Tuesday, January 17, 2012

December's Birthday Bonanza!

December just so happens to be the month in which all three of our children were born, and this December was the first year of celebrating four birthdays in one month (including Jesus' at Christmas). Whew! It was quite the busy month. It's fun to celebrate the uniqueness of each of our special blessings, but one day, practicality may win out and we'll end up with one big birthday bash for all three!

Juliana's celebration (celebrated a day early) was multi-faceted: first, a trip with Daddy to get her child-size guitar (a preschool graduation gift 2 yrs ago) restrung and tuned, as the strings had all broken long ago. (She doesn't actually know how to play yet, but don't tell her that. : )  ) Then, a family trip to a Christmas craft fair called Coconuts and Holly, sponsored by a Christian NGO (non-government organization) that works with vulnerable and trafficked women, etc. Then a date with Mommy for some Christmas treats (at said fair) and finally, candles in the requested banana muffins for dessert.

The guitar shop guy fixing her guitar = happiness!

Kids Corner crafts at Coconuts and Holly

Juliana's SEVEN already!
Aslan turned ONE on the 10th, and his celebration was rather low-key. He "opened" presents (with help from older siblings) and enjoyed his first taste of cake - banana cake with lemon icing from a local cafe.

"Oohh... fire!"

"This doesn't taste like pureed bananas."

Kai turned four on the 17th, but due to a wedding at our next-door neighbor's that day, we celebrated it the night before. He requested banana bread, so I made him one - then realized that all three birthdays were unintentionally celebrated with banana-flavored baked goods! That evening, he opened gifts at a restaurant, and then we surprised the kids by going to a new (for us) indoor playground called Monkey Business. He (and Juliana and Aslan) loved it, and it was a great way to honor our little monkey!

Which is more exciting - turning 4 or eating banana "bob"?

Mommy and Daddy's gift is met with a big grin

Sliding down the huge bouncy-slide at Monkey Business
What great kids they are, and what fun birthday memories!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Random Catch-up


The following pictures and stories are random snippets from the past three months that are worth including in a blog, but don't necessarily go together. So here's a "catch all" post of random glimpses into our lives...


Kai and Juliana standing in fromt of the wall of Thanksgiving
 We started a new tradition this past Thanksgiving - listing things we're grateful for on pumpkins and decorating our wall with them for the season. A fun family activity that kept our blessings before us for several weeks, not just one day. : )

Our landlord with Kai and Juliana, showing the cross-section
 of a jack fruit which he just picked and cut from a tree in our yard

Victorious predator and his handicapped prey

   The day before Thanksgiving, our cat Simon, while chasing a rat, somehow caused it to fall from our second-story porch onto the concrete below. It wasn't killed by the fall, but must have been maimed, for it made very little effort to move after that. Of course, as rats are a major nuisance to our family, we can't say we were too sorry, and left it to it's demise in an abandoned lot next door. (This is one of the better-looking rats we've seen, though! And yes, we've seen our share up close...)


Our Silly Screen-licker

"Yummy!  And what a fun texture..."


















Aslan is a wonderful little boy, but he sure keeps us on our toes as he finds very interesting ways to spend his time!  He's fallen on the concrete steps, broken a bottle of hot sauce he snatched from the open fridge, has eaten (or attempted to eat) countless strange objects not fit for human consumption, and one day, we discovered him trying to lick the window screen. Sigh.... (You can join us in praying for his safety and health, and especially peace of mind for his mommy!)


"Silverware?..."



 
 
 

"...I don't need any silverware."

 

While Gerry Keener visited Phnom Penh on a recent Asia trip, he treated the EMM team to dinner at a Chinese noodle restaurant. We all really enjoyed the delicious noodle soup, but Kai had his own very special way of enjoying those noodles. : )

 
 

Juliana enjoying Thanksgiving Day lunch
 This Thanksgiving, instead of joining with other families to celebrate, we enjoyed a semi-traditional meal I made for lunch before we headed out of the city for two nights/days of mini-vacation at a nearby resort. Rather than try for an expensive, imported turkey from the grocery store, we complemented home-made bread stuffing, baked corn and frosted pumpkin bars with a local rotisserie chicken!
- Bethany