These first 2 pictures pretty much sum up the past couple of weeks. Sometimes you have good days and sometimes you have hard days or hard weeks. The kids have really been working hard on their school. It hasn't been the easiest of school years, but we are thankful everyone is healthy and learning.
Yes. You have to do school today. :)
Benjamin had quite the assignment from his Life Skills class online. It not only wore him out but us as well. I think this particular assignment did not take into consideration the difficulty in doing certain tasks in a foreign country. He was supposed to cook breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a dessert all in one day. Oh, and he had to make sure it was a recipe from his book. Let's just say did fabulous! He got up at 6:30a.m. and finished cooking at 7:30 p.m. He had no break in the day...literally in the kitchen ALL day! This was his pizza for lunch.
Chicken Pot Pie for dinner
Oatmeal raisin cookie ice-cream sandwiches covered in chocolate I forgot to get a picture of his breakfast meal)
Regan in taekwondo class. This is her happy place ;)
These are the girls I help with English :) They are so funny photos, but they are a great group of girls.
Happy (hidden), Shirley, Polly (my neighbor), Si Xuan, Anna, and me
We went up to our old city for Winter's birthday. We had a great time visiting!! Benjamin didn't come because he literally made himself sick from working so hard on those dishes!
one of the cutest local cakes I have seen
Don't be fooled. It's not your typical cake. It's a multi layered mango cake.
When we got back to our city, we had a hard time catching a taxi. We found a guy with a san red che (three wheeled car...motorcycle with a cart sort of) Anyways. He said he would take us all together. Hudson was beside himself that I agreed. I was a fun little ride :)
Benjamin also had to do ALL of the laundry for a week. Again, with 7 people in the house and other factors involved, we worked together on this one...but it was very helpful to have a helper!
Katherine drew this in art class and I thought it was pretty cute.
It had been a few exhausting weeks. I felt like the younger kids needed to go to the beach (the older two opted to stay home and get more work done). It was good for all of us to get out.
They were having so much fun. I'm still a little shocked that the "lifeguard" came down to us and said we were not being safe because the the waves are dangerous. The kids had fun anyways. I told him I was watching them.
Jonathan took over one morning so that I could go support a friend who asked me to come to her presentation. Their were 30 moms there and me. We all had to introduce ourselves and tell about our children. I got to "My name is Kelly and I have 5 kids..." The applause and cheers were so loud that I couldn't even continue talking...haha! I really didn't have to say much after that. Too funny.
My little wanted to know if we were going to eat a turkey for Thanksgiving. Then they asked if they could see/hold it. They were so excited about it!
Regan and Benjamin in class together. They usually get paired up for certain activities because they are the tallest ones.
I forgot to rotate the picture, but this was our fruit turkey for our Thanksgiving celebration. Lauren and Katherine helped make it!
Lots of yummy fall treats
We needed a group picture.
Regan and I switched in this one.
These two are not allowed in the kitchen...they wanted to follow me into the laundry room, but they were good little puppies.
Benjamin doing and experiment with flour and a balloon to see a crater form from a volcano eruption.
sitting on the ducks
Lauren was by the wind for class. I wanted to take more pictures, but didn't want to distract her either.
I couldn't stop laughing at him making his bed. He refused to step on the sheets.
Rocky had no problem getting on the sheets while the bed was being made ;)
Finally! The haircut shop reopened! Hudson got a much needed haircut.
art class
Lauren ran out with me on Thanksgiving morning to pick up some bread for rolls. She was freezing (and I have to admit it did feel a bit chilly) in the 69 degree weather! I loved it!! It really made it seem more like Thanksgiving.
Walmart is the only store that has bread similar to a roll. Lauren went crazy over the wall of lollipops.
Team Sheddan working hard on lunch!!
checking the temperature....it's always a guessing game when you try to cook a large bird in a toaster oven....but he was ready!
The turkey looks huge in this picture
My mouth is still watering
My neighbor and Happy came up to eat with us. The kids come home for lunch everyday, so they were excited to try turkey for the first time and to experience Thanksgiving with us.
She always cracks me up...wanting the entire turkey leg! It's her favorite.
still carving the turkey
Now it's time to decorate for Christmas and listen to Christmas music...it really does make me happy :)
Always the same :) Love him!
Everyone is helping!
It's our tradition to give the kids an ornament every year for Christmas so that they have a decent start when they go off to college and have a tree of their own. Lauren had hers on the couch ready to go...and of she was missing Ayi during the festivities so she carried the picture around with her for a bit.
putting on their ornaments (and posing) :)
It was Katherine's turn to put the star on top. She could ALMOST reach, but decided that she could maybe reach better on Daddy's shoulders...
That idea didn't start off to well...haha!
She finally got on his shoulders and got the star on top!
Traditional family selfie after decorating the tree
Regan wanted to make a dessert for all of us to try. It was AMAZING!!! This carrot cake was so good. Jonathan told her not to lose her recipe.
I'm one lucky momma to be surrounded by so many talented people!!! :)
