Decorating for Christmas

When you live in 90 degree weather year round, it is a little more difficult to get into the Christmas spirit. But after we returned from Bali, I was determined to get our Christmas stuff out so it would at least feel like Christmas...inside. My friend Kelly came back with us to have more dental work done, and we did so much in a week! How can it NOT feel like Christmas with this cutie around trying to eat the light bulbs?

Clark's Progress Report

We have been really happy with Clark's school and he is doing great. They had their first progress report the end of November and I was totally shocked when I saw how extensive the report was. It was 5 pages of Socialization, Language, Sensorial, Math, Computer, Pre-writing/writing, Art, Manipulations, Music, Practical Life, Physical Education, Science, and Social Science evaluations. It was awesome and I can only imagine how long it took his teacher to fill this thing out for each of her 10 kids. They pretty much have Clark pegged, which is no surprise since what you see is what you get with Clark. There is no wondering or guessing about what is going on in his head because he just lays it all out there for ya. I enjoyed the comments made by his teacher, who is Indonesian. My random thoughts and comments are in parentheses:

Clark is an active child (ya think?). Academically he is a good and a fast learner, for example when he was taught about math for addition and place value, the teacher just taught him twice and Clark quickly understood it. Clark has very good memory ability (yeah like he always remembers when I last got mad about something...awesome). He often thinks rationally, if there is something that he thinks is irrational, he will protest against it (Mom, I should only have to go to bed if I am tired...and I'm not). For example, one of his friends said that he was a spider, and for Clark it is nonsense so he told his friend that he was not a spider and this caused a quarrel. (Is it bad that I actually think Clark was just picking a fight with this kid? Clark does imaginative play ALL the time, so I am not quite sure what that is about, although I do think Clark generally thinks pretty rationally...gets it from his dad). Clark is not able to accept being defeated in a game or activity (gets it from his Mom...sorry). He does not want to get the role of the antagonist in a drama class i.e. Troll in the Bill Goats Gruff. (Dude, I'm with Clark. Who wants to be the troll yo?) These disappointments will cause anger and tears. We're working with him on handling disappointments. (We just tell him to man up at home. Is that....not...good?) Clark is basically a good child at heart (Yes, yes he is...shhh...he gets it from his mom ;-), he can make Rebecca laugh by making funny faces to her and he makes her happy (gets it from his dad).

(Rebecca is a girl in his class who has downs syndrome.)

I have started teaching Clark to read, and the teachers at school suggested putting him in an after school class that will help him learn since they felt he was really ready for it and I declined because I just really want to be the one to teach my child how to read. We have a great time with it and he is doing really well. I don't worry at all about him academically starting school next year. For Clark it will always be the socialization aspect that we will have to keep an eye on. He is so full of life and fun, but it can be a little (or a lot) 'in your face' at times (I have no idea where he gets that from ;-). But the teachers say all the kids get along great now after the first month or two adjustment period.

Clark also had his end of year school play the beginning of December. It wasn't Christmas themed, but it was darling and the kids were all super cute. Clark got to play a bird and the human king (there was a bird king too). I also got pegged by the teachers to be a part of a traditional Indonesian welcome dance that three of the teachers were going to perform at the beginning of the performance. It was actually a lot of fun, and my neighbor video taped the whole thing and then proceeded to show it to half my neighbors, without me being there and not ever having seen it. Nice eh? I am still trying to get a copy from her and if I do, I will have to view it first before I decide whether I want it on the blog!

Bali Round Up

The last days in Bali were spent on the beach and in the pool and taking rides on the motorbikes around the area. Tanner was in charge of getting Audrey dressed in her swimsuit one morning and he brought her to me and said "Could this be right?"

(yeah, maybe if she was a wrestler!)

Sunday was Clark's birthday so we had to do a little celebrating. We had seen a Bakery near our Villa so we stopped in on Saturday to see if we could order a cake for him. They had amazing Batman cake toppers so we scored pretty big on that account. However, the actual cake tasted like moth balls, but Clark didn't seem to care since he just loved the Batman part of it all. The funny story about all this is that we had to transport this cake on the motorbikes. Kelly and I were out together but on separate motorbikes. We tried to wedge it between me and the front of the bike, but the second I tried to move, the cake fell and we thought we had completely ruined it. Luckily the frosting just smeared in a few places and we decided we had to leave one of the bikes there and go together on one and wedge the cake between the two of us and that worked. We must have been quite the site to everyone as we were busy trying to figure this all out! The beach was great, and in case you were wondering how a family of five can fit on a motorbike.....

Bali: Day 4

We decided to take a little more of an adventure on Day 4 and go to an elephant safari park. The traffic was bad and our driver didn't know where he was going, so it was a little rough getting there, but once we got there it was fun!

Tanner took the boys on their ride while I chilled with Audrey and took pictures. When they got on the elephant the guide said "This elephant's name is Andrew." The boys loved it! Clark was like "Andrew! That's just like you Andrew!" and Andrew would say "Yeah, that's my name!" They had a blast and the elephants did some pretty great tricks. Afterward, we also got to see some snakes up close and personal, and Tanner got this hilarious video of Andrew unknowingly standing under the snake box. Cue a ridiculous amount of pictures and don't forget to catch the video at the end!

You look like a yummy peanut to eat!

Bali: Day 3

Friday was spent all day on Seminyak/Kuta beach and poolside at the Villa. It took a little while for us to get to the beach even though it wasn't too far away. We just can't seem to get away from Jakarta traffic! Later we decided we should rent some mopeds, as it might be a little easier getting around. The only question now was how to get a family of 5 on one moped? The kids had a blast in the sand, water, and waves.

Bali: Day 2

We got a slow start on day 2, which was perfectly fine with all of us. The kids went for a morning swim and then we all piled in the car and headed out to lunch at Bali Cafe in downtown Seminyak.

The food was good and the decor in the restaurant was really cool.

After lunch, the (big) boys agreed to take the kids back to the Villa for naps so Kelly and I could get in some much desired shopping time! Of course, it also started to rain as we were leaving, but Kelly and I were undeterred. We went in this store called Kids-A-Go-Go, and we found the cutest stuff to decorate our girls' rooms. We also found some other adorable little girl boutiques. It was a lot of fun, and after we came home, we got in some pool time before we headed out for our Thanksgiving Dinner...which was pretty much anything but. We wanted to see if we could get tickets for Harry Potter at a mall, but they were all sold out. But while we were there we saw a Planet Hollywood and decided it might be a decent and easy place for dinner. The kids had a great time, but the food was awful, and I mean awful. At least we got to see a male Indonesian Cowboy band. Yeah, it was awesome. Won't be going back there on any future trips to Bali, but at least we all got ice cream on the way home!

My 2010 Thanksgiving BAG:

Blessing: Delivering a healthy baby and having no post delivery complications!

Accomplishment: Moving to Jakarta 8 weeks after delivery and staying sane (most of the time)

Goals for 2011: Learning the Indonesian language, spending more quality time with hubby and kids, and travel, travel, travel!

Thanksgiving in Bali Part 1

We were so excited to meet our friends, the Crawfords, in Bali for Thanksgiving. The Crawfords were in law school with us and work for the State Department as well. They are currently posted in Dili, East Timor.

We have lived in Jakarta for 6 months and we felt this break was coming at the perfect time. Life has gotten pretty busy now that we are settled (funny how that happens!). Tanner is the Elder's Quorum President in the Branch and I was recently called a counselor in the Primary Presidency. There just seems to be a lot going on all the time, and we were looking forward to a vacation. We were so excited, we were all a little bit giddy and silly while waiting for our plane!

We just wanted to hurry up and get there so we could RELAX!

The Crawfords got there a little bit before us and gave us the grand tour of the place. The villa was great! It had 2 master bedrooms and 2 regular rooms each one for our boys to share. In the middle was a huge outdoor living room area with a dining room and couches and chairs. It was surrounded by water with fishes swimming in it. We also had our own private pool, which, while it made us very nervous having an open pool with 6 kids under the age of 5 running around, we were very vigilant and we loved loved loved having it. The first night was spent catching up with the Crawfords and just vegging out. See these amazing pictures that Kelly took the day we arrived. Yeah, I know....she's an awesome photographer! The boys immediately took to each other again and ran around in all kinds of superhero costumes throughout the night.

Istiqlal Mosque

We have decided to take greater advantage of the weekends and do some touring around the city as a family. One of the first stops we knew we had to make was at Istiqlal Mosque. It is the largest mosque in Asia, which you can read more about here! We weren't there very long, but it was definitely just an interesting visit just to see it. It was HUGE!

I think one of the most interesting things I saw was when we actually walked out of the mosque. As you exit and look up, right across the street on the other side was this:

That about sums up Jakarta. While this is the most Muslim populated country in the world, it is also very diverse, and I appreciate the fact that Indonesia's National Motto is "Unity in Diversity."

Giggles

Clark is such an entertaining oldest brother. Andrew is exactly 7 months old in the first video and Audrey is exactly 7 1/2 months in the second.

Vonage Visual Voicemail

It's that time again ladies and gents for another round of Vonage Visual Voicemails (applause!). Once again the award for BEST Vonage Visual Voicemail goes to Melanie and she also gets the award for leaving the most voicemails. Thanks bro!

November 5th, 2010

Voicemail left by Melanie

Real Voicemail: "Chez it's your sister Mel, caaaaallll me! Bye."

Emailed Transcription: "Sharon it's your sister Ma, call call me when"

October 13th, 2010

Partial Voicemail left by Corbin from Capital One

Real Voicemail: "This is Corbin from Capital One Fraud Protection with an important message for Cheryl Nelson and we need to verify some potentially suspicious activity on your account ending in 0195"

Emailed Transcription: "This is Corwin from capital one of trucks catching up. I'm problem, important message for Cheryl Nelson need to verify some potentially suspicious activity on your account ending in 0195"

October 12th, 2010

Voicemail left by Melanie

Real Voicemail: "The machine is still on Moira. You're gonna wanna call me back dude. Bye."

Emailed Transcription: "The machine is still on Moira. You're gonna want to call me back. You know. Bye."

(This one gets a shout out for two reasons. First, the reason she called was AWESOME! (See my sister's bloggity blog) and second, if there is anyone besides my immediate family who can name the movie that the quote "The machine is still on Moira" is from, you will get some serious kudos from moi. No cheating--which includes googling the quote or any other usage of the internet to find the answer.)

October 10th, 2010

Voicemail left my Jenn B.

Real Voicemail: "Hey Cher, it's Jenn. Just calling to say hi. Hope you're doing good. Anyway sorry, just checking in but I will talk to you another time. See you. Bye"

Emailed Transcription: "Hey Sharon, it's Jen. Just calling to say hi. Hope you're doing good. Anyway sorry, Chuck but I will talk to you another time. See you . Bye"

October 8th, 2010

Voicemail left by Melanie (FYI...She lives in Southern California where they were having record heat)

Real Voicemail: "Dude it's Mel and Dad here. We have a question about mom's hair. Call us back if you're still awake. Bye."

Emailed Transcription: "Dude it's snowing bad here. We have a question about mom's hair. Call us back if you're still awake. Bye"

October 3rd, 2010

Voicemail left by Brianna

Real Voicemail: "Hi Chezzie, it's me. Just calling to let you know that I got my patriarchal blessing and you're the first sister I called."

Emailed Transcription: "Hi Jessie, it's me. Just calling to let you know that I got my pay check a bus and you're the first sister I called."

(included for two great reasons also. The first is obvious, "patriarchal blessing" = "pay check a bus" and second, I was the FIRST sister she called...just wanted to let you all know. oooohhhh BURN! ;-) )

September 29th, 2010

Voicemail left by Melanie

Real Voicemail: "Hey it's your sister and that was kinda messed up. You never called again."

Emailed Transcription: "Hey it's your sister and kinda messed up. They never call and in"

September 23rd, 2010

Voicemail left by my Mom

Real Voicemail: "Hi Cherylyn it's Mom. Talk to you later"

Emailed Transcription: "Hi Sheldon Smith. Talk to you later"

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO.....

November 15th, 2010

Voicemail left by Melanie

Real Voicemail: "I just finished unpacking all the stuff dude, it's awesome. I'm feeling a lot of love for you right now dude. So just calling to say hi and thanks. Alright well, I'll be up for a little while if you wanna call me back. Bye."

Emailed Transcription: "Hi just finished unpacking all that stuff too and it's awesome. I'm feeling a lot of love for you right now dude. So just calling to say hi and thanks alright love me up for little while if you wanna call me back. Bye"