Happy 3rd Birthday Luke!

Our little Luke turned 3 today. How did that time go so fast? He's been talking a lot these days about when he's 3 and is a " big boy" and how Olivia is not a "big girl". It was fun to see him so excited about his birthday this year - probably the first time he really understood what it means. What a joy Luke is to our family. He sure does make life interesting!

The theme of his party was Cars. I'm no great cake decorator , but I had fun with this one. I've come a long way since the Curious George disaster last year. He (and the other kids) were pretty excited about a McQueen cake.

For some reason he decided to eat his cake and ice cream with his hands. No reason to waste time with a spoon.

Olivia was up on the sura with all the other kids. Luke requested osh , the main national dish here. He truly is a local kid in what foods he likes. Olivia was just downing all her osh while the other kids complained about it being so hot. She didn't seem to care at all!

Right before , Luke said "no it's my birthday and I get to blow out the candles. " He's been waiting a long time for this!

Looking a bit tired and rough at the end of the party...note to self :take family picture first!

On Sunday we had our neighbor kids over for osh and cupcakes. Look how many came - it was WILD. I'm still recovering.

Random picture , but a cute one. Olivia is obsessed with phones . As soon as she hears the phone ring she puts her hand up to her ears and says "hello." She has decided her favorite place to talk on her cell phone is in the corner beside the refrigerator. I have no idea why. And to answer your questions : yes, it's getting that cool here now (at least at night) that Olivia needs to wear fleece footy pajamas. Yes I know this pj's are Santa but they are 12 mo and fit her perfectly. Even though this girl can eat a lot of food, she still is tiny!

Luke's first day of preschool and some other random stuff

The last few weeks have been a blur as a crazy time as definitely set it in our lives. A hero of mine has told me to "surf the chaos" of mothering young children and in our kind of work, instead of trying to manage the chaos. I'm still trying to figure what that looks like practically!

Anyway, there is a small English school here that is for kids of families just like us, if you know what I mean. (It's hard to write openly on here about our line of work). We decided that if there was a preschool then we would be interested in sending Luke for a few days a week. Probably if we were in the US we wouldn't think about it, but here he doesn't get as much interaction in English and also he can get kind of bored at home! I ended up becoming the coordinator for preschool and I am teaching his class each Monday. All the parents have to put in hours at this school to keep it running. So although it was his first day, I was his teacher and with him the whole time ! I have had fun planning for preschool but it was way harder than I thought it would be . Today we had 7 kids and there are 9 total kids enrolled. It's only 3 days a week and he seemed to have a blast today. He was just like he is at home, constantly talking. Basically like having a commentator with you at all times.

In the midst of planning and preparing for preschool, Luke's big 3rd Birthday Party is on Saturday (CARS) and also we just welcomed a new family on our team. Life is crazy now!

I remember my mom always took my picture on the first day of school each year. He was soooooo excited. Said over and over, " I no can wait to go to preschool. I want to do my ABCD's."

Here is one of my Picture of the Day a few weeks ago. We are starting to buy things like locals now. Forrest bought me 30 kg of onions one day . We learned from the neighbors to lay them out in the sun to dry out before storing them. I also buy flour by the 50 kg bag too. Probably sounds ridiculous to all of you.

Right before this picture Luke said, "This is my best friend." Also one day he told Forrest, " Daddy, I no can wait to grow up." When Forrest asked him why he said "So I can marry Madi and drive a fire truck." He sure does love his girl Madi. Too bad her family is going on furlough for the the next few months. Hope some other little guy doesn't steal her heart in the US. :)