Cool things your WalMart probably doesn't have

In not so comical news, Scott had his first pick-pocketing adventure today. (As the victim, not the perpetrator.) His mobile phone was in a zipped up pocket on the front of his jacket which was on his body! These people are good! And bad. We told a local friend about it, and in trying to have a good attitude, I said, "well, maybe he was hungry, and now he can buy some food". She told us, "on the contrary, it would almost certainly go towards someone's drug use, and if they used too much they could die." So much for the attempted optimistic spin. Scott is out now shopping for a very cheap phone.... maybe he'll run across his own... up for resale.

October already?

Emily had fun celebrating National Day with these flags the locals gave her. We had fun watching the city's firework show out our bedroom window. It went on and on for at least 30 minutes. Each part was as grandiose as a finale in the states would be! I guess since fireworks were invented here they had to make an impressive display of them. It was beautiful!
This place is right behind our apartment building. Our "backyard" of sorts. :) I'm not sure why it looks like I have a wooden pirate leg....?? arrrrgggg.

girls at play

Emily loves to take her baby cruising around in this shopping cart. Emily also loves to wear these yellow glasses when we are out and about, so she lets her doll sport them on their pretend adventures.

Aubrey is doing well these days... her eyes seem to be staying pretty blue. She loves to watch her sister play and listen to her chatter. Emily often looks at Aubrey and says, "cuuute" or "ah, sweeeet". Every once in awhile she asks to hold her in her "laa lap".

out and about

We enjoyed our time out in the countryside. The weather was nice and warm, as were the people!
Emily ran right up to these girls, and into the arms of the one holding her! They took her inside their house and gave her peanuts and sunflower seeds. Once they saw that she was eating the peanuts shells and all they shelled them for her and gave them to her. They invited us to stay for lunch. The girl holding Em here is 13!
This is rice harvesting season. We got to chat with them while they showed us their methods of smacking the bushels against the side of these wooden boxes.
Emily enjoyed seeing all the animals out there too.... lots of water buffalo, chickens, ducks, and even a pig, which she oinked at quite a bit.

More signs

Early morning fun... not for the faint of heart

So this morning before the sun was up, Scott and I were sitting in the living room. I was feeding Aubrey and Scott had the Word in his lap, when all of a sudden Scott made a series of very fast movements. I was quite startled, since I am used to watching him struggle with a very stiff back in the mornings. He informed me that a very large cockroach was among us. I took Aubrey in the other room so he could hunt and destroy it without disturbing her. 3 muffled smacks later, it was dead. It had gone from the floor by his toes to being on the couch in the time it took me to get into the other room! I was very glad Aubrey and I had removed ourselves from the couch! Anyways, due to the "springy"ness of our couch, the little guy got smacked 3 times. When Scott smacked it, it appeared to jump around, so he smacked again. Once Scott disposed of the body, he went back to his seat, only to discover the poor fellow's head was on the ground with antenna still wiggling! I guess 3 smacks was more than enough. Gross, I know. All that to say, the whole family is thinking about sleeping with Aubrey under her mosquito net tonight! Nah, we actually don't mind a few bugs, but Scott IS out buying roach hotels as we speak. :)

One round of shots for the little one

We called someone who called someone, who knew someone. Then we talked to someone who knew someone.... who is a nurse. We called that gal, and she informed us she is not a nurse, but she knows someone. Alot of someones later, we found a nurse today in a nearby town who was willing to give Aubrey her 2 month old immunizations. We had brought the medicines and syringes here with us from Thailand and they have been living in our refrigerator. But the Thai doctor made Scott promise he would not give them to Aubrey himself. (Apparently one year of nursing school didn't impress him). Well, we had a great time with this sweet nurse and her family, ended up going out to lunch together, she gave us some baby things, and told us some very helpful info about where we live! We were all very thankful... well, except for Aubrey, who's still not so sure she was thrilled with our outing.
When Scott grabbed his glasses on the way out the door, Emily did too. Here they are.... roadtrippin in Asia.

Grocery shopping. Honestly, I am still figuring this one out. I was spoiled in years past, having lived on a university campus, I just ate in the cafeteria with everyone else. Now I have to figure out where, how, and what to buy to feed a non-veggite and a toddler! I've learned that cooking from scratch usually ends one of two ways... with a great sense of accomplishment, OR tears and a great sense of time and energy wasted! Sometimes I even think I've done well, only to get home and find out that the beautiful "cheese" I'm shredding is actually frozen butter. He's a nice old man who didn't know what he had in his freezer. He honestly thought it was cheese, and sold it to me as such. All in all though, it was a great price for 5 pounds of butter. So, PTL and pass the butter!
I've also learned that the only way to get chicken tender enough to chew is to have them kill it right in front of you. They don't understand why westerners wouldn't want to take the feet and head home too, but they'll gladly keep them for you.


So, the air here is not really known for being clean anyways, but the other night when our living room began to smell like an amazingly smokey campground, we looked out the windows, and 8 stories down saw scenes like this in all directions.
I know it looks like Rack, Shack and Benny in the fiery furnace.... but it's just the locals burning fake money to their ancestors. They believe they should provide them with money for whatever they may be needing in the afterlife. Good news is, our building and the rest of the city still stand. It's an old holiday that people all over the country celebrate on that day. The next day I asked a local friend about it. She asked me "don't people in the US take care of their dead ancestors?".

Playing in our apartment complex

Playing outside in our apartment complex... with Emily sporting her new hairbows from the Thomasson family! That small hill is the view we have out our living room and bedroom windows.
These little boys and their family always invite Emily over to play at their house. :)

Language fun

We are not following the instructions on this sign, and we are all actually having a very nice time here these days. This is our last week of freedom before language classes start next week.

Here are more fun signs and labels from around this great country. We're just enjoying the laughs, not knocking them... their use of our language is still WAY better than our use of theirs!
We recently had to register our residence at the local police station. They were very friendly and helpful. They even post educational signs.
Next week, Aubrey is due to receive her 2 month old immunizations. Some friends recommended we just take her to the neighborhood shot clinic. But signs like this make you think twice about that suggestion...

All in all though, we are glad some signs are in English. And sometimes they are simply good pieces of advice, like this one above. You can never be too careful, right?

Smiles from Aubrey

Aubrey is becoming more interactive now, and will even smile at us when we walk into the room and start talking to her.

She sleeps so much at night I end up waking her up. Backwards, huh? But a good problem to have!! We are so thankful for this little big blessing!

Emily has friends/neighbors over to play at our house. They are older than her and can show her interesting things about her own toys!

Aubrey cracks a smile for Daddy behind the camera. She's doing great these days. She sleeps anywhere from 6-9 hours at night! PTL! Emily really enjoys having a baby around. She closely monitors where Aubrey is, and who is allowed near her. If we let Aubrey fuss on her own, Emily will also come ask us to "check Aubrey?". She pats her tummy softly and shows lots of love for her!

Aubrey Mei - 6 weeks old

Aubrey's new 5 speed. :) Just kickin' it!
Hugging daddy and falling asleep. It's the good life.

Our time with Nana ran out! She was with us for two months... but went back to the US a few days ago. Here is one of her last meals with Aubrey (who had Nana around her whole life!) We are looking forward to more visits!

The girls playing together on mama and daddy's bed

This is from a few weeks ago... Aubrey already looks bigger!