Hello Holidays!

By God's grace we have survived semester 1--of Pepe's Primary One year, and of Polly's Kindergarten One year. Now I am taking a few minutes off furious packing for a Taiwan holiday for Papa, myself and Pipa. The big sisters are really looking forward to staying over at Grandma and Grandpa's for 6 days. This will be the first time that we are traveling without Pepe and Polly. Feels a little strange, and we'll be sure to miss them, but I figure this will be good too... for mama to experience some healthy temporary separation, and for Pepe and Polly to have a great time with their grandparents. This morning Pepe surprised me at breakfast when she suddenly remarked that she would let Pipa take her panda stuffed toy with her to Taiwan so that she wouldn't feel so scared in unfamiliar surroundings. Then Polly without any prompting, during her breakfast later (when Pepe was already in school), began to talk about how she would let Pipa take Clydie (her stuffed toy horse) along for her holiday, and also make a toy box for her because the hotel wouldn't have any toys and she didn't want Pipa to get too bored. Aw... At bedtime just now, Pepe declared that tomorrow evening would be packing evening. I hope to be mostly done in about an hour's time. Till we get back from Taiwan...