Surprise Shower!

 

My sister threw a fun surprise baby shower for Knox and me the first weekend we were home. It was so fun and we were so blessed by all the wonderful gifts! Can't wait until he is here to use them all!

 

It was great to catch up with friends that I haven't seen in way too long!

Jeanine, Shala, me, Erin, and Andi

 

Caroline, Mom, and me

A sweet smile from my precious niece Logan!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 
For Thanksgiving we went up to my sisters house. 

We had a wonderful meal with a GREAT turkey and all the fixins!

We missed Matt and the boys who were on the other side of the world, but they were well taken care of over there.

 They were able to eat with three sweet families who only required them to bring drinks :) 

and they didn't have to go to the ER.....more on that later.......

 

Rylie and her cousin Maddie

 

Ry and Mommy

 

Having fun on the slide

 

enjoying the turkey cupcake

Cousin haircut

Rylie has really long hair. Like butt long hair. And she loves it. And so do her brothers and Daddy. I think that might have to do with why she loves it so much......but none of them have to comb it. sigh.

 She (nor her Daddy!) want to get it cut. Ever. But when we got home, I made a big deal about getting her hair "trimmed" with her cousin Maddie. So Saturday morning we headed out to a place up by my sisters house called Pigtails and Crew Cuts. (Little did I know that this was a bit of a rouse to get me to her house for a surprise shower, but more on that later......)

The place was GREAT!

 Cute cars to sit in, toys to play with while you wait, and uber-quick haircuts. I mean lightening fast.

 Rylie in her police car

getting her 4 inch "trim"

 with cousin Maddie after their haircuts. See how it looks so nice and even.

 aahhh, i love it!

On the road again.......

 Rylie and I made it safely home last Monday after a LONG journey. We had a three hour flight and then spent the night in a hotel, and then started our trek the next morning when we left the hotel at 4:15 AM. Wow. For all of y'all that know me, I might as well have stayed up all night, as waking up at 3:45 is kind of a form of torture. But we made it :)

(side note: at the hotel I managed to talk to 6 different people, all in Chinese, and find Reid's two lovies and pillow that he left there last May! Big triumph for me and my language. And my charades abilities......)

 We woke up, got our bags to the airport and got all checked in for our flight--a lot easier to type than to do! We flew home on buddy passes (such a blessing!), so we were on stand by, but the flight looked good. We boarded and the lady told me to ask the attendants on the plane if I could upgrade to first class because I was pregnant. They couldn't issue us first class tickets because Rylie is under 6, but she said they might be able to let us move up once we were on the plane. So once we got on, I asked the head flight attendant and after a little thought she said yes!! So this is how we flew on our 13 1/2 hour flight!!

 I'm telling you, I don't know if I can go back :) Just kidding, but it was a HUGE blessing for me to be able to put my feet up and lay down--ALL the way down people, like totally flat!--and rest on the flight. Made traveling around the world, 7 1/2 months pregnant with a 3 year old manageable! God is SO good!

Now to just get our boys home.......we sure do miss them!!

Bike Ride

A couple of Saturday's ago Matt and his friend Davy went out of town a bit to ride their bikes. They drove about 45 minutes, parked the car and took off into the mountains.

heading down the trail

slow down turbo!

nice scenery by the lake

Davy by someone's farm maybe?

They had a great time, despite getting a wee bit lost on the way back to the car. Thank goodness for GPS on the phone, even though it wasnt totally accurate! So thankfuk that God has provided people and places over here for Matt to enjoy something he loves so much!

Sweet Baby Shower

 Last night some sweet friends here threw a fun shower celebrating baby Knox!

It was at a yummy Italian restaurant, and Wendy outdid herself with cute decorations!

 

 homemade mints and cute whale!

sweet friends that the Lord has been so gracious to bless me with over here!

 

cute monogrammed cookies--does Sonya know me or what?!

Love them!!

 super yummy cake pops!! Thanks Pey!

 The whole group

Pey, Sonya, me, and Wendy

Thanks so much girls! Knox and I feel so loved and prayed for!!

One of the best gifts we received is a sheet where people had signed up to bring meals to Matt and the boys while I am gone! What a blessing! Love this community!

Trick or Treat!

Last night we set up a little trick or treating for the kids in our neighborhood and some friends.

Instead of going to our apartments--lots of which are on the 7th floor with no elevator--we decided to have the kids trick or treat at the little businesses outside our front gate. We gave the business owners the bags of candy and they LOVED seeing all the kids come around!

We are so blessed to be in an area that welcomes us and loves our kids!

My princess, the Flash, and Iron Man

All the kiddos that caused a quite a scene in our apartment complex as we walked around dressed crazy!

The sweet neighborhood massage guy handing out candy

our favorite fruit lady!

The pharmacy outside our front gate

Book Character Day

On Wednesday the kids had Book Character Day at school. Due to my bedriddeness, the creative fun costumes were out, and Wendy saved the day AGAIN with her trunk of costumes!!

Reid was Wolverine

Everett was Iron Man (not sure where his mask was here......)

Reid waiting to go on stage

On stage to present his book

Everett on stage

Reid listening to a story in his classroom

They had a good time dressing up at school and we are doing our trick or treating tonight. When you are the only people in the country celebrating a holiday, you can do it whenever you want :)