Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The holidays are here!

Saturday night we brought B out with my family for our annual holiday tradition: dinner and a musical. We had a lot of time to kill in between dinner and the show so we stopped by Macy's 8th floor holiday exhibit. It wasn't as big or as cool as I remember it being when I was a child. I was there maybe eight or nine years ago when my niece E was a little one and I think it was even better back then! J said it was the same this year as the last three years so he was not into it at all. I think B enjoyed looking at the display. I wish we could've caught the holidazzle parade but it was just ending as we were going into the exhibit. We'll have to try to get down there another time. A time when I'm dressed warm enough and wearing more comfortable shoes than I was on Saturday!




Friday, November 25, 2011

1st Thanksgiving

B got to experience her first Thanksgiving in America yesterday. We brought her to my in-laws for lunch and football (watching, not playing). She seemed to enjoy the day. We did find out that in Thailand people keep turkeys as pets like cats and dogs and that worried us a little but she was a trooper and ate some anyway! She took photos of all the food so she could show her family and friends and document her trip. I also enjoy taking photos of food sometimes so that's not weird to me at all! Our littlest nephew C warmed up to her right away which is not at all like him to do so that was cute. We drank too much coke and ate too much pie and cake but it's a holiday so it's okay, right?






Monday, November 21, 2011

Bowling

B had her monthly au pair meeting with her group and another group. They all met to go bowling. J got to go along and play on B's team. They both seemed to have a great time and B met some new friends which we are happy about. J doesn't know how good he got it - hanging out with a bunch of cute international older girls! Future J would be so jealous. After everyone left B and J bowled another game and B won. J claims the game wasn't over (it was on a timer so it cut them off) but he bowled one frame more than she did and she still had a higher score so she definitely won. He's so competitive and doesn't like to lose. I guess he gets that from his stepmom!







Friday, November 18, 2011

Host Family

B has been talking to me about some of her au pair friends that she met at school in New York her first week here. Two of them are not in a good match with their host families and are pretty miserable. It sounds like one of the girls might have to go back to Germany because she wasn't able to find a rematch. Another girl, B's roommate at school who is also placed in Minnesota, has a couple weeks to find a rematch. It's quite sad for B to hear this from her friends. Especially since she has had a good experience and really likes us (and we really like her as well!) so it's harder to understand what they are going through. We realize how important it is to really get a feel for your future au pair through lots of contact prior to the selection process. A phone call, video chat (which is what we did - very helpful especially when there is a language barrier), instant messaging and lots of emails will do wonders when finding a match.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Busy days...and nights!

B has been busy these last couple days. The little man keeps her busy all day long and then we've had things going on in the evenings as well. She went with T to watch J play basketball Monday night. Of course she took a photo of J doing the "I'm good looking" hand gesture he learned from photos of B's younger brother and his friends (in Thailand) who are the same age as J.



Then last night T went alone to watch him play basketball while B and I bundled up the little man and went downtown to MCTC's open house to see about classes/credits she needs to complete the education component of her cultural exchange. Unfortunately, she missed the deadline for the semester starting in January but the first woman we talked to was very informed about international students and was able to get away from the open house and talk to us in her office about enrollment and other options from Hennepin Tech - weekend courses that would fulfill everything. So we came away informed. I was excited to get home earlier than expected and get on with the night but of course I took a wrong turn and ended up going the opposite direction on the freeway in the special lane for carpoolers and couldn't exit and when I did exit I couldn't get back on in the other direction. Then when I finally got turned around it happened all over again only then I was going in another direction. It took about a half hour to finally get back to where we needed to go to get home. Oh well, live and learn! I think we're all looking forward to a night at home doing absolutely nothing.

But days will stay busier than normal for B because now instead of just taking care of little t, she will be watching J too. He will be with us through the weekend since he doesn't have school and his mom and stepdad are on a trip.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Monday morning hugs

This is what I see when I leave in the morning...happy t and happy B!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Bald Eagles in Thailand!

We were showing B photos of all the animals we see at the cabin in the summer and when we showed her a photo of a bald eagle she said, "We have at our home in Thailand!" How cool is this?




Fun times at home

B does not like the cold weather very much so she's perfectly content to stay at home with t all day long. They spend their days playing and singing and exercising with bottles, food and naps in between. B also has some time to squeeze in photo opportunities!










Basketball

B and J have been playing basketball at the school down the street despite the cold. They've gone down a couple times and have had a great time. He just started playing for his 5th grade team at school and so we all went to see him play at his first game Thursday. They came from behind at the end to close a big gap and ended up winning by one point after a three-pointer and a free throw in the last seconds.



Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Shopping

Since B is from Thailand she didn't come to Minnesota well prepared for the cold weather that is here...and the much, much colder weather that is to come! We told her we'd make sure she had all she needed to stay warm for the winter. I took her shopping and we found some sweatpants, a long sleeve shirt, winter jacket, boots, hat, scarf and mittens. She was so appreciative. As a host family we do not have to provide that for her but we wanted to. She's so wonderful to all of us and we are lucky to have her and it's just a token of our appreciation. She wanted to take some photos so she could show her friends and family.




Thursday, November 3, 2011

Pooped!

Poor B...little man had a total poop accident today and she had to deal with it all alone. It's hard enough to manage with two people. But she did great. She just loves him and is so wonderful with him. We couldn't have gotten any luckier than finding her. She fits in very well with our family and we all love her. She has nicknamed him her "king". Cute.



Tuesday, November 1, 2011

First time trick-or-treating

We had fun going out trick-or-treating with B and shoaling her how people give away candy if you are dressed up in costume. (Sadly also for those who aren't and a couple kids with a bucket for their "younger brother".) she had fun going door-to-door with J and she was happy with all her loot. Her favorite was Minnesota-made Pearson's Nut Roll!