Christmas

Christmas morning, the kids slept in, which was a first... I guess because they were up so late the night before. :)  We spent Christmas day just with our family, and it was so nice to just relax and not have to be anywhere.  We opened gifts and had a big breakfast together.  We played games all day and watched a movie... we had "finger foods" for dinner, and just had some relaxing family time.

Somehow, we have misplaced our stockings... in the midst of the move to Spain, we lost a box somewhere!  I'm hoping it is still in storage back in the States and not literally missing.  It was so crazy when we were crating everything, I'm hoping it got put in the wrong stack, and is sitting safe and sound in Virginia. :)  It's a small box with all our stockings (personalized by a friend of mine!), my tree skirt, and a couple other Christmas decorations.  Oh, well... until we go Stateside, we'll make due with these dollar-store stockings. :)

My Babies!! :) ... ok, not babies at all, but I still feel like it!

The boys each have their own soccer balls now... and they are SO used! :)

This baby goes everywhere with us, and I often end up carrying her... so we decided to get Carolina a baby carrier for Christmas.  Now she can strap her in, and she won't get tired of holding her! :)  She thought it was a great idea.  We'll see if it actually works. :)

My parents got Jonathan a really cool scooter for Christmas.  It has big wheels and a kick stand... big things for a 6 yr old! ;)

One of our new games... SORRY Sliders.  It's a Lightning McQueen theme, and the boys had a blast.

Somebody told me the other day that Carolina looks just like me, but blond.  I can see that in this picture. :)  My sweet baby girl brings so much JOY into our world!

You can't see it, but Carolina got a microphone for Christmas.  She was singing a Christmas carol for her cousins on Skype... the best way to do a family Christmas from overseas!! :)

... and of course, Jonathan had to try out his scooter...

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we celebrated with good friends of ours... they are missionaries here with another organization, and they have been such a blessing to our family.

This is the Tjernagels... sweet family!

"Auntie Paula" has such a way of making everything special. 

...even for Carolina who is always so hard to cook for! (since she has to eat gluten free/ corn free... lots of things-free. :) )

The kids had a blast playing together

... and of course "baby" came too.

After dinner, we played some games with the kids.  This is a memory game with Christmas pictures.  My kids love this so much that the day after Christmas, they decided to make their own.  Weston drew all the pictures.  The younger ones colored, and I cut and pasted them all.  So, now we have our own set! :)  Carolina loves it.

The kids all together.  Their kids are so sweet with ours, and I think our boys have really missed being with some older kids.  In the States, they were so used to having college/singles/youth at our house all the time.  This was special for them.  I think it's literally the latest they have ever stayed up... we got home around 11pm, but it was such a memorable night for all of us!

October, November and December in a nutshell... :)

Oh, my, I've not been on here for so long, I hardly know where to start!   We basically did nothing but study for our DELE exam (it's that leveled, international language exam that we have talked about forever) all through October and November.  It was such a crazy time... we put off everything in order to use every spare moment to study.  I sent most of you emails with all the details, so I won't go through all that again. We won't have results probably for another month of so.

Thanksgiving!

 The test was at the end of November, and we were so exhausted afterward, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving a week later than normal.  It was fine, since we can't really celebrate on Thanksgiving Day here, anyway... the kids always have school, so we usually celebrate on a Sat, anyway.  We had friends coming, but they had to cancel at the last minute, so it was just us.  It was actually very relaxing, and Wes helped me cook all day.  It was so fun! 

Carolina went gluten free, corn free, and soy free in the month of September (she was already milk-free, oat-free, nut-free!), so I've spent a lot of time trying new recipes and different flours in order to keep food exciting for her still... she LOVES to eat, so it's been a very important task! ;) ... and actually very fun for me, since I love to bake/cook.  Thanksgiving was a fun mix of foods, but I think everyone's favorite was the gluten free apple pie!!... yum!  I think we like it better than the regular!  (Thank you to my friend Ann Baxter, for the amazing recipe!!!) :)

Jonathan turned 6 on Dec. 14th, and so I spent several days playing with fondant and trying to get it to work with me. :)  We finally got marshmallows here, so I could play with fondant at home! :)  Wes even helped me.  We made him a skateboard cake ... it was my first time working with fondant, so it wasn't the best; but we had fun, and Jonathan's eyes when he saw it, made all the effort worth it!  :)

The morning of Jonathan's birthday...heading for school.

The cupcakes he took to school.  They don't have food coloring here, so the blue frosting was a HUGE hit in his class. ;) The next day, all my girl friends were commenting about them... b/c their kids had commented on them. :)  They also don't really do home-made treats here, so maybe that's part of why it was a novelty.  Jonathan loved the attention.

Carolina getting ready for cake, which was gluten free, of course. :)

Jonathan's sake board cake... before candles and all. :)

We try to make sure Jonathan's birthday is special, even though Christmas seems to be a huge excitement for the whole family. :)  Those of you with December birthdays completely understand this, I'm sure.  We have a tradition of pancakes for breakfast (which were gluten free, of course), and Jonathan got to pick his dinner... which was pizza.  Jonathan gets excited about every little thing, so it was a very fun day for all of us.