The Little Lowman TRIO in Asia

6 Years Old!!!

2011-08-17T07:05:00.000-07:00

Chloe celebrated her 6th birthday last week. It is amazing how fast that time has gone by. It seems like just yesterday Kristen was waking me up at 11:45 at night on August 8th, 2005 telling me that it was time to go to the hospital. Look at this kid now!

Chloe chose McD's as her birthday dinner. Kristen and I have no idea whether it is a success or failure of us as parents that our daughter chose to have her birthday dinner here over any restaurant in Taipei. It was easy though . . . and Chloe loved her chocolate sundae.

Two days later and Chloe started 1st Grade! Dressed in a cute outfit her mom had saved for the special occasion, Chloe was excited to be heading back to school. She has loved every second of 1st Grade so far.

On Saturday Chloe hosted a Hawaiian Luau-themed birthday party. We danced the hula, had a hula hoop competition, played some water games, and threw water balloons at each other. It was a blast!

6 years old . . . wow!

Meet Terri!

2011-08-03T01:28:00.000-07:00

After the most amazing summer ever, the Lowmans are back in Taipei. I will put up some highlight pics of Hawaii in the near future, but there is a more pressing matter to post about.

The day after we arrived home we added a new member to our family. Meet Terri the Golden Retriever!

Terri is five years old. She is a sweet and affectionate dog who also happens to be amazingly well trained! Her previous owners love here dearly, but unfortunately their son developed a terrible set of allergies at the end of last school year so they had to look for a new home for Terri. We feel blessed and lucky that they thought of us.

Of course this was a big decision for us, but after the first four days with her we know it was a great decision to have Terri come live with us.

Ballet Recital

2011-05-21T06:09:00.000-07:00

Check out the ballerina princess! Sorry, blogger is being a pain and will not let me embed the youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZrSxZhwyQE

Chloe loved getting on stage to dance. We are so proud of how much she has grown up this year. She has gained a lot of self-confidence and independence in Kindergarten. Yay Chloe!

2011-05-16T05:44:00.000-07:00

With the year coming to a close it is the season of assemblies and performances at school. Chloe has her first ballet performance this weekend. While we are excited for that, it will be hard to top the Kindergarten performance this year. Chloe did an amazing job singing all the songs and remembered her line "Say your sorry when you hurt somebody" loud and clear for everyone to hear. Here she is with her class. Back row for the tall kids . . .

And speaking of kids who will not be in the back row for class performances . . . Here is sweet Siena sucking on her thumb. She loves nothing more than to burrow down into a fluffy blanket and suck her thumb. What a life!

King's B-Day

2011-04-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

Kingston turns 3 on Monday the 18th. How did this little guy get to be so old! King's first B-Day present arrived in the mail yesterday and we were unable to get it into the house without him seeing it. Cowboy King and Horsey Daddy spent the afternoon and evening exploring the house. Kingston especially loves his "jacket" because it has a "TAR" (Kinglish for star). Thank you Grandma Jan and Bimpop!

Poor Little Guy

2011-02-27T04:09:00.000-08:00

Kingston and bug bites just don't mix . . . While playing outside yesterday a sneaky little bug got a taste of King's eyelid. Unfortunately for him the swelling only got worse overnight so he had an early morning trip to the ER with Mommy. After a big shot and a couple of oral doses of antihistamines things are looking a little better. Without his front four teeth and a massive swollen eye, he really does look like a brawler.

Thankfully our friends at Nickelodeon knew just what cartoon to show today to make King feel better. Thanks for being a friend Spee-Bop (Sponge Bob in Kingstonlish).

Whoops!

2011-01-25T04:15:00.000-08:00

I have not blogged in ages, but with Chinese New Year holiday coming up I should be able to post lots of pics.

In the meantime here is a cute pic I took of Chloe today after her class celebration (which I was not able to attend because of meetings but Kristen valiantly endured for an hour and half). Year of the Rabbit anyone?

Last Shoot of 2010

2011-01-03T02:03:00.000-08:00

Chloe had one other shoot this holiday break. She really enjoyed this one because they had her wear lots of "princess dresses" and the background was made up of fresh flowers. Definitely a little girl's dream! This was a smaller company so there were only one other girl there for part of the time Chloe was modeling. She loved being the center of attention, especially when they brought out the leaf blower again!

Sorry the pictures are saved as .gifs, blogger would not let me rotate the pictures . . . weird.

A New Household Cleaning Tool?

2011-01-01T04:18:00.000-08:00

Does everyone remember Penny aka Penelope Elope Lowman? We are very grateful that Penny has a wonderful home in North Carolina. We just hope that she is doing a good job mopping the floors . . .

Christmas Holiday

2010-12-28T22:45:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning was a blast at the Lowman house in Taipei this year. King and Chloe were ready to go at 6:30. If King and Chloe are ready for something, then there is no chance that anyone is going to be able to sleep another wink anywhere in the house.

Siena even dressed up for the occasion, and tried valiantly to keep her morning snooze going.

Chloe and her Uncle Ben before she opened the awesome Magna-formers he bought for her. She loved everything she received, but has spent most of her time playing with her new twin dolls courtesy of Gigi and their bunk beds courtesy of Mom and Dad.

King also had a fun Christmas morning. Here is wearing the fireman's outfit while playing the trumpet, both gifts from Santa. That silly fellow Santa brought Kingston three different musical instruments. Obviously Santa does no have to live with the kids after he gives them presents. It is a LITTLE noisy in the playroom these days.

And here are the sisters just hanging out. Best friends already. Chloe is learning quickly how to be a good helper with her baby sister. She loves to hold her and soothe her. Sisi loves it too.

Christmas Photos!!!

2010-12-27T00:24:00.000-08:00

With the Deans visiting us for the Christmas holiday we took the opportunity to have family photos taken. Kingston was coming down with the flu and Siena was fussy . . . other than that it was a piece of cake!

Unfortunately Dad's enthusiasm did not rub off on King.

The Little Lowman Trio!

Chloe and Chloe

2010-12-24T03:13:00.000-08:00

Last month Chloe's Gigi ran into a life-size picture of Chloe at Takashimaya Department Store. It has taken us weeks to get over and take this picture but we finally have it. Thanks to Chloe's G-Dad for remembering to bring the camera to snap a picture of Chloe with Chloe.

Almost as cool is that you can see her on their website also. http://www.kinlochanderson.com.tw/collection.php?page=20

Yay Chloe!

As Promised Grandma Jan

2010-12-21T17:14:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have seen Kristen post these on facebook, but we know Grandma Jan would like to take a look. Chloe continues to love her modeling experiences. On Monday Chloe had another shoot for Kinloch Andersen. When we arrived they immediately whisked Chloe away to get her ready for this dress. They then spent 15 minutes rearranging the entire studio. Chloe loved this "princess dress" and that there was a guy pointing a leaf blower at her to make her hair move.

The rest of the outfits were more typical Taiwan modeling style. But what Chloe really enjoyed was that she had two friends there this time.

Vacation Mode Kingston

2010-12-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

One of the hardest things about vacations is what happens to our daily schedules. Chloe misses the activity and focus of school. Siena misses her peace and quiet. And Kingston loves every second of the extra people around. He parties so hard that he will not go down for a nap . . . unless the sleep monster takes him out when he is not looking:

That happened at 3:30 in the afternoon. No amount of poking, prodding, tickling, or sitting up would wake him up . . . until 6:30. Here he is at 6:30 finally starting to stir:

So what is a dad supposed to do when faced with the prospect of a well-rested two year old at 6:30 in the evening? Take to the bottle of course! A diet coke bottle that is. Unfortunately I still fell asleep before him, waking up only after he started poking and prodding me because the TV had gone into 'sleep' mode. Perhaps it was not my greatest parenting moment of all-time, but it is vacation, right?

Chloe Update

2010-12-15T02:07:00.000-08:00

Chlo-girl has been one busy little lady lately. With school, ballet, homework, arts and crafts, and modeling, I don't know how she can find time to sleep! She has been growing up so much lately it is scary. Her reading is taking off and her writing and spelling is not far behind. She is enjoying her Chinese classes in school and loves to quiz Mom and Dad on things (this habit extends far beyond Chinese vocabulary). Last weekend she was able to do another modeling shoot. She really enjoyed this one and the other kids she got to hang out with.

A quick photo rundown of her time . . .

Modeling before modeling . . .

Getting made up by the "artist" . . .

Hanging out between the photos . .

She also got to visit with Santa!

And make the rockingest Christmas craft ever . . .

But nothing beats just hanging at home being silly with the little bro . . .

Do You Think They Are Sisters?

2010-12-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

Chloe and Siena at 1 month old.

1 Month Down

2010-12-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

Look who's one month old now! We certainly have enjoyed the new addition to our family. The every 2 hour eating schedule could change, but we won't complain for now.

Momma and her kids!

The Christmas Season Has Begun

2010-11-30T18:40:00.000-08:00

Mom and Chloe had a lot of fun beginning the Christmas decorating a few days ago. Things are starting to look and SOUND festive around the Lowman house. Why did we ever buy the snow globe that plays Christmas tunes at an obnoxiously loud level? Keeping Kingston away from this thing is impossible . . . but it makes Chloe and King really happy so we will put up with it.

One of Chloe's favorite things about Christmas is dressing up in Christmas clothes. Check out the new outfit Kristen bought for her!

This morning as we were riding to school Chloe was trying to remember all of the words to her favorite Christmas songs. She asked, "Daddy, what is the song about old sane Nick?" While I still question the sanity of going down through the chimney, we are eagerly anticipating his arrival in Taipei in 25 days!

The Baby

2010-11-28T02:43:00.000-08:00

Kristen took this picture the other night, and I was just shocked at how much Siena has changed over the past three weeks. Sure she is still teeny-tiny, but she actually looks like a baby. We are still waiting to see what happens with the eye color and whether or not the baby hair will fall out. In the meantime we are enjoying her increasing activity and alertness . . . I'm sure I won't be saying the same thing in six months!

Black Friday Taiwan Style

2010-11-26T15:38:00.000-08:00

While Kristen and Chloe did make a COSTCO trip, Black Friday in Taiwan is the exact opposite of the US. Kristen said it was the most empty she has ever seen the store. It is awesome to have a holiday when the rest of the country does not!

We had a great time going to the park as a family. We love having such a great park only a few minutes from our house. But as great as the whole park is, it seems we spend all of our time in one place: THE SLIDE! Yes, that is a concrete slide . . . it goes a lot faster than the boring plastic ones on the other side of the park.

Even Siena was able to come out to the park with the family. Of course she did not get to enjoy the slide, but she did enjoy a warm and cuddly nap wrapped up in blankets.

Chloe's Class Party

2010-11-23T03:26:00.000-08:00

We had a great time last week at Chloe's class party. First the children had a chance to share their stories with all of the Moms and Dads (and little brothers too).

Second the students shared some of their favorite songs with everyone.

Last we had a delicious potluck lunch. Interesting observation here. All of the "Western" families brought pasta dishes and almost all the Asian families brought fried rice. The instructions were to bring "food your kids will eat." Ironically Chloe had seconds of the fried rice . . . that's my girl!

And because no post is complete without Baby Sisi and little Kingston:

Kingston Update

2010-11-18T22:37:00.000-08:00

Kingston had a great week. On Monday his sister invited him to come to the toy store with her. Chloe was super sweet and even offered to buy Kingston a toy with the some of the money she earned. And this is what Kingston chose . . .

Chloe also bought a matching sword for herself. I have a feeling "no sword fighting near Siena" will be a common refrain around our house.

Kingston also enjoys his trips to school for KinderMusik and Tumble Tots, and also because he gets to visit all of his friends. Today he and Tita Cheryl stopped by Mommy's office to say "hi" to his friends. Life as a two-year old is the best!

Weekend Fun

2010-11-14T05:16:00.000-08:00

We are loving having the littlest Lowman home with us. How a five pound baby makes such an enormous impact on a home is pretty amazing. While life seems twice as busy as it did two days ago, we all love watching baby Sisi get confortable in the world. We are making sure she always has clean nappies and a bottle in her mouth as much as we can. Our main goal at this point is to fill in all those folds of skin with baby fat!

And here is Siena's number one fan. Chloe adores her little sis and wishes we would let her hold Siena all day. She loves to "pet" her and make her hair into a mohawk. Siena is lucky to have a sister who is so in love with her.

Saturday afternoon Chloe, Kingston, and Dad had a blast at Chloe's modeling session. As mentioned in an earlier post, Chloe enjoys modeling because it funds her Strawberry Shortcake passion. Chloe is very good at listening to directions about how to pose and where to look, but does not like smiling that much. This worked great this time around as the clothes Chloe was asked to model were mostly trying to channel 80s rockers. Taiwanese fashion continues to astound us.

Acid-washed jeans!!!

This one is for my high school buddies John and James . . . five years old and being taught to make the metal sign.

Don't mess with Chloe.

So tomorrow while Dad is at work Mom is going to take Chloe to Toys 'R Us. Let's hope some new Strawberry Shortcake toys have come in!

Siena Is Home

2010-11-12T02:59:00.001-08:00

It is a happy day for the Taipei Lowmans. Baby Siena was able to come home today and meet the rest of her family. Big Sister Chloe absolutely adores her little sister and wants to help Mom and Dad do everything. We are grateful that we made it through the first day without any "decorations" on the baby. Big Brother Kingston (that is going to take some getting used to) found his baby sister very interesting . . . for a minute. He says "Sisi" very clearly, but found jumping on Mom and Dad's bed to be way more exciting.

Here is the little angel in her own bed.

And here is a picture of the whole family together for the first time. Yes, Chloe is Asian. And yes, we could not get Kingston to stop eating his Sun Chips long enough to take an unobstructed photo. While a new baby changes a lot of things for us, it is nice to know that Chloe and King stay the same!

Now the real adventure begins.

Day 7 - Baby's First Move

2010-11-11T05:03:00.000-08:00

Out the NICU and over to the Nursery!

Siena continues to do make drastic improvements. So much so that Kristen and I were able to hold her. She is absolutely tube free with only the barrier of a little jaundice between her and home.

It was awesome to finally be able to hold our little girl. She is tiny, but packs a lot of energy and movement into her little body.

Check out that dark head of hair! Will it fall out, or is she the Aunt Nadia or Uncle Ben of our family?

Nothing quite as cute as a baby yawning . . . unless you look down at her adorable disproportionately long toes. We are so excited to have her home so her big sister and brother can finally meet her.
Speaking of the big sister. Here is Chloe the super swimmer. Chloe has made huge improvements with her swimming this year. She is becoming very confident in the pool and looks forward to Wednesdays.

Day 6 - Look At Me

2010-11-10T04:32:00.000-08:00

24 hours after getting the tube removed from her nose Siena is off all forms of breathing support. When Kristen was visiting her this afternoon she even decided to open up her eyes and say "Hi" for the first time. It looks like the last hurdle is getting rid of the last remnants of jaundice so she can get the velcro patches (they keep her eye covers in place) off her face. What a kid!

Kristen came home today. She is doing great and the older two are so happy to have her home. Chloe insisted on falling asleep next to Mommy this evening. She was really missed. Hopefully in a few days we will have everyone here.

Day 5 - Super Siena

2010-11-09T04:14:00.000-08:00

Siena, or Baby Sisi as she is known around the NICU at Veteran's Hospital, made two huge steps today.

First the doctors were able to take the tube out of her nose and replace it with the ever stylish CPAP contraption. While it looks more intense then the single nose tube, it means that Siena is able to control her breathes more on her own and her lungs are taking in more air with each breath.

Second you may notice the small tube has disappeared from Siena's mouth. Siena was able to drink from a bottle for the first time today. I was lucky enough to be in there when she had her feeding and there was no hesitation or confusion on her part. The 7 cc disappeared in seconds. The video below is Siena's first time every getting burped. Nurse Fang is delightful joking that Siena did not get enough milk. Hopefully they up the amount tomorrow!

And just in case it seems like we are not talking enough about the other members of the trio, here is King hanging out at breakfast. Smiles all around. Chloe has swimming and ballet tomorrow, so hopefully we can take some photos there.

Day 4

2010-11-08T05:01:00.000-08:00

Siena made more great strides over the past 24 hours. The doctors have been able to decrease the breathing support through the tube down to a low level meaning they will hopefully be able to remove the tube in the morning. She is up to 7 cc of milk every three hours. And she is working on a lovely tan. Most babies in the NICU end up needing some time under the lights and Siena is no different. Perhaps she will end up like her brother with a killer tan by the time she gets to come home.

Because she has her eyes covered to protect her from the lights I did not take any face shots today. Instead take a look at these fingers. Up until now the nurses have had to pin her hands down to keep her from playing with her tubes so I have not had a clear shot at them. Look at how long those fingers are! Can anyone else picture her palming a basketball in the future? Or playing the piano I guess . . .

Day 3

2010-11-07T01:33:00.000-07:00

It has been a good day. Everyone had a good time visiting Mom in the hospital.

Kingston liked the view out the 8th Floor window.

Chloe liked the balloons people sent Kristen.

And we all enjoyed the good news from Siena. Check out these numbers! Her breathing has steadied to 30-40 breaths-per-minute from the 60+ rate yesterday. She is up to 5cc of breast milk every 4 hours. And her oxygen is consistently around 100%.

She had the IV line removed from her umbilical chord this morning, and the plan is for the breathing tube to come out on Monday morning. What a difference 24 hours can make.

But best of all was that Kristen has been up and about, so Siena was able to meet her mom. It may just be me, but it seems that Siena stays calmer and more relaxed when Kristen comes to visit. Babies and their mothers . . . what is a dad supposed to do?

Day 2

2010-11-06T01:01:00.001-07:00

Siena has had a productive first day of life. She is working on her breathing, sleeping, and EATING. That's right, she has had two 3cc servings of milk and digested both like a champ. While her breaths-per-minute rate is still a little higher than the doctors would like, they are happy with the progress she is making.

Babies really are amazing little things. She is only five pounds but is already showing fight/resiliency/determination. She also likes to play with her hands - to the point that the nurses had to pin them down so she could get some sleep.

I enjoy sitting with her and looking at her feet. While it can be a little sad to see your baby hooked up to so many tubes, the unbelievable cuteness of a newborn's foot makes everything in the world seem right.

Siena Is Here!!!

2010-11-05T01:59:00.000-07:00

At 9:30 am on November 5th we welcomed Siena Indah Lowman into the world. She was 18 inches and 5.25 pounds. A little lady with a sweet and peaceful disposition.

As you can see from the photos she is having a little trouble with her breathing, but the doctors have been wonderful and her condition is stable. In the past eight hours she has already made a lot of progress in her lung capacity and strength. We would still appreciate any positive thoughts, prayers, or karmic vibes sent her way.

Big sister Chloe is SUPER excited to have a little sister. While she was sad she has not had the chance to hold Siena yet, she loves her Siena footprints!

Halloween Part 2

2010-11-01T06:24:00.001-07:00

Since all the other pictures are on Kristen's computer (yes, she did delete all of them off the camera after downloading!!!) I will include a teaser of what happened at the Saturday night faculty kids' Trick-or-Treat event. Poor Spider-Man was worn out after a long day protecting the world from evil!

But never fear! Fancy Nancy was out and about. As well, Strawberry Shortcake participated in the TAS Halloween Parade. Those pictures will have to come later I guess.

Halloween Part 1

2010-10-28T20:45:00.001-07:00

Kingston stopped by to visit the Counseling Office on Wednesday after his KinderMusik Halloween Party. Everybody loved the Buzz outfit!

Kingston also thoroughly enjoyed his haul of Halloween candy.

Wake Up Sleepy King

2010-10-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

Kingston likes to play. He plays non-stop at a frenetic pace. It is no wonder that when his body decides to shut down it happens quickly, and often at funny times.

In the living room . . .

Sometimes he doesn't make it all the way on to the couch . . .

After a long day at Danshui . . .

At the Vietnamese restaurant . . .

And almost always at Chili's . . .

The only frustrating thing is that this never seems to happen at bedtime. We need to work on teaching him to pace himself :)

At a K-Mart (or Wal-Mart) Near You

2010-08-19T01:16:00.000-07:00

Chloe had a really fun modeling session yesterday. Usually Chloe models somewhat quirky "fashionable" clothes sold in the Asian market. But this time she modeled Halloween costumes that will be sold in the US! Chloe had a blast trying on all of the princess, witch, and geisha outfits. So if you happen to be in Wal-Mart or K-Mart during the month of October keep an eye out for the Chloster!

Not to be outdone, the little man likes to dress up too. Just try getting his Batman outfit off of him.

Chloe's Birthday and PARTY!!!

2010-08-15T02:54:00.001-07:00

Chloe's two week birthday celebration has come to an end. But what a two weeks she had! It all started with a family gathering. Since this was a Utah family gathering, it was the biggest gathering of all. Besides fun with her cousins, the highlight was the great birthday cake. You will notice that Princesses make several appearances from this point on . . .

Grandma and Grandpa caught on to the Princess theme and gave Chloe the most extravagant arts and crafts set I have ever seen. The upside is Chloe loves coloring, painting, and decorating with it. The downside is I keep finding Disney Princess stickers on my pants and in stuff! I guess that isn't really a downside . . . just an improvement in style.

The actual birthday was a lot of fun also. We started out with a yummy breakfast of all of Chloe's favorites - pancakes, french toast, orange juice, and bacon.

We moved on to presents shortly thereafter. Chloe was delighted by the new baby doll Gigi gave her. Chloe has named her Siena . . . cool name.

To end of all of the fun Chloe had a bunch of friends over yesterday to celebrate and play. Chloe's mom organized an amazing Princess Party with a pinata, a jewelery scavenger hunt, and pin the Cinderella on the Castle game. AWESOME!

Then there was cake! Pink cake! You better believe there were princesses on that too.

In the end, the craziest thing is that Chloe is 5 years old. It seems like just yesterday we were hanging out in the hospital in New Bern waiting 20 hours for her to arrive. From Day 1 she has made sure that we always remember that she is the boss (lest we forget she tells us this every day). She is our little princess and not a day goes by that we are not grateful to be graced by her presence.

King of the Court

2010-08-15T02:33:00.000-07:00

Kingston loves to shoot hoops. He definitely has inherited his father's "never met a shot he didn't like" attitude, as shown with his last attempt. I don't think I ever took it that far!

And I definitely never took ANYTHING as far as Kingston does at the end of this video!!!

Big Girl Chloe

2010-08-04T02:37:00.000-07:00

After two weeks of wiggling and Dad asking to pull it out every few hours Chloe's tooth came out with one bite into a rice cracker. She was terrified that the Tooth Fairy may visit her so we made sure the Tooth Fairy knew not to come around. I have no idea where this fear came from, but she was really sweet about it. So six days shy of her fifth birthday Chloe lost her first tooth. What a big kid!!!

North Carolina: Part 2

2010-07-23T03:13:00.000-07:00

Since American Airlines decided to delay our departure to Utah this morning by five hours (and routed us through O'Hare) I have some time to update the blog.

The kids love the water! One reason Chloe and Kingston love visiting their great-grandmother is the pool in the backyard. There is no better way to beat the 100 degree heat than a dip, or cannonball in Kingston's case, in the pool.

But while we love the pool, nothing can beat the Emerald Isle beach. We especially enjoyed having the Deardens come down to visit us for what we can all agree was a MUCH too short visit. Chloe loved going in the water with Aunt Betsy and Ben, Lucie, and Eli.

Special credit needs to go to cousin Ben though. Kingston usually only spends 30-45 minutes at the beach before demanding to "go 'ome."But after Ben introduced him to the joy of serious digging Kingston happily spent two and a half hours at the beach! Thanks for the shovels Deardens!

And of course no visit to NC would be complete without a trip to Duke with Gigi to load up on Duke paraphernalia. Looks like we are ready for another school year.

We are excited to come see everyone in Utah, but we sure are going to miss all the fun things (and people) we got to spend time with in NC.

North Carolina: Part 1

2010-07-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

Chloe says "YAY!!!" Such is the excitement of being on summer vacation in the States.

The summer started out with a bang. Maybe that would be better called a "boom" or a "wham" when Kingston slammed his face into the ground at LAX Airport. We thought the bloody finger in the Taipei airport was bad (he stuck his finger into a fan at the bookstore) so we were not prepared for the LAX fall. Besides biting through his lip and cutting his noggin he cracked three of his four front teeth. So our first day in the US was spent at the dentist and Kingston came out looking like a hockey player.

You may be thinking that you can't notice anything different . . . and that he looks as sweet as always. Well I would agree that it has not changed his sweet demeanor, check out his mouth when you get a different angle!

"Yikes!!!" On the plus side you should see the streams of water he can shoot out. Yesterday he had a dental procedure at the UNC hospital to fix his other teeth problems. So he now has some bling in the back to go with the gap in the front. It warms his dad's heart to know that when his mom claims he is "a Duke Blue Devil at heart" I can remind her that his mouth is all Tarheel.

When we are back in the States the children watch a lot of TV. Judge us as parents all you want, but Nick Jr. is pretty awesome. We especially enjoyed The Wonder Pets this summer.

Plus, the kids are really nice to each other when watching TV.

We also had some wonderful visits with Great Grandma Winkie. It is so fun to know that Chloe is going to have fun memories of playing and SWIMMING with her great grandmother (pictures to come). Kingston felt right at home hanging out on her lap. We look forward to more pool time next summer.

Finally look at how gorgeous Chloe and King's mom is looking these days! Talk about grace under pressure, she is 21 weeks pregnant!!! It is so much fun to have all this family time during the summers.

More pictures tomorrow . . .

Summer!!!

2010-06-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

It is just past midnight and the little ones and I are sitting in Gigi's basement trying not to wake up the rest of the world. That’s right, summer school is over and we are truly on vacation now . . . as long as we can survive this whole jet-lag thingy.

So what did we do over the past two weeks? That is a good question. I remember a ton of rain. Rain, rain, and more rain. So there was a lot of play at home. As I scrolled through the pictures on the camera and my phone I was realized that while nothing spectacular happened we had a ton of fun! It never hurts that Chloe and Kingston got to have their Mama home with them.

1) We got a new car. Dad has named it “The Battle Van.” You can’t tell me it does not look like the van from Stripes.

And while C & K know that they are not allowed to really drive the car, it makes the best toy “vroom vroom” in the world.

2) Rain or shine we also spent a lot of time using our outside space. I can’t really call is a yard because it is concrete. King particularly loves playing crazy in the pool.

3) Here is another picture of King dressed up like a circus monkey at modeling.

4) Here the kids are just hanging out on the steps of the OK-Mart waiting for Dad to flag down a cab.

5) On Saturday morning before we flew out Chloe did a modeling shoot. She was eager to do this one because she wants to use the money she earned to go to Build-A-Bear when we get to NC. Chloe is really getting the hang of modeling and actually has come to enjoy it. She likes working with other kids. Check out the make-up stylist . . . outrageous!!!

6) And finally here is Baby making her blog debut sucking her thumb.

Because Grandma Jan Doesn't Do Facebook

2010-06-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

King's Turn

2010-06-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was King's turn to give modeling a try. He really liked the new thing they introduced him to: LOLLIPOPS! Maybe we need to rethink Kingston doing more modeling . . .

The most interesting part of the whole experience was watching the assistants putting on and taking clothes off of him. They were not used to working with a kid who has a pumpkin-sized head. In the end though it was fun watching Kingston get dressed up like a circus monkey. Honestly, who would put their kids in these outfits!!!

Vogue Vogue Vogue

2010-06-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

Chloe had her modeling debut in Taiwan a few weekends ago. She was happy and wanted to do it because we let her use the money she made to buy some Barbie stuff. Chloe was paired up with some six year old girls but was as tall as them. She has grown up so much this year it is scary. Time to start working on the post moves and less on the modeling poses.

Easter Sunday

2010-04-06T23:38:00.001-07:00

Easter was awesome this year . . . Dad's timing on the blogging was not. Here are some fun pictures of the kids at church and at the Sinclair's house on Easter Sunday.

Three years ago

2010-04-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

I often forget just how big of a girl Chloe is these days. Check out this post from our old blog in China (before China shut down Blogger).

Easter 2007

What is really fun is that Chloe in these photos is roughly the same age as Kingston is today. Well she is actually 3 1/2 months younger, but Kingston is short so the difference doesn't seem as great. How short you ask? 18th percentile short. But he more than makes up with his 60th percentile girth :)

Pics from this morning and Spring Break will go up soon!

Random Weekend Fun

2010-03-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

No matter what weekends end up being busy. No matter how hard Mom and Dad try they can't seem to stop these kids from having fun! Chloe loves playing at the small park right behind our apartment. Chloe also loves to dress herself . . .

Mom and Dad had their first date in a long time. While our first choice would not have been the Gala Ball, we had a good time. Doesn't Kristen look gorgeous? Chloe loves watching Mommy get ready to go out. And at some point recently little King-man learned how to ham it up for the camera.

But the best thing this weekend was when Chloe taught Kingston the way cool kids go down the slide. Hello concussions!!!

Messy Boy

2010-03-04T16:31:00.001-08:00

Guess who likes ketchup? The sole purpose for the french fry is to spoon ketchup into your mouth . . . at least that Kingston's take on it.

Mom and Dad Love Blackberrys

2010-02-28T18:17:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about living in this day and age is that keeping in touch with people is so easy. Usually when we talk about this we are referring to our families on the other side of the world, or our friends who are literally scattered in all four corners of the world. But one really cool thing about Kristen and I having "his and her" Blackberrys is that we take pictures and send them to each other whenever one of us is missing out on something fun. Some examples include . . .

Two kids goofing around on Mom and Dad's bed.

Chloe's first swim lesson. The goggles did not last very long, but she did a really good job listening to her teacher. She still will not put her face in the water . . . I need to figure out how that trait passed from her Uncle Ian to Chloe.

Chloe and her BFF Ellie stopped by to see Kristen on their way to class. Of particular note is Chloe's rockin' make-up. She is really busy during the hour that mom and dad leave before she gets on the school bus!

Here is one Dad took yesterday in order to keep the kids occupied while in the back of a taxi.

Fun times all around, luckily we are able to record and share them all instantly!

CNY Holiday

2010-02-21T01:48:00.000-08:00

I started feeling guilty over the past week that I never update this blog. Usually I have the excuse that I am busy, but that has hardly been the case this week.

So what have we been up to?

We did a little shopping . . .

We ate food that Mommy usually doesn't let us have!
We had one or two nice days playing outside.
But for the most part it just rained.
So we had to play inside a lot.
But in the end it didn't matter what the weather was like outside because both Chloe and King got sick and took a lot of naps. Lola sure loves to snuggle with Chloe.

We're in Taipei Now

2009-10-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

Did anyone else completely forget that I started this blog last year. Well, now that we are in a country with some form of freedom of speech and no "big brother" stopping you from blogging it is time to start this up again.

The kids are doing great. Chloe is loving her Kindergarten A and Kingston is loving his life of extreme leisure. Sometimes they even play with each other nicely . . . sometimes.

Sorry

2009-05-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry for the long break in posts. China has once again deemed blogspot an enemy to the state so we are temporarily blocked. The proxy server I use to access slows everything down so much that even loading a picture is near impossible. So in the meantime I will just take photos and save them for the day the internet is liberated.

Mother's Day

2009-05-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

There are many reasons why little Chloe and Kingston are two of the luckiest kids in the world. But the top reason has to be that they have Kristen for a mother. Try as I might I have never been able to convince Chloe that I am her best friend. As she defiantly tells me, "No Daddy, Mommy is my best friend. I only have one best friend!" And even though he still refuses to say the word "Mama" Kingston shows with the smile on his face that he feels the same way.

Fountain Time

2009-05-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

I swear two weeks ago we were all still wearing jackets outside. It is hot and sticky now though so we spent some time at the fountains yesterday. The water was cold, but no one seemed to mind at all.

Pillow Play

2009-05-09T02:58:00.000-07:00

Somehow this became a 30 minute activity today. You've got to love kids.

School Day

2009-05-04T17:20:00.001-07:00

Is it just me or is Kristen trying to channel her 80's childhood through Chloe?

Blocks

2009-05-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

Mom bought a new block set for the kids this weekend. Chloe loves building tall towers.

Kingston enjoys knocking them down!

The Weekend

2009-05-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

Three day weekends are great. Even if everyone in the family is a some stage of having the flu the extra day of family time is fun. Here are some smiles from the weekend.

I would like to just state for the record that the bruises on Kingston's forehead are self-inflicted. Unfortunately his "scootching" causes him to face plant often.

Kingston moves around . . .

2009-04-25T03:47:00.000-07:00

What do we call this? We would be confused except that legend has it that this is how his mother moved around when she was a baby.

Kingston's B-day

2009-04-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

The little man turned 1 today! We went out as a family with Hui, Xiao Zang, and their husbands. It was a great day.

Chloe dancing in celebration.

Kingston digging into his birthday cake. His mom thinks this is the first time he has ever tried chocolate . . . yeah right.

Hanging out with Hui at the restaurant.