First trip to the dentist!

Jack visited the dentist for the first time today! I was a little unsure if he would be able to sit still long enough for the dentist to check out all his teeth, but he did a great job! He had a good time checking out all the dentals tools and he especially loved looking at Dr. Fuller's giant tooth brushing anatomy model and pretending to brush the teeth. All in all, it was a pretty uneventful visit. I was happy Jack behaved so well and happy to find out he doesn't have any cavities!

Saying "ahhhh"

Having a serious conversation about the importance of brushing your teeth :)

He was pretty excited about his new toothbrush!

11 months old!

Kate is 11 months old! She is acting more and more like a toddler with each passing day, which makes me a little sad because I want her to stay my little baby forever! She is still not walking yet, but is very close. We have watched her take up to 10-12 steps, but then decides she is done and plops down on her bottom! Her latest trick is standing up in the middle of the room all by herself. She thinks she is pretty hot stuff when she does this! Her favorite things as of late are making silly faces and showing off her tongue, eating, playing with Jack, and giving kisses. Kate is still a big eater, however we have noticed she is finally starting to trim down and lose some of her rolls. I am guessing she will finally move down the charts at her 1 year doctor check-up. But it is still crazy to think that right now she weighs as much as Jack did at 2 years!

Being silly

Little ham!

Jay's Work Trip to Southeast Asia

EFCO has operations all over the world and this past week, Jay had the opportunity to visit their offices in Malaysia and the Philippines. On the way out, he traveled from Des Moines to Dallas, then to Tokyo (a 15 hour flight!), and then to Manila where he arrived Sunday night. On Wednesday afternoon he flew to Kuala Lumpur and then returned home on Saturday. Jay had a busy week filled with internal auditing, plant tours and a little sight-seeing. Other than the long flights and lack of sleep, he had a great time! The kids and I also had a good week. We made a few day trips to Pella to spend time with Grandma, Grandpa and the cousins, but for the most part, we kept ourselves busy at home and tried not to count down the days until Jay returned. Needless to say, we were excited to have him back home!

From left to right: Ken Thon (the Asia Regional

Finance Manager), Ryan (Jay's boss),

Helen (the Philippines Finance Administrator), and Jay

The first highlight of the trip was lunch at the Josephine Restaurant overlooking Tagaytay Lake. In the middle of the lake is the active Taal volcano.

Living in the Taal volcano's lake (the small lake inside the volcano - not the big lake in the picture above) are the Tawilis fish (a local delicacy). The entire fish is eaten - head to tail fin. Jay thinks they fried the meat right off it and left the bones and scales. Can you believe he ate one of these?!

The hotel in Kuala Lumpur decorates for whatever occasion is going on in the region. While Jay was there, it was decorated for the Chinese New Year.

A view of the traffic in Kuala Lumpur where they drive on the "other" side of the road!

A typical lunch spot - a street lined with shops and restaurants.

The second highlight of the trip was Thursday night when Ken took Ryan and Jay to downtown Kuala Lumpur to see the Petronas Towers. These are among the top 10 tallest buildings in the world - and there's TWO of them right next to each other!

After sight-seeing the towers, Jay had dinner at a rooftop club complete with a pool and live DJ.

The pool at their hotel in Malaysia - the waterfall is coming from another pool on the upper level.

Jay has always liked fountains - this long fountain made its way into the pool.

Happy Valentine's Day!

10 months old!

Our sweet baby is 10 months old today! She has become quite the active little girl over these past few months. She is crawling everywhere and pulling herself up to everything. She has also (unsuccessfully) attempted to take her first steps - its hard for a big girl to keep steady on such tiny feet! She really loves following Jack around, which is surprising considering how horrible Jack is to her! He is constantly shoving her, knocking her over, or tackling her - she is one tough cookie! Her favorite things these days are: blowing kisses, "dancing," eating yogurt, playing with her toys, and pulling Mommy's hair. She is such a joy and we enjoy every moment with her - I just wish we could find a way to stop her from growing up so fast!

Blowing kisses!

Waving bye-bye

Mommy or Daddy?

I thought it would be fun to pull out old baby pictures of Jay and I. The pictures below are all of us at relatively the same age. I am curious to see who everyone thinks Jack and Katy look like. Please cast your vote on the poll in the right column of the blog!

Katy

Jack

Shelly

Jay

Kate's 9 month pictures