National Day Holiday Weekend

We enjoyed a long weekend for the National Day holiday!  We enjoyed spending time as a family and took lots of pictures.

Friday the kid's school had a party -- the kids performed a short program of songs about Singapore and then enjoyed playing with their friends and parents.  Ainsley enjoyed her songs, but both Jack and Kara ran off of the "stage" before it even started.  Oh well!

The parents waiting for the show...

Jack and Kara's class -- Kara ran to us immediately and Jack ran back and forth (see him in the foreground of the picture?) and after about five laps Matt coaxed him in to re-joining his class...

Ainsley belting out the Singapore tunes...

Kara ignoring the activities...

Ainsley's Singapore tattoo...

After the school performance we enjoyed a lunch at one of our favorite spots, Shiraz.  They serve shawarma and it is located halfway between home and MMI...

Matt enjoys a beer...

Jack often wears some of the girls stuff, but this is one of our favorite looks.  He likes to wear Ainsley's black patent shoes, complete with a flower on the toe...

Jack and Kara playing in the house...

Matt and I often have date night once a week and Ainsley asked this week if she could go with us.  So the three of us went on a date to have Mexican food.  Ainsley likes to help Matt hail the taxi...

She was SO giddy about going out with mommy and daddy!

Cheers!  (yes, that is a virgin margarita!)

Ainsley took this one...

Date night at Margaritas!!

The girls playing dress up (notice Jack in the back playing with his cars)...

This is Jack's newest truck.  Poor Jack has a horrible case of eczema.  It is really bad and we are doing everything we can to help him feel better.

The kids were playing in the curtains and having a blast.  You can see Jack's eczema has spread to his face in this picture :-(

A friend of ours invited us over to enjoy their very cool pool!

We ended our holiday weekend at one of our favorite restaurants - Khansama in Little India...

Have suitcases, will watch movie!

This was totally un-staged.  They found their suitcases in the closet, decided how they wanted to use them, and daddy caught it on video.

Lots of Pictures

An example of Ainsley and Kara in cahoots with each other...they emptied a box of wipes and "cleaned the floor" when I was back in Jack's room...

Ainsley pushing Jack and scooting herself in the baby doll strollers...

Kara being silly with daddy...

Jack "riding" his scooter without ever actually putting his feet on the scooter...

Jack enjoying the shower by the pool.  He likes to open his mouth and catch the cold water...

Kara filling a bucket with water...

Jack chillin in the hot tub...

Ainsley floating on her noodle...

Jack looking cool...

We saw a huge snail...

The kids were so curious...

Kara announced she didn't want to touch it...

Sisters looking cool...

Rainy Days

We have had lots of rain lately, making it hard to get outside to play.  The kids have made the best of it and found other indoor activities to keep them busy.

This is Ainsley at my desk planning our holiday.  We don't have any vacations planned, she just randomly decided to do this...she sat at the desk and said, "I am going to draw our holiday."

Kara and Ainsley sitting in the baby strollers...

The crew headed out for an adventure during a rain break.  We took the bus to Little India to get a pair of shoes for Ainsley's school play this week...

Matt and Jack on the bus (the kids especially love the double-decker buses because we get to sit up so high)...

Afternoon snack in the guest room with milk, graham crackers, and cartoons...

Today we wish Grandpa D a happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No More Cribs!

We are officially finished with cribs - Jack moved to his big boy bed last week.  Jack is very proud of his bed and transitioned surprisingly well.

I was unpacking school bags one day last week and came back to Jack's room to find all three sitting in his new bed in the cutest un-structured pose.  Luckily my camera was close by so I caught this glimpse of sibling love on camera...

Jack's bed is actually Ainsley's old bed, but he doesn't care!

Matt says he is officially retiring from the pony ride gig.  His back about broke with all three on...they are not light anymore!

Jack's new hair cut with red hair color...  Ainsley said, "Jack looks like a strawberry."  Kara said, "Jack has blue hair!"  Any attempt to correct Kara's color mistake was lost as she was determined to convince us it was blue.  It has already washed out, but it was fun for the day :-)

July 4th - Asia Style

We started out the weekend with the addition of Ainsley and Kara's new bed.  This is a kid-friendly bunk bed that Matt and I were considering and once Ainsley and Kara saw it (at IKEA) there was no turning back.  Their eyes lit up in the IKEA showroom like nothing we had ever seen before!  So, alas we now have bunk beds.  (Ainsley sleeps on top!)

It has been raining a TON here lately and we decided not to attend the American Association picnic on Saturday celebrating July 4th because of the rain.  So, Sunday we headed to the American Club for the closest thing we could find to celebrating the holiday.  Lots of swimming, but no fireworks :-(

Ainsley is sporting a swim cap because her hair is turning green from the chlorine.

Check out the Diamond family with no high chairs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After swimming and lunch we headed to the free cupcake area.  Ainsley quickly and quietly took as many as she could, while I was focused on Kara (you'll see why below)...

Love the expression Ainsley has while she looks at the American flag.  "Ugh, what is this?!?!"

Kara thoroughly enjoyed the blue cupcake, but notice in the background Jack is eating his to-go cup of french fries.  He can't be bothered with cupcakes.

This was cute until about five hours later when it came back up...mixed with spaghetti and grapes.  (When we were cleaning up the puke Ainsley says, "Why is this blue, is this from that cupcake earlier?" Smart girl!)

Check out Kara...not in diapers!  WOO HOOO!  She is still wearing pull ups about half of the time, but progress is good!  (By the way, Jack is no where close to getting out of diapers.)