrey's latest interest is painting. She asked Mommy to buy her paints and a canvas. Last night she made a sketch and then proceeded to paint. It turned out pretty well for her first painting.

Audrey's Yeh-Yeh (grandfather) is an artist. He would be proud to know there is a budding artist in the family.

UN Day

The kids had UN Day celebrations at school recently. Mommy loves how the International School celebrates diversity. In the weeks leading up to UN Day, the kids learn about many of the countries that their classmates are from.

In the school cafeteria, the parents set up country booths that the kids visit. They get souvenirs or food. Mommy helped make chocolate chip cookies for the American booth.

There was also a concert and parade. My kids represented the U.S. although Joseph said he wanted to walk with the Taiwan flag. Audrey insisted that she is half Indonesian. I guess there is some confusion in her mind about her ethnicity...lol.

Mommy enjoyed UN Day very much. The kids wore Patriotic clothes, and it was so sweet to hear the kids singing "Light a candle for peace." If only world peace were as simple as lighting a candle. It was a lovely song and brought tears to Mommy's eyes.

Time has passed so quickly. Mommy can't believe that a whole year has passed since last UN Day.

 

 

 

4th Birthday

 

Katelyn turned 4 the day we headed back to Jakarta.  She was just the sweetest baby ever.  Mommy is sad that she is growing up so quickly.  Katelyn can be super stubborn and feisty, but she is also very sweet and cuddly too.  We all adore our little Nu nu.

 

 

 

 

We had a joint birthday party for Katelyn and her friend the second weekend in November.  It was a little on the late side, but still lots of fun.

October

October was a busy month.  Mommy decided pretty much last minute that she would take the kids back to Texas to attend Uncle M’s wedding.  The kids are super travelers and did really well as usual.  We arrived in Houston mid October and made the most of our roughly 10.5 days in Texas.  It turned out that Daddy had to spend 2 weeks in Sumatra around the same time as our Texas trip so the timing worked out well.  Also, the kids had a little over a week off for fall break so they only missed 4 days of school.  It was a fast and furious trip, but we are glad that we went.

 

Spent lots of time waiting in airports

 

The connecting flight in Singapore leaves at 2:30am…not the best time for sleepy kids.

 

Finally…at the Houston airport.

 

Took a quick but fun trip to the ranch

 

Had fun with cousins

 

Attended the wedding

 

Headed home…at the Singapore airport waiting for the flight to Jakarta

 

Finally back in Jakarta…3 tired kids on the way back to the apartment.

Preschool

Mommy was asked to join in teaching a home preschool with a couple of other moms from Church.  The kids go 4 days a week from 9:30am to 12:30pm.  Considering the traffic in Jakarta, it is quite an ordeal to get Katelyn to her preschool class on the days that Mommy is not teaching.  Mondays and Thursdays we have to travel to Kemang which is between half an hour to an hour away from our home depending on traffic.  Tuesdays we travel to Pondok Indah which is even further away and also takes at least an hour on the return trip.  Each morning we leave by around 8:30 am and we arrive home around 1:30pm. 

Katelyn is really loving her preschool class. She is with 3 other girls from her Sunbeam class at Church.  All the girls really seem to be enjoying going to preschool and spending time with each other.  In general, Katelyn is a home-body and really is not very social.  Mommy thought it would be good for her to get used to a little more structured learning environment and more importantly, to socialize with some other kids her age.  All the girls really get along well, and Katelyn seems to enjoy being with the other girls. 

Traffic was pretty bad this morning.  There was a line of cars just to get out of our apartment building.

 

 

Sweet little Katelyn spends lots of time in her carseat.

Soccer

So Mommy did not realize that Joseph’s weekly soccer practice is 2.5 hours long!  Mommy is going to have to figure out the logistics on this one.  Between Joseph and Audrey having practice on the same day of the week, they would literally be up at school for 12 hours!  That is just way too long of a day for young children.  Mommy is not sure how we are going to work this out.

In the mean time, here is a picture of Joseph in his soccer uniform. He is on Team Netherlands. Joseph loves playing soccer!  He was so excited to go to his first practice this last Wednesday and to get his uniform!

Chicken Pox

Audrey and Joseph started soccer last Saturday.  This is Audrey’s first time to play soccer.  She is the only girl on her team of eleven.  She is on Team Brazil and they played Team England.  The other team totally dominated the game and pretty much stomped all over Audrey’s team.  She also got clipped on the ear at her first game and decided to sit out for the rest of the first half.  She played again in the last quarter. 

Joseph is on Team Netherlands.  His coach sent out the email about the first game at 11:00pm the night before so Joseph and the coach’s son were the only kids from the team to show up for the game.  They jumped in with Team Germany and played a couple of games.  Joseph did pretty well…according to Daddy.  Mommy was over watching Audrey play.  They play at different times on different school campuses so that makes things a little complicated for everyone. 

Today was the first soccer practice for Joseph and Audrey.  Audrey was so excited.  She put on her uniform and shin guards and was ready to go!  In the car she complained about having some itchy spots on her side so Mommy suggested stoping by to see the school nurse before practice.  Nurse Lydia said she thought Audrey had Chicken Pox.  Mommy was skeptical since Audrey had not run a fever at all and the spots were tiny.  There also didn’t seem to be that many of them, and they didn’t really look much like blisters.  The nurse said Mommy had to take Audrey to the clinic and have her cleared by a doctor before she could return to school.

Joseph was upset about having to miss his practice and go to the clinic with Mommy, Audrey, and Katelyn.  Mommy decided to ask if our part-time helper would be willing to work overtime and go with Joseph to soccer practice.  She agreed to do that so Joseph was able to attend practice.

At the clinic, the doctor took one look at Audrey’s spots and said she definitely had Chicken Pox…sigh.  The doctor said Joseph should not go to school the next few days either.  If he is symptom-free after Friday, he can return to school on Monday.  Joseph is really praying hard that he will not get Chicken Pox.  He really wants to play in Saturday’s soccer game.  Mommy saw Audrey’s coach at school and already told him that Audrey would most likely not be there for the game on Saturday.

The kids have all been vaccinated for Chicken Pox.  Sadly, it looks as though Katelyn is also developing spots on her back.  Mommy is pretty sure she will have lots of spots come tomorrow morning.  Joseph is still in the clear thus far.  The doctor said hopefully the kids will just have a mild case of Chicken Pox.  She said maybe Audrey could go back to school in as as little as 3 to 4 days.  Mommy is hoping the blisters scab over by Monday so Audrey can go back to school by Tuesday.  Sadly, both Joseph and Audrey are missing picture day on Friday.  They will have to make those up another time.

Daddy is still in Sumatra so he keeps missing out on all the fun that we are having here.  The kids miss him when he is gone.  Unfortunately, he still has to go out of town a few more times in the near future.

Here is a picture of sweet Audrey in her soccer uniform. It’s a little big on her.  Someone asked her today if her name was Brazil since it says Brazil in the upper right hand part of her shirt…lol.  Joseph just got his uniform today so I will post a picture of him in his uniform another time.