Happy 5th Birthday Hope!

My little girl celebrated her 5th birthday today!  Since Hope just started Grade 1, she will be learning to read and about books having a beginning, middle, and end.  So here's how her day went...

Beginning:

We hung balloons as she slept last night (yes, Hope is that little bump at the head of her bed)

Happy Birthday banner.
Amazing what you can do with just a few craft supplies & of course...Cardboard!

Middle:

Cupcakes ready to go to school for the party.
Hope & I have been watching Cupcake Wars and here is the product of our inspiration ;-)

Hope at school doing her work.

She caught a glimpse of mommy, love this picture of her!

Singing Happy Birthday with all her friends.

Blowing the candles!

YEEEAAAAAAA!

Friends. Eli, Hope, and Abella

More birthday friends; Nong Iy, Janina, Square, Mikey, Jhan

More birthday friends; Phena, Phosa, Kate, Eli, Alize, Angelique

The "boys" and Ms Jenny; Jonas, Spencer, and Oscar

Birthday certificate presented to Hope from Miss West!

Ending: 

And her choice for dinner....McDonalds!
A true American 5 year old in Thailand, Ha Ha.

Playing in the play area at the new McDonalds

Birthday chocolate sundae!

And sisters enjoying Hope's birthday
Keziah was actually pushing the stroller with Zarah cracking up sitting inside.
They brought a little joy to the people sitting around us!

The End

& 

Goodnight!

4th of July Kids Carnival

Cannot believe it has taken me over a week to blog about our big Carnival that we hosted on the 4th of July.  After being inspired by Pinterest, I thought it would be fun to do it for Hope and her friends so they could see each other in the summer.  But I didn't get serious until my friend Tammy said she sounded like fun too AND she would help!  So here are the pictures of our good time!

Sign out front, made from paper plates & paint!

Hope excited for the day to start!

Decorations of balloons and fabric banners

Game Signs.

made from cardboard boxes & paint

Fish out of Water

Hit the Target

Karla working her game booth

Spray Away

Spray Away

Clothespin Drop

Ring Toss

Tattoo

Tickets = Prizes!

Prize Table

Twins enjoying the Carnival out on the lawn (Thanks Gook!)

Popcorn!           Popsicle!           Popdog! 

Delivering POP-Dogs  (best way ever to serve hot dogs!)

Wet & Wild

Water Balloon Toss!

Have to say that one of the funnest parts of the day was watching the kids at the 3-legged races!

Congratulations to the winners Kate & Abella!

What a day! 

 Even as exhausted as I was the 2nd half of the day...I would do it again in a heartbeat.  

So much fun for the kids!!

P.S. A BIG THANKS to everyone who helped prepare and during the event.

Life

Where to start?
        ...had a bad "mom" day to start today...
...living the house hunting life...
                  ...constant fundraising for survival...
    ...planning for the 4th of July...
         ...finding coupon-ing deals to pack my mom's bags 6 months away...
 ...constant battle of the budge...
                  ........oh, and did I mention that I have a husband in full-time master's degree school & 3 kids??

I think when you have a lot to do and think about, a calm moment comes and I really cherish that time.  The other day I had one of those moments just watching my husband feed the dogs and talking with him, instead of having my head in the computer, and it really made me think "how would life be if computers and internet had never been introduced to us?"

Being so far away from friends and family, I tend to be near my computer more than I should.  Getting to see what people are doing are getting to chat gives me the comfort of home.  The downside to that is that I feel like it literally takes me away from friends and family here.

What did people do before computers?  More involved with each other’s daily activities, more uninterrupted conversations, in general more time together?  I definitely think that I would spend more focused attention with my husband and kids if I "unplugged" myself from the computer.  For sure this is an area that is taking away from my kids.  I thank God for showing me this time stealer before it is too late.  Years from now, when the girls are grown I don't want to regret wasting the time I have with them.

And on the flip side it is hard, because we are so thankful to have such amazing resources to keep in close contact while living halfway around the world.  I guess like any other worldly possession (i.e. money, food, clothes, shoes, etc.) computers and the internet are all about moderation, and not letting it overtake your life.  

For me it is TIME to make a change...I would love to hear your thoughts and struggles on this issue!  Please leave a comment.

This is my life of as a traveling mother!  

Jennifer

Summer fun with the kids

Week 1: Zarah's 1st visit to a play area, she loved it!

Week 1: Keziah's 1st slide!  Weeeeeeee!

Week 1: Hope playing on the swings, she loved having her sisters with her!

Week 2: Fruits & Vegetables, this is Hope's craft.

Week 2: Fruits & Vegetables, Tuesday Time to Cook Day!

The was a great snack to have a helper, Hope washed the vege's,
scooped out the bread to make bowls, and put the ranch dip in.  

Also helped put the vege's in the bowl & of course eat them!

(The best part about this kitchen time was that I couldn't get Hope to think about eating celery & peppers.  But...once we made it "fun" she ate them all with joy!)

Week 2: Combined "friend day" & "theater day". Hope & her friend Janina on the way to the movies!

Watching Madagascar 3 in 3D, great movie!

So far so good this summer, it has been fun playing with my daughters!

Will keep you posted as we go...

~ Jennifer

Raising up "Third Culture Kids"

Moving to a foreign country last Fall was of course challenging for our family, and can be especially hard for our children to understand.  Leaving friends & family they have bonded with of course impacts them.  From a few people I have heard the term "Third Culture Kids", this is a term taken on for children that travel with their parents either in the government/military or as missionary's.  Here is a video spoken from grown up TCK's, and it is very interesting.

One of my favorite lines is, "before I knew how to walk, I already knew how to fly."  This makes me think especially of the twins; what will they think or say when they look back at their life of flying to another country at 4 months old?  As you pray for our family, we ask as parents that you would pray for our children.  That the Lord will help them understand why they had the upbringing they do, and they would have wonderful relationships along the way.

Thankfully, one of the best parts of moving here has been Hope's school!  After arriving in October, she started class at the end of the month and she has grown so much throughout these last months.  A huge part of that growth has been going to school everyday.  She absolutely loves going, and I pray this love carries on throughout her life.

Ready to go on the last morning...

This is all of Hope's classmates and teachers (from around the world, Hope is 1 of only 2 Americans).

Hope and her Preschool/Kindergarten teachers.

This has been a great year of growth for our little TCK, and I look forward to the stories she will tell as an adult about growing up around the world.  Until then, here is a little peek forward...

New Classroom

Hope will be starting 1st Grade in August!  

Thanks to her school and a very hardworking daddy teaching her since she was 3 years old, she is starting to read and do arithmetic.   

And this is the life of a Traveling Mother!

Jennifer