Decorating the house

Birthday party celebrated, balloons still out, dishes put away.....time to set up the Christmas tree!!! Micah was much more involved this year, but a bit frustrated by the fine motor skills needed to put the little ornament loops on the tree. Mom and Dad had to work at it too. Best parts? The reindeer/Christmas horse that says 'neigh' and the red bead garlands that were dragged around the house. We were really thankful for a day off from classes to get ready for this month. We won't have any holiday days off in December, except for those we self-initiate. Rick and I both passed into the next level of language learning...so here we go! 

Micah's 2nd Birthday!!

We celebrated Micah's 2nd birthday today with a bunch of his friends. We were blessed to have several families share with us in making this day fun. Thomas the Tank Engine was also a featured guest. We attempted to play "Pin the hat on Sir Topham Hat" and "Drop clothespins into Thomas' Chimney". The older kids thought these were great. The younger kids did not want to interrupt their independent play for such community activities. Maybe in a couple more years. :) We had Cincinnati Chili (Chili over pasta with whatever fix'ins you like), turkish style pig-n-blankets, veggies, and chocolate cupcakes (thanks to an $8 box of Duncan Hines cake mix). 

Micah's latest word update

For the grandparents...

The words we hear most often:
up, down, in, green/green one (often used to express Micah's desire for his green cloth diapers above all the other colors), no, bye, cheese, uh oh, mom, and dad

and the following animal sounds:
meow, how how (dog), baa, neigh (horse/cow), ka ka (duck/chicken), toot toot (train-specifically Thomas)

Yesterday Rick & Micah called me from home and Micah greeted me with a "MOM!" and just before we hung up, he gave me an assertive "BYE!" I smiled all the way home.

advertisements

 Well, a friend once told us not to learn our language from advertisements. I think it is quite wise advice. But you do have to wonder sometimes...what is the thinking behind this?

Here is a pseudo translation of this ad for honey. It makes me think of something other than honey.

"renewed every day
like a miracle
like a light of the world"

And here we have the second holiday doughnut ad. The first we saw was for Krispy Skremes. Now they don't celebrate Halloween or Christmas here...  and supposedly it only snowed 3 times last winter in our city, so.....how are we going to "meet with the new year snow man"?

A first cousin!!

 Hooray! We are so excited that our first niece and cousin has arrived! Selma Magdalena was born on November 19.  We got to meet her for the first time on Skype when the family came home from the hospital...Micah thought she was pretty amazing. We can't wait to meet her in person!

Turkey Day...

What do people have for Thanksgiving in a foreign country??

Final Achieved Menu:

·         Cranberry Spinach Salad

·         Cheese & olives

·         Turkey/Chicken & Stuffing & Gravy (turkey was nearly not available as the grocery store declared it needed a 3 week window for the possibility of a whole turkey. butchers in our neighborhood were noncommittal at best, decidedly negative at worst. Finally Tom found a whole frozen turkey downtown at a seller of ‘exotic birds’…another option being pheasant. Hooray!)

·         Dill Mashed Potatoes

·         Pumpkin & Cauliflower Casserole (broccoli casserole became cauliflower when the packaged broccoli at the store had visible worms residing on the florets)

·         Corn bread (sweet corn casserole involved way too many steps and too small of an output. Corn bread was much easier)

·         Peas

·         Can of Cranberry Sauce discovered in friend’s pantry

·         Strawberry Pretzel Jello Soup (jello did not gel. enough said.) (cool whip became whipped cream made from a powder and milk.)

·         Pumpkin Cheesecake

·         Rustic Apple Torte

·         Apple Cobbler

·         Ice Cream

·         Punch

Rick & Tom model the delicious turkey (augmented by a few chicken legs)

Steph leads 'craft time' (leaf rubbings and thanksgiving coloring pages) with the kids.

We had our special celebration this week because all of our neighbor’s were celebrating Kurban Bayramı, a week-long holiday commemorating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice everything, including his son, to Allah, and to celebrate God’s deliverance of Abraham by providing a sheep as a substitute.  Families here sacrifice a goat, sheep, or bull, and divide it three ways – your own family, your neighbors, and the poor. This is a special time here when all government offices and the majority of businesses are closed for 4-5 days. People visit with family, neighbors, and friends. This aspect feels much like our 4 day Thanksgiving weekend back home. We were delighted to have several friends join us for our pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner. It was much less stressful to prepare a big meal when you don’t have to attend class or work all day (which will be the case next week).

Life with a toddler…

So, in honor of thanksgiving, we (I) decided to introduce Micah to some craft projects beyond coloring with his four fat crayons. First attempt? Finger painting. Failed. Micah was quite distraught at the sensation of gooey paint on his fingers. Second attempt? Stamping. Loved! Why is it that he is willing to rub his finger in an ink pad (that is not washable) and not in finger paint (that is washable)??

 As I grabbed my scarf the other day, I threw it over my head to be goofy. Micah proceeded to run around the house for 20 minutes with a scarf over his head saying "ooooo!" I asked Rick, "when did our child learn how to become a ghost?" Rick's response, "20 minutes ago, when you said "ooo" under the scarf". Ah ha. I guess we need to pay even closer attention to what we're teaching this little sponge!

 As Rick started getting Thanksgiving jello ready, Micah decided he needed an apron just like dad. This was fun for four minutes until mom got the camera out. Then he was ready to be "all done!"