Happy Valentine's Day

Sorry, but you won't be receiving any Valentine's Day cards from us this year. I actually bought the cardstock to make some more of our homemade picture cards, but I never got around to actually getting them made....partly because I never went and had any pictures developed to place on them (but I did take the pictures at the beginning of Feb, so I was at least thinking about it!!!). So, here was my attempt at getting a good V-day picture of both the boys....as you can tell, it wasn't going to happen! Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day. I'm sure I will - my husband just told me last night that he was taking me out on the town Saturday night....maybe we can make it past midnight this time!!!

ABCs and playing the helpful Big Brother role

Take One: fyi...the reference to "I'm not in trouble again" was due to the fact that he had just been in timeout, on the steps, just minutes earlier for thowing puzzle pieces at Marte and Cooper (this wasn't the helpful Big Brother part I referenced in the title!!)

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Take Two: Still couldn't make it though the entire song without finding something else to say....but he at least completed it for me this time!

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See we do teach our boys some valuable things too!!

And shortly after his "performance", he thought he needed to help feed Cooper....although, Coop wasn't as excited to eat from his big brother as his big brother was to feed him! I'm all for it - the more hands to help with Coop, the better....now he just needs to help him start walking too!!

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DJ EJT

Not sure if anyone has heard this song, it's "In the Ayer" by some ghetto singer named Flo Rida and they play it on the radio all the time here. It has a pretty catchy beat, so we started singing it all the time and shortly after, E picked up on it and now it's his new jam. He sings an abbreviated version of it, but we think it's pretty cute. I'll have to catch him on camera singing some more kid-friendly songs, he does know several of these too...so don't worry, we aren't just corrupting him with horrible rap music!

In case you don't know the song and can't tell what he is saying...the lyrics are:

"Oh hot damn (we say "man" instead), this is my jam,
Keep me partying till the a.m.,
Ya'll don't understand,
Make me throw my hands in the ayer, ay-ayer, ayer, ay-ayer"

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Evan & Cooper - both at ~8 months old - with Daddy

I took a picture of Evan and Andrew just right after we'd moved here when Andrew was on his way to his 1st board meeting in KL - Evan was just shy of turning 8 months old. So I thought it would be fun to have a similar picture of Cooper with Daddy on his way to another board meeting in KL...and it just so happened that Cooper was just about the same age - about 8 1/2 months old. One kid later and Andrew doesn't look like he has aged a bit...I'm impressed!!!

It's amazing how 2 kids from the same parents can be so totally different...in every way - they look nothing alike nor act in any way similar to one another!!!

Now anytime A or I take a picture with Cooper...Mr. I-hate-pictures always has to get in on the action too!! We've also found out that all we have to do to get him to smile is say "don't smile!"..it works like a charm!

Our Little Leprechauns

I know we are a little early for the holiday, but BeBe and Boss sent E and Coop a care package with a few St. Patrick's Day items....and these glasses were E's favorite - he immediately put them on and had to put them on Cooper as well (who wasn't as willing to keep them on, I might add). I don't think they will make it until March (something with a certain little one who still can't understand the concept of "they will break if you pull them apart"), so I went ahead and got a picture of them now. Thanks, BeBe and Boss - hope you enjoy the pics.

Dani, Daniel and Mya's Birthday Party

Cooper attended his first birthday party this weekend and had a great time! He obviously didn't participate in much, but he sure did love watching all the kids run around. Evan had a great time, too! It was at an outdoor eatery here in Melaka and the weather was actually really nice by the water, so we all had a good time hanging outside for a bit. They had a bouncy house, which E totally hated (as you can see from the pic below, he didn't even want to stand up in it), a clown who made balloon animals and played games with the kids, and also a pinata (which Evan participated in but wasn't sure why he was hitting this strawberry suspended in the air!!).

Can't you tell how much fun he is having ;-) with his balloon sword!

He also tried out scissors for the very first time, which by the way he did great at opening and closing them on his own! His initial instinct was to use them with his left hand, but I wasn't sure how to show him how to use them with that hand, so I made him use his right.....I sure hope he doesn't turn out to be a lefty....or else his Uncle John is going to have to school him on life as a lefty!!

I got him to try out the bouncy house, but he wanted to have nothing to do with...even with only one other little boy in it! It was too "scardy" (Evan's word for "scary")! He looks so tiny compared to all the other kids....the little girl hitting is the one who turned 3...but most of the other kids were 5 years old or older. Evan's turn at taking a swingHe wasn't quite sure what to do when the pinata busted open so I had to help him gather up some goodies before all the other kiddos jumped at them.

Looking like a little old man hanging in this chair! He has looked so funny lately because he has been biting his gums due to the other top 2 teeth coming in!Trying out all the big kid toys too!!

Monkey sightings never get old.....

at least not for Andrew or I...and now even Cooper loves them! If he is in his walker, he will shoot over from the opposite side of the kitchen if you ask him to look for the monkeys! He seems truly amazed by them. As for Evan, they are so old news that you can hardly get him to come look at them if he is busy doing something else! I suppose growing up with them makes them just another everday thing!

Can you tell that E has been doing some window decorating with some Cars decals and Valentine's day stickers BeBe sent him!

I think it's this same little guy that continues to be our frequent visitor and he seems to be getting less and less afraid of us. They used to run as soon as we even made a move towards them, and just today (as Cooper and I were playing "catch Evan" in the living room) this same one just sat there as we ran right past him. He occasionally gives us a knock on the door... as if asking to be let in...yeah sure!! So now if Marte and I hear some unexplained noise, we immediately go to the door or windows to see if it's the monkeys and 9 times out of 10, it usually is!! They have been visiting quite frequently since we returned and they are these new monkeys - black ones with white eyes and mouths (quite attractive as you can see!!)...not the little grey ones that we used to always see before. Guess these guys have claimed their new territory because we see them more often than the grey ones now.
I wonder what Evan and Cooper will think when they look back at these pictures - will they think that it was cool growing up with monkeys in their backyard or just wonder what in the world kind of place we had them living in their first few years?!?!?!