Farewell Playgroup...

Our Thursday playgroup has been a highlight for me and the kids ever since Hunter was about 9 months old! Not only did it provide us with friendship and playmates, information and inspiration -  it also provided me with an outlet to connect people to each other and exercise hospitality - two things that I realize God has placed in me to work out his love. Without this opportunity, I probably would've been a bit unhappy or felt unsatisfied during my life as a mom in Taipei. I believe we each have our own unique personalities, gifts and talents and that when we don't exercise those giftings we can just feel a bit 'off' or 'purposeless'. Well, facilitating this group was a blast and I really enjoyed the ladies and children who have been part of our lives through it.... so this was going to be a somewhat sad good-bye for me. On the last Thursday in May, we met at our apartment building for our last Hoorah! It was an all out madhouse since it did rain a bit... but what's that in Taipei - we expect it?!? We did get outside for some of it... We had a pizza party with enough food to feed an army... plus all the fruit and snacks... (and my attempt to have the kids make icecream by kicking a can around with all the ingredients - total flop! but fun to watch). WOW... we made a bunch of noise (and mess) in our lobby, but one of the residents thought it was so cool to see so many moms and kids gathered that she brought down some treats for the kiddos... how generous (this was after we were asked to move from our side of the foyer because we were too loud). The kids rode their bikes - inside and out... and then Cynthia presented me with a super cool scrapbook made by the moms as a memorial to our times together!!! Really, super touching and such a great present...

Rachel and her two - Micah and Caleb - braved the commute to say good-bye...

It was Michael's birthday too, so Hunter and Hilo wore their matching shirts (unfortunately Mikey's too far up the slide to notice his is the same) in honor of their buddy!

Then we just had to try... we had to try to capture one last large group photo of the kids... oh baby, what a process...

If anybody actually got a good one, I'd love a copy... but anyway - we can see most of our friends somewhere on the slide!!!

Suzanne made a non-birthday Thomas cake for Michael and Hunter... I think Hunter wants something like this for real on his next birthday - we'll see if I can muster up the guts to try...

After the mess was tidied up we made it back outside for a bit more steam burning... Ellie, Tilly and Hunter found a slice of nature in the big city - caterpillars!!! Just keep it off your skin... you may get caterpillar dermatitis!!! (Really, I got something itchy called that on my tummy last year, the doc said some caterpillar fuzz must've got in my laundry... yikes!!! And that was from the 7th floor of an apartment... what will happen on the NZ laundry line!?!?)

Farewell, Conrad... enjoy Taipei!!!

Thursday - Playgroup aka "Zoo Crew"

Last Thursday we hit the zoo with our playgroup for possibly our last zoo trip in Taipei!!! And oh what a crew!!! Though we all had a different pace, somehow we managed to stick together for the majority of our stay... which made it more fun.

I finally managed to get my camera out once we made it to the penguin enclosure... we actually took a pit stop here to refuel on lunch or snacks while the kids ran amuck on the hillside with the penguin manequins... they had so much fun playing up there I wondered why we hadn't let them before... until I saw the sign that said fairly clearly "No Climbing" - oops! That's why...

Every other Thursday has been our Playgroup schedule for a while and it has definitely been one of the highlights of my experience in Taipei since having the kids... it's been a blessing to do motherhood with these other ladies!!!

Playgroup Buddies

We've been part of a playgroup here since Hunter was about 10 months old... a lot of  moms and kids have come and gone (transient ex-pats, you know) - but we're thankful for these opportunities to make new friends, try new things and frankly, get out of the house!

Before they moved, we met at Lily's house where the boys practiced the fine art of sharing...

and resourceful ways of play...

while the moms "rummaged" through out-grown clothes and toys we'd brought to share. It was a fun afternoon and we even got to pray together. What a blessing to have friends who share their homes, hearts and stuff.

One week we even joined up with another Playgroup with some familiar faces... Hugh found this elderly man to be quite sympathetic to his love of transportation, but I think Helena may have tested his patience.

As a rainy day zoo alternative, a bunch of us met at the Taipei Puppetry Center... it was the first time for all of us (probably the last for most of us until our kids get older or better at Chinese) - but the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Hunter and Hilo were putting on a shadow-puppet show... that poor little puppet made the rounds through all the kids and I think broke it's arm... yikes!

There were a few other things to play with...

well, enough to inspire the boys to their own puppet show... which turned out more like peek-a-boo!!!

Thankfully we've got another few meetings to get in some last month playtime with our buddies!

Happy Easter

Easter has already come and gone ... but it didn't pass uncelebrated, you can be sure! On Thursday, April 1 our apartment was buzzing with excitement as 19 kids and 16 adults decorated eggs, sang songs, heard the Easter Story, made baskets then went outside to hunt for eggs and eat a dinner's worth of snacks!!! Phew... it was a blast and Hunter still recognizes "Aaaaaaleeeeeluuuuuuuuuia!!!!" as "our Easter song" when he hears it on his cd. Thank you, everyone for making it a special occasion!

You'd be surprised to know that the decorating portion went off with very minimal mess...

Prudence and Jay - working out their color schemes.

The colorful lot

Kristie & Vicky led the kids in singing a couple classic Easter songs - "Christ the Lord has risen today... Alleluia" and "Rejoice, Rejoice"... the kids got into it (more than the photo shows).

Then they told the story of Jesus' death and resurrection with the help of some really cool graphics they'd put together...

Next it was on to 'craft time' where the kids made Easter baskets with pipecleaner handles and decorated them with heaps of stickers... thanks Karen & Cynthia!

Tupe & Telesia came over to join the festivities and check out our house as a possibility for them to move to when she takes over Tony's job in June.

Conrad & Rita were pretty pleased with their baskets.

"Look up just a little higher..."

I think colored eggs are just so cool looking, don't you?!?

Lorelai's eggs looked just as dainty in the basket as she looked in her Easter dress,

but I think her sister, Eries, had the right idea skipping the egg hunt in favor of the snack table...

and Tilly enjoyed the fruits of her find!

Happy kids equal happy moms... and vice versa!!! I think we all were particularly happy to be able to celebrate such a special holiday together.

Organized Chaos and Meaningful Memories

What do you get when you cross 14 women & 19 children (under 5) with songs, puppets, crafts and sugar??? You got it - Organized chaos and meaningful memories - PLAYGROUP CHRISTMAS PARTY!!! It all went down on Wednesday, December 23rd...

The party began with a couple Christmas songs led by Vicky & Cynthia. They had prepared cues to the song "Joy to the World" and the kids each had a noisy instrument (or soon took one from another child which meant some kids had more than one) ... with that much enthusiasm, you better believe it was indeed noisy! But... the Bible tells us to make a 'joyful noise' to the Lord, eh?!?

Next we set up a puppet show stage and the kids gathered together in the lounge to watch the story of the birth of Jesus. I must give a special thanks to my faithful assistant, Suzanne, who had to help run crowd control while holding up the background - truly a multi-tasker!!!

Though the kids were a bit more intrigued with how the puppets were getting up on stage and who was back there controling them - at least the story was told and seeds are planted. I hope that these types of experiences will build a foundation for our children to learn more about who Jesus is and how much he loves them... these are the meaningful memories I want to facilitate for my children and their friends.

And what's a Christmas party for kids without some kind of craft? Kristie came up with a perfect one for this age/stage... star ornaments!!!

All the kids had to do was choose colored triangles then glue them to the points on their stars... next we took their photos and glued them in the middle... poor ole Kristie spent her Christmas lead-up cutting stars & triangles, but it was worth it... the kids enjoyed it! Hunter decided his would be best all in blue!

Thankfully the weather warmed up a bit from earlier in the week so we were able to go outside to burn off a bit of energy. While Tony was printing the photos for the ornaments (yeah, he was actually home sick - which is how I feature in so many photos), the kids were running around the playground consuming sugary snacks. Having snack time outside was the way to go... a whole lot less mess for me to clean up in the house!!! Besides, the kids LOVE being outside together!

Karen & Lily are two new friends I've met this year - like the others,
I'm very thankful that God has blessed me with these ladies and their kids...

Merry Christmas to all of our playgroup friends!!!

A Spontaneous Streak...

Strangely, the first couple of weeks in December were left unplanned... no doctors appointments, no scheduled playdates... basically I'd wake up in the morning and ask Hunter "what should we do today?" and then we'd either do it or not... and you know, it was great! I think because I'm usually such a planner - you know the kind with list upon list of things that need to get done, people you want to see, projects you want to start - that there was something somewhat freeing about not having to go or do anything. So we actually got all the chores done (well, the typical things that need to be done for everyone's health and basic hygiene) and had a bit of spontaneous fun...

We went to pick up Tony from work one night and Hunter picked out his Chinese New Year outfit (thanks, Nicholas)... you should've seen the looks he got along the street, but hey, even the kids should get some spontaneity too.

Having already spent a lunchtime watching the excavators (see the entry "Cheap Entertainment"), Hunter wanted to have lunch at the airport... what the heck, let's do it...

Well, of course I forgot about tighter restrictions so in fact we couldn't eat our lunch and watch the planes arriving/departing because you have to have a ticket (or at least it seemed like you had to) to get into the boarding gate waiting area. So we ended up having a picnic outside on an absolutely gorgeous day! This fountain provided a bit of entertainment in between the two take-offs we did see (and hear) from the distance. I think we will go back when it gets warm again... it's a nice MRT ride and this fountain area is quite comfy and safe enough for the kids to hang out in.

We were fascinated by the sculptures hanging from the ceiling in the MRT station...

and the ride to and from has the best view of the tarmack... so all in all, it was a fine little outing... I'm just glad I didn't wait for a rainy day to discover this was not a rainy day activity.

That same day, after naps, we got a call from Suzanne saying they were on their way to the sandpit... well, spontaneously we joined them... and the kids had a blast (playing with their friends and making new ones... it's all about who's got the most interesting sand toys)!

And though it was a stunner of a day, there was a chill in the air, so we moms had our fleeces on while our kids were barefoot in the sand.

Since we've been talking up our trip to NZ, Hunter kept asking about going camping... so I decided to let him 'practice' by taking our tent out to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall park. Again, I packed up a lunch, some books and a couple of toys and we walked over to the park ready for a big adventure. The kids played with the other local kids nearby and then we decided it was time for lunch. Hunter could've stayed in his tent all day... Helena, however, wanted nothing to do with being restricted inside... she's an intrepid explorer. I even had to zip us in at one stage, but I was sweating up a storm (isn't it supposed to be winter, you're wondering?) so that was the end of our camp out...

but we had fun on the walk home taking pictures at the Yahoo! display near NYNY.

That is one other perk about living in the city, there's plenty of marketing bits and pieces that keep the streets interesting.

Hunter did not want to sleep in his room... in fact, he seemed to be refusing to sleep at all until I ignored him long enough that he just fell asleep on the office floor while I was working on something (not this blog)...

Our unscheduled streak finally ended on Thursday with our regularly scheduled Playgroup... thanks ladies for giving me something to look forward to and actually get back to the reality that there are timeframes in life... worthwhile ones at that!