Mason's Birthday Take 1

On June 30, 2012 Mason turned 4!  We were able to celebrate twice, though - once in Austin and once in Sulphur Springs.  Here are some pictures from the first party in Austin.  My family and bff Kim and her 5 kids made the party complete!  We went to an indoor play area (interesting to compare with the indoor play areas we go to in our country) and then to a burger restaurant for dinner and cake.

Mason and Jaden - Jaden is 8 and took Mason  kind of under his wing for the day since it was his birthday. This MADE Mason's day.

Isaac and Reister - buddies (Isaac is 3 months older than Reister)

Reister, Peyton and TJ in the baby area

Me and Kim

Burger Time

the 4 year olds, Liam and Mason

Daddy and Mason

Mason chose Transformers for his cake - but this time I didn't make it, just paid $20 at HEB!

Forgot to buy or bring candles so Micah quickly downloaded a virtual candle app on his phone - ha ha!

I guess the kids all thought that was cool but a little odd in terms of blowing it out

Mommy and the birthday boy

Peyton with Poppo and LiLi (my parents)

the Imaginext Joker castle from Poppo and LiLi

batman car from Uncle Sean and Aunt Jenna

Reister was getting into the present opening too

The sun was shining a little bright so you can't see it that well, but the  restaurant had a great outdoor playground by the outdoor seating - great for the kids!

Attempt at a family picture

The beautiful Texas sunset after the party - we'll miss that!

Time with cousin Tyler Jude

Our time in the states is coming close to and end and I am just now realizing I should get busy blogging before I go back to the land of slower and limited internet access!

Here are some pictures with the boys' youngest cousin, Tyler Jude, the son of my brother and sister-in-law.  Our boys all LOVED him and knew exactly how to play with him because of having a baby brother just about his age.  Tyler Jude was born November 2 (Peyton was born September 28)
These pictures were all taken back in June - TJ and Peyton have both changed a lot since then!

TJ and Aunt Michelle

Sean, Jenna and TJ (Tyler Jude)

Crawling races - this is before Peyton learned to crawl up on his hands and knees - he was doing the "army crawl" forever!

Studio Pictures

Before we left to come back to America for the summer I finally, for the first time, got the boys pictures made in a studio. I have been wanting to do this for a LONG time and finally took action. Actually, I went and had them done one week while Micah was traveling but we went back to look at them after he was back and we didn't like them at all. So, we went back and had them done again and they turned out much better.  Here are some of the best ones:

Last Day of Preschool (You Er Yuan) for Reister

Reister has been going to the local preschool across from our home in the Hazy City since the spring of 2009. Actually he went to another one briefly that summer and then of course didn't go while we were back in the States from November 2009-May 2010. But pretty much the rest of the time he has gone half days 5 days a week at the preschool. It has really been a great school for him. We are really SO grateful that our biggest goal for him in going has been fulfilled - he has learned Chinese.  He can really speak pretty fluently about simple every day things. In September our plan is for him to to be in a Kindergarten class at a local Primary (Elementary) School near our home - still for half days.  Then I will be homeschooling him for the other half of the day.  We have actually already started homeschool and are well into a Phonics program and have started Math as well.
Here are some great pictures of Reister and his friends on his last day at preschool - May 31st

Now I should also offer a disclaimer that local preschool hasn't been without it's challenges. Not anything that the school or teachers have done wrong, it's just been that when Reister has a bad day and doesn't feel like going, he can be pretty stubborn with his attitude about it.  And he would still always choose his English speaking American friends (there are PLENTY in our city) to play with over his local friends. But we have pressed on and it has really paid off.  Although sometimes it has taken him a while to make new friends when the older kids that he liked graduated and moved on to the primary school, or when we've come back from being gone for a while, he has always been able to find a few boys to be buddies with.  Mason will continue on at this school in the Fall and we are very thankful to our Father for the blessing of this school - it is close, has caring teachers and a Montesorri teaching style.

Peyton 8 Months

So I skipped 7 months but here are Peyton's 8 month pictures taken right before we left to come back to America.

I call Peyton my little Einstein because of his crazy hair!  Not sure what to do about it but it definitely gives him character!

At 8 months Peyton is moving - he still crawls on his belly. He can sit up on his own, and even pull up at times to standing.  He babbles sometimes but mainly likes to scream or shout.  He is weaned and sure loves his bottles. In fact, he's not really a fan of baby food but we still try to force feed him a couple times a day. He tried mashed potatoes tonight and enjoyed them.  He is our precious little baby boy and we love him so much.  His big brothers both adore him and love to give him hugs.  In just 4 days he will turn 9 months old and it will be time for another update!