A CRIB!

My boys have been living in their co-sleeper and now pack and plays since they came into the world…they are outgrowing them…not only that…but this mama is getting old and bending over to pick them is taking a few extra seconds to straighten back up!!!…ALAS…I found a crib (aka, cot) for sale on the Cambodia Parent Network for $40…I didn’t even need to see it to know I would take it!!!  The mama who sold it to me gave me two mattresses, a mosquito net and an extra boppy pillow!  DEAL!!!…

For once, I was the person who was having their picture taken…I just smiled as other foreigners whipped their cameras out and saw me going by in this:

No…it’s not my typical style…but I am not living in typical conditions.  I have noticed I no longer need A LOT of things I thought I couldn’t live without…not ALL things…just a LOT of things…so…on the lookout for “Cot #2”…

The Pig says, “Oink”!

We were sitting outside the market the other day waiting for Khamary to get a few things inside and Zach says, “Look Mama, a pig says, “Oink!”…so I look over and see this:\

there’s his snout…I guess you can buy his nose to…eat???

…or how about some pig balls…or chicken feet…or blood cake…

Little B

This boy has a smile that lights up any room…when he smiles, a noise comes from the back of his little head…he is SO happy.  He will follow me around the house “chatting” as he crawls…if you don’t notice him soon enough, he screeches…LOUD LOUD boy!!!

Love this little man…

Bye Bye…

Trevor picked this up last week and loves showing his skills…

Hong Kong…Here We Come!!!

Hong Kong…hear about it a lot over here! 

Well…this girl bought 3 tickets for $5 to enter into the raffle at the BBQ (see Easter Post)…There were about 20 different prizes…and my number was close for a LOT of them…the tickets were numbered as “Purple, E, 22”, “Black, E, 1”…so I had purple tickets and purple was called a lot…but not for me…

It was a “must be present to win” drawing and they were running a bit behind, but the kids were holding up, so we decided to stay for the grand prize drawing… “Purple, E, 51” was called and mama and Trevor ran up to the stage to claim our prize!!! 

In case you didn’t know, Hong Kong has a Disneyland (which is about 1/2 the price to get into as it costs in the states)…they have Macau (for some poker playing)…and it is China in the SUMMER (think, get out of the humid tropics for a few days)…we will be taking all our boys and Leak to Hong Kong this summer for a little getaway!! 

WOO HOO!

Easter Bunny!!!

The Easter Bunny found us in SE Asia…he told this mama that if Zachary left all his bottles out for him to give to other kids who needed them, he would bring some very special presents for Zachary…so this mama passed the message on to Zachary 4 weeks ago and we planned on it!!   Zachary was excited…he told me he just wanted some quatlidge (aka, chocolate) and a big big squirt gun.  I think I can find THOSE things around here!  (Could not find plastic eggs…could not find chocolate eggs…there are only white duck eggs around here…and there wasn’t even any dying kits…so NO eggs this year…but he didn’t really know the difference).

Saturday night, we got home and Zachary went straight to the bottle cabinet, picked his nipples and bottles out, put them in the basket and went to bed.  Here he is waking up to his baba’s being gone and toys replacing them:

We also went to a BBQ that was thrown by the Australian Embassy…SO heavenly to eat some western food…GREAT salads, GREAT sausages, food for the kidos, swimming, chicks (as in baby chickens), bunnies, balloon artist, jump toys, easter egg hunt, lots of people AND a RAFFLE (more on that later!)

The Easter Bunny also brought a new pool…ALL the boys love it…including their friends Shai & Micah!

Alert:  We are out of fruit rolls…please send more!

Loving Tennis…

I have a new favorite make me sweat like no other workout!  TENNIS!!!  (thank you Arminda for getting me out there!)  I love it…I’ve had 4 lessons now and my coach runs me back and forth, had me serving and kills me.  …and I love it!  I love a workout that can make me weak, dizzy and sweaty!!!  I’ve tried getting some pictures, but the people on the court don’t know how to take pictures…I give them my camera and they just watch me thru the camera!!  …so here are a few…my first lesson…the courts…a my last lesson with a bit of humidity…I know it’s gross, but yes, it is pure effort and sweat!

I am taking advantage of some great opportunities here…tennis lessons, 2 times per week, $48 per month!  LOVE it…

Some boys…

Just a few pictures of the boys…love them!

Hungry Boy?

I don’t know what happened…but last weekend we ordered some pizza.  I set it on the table to bring the twins in and when I walked back in within 2 minutes of setting them down…this is what I saw:

I will never know how my 3 year old managed to eat almost an entire pizza in 2 minutes.

No Comment.

Was looking for some baby lotion the other day and in the same aisle as the baby goods, there was this:

Still quite haven’t figured out what it is…but had to share.  There are some strange things on the market these days!

This is NOT a toy!

As repeated to me by Zachary James…”Mama, this is NOT a toy.  This can REALLY hurt someone!”…Yes, son, this mama knows…she told you not to play with it.  Sometimes lessons have to be learned the hard way.  We got this bug zapper and Zachary would not listen to his mama…stuck his finger in the holes and learned the hard way that the zapper is not a toy!

Prayers for a Mother Gone…

Leak & Khamary lost their mother 11 years ago…Khamary is the oldest and is now 29…so she was 18 when her mother died and the youngest of the 5 children was only 6.  Here, you have a celebration and a feast at the temple and pray for people you have lost during the Khmer New Year.  We were invited to join the celebration, but I didn’t think the boys would make the entire day and I really wanted the girls to be able to enjoy their time around family and focus on what was important.  It was a HUGE feast by their standards and a very happy reunion…they remembered that when their mother died, they had sold EVERYTHING they had to pay for medical care for her…the had a big house, farm land and the family lived together…every year, they sold something off to help cover more and more medical expenses…when their mother died, the family was poorer than dirt poor…they had nothing.  I hear the stories from Leak and the work they had to do for 3000 Riel per day (that’s $.75).  They all (5 children, their grandmother and their father) lived in a hut that they paid 10,000 Riel ($2.50) per month and they could barely survive.  Leak used to collect pieces of broken coal on the shore to sell and when the captain of the boat saw this small girl picking up the pieces, he gave her a large piece of coal…she was so excited for all this money that the piece of coal was going to bring her family…she had to wade into the water to get it and she got caught up in the current…she drowned and the captain jumped in to save her and her piece of coal…he paid her to clean up the coal every day from that point on…everyone in the family had to work…school had to be put on hold…yet they are all thankful today to think about how far they have come, the feast they were able to have in their mother’s memory, they have jobs and can help each other…today they are thankful for what they have and how far they have come.  I am blessed to have these people in my life!  They are wonderful, caring people and they love my babies!  God bless the mother who gave them to me…