Gold diggers

Mom, Mandy, Joy and I al brought the children to this miniature golf center that also offered panning for gold, a life size maze, and metal detectors to search for coins from all over the world. The children had a blast.  Betwen the 3 moms, we had  11 children and one on the way.  We got a few weird looks from the employees, wondering if we were a daycare.  Thanks, no, um, this is our life!  The children had a blast and I think the moms enjoyed it too :-)  My mom came along, loving being the gramma of so many.  She was in charge of the babies.

Our Best friends, The Lloyds!

It's always one of the highlights of our trip to go to the Lloyds house.  They are the boys (and mine too) best friends.  Ryan and Beca, Aaron and Chris, and Ethan and Sam.   Me and Mandy are never in need of something to talk about, that is, if there is ever any chance to talk.  You don't get alot of oppertunitys with that many children.    Caitlyn will have a friend, when her little one is born in November, just a year younger than CJ. We usually get our pictures done at Picture People and have a blast trying to get everyone smiling at the same time.    But this time we couldn't as they closed the store in our mall.   So this year we made t-shirts with everyone's handprints.   That was tricky to say the least, but definately memorable. It was such a blessing to see each one pair off with thier counterpart and go play.  They got along so well, and with only seeing eachother once a year, you never know how it will turn out.    God has blessed us with our friendships!

Campfire!

Campfires are a favorite at Gramma and Grampa Robertson's.   The love to throw things into the fire pit, and Ryan is learning to use the poker stick.   Grampa is graciously letting him learn how to do it properly also.   One night we made Banana Boats, remember them from Girl Scouts???   The boys had fun making them but didn't really like them much.

Grampa Robertson

Next we went to My parents house.   This was particularly exciting because my dad had never seen Caitlyn before.   It was precious to see them together.  I have to admitt, I was slightly nervous that she might be scared at first, with the aweful flight, all the car rides and teething ect.   But, she did great!  Went right to Grampa and didn't even cry!   Dad did really wel also, I was so proud to watch him with my baby girl.   My heart was swelled with Joy.

When we got off the plane we drove 2 hours to Gramma and Grampa Wilson's house.   We chose to drive rather than fly from Newark because we could actually get there quicker considering the layover and waiting on the tarmack, loading and unloading ect, with 6 people.    This turned out to be a good decision, except CJ does not like car rides!   She only had one fit, for about 10 minutes that everyone had to endure.   Who can blame her though. Let the un-jetlagging begin. We took the boys out to dinner to try and stimulate them during the difficult times but it didn't seem to work, they just fell alseep on the tables.   Gramma and Grampa got a kick out that.   They really were happy to see them!

Here are a few more pictures of CJ on the return flight, which she did much better on, thankfully!

Caitlyn's first international flight

Caitlyn took her first long haul international flight as we embarked on our journey back to the states to introduce her to friends and family who haven't seen her yet.   She is 6 mo. old and being born in Singapore, many loved ones are anxious to meet her. Unfortunaetley, she wasn't a very good travelor.   She was actually one of those babies that you say "boy, I feel sorry for that mom", or "sure am glad I am not her!".   What's worse is the stares you get from fellow passengers as she lets out yet another cry when all are trying to sleep.   To top it all off, she wouldn't go to anyone but me, so when I had to use the restroom, passing her off to Steve or a flight attendant she would let out an ear piercing screech that woke all the passengers on the plane!   Now to to shed a little light on the situation, from her perspective, she was teething!   She decided it would be a good time to pop some teeth out, and learn to crawl at the same time.    So, being immobile for such a long period and having pain, made worse by the cabin pressure, who can blame her?? Here is a picture of her, in Ethan's seat as this was the only way she'd sleep more than 15 mins., after she woke from a 3 hour nap.   Isn't she cute!   

Finally Un-Jet Lagged

We arrived back in our Singapore home at the bright (actually it was quite dark as the sun never comes up before 7am here) and early hour of 5am July7th, I forget which day that is.   It has taken us a full week to get everyone onto the Singapore time.   We we seeing way too much of the "wee hours of the morning" if you ask me.   It was all to common for CJ to wake around 2am and be awake until 5am, and inbetween somewhere I would inevitably hear one or more of the boys playiong in their room as well.   As all this is going on, Steve was quite sick with a nasty respiratory infection and having to go to school.   Luckily the Dr. gave him medicine right away and he was better within 24hrs.   Probly more difficult than staying awake in the middle of the night with the kiddos is keeping them awake during the dinner hour, and watching their nodding heads with horror as I knew if they fell asleep then, I was doomed once again that night for sleep. But now it is Sunday morning and we are all sleeping and waking on normal time, thank God!  Now we are getting ready for another visitor.  Susanna is coming for about 1 1/2 weeks.   It's always fun to have someone see what life is like in Asia! So, stay tuned for pictures and stories of our trip home, America.  But be patient as there are tons of pics and lots of stories and life here is non-stop as you can imagine.

Some sort of parade

My friend Gina and I were taking thr boys on a little feild trip one day, and on the way there we were held up by this parade. I think this is one of the only places you will find men on foot, playing some form of an instrument walking in a parade, in the middle of a busy intersection. This isn't the only time we have encountered such an event. The other week there was something like this in the front yard of a house right by the boys school. They seem to not care in the least about traffic, because they take up as much of the road as possible.

On a more respectful note though, I think it's a Chinese funeral. Or something like that. We have seen them all over at any time of the day and night. It's hard not to stop and stare, I just want to ask them what it's all about.

What Caitlyn's been up to

Caitlyn has been growing by leaps and bounds, almost litterally, but not quite. One of her new things is bringing her hands and knees up in the crawling position. I know it's been a while, but I thought they usually sit up before they crawl. We were hoping she'd hold off on the whole mobility thing until we got back from the states in order to make the plane ride more do-able. Unfortunately, I don't think it's in our favor this time. But, isn't she so cute!!!! I could brag on her all day.

Another thing I started doing, and not sure if I really like the idea truthfully, is give her a carrot stick to gnaw on. I usually don't start giving them anything food-like until 9-10 mo. at least! But she looked so darn cute as I was eating, and she is teeething a bit, so this looked like the perfect teether. Especially since all my research in natural health, and finding that the plastics in baby toys are really not a good idea to have in your mouth as much as a baby does.

She was so cute when I first gave it to her she just twisted it in her hand studying it. When she put it in her moputh, she had a funny look because it was a bit chilled, but this didn't last long, she gnawed on it for a good 1/2 hour. She's gonna be my whole-foods baby!

I guess it was only a matter of time before she hung out like one of the boys, but I never thought it would be this early! She truly looks intrigued. Steve and I went rollerblading after dinner one night for some much needed time together. We often set up a video up for the children if we go out before they are asleep. This time, we came back to find Lillian and Caitlyn watching the movie aslo. (Don't worry, Caitlyn wasn't unattended, Lillian didn't want to be in the picture, she's camera shy.)

Like mother, like daughter

One of these photos is Caitlyn, and one of them is me as a baby. Mom, I bet you know which one is which, but does anyone else? Leave me a comment on who you think is who. It will be neat to see what you al think. When I showed Lillian and a few others they all thought both pics were Caitlyn. So, she really does look like me afterall. It's about time! :-)

My oldest little boy, who isn't so little anymore celebrated his 9th birthday on April 14th, 2007! We won't even talk about how old that makes me feel! Anyway, gramma and grampa we able to be here for that as well, which thrilled Ryan to peices (whatever that saying means anyway). Gramma is the ultimate party thrower. She knows how much I dislike parties so she up took the offer to throw him a great party. She did a scavenger hunt, and several other games that the children all loved. Yeah for grammas. Ryan had a very memorable birthday!

I have gotten so backed up that I think I just need to to one big general update so as not to keep getting bogged down. Life with 4 beautiful kiddos is fantastic but boy, it's non-stop! So, after we returned from Australia, we were thrilled to have gramma and grampa here to celebrate Easter with us. Having family here to share such an important time of the year was priceless. Gr5amma did egg dying with the boys, which was interesting to say the least. But they loved it which is the important part, no matter there was dye all over thier hands for a week. We ended up inviting other families over after church as well. There was lots of food, fun, friends, kiddos and ofcourse fellowship! We even did an old fashioned easter egg hunt for the children. We have actually done this with the same group each year since we arrived, but this time it was at ourt house, with those of us from the group that haven't left yet, or didn't already have plans.

A welcome friend

The boys call him Mr. Peter. He is someone dear to our hearts for sure. He and his wife, Eileen, were extremely kind to us and the boys when we first arrived to Singapore. Peter worked for Welch Allyn and was leaving for the states, Steve was taking over his role in the Singapore office. During the process of their leaving and our coming, they showed us the ropes of living in Singapore as well as providing a sense of family and belonging here. We are forever greatful for this! They gave us many of the necessaties for the house as they were cleaning out, this was such a great help! Eileen also introduced me to many cool book shops and other places to get great bargains, like Diasu, a Japanese $2 shop where you can get the coolest plates. Peter comes to Singapore every few months and visits the boys and has dinner with us. This time he brought back flashlights for them which was a big hit!