Setting the Table

Hope set the table a couple nights ago. Here are the results:

Robbie's place setting

Kelli's place setting

Hope's place setting

When setting table

Upside down for others fine

Make own place perfect.

Accident-Prone Much?

Haven bonked the corner of her eye on a door-jam last week.

Then she skinned her knee.

Yesterday she slammed her cheek into the edge
of a headboard.

And today she has a black eye from that slammed cheek... and she
slammed the other cheek on the cement.

Hopefully she grows out of this phase soon. I don't know how many more injuries I can handle, but she is one tough girl!

In The Kitchen Tonight

Last night, Robbie suddenly had the feeling of being covered in spiderwebs. He frantically tried to get them off, and then looked around and saw this...

This is no teeny-tiny spider. This is a monster spider. Robbie tried to zap it with our bug-zapper, but it was only shocked and scurried into hiding beneath our refrigerator. So, the hunt was put on hold...

Tonight I saw it again while giving Hope her bath. I saw it, and then when I turned around again, it had disappeared. So, somewhere in the kitchen tonight is a huge monster spider. I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about standing out there barefoot to do the dishes.

Rollercoaster

Hope wanted to take some pictures "on the roller-coaster."

Her hair remained untouched and she seemed unbothered by the speed. :) She wasn't even buckled in! I guess it's a good thing the roller-coaster is just a photo background...

Fifteen Months

No, that's not a real potato...

This is the best picture that I could get of Haven during our short attempt. Actually, the real reason I was shooting pictures today was because I wanted to document the "owie" on her right cheek. She was attempting to lay down on Hope's pillow, and smacked her cheek very sharply against the corner of the headboard. It bruised immediately. You can't see it all to clearly here because this was taken after icing the bruise for a little while.

At fifteen months, Haven is quite the talker. I haven't even counted how many words she says, but she knows so many.

She is walking and trying to go faster than a walk sometimes, resulting in her first skinned knee last week.

She is accident-prone. Her face has been more banged up than any other part of her body recently. Poor girl. I think she's learning from her stumbles and falls though.

I weighed her again today. I actually weigh her quite often, because I have been concerned about her weight gain... Maybe I should back off on it a little bit. Anyway, she has finally hit the 18 lb. mark for the first time! Yay for weight gain. She's slowly but steadily putting on the poundage...

She definitely has a different personality than her big sister. I can see her own funny, loving, independent and strong-willed spirit emerging more and more as she is growing. Every month brings new accomplishments and challenges. Right now I think she is getting more teeth :)

Fifteen months! My how the time just keeps flying by...

Funny Faces

Go Rangers!!!

In honor of the Rangers being at the World Series and playing what could be the last game, I think this picture is fitting...

Love the shirt with the claw behind me :)

This was our last Ranger game before coming to the other side of the world. 

First Pigtails

This is my first attempt at putting Haven's hair up in pigtails. I think they turned out pretty well. What do you think?

Packing, Through Hope's Eyes

I used to let Hope use our smaller camera to point and shoot sometimes. These are some of the last shots that she took before the camera broke. She took some pictures of our last night in the US at Robbie's parents' house in Texas. These are the best ones...

Labels for our boxes 

Hope's cousin, and our largest bins

Surveying the mess

Feathered Friends

These are our nameless chickens. The two males love to have crowing competitions, at any time of day. This is not conducive to long nap times for Haven. Although I think she might be growing accustomed to their sound. In Thai, these chickens are called "kai jae." They don't grow very big, and they seem to be more ornamental than anything else. They may look like they are fully mature, but they have a little while longer before they are. 

A Couple Moment

These were taken a couple years ago on a trip that we took to visit some friends.

It's good for me to look back and see pictures like this sometimes.

Years Ago

Going through pictures on our computer, I found these beautiful sunrise shots. These were taken in 2005.

Any guesses where these were taken?

Dr. Haven

Haven adjusted her stethoscope and gave herself an injection.

As she gave herself the shot, she said, "Poke."

She must know that this is the way babies take their medicine...

Bag Hat

The girls had fun playing with this bag today. Love the smiles on their faces. 

Umbrella Haiku

Hope and I had an impromptu photo shoot with an umbrella as a prop just a few minutes ago. I decided I'd write some haiku to go along with these, from Hope's perspective...

Holding umbrella

Up so high above my head

Will I float away?

Is there rain up there?

My umbrella is ready.

So clouds, bring it on.

Together we stand,

Ready umbrella and I

To endure the rain.

Rainy season here

Under umbrella I wait

For the drops to fall.

I'm safe under here

I hold tight to the handle.

Peekaboo, Mommy.

Daddy, I will share

this big umbrella with you.

Come before it rains.

So happy to share

Daddy and I smile so sweet.

We love each other.

I love you Daddy.

Bunches and bunches and stutch.

All the so muches.

Some of the words used are invented family words, such as stutch, which means more than I can ever say. Muches is plural for much. Hope invented the saying "All the so muches."