Halloween

This year, our Halloween was jeopardized by yet another typhoon coming in.  Fortunately, it was mostly wind and little rain, so even though we lost power, we were still able to go out in the neighborhood to trick-or-treat.  The boys have been really into Star Wars lately, even though we haven't let Laird watch the movies.  Having Jeffrey tell Laird about them was apparently enough to spark fanatical interest.  So this year we went with a Star Wars theme.

Jeffrey working on the squash.

Apparently pumpkins are in pretty short supply here in the Philippines, and Sheralie was lucky to find even one.  For the rest, we had to settle for the close cousin, squash.  Sheralie and the kids put together an impressive display.

Princess Leia
The hair provided a nice cover for Lucy as it did rain on and off during our trick or treating.

Luke the X-wing pilot, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Princess Leia

The Broadbent Jedi

The light sabers are in almost constant use, with the blue light saber being the favorite.

Sheralie was a very good looking Princess Leia as well, but declined the opportunity for a photograph.

Friends

Jeffrey is doing a great job making friends here.

Jeffrey and Jacob love to play outside.

Jake also likes Star Wars, light sabers, sports and legos.

Ethan is in Jeffrey's class. He is a little British gentleman

who has spent much of his life in Singapore.

We joke about these two being twins.

It is hard to tell them apart at church or the playground sometimes!

Flooding Aftermath

We have had many questions about the aftermath of the flooding. For us personally, we have only had minor inconveniences, like minimal trash service and increase in ants inside the house.

However, our ward was hit fairly badly. Most families have recovered, but 15 have especially had trouble since they were in one story homes and lost many belongings. The relief trucks from the church came almost two weeks ago during Relief Society and provided blankets, rice and noodles to the families in need. Jeffrey's school collected household donations for two weeks and supplied many truckloads of water, clothing and food to our sister school and a local charity.

Pete's mission areas in Pangasinan, suffered major flooding from the Typhoon that missed Manila. A dam broke nearby and compounded the problems. Many of you have asked how you can help. At this point, sending donations would probably not be timely. It has been difficult for us to find ways to help besides contributing money. As we are approaching the holiday season and many are feeling more charitable, here are some of my favorite charities:

1. The LDS Church Humanitarian Fund

Many Mormons think that Tithing or Fast Offering Funds help in natural disasters and relief aid. My understanding is that they do not. That money comes from the Humanitarian Fund, an often forgotten part of the tithing slip. If you want to contribute money to the Church's phenomenal efforts in this regard, the Humanitarian Fund will provide food and aid to help people throughout the world. For more information, see http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/humanitarian-services/

2. The Sabin Children's Foundation

I have great love for the Sabin family and have been so impressed for all they do. Their foundation has built wells, helped with relief efforts and medical projects in many countries, including the Philippines. I have visited the halfway house here numerous times and seen what a difference their medical clinic makes. For more information, see http://www.sabinchildrensfoundation.org/

3. Rising Star Outreach

Pete and I attended classes by Becky Douglas at education week. She is the founder of Rising Star which helps children of lepers in India. For a small amount each month, you can sponsor a child and basically provide for their food, housing and education. Pretty amazing. For more information, see http://www.risingstaroutreach.org/

Of course, there are many other ways and means to help the less fortunate. Good luck.

Painting

I was reading Mary's blog and realized I haven't painted with my toddlers in a long time. So we had to fix that. It turns out Lucy can paint for hours! And Laird loves to paint light sabers and swords every time.

Caught Pink Handed

Friday morning Laird and I were cleaning the house as usual. After a few minutes, I realized that I didn't know where Lucy was. It was awfully quiet. I had a feeling she was in my room, probably playing with my makeup or earrings. I decided I had better see what she was up to. Apparently two weeks was too long too wait for another pedicure.

I found Lucy sitting on my vanity, painting her toenails. She had also taken off all of the label stickers off of the bottles. I took a deep breath to examine the damage . . . I was astounded that she did not spill a DROP on her clothing. Rather, she brushed all of her toes quite completely and it only took a few minutes to fix up her toes so she looked presentable.

Today I found some smudges on the very far end of the vanity, as well as a neat long brush line. I guess I was too hasty to proclaim that she made no mess, but the smudges were cleaned up in 30 seconds. Contrast this to my other children who have caused call after call to poison control!

This incident portrays Lucy's "do it myself" mentality as a third child who often tries to solve problems herself before bothering to ask me. It also shows her preference to look beautiful . . . I still can't believe that at 23 months old she could find a way to reach the bottles, open the bottle that matched her current color and cover her toes. All without breaking the nail polish bottle or drinking it or even making a mess! Even still, I hid the nail polish and explained that she shouldn't do this again.

Around the House

Pete entertains Lucy by taking her on a "walk"!

Jeffrey loves to play basketball!

He plays at recess, lunch, afterschool activities and at home.

He can already beat me playing horse.

Lucy runs out to the trampoline whenever possible.

She prefers to jump without her big brothers and their big jumps.

Did I mention we like to play basketball?

Lucy looks sweaty in this picture, but the kitchen is not air conditioned. Since the kitchen is considered the maid's quarters, is it typically not air conditioned. Lucy is playing with a mixture of dry rice/ black beans / wheat which she put into and out of little containers for hours.

Birthdays, Filipino Style

One of Lucy's friends at nursery invited us to celebrate his 2nd birthday.

The venue: McDonalds, a very popular place to celebrate birthdays. I have to point out that McDonalds is seen as a really nice establishment here, a place for business lunches and where the employees take incredible pride in their appearance and work. Keep that in mind.

Lucy wasn't so sure about the whole thing, loud music, DJ, etc.

Jeffrey enjoyed playing the games with friends from church.

The birthday boy is in yellow. He seemed rather overwhelmed as well. All three women are some of my closest friends at church. I visit teach the woman on the left. "Lee" (the boy in the middle) had a white linen catered birthday party last year for his first birthday. We really enjoyed it. The one on the right is one of our favorite babysitters and is my visiting teacher.

Laird loved the balloons and getting prizes.

Ronald McDonald came at the end to say hello. He wears a rather garish headpiece here, I suppose to make him look white? We were all served the favorite Filipino McDonald dishes: the children had McSpaghetti, and the adults had McSpaghetti with Fried Chicken. Whenever we order hamburgers at McDonalds, we are the only ones as everyone else gets rice or noodle dishes. They even serve pineapple pies here.

Our next assignment is....

El Salvador!

We will finish up here in Manila in September or October of 2010 and likely take a month off before I begin Spanish and economic training in Virginia for seven months.  The job there is as an economics/commercial officer, which I am very happy about.  We are also thrilled to be closer to home - only a three hour plane ride to Houston, and LAX/San Diego is also very close.  What a relief!