Game Night

We had game night with friends last night. We had 2 Wiis hooked up, one to the TV and one to a projector, projecting on the wall. We played Guitar Hero and had wild games of Wii Resort. It was so fun!
Brittany took this pic. I love it!

A Bad Choice

Yesterday afternoon I was skyping with my brother. When I hung up, Owen came up to me and this is the conversation that followed.

Owen- Mommy, I made a bad choice. Let me show you.
(This is what I saw on my hallway wall.)

Mommy- Owen, that was a very sad choice.
Owen- Mommy, I'm really sorry that I made a sad choice. I won't do it again.
Mommy- Owen, I forgive you. I'm glad you recognized that this was a bad choice and told Mommy right away. What do you think a good punishment should be?
Owen- I'll help clean it up. I'm really sorry, Mommy.

I think my 2 1/2 year old is starting to get it! I couldn't get mad at him because he knew what he did was wrong and was sincerely sorry for it. I consider that a huge success. Of course, if he ever does it again, he'll get a spanking for sure!

Easter Decorating Fun

We've been busy the past few days decorating for Easter. The Christians in our country call the upcoming holiday Resurrection Holiday. I love that! I think it's great to call the day what it is so as not to forget what it's really all about. So although we have been decorating eggs and making rainbow cupcakes, we have been talking to Owen a lot about why this holiday is the most special holiday to us.
I want to share Owen's book with you, What is Easter? by Micelle Medlock Adams. It says it all!

The little bunny hops, hops, hops.
Is this what Easter means?
Is it about the Easter eggs all filled with jellybeans?

Is Easter about hunting eggs?
I do that every year.
Does it mean eating chocolate stuff?
I ate my bunny's ear.

Is it about the baby chicks?
They're fuzzy and they're fun!
I saw some Easter chicks for sale.
I really wanted one.

Is it about the Easter toys?
They're really fun, I think.
One time a bunny came to me.
His little nose was pink.

Is it about the brand-new dress?
And my new Easter hat?
Does it mean wearing shiny shoes?
I really do love that!

Is it about a big parade with lots of pretty floats?
Is it about the Easter choir?
They sing the highest notes!

No! That's not what Easter means.
Easter means much more than that.
It's all about God's son.
See, God sent Jesus down to earth to die for everyone.

He had to die upon a tree to save us from our sin.
But he was only dead three days, and then he rose again!

Now, that's what Easter really means!
It's quite a special day.
Jesus our Savior rose again.
Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

Today, he sits right next to God in Heaven up above.
He wants to live inside you too and fill you up with love!

Okay, now I get it.
The Easter Bunny is okay and Easter eggs are fun.
But Easter's not about that stuff...

It's all about God's Son!!!


Everyone in our family got an egg with their name on it.
Rainbow cupcakes! Thanks Sheryl for the fun idea and recipe link.

Taylors in Town

Some good friends came into town this week to visit. They lived here at the same time we did 8 years ago and we had great times with them. So we got together with them and other friends Thursday night for dinner. It was so fun to catch up and remember the old days of Sunday afternoon naps and swimming at their house. They were just as fun and generous as always.
The restaurant set every course on fire except the dessert. It was great food!

Cleaning Windows in a 5th floor apartment

is not an easy task. But after it rained mud last week and after some encouragement from my friend that my window ledge is 4 times wider than hers and she cleans her windows by herself just fine, I decided to take on the challenge. So here is a picture of me last Sunday morning hanging out my 5th floor window in my pajamas. A lady in the apartment across the street from us watched the entire event. I'm glad I could provide her with Sunday morning entertainment.

Saturday morning fun

We visited a new park on Saturday. The weather was nice and it was fun to get out and let Owen run around for awhile. I love Saturday mornings in our city because most people don't come out until 10:30am at the earliest (unless they have to work). We are early birds, so we can be out enjoying the quite for a good 2 hrs. before we see anyone under the age of 55. This park was along the seaside, so we enjoyed the fresh air and great views.
This is just one of the hundreds of pricey yachts parked in the marina.Does anyone else have a 2 year old that could throw rocks into water for hours on end without tiring. Really, it's one of his favorite things to do!
Feeding the ducks
The sign said that this tree is at least 670 years old. Wow!
Funny story... We were sitting down on the rocks by the water for a little rest. This older gentleman walks down to the rocks near us dressed in nice works clothes carrying a briefcase. Without hesitating, he proceeds to strip down to his undies, put on some swim trunks and water shoes and start to not so gracefully enter into the 50 degree water. We couldn't help but stick around to watch what he was going to do next. We figured he would head out into open water and swim some laps and get in a good work out. Instead, this man bellyflopped into the water, swam less than 20 yards to the nearest rock and sat in Mermaid pose for 2 minutes. He then swam back to the shore, swung his arms in a few circles, took 2 deep breaths and repeated the whole process one more time. Mind you we are still just sitting and watching this whole event, trying not to laugh. Even Owen was entertained. When he came back to shore the second time, he grabbed his towel and dried off. This whole thing couldn't have lasted more than 8 minutes. But he seemed pleased with his workout.
After the park we headed to the mall for burgers and fries and playtime in the toy store. The mall has little shows for kids most afternoons, so Owen participated in a little "Science is Fun" demonstration before we headed home for naps. All in all, a great morning!
I love my little light-haired, blue-eyed boy sitting right down in front.

New Grocery Store

We had a new grocery store open up down the street from our apartment. I've been so excited for it to open because it's quite a bit bigger than the other one really close to us. So last Saturday I showed up to their grand opening along with the rest of the neighborhood to check it out. In the style of our country, the owners were their all dressed up and they had the huge flower arrangements that are present at every special event. I could hardly get through the door, there were so many people packed in to take advantage of the opening day bargains. I was very pleased with their selection and was excited to report back to Ryan about our new neighborhood addition.
To top it all off, they gave me a gift in my grocery bag at the check out counter. I didn't realize until I got home and started unloading the groceries that my gift was a free bottle of Turnip Juice...what? Apparently, Salgam suyu is an essential in every kitchen in our country. So if anyone has any good recipes calling for Turnip Juice, please send them my way!

Runts!

I'm not sure there's any type of research on this, but I'm pretty sure it's unhealthy to eat an entire large box of Runts in two days...pretty much by yourself. They really should have a Surgeon General's warning on them.

Thanks to our friends in Arlington, especially Syd who got a list and put everything together. Tara will send you a picture of Owen's reaction.

Ryan

Dinner with old friends

We had some friends over all day yesterday. Ryan first met Koray about 8 years ago. He worked in a shoe store that Ryan passed by often. They became friends and stayed in touch these past years that we were in Texas. We've been trying to get together with he and his family since we moved back, but they live about 1.5 hrs. from us (yes still in the same city), so we've had a hard time getting together. But finally yesterday they made the journey over to our house and spent the day and evening with us. I knew Koray, but I had never met his wife, so it was fun to spend the day getting to know her. She gave me all kinds of great tips on keeping my house clean here (we live on the 5th floor, but there is a ton of dust and dirt that still gets in). It was great seeing them and catching up. Hopefully we'll be able to visit them soon.

Friends in Town

We had some good friends come into town for a few days to visit. And along with our friends came their kids. We had two 2 year olds and two 1 year olds here. Owen had a blast hanging out with his friends, especially since they spoke English :) Since we had our hands full with the kids, we didn't wander the city too much, but we did go to the park, we went out to eat and we ventured downtown to the English bookstore for a morning.

Here they all are in the bathtub together. We actually didn't intend for all of them to bathe that night... until this happened!I could tell that our 2 year olds had matured a lot since the last time they were together because they played so well together. I'm so proud of them for sharing and being sweet to the littler ones.
I love it when friends come to town because it gives us an excuse to eat at fun places. Here's a pic of Owen eating a bacon burger at NumNums. What a treat! We also got to go to Krispy Kream and watch them make the donuts. Oh what fun!

Here's a pic of the two knuckleheads on the bus together. At one point we were stopped next to another bus and everyone in that bus was staring over at these two and they were both waving, smiling and eating up all of the attention.
Here they are reading the Bible together. So precious!