Thursday, December 14, 2017

December Happenings


We have been busy yet again.  One of the things we have started doing is teaching people how to make pizza.  It has turned into a great opportunity for us to meet new people and share with each other.
I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this.  Hudson had both dogs and they literally ran circles around him. All three of them were stuck and couldn't figure out what to do :)
Jonathan and I snuck away for a dinner together.  We tried a new restaurant and it was pretty good.
They had a timer on the table.  If your food wasn't all out to you before the timer went off then apparently you got a free dessert.  They forgot my little bowl of rice (I didn't want it anymore because I was quite full with the other things we had ordered.) The next thing I know, we each have a huge thing of yogurt topped with local honey.
This girl.  Only Katherine would think to eat her bread in heart shaped pieces.
I snuck this picture.  She was mailing a letter to her best friend in the States.  She wanted to fill it all out by herself.
We had parent child pizza class.  About 10 minutes before it was to start (and the people arrive) we lost ALL electricity.  The entire area had an outage.  So, for the first 40 minutes, we entertained kids by playing games.
The electricity came back on, so the kids got a quick picture by the tree before making pizzas.



Regan climbed up on the top bunk for a picture with her medals...mostly because Katherine was up there pretending like they were hers...haha!
Wing came to see us and spent the night.  The next day, we rode the train up to see "the entire gang" from our old city.
We had so much fun! It had been 9 months since we had seen all of them. No one could believe how much the kids had grown.
Bonnie, Regan, Jennifer
Hudson and Soey
walking to a nearby park for some group fun
a little tug of war

preparing for a barbecue 
group shot before we started cooking (Regan, Katherine, and I are not in it because Soey had taken us next door to see the plant store)
It was a really cool plant store.  They were all so unique.  We ended up buying a couple to take back with us.
Back to the barbecue. Delicious!
Me and Bonnie
Hudson was enjoying being spoiled :)

We made a trip to Macao.
We went to one of the hotels in Macao (because that's where the food and malls and decorations are)
The kids enjoyed seeing the Christmas things and hearing Christmas music playing in the background.
This hotel has a theme for each of its lobbies.  This was the Diamond lobby.  Every so often there is a show of lights and music and a big fake diamond appears in the lobby ;)

A London Taxi!  Our whole family could fit in one car!
I almost missed this picture.  Hudson asked Katherine to take his picture on his bike using his watch.


A little Star Wars Trivial Pursuit with Katie
The girls took a selfie on the bus.
Out on the back streets we found a little Christmas store.  We had to stop and see what was in it ;)
Benjamin refused to have his picture made by a pink tree :)
Shopping fun....it's so soft!
cat earphones
and a cat pillow
Because you just need a selfie in front of the pink flamingos and the pink Christmas tree because it's just oh so Christmasy
Regan and her friends suiting up for the fighting portion of class.
And then there's this sweet card.  I had a terrible migraine that lasted the entire day. I woke up at one point to find this note next to my pillow.  Lauren wanted to make sure that I knew that they were ok and that she could fix me some food.  Sweet kids, all of them.

Lauren holding Phineahs
Lauren and her little mini me, Naomi....And Jonathan in the background talking with his hands :)
Opening Christmas presents with Grandmommy.
This is the look everyone gives when they open up cotton candy!
I can't believe it made it!


What could it be?
He is so excited to have a gun to play with Benjamin with!
These two cuties got little baby dolls! They have already named them, Lindsay (left) and Susan (right)
These two are ready for some fun! Benjamin wisely suggested face protection :)
Regan helping out with English homework
The kids got so tickled because Katherine was pretending to be Ayi and was hoping to trick Hudson.
After that, she decided to dress in all winter clothes and talk with an accent to trick Ayi.
She was so funny when Ayi walked in the door.  The first thing Ayi said was "Katherine, are you cold?"  Katherine just fell in the floor. Oh well.  I told her the outfit was really cute. Maybe it will get cold enough for her to actually wear it.
The kids colored some Christmas decorations.
Oh, this was the other group shot from the barbecue.  The girls and I are in this one, but Jonathan is missing. I guess we couldn't get everybody in it at the same time :)
Bonnie: Carry me Regan!
We also enjoyed having friends from college with us for a week.  We got the entire crew in one taxi. Good times!