Christmas!

We had a great Christmas, complete with presents in the morning, yummy homemade sausage/cheese/egg croissant sandwiches for breakfast, followed by more presents being opened! I think we finished around lunch time, played with toys for a bit until I put Kylie down for naps and finished making pumpkin pies, green bean casserole and cookies to take to Ken and Amy's house! We went over around 4pm and got to hang out and chat while finishing cooking until 8 or so! A fun night with friends...

Kiddos excited to come down and open presents

Me and my Christmas Tweeter

All waiting to open their "book" bags full of books!

Jack and Megan each got a nice adidas watch - and they LOVE them! So fun for them to know what time it is and be able to set alarms and other fun things!

Barbie bedroom set for Megan from Jack and Kylie :) Kylie got a fun Barbie from her siblings and Jack got a cool Lego set

She's so fun to watch open presents...but such a stinker when she doesn't like them! She offers to give the ones she doesn't like to her little friend Megan...

Sweet picture of Bugga and Daddy

The kiddos with the present they picked out for Daddy

The kids bought Dan a 6 person tent for a camp out that is coming up in a couple of weeks! It's a cheap version, but will hopefully hold up for one night of camping in a neighborhood near here :)

Opening presents from Mom Mom and Pappy

Cute outfit she wore to Ken and Amy's for dinner

Doing the smallest first...

Dan's cool VT slippers (he LOVES them)!!!

Boxes full of presents from Grammy and Grandad!

So excited for things she's already spied by opening the lid...

Mostly full of his stuff...I think a purple purse got tossed into his to get shipped :)

Keith (Ken's brother), Ken and Amy with the prize winning turkey that took 5+ hours to cook!

Wendy and I

Megan and K enjoying their meal

All the kiddos enjoying being together on Christmas

Hi, My Name is Kylie, vol. 3

...and I am the Birthday Girl because today I turn 5 years old!!!

Job: I stay home with Mommy! I'm not in school yet. When we move to Kuwait I'll be in Kindergarten. I wonder what Kuwait will be like...I don't really want to be in kindergarten because I won't know anyone. And I won't be able to get Starbucks with Mommy! Moo and Jack go to school now, but I run errands with Mommy and go to meetings and Bible study and sometimes get our nails done or eat lunch with Daddy downtown!

Interests: Dressing up, dancing, singing, playing Barbies or house/arguing with Megan, watching Jack play the DS, riding on the scooter with Daddy, snuggling Mommy. I like having playdates and going to Mr. Ken and Ms. Amy's house to play with M and Bonus. I like playing soccer now, but I was scared about it in the beginning. I like riding my bike outside with the kids and swimming!

Nicknames: Bugga, the Budge, Buggers, Kylie Gracie, Kylie Grace, Gracie (from Pappy), Snuggers, Budgers, Sweet Pea, my Baby (from Mommy - not because I am a baby, but I'm her baby)!

Favorite Foods: Eggs and bacon at Que Pasa, Chicken w/ Cashew Nuts and rice at Sudathai, Hot dogs, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, Honey Nut Cheerios, Vegetable Samosas from Villa, Slurpees, Ice Cream, orange cinnamon buns at Grammy's.

Favorite Sayings: Can I have gum? Can I watch a kid show? Can we have snack? Can I dress up? Can we go to Que Pasa? Is it past naptime (i.e. do I not have to nap?). I'm not tired. How many books can I read at bedtime (1 if she didn't take a nap, 3 if she did take a nap)? I can't get to sleep (5 minutes after we tuck her in bed)...I already had a nightmare. That's no fair! Anything that she wants repeatedly (she reminds us of the persistent widow in the Bible - she's tenacious).

Things I learned to do while I was 4: Start to read 3 letter words and books with 3 letter words, wipe my own heiney, ride in a straight line on a 2 wheel bike, pour my own cereal and milk, call people on the phone, play the DS well, put dishes away for Mommy, go downstairs in the big kid's class for church (instead of the little kid nursery), how to play soccer and how to swim the width of the Olympic size pool!

What I want to be when I grow up: A Ballerina and a Princess.

Favorite TV Shows and Movies: Duck Tales, Little House on the Prairie, Spectacular Spiderman, Ironman Adventures, Tom and Jerry, Fishtronaut, Garfield, Clone Wars.

Friends: Megan, Jack, Mommy and Daddy, Megan, Kevin, Alli, Cameron, Savannah, Daniel, Jackson, Sophie.

Things you may not know about me: I wake up around 5:45am every day and I always wake up happy. I play (mostly) quietly in Jack's room (because Jack sleeps in my room with me) until either Moo or Jack wake up and then I play with them until it's time to get up (6:20 on weekdays, 7am on weekends). I can be super sweet and helpful or I can be a stinker and pretty mean. I love playing with my brother and sister, but sometimes it turns not nice. Mommy has to remind me to Use Kind Words repeatedly when I'm playing with them (they aren't angels either). I'm a scrappy little soccer player and always have a smile on my face playing. I'm super smart and am starting to read more and more words. I like to swim and eat out and get Starbucks and get my nails painted. I generally ask Mommy every day if I can dress up. I'm a snazzy dresser and choose outfits most people wouldn't dream of wearing out, but they look cute on me! I love layering long skirts under sundresses to make it fancier. I love my Mommy and my Daddy. I love my family in America, but we have to take 2 planes to get there. I'm moving to Kuwait next summer, not forever, but for 2 years. I am so excited to be 5!

Happy Birthday Kylie Grace!!! We love you!!!

Walking to soccer with Megan and friends

Fooling around with Jack in the car

Being silly with Megan and my blanket

Squished in between my Mommy and Daddy

A collage of Me!

Jack, Kylie and Megan

Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve

The last few days have been full of events! We've done christmas caroling, met Daddy at work for lunch, had an outing with Daddy to find a guitar store downtown, had friends over for dinner, saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in the theater with the kiddos, helped pack up bags for our church's Operation Orange Drop -where we packed bags up with oranges, candy, a toy and a booklet about what Christmas is about and they were handed out to all the Thai's around our neighborhood...1000 in all! - and our Christmas Eve service! Super fun times...Merry Christmas!

Our family at the Christmas Eve Service

Kiddos looking spiffy

Getting ready to Christmas carol! Everyone got dressed up - Jack and Megan wore their Halloween costumes from last year and Kylie had Megan's old shirt and fun Christmas headband!

Kylie with her hot chocolate before caroling

The group caroling!

Christmas piggy toes!

Our friends Greg and Melissa and their boys sent us a Gingerbread house last year to decorate! This year, they chose a mini-village set to send us that had 5 little houses - one for each of us to decorate! We had so much fun doing it and loved how they turned out! Thank you G, M, M and M!!!!

A photo of the photographer who took over 130 pics during the making of the gingerbread houses!

Creating a masterpiece!!!

The finished product! From left front to right - Kylie, Jack, Dan, Kristen, Megan

Christmas Eve opening of the stockings!
Cute, cute kiddos

Jack's headlamp

A Kylie "K" necklace

Megan's silly bandz

Dan's tags for bags...he's DANGEROUS

Presents under the tree

Christmas Eve Service - Megan got to hold Jaya the whole service and Jaya loved it. They are buddies.

Jaya, Megan, Kylie, Cadie and Jack
Too cute not to photograph

The candlelight portion of the candlelight service

Even More Snapshots

Christmas Parties galore!

Life Group Christmas Party at Ken and Amy's home!

The 2nd of many White Elephant Gift exchanges

Roger deciding what to choose...ultimately, he chose wrong (received airplane slippers from someone...he travels 3 weeks out of the month and I'm sure has a million pairs of them already)!

Our EW Women's bible study decided to go to a home for children whose mothers are in prison and have a Christmas party for them. I know it sounds weird. But, it was a blast, the kids enjoyed it and it was so neat to be there! Here is Amy with Pancake - a cutie!

All the kids making Christmas ornaments and loving it! Thanks to Grammy we had enough to go around!

Cutie little boy showing off his cute smile :)

Popeye making silly faces

Neung getting his present from Santa (aka Dirk)! He was so sad when the 1st 2 presents weren't for him that he started to cry and then Santa found his present for him! The kids and I picked out 3 trucks and a kid's baseball for him!

All the little kids minus the big kids who were still at school

Miss Megan before her Winter Concert for Choir!

All the kiddos

Megan

Kylie and I went into Jack's class to help them do holiday crafts. Jack's teacher chose holiday bookmarks to decorate and we got to help the kiddos out...and Kylie got to make her own!

An assortment of fun sparkles the teacher bought to decorate the holiday bookmarks!

Dan taking the girls to look for Jack's present!

Dan taking the big kids to look for Bugga's present!

Daddy, Jack and Kylie as they searched for Moo's present

Kylie and I went in to read to Jack's class for his holiday pajama party! We had fun reading and then eating some yummy goodies

Megan and Punnava at their holiday party (you could wear pajamas) for 3rd grade! Megan got the Pluto from their White Elephant gift exchange!

Dan's office Holiday Party was Saturday Night! It was only for grown-ups and was downtown at a fancy hotel (the Penninsula). Elena organized a shuttle van to take 12 of us down there together and we had a great time! We did a White Elephant gift exchange there and scored some awesome presents!

Elena (due with her 4th in March) and Me

Dan with 1 of our cool presents! We each scored a hand painted rice basket!

In 2007 when Dan and I came out to Bangkok for a look-see, we attended the office Christmas party and had our picture taken with Oscar and Elena. It was totally awkward because we didn't know them at all (had literally just been introduced)! Now we're friends and Dan finally made his own office party (hasn't made the last 2)! So, we had to get a reenactment picture before we headed home for the night!

I hate feeling like I don't have time to get everything done that I need to. That's how I feel right now with lots going on...and needing to catch up on the blog for the last couple of weeks!