Liam's Artwork

Liam has not been very interested in drawing in the past. In the last day that has changed. He keeps asking for more paper and I am so excited to see him doing something other than scribble that I'll keep giving it to him.

This first one is one from preschool in March - but for the next few months the others all looked like this too. I noticed that other kids were bringing home pictures that looked like flowers, people or houses. This is the kind of stuff he would do:


I wasn't all that concerned about it. I figured at some point he might start being interested. While Nate's mom and sister were here visiting (I'll post more about that later. I need to get the pictures transferred from another computer onto this one and then sort through all 400 or so..) Liam drew this awesome picture of a turtle while we were waiting for our food at a restaurant.


Sorry about the poor photo quality. With the flash on I couldn't see the image at all and without flash it is sort of dark.

Here is a picture of a volcano. Don't worry about the truck at the bottom. The driver got out in time and ran away.


This is a picture of Black Mountain, the mountain Nate and Liam climbed a few weeks ago. At the top he drew the tower and there are trees all over it. Can you find the tree swing?

Another one of Black Mountain with Mt. Ainslie next to it. We climbed Mt. Ainslie as a church activity.

An alien/monster/robot family

I have no idea why Blogger feels the need to rotate the pictures when I upload them. Anybody know how to make it stop? It is driving me crazy!

Dear Future Me

Nate got the following email from himself the other day:

Dear FutureMe,
Which PhD program did you get in to? Is our third child a boy or girl? Did we name the second child Jonas? Was I able to work for UPS wherever we ended up after Springfield. Do we still have the volvo? When does Liam learn how to use the potty? Does Liam still love trucks and trains?
Vanessa wants to know if she ever finished her bachelor's degree.
Hope the family is good and everyone is in good health.
regards,
2006 Nate

He wrote it June 21, 2006 when we lived in Springfield, MO and I was pregnant with Jonas. So much has changed since then! I think I might go send myself another email right now!

The site is called FutureMe.org.

overdue update

I just realized today when I updated my status on facebook to:
"...is moving to the Philippines in 3 weeks..." and got a lot of surprised responses that I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping this blog up to date. So here it goes.

We are moving to the Philippines in 3 WEEKS!!

I can't believe it is so close.

We knew there would have to be traveling when we started the program but thought it would be Nate going himself for shorter trips. But his adviser recommended that he should go for at least 2 months. We tried to come up with ways we might make 2 months work. I would have to still work to be able to pay for things like rent and food but what would I do with the kids? In the end it makes much more sense for all of us to go. So our trip is set for August 1st through December 10th.

We still don't know what is going to happen with this house. Originally we didn't want to give it up but the more we thought about it the more it seemed like a good idea. We tried to find somebody to sublet it from us while we are gone but nothing has worked out. Now our landlords are also trying to find someone. At this point, so close to when we are leaving, Nate and I just want to be done with it. But it seems our landlords are determined to find someone. We'll wait and see for another week or so and then I'm done. There are so many other things we will need to work out like where to put all of our stuff that we can't wait too much longer. We have already made arrangements with the school to live in their temporary housing when we get back so we aren't too worried about that.

With the help of some of Nate's contacts in the Philippines we have already found a place to stay. It looks like it will be nice place. The only thing I'm not too sure about is that it is on the fourth floor and there is NO ELEVATOR! Can you imagine trying to lug two children plus groceries up 4 flights of stairs? Me either but I'm sure there will be a post at a later time telling you exactly what it is like! :)

The debate right now is whether we should buy/rent a car or not. From the start it wasn't even something we thought about. We would just go without one. But now that we know where we are going to live and that there are no malls (grocery shopping included) within close walking distance it is seeming more and more desirable. We feel like such spoiled Americans, not being able to live without a car for 4 months. I think the real issue is using public transportation (packed full jeepneys) to get all of us to places like the grocery store and back home especially. We'll have to wait to decide until we get there so we have a better idea of what it is like.

I have so much more blogging to catch up on. I'll try to get some pictures posted soon from our visit with Grandma Debbie and Aunt Whitney!

Jonas Kenobi

Jonas found a light saber on our wall the other day!

Coolest Park EVER

Some people randomly told me about this cool castle park when I was at a museum a couple months ago. We finally made our way over to check it out in between the rain one day last week. You can tell it has been there for a long time but it has a few safety updates like the comfy rubber padding on the ground and a few railings to prevent falling. There are also tunnels going underground all through it. It really is the coolest park! I can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can stay for more than 10 minutes.

Liam Blank - Mountain Climber

Black Mountain

Liam and Nate climbed Black Mountain a couple weeks ago. Now every time he sees the mountain (which is every time we leave the house since you can see it from everywhere you go) he calls out "Hey, there's Black Mountain, I climbed that."

The good, the bad and the ugly

That would be new clothes, shopping with small children and mom when she is flustered and about to lose it.


I dropped Nate off at school today and since I was in the area went to the Civic Mall. I just have to say that this mall drives me crazy. It is huge and confusing, there are too many people and I can never remember how to get back to my car because there are a few parking garages. It is way too much for me. I figured this time would be fine because I was only going to Target and I was parking right next to it. All I would have to do is get in the elevator, go down and it practically opens at Target's entrance.

I was determined to buy a new sweater no matter how many I had to try on but was getting more and more frustrated by the minute. I knew the exact sweater I wanted to buy but when I tried it on it was weird. Liam kept walking in front of the stroller and therefore getting bumped by it and complaining about how boring the store was. Jonas was kicking and grabbing everything we walked by. In the fitting rooms they were screaming and fighting and playing which echoed through the whole store I'm sure. Eventually I made my purchases and it was time to leave.

The parking garage is paid parking so you get a ticket when you come in and when you leave you put it in the machine, pay and then take your ticket back to stick in the other machine on your way out (you know how it works...). The whole process is a bit more of a hassle when you are trying to keep your 4 year old out of the road and your two year old from touching the dirty soda machine. After paying I made my way to the car, got the boys strapped in and started looking through my purse for the ticket. After a few minutes of looking I realized that I had forgotten to take my ticket back!! I rushed the boys out of the car (without grabbing the stroller) to try and get back to the ticket machine to see if my ticket was still there. Not surprisingly it wasn't. Who can resist an already paid for parking ticket. (But I have to believe that if someone saw it was me who left it they would have kindly returned it to me.)

I remembered seeing a parking office somewhere in the mall one of the times I was there so I rode the elevators up and down about 6 times (while the boys begged to press the buttons) and walked around a little bit (while Jonas jumped instead of walked because he gets a little wacky when you let him out of the stroller...which is why I NEVER do) until I found it. Almost in tears I explained to the lady that I forgot to grab my ticket and she said "no worries" just drive up to the gate, press the help button and I'll let you through. I was expecting them to say I would have to pay the daily rate of $25 or something insane like that!

This is why I don't like Civic! Even a simple trip to Target is a big flustery mess for me. BUT on the good side I did get two cute new sweaters. I'm not sure this is the right way to wear it though...