End of the Month

November has just blown by.  I can’t believe that today is the last day of November!  I forgot to post a picture yesterday so this post will have 2 pictures.  One of these days I will also get caught up with the days that I missed back in late September/early October.

 

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Our apartment complex has decorated for Christmas.  Audrey was not too happy about me asking her to stand near Katelyn.  She wanted to stand on the other side of the reindeer.

 

 

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Today was the SLB Christmas party for kids.  It was held at the PlayParQ in Kemang.  The kids had lots of fun playing on the playground and in the splash pad.  Katelyn surprised us all by joining in the group games.  She even won a prize!   Santa also made an appearance so the kids have already gotten their first Christmas presents and it isn’t even December yet…lucky kids!

Thanksgiving Already

Today was Thanksgiving Day! I can't believe it is already the end of November. It has been a crazy few months.

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Audrey's class had a Thanksgiving party today. I helped with the oreo turkey craft station.

Silly Faces

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Entertaining ourselves while waiting for the school bus this morning.

Gamelan Club

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Tonight Joseph got to play with the gamelan club in a performance starring a child prodigy Wayang puppeteer. The child prodigy really was amazing.

Another Monday

Audrey has gymnastics on Mondays. Joseph comes back to school with us and plays soccer with his friend Matthew while we wait for Audrey.

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Cute Audrey was showing me some gymnastics moves after class.

Painting

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I had some time to paint this week and finally finished another painting. I might try and tweak the basket a little, but overall, I am happy with how it turned out.

Why?

I don't know why we think we can do more than 1 or 2 things on a Saturday the way traffic is in Jakarta. We know we can't yet we always have such busy Saturdays.

In the morning we took the kids to a friend's house. We left later than we should have. We got caught in traffic and ended up scrapping the idea of having lunch somewhere and Doss dropping me off at home. We were able to make it to the American Club where cub scouts is held and grab a quick lunch before scouts started. I had a RS activity so I took a cab back to the apartment. I grabbed a few things and got in another cab to go to a friend's house so that I could ride with her to the activity. After the activity, it took me 2 hours to get home and I had to take my 3rd cab of the day. Whew! What a day!

Doss and the kids hung out at the American Club with Joseph's friend Matthew's family. They are great friends and love to play together, especially soccer.

In other news, Joseph did not make the competitive league this time. His friend Matthew did. I asked Joseph how he felt about it. He said he was sad for himself but that he was happy for Matthew since Matthew did not get to play last season and he did. I am so proud of my Joseph.

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Joseph and Matthew playing their favorite sport...soccer!

Keeping Up

I am confused as to why my post for Thursday says Wednesday Nov. 20th. Oh well. Apparently I also forgot to post the last couple of days. Just keeping up with a daily photo and post is harder than it seems like it would be.

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Friday the kids had pajama day at school so Joseph and Katelyn pretty much just rolled out of bed and went to school. Audrey had a school field trip so she had to get dressed.

Breakfast

The apartment complex gave us some complimentary tickets to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Instead of going out on a date night, Doss and I have had breakfast a few times at the hotel after the kids head off to school. It has been a nice arrangement since we don't need to get a baby sitter or leave the kids and we still get to enjoy a nice meal and have some time together. Hooray for date mornings!

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Another Busy Day

This morning two of my Chinese friends came over for an English lesson. After that I made a chicken and spinach pizza for a potluck. Later in the afternoon I went to the school to watch Joseph tryout for the competitive soccer league. I hope he makes the team. He will be so sad if he doesn't make it. Later this evening Joseph asked me to pluck out his loose tooth. It was almost out, but he didn't want to pull it out himself.

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Dress-Up

Audrey and Katelyn love to play dress-up. They are always running around in costumes. It's pretty cute :)

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Audrey is wearing the Snow White costume I bought her for Halloween last year.

Sick

One of these days I will get caught up on my blog posts. For now I am doing good to post a picture daily so I don't get behind more than I already am.

Today I went to the SOS clinic. The doc gave me some meds and told me to wear a mask. Audrey kept trying to get me to take off the mask. She says it freaks her out...lol.


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Selfie of me in my "freaky" mask :)

Today was our ward Primary Program. Joseph sang a solo...1st verse of I am a Child of God while the kids filed onto the podium. He did such a great job. The kids all did a great job singing although I did not conduct the music today because I have a nasty cough. I was proud of them. They have worked hard on the songs. Katelyn even recited a scripture with her class and said her part. I was sure she would back down. All morning she said she wasn't going to do it.

This afternoon we broke out Settlers of Catan. Uncle Robert would be proud. It has been a few months since we played but Joseph remembered how to play the game. He was frustrated because I insisted on reading the rules...lol.

Later Doss grilled for dinner. The kids love it when he grills because they get to roast marshmallows. We had chicken, shrimp brochettes, macaroni and cheese, and corn. It was a yummy dinner!

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While Doss was grilling, the girls amused themselves by painting an old box. Simple pleasures I guess...who needs toys?

Katelyn went to a birthday party this morning. While she was gone I took Joseph and Audrey downstairs to play soccer and to play on the playground. It started raining so we didn't stay outside all that long.

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The 3rd grade party was today. Each classroom hosted a different theme: Diwali, Thanksgiving, and Halloween. I was in charge of the Thanksgiving theme. A lot of moms helped out so that made it much easier. The kids did broom wrestling, pin the tail on the turkey, and made an oreo turkey craft. The party went well and the kids had fun.

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I rested a little in the morning before picking up Katelyn from school and going to a RS potluck. We ordered pizza for dinner so I didn't have to cook. It was nice to have a day that wasn't so busy. This week has been super busy so I haven't had much downtime and I think I need some.

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Katelyn saw her shadow on the wall and started making shadow hand puppets...it was cute.

Guest Reader

Doss has a little more flexibility in his schedule now so he was able to be the guest reader in Katelyn's class this morning. I stayed and did a cooking class with the kids. We made mini pizzas.

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Cultural Celebration

So Joseph had a cultural celebration at school today.  I wasn’t sure what to expect.  They asked the parents to attend.  Doss and I went to school this morning.  Joseph gave a very nice presentation about identity, culture, and diversity…what it means, and how it relates to him.  He picked 3 cultures that influenced him.  He picked soccer, family, and religion.  I was pleasantly surprised to see how much he wrote about religion and family and about how important they were to him.  It made me feel like I haven’t been a complete failure as a parent.  I just really love the school the kids go to.  It is so great that the kids pick things that are important to them to write and to learn about.  Joseph’s main paragraph was all about his religious beliefs. I also got to go and see some of the other presentations.  The kids really worked hard and it showed in their presentations today.  I am sure all the parents were very proud of their kids.  I know I was very proud of Joseph.  More importantly, he said that he had worked hard and he was proud of himself.  That’s my boy!

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Always Behind

I got behind on my posts again.  These next few posts will cover the last few days that I missed.  Then I will have to play some major catch-up to get all the posts for the end of September through mid October.  Hopefully I won’t get too far behind again.  Things just keep happening.  I guess that is life.

 

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I made some crochet roses for a friend’s birthday.  I made her a red hair clip.  I also made a larger, gray crochet rose brooch that she could pin on a sweater or shirt.  My girls really liked the roses so that is my next order of business…to make them some hair clips.  Audrey also wants me to make some roses for the plain black leotard she wears in gymnastics.  She wants to dress it up some.  I guess it is pretty plain.

 

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When Audrey came home from school, she had lost another tooth.  She wasn’t sure what happened to it. 

 

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I had a rough Friday night and Saturday.  I just wasn’t feeling well at all.  Doss took me to the SOS clinic Saturday morning.  The doctor prescribed some pain pills and told me to go home and rest.  That is pretty much what I did.  I think I slept most of the day on Saturday.  Doss took the kids to a friend’s house to play.  Audrey said that she wanted to stay home with me.  She said that she thought I wouldn’t want to be alone.  While I was resting she left me alone and entertained herself.  Anytime she saw that I was awake she came and checked on me.  She asked how I was feeling and if I needed anything.  I had the best little nurse ever!

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I slept most of the day on Sunday as well.  Doss took the kids to Church.  This was the last Sunday the kids have to practice for the Primary Program next week.  I felt bad about not being there to conduct the music, but I really wasn’t feeling well.  This last weekend especially made me appreciate my three amazing children even more than I already do.  I feel very blessed to be their mom.  They can drive me crazy at times, but I just can’t imagine my life without them. 

 

 

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I actually didn’t feel like doing anything today.  I sort of just plastered myself to the couch for a couple of hours after the kids left for school.  I just felt yucky.  Finally around 10am I decided that I should just get my butt off the couch and get some things done.  I started the laundry and went grocery shopping.  After that I stopped by a friend’s house for a few minutes and had a nice visit.  Later, after the kids got home from school, another friend of mine dropped by.  She’s actually the R.S. President in our ward, but she is also a dear friend.  I just love her.  She had heard about what happened over the weekend and came to check on me.  She brought me some beautiful flowers that smell amazing and also some strawberries.  We had a short visit because I had to rush back to school since Audrey has gymnastics on Monday.  I am tired after a full day, but I feel a lot better both physically and emotionally.  It’s been a good day.

Pumpkin Muffins

October and November are good months to make pumpkin treats.  Today I decided to bake some pumpkin muffins.  Luckily, you can get Libby’s brand canned pumpkin at the store.  I just made my own pumpkin pie spice.  I hope the kids like them because that is what they are getting for their school snack tomorrow.

 

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Awhile

It has been awhile since I last blogged.  I was ready to just throw in the towel but one of my friends told me that I was so close to the end of the year that I should just finish the project 365 blog.  I actually wrote a post about why I haven’t blogged all this time, but I ultimately decided it was just too personal and I am not ready to post it if ever.  My last post was on September 18th.  We were getting ready for Doss to leave for England the following week.  The kids also had all sorts of activities planned for October including Fall Break so these last few weeks have been busy.  I guess maybe I will do the same thing I did when I got backlogged in the summer.  I will start with today’s post and then work backwards until I am caught up.


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These are the lovely plants on our balcony…courtesy of the guy that cleans our apartment 3x a week.  I just found out today that it is his last day of work.  He is retiring.  He said he has been working for the Hotel Sultan (previously Hilton) for 29 years now.  We are sad to see him go as he has been the same person that comes and cleans the floors and bathrooms MWF for the 2.5+ years that we have lived here. 




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Tuesday Nov. 5th was a school holiday.  It was the Islamic New Year.  Doss had the day off.  We woke up and found that Joseph was still asleep.  He slept unil 8am!  Doss and I said it was a miracle or some weird fluke of nature.  Joseph NEVER sleeps in!  We said maybe there was hope for him as a teenager…lol.




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Monday was an all school teacher prep day so the kids were off school.  Some of the parents had asked for some “action” shots of the boys from the soccer games.  I had some time to download and edit pictures on Monday.  This one is my favorite.  #2’s name is Angus.  He has quite the leg and can kick the ball hard.  The look on the other kids’ faces just makes me laugh.  At the game on Saturday, Angus kicked the ball way up on to the roof.  I think that ball will be there forever!





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Joseph is singing a solo for the Primary Program.  We started practicing right after Sacrament Meeting on Sunday.  I don’t think the kids know the songs as well as they should, but hopefully it will all come together.  We also started practicing new songs for ward choir.  Playing for choir keeps me on my toes.  I can’t believe how many songs I have learned just this year.  Luckily, most of the ones for Thanksgiving and Christmas aren’t too complicated.

 


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Joseph had his last soccer game on Saturday.  It was a tournament.  It was double elimination so if you lost 2 games, you were out.  Sadly, Team Netherlands lost their first 2 games.  The boys were so sad.  I think half the team was crying.  Joseph said he was disappointed but he didn’t cry.  The positive was that all 12 boys showed up for the tournament so we were finally able to get a team photo with the entire team!  Joseph played on a good team this year.  The coach, the boys, and the parents were all great.  We had a really positive experience this season.





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The first grade classes had their Halloween party on Nov. 1st (Friday).  It took a really long time to get everything ready for the party. I made goodie bags from scratch for all 3 classes. You would not believe how difficult it is to find 60 bags in this town…crazy!  I also helped get the stuff for the frame craft that the kids made. Everything turned out well.  The kids had fun. The teachers said the moms had outdone themselves.  I was just glad to have it all over with.
Here the kids were waiting for the 4th graders to teach them dance moves to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.




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Halloween day was busy.  Katelyn had a celebration at school that morning. For dinner we had a small celebration. We had Pizza Hut and Halloween cupcakes for dessert.  Doss helped the girls carve a pumpkin.  That evening Joseph went to a Halloween party with a friend and I took the girls trick-or-treating at the apartment.  One of the other moms and I threw the trick-or-treating thing together last minute.  The apartment did not organize a Halloween activity for the kids this year so we made a bunch of phone calls and signed up about 20 apartments to hand out candy. 
Audrey and Katelyn went trick-or-treating with a couple of friends from the apartment complex.




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I spent Wednesday morning with one of the other moms cutting out the frames and embellishments for the frame craft that the kids would make at the 1st grade Halloween party.




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One of the Taiwanese moms gave me some fresh clams she picked up at the market. I made chili clams.  They were really yummy.  It was really interesting how the clams did not cook all at the same time and it was fun to see them open up as they cooked. 




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Most of the week of Halloween was spent getting things ready for all the parties and activities.  Doss helped me cut labels to put around some play doh containers.  I decided not to hand out candy this year for the class parties.