Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  We had a wonderful Christmas here in Texas.  This Christmas Eve we were blessed to spend time with another family from church.  We all attended our church service together and then came home for what has become our traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner.  Yummy lasagna followed by Happy Birthday Jesus cake!  We had an evening of loud, wild, chaotic fun with the 8 kids in attendance. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus at least 5 times - every child had to have a turn blowing out the candles!  After dinner, we shared our Christmas Eve tradition of reading the Christmas story - no not about a red rider bee bee gun - about Jesus's birth.  The kids all opened one present (new pjs of course) and snuggled up together to hear about the first Christmas when Jesus was born.  It was a wonderful evening and so great to hear so many little voices speak with such confidence about the true meaning of Christmas.  Some of the things said by the 4 three year olds in attendance... "Jesus came to save us"  "He died on the cross to save us." "Mary was Jesus's mom."  "They went to Bethlehem to be counted."  "The angels praised God in heaven!"  How special to hear the truth from such little mouths. 

Four adorable three year olds...

The Jesse tree filling up with ornaments representing God's story

 Christmas Morning!

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

 Merry Christmas!

We are in full swing getting ready for Christmas around here.  This year we are enjoying a new nightly (hopefully) tradition of the Jesse tree.  We have a devotional each day that is a story from the Bible with a corresponding ornament to put on the tree.  The stories show God's plan throughout time to send Jesus, a savior for the world.  It is a fun way to dig into the Word with our kids, and to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

 

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Possum Kingdom Posse

This past weekend we had the opportunity to get away from the city and explore a little of Texas.  We headed to Possum Kingdom with three other families from church.  We had such a fantastic weekend.  Our children played the weekend away, exploring the woods and being silly with their new buddies while we sipped coffee in the cold.  And yes, it was cold!  I know, I have been complaining about the heat all summer - finally the cold hit us and we had temps in the 40's and 50's all weekend.  A welcome change, if you ask me.  It almost made me feel like I was in the mountains of Colorado again.  (Or maybe at Port Hacking for a chilly church weekend away in Australia.)

Check out the cactus!  I did not expect to see these on our hike.

The closest thing to a family portrait...

The view from the top.

She thinks she is a koala bear!

Brrrr....  it was cold on the water!

This weekend held many things for me.  For the extrovert in me, there was non-stop social activity.  For the nature lover, there was a morning hike and a boat ride.  For the rest of me, there was great fellowship with new friends.  What a blessing these guys have already been in our lives just by including us in their group and making us feel at home with them.  Weekends like this make me feel like Texas is almost "home." 

A 5 year old ballerina...

Yesterday was C's birthday.  These days, she is all about being a ballerina.  So, for her birthday, we celebrated ballerina style.  It was so much fun preparing all things ballerina themed.  The party was lots of fun.  We had a house full of giggling little girls ready to plie the day away.  It is hard to believe this little girl is 5!

I am pretty proud of the cupcakes I made.

Yum!  Little sis enjoyed it too!

"Ballerina Says" Arabesque!

Decorating ballerina cookies

Back to School!

We have had a wonderful (hot) summer here in Texas!  I wasn't sure what to expect this summer.  I was sort of dreading three long months with the kids home.  My thoughts were... no school, no friends, no activities = no sanity for mom.  I was wrong.  There were certainly plenty of moments of insanity (but what family with 4 kids doesn't have moments like that?!).  Overall, we had a great summer.  The kids have made fast friends with lots of kids in the neighborhood and spent plenty of time playing with each other.  They past the days fishing at the neighborhood pond, riding bikes and scooters and swimming.  Did I mention swimming?  We swam almost every day and put our pool to very good use. 

That brings me to today.  The first day of school.  As always, bittersweet.  I am happy to return to the routine of school and the kids are happy to be going back to see their friends daily.  But, I am sad to enter the whirlwind that will be our life for the next 9 months.  And yes, they grow up too fast.  W and C don't start preschool until next week so at least this week I can savor those last days of summer and spend unlimited moments of insanity with them!  For now, here are  a few pictures of A and M on their first day of 6th and 3rd grade!

Texas.

We made it. We have been in Texas for almost three weeks now and in our house for almost two weeks. There have been many rough days with lots of tears for everyone. Jet lag is hard. Leaving friends is hard. New schools are hard. Arranging a new life is hard. But TODAY has been a great day.

Today, the littlest two played dolls without crying, and without fighting, for two hours. This was a first since we have moved. Today, the swingset got set up. Today, the balance bike arrived. And today, I got to see my Aussie bestie face to face thanks to modern technology. TODAY has been a great day!

We will continue to adjust, little by little, back to our American life that was nearly forgotten. While so many things are the same, I had forgotten how much was different. My two little ones, who have no memory of America, remind me daily of the things that amaze them. Here are a few of my favorites...

"The chemist has a drive thru. It is just like Maccas!" (That is McD's to you Americans - and the only drive thru we know in Sydney.)

In response to seeing the swingset... "Mummy! We have our OWN park now in our OWN backyard. Can we go there whenever we want? We don't even have to drive!"

Goodbye Sydney

Don't cry because it is over. Smile because it happened.

- Dr Seuss

I saw this quote on pinterest the other day and it struck a cord with me. I am trying very hard to smile but mostly it is just tears. Today I said goodbye to my very best Aussie friends. While we laugh a lot together, we sure do turn to blubbering idiots fast. I love them and I will miss them with all my heart.