Thanksgiving!!!

Well...it has been about a month and a half since I posted last...and I have my stubborn streak to thank for that!!!! I literally started this post on Thanksgiving night and had every intention of having it posted before most of you had celebrated!!! But alas, it was not meant to be...and since then I have tried no less than 15 times - no exaggeration!!! Invariably I'd steal a moment and set up some pictures to upload then get caught up with the boys or the power (and consequently the internet) would go out and for some reason the autosave must not have been working because I'd come back a step back instead of ahead!!! So frustrating!!! And that's where the stubborn streak kicked in...the more times I tried and failed, the more determined I was not to give up!!! I hope it's worth it....

So here it is..FINALLY...

Thanksgiving for us was great in spite of not being with our families!!! We started prepping the night before. There were a number of people in and out of our home over the course of the evening - helping and/or just coming to see the progress. Three of our friends hung out and helped the entire time!! We had a blast - I think we were up till around 1 or 2 am!!!

We made..

2 apple pies

several dozen diner rolls

several kilos of mashed potatoes

7 kilos of caramelized carrots (one of my favorite new discoveries!!)

2 turkeys

1 chicken

I think that was all...

These are just a few photos from the night before...

..kneading fun

so many potato and apple peals!!!!

And the day of...there was much shaping of rolls...

some fun shapes...

...and prepping of birds...the funky looking one on the right was fresh from a nearby village!

Breakfast break for Thorin!!
...and moments of discipline...
Sterling had a blast getting in on the action!!! He loves flour and making dough (which he can say as clear as a bell)!!!

...and stolen moments amidst the hubbub...

..and picking of turkeys...

Our friend Nate, helping me set the tables...My vision was to have everyone sitting at one big table (otherwise it just wouldn't have felt like a real Thanksgiving meal!!). There were around 32 people and not a whole lot of space so we ended up with 6 tables in a bit of a 'C' shape. It was tight but no one seemed to mind!! Quite the contrary actually! Lots of people came up to us afterwards and told us that it really felt like Thanksgiving!!!

...and finally, FEASTING...





Hanging out after dinner...Andy and Sterling
Sterling - practicing for his days as an old man smoking stogies.
Andy with Sterling again...we are so blessed to have guys around who really enjoy the boys and treat them as if they were their own nephews!!

This is definitely not the best one of Thorin (his eyes are all funky) but we didn't have many of him from the day so I decided to include it anyway : )

Thorin Tate is 8 months old - as of 11.12.09!!!

First of all it's still hard for me to believe that I even have kids...that I'm a MOM!!! And then to hear myself say that our second son is 8 months old already just blows my mind!!! I love it!!!

Thorin is a complete doll!!! His smile is totally contagious! People can't help but smile when they look at him! He has such a sweet disposition! He is truly living up to his name -- Tate means Cheerful!!

He is now crawling on his hands and knees!

His 3rd and 4th teeth are coming in!

He is just starting to pull himself up to stand!

He has been sleeping through the night for the most part.

He eats a ton and has loved everything I have given him so far!

He can sit himself up half way and will sit for a bit when I sit him up before falling backwards : )

Brother lovin'!!!

Sterling calls him 'baba' (for brother) or TT (as he still can't pronounce Thorin and he just chooses to shorten Tate : ).

I absolutely love watching them interact!!! They get such a kick out of each other!

Well...there were a couple videos that I really wanted to add to this post but alas both of them have failed to upload : /

Afternoon at the park...

We are so blessed to live in such a nice neighborhood and to have our very own park within it! Sterling LOVES it!!

The swing is his favorite!! He loves going really high - he grins really big and keeps saying, 'high, high'!

The slide comes in at a fairly close second!

All boy!!!

It has been an exceptionally wet winter here so far (which is great for this land!!)!! We had a week of rain followed by a beautifully sunny week - which we soaked up!! And this week has been rainy and cold again!

Thorin...

Lovin' on my boy!!!
Such a sweet happy face...just seconds after this photo he got a little high-centered and did a major face plant : /
He is pretty much always smiling!!! Some one commented of him the other night that he's the smiley-est kid they had ever seen!!!
We were hanging out outside one afternoon and it was so cold that I zipped him up in my sweater.

Bath time

One of the things that I miss in being here is having a bathtub for the boys to play in during bath time. Playing in the tub used to be one of Sterling's favorite pastimes!! Our neighbor loaned this tub to us for Thorin. I finally got it out the other day and wow, was that some WET fun!!! I gained a whole new appreciation for a completely tiled bathroom with a drain in the middle of the floor (very characteristic style of bathrooms in the third world). I got a great video of them cracking each other up that I'd love to share but it had trouble uploading : /



Sterling will still take a bath and love it how ever it comes...even this miniature : )

The boys...hangin'

Sterling dancing and dirty feet!

Aaahhh, Sterling's dancing is so entertaining!!! I just have to wonder where he comes up with his moves : ) I love it!!!
And the bit about the dirty feet - well, it's nearly impossible to keep the floors dust free here and our feet show it! Shortly before I took this video I had been commenting on how dirty Sterling's feet were. Just in case you can't make out what he's saying about my feet, it's 'eeewwww gross'!! Gotta love the honesty of kids!!

Thorin's crawling progress...

These are just a couple more of the stages that Thorin has been through. I love it!!! It's so fascinating to watch!! I'm so amazed by how fast they progress once they start doing something new like this!!!

I love how Sterling gets down with Thorin in this video - as though to cheer him on...before he starts whacking him in the face with the ball : ) Aaaahhhh some days I despair of any hope of teaching my 1 1/2 year anything about gentleness!!!

This one is pretty much up to date. Thorin no longer has any trouble getting where he wants to go!

Our new home.

I know this is long overdue so here it is...
This is our home. The bay window to the right on the lower level is in the living room and the upper level is our master bedroom. To the left from the bay window is our front door. And to the far left is the kitchen door and above that is Sterling's room.

Part of our street (this photo is was taken from the house across the street from ours)

This is what you see when you walk in the kitchen door. In the foreground you can see our lovely 5 burner GAS stove - one of the things that most excited me about the house : )!!

just to the right of that..

and to the far right is our table.

This is the living room...we don't really spend much time in here. I use it mostly for drying our clothes.

This is the view from our home on a very UNclear day...

...and the same view on a clear day


A close-up of the mountain to the left...it's just beautiful! They say that in the winter it will be capped with snow!
Well, I had been waiting to post this until I had more pictures of the inside of our house...but after several days have decided that those pictures will have to wait...