our days & our ways: Putting My Ducks in a Row

Here's Vivi putting her ducks in a row!

This month was full of fun and adventure-

I need a moment now to put my ducks in a row :)

Tea Party

Hadassah at her preschool with Zoe & Margot

Her teacher is from New Zealand and will be there from now until March. We will miss her!

This month our good friend Wendy flew in to spend ten days with us. We had so much fun catching up, exploring this city along with it's food, and playing with the kids.

Here is Hadassah's Christmas party

A surprise visitor showed up with a gift for all!

We had lots of yummy treats and played some fun games too. Caedmon was in charge of the music for a game where a gift was passed and when the music stopped, that person received it. Josh and I chuckled as the first two gifts happened to land in the laps of Cade's siblings :).

The eve of Lily's birthday we decided to have a girls night and go to a concert!

We listened to a well known and highly acclaimed pianist and violinist from California perform a night long of duets.

Danielle and I on another hike together! We hope to plan at least one more before they leave in April. This time we told a taxi to drop us off at the bottom of a different mountain.

This is where our hike began!

We never know what we are going to run into.

Here are some grave stones right along side the trail.

The trees looked and smelled beautiful.

Here was another surprise. This is where the trail led- right to a beautiful gate. Hmm, what's behind it?? We approached with caution and almost opened it- after looking through we realized it must be some kind of fruit/ vegetable garden. That's when we heard the dogs! Good thing we didn't go in! It seemed there was a pack of them. We decided that going back the way we came would be best :)

What a gorgeous view from one of the look out spots.

and another

the road we hiked along after the trail we hiked up

me & babes alongside the road

Danielle taking a break

We began at the beginning of the red line and after over an hour arrived at the green arrow. Looks like we will have to come back another time to finish the hike!

Every year an organization in town sponsors a Christmas Fair! It was really fun to attend with Phil & Danielle this year. We ate some yummy treats, bought some cute ornaments and listened to some great music.

A couple weeks ago we finally got out for our first double date! A friend watched the kids while we celebrated Phil's graduation with a movie & dinner at an Irish Pub.

Josh & Phil- Un-separable!

We saw "The Life of Pi"- the only movie showing in English at the time. It was interesting.

Josh's friend is the manager of the theatre and got us really cheap tickets! It was fun to get popcorn and drinks and enjoy a show together.

Typical movie theatre- pretty comfy seats. We all had a really fun time together.

"So what does Viv do while Dass is at school, Olivet is napping and you are teaching Lily & Caedmon?"

Danielle and I watched the documentary "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead" and decided to do a little juicing of our own. This is carrot/ apple/ spinach juice. Honestly we only added the spinach so the kids wouldn't want to drink it all- but they still liked it!

Cheers!

Lily's Birthday Party!

We had so much fun. Lily and Her friends had some spa time after making an ornament for the tree.

Then they did their nails and watched two movies before bed! Only one friend ended up spending the night, but Lily enjoyed every minute.

This is a good summary of what Danielle and I ate for two weeks. We tried cutting cheese, butter and meat out of our diets for a little bit. It was really fun to see how many ways we could eat raw fruit and veggies and also to figure out how to soak beans.

We were also glad to eat "normal" again just in time for the holidays :)

A stocking for everyone!

Earlier this month we got a package of library books sent from my Aunt Becky!!! (THANKS A MILLION TO ALL WHO DONATED BOOKS!!!) We quickly got them labeled and placed on the shelves- we have lots of happy readers!

A Green Lake visit while Wendy was here

I love these baby carriers

Can't visit Green Lake without going on a few rides!

Lil on the hellicopter

Great Friends!

Olivet woke up from her nap after we all finished eating lunch. Lily took the initiative to warm up some food from the fridge and to feed her! What a little mama!

Every kid's got to have at least one picture like this

Phil's surprise graduation party!

He had NO IDEA!!!

Phil absolutely hates this cartoon character that is all around town- called "Happy Sheep." So we decided to make that the theme of the party!

Pizza, veggies, brownies & pop were all on the menu :)

Olivet was happy with that!

Josh gave Phil a graduation "gown & cap" to wear as he "walked" down the hallway to the appropriate music. Then he presented Phil with a homemade diploma. We all had a really nice time!

Best Teacher Award!

The other day Danielle came home from work with this fancy gift from her students. After opening it layer by layer, she discovered an apple! We thought "how interesting!" The rest of the week we saw fruit vendors selling these "fancy" apples all around town. Must be for some kind of special holiday to celebrate teachers :)

Our friend Michelle blessed us again this month by making us a meal. She came over around 2 and cooked until about 5:30- we had delicious gumbo and lemon chicken.

I could hardly believe this. I woke up on Christmas Eve morning- after a super sound night of sleep to discover this table in our dining room! WHAT??!! I couldn't believe my eyes. I just asked Josh about a month or so ago if we could start saving up for a table that will fit our family. (Since Phil & Danielle got here 4 months ago we pulled up folding chairs and the piano bench for every meal, & since we've never owned our own table :). He was a few steps ahead and already ordered one two days before I asked! What a Christmas gift! Also- for our family's name exchange he drew my name and got me this beautiful table cloth with matching place settings. Do I look like a queen? I felt like one :).

This was our first meal at the table. We were all really excited! We have been spending hours at the table reading, doing crafts and just being together. What a special gift.

Our good friends Krista & Stephen hosted a wonderful Christmas Eve Service- filled with 50 people in one apartment. We all brought yummy treats and had a wonderful time of singing, laughing and enjoying each other's company.

Our friend Meredith's (on the left) family was in town for the holidays.

3 Crazy Cats

I drew baby for the name exchange and had him/ her a boppy cover made. Lily thought it was a hat :).

Lily drew Olivet and (with Danielle's help) made her a stool with a doggie on it- since stools are her favorite thing to carry around, next to puppies.

Josh bought Phil some darts from the Chinese National Champion!

(notice the dart holes in the wall behind him)

Phil bought Josh some toilet paper for putting up with ~~his...~~ him.

And a week supply of gatorade! The Golackson/ Stoffel drink of choice.

THANK YOU YE YE & NAI NAI & Grandma Selma & mom & dad for our new bikes!!!

They were a complete surprise on Christmas morning. I woke up about 5 minutes before each kid came out to see their surprise. It was so fun to see their sleepy reactions.

Dass & Viv's bikes are able to adjust so an adult can also ride. They looked like naturals!

Christmas morning we also opened up the 3 packages GG & Gampy sent- we've been waiting for over a month and the day finally came! We had SO MUCH fun with each box.

Vivi loves her first cabbage patch doll- their faces look a bit similar :).

Olivet with her new purple baby and blankey!

Cade got spoiled with lego toys! HE LOVES LEGOS!!! It was so cute to see him write in his new lego notebook with his lego pencils during church yesterday.