Christmas Fun

I know I just posted about Thanksgiving, but I'm really excited about Christmas too :o). On Thanksgiving, I went shopping to find some Christmas stuff. I had no idea I would find so much great stuff (at least to me anyway). Of course, it took a really long time to get everything, but alas, I got home only 3 1/2 hours later than I planned. Here's some snapshots of decorations.

This is our nativity that my mom gave us last Christmas. I miss my willow tree nativity set, but this was more travel friendly and baby friendly. I've been telling Caden the Christmas story and been trying to get him to point to the various characters. So far, he's got the most important one correct :o)

This is my oh-so-cute ginger bread cooking man in my kitchen. I just love him.

And here's another really cute snowman in the midst of some garland on our dinning room table.

I put some garland around the TV and hung up our stockings. Yes, we're watching a movie.

Our beautiful Christmas tree! I was actually hoping to get something a little smaller to fit better in the window seat. Yes, the window seat. We wanted to put the tree there, so we wouldn't have to say a billion times, "Caden, no touch." So far, it seems to be working. I'm so thankful, though, to have found such a nice tree here...it's not easy supposedly. I took this picture tonight after I rearranged our lights. Two strands of lights already went out! I was able to shuffle them around but the back of our tree and some on the sides is a little bare, but no one really sees that part any way.

A view of the room. The tree will look perfect next year in that little corner. It's just screaming for a Christmas tree.

I had to include a few precious photos of Caden. He's recently loved being able to crawl under his crib. He crouches down and goes right under. He gets out pretty easily too. He's starting to blow kisses (well, putting his hand on his mouth and leaving it there...but it's close enough!). Today, someone was playing guitar, and I so wish I had a camera because he just sat on his knees in front of the guy and bounced up and down. It was so cute. He loves music and loves to dance to the music (in his own little way). He's also getting very close to walking. He just has to let go of thinking he has to be holding on to something.

Too cute drinking from his water bottle in his REI bodysuit.

Happy Fall and Merry Christmas :o)

AND Go Dawgs!

Thanksgiving

I thought I would say Thanksgiving would be very different this year, but I'm thankful to say that it was so much of what it usually is. It was truly a time of thanksgiving and of feasting! We got together with many friends and ate food then ate some more then ate a little bit after that. I was actually so stuffed, I couldn't eat dessert until the next day! We had some great fellowship and were blessed by each other's company. We also got to skype with both our families, which is always a blessing. Britton even got to see a few minutes of the SC/Clemson game. That's the most football he's watched all season. I'm going to attempt to describe why we are thankful in an acronym. It might be cheesy, but it helps me think about why we are thankful.

T-time with one another and with our son
H-home...it feels like home here
A-another day to have more opportunities
N-nights at home and nights out
K-isses...Caden is starting to blow kisses
F-friends who think about us daily from all over the world
U-unconditional love from a perfect Creator
L-laughter...I mean gut-wrenching laughter from deep within :o)

This post is ashamedly mostly about food. Thanksgiving is certainly not all about food, but definitely part of it. The day before Thanksgiving we received 2 packages, one from my mom and the other from Britton's mom. We were so overjoyed and felt like it was Christmas! They took nearly 3 weeks to get here, but it was worth the wait. We are so grateful for so many sending us a taste of home. This is what they sent us between the 2 of them. Man, that's a lot!

On Thanksgiving, I actually went Christmas shopping and got us a tree and other decorations. Everything here takes 3 times longer than you think it will, thus, we ate dinner at 9:00pm! We had a very (not) traditional Thanksgiving meal. It doesn't look fancy, but it sure was good. We had chicken nuggets, mac'n cheese, fries, and green beans.

The day after Thanksgiving, we ate together with friends. I took the picture too early, because this is only half the food and it's missing the huge turkey (hole on the left)

I made pineapple casserole that was pretty good. It would have been better if my aunt had made it :o)

appetizers...yum, yum

desserts! Even yummier. I made the pumpkin cake in the middle of the table. I loved the cupcakes decorated like turkeys.

our hostess made these oh-so-cute Reese pieces turkeys. Britton is eating them currently as I type.

Yesterday, we got this beautiful pumpkin in the mail from a friend. I was so excited to get it. I was wanting some fall decorations and asked for a small plastic pumpkin...she sent this awesome thing! I also have some garland around a candle my mom sent. This year, we will have fall and Christmas decorations combined :o) Fall isn't over until December 21 anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Caden misc

I have a lot of stuff to post, but I think the majority are content with just seeing stuff about Caden. So, I'm just gonna post all the random pictures I haven't posted yet of Caden. Enjoy.

I was able to find some teething biscuits here. These particular ones are vegetable flavor. Yum. I don't know why, but Caden loves to put these in his mouth and just suck on them without holding them. Our language tutor found this especially funny.

Here he is just being cute. My aunt gave this outfit to him for his bday.

Don't worry, he was well supervised while doing this. We have this cool window seat thing in our living room and in Caden's room. He always likes to walk along the bars on the floor. This day, I stuck him up there to see what he would do. He loved it. No, he doesn't play up there.

I wish I could say he's my little helper, but this picture just ended up looking like it. He loves crawling into the kitchen and pulling over our water bottle and broom. Fortunately, we have a door to our kitchen :o)

Caden loves his bed. Even though he is still waking up a lot in the night (he sleeps a lot in his bed and seems to really like it. I need to take a picture of the railing...he has gnawed it up from teething. He looks so big here!

I'm awful for letting him cry while I take a picture, but he only started crying when I got the camera out. We sat him in his chair on the ground instead of in the actual chair. I don't remember why he was just on the floor, but he was. I was in the kitchen cooking for Thanksgiving, and Britton had come in there for a minute. We both walked in the living room and saw that Caden had pulled himself up with the chair still attached to him. We both laughed hysterically, then he got upset that we wouldn't get him out for the sake of a picture. Mean us but cute baby!

Someone gave Caden magnetic letters for his bday, and they have been great for him to play with in the kitchen on the rare times that he's allowed in there.

he especially likes to chew on them, along with everything else he can get his hands on.

There ya have it. Cuteness galore. Hopefully, I can post some more of our lives soon.

Big Belly

This not-so-little-anymore boy ate a 5oz bottle of whole milk (no more formula as of 1 ½ week ago), ritz crackers, an entire grilled cheese sandwich, strawberry yogurt, green beans, corn, and cheerios for dinner…a strange meal, I know, but he kept being hungry, so we kept giving him whatever we had. His belly was bigger than we’ve ever seen. This picture is after his bath. It makes me chuckle. You'd think he would be nice and full, but he woke up 4 hours later to eat another 5oz bottle of milk. He's certainly a growing boy. I'm just waiting for him to sleep consistently through the night every night again. Oh, how I miss those nights, but this big smile makes up for it.

What's a girl to do...

...without vanilla? Until recently, pure extract vanilla could not be found anywhere around here. Fortunately, there's one place a friend of mine found where I can get some (that's really expensive), but my mom sent me some in a package that I have been patiently (ok, not patiently...very anxiously) waiting for 15 days. So, what's a girl who loves sweets and loves to bake to do when she doesn't have vanilla? Make no-bake cookies, of course! This not only satisfied my chocolate and sweets craving, it also made me feel like I was at home. My mom used to make these at a lot of holidays and special occasions. This might be too much info, but my extended family calls them "do-do" balls, for obvious reasons :o) It's so nice to have a taste of home.

What I like about our city...

We have now been in our new city for a month. It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone. We have faced lots of sicknesses, travelled some more, and worked hard to make this feel like home. The Creator has been so faithful to provide for us. Though I could probably come up with a list of things I don't like about our city, I just want to focus on the positive, and truly, our city is a great place to live.

Things I like about our city:
1. Our apartment and complex.
You have seen pictures of our complex and hopefully will of our apartment soon. We are so blessed to be in such a nice community. I look forward to the summer when we can jump in the pool :o)
2. Import sections.
Several stores here have small import sections of food that is imported from all over (mostly home). They have been great and make meals a little easier.
3. No car seats.
I'm certain this freaks out most of you, especially our moms, but it's so great to jump in a taxi or on a bus and not have to buckle a 1 year old in every time. He just sits in my carrier attached to me, then we hop out. It's great.
4. Everything is relatively close.
This is a big city, but it's not too busy (well, at least for someone who grew up in a big city). For the most part, everything we need is within a 20 minute bus or taxi ride. To me, that's close.
5.Gas Stove
I know this isn't specific to our city (obviously!), but this is the first time I've ever had a gas stove, and I love it! Things heat up so quickly saving me time for a change!
6. Beautiful Scenery
We have beautiful city-scenery, then we have several mountains that pop out of nowhere surrounding the city. I love the mix between city and mountains.
7. Trash
We can stick our trash right outside our door, and someone comes regularly to pick it up. A lot of times other people will go through our trash and get recyclables out so they can get money for it. So, we have recycling too :o)
8. Friends
It was such a blessing to get here and already have friends! They have made our adjustment here so much easier just by speaking in English and sharing their American food. I know we will make many more friends here, but these few are already so dear.
9. House helper
What have I done all these years without a house helper?! Life is so much less stressful with her here (still stressful at times but not as much)! It's normal in society here to have a house helper. It provides another job. She cleans, cooks, and takes care of Caden. Man, that sounds like I do nothing! I still also clean, cook, and take care of Caden, but she frees us up during language learning :o)
10. Tutor
Our tutor has been so kind and patient with us in this very difficult process of learning language. It's amazing to me that we are 3 weeks in and feel like we've already done a semester's worth of language.
11. No tipping
It's not at all custom to tip here. The workers are simply paid, and we just pay for the meal :o) Things are also a lot cheaper here, which is always nice.
12. Frozen Chicken
Again, this is not the only place with frozen chicken, but I was super excited to learn I could get boneless, skinless, frozen chicken here! I was sad to find out yesterday that we won't have anymore frozen chicken at our supermarket. BUT my house helper has some at the market she buys our lunch food at everyday, so I now never have to shop for frozen chicken again! Even better! When we first got here, Britton said he was really looking forward to having some frozen chicken...sounded kinda funny to me.
13. Rainy Days
Once again, I'm trying to focus on the positive :o) Our city doesn't get much sunlight, but the days that it rains (which is often), all the yoga groups and kid groups don't meet right outside our apartment with their loud music in the morning. They are forced to meet elsewhere along with their music :o) The music is not so bothersome, but it's nice to have some quiet every now and then when I'm trying to wake up :o)
14. Cooking from scratch
Ah!!! Did I just type that?! I told Britton I was writing that, and he said, "You like that?!" Trying to think positive :o) Once you're forced to do this and you don't have the "one shop stop" anymore, cooking from scratch can actually be a good thing. I have to give all credit to my friends here and some websites for helping me out. Hopefully, I can get a post on here soon of some things I've been able to cook. Also, not everything is from scratch! It could be way worse! I'm so grateful for the "instant" things I can use, but it's been nice to try new things and have ways to still cook the same meals I used to (I think it tastes better from scratch!).


Our city really is great, and I'm so thankful for how we are provided for. I look forward to finding out more reasons why I like living here. You should come visit :o)