Let them eat cake (and juice)

For Family Night this past Monday, Maryn made us all a cake. She did it by herself from start to finish. Here is the end result! It looked and tasted wonderful! Michael even pulled me aside later and said, "Be honest, you made it, right?" I am so proud!

And here we have Bennett juicing the oranges from our tree. He was the only kid whose attention span lasted through the process. I've also noticed this is yet another picture of one of my kids without a shirt. When did we start running a clothing-optional home?

Maryn is whining for the computer. I have a pre-teen in my house. Wheeeeee. At least she makes ultra fab cakes. My plan to have yummy treats available with very little effort on my part is coming to pass. It is the only reason I teach my kids to cook. =)

Succumbing to the Power

Okay, when I started this whole silly blog thing, I was just going to write once in while and post a few pictures. But a few of you (you know who you are) have kept bugging me to make it all customized and stuff. You've even been bugging me to WRITE sometimes. Geez.

Anyway. I had a fun little party online today finding music to put on here. So now I have a playlist. I am bracing myself for my brother's (they know which ones I am referring to) comments about my choices. But I like it, and it is my blog, so blah. (Why is it that when I talk about my brothers, I often turn tweleve again?)

My goal now is to post a song that said brothers haven't heard. (Okay let me clarify, there are plenty of songs they haven't heard, I mean ones that they would actually want to hear. I make that distinction because some people have recorded songs that should have been burned immediately afterward. Yes, I mean you Britney.) I know better than to actually enter into the "I can discover more obscure music than you can" battle that they have been raging since we all owned boom boxes, but I will see if I can find something.

I am off to a rocky start, because when I went to playlist dot com, they didn't have the first three bands I searched for. (Ultravox, Screaming Blue Messiahs, and Electronic - in that order) Does anyone know of another music feed site that might have a more extenisive selection? At least they had Icehouse (yay Norine) and Jellyfish (yay Eric). So I am happy. Oh, and Micah and Gary, I do know that you have heard of all three of the bands I unsuccessfully searched for. I just meant that if they didn't have those ones, then I've got my work cut out for me.

Clarification

So, someone asked me if the pillows were included in the price. And yes-they were. He made us 6 pillows so we could put a few on the futon too. I told you it was an awesome deal. =)

Born Again Couches - Hallelujah!

I thought it would be fun to show you all what my husband got me for Christmas. I am sure a few of you remember our charming dark green plaid, outdated, starving Med student couch that we have had for 12 years. I scoured my pictures for something that would show it, for those of you that may never have had the pleasure of seeing it. I came up with this picture of Dallen fighting a Christmas morning Nerf battle. It is not the best, but it shows the ultra-fab pattern of the couch.

So, back to the Christmas present. Drumroll please....... We had the couch recovered! I am so happy with the result! Getting things like this done in Turkey is sooo cheap, because labor is cheap. They restuffed, reshaped, reinforced, and recovered. All for a mere $200. I only brag because I need to remind myself of all the good things about this assignment. =)

Next we are going to have an entertainment center built. And maybe one day we will get rid of the futon. Although we did have a new cover made for it last year so now it is obnoxious red instead of that obnoxious blue it used to be. We are slowly but surely leaving student life behind. As Michael put it when he saw the couch. "Wow, it is like grown-up furniture. We are going to have a real living room one of these days."

Emerging from the Holidays....Slowly

Okay, so....wow....it has been a month. Does it seem as though I am often starting these posts by apologizing? Hey- I warned you all that I would post only when I had something to tell you. Even though I live in an amazing country with a rich and ancient history - I am still pretty darn boring. So unless you wanted a recap of the latest PTSA meeting or some really amusing stories about the Medical Group Christmas party, I thought it was best not to blog at all. I promised myself when I started this, I would never turn into one of those people that blogged constantly about nothing. "Today the kids and I went to the grocery store" "Today I flossed my teeth" "Today I read all the suicide notes from the people who read my blog and died of boredom".

The one big thing that did happen was Michael's parents came to visit. The reason I didn't blog during those two weeks is because we spent most of the time trying to kill them off by hiking them to death. =) Also, Michael wants to fill everyone in on the details of the amazing epic journey they took across this country. I am not being sarcastic. It was amazing and epic and it involved a WHOLE lot of really seedy Turkish hotels. I graciously offered to stay at home with Hayden so they could have the joy of uphill hikes and no hot water all to themselves.

I do have a few pictures of the couple of days we were all together. This one was taken in the Adana Mosque. The tiles and designs inside are really amazing. I am ashamed to admit I have been here for a year and a half, and this is the first time I've been inside. Although in my defense, I don't often carry around a head scarf - so going inside takes some forethought. We planned for it this time, and I realized yet another reason I am happy to be a Christian - no head scarves. I don't wear hats for a reason. See below.

Here is the outside of the Adana Mosque. For those of you that received my very late New Year's letter, you will recognize it. For those of you who didn't receive it, blame it soley on yourselves for not giving me a current address. That and the fact that I lose interest halfway through the alphabet. I have selective ADD where effort and organization are involved. So if your last name begins with any letter after "P" your odds of recieving a newsletter weren't good. Don't feel bad, it really wasn't great reading. Believe me, I wrote it.

Here is a typical Turkish meal. By "typical" I mean "every single resturant, residence, hotel, and hostel in the country is serving this exact same meal between the hours of 5 and 7 pm each night." The food is very good, but 18 months of it is getting old.

While my husband, in-laws, and older children where off on the Great Crusade, I took a picture that pretty much summed up my week. Hayden discovered the joys of hide and seek, and I often found him giggling in the strangest places. Like my linen closet. A couple of times he really gave me a start. This being one of those times. Also, note his closed eyes. Apparently he is not fully hidden unless his eyes are closed. As if the snickering and the repeated cries of "You no see me" don't give him away. The kid is a hoot.

As I said before, I will let Michael fill you in completely on the day by day of his trip once he catches up on the mountain of work that was waiting for him when he got back. I cannot begin to name all the people that came up to me while he was gone and demanded to know the exact minute of his return. There were even a few that looked at me and said, "Oh well - since you're his wife, maybe you'd know about...." Um.....what? Oh, yeah, because a marriage licence is the same as a medical degree. Hey - I guess I should take it as a complement - until I get sued for malpractice, right?

Anyway, Michael will post hopefully sometime this week. Be prepared for some awesome pictures!