The Torgersons

Christmas Break recap

2012-01-26T04:37:00.003-06:00

The first weekend of Christmas break Jamie and Robb graced us with their presence! It was wonderful to see them again as we hadn't seen them since they got married 1 1/2 yrs earlier! TOO LONG! And shortly after they arrived Merrilee came and shortly after that, Steve arrived! It ended up being about a full week with everyone (of course we were missing Joey's brother Jesse and his family! :( ).

As all of our guests have been previous residents of Taiwan, their trip did not include many of the touristy things you would think of when entertaining guests in another country. The only requests our guests made were for: bubble tea, night market and Taiwan Costco! hehe :) Those were easily gratified! So instead of the normal touristy things we did a lot of this:

Well some of us did that while most of us just ate that!

We also did a lot of this: (You won't be able to tell what "this" is from this picture. "This"= playing at the playground.)

We had a somewhat traditional meal for Christmas Eve dinner with the exception of eating a somewhat American entree as opposed to a chinese one. But the candles were out and we were all dressed up (from the waist up and Robb is so kindly demonstrating)!

We even sang Christmas carols while Joey played piano and the girls played their instruments

And then we sang happy birthday to Jesus.

On Christmas day the girls opened stockings

And then we headed off to church.

And....unfortunately that's about all the pictures I have of the Torgersons' trip! SORRY! :( We had a wonderful time and were so thankful to celebrate our first Taiwan Christmas with family!

Man-Made Music!

2012-01-24T00:21:00.004-06:00

After a long intermission, Man-Made Music has returned. This song is the result of the time afforded by a much-needed Chinese New Year holiday break (and the benefit of living near my school’s band room and nice microphones!). Your comments and feedback are always more than welcome! Happy listening!

Fill Anew

The cold of it all will never shake away

With shivers that were meant for other places than today.

With black unblinking eyes she watched me sing upon my grave

In hopes that grace would maybe let me walk away.

O, skull; O, dew show me roses.

I care not for any color but crimson red.

Fill anew my brittle empty cup

And fill it full and fill it red

And let it spill upon my hands.

The frost that skirts my shoes is not a frost that melts or fades

But hardened callouses from scuffling frozen stones.

The brown beneath my nails is from the cold and ancient way

She bids me wallow ‘til the hardness touches bone.

O, skull; O, dew, show me roses.

I care not for any color but crimson red.

Fill anew my brittle empty cup

And fill it full and fill it red

And let it spill upon my hands.

Let mem’ry not betray the image you have left,

The issue of your heart on barren earth.

Her eyes must look away from full and perfect birth

And shivers that will shake the cold away.

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

2012-01-23T08:48:00.005-06:00

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

Yes, we are "celebrating" Chinese New Year here in Taiwan! Basically for us it means a week off of school AND on Thursday and Friday we can not drive on the highways with only one person in the car as that would mean we are not carpooling and to avoid traffic overload on the elevated highways, you MUST carpool! YAY! So we took that as our warning to stay off the roads lest we want to sit in traffic all day.

After doing lots of entertaining over the Christmas and Gregorian calendar new year, we are happy to have a quiet break to ourselves, though it is only because we thoroughly enjoyed our guests that we now feel we can rest! (I WILL post pictures of the family visits!)

Here are some pictures I took a few months ago that I never posted. Two things the girls love to do: 1. Wear their fluffy skirts. 2. Play in their room and on Ellie's bed (For some reason when I take the sheets off of Ellie's bed to wash them, the girls think it's SUPER fun and that they then have permission to jump).

Alive and Well....and Happy!

2011-12-28T18:26:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas!

In case you all were worried, we are still alive! We have had a busy holiday season and end of 2011!! Time has flown by!

Top 10 things to mention:

1. Ellie can count to thirty in Chinese (she could probably keep going, she just usually loses her attention around thirty) and Siri can count to 10 in Chinese!

2. Ellie is FOUR!

3. Siri is getting her two year molars! :(

4. Some of Joey's family came to visit for Christmas. So fun!

5. My parents arrive tonight!

6. There are actual moments where I'm cold enough to drink a warm tea and not break into a sweat!

7. We have yet to find YUMMY Italian food in Taiwan that doesn't have a small hint of Chinese flavor.

8. We have entered Chinese New Year season which VERY quickly replaced the Christmas season!

9. We are looking to FINALLY purchase a scooter.

10. Ellie and Siri are getting too big too fast! They have adjusted so well to Taiwan and I believe they really feel at home here!

Feeling Settled

2011-11-08T05:43:00.006-06:00

Slowly but surely, we are settling into our apartment. I (Joey) have included a few pictures below so that you can see the work in progress.

This is our dining room. The balcony looks out from the second floor onto the yard and playground for the building. Gas canisters are out on the balcony as well. We change out one of them about every 2-3 weeks. Our A/C unit can also be seen through the window. The pictures on the wall are a project I just finished with B&W photos of our family and lots of relatives. Turns out frames are super cheap in Taiwan.

This is a view into our kitchen, which is across from the B&W photos. It's very big, which is great, and we have a kiddo table in the middle. On the left of the photo is the hall to the front door. We just got a bench for that small hallway with shoe baskets for the kids. And the wall hanging is a present from Jamie from Uganda! (thanks, Jame)

This is the living room, which is directly across from the dining room. The balcony looks out onto the street. And yes, I took this photo right after the Cards won the World Series.

This is the back of the living room.

And this is down the hall. The study is the first door on the right, and the master bedroom is the second. The play room is the first on the left, followed by the girls' room, and the guest bathroom is at the end of the hall. And a Halloween paper chain is still hanging from the ceiling.

This is the girls' playroom. We finally have organizers for their millions of tiny toys! There is also a futon, not pictured, in this room.

Valence and window...

And a glorious puzzle floor, much welcome after walking on cement floors all day.

This is the study/sewing/music room. It's hard to tell, but the walls are actually light blue. I'm very proud of the wall hanging on the right. It's a cloth from the Hani people in Yunnan province that I bought when I was in middle school. It's mostly been an end-table cover for years, but now it's stretched over a homemade frame looking all old and cool. :) The smaller cloth is a present from some Navajo friends we met through church in Arizona.

This is the girls' room. We just got them the little reading chairs.

And I just put this shelf up, which was a huge pain because there was a design error. Hopefully it doesn't fall on Ellie's head in the night...

Come visit! We have a futon waiting for you! And maybe soon we'll have curtains, too! :)

Since my last post...

2011-11-03T23:30:00.004-05:00

We've been to Taichung twice (This is "the plaza" at Joey's alma matter: Morrison-Taichung.):

Went to "crazy Sue's":

Went to the beaches of Kenting for three days:

And got completely fried:

Ellie was in a Taiwanese wedding:

And the girls went to a halloween party here in our apartment complex.

Ellie was a fairy:

Siri was a strawberry :

We even went trick-or-treating:

Watched other people bob for apples:

And played musical mats:

(Clearly Ellie lost here)

I can't believe it's already November!!

Latest Happenings

2011-10-14T01:31:00.006-05:00

Thought some of you might appreciate a video of a look around part of Joey's school. This is taken from the side of the building. And as I scan around you can see our apartment building near the track.

Joey's about the only one close to being able to help Ellie with her homework as it is all in Chinese:

Though Siri likes to pretend to participate:

Here the girls are trying their first (but not last) tian bu la:

And here are some creatures we see around here fairly regularly like it or not.

A Lizard:

And.....a cockroach (Thankfully, this one is on the outside of our window):

Ellie Kay...

2011-10-03T23:56:00.003-05:00

1. LOVES school! We struggled with our decision to send her to school ALL day three days a week, but I must say she is LESS crabby on the evenings she comes home from school than on her days off. Getting to school in the morning still entails a little fuss about not wanting to go, but every time I pick her up she comes running up to me with a huge smile and lots of stories to tell me. She also seems to be making LOTS of friends, despite the communication barrier.

2. Is learning Chinese. She has really taken to attempting to learn Chinese. While if you ask her to say something in Chinese she will still only say, "Ni Jiao shenme mingzi?", it seems at interesting moments, Ellie will say something in Chinese or at least something that resembles something in Chinese. Play time consists of Ellie shouting out incoherent phrases in Chinese, which I'm thinking MUST be a good thing! She is also learning Zhu Yin Fu Hao (Chinese alphabet) at school! Very exciting!

3. Wrote a song (the second stanza she had help with to fit with the first stanza):

Jesus is Lord (2x)

He goes into your heart

And He loves you so so much

When you die you go to heaven

Jesus is Lord (2x)

He died upon the cross

He rose up from the dead

He forgives us all our sins

4. LOVES to pretend. She has quite the imagination that girl. She still enjoys playing with her doll house or getting into some dress-up clothes and pretending she's a princess.

5. LOVES Chinese food. Ellie has always been good about eating Chinese food in the States and thankfully she has continued in this way. Her new favorite: Tofu

6. Is my little helper. If I would ever allow it, Ellie would be highly entertained cooking and cleaning all day long. She LOVES to help me in the kitchen and LOVES doing her chores for coins so she can buy things.

7. Is weaning off naps. Ellie doesn't nap at school anymore (she did for a short time) and it seems she doesn't always nap on her days off either. I would say she probably only naps 2 days a week. She still goes into her room for a quiet time, but usually just reads books. We were discovering when she napped more often, the days she did nap, she wouldn't go to bed until around 10pm and would keep Siri awake with her. It seems she is better off not napping most days and getting to bed a decent time. Though quiet time is still a MUST! :)

8. Is growing up! Ellie has changed so much! It seems she is entering into the four-year-old stage and it is welcomed with open arms! Three-year-old Ellie, while mentally could handle much, physically couldn't. This led to lots of unsuccessful attempts at independence, which led to uncontrollable frustrations which led to uncontrollable tantrums. It seems as Ellie is able to DO more things she is able to be more independent and as a result is much happier. Praise God!

Valences and birthdays!

2011-09-28T01:18:00.005-05:00

With the arrival of our stuff, life has become a bit busy around here, attempting to get organized. But I must say what a difference it makes! Amazingly, as a result of finally having our things, it seems (but perhaps also due to the natural progression of time) the girls are acting much more settled. And so am I! WOW! What a transformation! I was beginning to develop strategies for an attempt to cope with this new way of life I thought we were entering into: continuous melt-downs, tantrums, and an inability to fall asleep at night. But alas, that was short-lived! Praise God! It seems we all finally feel at home here now that our things are here. A wonderful feeling. The girls can sleep in their own beds and play in their playroom with their own toys and read their own books.....ahhh! Peace has come to this house! :)

And so, here are some pictures of the developments:

Ellie and Siri's room:

The girls' room with a view of the valence:

The playroom:

The playroom valence:

And two posts in one.....Siri turned TWO!! Happy birthday, Siri!

There are several MAK staff family members who had birthdays this week and last week, so we had a nice big combo party for all of them! And here they are:

Believe it or not, Siri was first to dig into her cupcake!

We had lots of fun! We even played a few games:

This game was called "musical mats":

Yes, even the dads got to play:

The bigger kids seem to really like Siri, and Siri seems to really like them (and perhaps all the attention):

Siri had a great party!

We thank God for our little girl and another precious year we were blessed to spend with her! May there be many more!

Container!

2011-09-18T23:59:00.003-05:00

The container (with all of our things in it!) arrived on Thursday night! Needless to say we've been a little busy lately unpacking! Good news is, we are just about done! We have two containers of clothes to sort through and a box of home decor to arrange but other than that we are done! YAY! It feels good to be home!

Transitioning=fatigue

2011-09-12T08:39:00.003-05:00

All is well here despite the lack of posts. :) It just seems by the time I have a moment in the day to blog, I'm completely and utterly exhausted with nothing to say. It does seem I'm suffering from the kind of exhaustion that a little exercise seems to cure most of the time, but in this heat and humidity, exercise takes a lot of motivation. The kind of motivation you need some energy to produce....hummm....

To sum it up, we are still transitioning! I guess there's no other way to describe it than to just say everything is tiring and draining! Everything takes a little more effort and a little more will-power (and a little more Chinese).

It seems these days I'm missing Panera Bread Co. Panera Bread was my little get away. After a crazy day and after the kids went to bed, somedays I would drive the 5 minutes out to Panera Bread, park in a designated parking spot and order in my native tongue the yummiest drink or pastry you can think up. Or better yet, zip over to Starbucks where the coffee drinks actually taste like coffee and on a nice crisp fall evening get a scrumptious, pumpkin spice latte with soy and as much whipped cream as I want, always knowing I could ask for more if I really wanted to (though I never did, fyi). No worrying about hitting crazy scooter drivers, or bikers, or pedestrians or suicidal dogs (that's what I call those crazy dogs that live here that literally take naps in the middle of the road). No worrying about where to park. No worrying about attempting to order, praying they understood me correctly and praying that they don't ask me any questions all the while receiving my order only to find out it's all wrong.

But before you think we are totally miserable, we are not. :) I think I have just found myself in the throes of transition along with my two children who for the first night in weeks, went to bed before 8:30 tonight, praise God! We are in transition. We are adjusting, recognizing the good, the bad and the ugly about Taiwan and digesting it one pill at a time. All the while, we are content, feeling safe only because we know we are in the center of God's will, the safest place anyone could possibly be in this crazy world.

And speaking of Taiwan, "Zhong Qiu kuai le!" Today Joey and Ellie had a day off of school for the Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival. Tonight we have heard fireworks going off almost incessantly. Here's a clip of some that went off right in front of our apartment! I took this video after the fireworks had been blasting long enough for me to pick up Siri and console her, think about what a good video it would be, get the camera, step out onto the balcony and THEN start recording, ie. there was more than a minute of these loud booms!

Living on a tropical island...

2011-08-31T00:48:00.005-05:00

We have had several experiences lately that have reminded us that for better or worse we live on a tropical island (ok, some of these points aren't necessarily limited to only tropical islands, but they certainly aren't regular occurrences in the Mid-west US, well, except number 3.):

1. There are palm trees EVERYWHERE! This mid-western girl is just amazed at all the beautiful palm trees. This picture is taken on Joey's school's campus! Just amazing!

2. We went swimming in the pool of a waterfall (is that how you would describe what I'm trying to say?)! So at the moment I don't actually have any pictures from the waterfall but this picture was taken on the way to the waterfall. More pics to come (I hope).

3. We are experiencing a little bit of an ant problem. I know this happens everywhere, but I'm just a little annoyed and had to vent! Sorry, I refuse to take pictures of little ants crawling everywhere! :(

4. We experienced our first typhoon! Well, the winds had died down so much by the time they arrived here in Kaohsiung, they were actually only calling it a tropical storm, BUT because typhoons are so unpredictable and this one in particular had caused considerable damage in the Philippines on its way to Taiwan, the whole island had a government-declared typhoon day! YAY! And while it wasn't a typhoon technically, it rained from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday night (And, well, it's still drizzly today)! UGH!

Enjoy this video!

On our own...

2011-08-22T00:04:00.005-05:00

We said goodbye to our live-in grandma, cook, babysitter, cleaning lady and companion yesterday. Today, Monday we are on our own, starting what are to hopefully become our routines around these parts for at least a little while.

Joe and Ellie were off to school this morning while Siri and I were off to figure out what we should be doing to stay productive and happy. The timing of Steve and Merrilee's visit was perfect! We are so thankful not only for that time for the girls (and us) to re-bond with them but also for us to get things figured out! For example, we learned lots about grocery shopping, we got LOTS of furniture, we baked lots of cookies, we started Ellie in school, Joey started school, we got a movie rental card, we got a new TV, we found the quickest way to the best bubble tea (AND I learned if you use your own bottle, you get 3NT off), and we even got cable (for 3 USD a month!). So needless to say, we seem to be getting acquainted.

Here is some of the cookie baking experiences:

And here is a list of a few taiwan frustrations of mine, just in case you were so curious:

1. COMMUNICATION! I can not stand being unable to communicate with the people around me! As a result, I'm quite motivated to learn Chinese NOW.

2. MILK: The milk situation here in taiwan is out of control! Apparently it's a newer thing for Chinese people to drink lots of milk, however thanks to Costco people drink it quite a bit nowadays. HOWEVER, one gallon of milk is not cheap, costing US$6.70 at Costco. And if you think that's a lot don't even bother going to a local grocery store where it is TWICE as much! Yep, you'd spend about US$12 for a gallon of milk! To make matters worse, Costco, where you can get it for "cheap" is 30 minutes away; Costco is obnoxiously crowded at all times; you can only buy 2 gallons of milk at a time if you only have a gold membership AND they RUN OUT because the demand is SOO high. So even if you did decide to take the 30 minute trip and withstand the crowds, you may not even get any milk at all!!

3. PARKING: I can not seem to understand what is legal with parking and well driving in general. There aren't parking lots so everyone just double parks right in front of the store, but sometimes it seems SO wrong I just can't seem to be confident in what is ok!

Ok. That is my rant, thank-you for listening.

So as to not end this post of a negative note, here are some more pictures!

This is Ellie in her other uniform that she wears on Wednesdays (the yellow shirt and blue shorts are worn on Mondays):

And these are just cute:

She did it!

2011-08-16T00:05:00.005-05:00

Ellie successfully completed her first day of school...and so did I! :) Of course what would a first day of school be without pictures! Siri felt very special too! ;) (oh, and notice the green wall in the living room?)

And now we're getting creative:

And now I'm just stalling cause I don't want to let her go!

Sounds like overall things went pretty well! After a full day of school she came home pretty tired but in good spirits! Praise God for a successful first day of school!

According to her teachers:

"Ellie did great!"

"Ellie was very caring towards the other kids."

"Ellie didn't eat the black egg at lunch (duck egg)."

"Ellie learned some Chinese colors."

According to Ellie:

"I didn't speak Chinese."

"A boy in my class was making funny faces and got a spanking!"

"I didn't want to take a nap."

"Mom, what does 'Ma?' mean?"

And quickly, here are some pictures of some of the painted walls in our place...Pictures just don't do justice but you get the point!

The playroom (purple on bottom, yellow on top with a white stripe in between where we will place decals or paint butterflies or something):

The dining room (ocean breeze, I believe is what it's called):

Oh and here's the desk in the office (and the walls are painted a pale blue...very calming, I think):

Growing up!

2011-08-14T08:29:00.004-05:00

Ellie knew three things about Taiwan before arriving here:

1.) It's HOT

2.) There are bugs

3.) She will go to school in Taiwan!!

And so we were greeted by HOT weather and bugs immediately upon arriving and now number three is coming true......

This little girl:

is going to school!! And she is SOO excited! I'm quite excited too as it seems she gets bored at home, always looking for something new and exciting and ALWAYS wanting more friends to play with. We knew Ellie would be ready for school this year and our move has provided the perfect circumstances to do so. Not only is school cheap (relatively speaking), Ellie will also learn Chinese! She is excited to learn Chinese and has already expressed that one day she would like to speak Chinese as well as her dad. All the while, her dad is hoping she will one day surpass him in his abilities. For now, to optimize Chinese learning while attempting to keep our little girl safe and healthy, we have decided she will go to school for full days on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The nice thing is the kids take naps after lunch in the afternoon which will hopefully keep Ellie sane! We really don't know how full days will go for her, but the nice thing is they are very flexible and willing to work with us whatever our needs! Praise God! :) So should we decide it's too much (most likely just because I will miss her so) then we can always change those days to half days.

One of the blessings of this particular transition for us is we have grandparents with us! Last week Steve and Merrilee arrived and have been with us, helping us and the kids feel more adjusted to this new place (and doing lots of translation for us!).

Steve left yesterday, but Merrilee will stay with us through the end of next week! :) This is perfect timing for me as I say goodbye to a wonderful summer filled with family and welcome a new stage in life in so many ways. We are excited for the change and Ellie can't stop talking about going to school! Siri will also benefit, I think as I will now have all this time and energy to devote to her, right? She doesn't know it yet, but she's excited too!

Our place so far...

2011-08-11T01:18:00.006-05:00

I've taken a few pictures of our place so far so you can get an idea of where we live! We still have not received our container of things (300 Cu. Ft. of boxes and bedroom furniture expected to come at the end of August) but we have bought lots already! We will also be painting all of the rooms in this place, so I imagine in another month, this place is going to look very different!

So to start, here are pictures of our place before we bought any furniture and were using the school-provided stuff....

Ok. this picture isn't the best quality, but SO funny so I had to post...notice how empty this living room is:

Here's another view of the living room

This is our dining room viewed from the living room. I had very lovely models:

This next picture is the hallway. I'm standing in between the living room and dining room and looking towards the hallway and bedrooms. We have LOTS of closets right here in the hallway! It's wonderful!

And if you walk down the hallway, just past the closet/storage on the left you will find the playroom! The things in this room are all ours that we bought at ikea within the first few days of being here. We have added a few more tiles, we've added a futon, and the wireless internet router is no longer there but you get the idea:

This is also in the playroom:

Then if you go back into the hallway and go straight to the end of the hall there is a T with Ellie and Siri's room on the left and Joey and my bedroom on the right. But straight ahead is this bathroom:

Going back into the hallway and heading to the right, you will find Ellie and Siri's bedroom. (Yes, they are sharing a room, though it looks like naps will be separate!) Oh and that green rug is the only thing that will be the same in here when all is said and done.

Ok. So then you step out of the bedroom and back into the hallway and go past the bathroom straight into the master bedroom where there is a bathroom and a walk-in closet! For some reason I only took a picture of the walk-in closet, but there's just a mattress on the floor in that room for now anyway. We are anxiously waiting for our bedroom set to arrive safely on the container!

Then if you head out back into the hallway and head towards the living room again, you will find another small room on the left. This is the study that Joey is in charge of furnishing! :) So this is what we have been using temporarily instead (until we got this desk that I didn't seem to take a picture of!).

On Tuesday, we added LOTS of furniture! So here is an updated (but still not finished) version of our place. We got a three piece set of living room couches (a couch, a love seat and a chair).

A TV stand and shelving unit

And a table and chairs!

Oh and did I mention we have our washer and dryer in our kitchen? Our kitchen is so spacious there's plenty of room for them.

And so that is our home. Now you can clearly see we have plenty of space for visitors, so DO come visit! We'd love to have you! :)

Week 1 in Taiwan!

2011-08-03T02:34:00.007-05:00

Ok! Now that I've given an abbreviated summer update, I suppose I should share about our adventures here in Taiwan in our first week!

It started with an uneventful plane ride. The plane from San Francisco to Hong Kong was only about 1/2 full, so we had lots of room to stretch out! We flew Cathay Pacific, so the plane was big, comfy AND had personal TVs! yay!

In this next picture, the paper on Ellie's head is to help keep the big earphones in place and the scratch on her cheek is compliments of Siri.

This happened for only about 2 hrs total the entire 13 hr flight. Thanks a lot Benadryl!

We arrived in Hong Kong at around 6pm and then waited in the airport for our 1 hr 10 min flight to Kaohsiung. We were all pretty tired at that point as it was about 3Am San Francisco time. So, we got to our gate and sat down however rest, we did not due to the crowds of people gathering around to see the "cute, chubby" blond haired, blue eyed little girls! UGH! While they were kind, it was a little exhausting at that point in the trip! Some took pictures and some even took video! It was quite the welcome! :)

We arrived into Kaohsiung around 11:30pm and were quite tired, so we went straight up to our place (unpacked a little) and went to bed! Upon entry into the lobby of our apartment buildings, I was greeted by a cockroach crawling into the elevator with us! I faked not being totally grossed out and went right up to it a smashed it with my foot! HAHA! Thankfully I haven't seen anymore since that night!

We bought a car from a teacher's family who left taiwan this past May! :)

We also got our international licenses before leaving the US, so our first full day in Taiwan we were able to drive and explore! :) (This is the main road in DaShe.)

We found an AMAZING bubble tea shop. My favorite large passion fruit green tea with pearls is only $30NT (USD=$1)!!

Oh and can you see how RED the girls' faces are? That's because it is SOOO HOT here! Yep, so incredibly hot! We were just at the market before getting teas and we all were just dripping sweat! That's what we get for being south of the Tropic of Cancer! UGH!

We've been to IKEA several times and Costco twice which are both in downtown Kaohsiung which is where we found this park

Siri is apparently over her swing fear! YAY!

We've also had Shui Jiao (dumplings) a few times and some other yummy slushy drinks and treats. Today I even had starbucks! SO needless to say we've been quite busy here, but are finding our way around and trying new things which has been lots of fun. We've been most preoccupied with furnishing our apartment as it has some basics in here for now, but we are to be fully equipped with everything we need by October (which is actually a long time but we'd like to be settled in before then). We've put a lot of our things on a big container which is probably crossing the pacific ocean as we speak, so hopefully that should come by the end of August! Until then, we are attempting to buy furniture and bookshelves, to place all of our things in!

Here is a look at our kitchen for now (with lots of junk and no real kitchen items!)

Well that's all I have for now! When we get a little more settled, I'll upload some more pictures of our place!

Last stop in the US: San Francisco!

2011-08-02T01:00:00.007-05:00

We spent our last six days in the U.S. with Joey's brother, Jesse, and his family in San Francisco.

Lucy:

Mary:

Edmund:

And baby Wayne:

They were more than kind to us, giving us their room to sleep in, providing meals for us and allowing us to borrow their van to make last minute trips to Target and things like that that they don't seem to have here in Taiwan. And we had lots of fun, catching up and meeting the newest Torgerson!

We had lots of fun hanging out around the house, too.

Mary is quite the artist:

We took the train to UC Berkeley.

And on our last day, Steve and Merrilee came to town.

We decided we had better expend some energy with Grandma and Grandpa at the park.

Joey is quite the photographer, in my opinion!

And of course, we had to get a picture of the grandparents with all their grandchildren!!

Thanks, Jesse and Kelly for a wonderful, memorable time!

Re-cap: Summer 2011

2011-07-31T01:57:00.008-05:00

It has been quite the summer for us as we packed up our house and said goodbye to many of our loved ones we have in the states! Here is a VERY condensed version of the entire summer....First stop: Chicago

We had some nice hang-out time with Colette and Elliott!

Then we headed up to MN to visit family and friends there:

And of course it wouldn't be a very good MN trip without a twins game

And some more MN friends:

On our way back to Chicago we stopped in Fairmont to see Grandpa and Grandma Torgerson.

Then we were off to New York for pre-field orientation.

At the airport on the way to New York:

Our early morning walk:

After one week of orientation, we took a trip to Niagara Falls on the 4th of July weekend and met up with some friends (Joey's old classmate Katrina and her family)

Then we finished our orientation the next week, ending with a banquet

We then spent some time in Chicago, hanging out with family:

Then we headed up to MI for a day trip to visit the Schippers

We then headed back to Chicago for a few days. Then Joey and I drove down back to St. Louis for one last time to finish packing up our place and to say goodbye to friends. Steve and Merrilee met us down there and helped us clean up!

Then it was back to Chicago for one last time. We took a tour of Bucktown, my grandparent's old neighborhood

We then headed out to San Francisco to visit with Joey's brother's family. I will post those pics later as there are quite a few good ones I wanna post!

We are alive and well!

2011-07-30T20:12:00.002-05:00

Hi all!

Just a quick hello to say that we are here!! We have arrived in Taiwan! We have been super busy these days figuring out life in DaShe, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan (yep, that's where we live: in Taiwan in Kaohsiung City in the district of DaShe). We will post lots of pics and more info later on how we are doing but just know we are safe and happy!

Bye for now!

Let the countdown begin...

2011-05-09T10:11:00.003-05:00

To make this post a little more interesting, you will find pictures of Grandma Donna and Grandpa Wayne's visit to St. Louis back in April interspersed between my countdown list.

1 month: Kim finishes work

2 weeks: Tod's deployment

3 weeks: School ends (and our nephew is due to be born!) :)

4 days: Baseball season is over

5 days: Garage sale

6 weeks: MN trip

7 weeks: PFO

8 shifts: Kim's work ends

9 weeks: Head back to St. Louis to finish packing and cleaning our apt. (and get our last fill of St. Louis bubble tea.)

10 weeks: Pack up the container with Taiwan items and then head to SF

11 weeks: leave for Taiwan

For those of you interested, here is a link to an 11 min video of our new apartment in Taiwan!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37aG2floKPc&feature=channel_video_title

This summer!

2011-04-27T08:35:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone! Well, my blogging has always been a little spotty, though major important, life-changing events are usually included... until recently. We've been keeping our faithful bloggers out of our little secret for some time but it is now time to clue you in...

We are moving to Taiwan!!! Joey has taken a job at his alma mater back in Taiwan, though it is a different campus and in a different city (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) than the school he went to in Taichung, Taiwan 10 years ago. But, alas, Morrison Christian Academy will no longer be Torgerson-less! We are very excited about our new adventure, which will begin in almost 3 months to the day (July 26th is the day we leave the country). Please pray for us as we begin to pack, sell things and mentally prepare to change jobs and countries! As for the girls, they are excited but don't have a real clue about all of the implications of "going to Taiwan." However Ellie is learning. As we began to talk about things we are going to sell, the questions and doubts started coming: "Are there toys in Taiwan?"

There is lots to do, so please excuse the absenteeism from blogging!

Family Pic

2011-04-02T12:30:00.003-05:00

Louis Kwok took this family pic for us at church the other day. Thanks, Louis!

Look at what I made!

2011-03-07T11:07:00.003-06:00

For Christmas this past year I got a sewing machine from my parents and let me tell you, I LOVE IT!! Within the first 4 days of receiving it, I made Ellie a dress (that was a little ambitious of me and required several late nights!). After that very difficult experience (I have VERY limited sewing experience and could hardly make sense of the pattern lingo), I decided to do something a little easier, so I made a skirt! That was quick and easy and successful and Ellie actually wears it and likes it! YAY! Since then, I've hemmed some pants and fixed some things here and there.

Just the other day I decided I needed a small project that didn't require I buy anything (I have some scraps from the dress and skirt I made). And so, this is what I made:

Can you guess what it is?

It's a....

Crayon roll!

It's a cute little case for Ellie's crayons! And the best part...she likes it! :)

Feeling inspired? Here's the link with directions on how to make it!

more pictures?

2011-03-03T13:43:00.004-06:00

Not a lot of exciting news here.... so here are some pictures!

Ellie in her new dress:

Ellie's face after an "as a matter of fact" comment.

Siri in her usual location when Joe is home- right by his side!

Siri at church:

Family photo! (Ellie's hair was cut the day after this photo...It looks MUCH better!)

Thanks Grandma Donna and Grandpa Wayne!

2011-02-25T15:06:00.006-06:00

A Fire!

2011-02-22T15:50:00.006-06:00

Yep! In OUR kitchen!

To avoid utter humiliation I will refrain from explaining the exact details of what happened, but let's just say I don't know how to deep fry with oil; and should you ever attempt this, BE CAREFUL! Oh and if you do start a fire with oil, let your husband know that the object on fire is oil so that he doesn't run into the room and immediately attempt to pour water on it!

In summation:

Injuries:

1. A blister on Joey's finger

2. A blister on Kim's foot

Costs of the fire:

$25 to replace other things that caught on fire in the sink area (bibs and dish washing gloves etc)

$21 to replace fire extinguisher (This saved our lives!!!)

6 hours of scrubbing (Nothing was permanently damaged as long as we can get the soot off all of the cabinets and ceilings-yes, we're still working on that!).

Funny moments:

- The girls watched the entire event from the living room and were remarkably well behaved during that time.

- Joey ran from the kitchen through the living room with a burning pot of oil with flames at least 2 feet high.

- Ellie's fixation on fire for several days following the event.

Pictures:

Note: These were taken after a lot of scrubbing had been done. The yellow wall behind the sink and the sink itself were actually the blackest areas of the kitchen.

Ellie's report:

Where's your belly button?

2011-02-22T15:42:00.003-06:00

Winter Wonderland

2011-01-31T10:33:00.004-06:00

The result of cold weather and winter boredom:

Finally Joe and Ellie have enough bravery to face the winter cold (ok you can tell by Joe's lack of coat that it's not THAT cold! haha):

The finished product (actually they did add arms and a hat, but I went inside and therefore, no pictures!):

New Mission

2011-01-27T15:18:00.000-06:00

We will NOT be moving to China next year after all as we did not get the one possible job available to us in Shanghai! :( We had made it through the first interview but they decided to go with a teaching couple instead! They suggested, to make Joey more hirable, that I become a teacher....HAHA! I believe that would only keep us here longer as no school would want to hire ME as a teacher! But possibly the teacher-school nurse combo may come in handy some day, Lord willing.

Anyway, we are thankful God slammed the door in our face as this was the only way we would hear him saying, "NO CHINA!" We had our hearts set on moving there but it has become clear that is not what we should do (nor are actually capable of doing), for now anyway. We don't believe in anyway this means, never China. Simply not now. So as we praise God (in a weird way) and we are now on the lookout for houses in the St. Louis area. Staying put state-side means it's time to buckle down and earn some equity, if that door should open for us. This is scary for us because we still want so much to be available to jump up and go as soon as China is ready for us but we know we don't want to keep pouring into rent our whole lives. Owning a house is another deep desire for both of us, we just thought it would come AFTER China.

Anyway, please pray for us now that we will be able to save like crazy and then find a perfect house all by this summer when our lease on this apartment ends in July!

New computer

2011-01-27T14:55:00.003-06:00

It's been a little while since my last post, but I have an excuse! Our hard drive on our mac crashed and we have been computer-less for the last week or two. But alas, we have a computer once more! Instead of fixing our old one we were able to purchase a NEW one with the help of my mom and dad (early birthday presents). :) So I am now typing to you all via this all-in-one iMac desktop! YAY!

It took a lot of convincing to not buy a laptop but we came to the conclusion that we just don't head out to a coffee shop with our laptops in our spare time anymore! Joey has his laptop for school purposes and the ONLY other reason we have used our laptop in it's true form is for DVD watching for the girls on long trips. So we concluded that for the same amount of money we could get:

1. MUCH larger screen

2. WAY more memory

3. Better proccessor

4. more ram

All for the SAME price as a laptop! So that is just what we did and so far so good! We are hoping this will last us a little longer as we will not be trudging it around with us everywhere we go and it is out of the reach of two little hooligans (a portable DVD player is next on our list of technology-based things to buy)! :) I have come to LOVE macs so much (I can't really explain it) and I LOVE this computer! Anyway, it also makes our Netflix watching a little more fun! (Our TV is in the basement and so we've become accustomed to watching most of our movies on our laptop--now iMac.)

Shunting Trucks and Hauling Freight

2011-01-13T14:20:00.002-06:00

Here's Ellie's rendition of the Thomas and Friends theme song:

They're two they're four they're six they're eight

Shunting trucks and hauling freight

red and green and brown and blue

they're a really useful crew

All with different roles to play

'Round Tidmouth sheds or far away,

Down the hills and round the bends

Thomas and his friends

Hair Cut!

2011-01-06T11:06:00.004-06:00

Aside from a mini-bang-cut a few months ago, Siri had her first official hair cut on December 30th, 2010. :)

She definitely needed a cut...

She was a little feisty, but Joey did a great job!

You can't really see the results very well in these pics as her hair is still wet, but you get the idea

Oh and by the way, Ellie's a monster!

Camaraderie (and snow)!

2010-12-15T10:09:00.003-06:00

In effort to support and encourage camaraderie between the girls, Joey and I have decided to put Ellie and Siri in the same room! We had begun to notice jealousy (mostly on Ellie's part, though some on Siri's part too) in the last few months. It seems that once Siri started really walking, things changed around here. Siri began to receive a lot more attention and Ellie began to feel the competition! Ellie even regressed slightly in some of her recent progress and development (namely potty training and sleeping in a toddler bed). So following the advice of my aunt, we decided to let them share a room together in effort to support and encourage their friendship, and hopefully help Ellie return to her normal self again. It's been a bit of a rocky start but I suppose in a good way. They have had a hard time going to sleep because they've been too busy playing together! :) After 4 days it seems they are getting the hang of it and I do feel they have a lot more fun together during play time during the day. So though we've had crabbier children, they've at least had more fun together! :)

Also, Ellie is back on track! She has only had one accident, and she has vowed that she will "never pee in her pants again!"... so far so good. As far as staying in her bed, well she gets up to give things to Siri, but otherwise stays in her room, which is a start I guess! hehe

And just like nearly the rest of the U.S., we got snow this weekend!

25 days of Christmas!

2010-12-15T09:50:00.003-06:00

As a continuation of a tradition in Joey's family, we have decided to have an advent calendar!

Inside each door we wanted to have something that represented a part of Christmas, be it something traditional to the holiday season around the world (ex. candy cane, holly, Christmas tree etc) or something specific to the Biblical Christmas story (ex. Mary, Angel, Star etc). We decided to make ornaments out of clay to put into each box!

It's been quite the task, but so much fun! :) We've enjoyed making the ornaments together but definitely hope they will last several years! :) Joey, has also written up little explanations about the symbol along with a bible verse to go along with each ornament.

Here's to keeping the Torgerson tradition alive! :)

A new bike!

2010-11-30T10:31:00.004-06:00

Ellie began reaping the benefits of her third birthday about a month in advance with a trip to "The Target mall" with her Baca and Lola. The trip resulted in a new bike complete with training wheels!

It took her a while (about a day) to get used to pedaling and steering, but once she got it, she was unstoppable (with the exception of going uphill)!

At first, we had to put rubber bands on her feet to keep them on the pedals!

Siri had a great time outside with her Baca and Lola too!

A happy (almost) three-year old!!

Oct. 25th: A day in history!

2010-11-08T10:32:00.004-06:00

I suppose the biggest reason to have a blog, for me anyway, is to mark monumental events in the lives of my children and to share the joy we experience with you all! And here I've forgotten to mention that Siri can walk!! I suppose I'm only a little behind but really this should have been posted a while ago!

On Oct. 25th Siri ventured out and took her first steps alone! She walked a lot before this as long as we were holding her hand (yes, just one hand is all she needed)! But she finally realized she could do it on her own, which was very exciting to us all! She is still slow in the process of making walking her new form of transportation as she still prefers crawling, but today I caught her walking from one place to the other without any of my encouragement! She stands extremely steady on her feet, but can still only successfully walk maybe five feet by herself. But she's on her way!

Enjoy the video! :)

Neighborhood friends

2010-11-04T09:52:00.004-05:00

Our latest source of entertainment in the afternoons while waiting for Joe to come home is playing right outside our front door with the kids that live next door and just across the way! This is somewhat of a new thing, though they would all occasionally play together during the summer. But now that the weather's getting cold, they've finally all decided to be friends! It's been nice for Ellie to have some kids to play with right out her front door. So here are some pics of the kids (mostly Ellie) playing right outside.

Ellie and Reef (notice Reef's glasses!):

Reef and her parents moved to America recently to learn English so our interaction with them consists of very little (though increasingly more!) words.

Here Ellie is riding Reef's bike, a regular occurrence as Ellie does not have one!

The kids in this picture live right next door. The girl is 5 whom Ellie gets along with and plays with the most and the boy is just 3 months younger than Ellie. They also have an older sister,7, who they play with too when she gets home from school:

Another regular form of entertainment in our household is smoothies (oh and phones)!

Disney Part 3 (Day 5 and 6)

2010-11-02T14:54:00.017-05:00

We decided on Tuesday to go to Hollywood studios as there were many characters to see including Ariel!

Our first stop was "The Voyage of the Little Mermaid." Here we are waiting to get into the show:

We ate lunch that day at the Sci-Fi Theater! :)

Then Ellie played in the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" play area with Lola and Siri while Tod and I did the "Rock 'N Roll Roller Coaster" and "Tower of Terror"

Then of course we did the backlot tour! :) (Ellie stayed on Tod's shoulders most of the Disney trip-Thanks, Tod!)

Here we are in line making our way through props to get to the bus:

And although there were huge explosions of fire and rushes of water, Ellie and Siri loved the tour and did not show one sign of fear the entire time, much to my surprise! It was scary!!

As we were on our way out of the park (it was getting late and we were ALL tired), we saw a small line of kids forming who were waiting to get their pictures taken with characters from Monsters Inc. We couldn't resist:

And then we decided that was it! It was a long enough day and the kids were tired! Until we saw.....BUZZ AND WOODY!

Even Ellie perked up to see these guys! :)

And now we're really leaving...

The next day we were off to Animal Kingdom! From what I remember, this park was new the last time I was at Disney so we didn't spend a lot of time there and I wasn't too interested in going back there again this time. But it was actually a lot of fun and there were plenty of kid activities! Ellie and Siri love animals (as I'm sure most kids their age do) so this was all very exciting to them!

Here's Ellie waiting for the tram:

I love all the green!!

We are bugs at the bug show! :)

We found a petting zoo!

I love this one of Ellie playing "Mancala"

Poor Siri is thirsty!

The last thing we did at the Animal Kingdom was the Kilimanjaro tour:

Then it was off to Epcot again to actually go on the Nemo ride; which was awesome, by the way!

The aquarium you see after you get off the ride was quite impressive!

They also had a lot of little fish tanks with all different kinds of fish in them. :) We ate dinner in Italy that night (AMAZING food) and then stayed around to watch the fireworks show:

Goodbye Epcot!

Disney Part 2 (Day 3 and 4)

2010-10-28T15:24:00.012-05:00

Since the girls had officially taken a nap on Sunday we decided when Tod and my mom arrived that evening that it would be appropriate to stay out....way. too. late. But actually you probably wont' be able to tell from the pictures that it was way past their bedtime as Ellie and Siri were too excited to care!

When Tod and my mom came, we decided to go to downtown Disney and eat dinner! :) We went to T-Rex! It was a cool place with big dinosaurs and climate changes while you eat!

We ate in the "Cave" which changed colors while you were sitting there!

And here Tod and Ellie are under a huge octopus! It was really cool! :)

Then we walked around downtown disney for a bit passing by Cinderella:

And Sleeping Beauty:

And Ellie got new PJ's! :)

On Monday we decided to go to Universal Studios to get away from Disney for a while. We LOVED it and actually decided to go back as we didn't get to everything we wanted to.

Our first stop was the E.T. ride which Ellie still talks about to this day which may be because we went on it a million times in a row!

Then we saw a Curious George play area! It had a Curious George story written out on huge "books" where each station had a different page open (you couldn't turn the page as it was a statue of sorts).

Then we SAW Curious George (how appropriate)! Ellie and Siri were very excited, needless to say!

Then we saw a 4D shrek show that was so fun! The fourth dimension being jerking seats and water spraying. Siri, although scared at first actually really like it! haha! And Ellie thought it was pretty funny when Donkey's sneeze sprayed on her!

Then finally exhaustion set in and Ellie took a nap in the stroller while Tod and I ran around Hogsmeade! That was VERY cool, though most of the Harry Potter stuff was big roller coasters. They did have a shop called "Olivanders" but the line was too long for me to care enough to wait in, besides I wasn't going to spend $30 on a wand!

And since Ellie had had another nap that day and the park closed at like 6, we decided we needed to head BACK to downtown Disney as Ellie would need a halloween costume for the Mickey's-not-so-scary Halloween Party. And no, we did not buy the wig! haha!

More later! :)

A month come and gone!

2010-10-25T15:24:00.006-05:00

Sorry to all of you faithful friends! We've had a busy month of October and things are finally feeling normal around here again with a few changes as usual! We started the month with a week long trip to Disney World thanks entirely to my mom and dad! :) So I'm going to post some of the highlights of the trip.

We all left on Friday morning, Joey, Ellie, Siri and I and arrived in Orlando Friday evening. So we went straight to bed once we got to the hotel. We had a very uneventful flight to FL with one stop in Chicago.

Joey could only stay the weekend as he had to get back to class on Monday morning, so we had a LOT to do over the weekend! We decided to go to Magic Kingdom on Sat.

We got the park at a decent time in the morning and were immediately greeted by a parade!!

We then decided Ellie needed to go on her first ride! Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride:

And of course, we had to do Pirates of the Caribbean! (Ellie's a little excited!)

Then on to Tom Sawyer's Island:

After a few more rides (and lots of walking), by mid-afternoon we were ready for the People Mover:

And of course we had to take an ice cream break:

We did just about everything we decided was necessary in the Magic Kingdom that day including the Electrical Parade: (I'm kinda proud of this pic because not only was that thing moving, it was dark so the shutter speed was slow!)

Ellie got a cool light thing:

We were exhausted by the end of the day but we felt we had fulfilled all of our requirements (with the exception of Small World and Tea Cups which were both CLOSED! :( ).

Day 2- Epcot (1/2 day since Joey had to go home... ALREADY!)

First stop: The Nemo ride! One Problem: Line was 1 hour! UGH! Needless to say, we did not wait in line but rather decided to try again later (which we did not do that day), Ellie didn't seem to mind as she was very happy to be able to stand right next to and touch nemo:

And to one person in particular (Joey) the coolest thing about Epcot is the passport!! I've been to Epcot MANY times in my life and NEVER had a passport! Didn't know they had such a thing. But we decided we should get one for Ellie and it was VERY exciting and entertaining for her. Only regret: not enough time to complete the passport!

England:

France:

China: (Ellie took this pic)

We visited a few other countries that day, including Norway (don't you fear, Torgies!) which is where we ate! YUMM! :) We commented on the irony (sorta) of China and Norway being right next to each other.

About 1pm or so we started our journey back to the hotel to put the girls down for their first nap of the trip and to send Joey off to the airport. :(

So I'll stop here for now.

For Grandpa Steve and Grandma Merrilee

2010-09-27T16:54:00.002-05:00

Thanks for the present! :)

Officially one...

2010-09-27T16:15:00.002-05:00

Well now that Siri has celebrated her first birthday, we can all agree that she is now officially one! Do enjoy the pics! Click here!

Happy Birthday, Siri!! :)

2010-09-22T16:47:00.004-05:00

Well, she's one year old today! Where did the time go?

Here are the last five weeks of Siri as an infant! :( Notice in most of the pictures the look on her face is like, "huh?". That's mostly because she was staring at me as I was trying to get her to smile! Ellie fell for it all the time, Siri.....not so much!

Week 48

Week 49

Week 50

Week 51

Week 52

Not much to say

2010-09-12T21:15:00.004-05:00

Just thought these pictures were post-worthy....

Siri is posing for a picture on "Ellie's" phone!

Ellie and Siri with their bunnies. :)

Siri's getting pretty good on her feet!

And Ellie's getting quite good with her alphabet puzzle.

Never had one lesson!

2010-09-06T21:04:00.004-05:00

Although she may seem young, Ellie is really amazing at pressing just the right "keys" to find the perfect (demo) song for the occasion. ;)

She was a little upset about the song that was playing

I just love this picture of Siri so I had to post it!

Bounce House

2010-08-31T16:08:00.005-05:00

Every fall our church puts on a fall festival party and always has a bounce house/castle. This year Ellie, Siri and Gabe got to try it out before hand! :)

Weeks of Siri

2010-08-24T19:31:00.005-05:00

First let's look back at a few pictures throughout Siri's life to get a feel for how much she's changed!

Sept. 29- Week 1

Dec. 8- Week 11

Feb 17- Week 21

Apr. 27- Week 31

And here are the most recent pics of Siri:

Aug. 3th- Week 45

Aug. 10th-Week 46

Aug. 17- Week 47

Do you believe how close we are to week 52!?!

Paint...Siri...Summer ,

2010-08-19T15:02:00.010-05:00

Well we did it. We finally painted our apartment! After being renters for 5 years we finally decided this was the year that we would spice up our lives and our walls with paint! YAY! We love it! We only painted the main floor mostly due to the fact that we have to paint it all back when we leave next spring...I mean when we leave LORD WILLING, next spring! Instead of full explanations just take a look:

We didn't take a picture of the kitchen but we also painted one wall yellow. Very fun! :)

And now Siri...Siri is getting SOO big so fast! Though I think she's actually thinning out a bit, she's still growing. She's now fully saying, "hi", "mama", "dada", "eat" which sounds like "deat" and "done" which sounds like "da". Occasionally she will say "ellie" and "bye". She started signing a bit at the beginning of July though she's fairly inconsistent. She does do the signs for "milk" and "play" but mostly I think the signing has taught her that she can communicate her desires; she just chooses to speak them, which is fine by us! :) We're very excited to watch her grow.

She is also getting everywhere she needs to! She's crawling most everywhere though occasionally gives a power boost with her foot. She is also pulling herself up to standing position so she can see all the interesting things we try to hide from her on the coffee table, couch etc. Baby proofing has been taken to a whole new level!

And can that girl eat!! WOW! Most days Joey and I are beside ourselves with how much she has eaten. She is now only nursing 2-3 times a day and eating regular food for her meals! She does still eat pureed veggies occasionally, but most everything she has is in pieces big enough for her to grab and feed herself. It's AWESOME! :) Siri is a bit messier than Ellie was though at 11 months what baby isn't!?

And I just love this picture of Ellie and Joey. Joey tried to be intentional with Ellie a bit this summer in having some mini school lessons with her. We used flash cards to help her learn the sounds of the letters. I wouldn't say it was totally unfruitful but as you saw in our last blog, one week of the letter factory DVD and she had it!

Around mid-July Joey's parents came to visit. We were hosting Joey's brother Jesse for three weeks while he studied at SLU so they were able to see him also. :)

Here's our trip to the zoo (Jesse was in the library which explains why he isn't in any of these pictures):

Ellie's first merry-go-round experience:

The boys took Ellie on the train and we stayed behind:

We also enjoyed some time at the park while they were here:

And here are some fun pictures of the girls this summer:

Alphabet

2010-08-07T16:17:00.000-05:00

We have been working for quite some time with Ellie trying to help her remember her letter sounds. We've had pretty limited success until this last week. Previously we used the LeapFrog fridge letters, which Ellie occasionally played with, but they didn't really register as something she was supposed to remember. We also have frequently done flashcards, focusing on four letters for a few days, but she has rarely remembered them longterm. The most success we've had is in using people's names for the letters (R is for Roger, G is for Gabe, etc.), but Ellie struggled to separate the R from the Roger (R wasn't R, but it was Roger, which obviously would make things pretty confusing later when trying to read Wendy Oscar Roger David Sarah).

Last week Kim purchased The Letter Factory and Ellie has been watching it every day for a week. I'm proud to say that she has almost got her letters down (except for U and Y, as you can see). The video has an approach that works really well for her social personality. Each letter in the show has its own personality and is doing something with all its like-letter friends (the Ds are all playing drums, going Deh Deh Deh on the drums, the Hs are all in a hot room drinking lemonade panting, etc.). She's made some great progress!

I asked her if she wanted to make a video and send it to someone, and she said she wanted to show "TT" (my sister-in-law, Toria) how she could do her letters. That video was long and painful, so this is the second try for Haley.

Summer Fun!

2010-08-06T14:46:00.011-05:00

Part 1: Ellie update:

Our lives are always changing. Looking back at this blog that has been mostly untouched all summer is great evidence of that! I can't believe how young our girls look in the pictures and to think back to then (yes I know only months ago) I can't believe how different life now seems. It may appear to most that things are relatively unchanged with the exception of a much bigger infant however it's the subtle things like that that make all the difference in the world. I'll use pictures to explain away our summer:

Joey has a garden! These pictures really don't do justice actually. His garden is amazing! And I, leaning towards practicality in most every way, began the summer very skeptical of his garden. Why pour the money and energy into something that is gone in one season!? But I stand corrected. I really enjoy it and have humbly admitted this to him to which he gives me his "I told you so" talk. :)

Ellie has become even more animated than ever! For those who knew her before this summer may find that hard to believe but she is even MORE verbal and more dramatic (not in an emotional way, but in a make-believe way). Ellie pretty much talks about EVERYTHING at all times. It's mostly entertaining though I must admit it can be quite exhausting. The quiet of nap time usually consists of ringing ears. And she LOVES to pretend! Ellie has seen "The Little Mermaid" maybe three times total in her entire lifetime and the way she talks about it you would think we set her down in front of that movie EVERYDAY! She LOVES Ariel which honestly neither Joey nor I are quite proud of seeing as Ariel is really just a disobedient child wearing nothing more than a bra. I digress. Here is our drama-queen (posing for these pictures, mind you):

And here she is being Ariel.

More news: Ellie is potty training! I still say is potty training because well, she still has accidents occasionally though we began this process in the beginning of June. We still have to remind her to go and sometimes insist she goes. She seems to have the most accidents while playing with others, but she's getting there! She really enjoys the praise of using the potty "all by herself!"

Here are some pics of Ellie at the zoo from early June. There aren't any of Siri because she stayed in the stroller most of the time, but I'll do a whole blog on her later!

The petting zoo (she's about to give him a kiss):

Shortly after that zoo trip I took a trip to Harvard Medical School for a three day course in bioethics! I'm no ethicist but I learned lots! :)

Then we had a nice visit from Ellie and Siri's great-grandparents (Joey's grandparents)! They sure do LOVE them! :)

Ok and a sneak peak at Siri:

And a new favorite:

Long time no see!

2010-07-28T16:04:00.005-05:00

Hey all!

Well it's been one busy summer for us all! And since Ellie is now awake from her nap this is going to be a blog simply saying, "look at these pics!"

Enjoy!

Copy and paste this into your web browser.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082962&id=63804094&l=665c74251a

Stitches! Warning some graphic pictures included.

2010-05-17T13:53:00.004-05:00

This story is a little late but still a good one!

For April fool's this past April, Joey decided to REALLY cut his finger open! He decided, I suppose that it wouldn't really be all that fun to pretend to cut your finger in effort freak out your family but instead he should REALLY do it! So after school on April 1st, he came home and started cutting a board for Ellie's bed with a hand saw and to make his practical joke a reality, he started cutting towards his hand and within seconds.... (this is graphic)

So needless to say, minutes later we found ourselves here, in the ER (wound dressing props go to ME):

And before long:

We had our little backpacks with us for the ride and the entertainment ( I love Ellie's face as Joey explains his stitches):

They did a great job stitching it up. Joey had the stitches in for a week but had to wear this (see below) for two weeks (because it was on the knuckle, he couldn't bend it at risk of ripping it open):

Two weeks later:

After about 2 1/2 wks Joey was fully moving his finger again without fear of tearing. It looks great now (I'll have to get a pic and post it). Thanks for the April Fool's joke, Joe!

Moles are not my friends

2010-05-09T09:10:00.003-05:00

I have been spending a lot of time this spring in a little patch of garden in front of our house (pictures to come later). It's been a really great hobby, and I'm especially proud of it. I've got African marigolds, alyssum, mums, hyacinth and daffodils, snapdragons, petunias, vincas, and have even grown some French marigolds and pincushion flowers from seeds. I'm very proud of my flowers so far.

I discovered this pride was edging on the point of obsession when I found, before work and about a week ago, a line of soil, pushed up from the bottom, that went right through the middle of my alyssum. I'm not sure if it was a vole or a mole, but it filled the depths of my insides with anger. Those blasted varmints and their disgusting taste for spring grubs! I stepped on all the pushed up earth and stormed off to work, no doubt speeding most of the way. The next morning I found another line of pushed-up earth, this time going through the marigolds, under a bush, and pushing up some portulaca. Once again I pressed down all the dirt and started looking at mole traps online.

The next day was more of the same, and then more of the same, and my anger continued to mount. Then, yesterday, Ellie and I were outside playing with a softball. I went in for a few minutes, and when I came back outside a new line of dirt was pushed up! That sneaky devil! I started stepping on all of the dirt that was pushed up, and when I stepped on the last foot-sized patch of dirt, it immediately pushed right up again! I had cut off his little tunnels, and now I knew exactly where he was! Aha!

I ran back inside and to the back and grabbed an old fireplace poker that I just happened to have in the back patio and then came running back through the house with it (Kim is used to this sort of thing by now). When I got back to the front of the house, the ground was still wiggling in that spot, and I viciously buried the point of my poker into the earth. I might have done so about fifteen times. And I might have been screaming "DIE, DIE, DIE!"

This was soon followed by, "What are you doing, Dad?" from Ellie, who watched the whole event with quiet astonishment.

There was no blood or brains on my poker (I have to admit I kind of hoped there would be), but that little patch of dirt didn't move any after I was done, and the weren't any trails of pushed-up dirt in my garden this morning. My chest was puffed up with a grand sent of manly conquest for the rest of my Saturday. The following clip best describes my feelings through this whole event:

Letters!

2010-04-28T15:19:00.002-05:00

Ellie reading the letters in the word "Bethel" on my t-shirt:

"Basket-E-Tie-H-E-L! I did it, mom!"

She's getting there....

Siri's Dedication

2010-04-12T14:11:00.006-05:00

On March 28, 2010 Siri Ann Torgerson was dedicated to the Lord in our home church of St. Louis Chinese Christian Church. Joey, Ellie, Siri and I were very happy to celebrate this occasion with my mom, dad and sister, Tori as well as close friends in our church. Sophie Tao was also dedicated on this day right next to Siri, a very special moment for both of them!

Siri carried on our tradition and wore the same dress Ellie, my mom, her siblings, my siblings and I all wore during this event. :) Enjoy the pics!

Pre-dedication pics:

The Dedication:

Siri is staring at the camera and Ellie is staring at Pastor Mark! :)

Our dedicated baby:

A celebration is NEVER complete without some bubble tea! :)

The Proud Sister:

And for fun, here's a comparison of our two little girls at nearly the same age (6 mths):

Ellie:

Siri:

March Happenings...

2010-04-01T16:20:00.006-05:00

A little update on the month of March:

Ellie got bangs! :)

Siri is getting SO big! She now loves her excersaucer:

We took a trip to the zoo for the first time this season.

(no, we don't know that little kid next to Joe)

Ellie and Gabe really enjoyed all the animals

Especially the elephants :)

And the monkeys

Joe being "Mr. Mom"

Siri and Sophie were pooped!

Then Siri went for her first swim at the local community center!

And Ellie transitioned into a toddler bed! So far so good. She still seems to sleep pretty well despite her ability (and desire) to get out of bed and play.

For spring break my dad, mom and sister came for a visit! The girls LOVED having them

And for fun:

hummm...

2010-03-03T14:27:00.002-06:00

Mom: Ellie you are such a pretty girl!

Ellie: Thanks, mom. You're a pretty girl too!

Mom: Oh thanks, Ellie!

Ellie: And Siri's a pretty girl. And dada's a pretty girl, too!

Mom: Umm...no dada's not a pretty girl. Dada's a handsome boy!

Ellie: No. Dada's a pretty girl!

Mom: No, Ellie he's a handsome boy.

Ellie: NO, he's a pretty girl!!

Mom: Ellie he's not a girl. He's a boy! So, dada's a handsome boy!

Ellie: NO, MOM! Dada's a pretty girl!!!!

Mom: Ok, Ellie. Dada's a pretty girl!

I guess I'm into videos lately!

2010-02-28T22:26:00.003-06:00

Here's another (taken by my new iPhone, mind you!):

Just Playing...

2010-02-23T21:03:00.003-06:00

This is a small showing of what has become a regular activity in this household. Last night there was laughter by both parties during this very activity! So cute! :)

Some Firsts:

2010-02-21T21:19:00.002-06:00

Siri has passed some milestones in the last few days that must be shared!

Last week we introduced rice cereal into her diet which she accepted whole-heartedly! She also rolled over for the first time on Feb. 19th. She had been close on several occasions in the last month, but unfortunately didn't have a patient enough mother to let her attempt to follow through. My only excuse is that there is a two year old running around this place! As a result of her being a little older than Ellie for the first roll-over experience, she did it a lot quicker so it's less painful to watch! :)

Breaking News...

2010-02-18T20:45:00.002-06:00

Ellie has now pooped on the potty. Today she joined her father in the bathroom to take a poo. The BM was followed by shouts of joy, high fives from Mom and Dad, waving to a flushing toilet, and a chocolate bar from Baka. Nice job, El.

Do They Look Alike?

2010-02-18T16:42:00.003-06:00

For those who have asked....

Ellie at 19 wks:

Siri at 19 wks:

Ellie at 21 wks:

Siri at 21 wks:

Some Videos and stuff...

2010-02-16T22:42:00.003-06:00

It's been a while! I seem to be keeping quite busy (either that or I'm just too tired)!

Siri is HUGE these days! She's growing before our eyes into an adorable little girl! She's still very much a baby, but slowly becoming more interactive and fun! She babbles, blows raspberries, sits in a bumbo seat, bears weight on her legs and can be pulled to a standing position from laying down, laughs at/with Ellie and smiles on every occasion! Truly a fun little girl to be around. She's still super cuddly and is still quite attached to the food source, I mean her mommy. :) Ellie wakes up every morning asking where Siri is located! We love her to death and can't really remember what life was like without her.

Ellie is mommy #2, but Siri doesn't seem to mind....YET!

Ellie is fully and wonderfully TWO! She's full of love, words, songs, opinions and demands...oh yes and laughs! She's quite the entertainer and still as social as ever! Just the other day at church, we were all standing around afterwords mingling when... "Where's Ellie!?" It didn't take long to spot her in a crowd of kids probably 7-10 years old, she just went right up and joined in their conversation!

Here's the bossy side of her:

On another note, this is a funny video I recorded a while ago. Do enjoy!

Getting bigger

2010-01-12T21:38:00.003-06:00

Siri is getting bigger by the minute. Not sure if I ever mentioned it but at her 2 mth check up (1 1/2 mths ago) she weighed in at 13 lbs putting her in the 83rd percentile. BIG baby! :)

Anyway here she is at 15 wks (I know I'm behind). The outfit is from Uncle Wil! :)

And Week 16 (Today!) :)

Ellie has really been enjoying the snow, taking every opportunity to be outside (despite the cold). The other day Joey bought a sled and went sledding with Ellie. Saturday we all went again right out our front door! :)

A day in the life...

2010-01-05T17:15:00.002-06:00

11 O'Clock Conversation

2010-01-04T22:56:00.004-06:00

Kim and I put Siri and Ellie to bed at the Tao's this evening and ran off to play some rec league volleyball. As soon as I pulled a dazed and tired Ellie out of her car seat upon arriving back at home she bent her head back and looked straight up at the night sky.

Ellie: Whoa. Lotta stars [actually skars].

Me: Wow, you're right! Look at all of those stars! How many do you see?

Ellie: [Silence]

Me: Can you count them, Ellie? How many can you count?

Ellie: One two three four five six seven eight nine ten.

Me: Wow, ten stars! Are there more than ten?

Ellie: Yeah.

Me: Ellie, who made those stars? Do you know who put them there?

Ellie: Grandma Merrilee.

Spontaneous Fun! :)

2009-11-23T13:52:00.006-06:00

The weekend before halloween, some friends came over and we carved pumpkins. We also had some spontaneous fun including this:

Photoshoot!

2009-11-20T12:43:00.004-06:00

Our good old Ford was totalled in a minor rear-ending accident - our fault, everyone's ok; the person whose car we hit was fine, so we didn't have to pay for damages. Ultimately, we became in sudden need of a car. So we decided we needed to go bigger....not quite minivan bigger just yet....but station wagon bigger. It actually happened that my cousin, who sells cars, just got a 2004 Volkswagen Passat wagon in GREAT condition with LITTLE miles on it for a LOW price. He said he doesn't see deals like this very often and suggested we jump on it, so that's just what we did! He lives in Chicago, so we went there to get it last week! The girls and I went back with my mom on Tuesday, and then Joey joined us for the weekend. On Saturday, we got the new car, and we LOVE it! It is in great condition and has more room for our growing family!

While we were in Chicago, my good friend Erin came by and did a photo shoot of me and the girls! It was awesome, and she did a great job! I had to wake Ellie from her nap to get some pics in the daylight, and as a result she was a little crabby and hard to deal with, but Erin got some great pics despite that! I'm really glad we have these pictures! It was too bad Joey couldn't be there! But maybe we can convince her to come by again when Joey's around! :) Thanks, Erin!

Here are just a few of the wonderful pictures she took!

Photo Shoot with Erin Nov. 2009

What I learned in nursing school...

2009-11-19T10:25:00.003-06:00

When working with children we were taught a very strategic way to get kids to do things they MUST do but didn't want to do. For nurses an example would be getting a child to take their medicine. I specifically remember a time in nursing school clinicals where I didn't use this strategy and had a screaming toddler who wouldn't take her medicine for over an hour! Bad move. I've since used this strategy and it has proven successful over and over (mostly for the toddler age, however older kids will go for this too, they just can't be "tricked" as easily). And I have now discovered this strategy can even work with your own children! :)

I'm sure many of you have learned this strategy naturally. Survival of the fittest. If you don't figure out a way to get your kids to do things they need to do but won't, you just won't make it! Thankfully I had nursing school to teach me. But for those who didn't go through nursing school and haven't figured it out yet, here's the strategy:

It's all about choices. Children want choices, but it's up do YOU to give them realistic choices to choose from. So here is an example of "The Strategy" working successfully with Ellie:

Me: Ellie, it's time to eat your breakfast.

Ellie: No, momma! (playing with toys in other room)

M: Ellie, do you want me to hold you and bring you to the table? Or do you want to go there by yourself?

E: Myself (starts RUNNING to table)

M: Good girl, Ellie! Here's your oatmeal! (Big smile!)

That's it folks! Give them choices surrounding the activity you want them to perform and they are happy to make a decision! :)

Ellie Singing and Sweet Siri

2009-11-09T13:41:00.006-06:00

This video is not the perfect depiction of Ellie's singing capabilities, but you get the idea!

She's a little distracted but that was the only way I could get her to sing for the camera! :)

So amidst all of this Ellie blogging, I suppose I should give a little attention to Siri! She is a SWEET little baby! She has been so good and in my humble opinion, she is so cute! :) Siri is getting so big these days! There's just not a whole lot going on with her as she mostly sleeps, though she is becoming more awake and social! She's smiled a few times, but I haven't gotten that on camera yet! I feel bad because I know I had gotten Ellie smiling on camera the first time she did it, but as you moms know, it's a little more difficult with a 2 year old running around! :( Sorry Siri! But if you're anything like most middle children (except me, of course) you will like not having the spotlight! ;)

Thanks Scott Torgersons!

2009-11-06T16:30:00.002-06:00

A little while ago now we received a package from Scott and Karen Torgerson with extremely cute stuff and we have captured Ellie opening it on video. So this is for them:

oops!

2009-11-04T15:15:00.011-06:00

I never posted any pictures of Steve and Merrilee's visit during Siri's second week of life! So here they are:

Steve and Ellie:

Joey went with Ellie and his parents to the park which gave me a little break at home with Siri:

Here's a cute sequence of pics of Ellie and Siri:

Hanging out at home:

Merrilee spent an entire week with us! On this day they went to the nursery across the street where they had a little hay maze:

And pumpkins!

On our way to church! Sorry, Merrilee!

Gardening:

And after Merrilee left, my mom came back to help out. Then my grandparents came to visit (most of the pics are on my mom's camera!):

Siri's first bottle

2009-11-04T10:13:00.002-06:00

While I was going to get my first professional massage* ever, Joey was home with Ellie and Siri giving Siri her first bottle.

SOOO Cute! I'm SO glad he got that on camera! Nice job, Joey! I had forgotten to ask him to PLEASE film Siri's first bottle but HE DID!! :)

*So my massage if you're wondering....I had gotten a gift certificate to The Face and The Body a year ago and it was going to expire on Nov. 5th. I felt I had to get something I wouldn't normally get. I didn't want to get a haircut, cause I would get one anyway! And I didn't want to get a facial because of so many hormonal changes. So I decided I should get a massage and Joey was ALL for it!

It was extremely nice! I enjoyed it a lot and felt very relaxed. I actually think God was in on this one because during the quietness I realized it had been a while since I prayed/meditated/sat still in silence (even falling asleep these days isn't silent as there is a little one I listen to breathe). Ellie's naps these days I occupy with a nap of my own! So this one hour massage was a great chance for me to sit in silence and reflect. It was wonderful and VERY needed! I realize I NEED to do that more often (not necessarily in massage form). So thank-you 8th grade volleyball team from last year! I thoroughly enjoyed my gift! :)

Siri Birth Video

2009-10-31T09:03:00.005-05:00

Last night I was working on our home videos with Kim and ended up staying up late making Siri a little birth video. I hope you enjoy it!

The weeks of Siri

2009-10-21T12:07:00.004-05:00

A friend from work told me that for the first year of her son's life she took a picture of him every week and made a book of all the pictures. I thought it was a great idea, so I did that with Ellie. It's SO fun to look at and see how Ellie has grown. We're especially glad to have that book as now we can compare Ellie's looks and changes to Siri's.

I am now making a book for Siri and have 4 weeks done already!! Can you believe it? Siri is already 4 weeks old! She is definitely becoming more aware of her surroundings. She has more awake periods and requires a little more effort to be put to sleep. The other night we didn't time our bedtime very well and ended up awake with Siri for an hour before she decided it was time for her to sleep as well. So instead of the intended early bedtime of 10:30, we ended up asleep at 11:30 as usual! I am thankful to say that in that hour we were not dealing with a crying baby, just an awake baby. We have been blessed with a pretty calm baby.....for now! ;)

Anyway, here are the pictures I have picked out for Siri's book so far...

Day of Life 1:

Week 1 (yes, that's Ellie's hand on Siri's foot. You can always find Ellie close to her sister!):

Week 2:

Week 3:

Week 4: