Tree planting!

Tim Sterling and Bawar (one of Tim's students), planting a tree at the new AUI-S campus!

The new campus is under construction and scheduled to be completed fall of 2011.


A view of Sulaimani beyond the construction...

Some of the boys lately...

I love this!!! Thorin was crawling under the table and Sterling just had to be right on top of him!!! So cute!!!

A quick trip to Erbil - Dec. 3

We took a quick trip up to Erbil to visit Lance and Tony. It was nice to see faces from home!!

These are a couple shots from our drive up - notice the snow covered mountains in the distance!!

A mosque in Erbil...

..and a cool fountain.

Lunch with the guys at 'Bakery and More' - a place where we can actually get real cheese!!!

The faces of Sterling that make us laugh...

Wearing his Spiderman pants on his head...what better place for them??

What can I even say of this one??...he's a nut!!!

After getting into a bowl of cinnamon and sugar - the cinnamon must burn a bit because his face got really red!!!

After chewing on a purple marker...and this is a 'smile' you'll be seeing a lot - it's his new "cheeeeessseeee" face for pictures!

and, one of our favorites...the safety goggles!!! The way they push his ears out is the best!!!

We have laughed so hard at this one - he looks so ridiculously funny!!!!

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 : /