Snow Day!

The weather has been beastly hot and humid here lately. We are having record breaking temps, even the locals are complaining! But, like always, life goes on and we all find ways to keep entertained and cool down.
Today is Tuesday and on most Tuesdays D has a friend over whose mom makes jewelry at a local gift shop. Her name is Fern and while Thai schools are on break, she comes over and the girls play after D gets out of school. Fern is very, very sweet and using more and more English words each time we see her. D loves having her over and has gotten so good at speaking slowly and checking to make sure she understands. They are very cute together.
Despite this weather, we heated things up a little more by baking cookies for a school function tomorrow. All 3 kids were pretty excited to bake and help out. See our yummy lemon cookies!

Anyway, once the first batch was in the oven, D had a brilliant idea. At Christmas time, family back home sent us a super fun gift called Sno Wonder. It's a powder and minutes after you add cold water, you have snow! We keep a big bag in the fridge and D pulled it out and poured it all over the kitchen table. Really really fun and special to watch Fern experience her first snow! In our kitchen! In sweltering heat! D specifically asked me to post their photo on the blog. I think she really enjoyed sharing this with Fern too. Perfect way to cool down. And a new way to play with Little Pet Shops.

We sent a bag of snow home with Fern and she bounced back to her mom and grandma so cute and excited. I hope they had a snowball fight tonight.

Off to Work!

Today is "Take Your Kid to Work" day at T's office. Both kids are attending today, and both are very excited!

This is C's first year to attend. I told him last night, half joking, that he would need to wear office clothes. He said, "But I not have any office cwoes." I showed him the outfit in his closet that has been waiting for such an occasion as this. I thought he would laugh and say "No." But instead he said, "Cool!"

So we laid out his slacks, dress shirt, and neck tie. There was also a very handsome vest, but this morning he said, "Only Peppa Pig daddy wear dat."

Then C was up early this morning begging to get dressed for work. Cute that he was so excited. Not cute that it was 5:30. He let me tuck in his shirt and he ate his Cheerios more carefully than I have ever seen him eat.

And so they are off to work to learn about power, water, and telecommunications. No doubt there will be many stories to tell this evening.

(Funny note: I just did spell check on this and apparently "cwoes" is a word! )

Oak Elfwand

This morning D lost her 3rd tooth. It's been wiggly for some time, and today was the day. She has been skeptical for the last few months about the tooth fairy. She told me that she and one of her friends don't believe anymore, until I told her that you only get money under your pillow if you believe. Then she decided she still "believed a little bit."

The first 2 times that D lost teeth she wrote letters to the tooth fairy. It seems we cannot lose a tooth without some written correspondance. Tonight there were a series of questions or a "Questions Quis" as D wrote on her card.

So I dug up some answers from various tooth fairy websites, including The Fairy Name Generator . D's fairy's name is Oak Elfwand. You should check yours out too! Mine is named Hazel Goblinwand. :)

In searching I also found icaughtthetoothfairy.com . For $9.99 I upload a photo of D sleeping, add a fairy chosen from a wide selection, and print! Voila! A few more months of having a believer! I also had to type up and print a teeny-tiny letter with all of the "Quis" answers.

I finished this evening's project and was so pleased with the result. Then I almost forgot to leave the cash!

Mission accomplished. Too bad nothing else got done tonight!

Student-Led Conferences

We had a fun experience last week. It was conference time at D's school, but this semester it was she who showed me around the classroom and  highlighted all that is going on in reading, writing, science, and math. Her teacher was there so assist, but D was the lead. So fun!

She did a great job, showing me writing samples from the start of the year, noting that some punctuation and word spacing was incorrect. The mechanics in her most recent work is much better. It has been a great year for her writing. In a book she wrote about Girl Scouts she used, "e.g." and listed severaly ways that Girl Scouts earn badges. She explained to me what that meant. I just about died!

She also had a selection of books labeled as "too easy," "too hard," and "just right." We read for a while and then moved on to science.

Science is the talk of the first grade right now as they study entomology and each care for their own mealworms and waxworms. D's newly hatched beetle climbed all over her fingers and hands as she exclaimed, "He likes me!"

And, I forgot to blog about International Day earlier in the month! Just like last year, D participated in the parade and then spent the day learning about several different countries. They sampled food, listened to music, played games, and made crafts. What a wonderful day!

C joined the patriotic fun too! Giddy'up!

D learned all about Peru, Chile, Israel, USA, and Thailand. I helped out with the South American countries and I'm now highly inspired to visit this continent we haven't yet seen. Someday! So glad D loves this special event- and so thankful for the community we live in that makes it happen!

Yay for Peru!

Celebrating, and Celebrating, and Celebrating!

We really love celebrating St. Patrick's Day around here. Such a fun, easy holiday. We decorate a little, reminisce about our Dublin days, dress the part, sing our favorite songs, and anticipate a visit from those naughty leprechauns.
The kids had a birthday party to attend during the day and wore their green. Several ladies asked if we are Irish. Silly question...don't they know?? Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day!

Armed and dangerous!

That evening the adults celebrated our friend Laura's birthday.

Green pasta, perfect Laura!

And for me, more beef than I bargained for!

After dinner, a St Paddy's Day party awaited, so adorned with shamrocks, we all joined the McDermott's and friends poolside, and had a ball. Such fun!!

C has been asking all week for me to sing "the song with the girl and she died." Molly Malone. Morbid, but charming and entertaining all at the same time!

We also enjoyed celebrating ISB's birthday on Sunday with a "Concert in the Park." A beautiful evening, great music, happy family.

 D and friends. Silly girls!

 C and his buddy, Adi, celebrated by sprinting to to our picnic rugs and leaping into our laps. Sweet, joyful boys.

Tuesday was a fun, girly High Tea at the fancy Mandarin Oriental Hotel to celebrate my friend Brittany's birthday. Loved all the goodies and fun conversation! Looks yum, right!?

THEN! Wednesday night was spent celebrating my good friend Connie's 40 3/4 birthday. Dinner and dancing out on the town is the best!!

 Finally, to wrap up an unusally social week, a Girl's Night Out in BKK. It wasn't a birthday, but having such awesome friends is reason enough to celebrate! Wish I had a photo of the whole group. Lots of laughs and enjoying these girls while I have them! MWAH!!!

More Camp Out Pics

Great news! The camera is working well now and I discovered campfire photos from Friday night that I had forgotten I had taken...

See, the happy memories are already taking over. It was a good night.

Can Girl Scouts Earn a Misery Badge?

Camping is an awesome idea. Even now, when I think about sleeping under the stars, cooking in creative ways, finding your way around by flashlight, eating S'mores and singing songs by the campfire- it all sounds like something I want to do. I do wish those were the memories at the forefront of my weekend camping story...but they're not...
I know some of my readers love camping, so this blog post will not be a rambling story about all that went wrong on our Girl Scout camping trip. It will just be a list:
freshly-charged dead camera battery
freakishly fast little frog nestling on my sleeping bag
exhausted (and mildly pissy) daughter
a million bitey ants in my backpack
sore everything
sticky, hot, Thailand weather
sudden and violent thunderstorm
tents flipped and blown around the campsite
soaked sleeping bags, pillows, and brand new expensive camping stuff
saturated bag of clothes
wet camera and phone
menstrual cramps

Oh boy, I better just stop there.
One troop leader asked at dinner last night, if Girl Scouts offers a Fun Badge for rainy camp outs. I'm not sure she appreciated my laughter and comment that "It should be classified as a Misery Badge."

We all did our best to prepare and enjoy this staple in the Girl Scout experience. But it was not meat to be for our little Daisy Troop. Our 3 first graders still made great memories. They are fantastic, resilient little people. They had begun work earlier in the day on a skit for an evening performance by each troop. Since we decided to depart early, we asked if we could show the skit while the girls waited for dinner to be served. Julianne, Mia, and D delivered camping jokes, performed their own original skit, and led a fun Daisy Scout chant. They received wonderful applause before we ate Sloppy Joes and loaded up for the ride home.

With the dead camera battery, I wasn't able to take all the photos I had planned. But, I was able to take a few with my phone at the lake.

I'll post more photos when I get some from the other parents on the trip.

Thanks for letting me share my boo-hoo story with you. Perhaps, before too long, the more memorable events will be the S'mores, the canoeing, and the brilliant jokes from our sweet 6 & 7 year-olds. It won't be long.
And, call me crazy, but if next year's trip is planned a little earlier in the year, I remember to pack everything in plastic bags, and take a few other preventative measures, I'll probably go again. Optimism is a curse!!!