Greg often takes the kids out to the pool (in our backyard) Saturday mornings and this one he set up his zipline! The kids had fun. Another time, Greg tried to slack line over the pool, but it didn't work out as well.

Greg would pull them back and forth with webbing.

I love my Brighton.

Brighton, Brighton, Brighton. Oh man. Sometimes he is just this smiling, happy kid playing with Scarlet, or I spy him playing by himself- imagining and pretending and I just love it. Then he will just be DRAMATIC. When the smallest thing goes wrong- like I put the toast on the table instead of in his hands- his whole body slumps low and he runs out of the room so fast, crying, and I have to go console him. This happens a lot. He really needs me. I can't count how many times he's crying at my feet because I'm snuggling Scarlet and he can't wait 2 minutes for his snuggle. And as soon as I give in, then the other child begins their melt down. This happens every morning. Being fought over is the worst. I'm glad my kids love me so much, but no matter who I please, no matter who I make wait- someone is screaming just a couple feet from my face while I'm trying to have an enjoyable moment with the other one. It's a weird experience. We've started school and he really likes it! It's pretty off and on again. He's pretty cute- whether we make alphabet pizza or soup- once we've finished he just goes on playing after we've finished. I love it! He's always telling me the wrong answers and I honestly can't tell if he's playing with me or seriously can't remember. I mean there's NO WAY he really doesn't know the answer sometimes and he will just tell me the wrong thing and never give in. He'll also tell me I'm wrong all the time. I'll tell him, "This is what a C looks like" and he'll say, "No Mommy! It looks like this!" back and forth we go and I just think- "This is so pointless! He won't let me teach him!" He also is constantly telling me he doesn't know things OUTSIDE of school. Like he doesn't know where his bed is when it's bedtime. He can't see the toys when it's time to clean up. He's so convincing! I know he sees them, but he never stops acting like he can't. It's insane.

He always has me smell his breath. I can't remember how it started, but when the kids eat something yummy they'll excitedly run to me and say, "Mommy smell my breath!" and they breathe on my nose, then we smile and say, "CHOCOLATE!!!!" or whatever it is. Brighton knows when I've eaten chocolate no matter what. It is insane. He can smell it when I'm feet away. He eats sweets SO FAST. I think even faster than me. He is just like me in this department. Scarlet won't even finish one brownie because her stomach will hurt. Brighton will eat the brownies until they're gone. Just like me.

He sings primary songs all the time now! It is so sweet! I love it. Every night he has us sing, "I love to see the Temple" before bed time and we snuggle while I sing. Then I give him a big hug and a big kiss and I say "Big hug. Big kiss." and then he always says, "but I won't say good bye until you're at the zipper" and he waves his finger no. His voice always sounds so cute when he says it. Then I hug and kiss Scarlet goodnight and when I get to the tent doorway and start to unzip he goes, "Mommy! Good bye! I love you! Good bye I love you!" He'll say it over and over and over until I leave the room. It's the same when Greg and I go on dates or I leave for Zumba. He stands at the doorway and says, "I love you! Goodbye!" so many times. Then he'll watch me at the window until I'm gone. And Marius is usually crying at the window and I wave good bye to him. Our biggest struggle with Brighton is that he just doesn't eat. He eats cinnamon toast- and demands the less healthy bread that I buy when I'm out of my home made bread. Recently he's stopped drinking water. So of course he's delightful in this constantly hungry and dehydrated state. His latest phrase is that he or I "ALWAYS" or "NEVER". "But I ALWAYS have to have my diaper changed!", "But we NEVER watch TV", "I ALWAYS have to drink water!". Those phrases drive me crazy. Realizing his nasty side stems from the not eating or drinking thing has brought me back to making healthy sweets and forgetting about real food. It's chocolate smoothies, healthy white bean cookie dough dip, and cinnamon toast. Yep- that's his diet. And if I'm lucky a few sips of water go in there. I'd be making brownie balls, but we're out of dates.

He's started Nursery and really likes it. His favorite part is always the snack and he always tells me about the cars he played with. He usually protests when we leave him, but he's always super happy and says he had a good time when we pick him up. In a few months he'll be a Sunbeam and Marius will be in Nursery and all 3 will be occupied and in class! CRAZY! Crazy wonderful!

Oh man. Marius. What to say. It's the same. He is sweet, and cuddly and loving. He also SCREAMS and throws tantrums like I've never seen from any one of my kids this young. He is smart and learns and is so DETERMINED, but somehow he doesn't ever learn how to "behave". It doesn't matter how many times I say no, it doesn't matter how many time outs- he throws his food all over the floor, he climbs up really dangerous things and falls and hurts himself (to the point of throwing up, because he hit his head SO HARD) only to climb up it again 2 minutes later. He hits and bites and recently pinches. I can't get him to be gentle. I've seen an ounce of progress in that department. He is NAUGHTY and MISCHIEVOUS. Everyone that meets him talks about that look in his eyes and it's always confirmed that he has a mischievous look on his cute little face. He runs and full on DANCES all over the room and it's the most adorable thing I've ever seen. He said "Thank You" today! It was amazing! I think he's finally starting to say words which is AWESOME. He finally likes TV, which I confess that I love. It gives me so much more time when all 3 of them are entertained. It's pretty adorable, when the shows have songs, he smiles so big and claps the whole time and bobs his head and body up and down. It's like he can't help but move to the music and smile. I've always been that way. I love to see my traits in my kids (well, my good traits). He really likes his pacifier. He take one nap around noon that is usually 3.5 hours. It's amazing!!!! He is unfortunately, a picky eater. And will just not eat and instead get really grumpy 'till I give him a bottle of milk and then suddenly he's a happy camper again. Last night Greg described him as a "handful" and that just couldn't be more accurate. But we all love our little handful.

Greg and I take turns wrestling him during Primary and he inevitably finds a tootsie pop in this Primary basket full of them and by the end of Primary he's had two and is a sticky mess.

I gathered up a bunch of dry palm leaves to make witch brooms. They turned out and we hung them on our wall for Halloween! 

Scarlet was concentrating so much while painting Brighton. She had the most serious face and was so into it. Brighton held so still! I loved watching them.

Brighton couldn't stop pulling out his hair when he'd get stressed or bored so we buzzed his head. Then we did Marius's head too. Makes for a quick easy haircut. And it worked! He hasn't been pullin on his hair anymore- yea! I confess- everyone else loves it, but I miss their hair. I always thought they had cute haircuts.

I came into the kitchen to find Brighton buttering his bread.

Scarlet went for weeks constantly drawing and writing in her boogie board. Every minute or so she'd show me something new she drew or wrote- and they were always really good. She's improved so much in her drawing and crafts. She will just cut and glue and color and bring me something so unexpected. Greg and I have really been amazed! She is reading really well too. She wants to learn piano really bad. She's just growing and learning so quickly! It's really exciting to watch. We love her so much!

Marius can climb up Scarlet's bike all by himself now. He used to scream and scream for us to help him up, but now he can do it himself! It really isn't so safe up there, but nothing Marius does is safe.

One day I put the blanket outside and brought books to read to the kids. It was short lived but really wonderful. I hope to do it again. That's one of the things I love about living here. It's always warm and sunny! You never have to wonder what the weather's like. It's great!

This was an attempt to entertain Marius so he would stop screaming in the kitchen. I think we were making dinner.

Everyday that we clean the play room, within 5 minutes Brighton runs in and takes every box and dumps it all on the floor. Every time. It's the worst. It makes me so mad. Yesterday the kids and I went through all the toys and picked out about half that we're going to give to street kids. I am happy for the kids that will get some new toys, but I am SO happy we have less toys to clean up!

I threw a Halloween Party and invited the kids from our ward Playgroup. We had a really good turn out. I think we had around 17 kids, plus moms! All the kids dressed up. I had my usual Pin the Nose on the Witch, a Bean Bag Ghost Toss, Slime to play with, Pumpkin Bowling, Cookie Decorating, Halloween Stories, Halloween Songs and we danced to the Monster Mash. I gotta say, I'm good at these parties. They're second nature to me now. I really like doing them. I gotta start thinking about Christmas!

By the end all the kids started watching Curious George Halloween and they looked so cute watching it!

 Halloween was a new experience. It is so different here and not as enjoyable. Ok. This is how Filipinos do Halloween. There is no ringing the doorbell and saying Trick or Treat. People stand outside their gate with candy and you walk up and they give you handfuls of candy. That's it. I gotta say, I greatly missed the suspense of knocking on the door wondering, "Is someone going to answer?" I missed hearing "Trick or Treat!" (I told my kids to say it anyway, though no one else did.) I miss getting 1-2 candies instead of having the whole trick or treat experience done within 15 minutes because all the houses are out of candy that fast. So . . . a lot of kids weren't dressed up . . . and all the adults trick or treated too- with their own bags . . . not in costume . . . and without kids. Totally weird. TOTALLY WEIRD. So I would walk by adults at the side of the street with bags of candy and wonder, "Are they giving it out? Should we approach them? Or is that just their bag of candy and now they're chilling on the street." It was so confusing. We got different treats . . . juice boxes, a lot of salty things- like crackers, we even got ice cream that we had to eat on the spot. That was surprising. At the end of it all, all the streets had people sitting on the curbs- in big groups- eating their candy. So weird. So different. The whole thing was like a mad dash against the mob to get our candy. It felt weird.

Marius could NOT wait to eat the candy. He was disgusting by the end.

This is our Pedicab. We bought this when we arrived to get us around while waiting for our car. We only ride a little bit around the neighborhood (it's more tiring than I thought it would be!)- but we're constantly riding it in our front driveway. The kids love it. Scarlet will ride the kids around. Marius loves it the most. When he's grumpy- I will just take him outside and ride him around on it and he just sits quietly.

The neighborhood is really big and only a few houses on each street were handing out candy so Greg rode us around on it.

I had gotten pretty busy and decided the kids needed some one on one time with me (I needed it too!) so I took Scarlet and Brighton on a date. Brighton and I went to J.CO DONUTS and played Candyland, Hi Ho Cherry-O, Do you Wanna Build a Snowman? and I read a book to him with stories about boys and their adventures. It was a good time. I really like spending time alone with my kids. I get to really talk with them and realize how sweet and cute their voices are. Everything they say is so adorable and I'm able to enjoy it. I get to be with them and see how small they really are. Every time we do it I think I need to do it every week and somehow forget until we find ourselves really needing it again.

Scarlet and I went to a bakery nearby and she got a cinnamon roll. We played Go Fish, Old Maid, Candyland and I read a bunch of stories to her from the Treasury of Fairytales. The workers at the shop thought Scarlet was so cute and asked to take a picture with her. Scarlet wouldn't do it.

The kids have been playing in the pac n play these days. It's pretty cute. All three will get in there and they pile the toys in.

Marius sneakin' food as I'm making dinner . . .

Snuggling Daddy . . .

I walked in the playroom to see Marius here. I'm at the point where, even if I see him do something he hasn't done before . . . something dangerous- I don't even get surprised. I just think, "Well, there you are. Of course you're doing that."

I tell him no and he just does this. Grin, grin, grin. He absolutely loves being naughty. I think it's his favorite thing. He loves to get away with things. He is SO PERSISTENT. He will not stop because you say no. He definitely won't stop when it's hard or nearly impossible to accomplish. He just keeps on going and then eventually he gets it! It's amazing and freaks me out.

Marius has become a bit of a picky eater. I don't know what his deal is but he used to eat everything and will just push things away now. He doesn't just push his food off the table and watch it fall to the ground. He purposefully grabs it and throws it behind him with all his energy and it FLYS through the air as far as he can throw. I hate it. I hate it so much. If our floors weren't so disgusting I wouldn't mind SO much, but I can only salvage so much food once it's touched everything else that's nasty on the floor.

I just thought this was so cute. Marius is always pushing up chairs to wherever he wants to reach. Greg was making eggs, so Marius joined him and I love how small he looks next to Greg. So adorable!

There's a playgroup for the moms in the ward and someone planned a Krispy Kreme Tour and it was so fun! At first we walked in and it was surprisingly slippery and the boys started FREAKING OUT because there was all this noise and machines, bigger than they were, all over and it was overwhelming. So we're walking through, kids are crying, the person trying to lead the tour is telling us about the machines and mixes and all I can think is, "This is a disaster!" But by the end, the boys calmed down and they all made a donut and it was so adorable. By the end of the tour I thought, "This was amazing! What a great idea!"

The kids got to dip and sprinkle their own donut! They had all the kids wash their hands and put on gloves, which were WAY TOO BIG. Then they helped them dip it in this huge, swirling, machine bowl of chocolate. It was pretty cool actually. They just tossed it in and it would float on the chocolate.

I was pretty impressed with Brighton at this point. He was completely terrified, as was Marius, and I had to hold their trembling bodies the entire time! My arms were killing me!!! But when it came time for the donuts making he found his courage. I was proud of him. Little by little- my kids are getting braver.

After this point, you toss it in a huge bowl of sprinkle and sprinkle away till it's completely covered. Then you give it back and they put it in a box with two other donuts for you.

At the end each kid got a box of 3 donuts and a balloon! Pretty sweet deal!

It's so nice to have FRIENDS!!!! It's an amazing thing just to hang out and talk while your kids run around a play with other kids. Sounds so normal, but we were kind of without it for 2 years! I love living here!!!

This is my friend Alma. She was the first friend I made. Greg and I love her family. They are awesome. We're doing Thanksgiving together this year. I'm makin' the turkey. I'm pretty excited. I love making my turkey.

Things are going really good. We got our car- that has been great. I totally drive here- that is great too. I was really concerned and worried, because most people (especially women) have full time drivers, because driving is crazy. But I just went for it and it's totally fine! It IS crazy. I totally get why people hyperventilate on the road, but I feel like being a passenger in Kyrgyzstan has really prepared me for it and I just have the right attitude for it. Granted, I've only done it a little, but I really think I'm going to be ok. And it makes me feel kind of awesome. In Kyrgyzstan, when women would drive themselves I would just think, "Wow, you're amazing. I could never drive here!" In Kyrgyzstan it was mostly that there were no signs and everything was in Russian and I could get lost and never find my way home. Here, everything's on GPS and everything's in English. Very different story.

We found this park, through my wonderful friend Alma- that is super close and super great and super empty- which my kids like. When other kids are around, my kids get crazy shy and won't play at all. They just stand there and stare and after 10 minutes of that we go home. And it's wonderfully shaded and I never seem to see mosquitos! We love it and it's so handy to go to when we get bored.

I love my Zumba Instructor and he added a third class to the week- HOORAY!!!!! I really need that extra workout. I really like my instructor too. He picks great music and he's super fun. I tell you, zumba seriously adds to my happiness. It's very very obvious.

We have friends! It is so great to have friends. Seriously- we almost never had any in Kyrgyzstan. We did . . . but not like here. It's so great to have MORMONS around. My gosh, you click so much better with people that have the same priorities and beliefs as you. Making friends with people that actually WANT to hang out with their kids and WANT to be apart of their life. Everyone here has yayas (nannies) and help- honestly, most of the help LIVES with you- but the difference is the Mormon moms are still raising their kids. We all meet together all the time. In Kyrgyzstan, people wouldn't go anywhere without their nannie, if they'd even show up at all and when they WOULD be there- they wouldn't hang with their kids at all. The nannie would be playing with them while the Mom was chatting with other Moms. The whole thing was so awkward and I just never got used to it. It is so much better here.

Greg is almost finished with his first accounting class and it's gone really well. It will be nice to have a break for school and see him a lot more.

Things are getting more Christmas-y here in the Philippines and it's so BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I've never seen such lights! They're EVERYWHERE! I just love the faithful people here! Really! A taxi driver asked if I was a Christian and we started talking about Jesus Christ, right there in the cab. Crazy, right? So normal here. SO NORMAL! 

I just found out about a girls orphanage nearby, and I really am hoping I can help out there. I've been wanting to do something like this ever since I knew we were coming here. Well, I finally went to looking around a bit and have been told they have no open positions. What? There's literally NOTHING I can do for you? I was starting to feel a little hopeless and then someone mentioned this place to me. I would love just to go a couple hours a week and play with kids or hold babies. I think that would be great. I hope it works out.

OH YEAH!!!! I finally went to the temple. It was amazing. I hadn't been in over 4 years. Not on purpose, it just ended up that way. And then a lot of women from Relief Society were going and I thought, "Oh perfect! I'll go to!" I almost didn't go, and then I realized, "there will always be a reason to post pone going. that's why it's been 4 years since you've been. you just have to go!" So I went. And it was awesome. I felt so much strength leaving those walls. I came home happy, patient and full of strength. I decided on the spot I would go once a month. Then the next week Greg had a day off and on a whim, he asked if I wanted to go to the temple. And I said, "YES! I really wanna go!" So we went. And it was amazing again. I felt so much STRENGTH. That's the way to describe it. I came out a stronger woman. And feeling this way and thinking about how I feel when I go to the temple, I realized- I can technically go every week. So I decided I would. I think it's going to end up more like twice a month- because of presidency mtgs (I'm the Primary Secretary) and a Relief Society Study Group I want to be a part of that all tend to fall on the same day of the week, but who knows. Anyway, I'm super psyched. I feel really fortunate and blessed that I'm in a position to go so much. I really want to go. 

Well that's our huge update!