Happy Holidays

We wanted to wish you all happy holidays and best wishes for the new year! Due to our pending trip out of the country our Christmas cards will be late this year. I figured I'd post what we have now and finish the cards when we get back. We're still working on a family picture but will send and post that once we get one.

E -Exercise Sport Science major no more, now a Hospitality, Tourism Management major; still planning on graduating spring 2009
R- Really loves playing with William and spending time with family
I- Is the ward financial clerk at church
C- Can not wait to be done with school

J- Jetted the family off to trips to Taiwan, Korea, Washington, California, and Maui
E- Ever busy looking after William, helping Eric with school and keeping house
S- Started working part time as an English tutor
S- Stake Primary 2nd Counselor, no longer the ward Primary president

W- Walks and runs now but still enjoys snuggle time with mom and dad
I- Is now 14 months old and growing fast
L- Loves to laugh, smile, dance and eat
L- Learning to communicate by signing, pointing, babbling and occasionally screaming

The Naked One

It has come to my attention that most of the pictures and videos on the blog show William only wearing his diaper. Let me explain why I fail to put clothes on my son.

1- We live in Hawaii. (for those of you who didn't know) The temperature here is around 78-84 degrees this time of year. That said it can get hot in the house and to keep William cool we let him run around in his diaper.
2- I hate doing laundry. William's favorite hobby is eating. But he's not always the cleanest eater so I try to at least take his shirt off before he eats. Since he has to eat within 30 minutes of waking up I just don't bother dressing him. This saves me from having to wash one more outfit.
3- Laziness. I guess this should be number one. We only put clothes on the boy if we have to go out and even then I sometimes take him grocery shopping with no clothes on. On the island it's not uncommon to see kids outside with nothing on but a diaper. I guess that has rubbed off on us and we just don't bother with clothes.

We do have clothes for William. We just choose not to put him in any of them unless there's a reason. So no one worry that William is deprived and in need of clothes. He's just our naked one.

Hungry boy

Eric made himself a sandwich for lunch one day. He was just going to let William take an occasional bite but William wanted it all for himself. He ate about half of the sandwich. (Even now as I type with William on my lap he is saying "mmm")

Yummy

Make a wish

We had a good Thanksgiving with friends. William was more interested in playing with Hannah's toys than eating for a change. The Bartlett's gave us one of the wish bones from one of the two turkeys that they cooked. We had to teach William about the wish bone and I told him that he should wish for the Utes to beat the Cougars. Sadly enough that didn't happen. But William is still learning about the power of a wish and so next year will be the year! :)

Now Presenting William!

William was being really silly one afternoon. This playing with the curtain went on for almost thirty minutes! He just couldn't get enough of it.

To Peel an Orange

THE place to eat in Taiwan

We are leaving for Taiwan in a few weeks and I have been thinking about things we can do there. (Mind you we did just about all there is to do in Kaohsiung during our first visit earlier this year.) I was checking the world news page when I saw something that shocked and delighted me. I think I found a place we can have my brothers' wedding banquet at!! At the very least we're adding this restaurant to our list of places to visit.

Tagged

Ok so former mission companion Brittani tagged me. I never do these things but since I know she'll bug me until I do it so I figured I'd get it over with. Unlike the rest of this blog, this post is not about William. Sorry Mom. :)

6 interesting/uninteresting/unique/perhaps unknown things about Jessica

1- I am a high school drop out. Yep I never finished high school. I have however gotten my Associates degree, Bachelors Degree, and Master in Education. But when I fill out applications for jobs and they ask high school/ year graduated I have nothing to put there.

2- I am a Trekie! I use to have almost all of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes on tape. I still love to watch the reruns. And I've added Star Trek Voyager to my favorites.

3- Finding Nemo puts me to sleep every time! I have no idea why. I've seen the beginning lots of times but somewhere around the part when Nemo meets the Tank Gang I pass out. Just thinking about that movie is making me sleepy.

4- My dream job is to work for National Geographic as a photojournalist.

5- When I lived in Hong Kong I was a huge Baywatch fan! Yes I know scary. I even had the CD, and books. But in my defense that was the only "American" show that was on.

6- I guard my crayons like mad. I like crayons that are new and won't let anyone, including my own son, play with them. The tips must be kept sharp, they each have their own place in the box, none can be broken. In other words I have a new box of crayons that have never been used. When I do need to color I use my "yucky" crayons not the nice ones.

Oh yeah and I'm tagging Shelly and Audrey.

New Item

On the right side of the blog there is a link to a site for you to look at. It asks you questions about political issues and then matches your views with the candidates who are running for president. I was surprised at my results! Check it out. We'll be adding new links as we find them.

Hair

Every so often I get tired of my hair and cut it off. I reached that point about two months ago but just got it cut on Saturday. I planned on donating my hair to Locks of Love but you need ten inches and I only had nine and a half. Anyone want some hair?! :)

Best Buds

William and Hannah in their Chinese outfits

Playing Bonk

A Ballerina Princess and Yoda

Yoda vs Shrek

As Halloween approached Eric and I debated what to dress William up as. We agreed on a Star Wars theme and hoped to get him a R2D2 or Ewok costume. Sadly we couldn't find either of those but we did find a Yoda outfit which he didn't seem to mind wearing. We were excited to show him off at the Primary party earlier this month. However during the party it dawned on me that children today have grown up in a different movie era than we have. When the children saw him they said "Oh look it's Shrek!" Eric and I were shocked! Shrek?! Yoda looks NOTHING like Shrek. Let me point out some obvious differences between Yoda and Shrek.

1- Ears. Yoda has long pointy ears while Shrek has long ears that are round at the end.
2- Clothing. Yoda wears Jedi robes while Shrek's clothes are the same color as Yoda's he wears pants, shirt and vest.
3- Height and Weight. No one knows what species Yoda is. He is small and short but also very wise. Shrek on the other hand is an orge. He is built like an orge and acts like one. And he seems to need the wisdom of his sidekick the Donkey to help him get through things. Yoda uses the powers of the force to guide him. You also don't see Yoda eating as much as Shrek does. You actually only see him take one bite of Luke Skywalkers' emergency rations, whereas Shrek eats everything from grubs to rats.

Now I will admit there are similarities between Yoda and Shrek however I find that the differences far out number their similarities. One last thing I need to mention is that Yoda uses a Lightsaber to combat evil while Shrek throws rocks and other objects that are on hand. If there was a fight between Yoda and Shrek who do you think would win?!

Shrek is a memoriable character but when compared to Yoda he's just another animated toon. I leave you with the words from Yoda (which has been quoted many more times than any line from Shrek): "Do or do not. There is no try."

Trick or Treat

Chinese outfit

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home...

...glad as I can be.

Dance Dance Baby!

One year shots

Eric's mom has a tradition that when her grandchildren turn one year old they have their picture taken, the boys in overalls, and the girls in a red dress. So in keeping up that tradition we went to Wal-mart, bought overalls for William and draped gray fabric up over the entertainment set. Unfortunately, William doesn't hold still very long and so by the third shot he was bored thus the reason for only two shots being posted. We hope one of these two shots will good enough to hang on Mama Mickey's wall.

William's First Birthday!!

Can you believe that William is one year old?! We celebrated with a big Costco cake and ice cream. William, in the words of aunt Dee, got jipped only getting a banana muffin with caramel topping.

Aloha with a tissue

We said Aloha to our friends Charlie and Helen Goo. They have been assigned to serve as the Hong Kong Temple President and Matron and will be there for three years. Though we are excited for them we'll miss them and especially Auntie Helen's cooking.

We put William down for a nap in our bed and a short while later heard him making noises. As I came into the room I saw him surrounded by white stuff. He got a hold of the tissues and pulled out almost the entire box! You can't get mad at him with that smile. (I never knew just how many tissues there were in one box.)

Another milestone

William is now learning to feed himself. When we let him he usually ends up in the bathtub a short while later.

On the box

Little Shoes

William's new pair of shoes. Aren't they cute?

Dance

Please note how disinterested William is even though Hannah is doing the Hula for him.




Now that there's a song with a strong beat to it William will dance with Hannah.

Assorted Cuteness

Paper work

Anyone ever wonder about how we talk about saving the environment yet still continue to consume things unnecessarily? Example: I began tutoring a lady from China English last week. She's eager to learn and though we have difficult explaining terms like Halloween, we have conversed well. Then I get a call from the Education department saying I never worked for the school so I need to go to Human Resources and fill out their paper work. Once there I discover that I wasn't suppose to be tutoring until the paper work was completed. I walk out of the office with no less than fifteen pages of paper to read through and fill out. Now I have been told that I cannot resume tutoring until the paper work is done and I got through some sort of orientation too. So I have been sidelined by a small tree for at least a week. If we truly are trying to save the environment why am I still filling out paper work?

Chubby Bunny

How many grapes can you stuff in your mouth?

Uncle Jake's girl

For those of you who haven't heard Jacob is engaged. He and Dahyun are planning on getting married in Taiwan the end of this year. We are excited for them and can't wait to meet her.

Chase

Bath Time

William sure loves his bath time!

For Nai Nai

Walking on Grass

Here is more of William walking... on grass even!

Pearly Whites

Check out William's teeth! He has 6 in all. 4 on top and 2 on bottom.

Maui part 2

Clouds rolled in from hurricane Flossie but didn't affect us while in Maui.With cousin Christie aka the bride.
William was soooo good during the wedding. He just walked around and enjoyed the feel of grass both on his feet and in his mouth.

Family shot William checks out his youngest second cousin Nora.

Maui

William wanted to feel what it's like to be behind the wheel of a Mustang. Lucky for us he can't reach the pedals yet.

Driving with the roof down. We all enjoyed it!

The only Krispy Kreme store in Hawaii is located on Maui. So we stopped in to get our fix. William also sampled his first one and loved it.

Freedom

There's no stopping him! When William wants out he finds a way! He's our escape artist.

Clap for Teeth

William just learned how to clap and I managed to get it on film. He also obliged us by showing his teeth.

On the Move

I thought it was hard to keep up with William while he was crawling... Walking is worse! But he sure is cute isn't he?

Lessons from a Cat

1. When petting the cat use slow, gentle stroking motions.


2. Sometimes the cat does not want to be pet and she should not be forced to stay.


3. Do not pull the cat's fur!! If you do she'll scratch you!

Lesson Reflection: William pulled out a handful of Miss Kitty's fur and in return she placed her paws on each side of his face and just flexed her claws. This was enought to get him to cry, draw a little blood but teach him not to do that again.