Family Pics

The big kids


Me and Vanessa


Savannah


Matt and Paige


John, Michelle, and Hannah


Vanessa and Jeremy

I knew it!

We arrived back in Turkey to this! I knew there would be gray skies and snow. Sigh.



Views from my balcony.

Evidently it snowed last Thursday. This tells you how cold it is here...not melting at all! It did snow some last night after we got home. Again...sigh.

Headed home

We head back to Turkey bright and early tomorrow morning. It has been a good trip. There are several people that I am sad I never got to see. We just didn't have time to see everyone...especially this last week. We stayed busy with family and shopping, but not necessarily in that order! So this is the last blog post until Turkey. I have several posts I want to write when I get back. So until then...

Dixon

Our friends, Murat and Nese work at an embroidery kiosk in the local mall.  We went to visit them the other night and they had made hats for us!  We were so excited.  Here is our family picture.  (I have no idea why this is all underlined.  I am using my new computer and can't figure out what I am doing.  I just started typing and this is what showed up.)

Brian and Murat.  (What happened?  Where did the underlines go?)

Enjoying a Starbucks coffee and snacks.

Deniz and his mom, Nese

A close up of the hat.  

FYI - if you are ever in the need of hats or t-shirts with embroidery on them visit our friends Murat and Nese.  They are Turks who won the green card lottery so they took the chance and came to America to live.  They know English really well so no worries there.  They operate an embroidery kiosk in Willowbrook Mall in Northwest Houston.  They would love to help you and be your friend!

PS...please be patient with my blogging efforts over the next week or so.  This new computer is great, but it is kicking my tail on some things.  I can't figure out how to move the pictures around on the blog to put them where I want them.  On my old computer I would just drag them where I wanted to put them.  That doesn't seem to work anymore.  Hmmmmm...and the underlined text at the top of this blog.  I have no idea how to change it.  Believe me I have looked.  I can bold it or make it in italics, but i see no options for underlining or un-underlining. 

DISK-O fever

We went to Itz last night with the family.  It is basically a Chuck E. Cheese for older kids. There was no ball pit or tubes to crawl through, but they had every arcade game you could want plus some indoor carnival rides.  

Here we are on the DISK-O.  Actually only Emily, Erica, and I rode this time.  Erica acted like she didn't enjoy it, but I think she secretly did.   A boy she likes showed up right after she was strapped in so she had to ride it while he watched her.  A little disconcerting for her I think. She is her mother's daughter that is for sure.  But, she did play it up some as well when it was over.  Acting like she didn't enjoy it...like it was scary...for the attention.  I have no idea where she gets that from....hee hee.  

Will never did ride it because he would rather use his money on video games to get tickets to get prizes, and Jacob...well he is his father's son.  He wasn't getting anywhere near it.  Too scary for him.  

My only complaint about the DISK-O was that I froze.  The wind generated by the ride blew my hair all over the place which wasn't a big deal, but it also went right through me and I was wishing for a jacket!  Next time I'll know!

Being a girl

One Sunday while in Houston I wore a skirt to church.  (The skirt has been strategically removed from this picture because of how wide I felt and looked while wearing it.) (Notice the interesting neck on the sweater that I borrowed from my mom.  While quite comfortable and cozy I never was sure what to do with this collar.)  As you can see by my kids reactions wearing a skirt is not a normal thing for me.  I own two skirts.  Only two.  I do own one dress that I have had for probably 10 years.  I haven't worn it at all in the past 5 years.  And if you knew me 10 or even 5 years ago you would probably know that the dress couldn't possibly fit me now yet I insist on keeping it just in case I have a need to wear a dress at some point.  Pathetic...I know. Maybe I'll go buy a dress while I'm in the states.  It just seems like such a waste of money.   

Hmmmmmm...

I love smelly candles.  Not flowery scents or fruity scents...mostly just yummy food scents.  Like pumpkin spice, cinnamon, vanilla...smells like that.  I also enjoy pine/mistletoe and clean smells. Since I have been in the states I have taken advantage of the Christmas sales and purchased six jar candles...which seemed somewhat over the top...but they were so cheap!  Then I got three jars for Christmas from people who know that I love candles.  Then today I was going through a box of stuff that we left here last year because we had no room for all of it in our luggage.  I found three more large jar candles that I bought to take camping with us in 2006, because I anticipated the cabins smelling like a combination of someone's dirty socks and dead fish.  The cabins ended up smelling fine so they were never used.  So now I have 8 large and 4 medium jar candles that I am wanting to take back to Turkey.  Who says I'm obsessive?

Friends and food

More friends...Tracey, Dawn, Robin, and Ken. 

I love coming to America!   People invite us over and feed us yummy food!  Tonight's menu was beef vegetable soup, cornbread, another yummy bread, pizza, chips, queso, brownies with whipped cream, and peach cobbler with ice cream.  I had to make sure to write all of that down, because I didn't take any pictures of it.  I know...shocking!  

There were 10 kids running around as well.  They were given a bag of marshmallows and told to have fun.  They roasted them in the chiminea in the backyard.. only almost starting a fire twice.  Not bad.  

Dallas

Well, I did it.  I met Kerri.  After being email buddies for a month and a half and blog buddies since the end of September we decided it was time to meet.  Actually I happened to be coming to America, and I happened to be only 2 hours from where she lives so I took advantage of it. French Bistros, thrift stores, Starbucks, indie movie watching, meeting friends, and girl's night at a charming old hotel...we had lots of fun!   

I got to meet some of Kerri's friends...people I had read about!  Notice the hookah/nargile on the table and then read below for more on that.

Kerri taking a drag on the hookah/nargile I brought her from Turkey.  We definitely caused a scene in the pub we were in.  Smoking was allowed, but I'm sure they weren't thinking people would bring a hookah in to smoke.  We were asked by one pub patron what we were smoking...cappuccino tobacco all the way from Turkey!

Thanks for the great time!  Next time we'll do Turkey!

Anna Grace

Anna Grace taught herself to ride a bike while we were in the states.  So now we are four for four.  Yes, I am a terrible mother.  I haven't taught any of my kids to ride a bike.  Erica taught herself right before we moved overseas.  The other three have all taught themselves during vacations in America.  

I had to ride as well.  All my parents own are kid bikes, but as you can see I didn't let that stop me!

And here she is...riding like a pro!

The girls

I'm on my new computer...seeing if I could actually add a picture.  It seems to be working.  This picture is for you, Paula!

Newsflash

I feel hunger pains for the first time since I've been in Texas. At first I thought it might just be my stomach saying, 'please don't feed me this morning', but now it is actually growling. I haven't eaten anything yet...just enjoying the feeling.

Stories...

I am somewhat frustrated that I have so many things to blog about so I am rushing through them. There were stories to tell with all of the pictures I have posted, but in my rush to get them on here I am forgetting the stories. I know I laughed, sometimes until I was crying, but I can't remember what was so funny now. Man. Waiting around to blog...I didn't enjoy it. I finally just added the pictures to my dad's computer so I could start blogging. I couldn't handle a three week break. That means there have been 13 blog posts in the last three days...mostly without the stories. Hmmmm...

Stories to tell...I'll have to sit and think of them. I know there were stories.

Fish Fry

Thursday night we participated in a catfish fry with some good friends. Actually we fried catfish, okra, french fries, and some corn fritter like things. It was all yummy. There were a couple of healthy things too...salad, ummm...surely there were more healthy things...

We had key lime pie and brownies and ice cream for dessert. Nope, not healthy. Oh well...who cares? It was all yummy.

And can I just say I laughed almost the entire time I was there? Seriously these people crack me up. Constantly laughing gives me a headache...just in case you were wondering.


Hand-breaded catfish. Also a diet cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper. Just had to include that in the picture!


The guys warming their hands by the grease pot...hmmmm.


Me and Tiffany


Nannette showing off the yummy okra.


Tom...just because he makes me laugh.

For some reason I didn't get a picture of the girls together. Cheri and Terri were there and I have no pictures to prove it. I did take a video that shows the crowd, but since I am not on my computer I can't add it yet. Stay tuned. (We missed you, Paula and Jay!)

Fun with friends

Since arriving in America we have spent time visiting friends. This night we hung out with Brian and Amy. We ate chili and marveled at how yummy saltine crackers are. We can't get them in Turkey so we ate them slowly and savored the flavor. The chili was good too!


Me and Amy


Amy got Anna Grace involved in sugar cookie making. What a great idea!


Having fun


Cooking the cookies


Decorating.


Anna Grace's finished products.


Amy's finished products...a little more experienced obviously!


Tasting the final product. Yummy!

Matt's motorcycle

My brother, Matt, got a motorcycle for his birthday back in October. Of course I had to have a little ride on it while I had a chance. It was fun!


No, I didn't ride it alone. That option was given, but I knew better. I would have crashed it for sure!


Matt gave me a ride. I could get used that that! Someone driving me around...taking me where I want to go. Oh wait...I already do that in Ankara. Well, I must say the old Hyundai van isn't quite as exciting as this mode of transportation!

Fun on the farm

We went to a Christmas tree farm to pick out my parents' Christmas tree.


Jacob standing in the doorway to the men's restroom pretending like he has to go. This was his idea!


What Will came up with...


A family picture


Anna Grace


Erica pretending to be scared because this tree looked like it was falling over. I also got a good picture of Anna Grace pretending to push it while Jacob stood on the other side pretending to try to hold it up. It was my favorite picture, and somehow I messed it up trying to put it on here.


Anna Grace and Erica


Me and Will

What I needed

One of the things I was most looking forward to in coming to Texas was the big blue sky. Winter had barely begun in Turkey, and I was already longing for some sunny skies and warmer weather. I was not dreaming of a white Christmas this year for sure! I knew Houston wouldn't disappoint me! Since arriving I have taken several walks to soak up as much sun as I can while I am here. These pictures were taken on one of those walks.

My parent's new house. Would you look at that sky? I mean...really...sigh. It makes me happy.

A glimpse of the lake through the trees.

I walked through a wooded lot to get to the lake.

More lake and sky.

A footbridge over a little stream.

A covered bridge on the way to the lake.

I am just drinking in the weather, because I know when I get back it will be cold and snowy.