Our Heavyweight

Jack got his 6 month shots today! He did surprisingly well and slept most of the afternoon. The best part of the visit was getting his official weight for the grandparents! We usually weigh our kids at Metro, the grocery store we go to. It has a scale near the check out and Kathi had the brilliant idea to weigh EG when they were here last year. Though the metro scales do a pretty good job, I thought the grandparents would like to hear the official numbers! Our chunky monkey weighed in at 19 and 3/8 lbs (88th percentile). He's in the 81st percentile for his height and his head is very normal! Just thought you'd like to know we're are growing a Jolly Green Giant over here!

Craft Time!

Thanks so much Mamma Nette and Kacki for all the fun craft stuff you sent in your packages. We've been having lots of fun with all the stickers and stamps! We usually have craft time each day and play with stickers, stamps, markers, pasta, pipe cleaners, etc. Our attempts at using the glue stick and paint did not go so well...maybe we'll wait a few more months to bring those items back out. Craft time is a big hit with EG and she's easily entertained (with supervision of course, hehe) for a good 30 minutes.

Occasionally the supervisor gets distracted and items meant for crafts end up torn, eaten, or....


Maybe she confused the stamps with the chap stick you sent??? Actually I'm pretty sure she knew exactly what she was doing! Thanks again for all the fun you've sent our way! We love you!

Family and Friends

Some of EG's favorite people in the world live really really far away. And we talk about them A LOT and we look at pictures of them A LOT and we miss them A LOT! We have pancakes and special bedtime tucks and jokes in honor of these people. (Guppy Guppy, Kacki Cakes, The swirly finger thing that ends in a tickle, "and a tuck tuck tuck." just to name a few) They are far away from us, but so close in our hearts. Their love for us and our kiddos is an anchor that grounds us, a source of much joy and encouragement and a huge reason we are able to be here doing what we do.


God is so good to give us you. And he is so good to fill our lives here with people we love and cherish as well. I feel so grateful for the relationships we have on both sides of the globe that encourage us, fill our cup, and keep us laughing. Here are some of our dear friends from this side of the world! Looks like they are starting a band! (Brandi, Emma Grace must be my daughter. How many rock star band performances did we do over the years?)
And the boys. I love this picture. They are both sporting their baseball gear...evidently Isaac has already been assigned to the short stop position. With Jack's build, I think he might be the catcher? I think he would actually do best as a lineman in football. Looks like they are high fivin' for a good game! Hopefully they'll be finished with the pacis before they meet the competition!

For you guys far away-Aunts and Uncles, and Grandparents and Cousins and Sisters and brothers and friends....We love you. We miss you dearly. For you cute little band members, our baseball team, the gazillion cute little kids in our community and your parents...we love you and we are so grateful to be here with you.

Happy Birthday Laura

Sunday was Laura's birthday and we celebrated by going to a near by park! As I mentioned earlier, we live near the Century City, a MASSIVE apartment complex that we are growing more and more fond of! Although the idea of 600,000 people living in less than 2 square miles is not so appealing, they have a lot to offer those of us who live in nearby Mayberry. For starters, they have a KFC. Nothing like a bucket of chicken when you need a little taste of home. And they just opened a big grocery store that I am pretty confident will become our preferred shopping destination for non-market items like pasta and ziplocs! (We now travel 30ish minutes to get to a grocery store!) And they also have a great park that we visited for Laura's Birthday! A local friend and I made Laura's favorite, an angel food cake with strawberries and whipped topping! It was a great way to finish our fun morning of rides, sunshine, fried chicken and friends! Happy Birthday to Laura! The guys took the girls to ride rides while we sat under a tree and chatted and fed babies! Like I said-this place is MASSIVE-check out the buildings. They go on for as far as you can see!

These girls are like cousins to EG. I am so thankful that we have each other! (And they have a little brother, Isaac who is just 3 months younger than Jack! There's a lot of fun in our future!)

Happy Birthday Laura! What a great day!

Today I feel...

Concerned.

Shocked.

Amazed.

Confused.

Sweet.

Satisfied.

Content.

If you....Then you must be a ....

If you...

Have more pictures of people under two in your office than of your entire family combined

If you...

send awesome packages across the world full of chocolate straws, silly books, and clothes all 2t and smaller

If you...

send harassing emails to your daughter telling her to post more pictures of her children (it's ok mom, I forgive you!)

...THEN YOU MUST BE A GRANDMA!!!

These pictures are for my mom and mother in law! Thanks for being awesome Grandmas to our kiddos. We really appreciate the love you show for them. (And sorry mom for taking so long to post new pics!)

Here's EG playing with beans. I am really trying to find fun ways to entertain our on-the-move, go-getter! She's had a great time lately with 4 lbs of red beans, the funnel, and a few kitchen toys!

She's also been enjoying some play time with friends. Laura and I have started a weekly play date for her and Lydia. We've also been spending time with some Chinese pengyous (friends)! Here's EG with Lucy and Lily. (Lucy, the one closest to EG is our landlord's daughter) These girls are sweet sweet sweet and love to spend time with EG and Jack. They came over a few weeks ago and we painted and made magnets. This past week they came over for lunch and some play time with EG and Jack. I am very encouraged by EG's progress in Chinese. She repeats a lot of what she hears, which is a big step for her! She stands at her window and yells at people passing by, "hello pengyou!" She also says silly things that don't really make sense, like "Ping guo Cha Bu Duo" (translated means "Apple, that's about right") We're just encouraged that she's willing to use the words she's learning. Jackie Boy is busy packing on the pounds. We've been giving him rice cereal and he loves it. This week we are moving on to more tasty treats...pears and carrots!

We've been busy lately so I haven't been online much. Last week we spent some time at the "Century City" and the "New World Asia Sports Center." These are both about 3-5 miles from our little town. (Remember we live in the Mayberry of China) These two places are GIGANTIC apartment complexes with everything from movie theaters and fun outdoor play areas for kids, to karaoke bars, swimming pools, and pretty good restaurants. We first went to the New World place to check out their outdoor kids play areas. They are awesome and we definitely plan to spend more time there! Then this weekend we went to the Century City. (an apartment complex that when full can hold more than 600,000 people!) Why did we go? Oh, for the grand opening of the KFC! YES, that's right. Having a KFC near by is BIG news for us and we thought it would only be right to show our support by enjoying some finger licking goodness on their grand opening. It was a tiny bit chaotic but we enjoyed it.

I really really really love our little town, all the quirky, kind people, and how quiet it is out here. I'm thankful not to live in the hustle and bustle of downtown. But it's hard sometimes to be far away and not have many options for fun and an occasional western food fix with a great kids play area! So we're thrilled to have these new options near by!

Our landlord decided to let us stay in our apartment next year, so we are currently rearranging a few rooms. Andy's office is becoming the kiddos room and EG's room will become his office. We got a great blue color to paint their room and we had a bunk bed made for them! (Jack will of course be in the crib for quiet a while longer and our little monkey will of course be sleeping on the bottom bunk for a long time as well!) It just came an hour ago and I really like it. Once we get everything squared away I'll post some pictures!

5 months

Jack is 5 months old! He is eating lots of rice cereal these days, rolling over, and loving his big sister. He is such a pleasant little guy. I love our monthly photo shoots...he makes some of the cutest faces! Enjoy!