Why I love having little girls

A couple days ago me and the girls had a beauty shop where I painted their toes pink. I got the idea to take a picture of all three of our feet together, and I was able to take one shot before Maggie shoved AJ to the floor resulting in screams and time-out. So much for our girl-bonding. It was fun while it lasted :) Now everytime we pass a pink taxi out here - and there are a lot - Maggie tells me they are the same color as her toenails.

AJ got her first tooth, which is that tiny little white blur on her bottom gums. Yes, my camera sucks. This little peanut has also started crawling and is already getting into everything. She's much more destructive than Maggie ever was... And she looks so stinkin cute scooting around everywhere because she is so tiny. I took her to our pediatrician in the States over Christmas, and she was only 14lbs, 9oz at 7 1/2 months. Which puts her in the 6%. Sorry Aves for giving you the shrimpy genes.

Maggie has been working on her numbers, and has learned the first ten. Which means all day long she wants to tell me a number and have me write them on her magnetic board. I probably write the number 5 (her favorite) 1000 times a day. I was thrilled when today she switched to learning the alphabet. Unfortunately she had a really hard time accepting that the letter "S" is an s, and not her beloved 5. This resulted in Maggie crumpled up on the floor sobbing.

Gotta love little girls!

Welcoming in the New Year

New Years is a very big deal here. I discovered this when the Wednesday before New Years, the New Years party started right behind our house. I cannot emphasize enough how the party was literally RIGHT BEHIND OUR HOUSE. When it started, the music was so loud that I thought Jonny had for some reason turned on some crazy Thai music on our computer as a joke. Because it sounded like the speakers were in our house. I looked out the window and saw that the truck whose bed was completely filled with speakers was parked right next to our wall, which is maybe ten feet from both Maggie and Avery's windows. Luckily some of our neighbors called the police, and so after getting shut down after a few hours, the party didn't start again until New Years Eve. At eight in the morning. Yes, eight AM. And then continued for 24 hours. These people know how to party. With lots of drinking and Karaoke. We were not quite as exciting as we rang in the New Year with our neighbors and another couple in the ward with card games. Our neighbors have this really fun tradition that right after the new year starts, everyone has to be quiet until they have decided upon their first sentence of the year. Mine was, I'm going to eat Swensons everyday this year and be nicer to my husband. Swensons is this amazing ice cream place out here that actually delivers and yes, I already purchased a frequent Swensons card to get discounts.

Anyways, here's what we were up to last week:





Jonny went with his guy friends to some famous waterfalls. I don't know the name of the place, and I don't care since I wasn't invited.

Then I went Ziplining at this place about an hour outside of Bangkok with some friends, and unfortunately, Jonny was arriving at the airport right when we were starting so he didn't get to go. I guess we'll just vacation separately this year.

I continued to try potty training this week, and it continued to be a disaster. I think Maggie's just scared to pee in the potty, or doesn't want to simply because I want her to. So she just holds it all day. We still haven't had any real success, but it doesn't seem so bad because I only have to clean up messes maybe twice a day. Jonny and I decided one night that enough is enough, so after already holding it all afternoon, Maggie sat on her potty in front of the TV. Four and a half hours later, our stubborn little girl finally went, mostly all over the floor, and Jonny and I weren't even in the room to congratulate her. So I'm giving up. On a happier note, Maggie has begun to take an interest in dressing and accessorizing herself:

Christmas in the States

Avery and I went home to Georgia for Christmas to be with my family. Everyone was there except for poor Jonny and Mags who spent Christmas alone in Bangkok. Flights were just too expensive for us to all go :( The flight was okay. About as good as any 26+ hour trip can be. I don't know if other passengers feel this way, but by the end of any really long flight (anything over 8 hours), I am seething with hatred for everyone around me. For talking too loud or leaving their light on the whole flight or the worst - for taking up our entire shared armrest and actually spilling their body mass into me and Aves' seat. During the flights I would think to myself, this is ridiculous, I'm never flying again. Then about 2 hours post-trip I'll start thinking, that wasn't that bad, what was the big deal. So yes, I'm already planning my next trip back. I love you Dad
You guys too.
Me and the sibs played lots of Mario Kart. Oh, and I was undefeated. Just a testament to how much time I've wasted playing video games.
Playing Hand and Foot - our new family game.
Snuggling in bed watching a Christmas movie.

Sneaking away for a minute to hang out with friends - I hardly saw anyone though since I was only there for a week and so I just mainly had lots of family time. So don't be offended if I happen to have a friend who reads this and didn't see me!

When I got back, Maggie got another Christmas with all the loot I brought back from the States. She's very into Princess stuff right now.

I'm also attempting potty training right now. Which isn't going that well considering Maggie hasn't had a single success. I'm ready to give up, but Jonny has talked me into trying a few more days...