I think I mentioned before that Scarlet joined a ballet class. She loves it. It's been really really great. Brighton always falls asleep on the way, so I leave him in the car with the driver and Marius and I hang out with other Mom's for an hour and no one knows what happens during class . . . but a friend of mine snuck some pictures recently and how cute are they? ADORABLE!!!!

She absolutely loves it. I don't even walk her to class, she just runs down the hallway (it's at a gym) and comes out when she's done. She's become SO GROWN UP the last month. Our entire time here we've struggled so much to find friends for the kids, because they're all in preschool until about 4pm, but somehow she's suddenly got loads of friends and it's really great. We all met at a park yesterday and they were all running around on the bouncy house, screaming with delight. I love that she has friends. She left some really good ones in DC and it was so hard, not having any here. Now she finally has a great group going and we're going to leave! Oh well. Tis the life we lead!

On the left is Theresa, Scarlet's very good friend from Germany. She didn't speak a word of english 2 years ago, when we met. And now she's completely fluent. It's been amazing to witness! After Theresa is Emily, a new friend- but Scarlet and her seem to just love each other.

Little Marius. He has grown up a lot as well. He's nearly walking, taking little steps here and there. He is so STABLE!!! He has changed in that he's suddenly gotten very LOUD. He has no problem letting us all know that he is annoyed. He'll just whine on the floor in the loudest cries- though crying isn't the right word. He's not CRYING . . . he's just LOUD LOUD LOUD. It really gets to my eardrums sometimes. Oh man, and he does not like driving in the car these days. He DOES cry in that department. It is not fun. All my old tricks don't seem to work anymore- bread to munch on, pacifier, toys- all to no avail. He just cries pretty intensely on those rides home from the park. Sigh . . . no fun.

 He's getting better at eating real food, but I'm pretty lazy about giving him any. It just takes so much longer! I can't seem to spare the extra time I know it will take. 

He makes mad dashes for the fridge any time it opens and has managed to spill yogurt all over the floor a couple times. He LOVES climbing up the stairs and he definitely thinks the toilet is pretty cool. 

He's joined Scarlet in loving to hang from things. He and Scarlet man- they just have muscles in this department. It's pretty funny to watch- but he loves it! Just like Scarlet did when she was a baby.

We are getting ready to go to Manilla. We pack out in a week. I'm trying to cook up the last of our food to freeze and keep adding to the lists hourly. We're gonna be without our stuff for 3 weeks! That's a long time! No tv! Not more than 4 plates and 4 forks! We'll be fine. I'm so glad it's spring and we can play outside. That will make life a lot easier- though I suppose all our outside toys will be gone too! It will work out. It definitely makes the end a breeze- nothing to worry about for 3 weeks. Just pack up the last night and go. I am NOT anxious for the flight with Marius. He cannot hold still. He is always busy. He will be impossible to keep entertained on the plane. At least the older ones keep happy with the movies- that's good.

We finally found out we have a POOL in Manilla! We haven't seen any pictures, but am told we're in a really nice house in a really nice gated community. We looked up our address on googlemaps and can see restaurants and gyms and all these businesses we RECOGNIZE!!!! It's so exciting! We really just keep getting more and more excited. I am worried we'll be so excited it will all be a let down when we arrive- I really hope not. I'm just so excited about the english, and that we'll be in summer clothes year round- everything will be year round- food, activities- nothing will change- though I suppose there is a typhoon season . . . that might change things . . . so much to see. We'll find out when we get there.

I think I already mentioned that we got a new driver. He has been awesome and makes me realize how ripped off we were with our last one. Now that we're leaving it seems like life has finally settled into a place we really like! The kids and I finally have a routine that works really well and Scarlet finally has friends. I do Zumba 3 times a week and we went from hardly doing a thing- wishing life was different- to having lots to do and friends to do it all with. Life has just been so much better lately. I'm happy we can enjoy our last days here, but it's sort of a bummer it took so dang long to get here! Oh well, we'll hope for a quicker transition in Manila.