November, Turkey Day, and First Half of December

I haven't blogged in 2 months.  So, let's do some catch up.

I was AWFUL about taking pictures in November.  As in I took less than 30 the entire month.  But, not much happened in November anyway. 

 Connor exhibiting some of his quirkiness.  He stacked his bananas

before eating anything off his plate. 

 

 This is a page out of one of Colson's library books.  I thought it was pretty funny.  What was also funny was the story - 'Goldilocks' runs away because she doesn't want to listen to her parents.  The bears find her and are scary and tell her she better listen to her mom and dad.  So she runs home and never disobeys again.  Yeah, right.  Where are those bears when you need them, anyway?!

 Colson lined up all her Barbies and was telling them a story. 

Thanksgiving is obviously not a holiday here, but that didn't stop us from having a full blown turkey dinner!  A group of 4 American families came together to celebrate and indulge in some delicious food.  I made a yummy apple pie completely from scratch.  A first for me.  I also made yeast rolls, which turned out ok.  Another first though.  I was a little bummed you can't find typical sweet potatoes here, and sweet potato casserole is my favorite Turkey Day dish.  So, I made a butternut squash casserole instead and holy cow it was awesome.  It tasted almost like pumpkin pie, actually.  I will definitely be making it again.  I only got a few pics of that day, unfortunately. 

 Connor playing with dragons.  Such a boy!

 Most of the kids.  It's impossible to get them all to sit in one place, and there isn't a chance they will all be looking at the camera at the same time.

Just a pic of the kids playing harmonicas.  The good thing about the

harmonica is it always sounds in tune, so these jam sessions aren't too painful.

 

 

December

 

Every year I make a calendar for our families with pictures of our kids.  This year it was a little difficult to make as I had to improvise a bit.  We didn't have a Christmas tree this year, so no pics in front of the tree.  And while Colson still fits in her Christmas pajamas from last year, Connor has grown a bit and does not.  Fortunately, Colson had some gender neutral shirts Connor could wear.  Here are a few pics from the 'shoot' I tried to do.  

 

Connor and loves to play his harmonica.  He and Daddy are having a little jam session here.

Some pictures of Colson cheesing for the camera.

 

 

Being in the southern hemisphere, we are currently in the summer season.  The company Christmas party, therefore, was a pool party.  It was HOT that day too.  Poor Santa was sweating! 

 

 Posing, as usual.

 

Cotton Candy!

 

 

Connor couldn't have cared less about Santa.  He LOVES playing in the pool.  All of the other kids jumped out of the pool as soon as Santa arrived.  Connor was thrilled to

have the pool all to himself for a bit!

 Connor was totally chill when it was his turn to sit on Santa's lap.

 Colson was terrified. 

Actually, Colson started panicking and crying in the pool as soon as Santa arrived.  Santa was on the other side of the party and Colson wanted nothing to do with him.   When Jon tried to get her to sit on Santa's lap she clung on for dear life! I have no idea where her phobia of Santa comes from. 

 

 

Santa brought each child a gift (which were actually gifts the parents brought).  They were excited to open them once we got home.

Woody!

 

 Pocahontas!

 Our Elf on the Shelf is named Thadeus.  He did come to visit this year, but Colson was concerned Santa wouldn't know we moved to Africa.  So Daddy helped her write a letter for Thadeus to take back with him to the North Pole. 

 Blowing out the candles for Jon's birthday.  I made a cheesecake, Jon's favorite,

 for the first time, and it was yummy!

 

 

 Decorating Christmas cookies.  The kids had a blast.

 

 Connor really only focused on one cookie. 

 

I promise there is a cookie under all of that sugar!

 

We spent Christmas with the Thailand Robertson's in Bangkok.  It was an excellent trip, which will be blogged about later!  This blog entry is long enough! 

Happy New Year!
-A