Thanksgiving (@ the parents pad)

We had a wonderful time with a large (19) group of ISKL teachers and families at Doug's parents. Doug's dad provided the turkey, and many people pitched in for an amazing meal.



We were incredibly impressed what it was like to have adult conversation. Instead of just talking about work, or being worried about kids, there were so many rich conversations about places to visit, life on the farm, memorable moments, stories from the Great Depression (from parents & grandparents, of course!), the Philippine Diaspora, Kenyan Politics, and so much more. Wow!


Much of the great conversation was because the kids were happily occupied -- largely thanks to their friendship with Rex!

It was also so fun to watch our kids interact with other adults. Rania was quite the magnet -- getting our Superintendent, Paul Chmelik to throw her up in the air a bunch of times. Somehow Paul also got roped into playing Sorry with three kids six and under. He said he was winning -- which may or may not explain why the game disintegrated from limited attention spans.

Rania also managed to rope Jane Niwa into feeding her ice cream.



What a great afternoon of amazing food and fun conversation.

The Rug Guy ( & Cat Reinforcements)

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2008

We were excited to get a call on Friday that our rugs had been cleaned (see last week's post from the rug guy.) Javed and his brother also brought a few rugs for us to look at. It wasn't quite the show from the previous week, but we were hoping to find a nice fun, rug for the kids room. We ended up quite enamored by a Chobi -- a rug from Afghanistan, but actually made in Pakistan (due to so many Afghanis fleeing their native land.)

It was fun to hear more about the way rugs are made, as well as see two of our "smellier" rugs returned in much better shape!

You can also barely see (in the above picture) the reinforcements on our front door to keep the stray cats from peeing on our nice rug. Not sure if it is making us feel like we are in a cage -- or keeping the cats out -- or both, but we hope it will do the trick.

Thanksgiving (@ school)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2008



One of the great middle school traditions is ISKL is the Thanksgiving dinner at outside. The administrators provide the turkeys, and everyone pitches in. The kids have a great time running wild around the campus -- but thankfully some teenage kids (and wonderful teachers) help keep an eye on them.

After School Fun With Friends

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2008



The last two weeks, Reeve has greatly enjoyed spending an afternoon with a friend. Last week, he went to his friend's house, and this week, Reeve was the host.

It is amazing how much easier it can be when there is a friend to show around. Suddenly, the fun of antagonizing sisters is completely diminished.

After realizing that we don't have very many pictures of Doug on the blog, here is a rare snapshot. (That's the price for taking so many of the pictures!)

O Christmas Tree

It has been fun having our Christmas tree up. Last year we didn't have one at our house here -- so it is especially fun this year. Having picked up a used tree from some ex-pats who were moving back to the States was an extra bonus.

The kids have enjoyed some of the Christmas music that we have been playing, and one of the goals of the season is to get the scratched and abused CDs imported into Tracy's new iPod. Hopefully that will help us with the ever difficult task of changing CDs when you realize the music has stopped.

Tracy also made Gingerbread cookies -- with some "help" from the kids. Obviously, they had more fun eating the cookies, as Rania's frosting-filled face can illustrate.

Swimming with Friends

After church, Tracy went shopping with some friends, and the kids got to spend some fun swimming at the Inskeep's great pool.



Brian pulled out his surfboard, and Rania might have a future on the ocean waves -- but might have to lose the floaties, first.

The kids were pirates who raided treasures, and overcame enemies hiding on the edges of the rocky shores. It was lots of fun -- and the kids crashed for good naps upon our return.

Christmas Tree & Rug Fun

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2008



It was a hot and humid day. . . and we put up our Christmas tree. The kids were lots of . . . . um . . .help?? But we were excited to get a tree from a family that was leaving -- so now we have some simple decorations on our tree. We'll have to bring back our decorations for next year -- somehow we neglected to ship those.



On Friday night, we had several friends over for a fun evening -- where a Pakistani guy came and showed us some of his rugs. So if we want to drop a few Gs on some gorgeous rugs, we had our opportunity.

Unfortunately, the real reason that had him come is that we've had some stray cats coming into our house (through the open grates) and marking their territory on our nicest rugs. Hence, time to get someone to clean our rugs. (Foolishly, we didn't get any pictures of the rug fun)

Life on the Street

With a bit of a nudge from our neighbors, we got out our kites to play on the street.

It's a bit of a tricky scene. You can't fly the kites too high or they get stuck in the trees on the edge; so running back and forth is the way we fly kites. Great way to get out some energy -- and another reason it's fun to live on a dead end street.

A bit of the birthday party scene

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2008

Reeve (and now Gabi a little bit) are part of the birthday party scene. Unfortunately, we've grown a bit weary of carting around Reeve to many birthday parties, sometimes multiple ones in each weekend.

The frustration is somewhat enhanced by Reeve's inability to stay at parties by himself. After two times of thinking we could drop Reeve off and try to get something done, we've had to bail on our own plans when Reeve was reluctant in new situations.



Any advise on helping our firstborn develop more confidence in new situations -- we're certainly eager to hear advice.

A Sleepover

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2008

We had a fun sleepover with a good friend. The kids finally made it to sleep, but it took daddy to spend some time on the floor until the kids were zonked out.



The kids sure had a lot of fun, though!

And if anyone doubts that Gabi's bed looked like her Auntie Tasha's bed looked like (when Auntie Tasha was a little girl), this picture can put to rest any doubts.

Trick or Treat -- KL Style

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2008



We had a lot of fun trick or treating in one neighborhood. Since Halloween isn't so big in Malaysia, the expats have one area where you can trick or treat if you sign up -- and bring candy.



So as you go up to houses -- there might be seven or eight pots of candies from those freeloaders (like us!) who don't live in the neighborhood.

Some just pull up their cars and pass out candy from the trunk of the car.




But our kids had fun dressing up and going around with some friends. We even got done before the tropical thunderstorm washed out the party.