Gosh ... I know it's been awhile since my last post, but I was busy doing something else and couldn't concentrate to update this blog. Anyway ...... it's Christmas eve, and on December 21 was Eid-ul Adha celebration.

When living with my parents in Jakarta, my mom and I would prepare lontong the night before and the whole family would have it with ( Read more... )

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Yesterday, Sunday Oct 21 2007, was our 7th wedding anniversary. Joseph and I were just getting into the house from grocery shopping  when Nicolas suddenly gave me a big hug and said "Happy anniversary, darling, sorry I forgot it this morning". I said: "Don't worry, I only remember it right now". Our first nearly forgotten anniversary. LOL. We then ( Read more... )

Jo's age: 3 years, 11 months. Louise's: 6 months, 2 weeks.

More ways to divert Joseph from his cars and trucks at home:


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Last Friday, I was spending part of the evening at the library, alone. It was an escapade to be there without a preschooler and a baby. Being all by myself is now a luxury, hard to believe, but there I was ... inhaling the library cool air as if experiencing the ultimate sanctuary *sounds exaggerated but that is how I was feeling*.  I was slowly ( Read more... )

Sarah of Baby Bilingual once wrote a very interesting entry about how she acquires French, which inspires me to write this post. I myself have been working almost all my life to keep my two foreign-languages alive. I enjoy doing it very much and have no regret with the outcome, hence there is something I wish I could change easily.

My Dutch and ( Read more... )

Nico came back home last night from his eleven-day trip to Uppsala (Sweden) and Paris (France).  I brought the kids outside everyday during his absence.  We went to some playdates, had picnics along the river and sometimes just walked around the neighborhood.  Being outside the house kept us in better moods.

It was obvious how Joseph's Indonesian ( Read more... )

As I'm often caught in this  desperate situation, I bought some games online. I was spending some hard times at the beginning because Jo stubbornly wanted to force his own ways while playing. Gratefully after numbers of  trials and errors *and yells and tears* Jo can now feel the thrills of the games. The ground rules for a fun and success mama-Jo ( Read more... )

Disney cartoon The Lion King, in French Le Roi Lion, stole my heart from the moment I watched it in Jakarta back in 1994.  It's one of my favorite Disney ever.  Besides its pretty African landscape and well-written scenario, the choices of characters and well-composed soundtracks are the things I'm crazy about. When my mom and I went to visit New ( Read more... )