November Newsletter

November 2008
Ahoy Maties,
It has come to our attention – through vicious rumors and lies no doubt – that some of you have some strange belief in a sky god that mysteriously shows up every morning and then disappears again every night. Though this is a nice explanation for the light during the day, it goes beyond reason that you would also call the sky blue. This is how we know these are delusional fantasies. While we may not be able to explain the brightness differential from noon to midnight, we can confirm that in all factuality, the sky is gray. Also, to claim your little ball of flame could be seen riding its chariot across the sky is nothing less than whimsical fancy. Surely one would realize that such a phantasmic speciousness is incontrovertible trickery. Seriously, we haven't seen the sun in a while.
Every weekend this month we spent with the Frasers (a family that moved here at about the same time we did that we've grown to like), alternating which home to go to. We went to the zoo here in Issaquah, which you can imagine is pretty big. They had about about 10 different species, one of which was llamas which Reena enjoyed being able to pet. We had fun. We celebrated Thanksgiving at the Frasers as well, splitting the cost of food, the preparation and the leftovers, which we have already gone through as of this writing.
Reena continues to grow and learn so fast. She knows the alphabet and the single digit numbers, but neither in order which is most apparent with the numbers. While she was helping to empty a box of cans she would count the cans, “7, 8, 7, 8, 7, 8. 8 cans.” Recently however, she has reverted to just 0, 1, and 2, with 2 meaning more than 1, “1 finger, 2 fingers, 2 fingers, 2 fingers...,” etc. She has also learned how to ask “Where is it?” which was an improvement from “Where mommy is?” and the like. She started getting two more molars in as well. She drooled quite excessively on her chin. We said, “You drooled all over your chin.” She replied, “Oops, sorry chin.” She has a little stool that she uses to get into trouble mostly, but she used it as a booster seat one day. Halfway through dinner she leaned over and hugged the stool and then kissed it and said, “I love you, stool,” then said “I love you, daddy.” She had been saying “I love you, mommy” all day long, so now we know her priorities: mommy, stool, daddy. Also, due to the Itsy, Bitsy Spider song, Reena now likes Spider-Man. Also, Reena seems to have some kind of artistic talent as she placed stickers on a scrap-booking paper with a very good sense of style, not just randomly.
Thuan is over her morning sickness and car sickness and food sickness where foods she normally loves made her nauseous. Fish still makes her head spin, but for the most part she is past the worst of it all. Since that is all gone, she has now started the sweets phase. She made banana bread one day and she ate a whole loaf within an hour. She has also made several batches of chocolate chip cookies and ginger snaps. Thuan has become a drummer. She plays Rock Band with Reena on guitar. She's gotten pretty good at it too. She has been working with the missionaries in our previous ward with a couple of ladies that speak Vietnamese. Mostly she translates but she is also sharing her own testimony when needed. She and her friend saw Twilight and had a great time together. She also had a great Thanksgiving making all sorts of yummy food. She can't wait for May 26.
Dan has started ripping all of our DVDs. This is just the beginning of his HTPC (home theater pc) project. He spent two weeks trying to rip Goblet of Fire with various rippers and different computers, googling everything to figure out how to get it to work like the others, then finally found out that it has a scratch on it that keeps our DVD player from even playing it. Oops. He uses his bus ride commute to read and enjoys the peace it gives him instead of driving. Since Amazon pays for the bus, that also makes it more pleasant.
Actually, the sun comes out quite regularly. It's not that bad, honest.

Dan, Thuan, Reena and ?

small plates: We have been born of goodly parents. It's brief, but it's true.