Easter

 Easter this year was one of those times that I realized that I have to make traditions happen if we want them. I can't really count on the Easter Bunny to just show up. We had already been to a mini egg hunt at a playgroup and another big one at the embassy, so for that reason and the hope that our focus will be on the Savior rather than the bunny, I decided to only do Easter baskets. Instead of Easter grass as padding, I used a baggie of Cheerios (since I also knew we wouldn't have time for breakfast before church). They got an Easter pencil, a new book and two or three plastic eggs with candy. They were thrilled, and I'm happy that I didn't set a precedent for myself that might be hard to live up to each year. We would have decorated eggs, but they only sell brown eggs here, and I didn't think they would turn out as well. Next year...

We did make my favorite Easter sugar cookies earlier in the week and took them to the playgroup.

Songkran

 The big holiday in Thailand is Songkran. It falls during the hottest time of the year and has basically become a multi-day water fight. Besides soaking strangers at the park, we also joined in some organized water games in the expat community where many of the embassy folks with school-aged kids live. The girls had a blast with the super soakers, and even Paul caught the spirit of the day and climbed into a bucket of water.

Pet Gecko

There is a lizard that lives in our bathroom. I'm assuming it is a gecko. I think geckos are good luck, so I haven't bothered it, even though it has startled me a few times. Once he was out during the girls' bath, and so they named him Bobby and decided he was their pet.

Speaking of pets, Claire's reward for going 21 days without sucking her thumb was a pet fish. Sylvie got one, too, since she has never sucked her thumb. Paul actually got one, too, for no reason, but his died after one day. The girls said, "It's ok. He didn't even know he had a pet."