We have had a wonderfully busy week as we celebrated the birth of our daughter Regan and as we celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus. Regan had her good friend from school over for her birthday (alond with all of her sisters) and played dress up and had a good time. This was the cake that I made her. It was nearly a disaster because the icing kept sliding off the cake and I lost the tips to be able to decorate with. A friend of mine happened to have some and I borrowed hers. It turned out ok. It was delicious and I was relieved to have it eaten before all the icing came off again :)
This is what we bought her for her birthday. We tried so hard to find just classic Monopoly but could not, so we decided on this version...Monopoly World Edition. It really is quite fun, but takes some getting used to if you are used to playing the other. The main difference is you are buying places around the world like Hong Kong, Vancouver, Ney York City, Rome, Beijing, etc. Because of the places, this game deals in the millions instead of hundreds and all of your money is on a bank card and when you buy something you just put your card into the machine and it dedusts the value.
Here we are trying it out. I am sure we will probably play it again soon :)
This is Lauren in her new outfit from our Ayi. They worry all the time that we do not put enough clothes on our kids, so I guess this was her way of making sure she stayed warm enough :) The jacket is fleece lined and the pants are actually two pants sewn together to make one pair of pants.
Christmas morning was a lot of fun. The kids all ejoyed opening up the gifts from "Santa" and enjoyed the candy, too! (Regan is still not quite awake yet)
Well, Benjamin finally got his wish. He has asked us for a puppy literally every day since we have moved here. When the kids wrote their wish list for this year Benjamin said, "A real live dog. That's all." We told him he had to ask for something else because Santa can not always get you what you ask for. The puppy was actually hidden somewhere else in the house with a note under the tree. Benjamin had already opened his gifts and you could tell he was a little disappointed, but began playing with his toys when we saw the note on the tree sending him on a treasure hunt for his last gift. I have never seen a happier boy in my entire life! He loves that dog. The dog "came with" the name Piper, but Benjamin quickly renamed it Doggy Bones and the girls have been calling it Bones. So, I guess I didn't win on the naming of the puppy :)
Regan got some skates and has enjoyed riding everywhere in them. We have a basketball court in our complex and during the day it is filled with kids on roller blades.
Lauren got a giraffe "bath tub" and the kids are super excited about getting to take a bath.
Katherine got a baby doll and a stroller and both of the little girls have had a good time with the stroller. So now we are just hanging around, enjoying each other, and playing with our new toys. We plan to go on a short trip around the new year. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Thank you to all our family and friends that made this Christmas so special for all of us. Your cards, emails, and packages of goodies were and are greatly appreciated!!
We have had a wonderfully busy week as we celebrated the birth of our daughter Regan and as we celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus. Regan had her good friend from school over for her birthday (alond with all of her sisters) and played dress up and had a good time. This was the cake that I made her. It was nearly a disaster because the icing kept sliding off the cake and I lost the tips to be able to decorate with. A friend of mine happened to have some and I borrowed hers. It turned out ok. It was delicious and I was relieved to have it eaten before all the icing came off again :)
This is what we bought her for her birthday. We tried so hard to find just classic Monopoly but could not, so we decided on this version...Monopoly World Edition. It really is quite fun, but takes some getting used to if you are used to playing the other. The main difference is you are buying places around the world like Hong Kong, Vancouver, Ney York City, Rome, Beijing, etc. Because of the places, this game deals in the millions instead of hundreds and all of your money is on a bank card and when you buy something you just put your card into the machine and it dedusts the value. 
Here we are trying it out. I am sure we will probably play it again soon :)
This is Lauren in her new outfit from our Ayi. They worry all the time that we do not put enough clothes on our kids, so I guess this was her way of making sure she stayed warm enough :) The jacket is fleece lined and the pants are actually two pants sewn together to make one pair of pants.
Christmas morning was a lot of fun. The kids all ejoyed opening up the gifts from "Santa" and enjoyed the candy, too! (Regan is still not quite awake yet)
Well, Benjamin finally got his wish. He has asked us for a puppy literally every day since we have moved here. When the kids wrote their wish list for this year Benjamin said, "A real live dog. That's all." We told him he had to ask for something else because Santa can not always get you what you ask for. The puppy was actually hidden somewhere else in the house with a note under the tree. Benjamin had already opened his gifts and you could tell he was a little disappointed, but began playing with his toys when we saw the note on the tree sending him on a treasure hunt for his last gift. I have never seen a happier boy in my entire life! He loves that dog. The dog "came with" the name Piper, but Benjamin quickly renamed it Doggy Bones and the girls have been calling it Bones. So, I guess I didn't win on the naming of the puppy :) 
Regan got some skates and has enjoyed riding everywhere in them. We have a basketball court in our complex and during the day it is filled with kids on roller blades.
Lauren got a giraffe "bath tub" and the kids are super excited about getting to take a bath. 
Katherine got a baby doll and a stroller and both of the little girls have had a good time with the stroller. So now we are just hanging around, enjoying each other, and playing with our new toys. We plan to go on a short trip around the new year. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Thank you to all our family and friends that made this Christmas so special for all of us. Your cards, emails, and packages of goodies were and are greatly appreciated!!
