Messin' Around

 I was having a bit of fun with Picasa photo fixes this week. So here are our cuteys.

 

 Moo - checkin' out his new Lego Radiator Springs.....in his mask from his school costume party.

Running out of megabytes...or something.

Blogger/google/the powers that be have told me that I am nearing the max on my space in cyber-space, and if I desire to keep sharing our lives freely with our family and friends, I'll need to start paying! Soooo, I'm trying to make all my holiday pictures as small as possible, and perhaps I will open a new google account and blog in 2013. :) That said, here is the whirlwind of our last couple weeks.

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated with several other families with a delicious meal, fun gift exchange, ornament making for the kids (with a little help from the moms), and all-around good time. Our kids were so enamored to see different toys, that they busily checked out all that was available and then Lu promptly collapsed on the couch.  Both kids loved the trampoline too!

Unfortunately, between a December birthday and Christmas, Moo has become totally aware of what all is out there in that big world. What do I get to open now? Why is it that they put pictures of other toys on the boxes of the toys you've just received? And in the back of books? Poor Lu was simply overwhelmed with all the Christmas blessings she received Christmas morning, so I think next year we'll try to spread out the gift opening over a few weekends. Or maybe she'll get used to it by then. Yikes.Thankfully Moo was just as excited to help other people open their gifts as he was to receive his own. May that continue.

Christmas weekend, we went to a parade - the first ever in our city. Most people here don't know that Christmas is celebrated on the 25th. They have combined the traditions they have seen in movies and on TV of Thanksgiving and Christmas and celebrate it all on New Year's! It is quite common to have  a big turkey dinner and a visit from Santa on New Year's Eve. We were excited to participate in a parade on the  22nd that concluded with a carol sing and a few local pastors telling about the true reason for Christmas. It was a bit cold for the kids, but a joyous celebration.

We went to a candlelight service at our church on Sunday with a delicious meal after for 200+ local believers and foreigners. On Christmas Eve we went to the church that we attended our first year here (closer to our old house) and heard the Christmas story told from a children's Bible. The kids were invited to go up and participate in the story as shepherds, angels, and wisemen. We didn't bring a costume, but Moo was zealous to participate....but definitely not without a costume. A friend of ours lent his scarf and after I tied it around Moo's head, he leaped over the pew to join his buddies up front. Lu was excited to participate and demonstrate her new word of the day....in her sleep-deprived state, she proceeded to yell out "SHEP - HERD!  SHEP - HERD!" while the narrator continued the story. Ah, children. Gotta love 'em.

On Christmas Day we hosted a few families at our house for dinner, and Moo & Lu delivered chocolate bars to all while singing and ringing jingle bells in their self-appointed Christmas costumes - Santa & the Christmas Fairy.

out for a walk

still no snow....

Will we have snow this winter? Not looking too likely at this point. But we are super thankful for the non-rainy days we've had to enjoy the small part of our park that is done being renovated. Some happy kids, riding, exploring, and eating fruit snacks on top of a pile of the neat ribbed pavers they are using to make trails through the park for blind people.

Happy b-day Moo!

4 year old!!

Our little buddy is 4!!! We can hardly believe it. After two weeks of near tears at the mention of a school party, Moo came home from school yesterday grinning from ear to ear with a birthday hat on and a body full of sugar. We celebrated again today with some family friends.

Just one of the many reasons I love my little guy:

Mom: What kind of cake do you want?
Moo: a round one...with sparkles (sprinkles)

and it's just that easy to please him (at least in terms of cake decorating)

Though we live right next to this place, we have withheld this joyful experience for over a year. For a birthday treat, Moo (and Lu) got to ride battery-powered cars through this traffic park. He loved it! And another reason I love this guy?

At the end of his 15 minutes, he happily jumped on his tricycle and rode home without asking for more time on the pay ride. :)

decorating!

With two super-sick kiddos, we decked our halls with Christmas cheer. Window clings and lights were the highlights of course. And, I discovered that window clings don't really last year to year....it's a good thing we didn't use all of them last year. Moo was quite devastated that the smoke stack on his Christmas train fell off on its way to the window. Lu loves looking at and naming the ornaments: "ball! star! har (heart)! Lie (light)! Sew-Ma (snow man)!" And the nativity: " Baa! (sheep) Mooo! (cow) Baby!  Cheese! (Jesus)"

And our first attempts at kid Christmas photos by the tree. Tee hee!

I can do it myself

So, the other day, I poured Lu a glass of milk, walked into the other room, and then raced back when I heard some gagging. This is what I found. I'm not sure how or why she was gagging, but I know she tried to pour herself a little bit more than Mom gave her. A look of pure penitence.

A few days later, I set the serving bowls on the table, including one bowl of rice and carrots. I left the room for something, and came back to see the entire serving bowl on Lu's tray....being gobbled up by my little "I can do it myself" girl. Sweet as can be AND a bit of can-do mixed in. Gotta love her.

Another week of adventures

Monday: Laundry day is always full of misadventures in the laundry basket boats left unawares. Lu decided dolly needed to come with this time as Moo pushed her from room to room.

 Friday nights: Now semi-officially pizza night. This week the kids decorated their own....Moo's of course, has no sauce and loads of cheese. Lu's, well, we did hers for her. We split open pita pockets, brushed with olive oil, spaghetti sauce, italian seasoning, garlic powder, our favorite toppings, and parmesan. Yum.

 Both kids are into hugs these days. At the mere suggestion, they will go and attack each other in the name of a hug. I love it. They love it. Until someone gets their eye poked out. Then there will have to be hug restrictions. Until that day, hug on children!

 Saturday night adventures to the park: Moo has finally gotten stoked up enough and coordinated enough to really pedal his tricycle and he wants to ride it everywhere. Lu digs her push trolley, especially if dolly is riding along. But she also likes to be carried. "Hold you me" anyone?

Adventure of the day!

So I found out on Friday about the annual marathon that crosses the bridge between Asia and Europe. I have wanted to do the short run for this every year, but I always seem to forget to find out when it is. With two days' notice I convinced my reticent, but willing hubbie to throw all caution to the wind and do it as a family. Now, the English title for this was an 8K Fun Run. The local language said "People's Walk". And after an hour crawling 100 meters to the starting line, we decided to re-dub it the "People's Crawl!" We got wise, jumped the rail, and made some quick progress on the first kilometer. A slow second across the bridge stopping for scenic photographs as this is the one day each year you can walk across. And a quick descent on the other side. Armed with little more than fruit leather, apples, goldfish crackers, and water bottles, our kids did an awesome job. Moo and Lu took turns walking and dancing a stretch. Rick did a most excellent job pushing them the majority of the walk in the stroller. What a great dad! And a super husband to say yes to his wife's crazy request for adventure.

 Part of the line-up behind the start.

 Working our way to the bridge.

 

 Apples on the bridge!

Pausing for a photo between continents! Bravo family!

Around the house in November

And here is the latest from our home...

Favorite activity of last week: playing rocket ship in our bedroom closet. The kids close the door, turn on their little flashlights and whichever parent they can convince to join them counts down until "blast off". I found Lu in there all by herself one day last week, chattin' away.

 We went to a fall festival last weekend at the community center where I'm helping out. The kids were stoked to have first pics on decorating cookies. Especially the chocolate chips!

 Lu was a leeeee-tle sleep deprived, but she rallied for cake later.

 Usually being the one behind the camera, this was a rare treat to have my photo taken....perhaps next time the kids will look too. Ha ha ha ha!

 Moo got his face painted and actually kept it on all-the-2-hour-way home!

 Favorite activity of this week: Riding the train. Dad is in the 'boose' (caboose for those not fluent in Moo-speak) and Moo is driving with his 'authentic' engineer hat. This is right after a visit to the 'dining car' in our kitchen.

 Lu dodgin' the paparazzi as she sneaks onto her favorite train to America. She was happy to be allowed the honor of pushing Moo's "ba-pa" (backpack) on board.

Fall days

A quick look at the last week as we enjoyed the cool weather outside.I am most amused with Lu's recent penchant for doing anything her brother does. She knows no fear. This may be my undoing!! (Just so you know, on the pull-up bar, she is hanging all by herself. Rick is merely spotting for when she eventually lets go. I blame this on too much time spent in the airport lounge trying to entertain children with the empty rows of waiting chairs - crawling under them, pushing up between them, etc. The world is my oyster!)




 

Harvest Party!

I have been wanting a harvest festival birthday party for three years, and this was the first year we got organized enough to make it happen. I had a super birthday. Rick brought me mums - a tradition we had back in Michigan (filling the porch with mums each fall). Rick and Moo cooked me breakfast pancakes. And then we had a bunch of great friends over for a harvest party. We had11 kids including one 4 month old! He bowed out on the games in favor of napping in a nice quiet dark bedroom. The kids' rooms got sacked, and we sent home all the kids with major sugar-highs. Sadly, I was not the greatest photographer, so just try to imagine much of the mayhem in our home.

For the overly curious grandmotherly types....

Our decor: 

 

Our menu:

Caramel apple dip + apple slices from a friend

Turkey chili served over spaghetti w/toppings: green pepper, onion, corn, cheese

Cornbread

Pea salad (cold peas with mayo/sour cream dressing, onions, etc.)

Rick's jello - so re-named by some family friends who were overly impressed (stupefied) by his copious helpings of the jello they made for a dinner we attended at their house

Our order of activities:

Foam pumpkin decorating thanks to my summer stop at the Target dollar spot!

Eating donuts off a string

(a side activity was dunking the extra donuts in butter 

and coating with powdered or cinnamon sugar)

Bobbing for apples

Dinner

Dessert: Cupcake decorating (pumpkin flavor with cream cheese frosting!)

 & an eclair dessert brought by a friend

The day before: 

Moo tasting the donut batter to make sure it was safe for others

Lu trying on her fairy princess costume....only to later have Moo steal her wings and fly around the house like a super-hero fairy-king. She was unphased.

The day after: 

We all cleaned and collapsed.

Three days after: 

I'm wondering what to do with all that extra cream-cheese frosting. Eat it? Save it somehow? Invent some other kind of dessert that can use it? Eat it. 

Holidays

Recently we celebrated the founding of our host country. We got to attend the parade not from our house. It was a bit different than our independence day parade back home. It started with an hour of presentations, special music, and cultural dancing by some local school children. This was all on one street intersection. After it finished, there was over an hour of the local high schools marching (not in bands, just the students marching), a horde of bicyclists, a mass of motorcycles, military vehicles, vintage cars, and finally the public works trucks and ambulances with sirens blaring. The noisy ending part was just like the town parade back home.

 It was fairly warm, so I'm not sure how these kids did it with all those layers!

 Love these "bad guys"...interestingly, many wore jackets that said "freedom riders" in English but had a picture of the local flag.

 Lu's reaction to all those sirens.

Moo loving that there was a tow truck as the last "float"!! He even posed for a picture.

A new Sunday night tradition?

I heard recently about a few families that do popcorn for dinner on Sunday nights, because "Momma don't cook on Sundays" and other more spiritual reasons. I thought that sounded like an amazing idea except I think Lu is maybe still too young for popcorn. So, this new desire for tradition plus an attempt to get the kids to adjust to daylight savings time meant our first "Early bath and ice cream in pajamas in front of the Sunday night family movie" night. This week's feature? Nim's Island. Thanks Gorneys!! Moo loves it! (He also instructs us when to fast forward through the scary parts.) Lu just likes doing everything everybody else is doing. And she also likes turning the subtitles on and off and whatever else she can manage on our remote control.