Christmas Eve Fun

We had a fun filled Christmas Eve this year, that included decorating sugar cookies for Santa to come that night. Ronan was not much in the mood unfortunately so Porter just went at it, but he did a tremendous job for the both of them! He was quite excited to be given free reign and had a great time.

That blood red candy cane that you see below had red icing, then DRENCHED in red sparkle sugar. The purple one met a similar fate shortly after this photo with blue sprinkles. It was enough that it almost even ruined the cookies!! It was so hilarious, but I guess that is what you get when they do it by themselves!

We were able to attend a fun party that night, with TONS of delicious food which was a great time with some great friends here from the Consulate. Then we scurried home to open our Christmas PJ's, which the boys both loved. This was always one of my favorite traditions, and I'm glad my boys are taking to it as well! Ronan was SO excited for Porter to open his. It was pretty cute.

After we all opened our PJs we let the boys each open one more present (books from Noah's Mom and Dad) which we promptly read, then watched the mandatory Garfield's Christmas, and a new favorite addition-Twas the Night Before Christmas (the one with the mice from the 80's, for any of you vintage holiday movie lovers), and last but certainly not least we watched a Nativity video that our Church puts out and had a good little discussion about the true meaning of Christmas with the boys.

After the boys were nestled snug in their beds, the reindeer and Santa munched on the cookies and carrots that were left for them (they have to leave some of course, so they know they ate them but were saving room for other houses too:) and finished off the chocolate milk (Porter's idea, to butter Santa up you know). Whew. What a day, Santa, his elves, and our little family were all pooped! Merry Christmas to All, and to All a good night!

Porter and his slew of baby names

So Porter has gotten past the name Lyle if the baby is a boy I guess. He just informed me that if it is a boy we should name him "Mike", you know short for Michelangelo (of Ninja Turtle fame, not the famous artist of course).

Last night while drifting to sleep he also informed me, "Mom, if it is a girl we can't name her something cute. We have to give her a cool name, like Roxy!" Ok folks, there you have it...Porter's two new favorite choices!

Gingerbread 2010

Hagia Sofia

(Aya Sofya)

Final Product

In keeping up with one of our very favorite traditions of recent years we again pulled out all the stops for a new gingerbread creation! We had a great time with our friends, and hopefully I'll get my act together sooner next year so that everyone else won't be out of town or busy already! It was a terrific time though as usual and we had yummy soups and homemade bread bowls to top it off. I've decided it is definitely making time to do things like this that really help it to feel like the holidays, even when you are far from other loved ones. I was thinking possibly something of a little smaller scale, but Noah was really pushing for the Hagia Sophia and I gave in and said let's go for it! (next year though, I'm definitely pushing for something with less pieces to bake!)

C &B working on their creation...seriously, they are pros! She is so amazing at all sorts of decorating....you should have seen her snowman cupcakes the following night!

Noah is our designated builder, then he does some basic decorating and I finish off with the details.

Our friends finished product! I thought it turned out so awesome, and they even did the candy class windows with halls cough drops! L.O.V.E it!

And no, normally there is not a star on the top, or Christmas trees in the courtyard (imagine what it could have been decorated like back when it was a Christian church:) Ronan INSISTED on the star on the top!

Us with the finished product, although I look very tired I decided! hmm, maybe that's because I was.....

And last, but definitely not least was Porter's very own creation! He really wanted to do a pyramid all by himself. I free handed the dough, and let it cook too long (sorry buddy) but he didn't care. We let him go at it, and he loved doing it all on his own. If you will notice the right side has hyrogliphics and a fish pond, and the left side has a water slide going down the corner into the Nile river along the base! What a goof....He learned about the Nile from the Backyardigans. So anyway, we thought he did a pretty good job for his first very own creation.

Merry Christmas, and to everyone else who can make it next year, get your ideas ready!

A special note to Art and Steph too, WE MISSED YOU!! Wish we could be together for gingerbread every year. We were together in spirit!

Consulate Holiday Event

To date: the best picture of the boys with Santa we've had!

We were able to attend the big event at the Consul General's Residence for the Holidays. It is so nice because it is for the whole family. I was actually very pleasantly surprised at all of the fun things they had for the kids, including ornament and picture frame making crafts and the CG's wife even made big sugar cookies for them to decorate! She is the best, we are very lucky to be here with such a great group right now!

Santa even brought his bag with toys for the kids, which of course my boys were BIG fans of!

This was one tired little elf after the party!

2010 Family Update

*First of all, my apologies! With all of our goings on this year and my realization that came a little too late for how soon I needed to get things ready and send it all out from Turkey....my original intentions and way that I typically like to do Christmas cards just didn't happen this year. Thus, you must come here to get our 2010 Christmas yearly update!

2010 Yearly Update

Wow! What a year we've had. It is weird to think about where we were a year ago. Packing up our life (for the first time with real movers) and heading off on our new and fantastic adventure! We started out the new year and new decade with a new career and a new life for our family. Noah started his new job with the US State Department and we have loved nearly every second of this amazing ride we are on (minus all the paperwork)! We moved initially to Washington DC for initial training where we were also assigned our very first post of Istanbul, Turkey!!! We were beyond thrilled with our assignment, and during our time in DC made some amazing new friends, got to spend tons of time at all of the fabulous sites and museums that Washington has to offer and also enjoyed time with other much loved friends and family on the East Coast.

We headed out for post in July after Noah finished all of his required training and arrived here on the other side of the world safely in one piece! The boys were amazing on the trip and we knew the minute we got here that we had lucked out for our first post. Our new home is beautiful, Noah's job is just what he was wanting and giving him tons of great experience, and we have been SO blessed with such an awesome group of people that quickly have become such great friends and a wonderful support network. We have also started the never-ending task that is sight-seeing in Istanbul as well. It is such a beautiful city with SO much history that we are so excited to keep exploring! Everything we have seen so far has been so amazing and the Turkish people are also really sweet. We have been impressed by their courtesy and they just love children. We have also received a few short visits from other Foreign Service friends and some family in the "area" (Eastern Europe), which have also been a highlight!

Next, but certainly not least our family has also been blessed this year with the discovery that we will be adding another new little one to our home!! SURPRISE! So yes, we are expecting Baby #3 due in June!!! We are so excited about this and are feeling very blessed that it worked out so well so far with the timing! In this career it can always be a little tricky depending on where you live (malaria medicine, available healthcare, etc.) and this is really a wonderful time for us. Istanbul is a great city with great medical care and even the availability of English speaking American Board Certified Doctors! My OBGYN is terrific and here you also get an ultrasound at every appointment! Of course it is still early, but I look forward to getting to SEE the progression of this little one, how fun is that? They will give us DVD's every time I think-so the home movies start early for this one! Porter can't decide on a name he likes for a girl, but if it is a boy he has really latched onto the name Lyle!? We got a kick out of that. Sorry, probably not going to happen buddy....

Together we also got to go to our first Phillies MLB game which was so much fun! Noah is a huge fan, and to take the boys to their first big league game was so great! We got them foam fingers, hot dogs and popcorn and we all loved every second. We also were able to take a fantastic vacation to (mostly) France and a (little) Switzerland this past month. We had so much fun with lots of family and enjoyed soaking up the holiday spirit that had already overtaken everything! There are some "New Years" decorations up here, which is good but not much can compare to Europe at Christmas time I've decided!

Now, onto the other littles....Porter has had a big year as well! Aside from being a superstar through all of the changes we have put him through this year, he finally turned the big 5 years old and got to start Kindergarten!! He has L.O.V.E.D getting to go to school. He has made lots of great little friends, is in the top reading levels in his class and is even trying new foods at lunch we are told! He comes home singing new fun songs, they are learning about lots of great celebrations in different cultures, and he has brought us some fantastic art projects to display proudly on the Fridge! What an awesome little guy we have, truly he has been so great no matter what we threw at him this year and we love having him in our family.

Ronan is churning out more and more personality as we speak! He turned 3 in October and has been keeping us on our toes! He has had a big year of getting his first very own bike and scooter, which were big deals! He also transitioned from his crib early in the year straight to a twin bed with success which has been fun! He and Porter share a room and he continues to idolize anything and everything about Porter. It will be fun to see him become a big brother himself this next year! What a love he is though, and still loves to snuggle me!

Noah is loving his job and really doing well. He also is signed up to participate in the Inter-Consulate soccer league in the next few weeks which he is excited about! Go team USA! I have loved getting to see him wear suits to work everyday, he is so handsome all dressed up! He is also in charge of the young men in our church group and has really enjoyed working with them.

Kendra (me) am still loving to sew and do some fun crafty things whenever I can squeeze it in and have made it mostly (I hope) through the "sick" portion of being pregnant. I have started to feel a lot better just recently so let's hope that is the end of the tunnel! I am also, as always just loving up all of my boys and enjoying getting to spend some alone time with Ronan while Porter is at school and before the new baby comes! I'm also trying to work on my cooking skills now as well, being that I have more incentive to make something from scratch if I really want it! I also have been asked to work with the youth in our church group, which has been fun and I've enjoyed getting to be around all of their energetic personalities! They make me smile.

We as a family though have felt so blessed this last year and have learned so much and felt so much support and guidance. Even during any challenging times we have truly learned from each other and grown together as a family. We've had so many fun a great times this year, and we wish the same to you and yours in the new year! We love and miss you all, and as always....our doors are always open to anyone who wants to visit!!

Happy Holidays 2010

Noah, Kendra, Porter, Ronan and Baby

Ronan 3 year Photo Shoot

I am finally posting Ronan's 3 year birthday pictures! We went out on a beautiful day to get some shots, and thankfully were able to get a few really cute ones. Let these go down in history though as the ONLY ones that he would even remotely cooperate for that day! Such is the personality of a three year old though, and we love him. Without this personality in our lives we would be so bored:) I thought they captured him very well for his 3 year old self, and for that they are priceless.

"I'm ignoring you mom, I want to look this way, and nothing you can say will change my mind!"

What a poser, so handsome...

The Black Sea

The Black Sea is the Northern Border of Turkey. It is huge and beautiful. It is also border to many other countries and thus a major shipping/cargo waterway. The only connection to the Mediterranean, etc. is through the Bosphorus Straight (aka the pride of Istanbul, and what divides the continents of Europe and Asia). It is about a 30 minute drive from our house, and we decided to head up there in November to take a gander. We were the only ones who apparently thought it was a good idea except for one guy on horseback riding through the waves and one more strolling couple! We essentially had the beach to ourselves and it was great! I must admit though, it was a tad chilly:) As you can see the boys were in great picture taking moods, but such is our life. Maybe once they are all a little older?? Anyway, we had picked up some bagels from the best bagel place we know about (actually pretty decent!) and had a nice little family lunch at the Black Sea. We hear that this beach in particular is JAMMED in the summer....we'll see if we feel like venturing here then, we haven't decided yet. Either way, it was a fun day and we enjoyed marking another "sea" off of our checklist! So far we have the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans done, and the Mediterranean, Marmara, and Black Seas marked off now! Next up -Agean here we come! Hello Ryan and Kes on the other side (well basically)!!

The Great Fall Catch-Up-the rest of our Falltivities

Ok, so indeed I got behind in blogging. That does not mean however, that we didn't have some fun things that for probably only my sake (since I do make this into a blog book for our family's adventures) that I am making myself catch up on here. These next few posts are going to come rapid fire-so hold onto your hats!

Aside from the main events of Ronan's birthday, Halloween and a broken nose we did enjoy some other great times together here in our new favorite city! We enjoyed breakfast on the Bosphorus with our awesome neighbors who led us through the ins and outs of a traditional Turkish breakfast. It was all delicious, and the views are unbeatable! Seriously! Also, this restaurant sits up just high enough that you can't see the cars that are directly below you on the shore road. So fabulous.

Everything was SO yummy, we had different kinds of Berek, some cheesy tomato egg dish, fresh fruits, the classic olives, tomato and cucumber salad, and then because it has been a little while since this outing I've completely forgotten the name of it-but this amazing stuff that is like a thick yogurt/cream type stuff with honey on it-sorry hard for me to describe-but SO tasty! We also enjoyed some fresh squeezed juices! Did you know about fresh squeezed Apple juice? It is in the cup in the picture below, had a great green color to it and was pretty frothy! Fun to drink for sure, if only Ronan hadn't GUZZLED the entire thing in one drink! That kid knows good juice when he gets it I guess!

These views were just amazing.

Next Adventure: Belgrade Forest

We finally also received our car!!! One of the first things we did was hop in the car and head out of the city. The Belgrade Forest is a huge preserve just north of the city, and so beautiful. We love all of the fabulous things the city has to offer, but every now and again it is nice to be a little bit separated from the 18 million people of the big city! It is actually a very short drive from where we live and along the way we get to pass the Uzun Kemer (Long Aquaduct) built in the 1500's. There is another one as well along the way also that they say dates from the 1100s.

We went in search of some Fall Foliage-we found a little but we've decided that maybe many of the trees are quite the right ones for the super vibrant colors...that's ok though, it was still fabulous and the boys loved getting to run wild!

Last but not Least (for this post anyway): Noah had a birthday!!

Daddy turned the big 32!!

I had bigger plans once again, but was not feeling that well that day so we ended up with some cupcakes and a few presents. I think it was a fun day still though, being that he actually enjoyed the presents we got for him this year! Sometimes, apparently I am not so stellar at giving him good gifts:) It is kind of a joke, but he was pleasantly surprised I think!

The Phillies were still in the playoffs as well for his Birthday so with all the creativity I could muster that day I did put some red pin-stripes on a few of the cupcakes for him!

The boys always enjoy helping to open any and every present, good job fellas you had great teamwork!

Well, that is enough for now...slowly inching forward, more to come soon.

Following in Daddy's Footsteps

So today we got a call from the school nurse. Porter had had a little accident, she had checked him out, and he was going to be ok...but she thought his nose might be broken and he was definitely an emotional mess. I talked to him on the phone and could barely understand a word he said, poor guy. The story was that it was windy outside and he was trying to go up some stairs. He didn't want the wind in his eyes, so he tried to go up the stairs with them closed. Obviously that didn't work out too well, and there you have it. A new lesson learned for Porter-always keep your eyes at least partially open when going up stairs:) So anyway, Noah took off work for a while (being that I am not up to driving yet in this city) and we headed out to pick him up. His school is a bit away from where we live, so by the time we actually got there he was seeming to do much better, and holding the ice pack by his nose. All involved though (well except Porter) thought it best to still take him to the doctor just incase to make a firm diagnosis and make sure there was no deviated septum or blood collecting, fractures, etc. As luck would have it, we were able to get right in with the pediatric Ear Nose and Throat doc at the hospital and he checked Porter out for us. He took some good pictures of the inside of Porter's nose, (thus prompting questions about what all the hairs were doing in his nose, and what their function was for the rest of the day) and they were able to see that everything is pretty ok, broken but not too serious. phew. there was enough trauma already and just getting him to look in his nose. I don't want to know what would happen if we had had to have it reset! We have a follow up at the end of the week, where he will check it again and Porter earned a tasty lollipop for his efforts. The big bummer of the situation though is that the doctor told us he has to stay home the rest of the week, so it won't get accidentally bumped or knocked again. Porter was SO excited to go back to school and see his friends after our vacation, I guess we'll have to fill this week with some fun Christmas activities to pass the time!

He put on a brave smile for me at the end, and luckily the tape seems to be covering most of the bruising for now so it won't freak him out too much when he looks in the mirror!

Anyway, so I guess it has begun...it was in his genes. Daddy has broken his nose 5 times! Let's hope this might be it for Porter.

Halloween

When we first took this job I was initially curious how celebrating some of our favorite American holidays (i.e. Halloween) would go. Turns out there was plenty to do, and the kids had a great time! All told, we attended the Consulate Halloween Bash, (where Ronan even made it into the video that they posted on the Consulate Facebook page), another little party at the Marine House where I scarfed down two REAL hot dogs on Wonder Bread buns-can you tell I thought they were tasty? Then there was a great little Church party that we accidentally missed, Porter had a Halloween party at school, and then our neighborhood had organized trick-or-treating! Now we didn't participate in everything, just because quite frankly I didn't have the energy but hopefully next year I will be back up to snuff and let the kids pack it in! (Luckily they are young though, and they didn't know that we had missed a few things:) Most of these pictures are from the Consulate Party, as I didn't get any pictures of the other two we participated in. I made them be a zoo keeper and elephant this year, to reuse the costume I made for Porter two years ago. I didn't order Porter's safari helmet in time, but he still looked pretty cute:) They had a fun little photo booth set up to take pics, and true to form these lovely ones are what we came away with!

sidebar: I did let Porter dress as Optimus Prime for his school party...I'm so mean making them coordinate when they are together!

They had lots of fun booths set up, including balloon stomp, bean bag toss, a spooky story time by the Consul General which was great, a haunted house, a cupcake walk, musical chairs...

they decorated treat bags, got to demolish a couple of pinatas, had face painting, pumpkin decorating and even a little pumpkin patch on the lawn for the kids to choose from. They also got loaded up with candy from desk to desk from the other people in Noah's office.

And last but not least, if you are a fan of the TV show Chuck, Noah went as Morgan, and his counterpart at work went as Ana Woo, she could pull it off much better than I ever could:)

Good times for sure, and we had plenty of candy to help us feel like we celebrated in style!