Seventeen!

We celebrated Kevin's seventeenth birthday on July 7th. It's hard to believe that time has passed so quickly!

For his party, we planned a Photo Scavenger Hunt--Central Asia Edition. I won't post many of those pictures here since some were taken in front of a butcher shop. Besides that, a lot of the photos were taken with Kevin's cell phone and they didn't come out very clear. Here is one of the favorites:
The cell phone was a birthday present, and we had some fun with that. I gift-wrapped it, and Randy snuck it into the boys' bedroom after they were asleep. A few minutes before wake-up time, we called Kevin on his new phone. It took him a few minutes to realize what was going on, but he seems to have enjoyed his gift anyway.

In case you're wondering, the Dr. Pepper is a rare treat for us! Occasionally one of the import stores will carry it, but it's a little expensive. They made great prizes for the winning team.

Happy 4th Birthday!!

My baby turned four a few weeks ago. (This has been a hectic summer, so I'll probably be behind on posting updates for a while!)


For months, Sean and Hannah Grace have had a running joke. Sean asks Hannah Grace to give him a chocolate cupcake. She tells him he can have one on her birthday. Sean pretends to cry and Hannah Grace laughs. Believe it or not, I found a recipe for a cupcake cake! It wasn't chocolate, since I'm not talented enough to frost chocolate cake with white frosting and not have crumbs showing all through. Hannah Grace and one of her little friends (all the others were gone on a camping trip) helped with putting the flower petals on the cupcakes. I noticed Hannah Grace licking her fingers frequently so I made sure she ate the cupcake that she decorated!

Checking out the birthday presents

My parents sent Hannah Grace a Boz video that she had been wanting for a long time. I love this picture of her enjoying it for the first time.

11 Years Old!

Julie and several of her friends celebrated with a dress-up party. The dress Julie is wearing is special, because it was made by my grandmother and used to be mine. I can already tell that Julie is going to outgrow me, because unless my memory is really failing, I was a few years older than her when I wore the dress.

Sixteen Years Old

It's hard to believe, but it's true. Kevin turned sixteen on July 7th. Where has the time gone? Obviously, his party was just a little bit different from his little sister's birthday party.

Kevin and his friends working on some very unusual pizzas.

Randy and I took him out to a nice Chinese restaurant for his birthday. He wasn't quite sure about the waiter placing a napkin on his lap, but otherwise we all enjoyed the meal. The next day we had a pizza party and sleepover with some of his friends. Our original plan was to take advantage of having our own yard and have a scavenger hunt. The weather didn't cooperate--it was amazing chilly and windy for July along with some light rain--so we improvised a game tournament indoors.

The latest computer game from Granny and PawPaw

Was he ever this little?

Three Years Old

Did you really give Kevin and Sean permission to do this to my chair??

Finally, everything came together at the same time: internet connection up and running, pictures transferred onto the computer, and enough free time to sit down and actually post pictures from Hannah Grace's birthday.

She turned three on June 20th, and has been looking forward to this day for months. Our celebration was very low-key, since we had just moved the day before. The fun thing is that, at three years old, the only two things that mattered to Hannah Grace were presents and a "fire cake". I was able to make a very unimpressive cake, and Randy brought home a riding toy that only a child could love. (Children's toys are neither impressive nor inexpensive here.) May she always be so easy to please!

Am I the only one that enjoys the squeaky toy?

Thank you, Granny and PawPaw!!

Happy Birthday, Julie!

Wednesday we celebrated Julie's 10th birthday. Actually, we began the celebration last weekend. Kevin and Sean were off for a sleepover so Julie invited her friend Emily for a pre-birthday sleepover.

Then, because Wednesday is our usual day to teach at the new English center, we had a little birthday party with the students. We had birthday cake with hot tea. I made some trail mix, which was new to the students, but they enjoyed it a lot.

One of the students brought his guitar and entertained us with some Russian songs. We also had some balloon fights and lots of questions about what birthday parties in the US are usually like.

Happy Birthday, Kevin!

It's been a couple of weeks now, but we did celebrate Kevin's 15th birthday this month. He had a few friends over (many of his friends are in the US this summer) and they enjoyed a soccer match in our new apartment building's yard.

We also did make-your-own pizza, since my hand was in a splint and I was greatly limited in my ability to prepare.

To be honest, it's a little scary to think that I now have a son who, in certain states, would be given the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a car. Fifteen seems a lot less mature now than it did twenty-five years ago. :-)

Randy's Birthday

Sunday is Randy's "3rd annual 39th birthday". He's still in denial, but the calendar isn't. :-) Since Sundays are usually busy, we'll be celebrating tonight with another family. If you have a few minutes, leave a comment and let him know you're thinking of him.

In case you're wondering, the picture is Kevin's 7th birthday. I don't have a picture of Randy with a birthday cake, and since he and Kevin look so much alike, I thought this one would be fun.

Happy Birthday, Sean!

We finally celebrated the big day, one week late. Sean officially became a teenager on the 16th, the same day that the doctor sent Randy home with a mild case of pneumonia. Since Hannah Grace was also sick, I decided it would be best to postpone the party.

Sean decided to have an Atari tournament with his friends. It was quite funny for me to see these boys having a great time with such outdated games--things that were cutting edge technology 30 years ago.

Even Hannah Grace enjoyed the party, once she realized that there were M&M's in the trail mix! She's already a serious chocoholic.