JANUARY + FEBRUARY

 The kids put stuff in a box and buried it. It's so long ago now, I can't remember the details, but I feel like we watched something that had buried treasure in it and then they did this.

Marius has gotten really good at coloring and can do it for an hour straight until he's colored everything that is possible to color. He loves it.

The kids learned how to text and got pretty crazy with it- sending all kinds of emojis and Scarlet typing the messages. When they figured it out, they kept telling me to go upstairs to be alone in my room. I thought they were going to do something really naughty, but they just wanted to text me. This is a picture they sent. They are the cutest kids and we love them.


The kids Facetiming somebody. Probably my mother or Greg.

The kids made a DVD player/TV set out of cardboard boxes. They even cut out DVDs and made a slot to put them in. I am always so impressed with my little inventors. They really have so much ingenuity! It makes me so happy that they're so creative and intelligent.

The kids have REALLY gotten into legos. Brighton made all these by himself by following directions  and I was so blown away I took pictures to send Greg. And every 20 minutes or so he'd come out of the playroom to show me something he made, again and again. I love legos. They are amazing. The creativity and thinking that has to happen to make the things that they do. I love it.

More of Marius's coloring. He's very proud. He's really done well!!!

We got a lot of games for Christmas and Operation was one of them. It's been really fun to play with the boys. Marius particular has really been getting good at everything. It's been really fun to play Go Fish and Spot it and Dominoes. We love to play games together, he and I. It's been great for us. I've been really trying to spend more one on one time with him these days. 

 Marius has blown us away with legos too! He will spend a LONG time in the playroom looking at directions and completely build things all by himself! And it's all correct! He's 3! I don't know how he does it. He is so smart. He's made several things. He's also gotten really good at puzzles. Far more advanced than our other kids at his age. It's been really fun to watch him and do them together. He's growing up. I like to think he's my baby, but he's not even close. He's a boy now. Super independent.

MARCH-

Scarlet has had 2 teeth pulled and is terrified to do it. The first time terrified her to ever do it again. The others fell out naturally or were accidentally pushed out when eating. The last time we pulled a tooth, it was dangling and we had to physically force her. She was screaming, clamping her mouth shut and Greg held her body down and I pulled her mouth open somehow and I pulled it out so effortlessly, she didn't cry until she saw blood, then started to freak out, of course. Once it was done and she was calm again, she said she was so glad it was out, but that she never wanted to pull a tooth out again. So we waited and waited and WAITED for these to come out, and it has been painful. The tooth UNDER the tooth in the front- was accidentally pushed out by her finger.

APRIL-

OH this next one has been hanging on forever and it finally came out today. It has been driving me crazy. I'm so glad it's gone. She looks so different with all that space now. She's had the craziest looking teeth the last 4 months. I'm so glad it's over.

So I've been really bad about taking pictures or keeping up with the blog for a long while. Pretty much since January, life has been very hard. It's finally not so hard anymore- but only since April. A lot of really heavy and emotional family stuff was going on back home and emotional decisions were made, and remade and when it was finally all decided and finished it left me completely emotionally depleted. Completely. I had nothing left to give. I had no effort left and was just trying to recover from the damage. At the same time, my two best friends- pretty much the only people I hang out with  and my kids hang out with- overnight, literally the same week got really unavailable and busy. One had to spend an insane amount of time at her kids school, way out of town, every other day- so that pretty much cut out any time we could get together. And my other friend put her kid in preschool (there goes my kids playmates) and got really dedicated and busy with her career. It really sucked. And life got really lonely, and really boring really fast and it rocked my depression for awhile. It was really hard to feel happy when I literally had no friends in my life and nowhere to go- ever. And the kids got really cooped up too and literally had no friends to play with as well. It was really hard for a good few months but I've gotten a lot closer to another woman in our ward and she has one child at home, so that has helped a lot- but mostly we've just adjusted and come to terms with having a really tiny nearly nonexistent social life and we're trying to work around it.

We're also just always sick. We're pretty sure our house is moldy or something is going on that's making us sick constantly. Beyond occasionally getting REALLY SICK, we always just feel under the weather. Like every other day it feels like we're "coming on with something" but then we don't, but we never feel well, at least not more than a day. And it just floats around for all of us, making us grumpy and short tempered and really bored from all the TV because SOMEBODY is sick that day. It's been hard, but it's gotten a lot better lately. So I'm grateful for that.

For MONTHS I've had the nagging feeling I need to get all our pictures and videos backed up and I finally do it over a couple days and before it completely uploads the laptop DIES. Like won't turn on or ANYTHING. So we lost a lot of pictures and videos and I'm very sad about it. I mean, it is what it is and I have all of the PICTURES on the blog- so as long as the internet doesn't crash, we have that forever- but our videos are lost- so that is sad. But at least we'll be better about it from now on. It's weird, I love our pictures. I know for a fact that I've looked and relooked at our family pictures more that anyone has ever looked at a set of picture on the planet. I LOVE reminiscing and remembering and it makes me so happy inside. So I remember them, but at the same time I just look at my kids and think- they are what's important. They're more important than a picture and that's what matters. So if I don't get it all back, that's ok. But I hope that it will somehow happen. 

Aye! It's APRIL 2018 and I'm trying to write about October 2017, so . . . I don't really remember anything. But this is us Trick or Treating with our friends, the Hoopers. Kristin and I had gotten very close, at this point, and were hanging out with the kids each week and developed a really great friendship. We trick or treated in their apartment complex. She organized a list of where all the expats lived and we went to their apartments to trick or treat. One apartment had what looked like a scary decoration of IT (from the recent movie). But it turns out it was really a PERSON that "came to life" when we got near it and it scared the crap out of everyone. I was the first to realize it was a person, but didn't warn anyone. 

The fun part was just watching the kids. I was really excited for Marius to trick or treat- because he was kind of too young before and it hasn't been REAL trick or treating the two years before this. I'm SO EXCITED to get good costumes next year and trick or treat with our friends and cousins in a cute friendly neighborhood where everyone participates. The way it's supposed to be!!!

Scarlet took an old dress of mine and resewed it into a witch costume and the boys were ninjas. 

I think I already wrote about this but the last week of October was when I decided to take Scarlet out of school and homeschool her. It initially was a really good thing- and I have no regrets. But I'm tired of it and want to return to public school as soon as we arrive in Idaho. September can't come soon enough for me. I'm tired of having all my kids home for so long. It's just been a lot of time together unpleasant things to deal with so much of the day, so many days of the week. Life will come together a lot better when we all have breaks away from the house, and alone with ourselves. I'm also looking forward to having some time with Marius, just him and me.

In November, I flew to Idaho Falls by myself to see the house! We bought a house right next to Amy and Danielle's and I went on a trip to furnish it, check on it, and just have a vacation for myself. It was amazing. Amazing to be in the states. Amazing to be in Idaho and remember that we DO love it there and CAN'T WAIT to move there. That it will be so WONDERFUL, peaceful and beautiful. It was awesome to have time to myself. I was having a really hard time before I went and was really needing some time away to just be. It was so great. I just stayed up late with Amy every night talking, and eating chocolate and we shopped and were lazy and just had the best time! If I remember right, I think I was a little sick while I was there but it was so great. It was so great getting to know my sister's kids better, because I've never had the chance to really get to know them. 

Pat and Randy came out for Christmas again!!! We were SO GRATEFUL and SO EXCITED!!! Having visitors used to be so difficult for me, but now that I have my anxiety and depression under control- I LOVE having them come to visit. It is SO much better. A world of difference. We are so lucky they take the time and money to come spend time with us. And it means so much at Christmas time, when we miss our family so much.

We bought a lot more presents this year and Pat and Randy, as usual, but WAY TOO MANY gifts. But the kids had a great time!

I was really pumped this year to decorate the Christmas Tree because I had boughten so many decorations here! I liked it and didn't like it all at the same time. It doesn't look like a normal Christmas Tree and I'd see everyone else's shiny and matching trees and I felt sad, but I like that it's original and much more personal instead of buying a big box of ornaments without much meaning or thought to it. So many of our Christmas decorations are from the Philippines. I really like that we have the memories to see at Christmas each year in the future.

Here they come!

Looking in their stockings . . .

Amy, my sister, made these awesome wooden card holders for the kids. We have used them so much. I put them in the stockings.

I tried really hard to put useful things in their stockings and not too much candy. We put in card games and water color paints, bubbles.

Lorna, our helper, is so sweet and gets the kids a present each Christmas. I'm always surprised at what great gifts she gets the kids! Last year she gave them stuffed animals that they LOVED. This year she got the boys remote control cars and they play with them SO MUCH.

It was fun to use my cloth bags again. I'm glad we have them.

Pat and Marius.

Randy and Marius

Brighton

Scarlet and Randy

Such a great picture of Pat and Randy.

I really wanted to be in the picture too, but someone needed to take it. I think they all look great.

 

Pat and Randy are always so good about spending time with the kids and playing on the floor with them.

Pat and Randy went to Intramuros and took Scarlet with them! I was worried she'd be bored and tired but she had a great time with them. This is them at a restaurant.

We all went to Borocay and had an amazing time together. But somehow I lost all the stinkin' pictures!!! This is the only one- from my phone. Pat playing cards with the kids in the hotel.

The kids went snorkeling and Brighton LOVED IT!!!! He would hold on to Greg's back and dive down with him to look at things up close. We all saw a black and white striped sea snake- that was pretty intense and made us pretty afraid to snorkel again- because it was poisoness and people saw them everywhere. We went to the same hotel as last time and it was great. We saw a really fun Fire Show on the beach, with mostly poi but a little bow staff and other instruments- it was really fun. At the end of the show they asked for volunteers and I went up and did a little spinning of the fire poi my self. I was pretty rusty, but it was fun. Brighton hated how loud it was and Marius was really tired, so the kids went home with Greg early in the show and Pat and Randy stayed with me. It was really great. So much easier than last time. Traveling with the kids has gotten so much better. Everything used to be so hard and every time we go out now, it just seems easy. It's great.