Highlights

• A pest free home, rid of the lice.
• This guy turned three over the weekend. For his inaugural address he cried for an hour that night. He took a late nap and slept through dinner. Waking up for our sugar free cake (no sweetener at all, Mary and her friends just forgot to add sugar we think). If I had had that healthy of a cake for my birthday I might have cried too.

• Abe's Thanksgiving apple pie was perfection. You can tell the crust was made by a mathmetician.

• Mary's first WIN in basketball (or any sporting event for that matter).

• Colouring= 5 minutes of peace, 30 minutes of human paper shredders, 15 minutes of clean-up... giving me just under an hour to eat a late breakfast, shower and pay the bills.

• Happy to trade the football pitch for the sports court. Basketball season is now in session and Mary's #1 fans are on the sideline.

• Wednesday: All showered and dressed and by 11 am to boot. Just in time for naps. #humpday

• First water park experience for Moses and Scout- discovered water slides are a bit more than garden hoses on the curb.

• Decorated, undecorated and redecorated the Christmas tree, all since Sunday. Moses thinks the ornaments are to be played with and not just seen.

Qatar and Langkawi

Dan spend the first part of the week in the Middle East, he had a meeting on Oman and went a day early to visit Ammon in Qatar. I'm so glad he went, Dan's thought at he left was he felt bad Ammon wasn't returning too, he's got months left in his assignment.

Dan's red eye got in at 1am and Ammon met him at his hotel at 4am for an early start. Ammon only had 12 hours of leave and he took Dan around the town to see the Grand Mosque and market and then somehow got Dan on base for the afternoon. Dan bought a REAL army hat and Maeser thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Waiting for the flight.

The day after Dan got back we left for Langkawi. Our flight was delayed for 2 hours after we got to the gate, I'm just glad we weren't already on the plane.

It was another race weekend, but this time the children (Maeser, Abe and Mary) all ran in the iron kids race. It was the highlight of their weekend. As is the custom, all participants got medals but you would have thought Maeser got the gold medal. At dinner that night he was asked to give the prayer: "Thanks that we got to race, and go to the beach. Thanks that I got a medal. Thanks for the food. Please help me to get my medal back home safely." Dan and I both peaked at him and began laughing. Good times.

He was generally happy to have the beach to himself, but he really wanted to get on this dock behind him. Which was closed for the race.

Moses was the only one us when the race began.  We hung out on the beach until we thought Dan would get out of the swim. After not seeing him we headed back in, but along the way jumped a fence and there he was! I was so excited to see Dan come out of the transition and start the bike.

Dan raced well. He was only 40 seconds off his PR which was surprising. This race was much more difficult and 20 degrees hotter than the last. This was also the easiest race I've ever watched. We never left the hotel and just followed his race online. The entire island was shut down as roads were closed to support the race. The best way to get around was by motorcycle taxi, but I wasn't about to put the kids on one of those.

On Sunday we got ready for church and found that the local branch had been moved to Penang, an hour away by ferry. Ask we sat in our hotel room for church, Scout said, "This isn't church." Right-o, but the closest we could get. We sang quite a rendition of Come Follow Me and may have mixed up a few verses (I totally thought we knew that one but apparently we don't.) and Dan gave the first lesson in the Come Follow Me manual. (I'm really excited about this new curriculum.)
Our flight back was uneventful except that Grab sent us a bus when we called for our cab.

The bus GRAB sent when we called for a large cab.

The beginning of Birthday Season.

The highlight of this week was celebrating Abe.

(Our birthdays are clustered together. From here on out we celebrate every 2-4 weeks until February 8th!) 

Abe's birthday was on Wednesday. When I asked him what he wanted he said, "A game night with my cousins!" So, many thanks to Derrick and Julie for hosting a game night with cousins while Julie had a horrible cold!

Mary made Abe's classroom birthday treat (rice crispies) AND the chocolate cake that Scout decorated. The day before Abe's birthday was a school holiday so we went to the beach. You'd think we went all the time, because the only photographs I have of my kids are on the beach. But really, it's the only place where I have to focus on them and I can't be distracted by other things. The beach doesn't have wifi or books or work to be done. So, I have to walk around and pay attention to all the small things they are doing and it's actually beautiful.

Dan spoke in church today, he did a great job. Mary called her cousin in the US to ask about family history and reserved her first temple names to take to Manila in January. She is also setting up a family history summer camp and made fliers before church this morning. Love this girl.

Mary's Rice Crispies.

Cake decorating with Scout.

Fireworks instead of candles.

Moses was so excited when Dan finally finished his swim workout!

Trying to work on a different kind of shot. I most shoot the kids and profiles.

Scouter.

Cars forever.

The first family history work Mary did. Merged two records, linked a death record and requested the work for another ancestor.

And then she began organising a family history summer camp and made fliers before church today. (She already emailed the stake family history consultant and is making a list of people who could come help teach.) Love this girl.

Blowing out the candle.

Decorating cakes with Scout.

November

Moses, patient zero over here, has successfully spread a cold to everyone in our house and Sunny and Ransom. Julie is trying desperately not to get sick so Ransom has come over here to play ever since he became symptomatic. They got nervous when his breathing became really shallow on Saturday, but the doctor said it was just a virus.

It isn't so bad being sick with Imelda around. Even when I get sick the meals still get prepped and the grocery shopping gets done. I hope she doesn't catch it.

Wednesday was Halloween and per usual the Woodlands hosted Singapore and Malaysia for the night.  We joined forces with Derrick and Julie and handed out more than 8000 pieces of candy. (We order wholesale from a candy man and ask Imelda and Jenny to hand out single pieces. There was some confusion and some of the candy delivered wasn't candy but menthol cough drops!) Too bad the American neighbourhood can't be known for Easter or Thanksgiving instead of Halloween. Speaking of Thanksgiving- I ordered our Turkey. Yes, it takes weeks to get one and then they don't even fit in our ovens, many families have them baked at the school cafeteria.

The crowds.

But not at our house. We close up shop early.

Last night Dan told the children he'd pay they $15 per lb of candy. Mary just handed me 3.5 lbs. 

I took a class on Wednesday, that morning I was hesitant to go because Moses was so sick, and then regretted going because I began feeling sick while there. Does it seem like someone is always down with something? I spent another evening combing lice out of a neighbour's hair. And then came home to wash my own hair with hopes of avoiding any bugs myself.

Mary's last cross-country meet was on Tuesday and basketball tryouts began today. She would love to be in the school play and would choose it over a sports team, but Dan and I are both hoping she makes the team.

Abe plays lacrosse twice a week.

The beautiful city we live in.

Sunday bread with dad.

Thursdays mean rugby games, juice boxes and naps in the car.

From his mother he gets some athletic aptitude, from his father this thing where he sticks out his tongue when he concentrates. Might be a bad combination.

Hydrology.

My motto this week has been "try, try, try..." Life is good.