My friend had a link to this tutorial on her blog and I just thought it was the coolest thing. Definitely want to do this some day...
http://www.howdoesshe.com/mothers-day-gift-ideas2
http://www.howdoesshe.com/mothers-day-gift-ideas2
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Finally some pics...
The problem with not blogging all summer is that there are WAY too many pictures to choose from. I think we seriously took more than 2000 pictures.
Since I'm running out of time during the short period both my children sleep at the same time (and I still need to prepare dinner) I'll keep the pictures to just Dallas right now (even though it's out of order, it's the easiest *s*)
I'll try to catch up the others soon.
It's nice when our east and west meet :-)
And when our best friends' kids can meet our kids.
Lizbeth did great meeting so many of our friends.
Best friend of Nathan's from his freshman year in college.
Sometimes we did have to bribe the kids with electronics...I love how Mattias looks like, hey how come theirs is so much bigger?
Got to see most of our friends from our small group so many years ago.
Loved being back at one of my "homes" and seeing my daughter there too.
Lizbeth was exhausted on the way back to Austin...which was a good thing because of the next photo.
This is the storm we had to drive through.
(what not to do--leave north dallas headed south on a friday at 5:00PM during a severe thunderstorm with 65mph winds...)
But it did lead to some awesome pictures. I call this one, "Coming Out of the Storm"
Since I'm running out of time during the short period both my children sleep at the same time (and I still need to prepare dinner) I'll keep the pictures to just Dallas right now (even though it's out of order, it's the easiest *s*)
I'll try to catch up the others soon.
It's nice when our east and west meet :-)
 |
| From 2012-08-09 |
 |
| From 2012-08-09 |
And when our best friends' kids can meet our kids.
 |
| From 2012-08-09 |
Lizbeth did great meeting so many of our friends.
 |
| From 2012-08-09 |
Best friend of Nathan's from his freshman year in college.
 |
| From 2012-08-09 |
Sometimes we did have to bribe the kids with electronics...I love how Mattias looks like, hey how come theirs is so much bigger?
 |
| From 2012-08-09 |
Got to see most of our friends from our small group so many years ago.
 |
| From 2012-08-09 |
Loved being back at one of my "homes" and seeing my daughter there too.
 |
| From 2012-08-09 |
Lizbeth was exhausted on the way back to Austin...which was a good thing because of the next photo.
 |
| From 2012-08-09 |
This is the storm we had to drive through.
 |
| From 2012-08-09 |
(what not to do--leave north dallas headed south on a friday at 5:00PM during a severe thunderstorm with 65mph winds...)
But it did lead to some awesome pictures. I call this one, "Coming Out of the Storm"
 |
| From 2012-08-09 |
 |
| From 2012-08-09 |
Monday, August 6, 2012
Getting Back into the Swing of Things
As every year, the start of school begins a new routine for me as I figure out what life looks like after a long summer of running around.
Even though we arrived in China a week and a half ago, we spent the first couple nights in Shanghai to sight see, relax as a family, and do some doctor check-ups at the western hospital.
We then finally headed home to Qingdao late on the29th, and have been working to unpack, buy groceries, get over jetlag, and figure out what life looks like in China as a family of four.
Today was Nathan's first official day back at work, although he's been working most days at home or at Starbucks writing the fall play. I'm excited to see how it all comes together!
Now I have to figure out what my life looks like for the next few months. I'm not planning on teaching any classes at the school, although I will probably teach Sex ed for a month or so at the school I have taught at for the past three years. As always, we have staff that didn't return and new incoming staff, so the community itself is different too. I have the option of putting Lizbeth into a 2 year old class at the preschool, and I'm dragging my feet in coming up with a decision on that. I'm planning on being very involved as a family in the drama, taking a pack-n-play up to school and making the kids our drama mascots :-) Being that it's a highschool production, I'm sure there are several teenagers who will love "helping" with the kids. I'm also trying to get more of a schedule going for the kids. It seems to work to put them both down for a nap around 1:30 and from there I can count on 2-3 hours of silence from Lizbeth, though Matthew is still more of a wild card. For the first time in a long time I'm not pregnant, so I am finding I actually have the energy to take advantage of this time!
To sum up, I'm pretty excited about finding a rhythm again. I'm trying to figure out what it all looks like to have a routine and not exhaust myself! We'll see how the next couple weeks go and I'll give you an update. :-)
(hopefully I can get some pics up soon too! Lizbeth is adorable and Matthew is huge!)
Even though we arrived in China a week and a half ago, we spent the first couple nights in Shanghai to sight see, relax as a family, and do some doctor check-ups at the western hospital.
We then finally headed home to Qingdao late on the29th, and have been working to unpack, buy groceries, get over jetlag, and figure out what life looks like in China as a family of four.
Today was Nathan's first official day back at work, although he's been working most days at home or at Starbucks writing the fall play. I'm excited to see how it all comes together!
Now I have to figure out what my life looks like for the next few months. I'm not planning on teaching any classes at the school, although I will probably teach Sex ed for a month or so at the school I have taught at for the past three years. As always, we have staff that didn't return and new incoming staff, so the community itself is different too. I have the option of putting Lizbeth into a 2 year old class at the preschool, and I'm dragging my feet in coming up with a decision on that. I'm planning on being very involved as a family in the drama, taking a pack-n-play up to school and making the kids our drama mascots :-) Being that it's a highschool production, I'm sure there are several teenagers who will love "helping" with the kids. I'm also trying to get more of a schedule going for the kids. It seems to work to put them both down for a nap around 1:30 and from there I can count on 2-3 hours of silence from Lizbeth, though Matthew is still more of a wild card. For the first time in a long time I'm not pregnant, so I am finding I actually have the energy to take advantage of this time!
To sum up, I'm pretty excited about finding a rhythm again. I'm trying to figure out what it all looks like to have a routine and not exhaust myself! We'll see how the next couple weeks go and I'll give you an update. :-)
(hopefully I can get some pics up soon too! Lizbeth is adorable and Matthew is huge!)
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Apology
This is just to say I'm sorry for not blogging this summer! It has been a whirl wind and I was so blessed to see so many friends from all around the world! We will miss you America. Not sure when we will return next. Please keep in touch and know we care so much about all of our friends even when we aren't able to connect often.
Friday, June 29, 2012
My Favorite Things: Part 1
Last year for my birthday, Nathan and I were discussing what I wanted. He made the suggestion of a tablet, but I didn't understand the appeal. After much discussing and no decision making, we ended up getting me nothing...
The thought stuck in my brain though as I was traveling back and forth to school with my heavy laptop. Wouldn't it be great if I didn't have to haul something so heavy along with an 18 month old and pregnant? I happened to mention my thoughts to a friend in Qingdao, commenting that I didn't really want an IPad, as cool as they are. (You can ask me my opinions on this at another time if you really want to know.) I also mentioned I was concerned about the lack of keyboard. She told me she had just the thing- an ASUS Transformer. The tablet itself hooks right into a full keyboard for whenever you want to do any real typing! How cool is that?
Nathan and I started looking into it, and at the time we thought we could get a Transformer for around $300 plus $100 for the keyboard. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, a snag came up. ASUS was coming out with a new version that had a quad 4 processor and was raved about as being the best tablet of 2011. However, due to wireless issues, it was delayed...and delayed...and delayed... I guess because so many people wanted a Transformer for Christmas, but the Transformer Prime did not come out in time, people started buying the original Transformer, bumping the price back up to retail of $399 +$150 if you could even find it. Since the Prime was so much better for only $100 more and there wasn't any real need for us to hurry, we decided to just pay the extra and get a Prime whenever it (FINALLY) came out.
Thankfully, my mom was coming over for Matthew's birth, and was able to bring the tablet portion of the Prime with her, but since ASUS was still having serious delays, the only keyboards available were at least $189, almost $40 above retail! We decided to wait until we were home for summer to purchase the keyboard. Thankfully, my patience paid off as the keyboard had dropped to $110 on Amazon-now $40 below retail!
So now I have the full set and I LOVE it. It was hard to wait for the keyboard as it really is just a pain to type without it...nothing to do with the Prime, I just hate digital keyboards. Email,s blogging, writing notes...all a pain, but with the keyboard it's almost as easy as a real computer (although you'll probably notice it is a bit easier to make typing mistakes). And when I don't want the extra baggage of a keyboard, I just have a regular Tablet, even slightly smaller and lighter than an IPad!
So cool.
Stick around for Part 2 of my favorite things-my new stroller!
The thought stuck in my brain though as I was traveling back and forth to school with my heavy laptop. Wouldn't it be great if I didn't have to haul something so heavy along with an 18 month old and pregnant? I happened to mention my thoughts to a friend in Qingdao, commenting that I didn't really want an IPad, as cool as they are. (You can ask me my opinions on this at another time if you really want to know.) I also mentioned I was concerned about the lack of keyboard. She told me she had just the thing- an ASUS Transformer. The tablet itself hooks right into a full keyboard for whenever you want to do any real typing! How cool is that?
 |
| From Drop Box |
Nathan and I started looking into it, and at the time we thought we could get a Transformer for around $300 plus $100 for the keyboard. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, a snag came up. ASUS was coming out with a new version that had a quad 4 processor and was raved about as being the best tablet of 2011. However, due to wireless issues, it was delayed...and delayed...and delayed... I guess because so many people wanted a Transformer for Christmas, but the Transformer Prime did not come out in time, people started buying the original Transformer, bumping the price back up to retail of $399 +$150 if you could even find it. Since the Prime was so much better for only $100 more and there wasn't any real need for us to hurry, we decided to just pay the extra and get a Prime whenever it (FINALLY) came out.
Thankfully, my mom was coming over for Matthew's birth, and was able to bring the tablet portion of the Prime with her, but since ASUS was still having serious delays, the only keyboards available were at least $189, almost $40 above retail! We decided to wait until we were home for summer to purchase the keyboard. Thankfully, my patience paid off as the keyboard had dropped to $110 on Amazon-now $40 below retail!
So now I have the full set and I LOVE it. It was hard to wait for the keyboard as it really is just a pain to type without it...nothing to do with the Prime, I just hate digital keyboards. Email,s blogging, writing notes...all a pain, but with the keyboard it's almost as easy as a real computer (although you'll probably notice it is a bit easier to make typing mistakes). And when I don't want the extra baggage of a keyboard, I just have a regular Tablet, even slightly smaller and lighter than an IPad!
 |
| From Drop Box |
So cool.
Stick around for Part 2 of my favorite things-my new stroller!
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Friday, June 1, 2012
Chinese Style Pictures
For Lizbeth's 2nd Birthday my Chinese helper wanted to arrange professional pictures of Lizbeth. She knew of a company that was looking for a foreign face to hang on their studio wall for advertising, and therefore would give us a good deal. The following photo shoot and CD, which should have cost $350 USD only cost about 30...even though I'm not a fan of all the pictures, it was definitely a good deal and a pretty good experience. And they want us to come back when Matthew is a little older for free...
It was a little bit frustrating at first communicating with them through my Chinese helper (who also doesn't speak English). We were told to bring white leather shoes, which I had to buy, and then they didn't use. We also were told to bring three outfits, which they also didn't use. And we were told they were going to take pictures of all of us and so Nathan should come too...but they didn't. Regardless, it went fairly smoothly and it was a good thing Nathan was there as he is the best at getting Lizbeth to smile and I could focus on Matthew.
As you see the pictures, keep in mind Chinese have a different idea about cute baby outfits and photos...you'll notice Lizbeth in a wedding outfit at the end--some of those pictures are absolutely gorgeous but the veil still makes me cringe a little...
Oh, well.
Since I'm sick and exhausted, the pictures are in a slide show this time. Hope you can still enjoy, and laugh. Don't worry. I did. :-)
It was a little bit frustrating at first communicating with them through my Chinese helper (who also doesn't speak English). We were told to bring white leather shoes, which I had to buy, and then they didn't use. We also were told to bring three outfits, which they also didn't use. And we were told they were going to take pictures of all of us and so Nathan should come too...but they didn't. Regardless, it went fairly smoothly and it was a good thing Nathan was there as he is the best at getting Lizbeth to smile and I could focus on Matthew.
As you see the pictures, keep in mind Chinese have a different idea about cute baby outfits and photos...you'll notice Lizbeth in a wedding outfit at the end--some of those pictures are absolutely gorgeous but the veil still makes me cringe a little...
Oh, well.
Since I'm sick and exhausted, the pictures are in a slide show this time. Hope you can still enjoy, and laugh. Don't worry. I did. :-)
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