Our Life, Day 5: Friday (the end!)

I’ve been making plans for this day for a few months… Bryan’s birthday is on Sunday, but the real gift comes today. Bryans two friends (one a former roommate from HK, and another former teacher) arrived last night to surprise him this morning and to spend the weekend here :o)

5:20 I hear Bryan get up (the plan is for his friends to be waiting outside when he leaves for school) I ask what time it is. He says he can’t sleep and is just going to go to work and get some things done. I tell him that he can’t leave until 6:15. I can’t tell him why, but it’s a good thing :o) He works on the computer here, I text the guys and tell them bryan is up.

6:20 Bryan leaves for school just as I hear Max call out. He was up three times during the night, so I’m not sure why hes not sleeping well. I bring Max to bed. A few minutes later Bryan and Dan come up to drop off Dan’s things, Bryan comes in and is really happy about the surprise :o)

6:40 Max wants to get up, I go lay on the couch while he plays.

7:00 Jack wakes up. We all lay around on the couch for a bit, then get up. I put a load of laundry in, sweep, brush teeth, get breakfast for us. Max feeds himself his whole bowl of cereal, which requires him to have a bath in the sink when he is finished. Check e-mail, facebook and blogs for a bit. Weather seems a bit cooler today, which will be nice, looks like it could rain. Max is in love with this dog right now.

8:00 we get dressed and out the door for a run. I can’t find one of Max’s crocs so he has to wear his sandals.. where can it be?

9:00 we come home and the boys play pretty well while I do the dishes, make some tea, wrap a gift for the baby we are visiting this afternoon, and take a shower

10:00 Jack and I play hide and seek (he always hides in the same spot or tells me where he is hiding) Max just runs around and says “hide”. I take the laundry off the rack, sort and put away, hang the load I washed this morning. Jack has a time out for not listening and that puts an end to our game.

10:30 we sit down to watch Junior Masterchef Australia for a few minutes.

11:00 Jack picks up the train tracks while I vacuum. We then make lunch, Max is distraught. Send a quick e-mail to Kitty at school with the information for Scholastic this afternoon.

Neither boy likes the lunch I make, so it’s a bit cranky around here. I eat, get ready to go, wash the dishes.

12:00 off to school.We find Max's croc folded up inside the stroller :o)

12:30 We pass Bryan and Dan on their way out to lunch, so the boys get to say hi. We head into school and I work on getting the scholastic catalogs ready to pass out to the middle school students. Kitty tells me I forgot to include the attachment to my e-mail, so she wasn't able to print my note :o), opps! I have to retype it up, print and cut apart 250 slips for the kids. I have five catalogs and five order forms to collate into packs and staple with a note on top. I need 250 of these packs. The boys are watching Thomas on our portable DVD player which I brought.

1:30 The kids finally eat the mac and cheese that they wouldn’t touch at home. Max even asks for more when he is finished, so once again I have won the battle :o) after they eat, Jack lays down on the couch in the faculty room and takes a nap. Max is more distracted by everything, but by 2 both boys are down.

2:00 I work without interruption for almost an hour before I know I will not finish before we go. I straighten up my mess, wake up Jack and we head over to Bryans office.

3:00 I check facebook to get the address of our friend and we head to the train station.

3:30 we arrive at Sarika’s house.. Jack plays with her older son while I get to snuggle the newborn. She is SO tiny… 6.9lbs at two weeks old! My boys were never that small :o) Jack and Max play well.

4:30 we leave just as a couple other teachers arrive to visit. It was pouring rain while we were there, but isn’t so bad at the moment. We try to find a taxi to go back to school, but all we see are green ones and they can’t go to where school is. We eventually give up and walk in the rain (with one umbrella) back to the train, it was okay.

5:00 However, by the time we get into the station by school its raining hard again. I load both boys up in the stroller and pull the sun shade over their heads. I try to hold the umbrella over the part of max that is sticking out, but just end up having more drips on him. He is soaked by the time we get to school, but Jack is dry :o)

5:15 I work quickly to finish up the last bit of sorting. The boys run around outside on the covered playground area.

6:00 we leave school to meet up with our other friend Gregg for dinner. We enjoy a wonderful hot pot meal (kind of like fondue only with a broth and veg/meat)

7:30 still raining, we make our way over to the mini bus area mostly staying dry and catch the bus home.

7:45 we just hang out at home, taking turns playing card games with Jack and making a plan for tomorrow. The weather looks like it will be more rain.

9:00 Boys to bed and Gregg heads back to his hotel. Dan, Bryan and I talk for awhile long before Bryan is too sleepy.

9:40 I work on this post while the guys get ready for bed. I’m headed there myself to read for a bit.

Hope you enjoyed our week! I like doing this each year to compare my life from year to year :o)

Our Life, Day 4: Thursday

6:15 Max calls for me, but still seems tired. I bring him into my bed to cuddle and the next thing I know the clock says 7:23… I guess we both fell back asleep. I’m not used to getting up so late, so we are a bit behind on getting ready for our morning outing.

7:30 Jack wakes up and plays while I make lunch to take with us, check e-mail and facebook real quick. My mom is on skype so we say Hi to her and Calli, she then tell Jack a story while I get dressed.

7:45 we brush teeth and Max and I eat breakfast. I dress the boys, wash the dished, make Jack some toast to take with us.

8:30 we are out the door. There is a major issue in the elevator over the toast I made for Jack, Max wants some, and Jack doesn’t want to share. When we arrive in the lobby both boys are screaming and I am dragging Jack and the stroller. The security guard looks like he wants to help, but its hopeless ;o) things settle down quickly and all is once again ok.

We decide to walk to the station because it is a beautiful morning.

8:50 get on the train, its really crowded, but Jack is okay sitting on the floor (which people here think is terrible, but keeps him happy!) and Max falls asleep in the stroller

9:40 we arrive at Island ECC church where we attend a Thur. moms group. I take the kids to the playgroup area, leave Max sleeping in the stroller and head down to my room. We have a social time to start with snacks and coffee!

10:10 We open with singing and prayer time, very refreshing for me!

10:45 we head to our small group (divided by the age of our children) for a discussion from the book we are reading. The chapter is on teaching our children to have a prayer life. We are reading the Gospel Centered Family and its been a good one.

11:30 the kids come down and we are finished. We grab lunch at a nearby coffee shop with a couple of friends.

12:20 walk back to the train station and head home. We make it almost all the way home before Max has a melt down! :o) Once again its in the elevator lobby by the security guard (he probably thinks my kids are always crying :o)

1:30 We are home. Change Max, sing to the boys and sit down at the computer for a moment. Jack comes out and says hes not tired (but obviously is).

1:45 get them settled back down. Check on a recipe for Bryans birthday (its on Sunday!) I won’t say because he will read this, but you can check HERE if you want to see what I am going to make. Pick up the house from our quick departure this morning. Make a todo list for our moving/packing/renovation work on the new apartment.

2:45 knit while watching t.v. (confession moment): our station is showing a 2010 season of Beauty and the Geek Australia and I hooked :o).

3:45 Boys wake up. I hurry them a bit because I have a 4pm meeting with our realtor to do a final walk through of our new place.

4:00 meet the plumber and realtor downstairs and head to the 2 floor. We will be 2H now instead of 12C, but otherwise our address remains unchanged (fun, huh!?) The plumber will run some tests today, but I also spoke with him about his costs, can he start next Thursday, how much to put in a tub (it has two showers, no tubs… Max LOVES baths!), how much to put a door between the hallway and the main room area (to conserve the aircon). I think it was productive and now I have the plumber booked to fix all the water damage, and a plaster/paint guy who will also start next week. I’m still a bit nervous about actually have a place to live by the time we have to be out of this one (may 25) but things are coming together. The realtor told me again what a great deal we got, he said he sold another similar place on the 7^th floor for ½ million (HKD) more than we bought ours for… so I think having to fix this place up will be worth it, as the price was right :o)

4:40 home, boys watch a bit of Thomas, I send a few e-mails, cut up and eat some melon, sort and put away laundry. Realize I haven’t taken any photos today… this post will be a bit more bare.

5:20 head over to the restaurant across the street for dinner with friends. The boys and I are dinner with my friend Amber and her three boys. The little one is close to max’s age and jack adores her two older boys. It was a fun, and slightly crazy dinner :o) Bryan was out with a group of guys who did a basketball tournament bracket together.

6:20 We head to the park to run off some steam, then to the store to grab some bread and milk.

7:15 we are almost home when we stop to watch a large beetle walk around, the boys also pet a neighbors dog for a bit. Just a we are getting home we meet up with bryan and boys run around (literally in circles) for awhile.

7:30 we get home and we watch American Idol while the boys build a train track.

8:30 Boys take a bath, then have some “naked time” and finally pjs are on and boys are in bed around 9.

Bryan and I will finish watching Idol, and maybe even watch last nights Survivor episode online, we will see how we are feeling. Hope your day is a blessed one!

Our Life, Day 3: Wednesday

7:09 I hear Max. I always look at Bryans clock before I roll out of bed. Now, before you get too excited that he slept in this morning, let me tell you about our night! Max was awake around 3:45, I went in, said hi, gave him his pacifier and dog and told him to go back to sleep. He called for mama, dada for awhile before settling down. I was just falling back asleep with Jack came into our room (4:45) crying looking for his bear (which is lost somewhere in his bed) and his thumb wrap fell off. (we are putting cotton on his thumb with tape so he doesn’t suck his thumb). I take him back to bed, by this time Max is also awake. I sit in their room until they are sleeping and go back to bed. I make it back to sleep, but 7:09 feels early when Max wakes again :o)

I bring Max to my bed, but he gets up to play.

7:25 Jack wakes up. Boys aren’t in the best moods this morning. There is a lot of crying already! Change Maxs poopy diaper, check email, facebook, weather. Take laundry from drying rack, put another load in the washer. Brush teeth, get dresses, feed the boys and myself.

8:30 Go for a run. Its almost the same as Monday. A two mile out and back with Jack, his chain falls off twice (I have to get that fixed!), on the way back though Jack struggles… there is some screaming and crying :o) Park his bike, I finish another 1.5 miles near home, Max falls asleep. We park the bike and stroller in the lot, go home.

9:40 Settle the boys into watch a bit of Thomas while I shower and get dressed. Max watches for all of 5 min before he is up making messes while I shower. Hang up Laundry from washer, put in another load. Sweep the floor before we leave.

10:30 out the door for errands and lunch with a friend.

11:00 grocery shop for a few things at a more international store.

11:15 meet my friend Emily for lunch. Her daughter Joy sleeps the whole time, while I try to contain my two crazies! Max doesn’t touch his mac and cheese, only eats some watermelon from my salad bar plate. We take a picture in the mall of a bug display (actually I think its something to do with fashion, but all the boys see are bugs)

12:40 leave lunch, take train, then mini bus home.

1:00 arrive at home, Max diaper change and put to bed. Jack plays with his trains for a bit while I print groupons for tonight’s dance class. We both play trains. I get to be Sir Topham Hatt (or the Fat Control if you are British), while I stuff diapers into liners.

1:30 We pick up the train tracks and Jack goes down for a nap.

1:40 I do my devotions, straighten up, send a couple of e-mails, get paperwork organized for our appointment with the lawyer this afternoon. Then I work on my blog post about my shorts with pockets for the boys.  Make dinner to take with us.

3:45 out the door to meet with the lawyer about our new place. We take the Mini Bus to the train, then walk to the office.

4:30 meet Bryan at the lawyers, boys are SO happy to see daddy. Doesn’t take long to sign the papers, change Max’s diaper before we leave. We all walk over to school together.

5:15 very quickly eat dinner that I brought, then we take the boys upstairs (some teachers live on campus) to our friends who are watching the boys tonight. 

5:40 We meet up with our other friends Ernie and Veronica and head out to our groupon dance class. At this point we realize we are running a bit late. Our night doesn’t really go well. We miss most of our train connections and have to wait several minutes each time for the next. We also get a bit lost once we get to the right station.

7:00 we show up for our 6:30 class, opps! The man at the desk tells us we are too late. We check out the schedule for next week and sign up for next wed. With our groupon we get six classes, and we didn’t expect to actually use all those anyway. We are a bit sad, but tell ourselves next week we will now know where it is! :o) we grab a coffee at Starbucks and head home.

8:30 we arrive back at school to find the boys very well cared for and very happy! Thanks Jan, Bob and Sofia!!! We are able to grab taxi and are home close to 9.

9:00 pjs on the boys and get them to bed. Here are a few pictures of the sleepy boys.

I run a note down to the management office of our complex about calling the plumber for an inspection tomorrow. Work on this blog post and get ready for bed. Its now 9:45 and I’m getting ready to post this. Happy start of you day to all of you on the other side of the world. Wednesday was good for us!

Our Life: Day 2, Tuesday

5:58:Mama! Oh yikes, an early start to the day… Jack is also stirring, but as I take Max out of the room I tell Jack its really early and he should go back to sleep (sometimes this works!). Max and I lay in my bed…

6:15 We hear Jack get up, use the bathroom and head out to play with his train track, Max hurries to follow. I lay in bed and try to close my eyes for five more min :o)

6:25 I hear max bouncing a ball on the floor (which the neighbors below don’t like, ESPECIALLY at this time of day) so I get up and take the ball away, a few tears, but then we move on. I play trains with Jack, I get to be Harvey the rescue train!

7:00 check e-mail, facebook and my blogs

7:15 Read a few books to Jack, Max empties the art drawer.

7:30 breakfast for the boys, clean up the art supplies.

7:50 start Jillian workout video

8:20 Put max down for a nap

8:50 finish dvd, breakfast for myself, shower, dress boys

9:30 leave for moms group, which meets just down in our clubhouse. Moms have a speaker on marriage and the kids run like crazy in the playroom. Fun for everyone!

11:30 return home, boys watch Thomas the train while I catch up with Bryan on the phone, and make a booking for a dance class for tomorrow night. Also, return a few e-mails, pay credit card bill.

12:00 eat lunch, there is leftover pizza, but boys aren’t really hungry, they ate too many snacks with their friends. Hard boil some eggs, peel and slice a bag of carrots for snacks. Find Max’s pizza left on the car ramp..:o) Sew for a few minutes.

1:00 play trains with Jack and Max

1:15 cover the window in the boys bedroom with a sheet (hoping it will help max sleep in the morning). Tell Jack a train story and put the boys down for a nap

1:30 Sew… I’m participating in a kids clothing week sewing event and haven’t sewed any clothes yet (I’ve been working on a gift) So, this afternoon I’m making Max a pair of shorts. Finished Maxs shorts and added final touches to the ones I made last week for Jack.

3:45 boys took a nice long nap!! Max wakes up super cranky, screaming and unhappy, I can’t figure out what he wants.. so we decide to head outside for a picnic snack and playtime at the little park here. Max is much better outside. fun time outside. I also snap a few pictures of the new shorts I made the boys. Needed photos for my blog post.

5:00 home. Check e-mail. Boys play. Straighten up before we leave for dinner with friends. Talk to Bryan on the phone while sautéing chicken for tomorrow. Finish up my sewing project. Change poopy diaper.

5:50 out the door to meet Bry for dinner. Jack bike to meet him at the train station then we walked the rest of the way. We met several other friends at a Thai restaurant. It was delicious!!!

8:00 left dinner to bike/walk back home

8:40 arrive home, give the boys a quick shower, a little snack, and get them ready for bed.

9:00 Bryan puts the boys to bed, reads from Jacks Bible while I am posting this. Bryan didn't sleep well last night and Maxs schedule is making me tired, so we won't be far behind the boys...good-night!

Our Life: Day 1, Monday

6:19:Day begins with Max calling Mama… I was actually pleased with this time, because all weekend he was up crazy early… but I would still like him to sleep a bit longer. I go and get him and bring him to bed to snuggle. A few minutes later I hear Jack go to the bathroom and then straight out to play. Max hears the cars and jumps off my bed to join them. I lay in bed for a few more min.

6:45: took this picture of them playing nicely.

6:50: checked the weather online, facebook and e-mail quickly. Max goes from my lap to playing several times… he is getting good at saying “up, mama” :o)

7:00: brush teeth, get dressed, have cereal, garbage out, dishes washes

7:40 out the door to run. Ended up being a big ordeal.. both kids wanted to bring a lot of “stuff” and ended up crying… eventually got down to the parking lot and picked up the stroller and Jack’s bike. Jack biked an “out and back” which was two miles. His chain fell off twice during this route… we really need to get that looked at, I think its getting too loose. We parked his bike and I did two more loops near home to finish a 3.5 mile run for the day. Just as we were getting finished Jack doesn’t listen and looses his Thomas watching privilege for the day.. (more crying!) Max had fallen asleep, but didn’t make the transfer back home.

9:00: I called my mom to ask her a question and we ended up skyping with her at Sarah and Kyle’s house. So fun to see Lane and Calli, (and the babies in Sarah’s belly!).

9:30: I jump in the shower, boys are playing well together.

9:45: do some prep for my tutoring session this afternoon, change Max’s poopy diaper, load of laundry in.

10:15: leave for errands, drop of a suit to be  dry cleaned, walk over to the shopping center. I reward the boys for good walking by letting them ride the little carousel. 

The thing is quite funny, and plays Christmas music, but Jack has enjoyed this for a long time, Max hates it… but we always try. We go to the post office and mail a birthday package to the Paines. Grab a quick coffee and free OJ at McD’s (I have a member card :o) {more on McDonalds in Hong Kong coming next week!}. 

Walk home… the boys find some distractions so it takes a long time, but fun and only a little rainy.

11:20: Home.. wash hands make lunch. Grilled cheese, cucumbers and tomato soup for the boys and a salad for me.

12:00 clean up lunch and the boys played while I did some sewing.

1:00 boys down for a nap. I hung the load of laundry from this morning and put in a load of diapers. Devotions, then sent some thank yous for my birthday gifts, then worked on a blog post for tomorrow.

2:30 tutoring my student Derek. We are reading the book Hatchet and working on adverbs and adjectives in writing.

3:00 boys wake up

3:30 finish with Derek. Start bread and rice for dinner, make a few phone calls to try and make arrangements for fixing up our new place. Boys make a mess of the living room, and also play in the hall with the neighbor kids.

4:30 read books to Jack ( and max for the few minutes he will sit.)

5:00 blog

5:25 work on finishing dinner/playing with the boys/cleaning up the crazy living room before dad gets home. Hang diapers to dry.

6:30 Bryan comes home, eat dinner. Stuffed peppers and fresh bread with two dips; Spinach and taziki. 

7:00 Bryan takes the boys down to the complex playroom to run for a bit. I get some sewing done.

7:45 Boys come back. I supervise Max in the bath while Bryan and Jack make a train track. Max is pretty tired tonight.

8:30 Jack and Bryan shower. Boys in Pjs and ready for bed. Max rocks with me for awhile before going to bed.

9:00 boys in bed. Bryan reads three Bible stories to tuck them in. I am posting this blog…

Bryan and I will play a game, watch a little tv and be asleep before we can count to 10 :o)

See you tomorrow!

What we do... year 2!

So last year I spent a week documenting what we did... each day, each hour...

I'm going to do it again... So, look for the updates each day starting next Mon!

Want to join me? I would love to hear about YOUR life!

Easter Celebration

 Unfortunately for us, we were in the Korean Airport on Easter morning, so our celebration was private. My parents attended a sunrise survive on top of a mountain on Saipan... would have been wonderful to join! We did however do some festivities on the Saturday before we left... 

Easter in Saipan..

 

Honey bear in the Easter Basket!

 

Max found one egg, ate the treats, then went for another... he ate as he went... it was slow hunting!

 Our traditional cascarones smashing!

(a mexican/romanian [we've heard both] tradition where you fill a blown out egg with confetti and smash on each other. The empty egg represents the tomb and the confetti our joy... we aren't sure what the smashing represents, but its fun!)

 Jack whacked Bryan several times before my mom stepped in to save his head! It was a hard egg!

 Will and I with the last two... one had a surprise... the other didn't..

So glad we serve a RISEN SAVIOR!!!

More Saipan...