Easter Preparations

In preparation for Easter, there was a fair amount of activity in the Woodward house.

Rania slaved over the hot stove, and in a trend that will surely only continue, she borrowed her older sister's apron. Thanks to Rania's culinary skills, we're quite confident that our Easter dinner will be magnificent.

We also decorated eggs -- and thanks to the grandparents, white eggs were discovered in Malaysia. All eggs we've found previously have been brown -- which we found also works okay, though the colors are not quite as bright. The grandparents even hard boiled the eggs in order to make it even easier!



Baths were taken and hair was washed for three kiddies. Some bath fun was part of the ritual.

And then the final touches were put on the eggs. The kids had great fun coloring the eggs, and after they had dried, they got to put some stickers on the eggs before bedtime. They've scouted out some great places to hide eggs -- as each of them will get to hide an egg for the adults in a turn of Easter Egg fun.

And, once the kids were in bed, the Easter baskets were set out on the table in preparation for Eastern morning, in time to celebrate Christ's resurrection.

Gabi's Homework

Largely, we've been very relieved with our decision to have Gabi stay home. While she is plenty social, and would have a great time at school, it has been good to have her staying home, if only to keep her sister company.

The last few weeks, Juvy, our wonderful amah (nanny/housekeeper) has been having Gabi do her homework -- in an activity book which she has. Throw in art time, morning jogs, and play time, Gabi certainly gets plenty of stimulation.

Most mornings start with jogging -- where Rania & Gabi go for a walk in the neighborhood. When the neighbor's dog, Candy, can join them, it is a big highlight of their time.

With the addition of a $1 water color set, Gabi is becoming more of an artist, finishing several pieces in a single day. Flowers, suns, and mommies are big themes in her current art mode.



She also gets to create entire lands, usually consisting of farm animals or horses, though birds, pirates, and cars may also be involved. Usually these lands are filled with conversations between mommies and babies starting with the word, "pretend." "Pretend this mommy horse is sad" might be a common beginning to Gabi's latest tales.

Tracy's purchase of a nice soft rug from IKEA has also made the play area much more comfortable for many of the adventures that take place on the living room floor.

A Week to Forget (for Doug)

This was supposed to be the week that Doug had been looking forward to -- Malaysia Week. A chance to visit remote parts of the country, hike, swim, explore, and be with middle school kids.

Illness has a way of ruining those plans. Instead most of the week was spent in bed, and almost all of it was spent at home. Only on Thursday did I finally make it out of the house.

So, that was a major bummer.

On the home front, the sky continues to be beautiful (nice cloud picture for Auntie Tasha).




Our neighborhood continues to be a fun place for kids. Riding bikes, playing games, and Rania trying to point out "Pooh" or "Mickey" or "dis" on every neighbor kids's bike, stroller, shirt, toy, or whatever.

BFF -- or BNE (Best Neighbors Ever?)

The last two days, especially, we've realized anew just how grateful we are for the great neighbors that we have. Since Reeve has been out of school Thursday and Friday due to parent conferences, he has had lots of time to stay up later, play with his friends, and enjoy the neighborhood.

It is really quite incredible that we have an older girl (7), just next door, who is happy to play with a 4 year old, and a 4th grader down the road who willingly hangs out with a 5 (soon to be 6!) year old. And both of them are incredibly nice, kind, and very good role models for our kids.

So the past few days, lots of time swinging, riding scooters & bikes, visiting neighbors' homes, playing with remote control cars, and even getting a few treats.

Grandpa also helped with the fun -- taking Reeve & Gabi on Thursday for some time swimming, and then Rania had her special day with Grandpa on Friday -- swimming followed by a visit to the aquarium. By the end of the day, Rania just about had to be pried away from "baba." There is raging debate in the Woodward house whether Rania is more of a baba's girl -- or Baba is more of a Rania's grandpa!

Swinging in the Rain

This Thursday & Friday, Reeve has not had school due to parent conferences. The parents continue to make their way to work, but it has been nice to let the kids play later, and not worry as much about bed times.


On Wednesday night, there was an extremely light drizzle, and after baths, Reeve & Gabi went outside to play with our wonderful neighbor friend -- and spent a good hour swinging in the rain.

It was neat to see them having such a good time, and getting to spend extra time in the evening leisurely playing after dark -- instead of the rush to the 7:30 bedtime so the entire next day doesn't unravel.

It is interesting how in Malaysia, the evenings get going around 9 pm. Not that we've ever been out that late (okay, maybe once or twice), but according to rumors, it isn't unusual to find little babies and kids accompanying their parents around the malls or to social events as the clock approaches midnight. While we don't do that with our kids, it is somewhat reassuring to see how much kids become part of their families lives, and having kids doesn't completely dictate your social engagements.

Anyway, while we were out the playground, right outside our back door, I also played with the "night scenery" setting on our new camera. You can somewhat see the blur of the kids in the time-lapse photograph of the swingset. It was so nice to sit outside under the palm trees with the colorful sky growing darker and darker and the cool air blowing through. Ah, so refreshing.



Another side benefit of Reeve's conferences is that we haven't had to leave as early in the morning -- the combination of no traffic due to Malaysian school holidays and not worrying about having to catch Reeve's bus make for a more leisurely morning routine and a few more minutes of shut eye.

First in Line

One of the relatively few disadvantages of living in Bukit Antarabangsa is the morning traffic. Since we live on a hill, and it is entirely residential, each morning, the entire hill gets in line to go down one of the two roads that go off the hill. Obviously, quite a back-up invariably occurs.


As a result, we try to leave by about 6:40 to avoid the worst of the traffic, which tends to back up the hill around 6:55.

Not that our son is competitive or anything, but he has recently been insisting that we should be "first in line." Apparently, being behind a bunch of cars as we make our way down the hill to where we merge into traffic isn't acceptable in the KG lexicon.

So after several days of insisting that we be "first in line," we told Reeve we would have to leave by 6:30 to try and be "first in line." If we thought he wouldn't want to get up early, that was no match for our firstborn's competitive desires.


So on Thursday morning, we were in the car at about 6:30 getting ready to head down the hill. At first, due to a magic trick by going slower than the pace of traffic, we were "first in our line" for much of the trip down the hill. Unfortunately, we ended up in a bit of a line at the very bottom of the hill -- and Reeve insisted that we try and leave EVEN EARLIER.

To this, the parents emphatically said, "no."

But I'm quite sure at some point, when there is a school holiday and traffic is light, we will make a BIG deal about trying to be first in line.

Meanwhile, our lives are mostly in a predictable pattern. We play on the playground. We play with the neighborhood kids (pictured at our back porch). We play on the street. We eat dinner. We go to school. Sigh. Tracy thought we needed to take pictures of the monkeys that were scrounging through the garbage at school, or the lizard that scampered through our front yard. Otherwise, it is more of the same in the Woodward Adventures & the Woodward blog.