Christmas happenings!

We have had a fun week. We started the fun by spending the afternoon at our good friends the Abdallah's last Saturday. I forgot to take any pictures, but it was good to talk and visit and watch the kids play. Then on Sunday afternoon we went to our friends the Perle's house. They moved to Costa Rica about the same time we did. They are from Vienna, Austria and so we spent the afternoon making typical Austrian Christmas cookies. Such fun!!

Nela and I after making cookies!
Nela and I with all the kids!
Silly boys! The Perles and Kings.

On Christmas Eve, we spent most of the day here at home making more cookies and tidying up a bit. Then in the evening we went to the home or our teammates The Guerra's where we talked and laughed over supper. But we didn't' stay out like typical Latins until 3am ringing in Christmas. We came home around 10pm so we could have the very North-American tradition of sending the kids to bed so that Santa can come! :o)
Jessenia and I: Merry Christmas!
Jessenia and Grecia-- our hostesses for the evening!
Edwin and Jessenia--our team mates and friends!

I finished some wrapping and then got a very exciting phone call from my sister, Amy, who upon opening her stocking stuffers received an engagement ring!! So a big congratulations to Amy and Jeremy. I am so excited for her. And for us-- Jeremy will be a great brother-in-law and a very fun uncle for my four kiddos!!
Yeah!! Congrats you two!!

Then came Christmas morning. Love the pictures of the kids in their new jammies, with their puffy "I-just-got-out-of-bed-eyes" and of course their excitement and smiles! Such fun.

Christmas evening we went to the Twitchell's house as their youngest also celebrates her birthday on Christmas day. So we exchanged Christmas gifts. And then had a birthday party too!! What fun!
The Twitchell and King kids--the best of pals!!
Chloe with the birthday girl! Best friends forever!!

A good, good weekend full of friends and family!! What a wonderful Christmas!!

Feliz Navidad

Merry merry Christmas to all my dear friends and family.

I hope that you will take time in your busy day to stop and remember the true reason we celebrate.

" For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)

May the Prince of Peace bring you both peace and joy this Christmas!!

Much love to you and yours!! Chrissy

La Paz

Our family at the entrance to the orchid gardens in 'La Paz'

We decided to get away from the crazy traffic and hustle and bustle of life in a city of around 2 million people and went on a day trip on Tuesday. We headed off to go to La Paz Waterfall Gardens. Darrin had been a couple times, but the kids and I had never seen it yet. It was beautiful. It is in the middle of nowhere-- a lush green valley and sloping hills as far as the eye can see. As the name suggests, there are five beautiful and large waterfalls on the walking (and climbing---lots of steps-- my calves are still sore!!) trail. But it there is much more than that. They have created a bird sanctuary, a butterfly garden, a frog house, a hummingbird gathering place, an orchid farm, a snake house (yuck!) and a typical Costa Rican house from back in the early coffee plantation days. It was so interesting. So we spent the whole day wandering around and enjoying the quiet and nature. If you visit us here in CR, we'll take you for a day trip. It's a fun day away.

Here are a couple shots of Darrin and the kids and then the kids with me in front of one of the falls. The sound of the water is so pretty. (Couldn't focus very well, as all the spray made it so hazy!)

This was fun!! The kids were able to take a ride in an oxcart. These brightly painted carts are very typical of the early coffee plantation days in Costa Rica. All the coffee (and bananas) were transported from the fields to the railroad in these carts pulled by oxen. Each owner would paint their carts in these bright typical designs. The story goes that it was done to attract the ladies attention. True or not, I don't know. But they are beautiful. And oxcarts--from tiny little magnets to full size replicas--are one of the most common souvenirs sold here!
So many pretty butterflies and flowers!
Beautiful peaceful surroundings as you can see in the next two pics.
(remember when I mentioned lots of stairs!!!)

Also, since my husband doesn't read my blog, I'll share some pictures I took for him. His office has some great pictures of the kids but they are several years old, so yesterday we spent the day taking snapshots in the backyard to update his picture frames. Here are some of my favorites!!

The four kiddos-- can't believe how big they all are!!
Another shot: I think I'll be taking a few of these for my classroom desk as well!
Daddy's two girls:
and his boys:

December = BUSY!!

Hi all. If you are a family member or a friend who loves me dearly read on. If not, I warn you that this will be a long post and you might rather skip on to the next blog on your list!!

Wow. Where do I start. Wyatt's birthday? Chloe's ballet recital? Wyatt's pre-school graduation? Zachary's Christmas choir performances? Austin's graduation? A visit from my parents!!!!!! (yay!!) School finals to create, copy, administer and now grade? A 22-page project for the government of Costa Rica and our school's accreditation project!? Trip to the beach? Trip to the volcano? End of the school year for my kids? End of the teaching year (almost) for me? Zach and Austin's big youth group banquet? My school Christmas party? Wow! All of this has happened in the past few weeks and I have been so busy enjoying it (well--not enjoying the paperwork and grading) that I haven't had time to blog it!!

Truly though, it has been an absolutely overwhelmingly busy month. And I am more tired than I think I have ever been. But I have also had so much fun. And have so many good memories of the last few weeks, that it just about makes this dark circles under my eyes worth it!!

Here are some pictures to fill you in a bit better!!

Wyatt on his SEVENTH birthday!! Can't believe my "baby" is getting so big! (Still missing his front two teeth. I love the way he looks!!)

The now famous family- group- shot- taken- by-Mom's- outstretched- arm- so- she- can- be- in- the- picture- too photo from Wyatt's b-day!!
My sweet Chloe looking beautiful in the outfit she wore for her ballet recital!
Wyatt playing Joseph in a Christmas play
Wyatt at his pre-school graduation.

Look who else got here in time for Wyatt's graduation!!! Grammy and Grandpa! YAY!!! My sweet family!!
Me before our formal banquet at work.
The boys before their Christmas banquet with their youth group.
My Mom and Dad (yay!!!) with my gang at an area volcano.

And another great picture of my parents in bright green pretty Costa Rica (the same day the ice and snow and cold hit their home in the Midwest!!) It was such a joy to have them here. It just went way too fast!! I miss them already!! The door my 7th graders decorated for Christmas at our school. So, as you can see, my life is full of wonderful people and wonderful events. I am so blessed. Tired, but blessed!! Thanks for taking time to check in on us. I'll try to post a little more often when I am on vacation. (almost here!!) But if I don't, know that I am sleeping in late, playing with my kiddos, and making Christmas goodies instead of blogging!! Merry Christmas to each of you!! XXOO

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well Thanksgiving is not a holiday here in CR so I had work, and the kids had classes just like always. But we didn't let something little like that stop us from celebrating!! I just made everything up ahead of time on Tuesday and Wednesday, so all I had to do was gather it all together and get it in the oven when I got home. (We did get out early today so I was home by noon!) Then we got the kids and I think we were eating by about 2:30. Kind of a mid-afternoon Thanksgiving, but very fun nonetheless!!

We were able to find most everything we needed to make the traditional fixings for Thanksgiving day so that made it double the fun. Turkeys are very expensive here (about $50 each!!) so we decided to opt for chicken instead. But when I was out shopping on Wednesday a local grocery store had a bunch of turkey legs (drumsticks) cooked on the rotisserie for sale. They were only about a $1.50 each so I grabbed several! The kids thought that was great fun!! (even though they were tough and not very tasty--I opted for the chicken-- but my little ones loved the big huge drumsticks as the photos below will show!!) I even found time to make some pies. Yum. It was the first year I celebrated Thanksgiving without a house full of people. It was just Darrin and I and the kids. At first I thought that was rather sad. But in the end it was wonderful. We have so much to be thankful for, and to be quite honest, it was very relaxing not to have to host a houseful of guests. And since I am exhausted (still) from my new job and Darrin had just returned from his week long trip to Honduras, we kind of needed a day to hang out as a family.

So yay!!! Yay to families and traditions that involve mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie. Yay to thankful hearts and full tummies!! "O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! " (bonus points from Mrs. King if anyone recognizes that line!!)

Love you all and hope you had blessed days with your loved ones as well!!

Ready to eat!!

Austin with his turkey leg BEFORE.
And now AFTER :o)
The gang with their big huge drumsticks!
Yum!! Apple pie, Pumpkin pie, and a new one this year--pumpkin cheescake! Mmmm
Darrin took one of me too!! (holding the pumpkin pie, of course!!)

Yay Austin!

Last Friday night was a big night for my boy Austin. He had his big sixth grade graduation party/dinner/dance thing-a-ma-jig! High school begins in 7th grade here so it is a big deal to graduate from sixth grade!! So they celebrate big time. The rented out a country club and there was a opening parade of each graduate coming in one by one (around 100 students) as they called their name. There was a slide show with pictures of each student as a baby and now as well as random snaps through the years. A couple parents gave an opening toast and then an opening prayer and then the DJ started music (that was a little too loud for me). All the parents and kids danced--except for me! :o) Darrin was in Honduras, so I sat at my table with a nice sweet older grandma who also didn't want to dance. The music was too loud for us to visit so we just politely smiled and nodded toward one another for the next four hours! Around 10 o'clock they served dinner (things tend to run later here than in the US!). Then around 11:30 the mariachi band came in and serenaded the graduates. Then the grand finale!! At close to midnight, they began passing around little bags to all 450 people in attendance. Inside was a party hat, a masquerade mask, a whistle (what were they thinking!!) and paper streamers. About the time the bags were all passed out and everyone began putting on their hats and masks and blowing the *&$#@* whistles, a loud banging was heard! In marched a drum line with carnival dancers. Like real "carnivale" style dancers with fancy sequined costumes and huge headdresses and they were dancing to the drums. So for then next 20-30 minutes the drums (good but LOUD) banged out various rhythms while the carnival dancers did their thing and all the sixth graders blew like crazy on their whistles and danced in and out amongst the drummers and dancers. Oh my. Only in Costa Rica!! But Austin had a great time. I was incredibly bored without my hubby there and so tired when we finally got home. But I am proud of Austin and so glad he got to celebrate with his friends. Half the fun of living in another country is discovering all the new customs and traditions they have. I remember sitting at my table, politely nodding to grandma, and looking at all the other parents dancing and the kids milling about and the balloons and streamers and thinking, "I love that we live here!" And I do. It is so fun to experience so many new things and see my kids learn so much!! The night, of course, was all in Spanish and it always amazes me to see my kids talking and laughing and acting like every other Costa Rican. They really are completely bi-lingual now! I love that too!!

Here are some pics of Austin (and Mommy!)

ps-- Happy Thanksgiving. More on that later!!

Gratitude

is the heart's memory. (French proverb)

This sweet little proverb is now hanging on my wall along with this fall branch and spotted owl!

I was asked to be part of a calendar swap for 2008. My month was November. So I chose this quote and made this little page to represent the month. I finished it and scanned it off to be part of the calendar but then couldn't just leave it sitting on my desk. I kinda started to like my little owl. So I rescued him from the scrapping heap of my desk and framed him and put him on the dining room wall. And I rather like the whole look. I might change it out with other seasonal themes throughout the year. Or I might just leave Mr. Owl there year round. He is growing on me!!

School pictures

Yipee!! The kids brought home their school pictures, and I love them all! I can't believe how big they look. I guess when I see them come dancing in and out, I don't notice all the little changes. But when I see it there on the picture in front of me, it is suddenly quite obvious. My kiddos are growing up!! Here 6th grade graduation is a big deal as 7th grade begins high school (which is 5 years long in CR--7-11th grades). So that is why the cap and gown in the second photo. Wyatt, too, is celebrating a big year as he goes from "Prepa" (kindergarten) to 1st grade. So that also merits a cap and gown I learned!! :o) So here they are--- the King kids' 2008 school year photos!!

(He is as tall as I am now!!)

(All ready for high school!!)

(She is getting tall too! Can't believe it!)

(Is there a sweeter face on this planet?? This Mama doesn't think so!!)