Project 365: 232 - 238

Day 232

We had dinner with friends and they have some grass, so Asher rolled around in it. A week later we are still getting over a rash.

Day 233

Roger taught Asher how to dunk an Oreo. We thought it would change his life. He didn't seem to care too much about it, but he was sort of upset that his fingers got dirty.

Day 234

A close up of the pillows on our bed. Love them.

Day 235

Jack wanted to drink out of a cup with no lid. I wanted him to drink his milk out of the box. I guess you could call this a compromise.

Day 236

Nothing beats a popsicle on a hot afternoon.

Day 237

Now that we have a car and for the first time in 6 years live on a street that doesn't flood, I actually like rainy season.

Day 238

Roger and Asher went out on Saturday morning to run a few errands. While walking near Starbucks, Asher said, "Well...actually now I am hungry and thirsty." Nothing better than a morning out with daddy.

Project 365: 225 - 231

Day 225

Asher made a card for me at school and Roger supervised a little bit of finger painting at home and I had a wonderful Mother's Day.

Day 226

We went to the park since it was a holiday and there wasn't too much traffic. The boys played hard and then got tired a long way from the car, so we had to improvise and make our own double stroller. Now this is their favorite thing to do with the stroller.

Day 227

Some friends shared a little secret with us: real milk has come to Bangkok. All of you in Asia can be jealous because we made a cake and washed it down with milk that didn't have that uniquely Asian flavor to it. Of course, I am too embarrassed to admit how much we paid for a half gallon or to admit how far we had to drive to find the grocery store that carried this milk, but wow, it was pretty amazing to have a cold glass of milk.

Day 228

So, evidently, Asher has pictures made at school recently. And they dressed him in a three piece suit. This is by far our favorite picture, but there are 16 other poses that make me giggle every time I see them.

Day 229

I think we accidentally adopted a kitten. Well, the boys did. I am trying to have nothing to do with it, but I still end being the one that has to go buy it food and rescue it when the mean neighborhood cats chase it under the car.

Day 230

The baby was sick, so Asher decided he would fix it...by beating it with a hammer. Jack cheered him on while he beat the snot out of the baby doll and declared it healed.

Day 231

We have a lot of picnics on the floor because certain 1 year olds tend to eat a lot more when they get to sit on the floor. Actually this particular 1 year old eats best if you just let him roam around and then shove food in his mouth while he is playing. I think it's ridiculous, but all of my neighbors are proud of me for finally feeding Jack the Thai way.

Project 365: 218 - 224

Day 218

Sunday dinner. Obviously not cooked by me. Shh, don't tell, I never do.

Day 219

Asher and his Kia Dog were having fun playing dress up before bed.

Day 220

I had my very own little helper unload the washer for me. Unfortunately, he reloaded it as soon as he was done. And he pushed all the buttons on the washer and made it stop mid-cycle at least 3 times last week.

Day 221

The boys were sort-of-but-not-really enjoying the morning commute. Jack was just confused about being woken up so early and Asher was really ready to get to school.

Day 222

It rained after school and I had the umbrella with me. An amazing day. It would have been more amazing if Asher was taller or hadn't insisted on carrying the umbrella himself.

Day 223

Such a handsome boy! He got all dressed up for his school program and even decided to wear his watch.

Day 224

Sometimes we make Jack angry. I think we suggested he eat dinner. Perhaps we implied that if he wanted anything at all for dinner he better just eat that spaghetti. I felt like I was living life with the Honest Toddler.

Mother's Day 2012 (Thai Style)

Thailand knows how to do Mother's Day. It's a real holiday, like with no work and no school. It's celebrated every August 12, the day of the Queen's birthday. I think every school has a big celebration in honor of the Queen and also to honor all of the mothers in Thailand.

Asher was old enough this year that he was part of his school's program. Roger and I sat through two hours of the older kids dancing and singing in order to see Asher's class sing a song. Totally worth it.

Asher did a great job singing, but couldn't quite bring himself to do any of the hand motions or dancing. He gets it honest, us Hampton's just don't dance.

It was like a swarm of paparazzi when Asher's class took the stage. I found a place on the side of the church where I could stand on my tip toes and mostly see Asher. Roger pushed his way to the front to take pictures, but often found his view blocked by all of the people filming the performance on their iPads.

Don't worry, professional video coverage of the event will be available on DVD next week.

After Asher's class sang their song the whole school got up together to sing a Mother's Day song in Thai, Chinese and English (the three languages they study at school). Asher tore it up on the Chinese and English songs.

Afterwards we skipped out on the post-program rice and headed to McDonald's to celebrate Asher's first public performance. On the way we stopped to take a few more pictures.

I felt quite celebrated except for the fact that Asher told me that my Mother's Day card was for Daddy and my Mother's Day flower was for him. I asked him what I was going to get and he just said, "I no understand that" and went back to driving his cars.

Project 365: 211 - 217

Day 211

It's hard being the littlest guy. He knows all of the yummy drinks are up there, but he just can't quite reach all the way up there.

Day 212

Our neighbor's banana tree is growing right into our yard. Would it be wrong to slip out there in the dark and slice down a bunch of bananas? Asher is fascinated by them and we have to go over there several times a day to see if they have gotten bigger.

Day 213

One of Asher and Jack's friends made me my very own Angry Birds game. He explained that I just needed to draw a dotted line leading to where I wanted the bird to go, then erase the bird I shot and draw in a new one when I wanted to shoot again. A very low-tech approach to Angry Birds.

Day 214

I am very much enjoying my days at home with Jack. He just loves to play and play and then crash on the couch with me and watch a movie.

Day 215

Jack is following in Asher's footsteps by being absolutely obsessed with driving cars. Those two spend hours everyday driving their little cars all around the house.

Day 216

Roger found Fla-Vor-Ice popsicles at some hidden store in Bangkok and we were able to introduce Asher to a great American summertime tradition.

Day 217

We sort of decided to finally do something about our mess of a bedroom. We bought a bed when we moved into this house, but haven't really had anything else for our bedroom. A spur of the moment IKEA trip led to bedside tables and a duvet cover. Which led to buying lamps and digging out those wonderful Jim Thompson pillows we bought when we first moved here. Definitely a good change.

Project 365: 204 - 210

Day 204

I was out with the boys taking a nice afternoon bike ride when Asher spotted these little flowers hanging off of our neighbors tree. They were all hanging upside down and the next day when we walked by they were all gone.

Day 205

Mother's Day is coming up, so Asher needed to take a picture of us to school for a Mother's Day project. I looked through all of our recent pictures and there were no pictures of the two of us, so before school one morning we stepped into our magic photo corner and Roger got some good shots.

Day 206

Yummy fish sauce, it's the Thai answer to salt and it makes almost everything taste better. I had dinner with a group of girls to say goodbye to a friend that is returning to the States. We met up at a nice food court and ordered a lot of Thai food to eat while we said goodbye and sent her off.

Day 207

Dirty dishes are the bane of my existence. Everyday they are there and it's like they just multiply when I'm not looking. Occasionally, the dish washing fairy swoops in and rescues me from my misery, but most days I just dream of a dish washer and hot water in my kitchen sink.

Day 208

Asher was all dressed up and ready for something, but I'm not sure what. It was raining after school, but he insisted on putting his sunglasses and hat on so he could go outside and not get water in his eyes.

Day 209

Baths were finished and the boys smelled nice and clean. After they played in the bed for a while they got their toothbrushes and got a little silly while they brushed their teeth.

Day 210

Jack caught his first glimpse of the Olympics on my laptop. Roger and I were reminiscing the other night and remembered that we were on our honeymoon in Thailand when they first announced that London would host the 2012 games. Wow. When the Beijing olympics started we were in Surabaya waiting for Asher to be born. That seems like a lifetime ago.