...is cereal? Brad here. I asked Peter one day what his favorite thing in the world is. After a moment or two of pondering this heavy question, he responded, 'Cereal.' As a family, we do love our morning cereal and living in Asia isn't very friendly to that habit. I often hear the locals say they eat dumplings, bread, or even 'dinner-type' items for breakfast. I don't think they even have a word in their language for cereal besides 'oatmeal'. In our city we have about 5-6 different kinds of cereal we can buy on a regular basis and some of it is quite expensive. So when we find ourselves on a trip to a big city, its not unusual to come home with 20-30 boxes of cereal, especially when we can find some buy 1 get 1 free. After a trip this past summer, we thought of a way to use those cereal boxes before we consumed them.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Gingerbread House
By Amy
When Brad got home, he asked how many hours I spent on this house. I told him I was afraid to add them up! Those of you who live in America don't know how great you have it! You can just walk in the store and buy a kit!
So, after making a replica of the house with poster board and making dough with an altered gingerbread recipe, I baked the walls. I used a ruler and knife to cut the dough to the exact right size. I had lots of dough left over, so I made some gingerbread men too. The kiddos thought they were fun!
When the kids woke up on Wednesday morning, this is what they found waiting for them on the table:
Needless to say, they were pretty excited to get started! But, with a full day ahead of us, we waited until after our candle light dinner to begin.... Thanks to some friends from the states, we even had gum drops and candy canes to use as we decorated!
And, thanks to Rachel's run to the big city and her generosity, we had colored marshmallows to make a chimney! (Aren't those little cars fun, too!?!?)
Savannah especially enjoyed designing and decorating the door and walkway. We finished decorating on Thursday right after lunch. Brad came home on Friday morning. So, after he saw the finished product, we let our kids dive in!
Making this house was tons of fun, even if it was a little time consuming. I'm thinking this is going to be a new Morello Christmas Tradition!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Best Laid Plans....
By Amy
As I looked ahead to this week, the week Brad would be gone, Monday - Friday, I made tons of fun plans for me and the kids. I decided that staying busy would help the time pass faster. In our home Brad is definitely the "fun" parent. He chases the kids through the house, carries them on his shoulders, tickles them until they're blue in the face, and is just plain fun. I love my children dearly, but I tend to be more structured which often equals, not as much fun. But this week, I decided to have fun -- structured, planned fun!
There's a new play area near our home, so I thought I'd take the kids over there to check it out one morning (instead of homeschooling.) I also thought it would be really fun to pack a picnic lunch and head to the park one afternoon, if it's not too chilly. Then, maybe we could also meet friends at the new DRIVE THROUGH, huge, really nice, KFC in town (definitely the finest dining establishment we have!) Then, on our times at home, we'd finger paint, make a gingerbread house from scratch, and maybe try making some carmel popcorn balls, all on top of the fun school activities/crafts I had planned.
But... the morning Brad left, Alex and Peter had a fever and complained of a sore throat and ear ache, respectively. So, we stayed around the house and played a bit. That night we enjoyed a candle light dinner, and the kids thought that was pretty fun! Tuesday, both boys were feeling yucky, so we watched a movie (They picked that over finger painting!) I stayed up late baking the walls for our gingerbread house that I was determined to make with them. By Wednesday, we were all beginning to feel a little stir crazy. So, I gave the boys a hardy dose of Motrin and we met Rachel, Emma, and Samantha at the new KFC. Wednesday afternoon, Savannah started complaining of a sore throat, and sure enough, she too was running a fever. But, a little Motrin and hot shower can work wonders. So, after a pancake dinner, we started decorating our gingerbread house. But, we couldn't finish before bedtime, so we finished it up this morning. (more on the house in another post.)
Thursday morning, (this morning) Alex woke up looking and feeling much better; Savannah seemed OK; and Peter looked and felt miserable! He didn't even want to eat cereal -- his all-time-favorite food. And to top it all off, my throat is a little raw and sore feeling today as well.... So, all that to say, Brad comes home tomorrow (hurray!) and we've hardly done any of the fun things I planned. But, even with all the sicknesses, I feel like the week has gone remarkable well. My kids have been really quick to obey; they have not had complaining hearts, and seem to have really enjoyed the few fun things we've been able to do. I feel like my heart has been content and joyful, even after having been the only one "on call" for 24 hours a day. So, if you've been thinking of our family during this week -- thanks! I can tell! Our home has been full of grace and peace (and a few germs.)
As I looked ahead to this week, the week Brad would be gone, Monday - Friday, I made tons of fun plans for me and the kids. I decided that staying busy would help the time pass faster. In our home Brad is definitely the "fun" parent. He chases the kids through the house, carries them on his shoulders, tickles them until they're blue in the face, and is just plain fun. I love my children dearly, but I tend to be more structured which often equals, not as much fun. But this week, I decided to have fun -- structured, planned fun!
There's a new play area near our home, so I thought I'd take the kids over there to check it out one morning (instead of homeschooling.) I also thought it would be really fun to pack a picnic lunch and head to the park one afternoon, if it's not too chilly. Then, maybe we could also meet friends at the new DRIVE THROUGH, huge, really nice, KFC in town (definitely the finest dining establishment we have!) Then, on our times at home, we'd finger paint, make a gingerbread house from scratch, and maybe try making some carmel popcorn balls, all on top of the fun school activities/crafts I had planned.
But... the morning Brad left, Alex and Peter had a fever and complained of a sore throat and ear ache, respectively. So, we stayed around the house and played a bit. That night we enjoyed a candle light dinner, and the kids thought that was pretty fun! Tuesday, both boys were feeling yucky, so we watched a movie (They picked that over finger painting!) I stayed up late baking the walls for our gingerbread house that I was determined to make with them. By Wednesday, we were all beginning to feel a little stir crazy. So, I gave the boys a hardy dose of Motrin and we met Rachel, Emma, and Samantha at the new KFC. Wednesday afternoon, Savannah started complaining of a sore throat, and sure enough, she too was running a fever. But, a little Motrin and hot shower can work wonders. So, after a pancake dinner, we started decorating our gingerbread house. But, we couldn't finish before bedtime, so we finished it up this morning. (more on the house in another post.)
Thursday morning, (this morning) Alex woke up looking and feeling much better; Savannah seemed OK; and Peter looked and felt miserable! He didn't even want to eat cereal -- his all-time-favorite food. And to top it all off, my throat is a little raw and sore feeling today as well.... So, all that to say, Brad comes home tomorrow (hurray!) and we've hardly done any of the fun things I planned. But, even with all the sicknesses, I feel like the week has gone remarkable well. My kids have been really quick to obey; they have not had complaining hearts, and seem to have really enjoyed the few fun things we've been able to do. I feel like my heart has been content and joyful, even after having been the only one "on call" for 24 hours a day. So, if you've been thinking of our family during this week -- thanks! I can tell! Our home has been full of grace and peace (and a few germs.)
Monday, December 8, 2008
Thanksgiving Fun
by Amy
I can hardly believe we're into the second week of December. Where has the time gone?!?! So, before it gets any later, I've got to post about our Thanksgiving fun. Actually, this year, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Some of our friends here have a slingbox and TEVO, so if we waited until Thanksgiving came and went in the US, we'd be able to watch some of the fun football games on our Thanksgiving afternoon. It was great. I think that's the first football game Brad's watched since we've been here, and it was super fun for him. Our friends borrowed a huge projector thing and projected the games up on their wall! It was great!
Last year we celebrated Thanksgiving at our home; this year we went to Josh & Rachel's house.... We won't be celebrating here again!! They had tons of fun decorations, so her their house look totally festive! Rachel made the day so special, especially for our kids. Between our three families, we had 8 and a half kiddos.... She had tons of little games & stations set up for the kids to rotate through. The did a color-by-number turkey; they cut sparkly paper out and glued them on huge turkey feathers; they each made their own turkey from foam and feathers; and they played a rockin' pin-the-football-on-the-goal-post game; (notice Savannah in the pic below.) Not only that, but she made some fun football cookies and Pilgrim hat cookies for them to enjoy as well as fun Indian headdresses for us all! Like I said, we won't be hosting Thanksgiving at our home again! (I think I'm on for New Years....)
The Feast....
Rachel also has a rockin' really fast and big camera, so we decided Thanksgiving would be a good time to take some family pics....
Aren't our headdresses really cute?! The girls had braids and the boys had feathers! So fun!
Well, I'm sure you're all wondering what do we eat when we celebrate Thanksgiving half way around the world.... Turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, mac'n cheese, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce and more! Isn't it amazing we can get all that stuff here?! (or have it mailed to us!) It's pretty exciting! The three ladies divided up the menu and spent a day or two cooking the feast ~ and it was a FEAST!! I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but I think, on top of all the food I've already mentioned, we had more desserts than adults.... It was crazy, but quite delightful!
The Cooks...
The Feast....
Rachel also has a rockin' really fast and big camera, so we decided Thanksgiving would be a good time to take some family pics....
Aren't our headdresses really cute?! The girls had braids and the boys had feathers! So fun!
After we ate lunch and watched some football, we decided to pull out Settlers of Catan! It's a really fun game that we all played together while the kids watched a movie using the big projector. And, that night, I got to go home with a winner! Brad was pretty proud of himself to defeat us all!
Here's a pic of all the kids.... 6 kiddos 6 and under...this is as good as it gets! (Baby Christin was sleeping so didn't make it to the photo shoot! )
What a fun Thanksgiving! Although it is hard to be so far away from family during the holiday season, I am so thankful for the wonderful family of friends we have here! What a blessing to be able to celebrate and give thanks with them!
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