Christmas Day 2010

Trains and Legos- Owen woke up Christmas morning to see that our living room had been transformed into a little boy's dreamworld. Yes, we have officially entered into the trains and legos years.
Thanks to technology, we were able to do a video conference with our families so that they could experience the magic of Christmas morning with us.
After Santa gifts, we had a quick breakfast. I made Bethlehem star beignets and we drank orange wassail.
After breakfast we continued with the wrapped packages under the tree. This picture pretty much sums up the morning.
Here are a few highlights
Owen's very first rocket ship- I'm sure the first of many to come
Mater the Greater's Stunts track
Ryan's highlight was a GPS with the Europe addition.
I'll save my highlight for a later blog- there are still a few Christmas secrets out there that will not be revealed until after the New Year!

Another highlight for our family was a special night away at the Conrad Hilton here in our city. My parents treated us to a night at this beautiful hotel! So after opening presents Christmas morning, we all hoped in the car and drove across the water to the hotel. It was all decorated for Christmas and really was an oasis for us to "get away" and enjoy one another.

We couldn't leave the house without taking a few of Owen's toys. Here is a picture of his first lego house.
A view from our 15th floor windows. Thanks to Dad's Gold member status, we were placed on the executive floor with free breakfast, evening hors d'oeuvres and snacks all day. They even had real bacon at breakfast!!!
Yes, we can trash a hotel room in about 10 seconds flat.
Owen was thrilled about swimming in the pool, so we spent several hours in the water.

And this is the scene at our house since we've been home. I'm not sure who is more excited about the Legos, Ryan or Owen. I love my civil engineering husband.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve with some friends here in town. We all gathered together to eat and play games. Since several of our friends (including Ryan) are from Louisiana, we had Cajun food for dinner- jambalaya, red beans and rice and a special surprise dish that Mike made. It was delicious.
We are especially sad to be away from our families during this Christmas season, but we are so thankful for friends who are like family to us in this city.
We hurried home that evening to set out milk and cookies for Santa and skype with our families. While we were sleeping, Santa filled our stockings and even set up Owen's nativity. Apparently even Santa knows that Jesus is the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

Gearing up for Christmas

The week before Christmas was spent celebrating with national friends, participating in a English speaking Christmas service and wrapping gifts to put under the tree.
Our friends Serife and Huseyn and their kids Seyvda and Baki came over for a Christmas breakfast and to decorate cookies. Baki couldn't wait to eat them.
A local church in town hosts a special English speaking Christmas service each year. This year Ryan and I each participated in the service. I sang and Ryan read scripture. It was a beautiful evening and really prepared our hearts to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Uncle B and Aunt Sassy

Brent and Cassie came and spent a week with us before Christmas. We had the best time! We are so thankful that our families endure the long airplane rides and jet lag to come hang out with us. We didn't take a ton of pictures. We were too busy having fun. But here are a few pics from their visit.
An evening out on Istiklal in TaksimMom and Owen cuddling up on the trolley ride. It was a cold night!
Uncle B and Aunt Sassy are responsible for keeping Owen cool! They brought him this awesome robot shirt and a Paul Frank sweatshirt.
Storytime with Uncle B
We love you guys!

Let the Parties Begin

We love Christmas and it's been so fun to share our Christmas traditions with our local friends here and celebrate Jesus' birth. For most of our friends, this is the first time they have really heard about and celebrated Christmas.
Here is a picture of Ryan with his friend from school, Shervin.
We built gingerbread houses with my friend, Aylin, and her family.
Owen and Mira in front of the Christmas tree
Friday night we had a Christmas party with a bunch of other Americans. We ate yummy food, read the Christmas story, had a christmas cookie contest, played Christmas Cranium and did a white elephant gift exchange. And thanks to some friends in America that sent a package full of goodies, we had all kinds of great Christmas decorations to make the party feel more festive.
Our good friend, Hande, came to the party to celebrate with us.
The kids sitting around listening to the story of Jesus' birth. Owen was sitting front and center and participated with enthusiasm.
Saturday morning, our friends came over for breakfast and some more Christmas fun. We decorated Christmas cookies and ate candy canes, yummy!
Here are Gamze's beautiful cookies.

See You Later Party

Our very good friend, Rindy, is moving back to the states in a few weeks. We love her and are going to miss her a ton. We all got together at a great little restaurant outside of town to say goodbye. It was such a fun evening spending time with good friends and remembering our favorite times with Rindy. I'm sure there will be many more fun times with Rindy in our future!
All the girls
Owen hanging out with Anastasia

Baby Shower

I threw a baby shower for my language teacher, Nuray. She is pregnant with her first baby, a boy, and he is due in a few weeks. Baby showers are not common in this culture, so she was very embarrassed at first that we wanted to have a party and buy her gifts for her baby. But she loved it and felt very blessed. She is just so sweet so it ended up being a wonderful morning. And I had fun decorating and cooking for the party.

Owen moments

Here are a few cute moments from Owen in the past few days. He really is a hilarious kid. These are moments I will never forget!

After having a meltdown about blankie going into the washing machine for a bath, I found him cuddled up with my robe on my bed.
This first video is him explaining how to feed animals on a farm in Germany. Sorry the sound isn't great. I really just wanted to capture his enthusiasm and facial expressions while telling a story. Turn up the volume and listen carefully.



I found him in the kitchen today, naked, singing "I have decided to follow Jesus" while banging on a drum. Here's the video.


And if you haven't gotten enough nakedness, here is a final photo. I'm not sure why he was naked so much today. He really is usually wearing clothes.

And a Star on Top

On Saturday we spent the day ringing in the Christmas Season. We started the day by decorating the tree and hanging the stockings while listening to Christmas music. Owen spent the day playing with the nativity scene. Since Saturday, we have read the Christmas story 4 times as Owen moves the characters through the story. When I ended the story the first time with the Wise Men visiting Jesus, Owen told me that that wasn't the end and that they had to move to Egypt because King Herod wanted to kill Jesus. I was excited to see how much he remembered from last Christmas! In the evening we ate gumbo, popped popcorn and watched Babes in Toyland. Just a note: That movie is a lot more enjoyable when you are 3.
We couldn't find a star to buy for the top, so Owen made one and it's perfect!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving celebrating with friends this year. And thanks to a few packages from America, we had all the fixins, including sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie. Can you believe that one sweet potato is $7 here. Crazy, right!

This year we are thankful for many things. We are thankful for our local friends in our neighborhood who have accepted us and welcomed us into their lives. We are thankful for our families back home who love and support us and for our "family" here who takes care of us and celebrates life with us. Owen is thankful for his friends, his toys and his great school. And we are especially thankful for Jesus!