Happy St. Patrick's Day!

At our house the day before St. Patrick's Day, the kids make all kinds of pretty pictures of rainbows, pots of gold, Leprechauns, & the like. (I can't believe I didn't take pictures of any of their darling artwork!! : ( Anyway, they leave them with a note for the Leprechauns, hoping that in return the Leprechauns will leave them gold, jewels, treats, or a map to their hidden treasure. Each year those tricky little Leprechauns have come & hidden some loot & the kids have to find it. One year it took them nearly all day to finally find the treasure. Here they are running down the stairs after Kambren exclaimed that he had found the Leprechauns' surprise.






A treasure box full of "emerald" necklaces!




A smaller treasure box filled with "Gold"!



And lots of green & jeweled colored candy!




And a breakfast of green pancakes! Don't you love the cute St. Patrick's Day paperware I found at a little import shop!!


May the luck o' the Irish be yers!!

Baby Mozart

Very often lately, I have heard sweet Kalen sitting up playing the piano. Just this morning as I was sitting on the bed talking to Devin, I heard him singing at the top of his lungs as he played. My camera was not upstairs with me & I knew if I went down past the piano to get it & film him, he would stop. So I just smiled & tried to take in his little beautiful sounds as long as he continued. You must know that it was "music" to my ears!!

This morning's little concert prompted me to come post the pictures I took on another day of him sitting at the piano doing his thing. Here he is writing a new song. : )





"Now, how does that sound?"



Isn't he a doll looking so intently at that page of music!!



And now the show!! What a little performer! (Too bad he wasn't more dressed up. His pajamas & bed head kind of take away from the picture appeal.)


Boy do I wish I could see into the future! I wonder if Kalen is going to end up being the one who really loves to play the piano? For now we are just loving seeing him plink away!

A Day at the Beauty Shop

All girls like to go to the beauty shop, right? Well one of the fun things about living in Thailand is that we can go get really pampered for very little money. A day at the beauty shop here for 2 girls & 3 boys cost less than 20 dollars. The girls were absolutely in Heaven! And who wouldn't be? Foot massage, manicure, & pedicure, complete with hand painted flowers on both finger & toe nails.


2 little princesses being pampered by Thai beauty shop girls.














While the girls were finishing up I ran home (not literally) & got the boys to bring them for hair cuts. Rhees chickened out & only ended up getting his hair washed. But, they give the BEST head massages when they wash your hair! It's worth it just to go have someone wash your hair for you!!



And he looks like he's enjoying it too.



Next was Kambren's turn.



I think the water had just tickled him because he was giggling. You know that feeling when the water is on full power & gives you a little tickle down your back.



Up in the barber's chair. He was a little bit nervous about the "zuzzers" (clippers - he calls them that because of the buzzing sound they make) . But he sat very still. Notice the chair next to him with the steering wheel? He was sitting in one like that too. It was like a little tractor chair.






I didn't get a picture of him when he was completely finished, but the girl did a really nice job on his hair.



Last but not least Baby Boy's turn. What a smile! Always posing for the camera & winning over all the Thai ladies.



Kalen had a harder time staying still, so we had to break out the bag of toys they keep there. Between the toys & the treats I kept popping into his mouth, he finally got finished. I liked the gal who cut Kambren's hair more. She did a way better job.




All in all it was a really great time at Panipa's Beauty Shop!! So good in fact, that just a week or so ago we went again. (These pictures were taken back sometime the first part of March.) The girls didn't get to go the 2nd time, but all of the boys were in need of hair cuts again. There are only 2 gals who have given good hair cuts, & one of them quit working for Panipa's. The only other one just had time to do Rhees' hair & not Kambren's so we had to settle for another girl. My friend who has usually cut my hair, who was going to be the one cutting Rhees', suggested waiting to wash their hair until after they were finished with the cuts so that they could get all the little pieces of hair washed out & off their necks. That sounded like a good idea.

Rhees went first & it honestly was his very first time going to a salon for a hair cut. Suzette has cut his hair just 1 or 2 times, but other than that, his entire life, I have or Devin has been the one to cut his hair. I don't know why but it just seemed like it would be easier to take the boys there for haircuts than to have them keep asking me when we were going to be done, whining the whole time I was cutting, & then having all the mess to clean up afterwards too. Anyway, Rhees was very nervous & was on the edge of his chair the entire time. Just about as he was getting finished the other gal was freed up & began cutting Kambren's hair. She had hardly gotten started when she got too close to his ear with the clippers & cut it. He screamed & grabbed his ear & began crying. Rhees immediately jumped down from his chair & got mad at me that I told him it wouldn't hurt, yet Kambren really did get hurt. Rhees then ran out of the beauty shop mad as can be - & it wasn't even him who got cut. Kambren was crying while I was trying to wipe the blood off his ear. Kalen was in my arms & was fussing because he was tired of waiting there for his turn. It was basically a big nightmare. I begged Rhees to at least come back in & get his hair washed so that he wasn't itchy, but he wouldn't step foot back inside. It was nearly 100 degrees that day too. He waited outside somewhere, I couldn't see him.

Devin told me later that I should have refused to pay, & taken Kambren home right then instead of letting her finish cutting his hair. In retrospect, I think he is right. But at the time, I was just trying to keep from causing an even bigger scene, although maybe I should have been the one causing the scene for her cutting my little boy's ear. She finally finished cutting his hair & he didn't want a wash by that point either. She did a horrible job on his hair too. I had to still fix all the places that looked bad after we got home. I was so upset that I wasn't in the mood to entertain Kalen while he got his hair cut, nor did I want to end up with 2 cut ears & 2 bad hair cuts, so I just paid & left. I didn't leave the girl who cut Kambren's hair/ear a tip though. I thought that was enough of a statement. I have never missed Suzette's help with haircuts more in my life!!!

Rhees & Kambren have both let it be known that they will never go get their hair cut at a beauty shop again. So, we are back to square one - Mommy does the hair cuts. Oh well. At least I got pictures once. I just wonder what I am going to do when the boys go on their missions?????

Fun Together Out in the Back Yard!

When we moved back up here to Bangkok 2 years ago after living for a year & 1/2 on a golf course out in the country near Rayong, we were nervous about how much we would miss the beautiful scenery & wide, open space. We do miss many things about that gorgeous, Southeastern part of Thailand. But we were so very blessed to be able to find housing in a neighborhood with such a great back yard. We still have tons of wide, open space, & lots of lawn for the kids to run & play on. There are lots of trees, & from our kitchen window we can watch squirrels running & jumping from limb to limb. In the evening the fruit bats come out & fly around in the crazy way that they do. There are beautiful flowers, blossoms, & palm trees that have been planted in the neighborhood as well.

This compound used to be US Embassy housing until just prior to our move up here in early 2007. The Embassy had just finished building another new compound for it's employees, & those families had for the most part moved out of Samakee Place right about the time that we were looking for housing up this way. So, the neighborhood was now able to rent to non-Embassy families, & the rental prices had gone down considerably. This neighborhood has the most spacious yard & park of any of the international neighborhoods in the entire area. We feel so grateful that we were able to move into this compound, & know without a doubt that nothing was a coincidence about how everything fell into place for us to be here. We just love living here!