Our Little Monster is Five!

Man Alive! I can't believe he's five! 

Ronan recently had a birthday, and we decided to party with a "Little Monster" theme. 

We had some great friends and neighbors come over to help us celebrate!

I just decided to go with lots of fun bright colors for all the decorations, and didn't get pictures of it all, but it turned out pretty cute.

The Cake:

The Little Monsters:

I made these cute softees for all the kiddos that came. 

They were a huge hit.

We played pin the eye on the monster-

And, last but not least: 

 I found these terrific retro paper straws-

I know, these are really just fun for me, but they were awesome!

If there is one thing that Ronan is REALLY good at, it is blowing out birthday candles!

He is a pro. Totally has some skillz.

Also- my amazing friend Courtney helped me by making these

 fantastic monster cupcakes to go with the cake! 

They turned out SO cute. They were perfect, and the kids went absolutely crazy for them.

Thanks again Court!!

We had so much fun with everyone who came, 

and thank you all SO much for the wonderful 

sweet gifts for our little guy! He LOVED them all. 

He's way into dressing up in costumes lately-

so this was a major score as he opens up his new Knight costume!

A new favorite for sure.

Can I say how much I love all these cuties?

And, the round table that we scored in our apartment!

We definitely need to get one for our future homes.

We had his big party a few days before his birthday so it could be on a weekend, then on his actual birthday we just had a little family celebration. We saved a few of the gifts though, and took him to Chick-Fil-A and the play space for dinner. He had a great night.

Oh, and also we can't forget the candles again on a leftover piece of cake!

Enjoying his big gift from Mommy and Daddy, 

this fun big Chuggington race track! 

Also sporting his new fireman outfit. This was one happy boy!

Happy Birthday Roni! We love you so much, 

and are so grateful that you are part our family. 

Thanks for always keeping us on our toes, and enjoying this adventure with us!

Back to School 2012

We arrived in NoVA after home leave just in time to jump into the first day of school!

This is Porter's first experience with school in America! 

There are luckily, multiple little boys his age that are also

 living here at our complex and are FS too.

It has been so fun for him to make new friends and he just loves school!

He's such a great kid, never complained a bit and has been so great to just roll with our lifestyle!

Here he is in his classroom with his cute teacher Ms. L.

This is going to be a good year, I can tell!

Lucky Seven

We did have one event from our time on home leave that I do want to post separately. 

According to Porter also, it was his favorite thing about the summer. 

(We did A LOT  of fun things too, so I guess we hit it out of the park

 for this one if it still comes in number one on his list!)

My baby turned SEVEN!!

I can not believe this day has arrived! How is it possible that it was a whole seven years ago

 when I got to hold my little munchkin for the first time? The time has flown so quickly. 

Aack! Make it slow down, please!

In anycase, hopefully this year turns out to be as wonderful and lucky for him as his birthday! 

As we had recently arrived back in the USA-

 (birthday present number one, being in America for his birthday!)

I went 100% hands off for his party, and booked the local bowling alley. 

They took care of everything-I didn't even make goodie bags.

Well, I did order the cake from Target-which he loved getting to pick it out-

 I know, right? Huge step for me. And you know what?

It was awesome! Everyone had such a fun time, 

and it was completely stress free for me.

He loved every second of it. They went the extra mile, and made sure he

 got to bowl on Lane 7, which he thought was SO COOL.

Daddy even made sure that he let Miles get in on the action! Noah has skillz, huh?!

 Now, for his FAVORITE part of his birthday:

for his final score- he got a 77!

What are the odds, bowling a 77 on lane 7 for his 7th birthday!

He's been talking about it ever since, lucky 7 indeed!

The Cake-Pokemon theme

The Crew

His buddy Ryli was even able to come for a bit, while dealing with their own inter-continental switchup! Thanks for squeezing us in guys, we loved that we got to see you all! 

I love that Porter has friends that understand his whole "international" lifestyle because they've lived abroad too. I think it makes all the difference in the world to help him not feel like he's weird or different. In this picture we've got Turkey, Mexico, Puerto Rico (yes, America but still..) and Moldova covered! 

Can he get them all in one blow?

Pizza time

They also got tokens to play in the arcade. It was a HIT. Maybe even more so than the bowling?

You can never go wrong with arcade games I guess!

Porter opening his "big gift" from Mommy and Daddy-

He was thrilled!

 This Lego Ninjago lover, could not have been a happier birthday boy!!!

We got him the Fire Temple, which he had been wanting for a loooong time.

Patience seemed to pay off though, and that's good because he and Noah both needed it for the 5 hours it took them to build this beauty!! 

Happy Birthday Porter!!

We love you so much, and can't imagine our lives without you!

Thank you for bringing so much love, enthusiasm, and humor to our lives.

To Be Inserted Here-Home Leave

So, our summer was awesome. We spent a month and a half on home leave, and had a blast! We were go, go, go and got to see many of our favorite people! We ate tons of yummy food, and filled our days with every fun adventure we could find in every one of the 10 States we went to! Whew. It was terrific, and exhausting! Documenting our home leave adventure will take a bit, and since we jumped right into school, and other fall adventures-rather than get completely behind I am going to try to catch up- and then do my home leave post. (I reserve the right to change the date when I put it into my blog book;)
So let this tide you over of things to come from home leave…. It happened, it was fantastic, and we'll remember it forever! Terrific memories made!

Our Home

In one last report on Istanbul, I had meaning to (pretty much ever since we got settled, two years ago!) put up pictures on the blog of our home. I think it is important to remember what the homes we live in look like, as so many memories happen there. We absolutely adored our apartment in Istanbul. It fit us so well, and we will/ already do miss living here. 

So, without further ado:

The Boy's Room

This was perhaps my favorite in the house. 

It was so cozy, and they loved it!

Miles Bedroom:
Such a cozy nursery. This little bedroom was perfect.  I had intended to put his name above his crib, but then we opted for the other way because we didn't want them falling on him incase of an earthquake! Turns out, we didn't have any major issues with that-thank goodness, but better safe than sorry.

This is looking from the corner with the bookshelf, the lighting is terrible, but just so we can remember all the fun nooks and crannies of our first European apartment! 

Trying to get all the angles, and I couldn't resist letting this guy be a model for me!

And, we can't forget the ever present humidifier! 

At least it matches.

Our Master Bedroom
This room was great, nice and big-
but had some funny things (as any European apartment does)
We had an awesome balcony though too, not pictured-but where the drapes in the left corner are.
That is also the wall/ side with our other dresser, mirror and entrance to the master bath.
At the end before we were packing I was taking quick pictures of the rooms that I never had-and didn't get every angle that I should have! Memories in our minds I guess for this.
This is taken from the bedroom door- with the "closet" directly to the right.

Our closet was a funny space, we had to use these cabinets from the Consulate, and Noah couldn't stand up in the back half, but we tried to use the space the best we could.

It worked as my craft space after Miles was born (initially I had a craft room/play room) before we turned it into the nursery for the first year we lived there.

Our Master bathroom:

Once again, the movers were half done when I took these photos, and I didn't get a great angle of the cute shelves above the toilet-

but just so we can always remember our giant shower!

The boys bathroom off the upstairs hallway

Our "dine-in" portion of the kitchen

I don't know if I will ever get such awesome storage space in my kitchen again...

at least I loved it while I had it!

Awesome.

The other half. Loved my kitchen. 

Tears will be shed when I remember these days!

View of the Family and Dining rooms from the "Living room" side

A view of the Living Room-

once again though, I was slow in taking it, didn't get all the angles I should have, and the movers had already started packing. Just imagine the drapes still there, and some more decor.

This is looking from the entryway French doors. 

I'm bummed I didn't get a picture from the other side too...

The Guest Room

If you were lucky enough to come and visit this gorgeous city, 

this was where you could rest your head!

We did get multiple visitors, which we LOVED!
We had a great time with all of you!

The powder room down the entryway hall

View of the Entryway from down by the guestroom.

Can't find a picture looking from the front door. 

I swear I took one, but still.

If I find it I guess I will just add it when I print my blog book! 

Kitchen to the right, and great room to the left-

And last but not least, the guest bathroom.

There you have it. 

a trip down memory lane for our family for the future.

We will miss you, thanks for all the amazing memories!

(Insert apt number here, but for security sake we'll just call you Apartment Awesome)