Comical Happenings...

Ever make a paper towel diaper? We were desperate at church yesterday when Anneliese had a messy diaper that HAD to get changed. Both Christian and I were out of diapers (kind of funny with me mouthing the words to him while he is sitting up front "do you have a diaper?") Anyway, we had paper towels out in the car, so I changed Anneliese's diaper and then put about one inch of paper towels in her little underpants (diaper cover up) that matched her dress - thankfully she had that on!

As soon as I got back from changing Anneliese out at the car, Xander informed me that he needed to go potty. Okay, so I sent him upstairs to the toilet, gave Annliese to Christian on the stand and followed Xander upstairs. I couldn't help but laugh when I discovered that his underpants were soaked through - little accident. So I took those off and rinsed them out before heading back downstairs with wet, blue dinosaur underpants in my my hand.

I love my kids and am glad that we made it through church in one piece yesterday!

To Market...To Market

This morning I went to the market three times to make sure I got the one thing I really needed. Crazy things happened all three times I went...The photos are of vendors in our alley market, but were taken earlier this year.

The first time, a smiling butcher played a little game with Anneliese's hands and he handled a toy she brought along (one she often puts in her mouth). FYI, he handles raw meat all day and is responsible for grinding meat in the little hand crank grinder, and he doesn't wash his hands. I try to always give exact change to the butcher. If I do get change, it usually has little meat chunks on it and I am quite hesitant to put THAT in my wallet. We went right home and washed and sprayed with anti-bacterial spray. I needed to grab something from home anyway.

The second time, Anneliese had a VERY near miss with a lugie that a man spit out of his mouth as he walked across the street - apparently he didn't see our big red stroller. I stopped the stroller JUST in time and it landed too close for comfort. He said 'sorry' and I said 'ew!' with a shocked expression on my face.

The third time, I thought we were home free, but then as I was buying green beans from the last stall, I looked down and Anneliese had been given a cumquat (small sour orange) and she had eaten half of it, peel and all, and had the whole thing in her mouth. Nobody asked my permission! So there you have another good start to a typical day in Hanoi : )

Christmas Tree Hallelujah

Sunday night we put up the Christmas tree and decorated it. It was magic as we played Christmas music and laid out the nativity sets we've collected. So much fun! Afterward we turned out the lights and drank hot chocolate with candy canes as the kids danced to the Hallelujah chorus.

2010 Walk-A-Thon

Emma did a great job this year on the Walk-A-Thon fundraising for Blue Dragon and East Meets West Foundation. These organizations provide food and shelter for poor children, and heart surgeries for needy children in Vietnam.

Because of Veterans Day, Christian was able to go and cheer Emma on. He marked laps on the kids arms as they ran past.

Emma's class was broken into small groups to make it easier to mark laps on their arms.

Emma completed 11 laps around the track and ran or jogged the whole way! This year Emma was able to raise $163 with her results. We are so proud of you Emma!

Super Kids

On Saturday morning, I heard little feet tip toeing down the hall. I looked up from my bed and was surprised to see two super heroes on a special spying mission. They were hush-hush and wanted to surprise daddy.

Primary Program

So, we had our primary program yesterday and the kids did so well! I am so pleased with how well they did, and I consider it a miracle considering our rehearsal the week before was chaos at best.

The most funny part, however was after the program was finished and the closing prayer was being said, MY SON, ducked under the sacrament table cloth and started eating the sacrament bread! Christian just about died and gave a serious threatening stare / warning with his eyes. Even despite the warning, Alexander persisted in grabbing bits of bread and eating them. Oh, this wasn't such a fun game when the meeting was over! I am holding onto him in the picture while he is squirming out of my hands and onto the floor.

Hello again...

Someone said that posting a blog is like creating a journal entry. Writing on Facebook is like saying something that is on your mind in one or two sentences. I just started Facebooking last week and I love it because it is so easy. That said, I still want to keep up on our blog. So, here is my effort to do a better job on updating our blog.

Above is Alexander using my bundt pan as his costume in a "fashion show" that he and Emma were having in their pajamas. He was marching around the house using the bundt as a sort of megaphone, boy was it loud! Emma was wearing her butterfly wings, crown and butterfly scepter in her costume. I guess puzzles were a part of the show too.

One morning last week, I thought it was amazing that the kids weren't up earlier. I waited until 7:00 and then went downstairs to wake up the sleeping munchkins. Emma's room was empty, so I checked Xander's and this is what I saw...see below photo.

Emma was dressed in a Taekwondo outfit and Xander was in his batman gear and she was reading him "The Rooftop Mystery." I turned right around and went back upstairs to get the camera. I love it!

Xander is a boys' boy. He loves his trucks and cars. He often parks his cars on his bed all in a line. It's so cute. Whenever we check on him, we remove the cars, toys and books in his bed because he moves around a lot while he sleeps. Our cute booter boy.

Our apartment needed new A/C units because our current units drip all over everything, quit working for no reason, and make noise like a hamster running around inside a wheel, etc. So, we have moved to a new apartment down the hall for two weeks so that they can do the work they need to do. This is what our house looked like after they prepped the area. Above is our kitchen, below is our living room. We put all of our things on one side of the room and they used a staple gun and tape to put the tarps into place. I have a feeling the work will be messy.

I had to crawl under the tarp to get some things today and it was pretty tricky. I cooked and baked all last week to freeze some dinners to make life easier for us in temporary housing. I didn't want to have to take all of my spices, cooking tools, sauces, etc. with me. So, let's hope it all works out okay and I didn't leave too many necessary items buried in corners under the tarps.