Fun Birthday!

Thank you for all the Happy Birthday wishes, it was a great day! Jeff and Jack made me breakfast while I got to sleep in a bit, Jack sang me Happy Birthday, had a snowball fight at the houses after they so proudly sang the Happy Birthday song in English, we rented a chick flick movie while Jack napped, Jeff took me out to a really nice dinner and had Tiramisu for dessert (yum!), took a walk into town to see the lights, skyped with my family back home...and then yesterday the staff sang me happy birthday at the Christmas party. It was a fun filled day...thank you for making it so special! Love you all and so glad you're in my life!

 Jack the fireman singing

 Date night! I treasure these!

Let it Snow!

It has been snowing everyday here for 2 weeks...until yesterday! They predict that it will get up to the 40s here today, so sadly all this beautiful snow will be gone, just in time for Christmas! Here are a few pictures from our sunshine snow days!

 Icecicles!

Jack loved being pulled all over the yard by Jeff on his sled. He begged to do it over and over again.

Too bad he had to come in...his little cheeks were frozen!

 

 Playing soccer in the snow

 On Sunday we dropped off a movie for the kids to watch at the houses. They came running out to have a snowball fight. We had a great time and Jack couldn't get enough! He fell asleep in the car on the 10 minute ride home!

 Levi and his giant snowball

 Throwing snowballs at the girls in the windows...

Anna, Dita and Kiki ducking out of the way...and throwing them back!

Jack singing, "Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow!"

Christmastime is here!

Here's to the start of Christmastime...more to come...just to catch you up on what we've been doing (or at least a small part of it!)

 Santa Jack. He LOVES Santa this year. He gets so excited anytime he spots him on wrapping paper, in town, on a gift, a toy Santa...etc, etc. We didn't even tell him about Santa, he just loves him! Jeff and I found this Santa suit in Cluj on our date day and couldn't resist. Jack was thrilled to dress up like him! So fun seeing Christmas through the eyes of a toddler. More to come parents:)

 Making 24 dozen cookies for teachers:)

 Jack loving his new hat and scarf from his buddies back home.

Perfect timing for our second day of snow!

 Reading our new nativity book from our buddy Tristian.

Jack loves finding the toy that matches whatever is in the book. Checking out baby Jesus:)

 Eating "supa" at the houses with Bela. Thank you mama Dina and mama Erzike!

 

 Decorating the tree with Casa AnaNadia

Mos Nicolae!

On Sunday night, Jack left his shoes out in celebration of the coming of Mos Nicolae, the Romanian version of St. Nick. Here is what wikipedia says about the tradition as it is celebrated in Romania...

In Hungary and Romania, children typically leave their boots on the windowsill on the evening of 5 December. By next morning Nikolaus (Moş Nicolae in Romania) leaves candy and gifts if they have been good, or a rod if they have been bad (most kids end up getting small gifts but also a small rod).

This tradition is enjoyed by folks all over Europe and other parts of the world on Dec 6, seperate from Christmas morning. Who knows why we blended Santa and baby Jesus, but we are hoping to continue the Mos Nicolae tradition even once we are back in America. Here is a video of Jack's morning...

We also got to be "St Nick" for our group home kids, too...bringing them rods decorated in red ribbon as well as a chocolate Santa and candies from America. It's always fun to wake up to a goodie in your shoe in the morning, especially on a Monday!

Wishbone

What's Thanksgiving turkey without the wishbone? I remember flipping a coin with my siblings to see who would get to pull the wishbone. Jack got to experience his first one. We let it dry for a week, but somehow, it broke into 3 pieces! So we decided that Jack and Jeff would both get their wishes:)

 hmmmm....

 mommy's help

3 pieces!

Finding Santa videos

Last night at dinner, Jack and I were sitting at the dinner table. He decided to hide his Santa Claus ornament. We were playing hide and seek and I picked up the little hand mirror to "see" if Santa was in the mirror. Well Jack erupted in laughter and thought that it was hysterical...so I got hysterical! Here is a few videos of him laughing...hope you get a kick out of it, too!

Happy Thanksgiving from Romania

Happy Thanksgiving! We did celebrate Thanksgiving this year...with our French turkey and all. I have never baked a turkey, so learning in Romania was quite an adventure. We just knew that we'd either cut into raw turkey or repeat the scene from the movie "Christmas Vacation" where its bone dry! But, it was delicious. We even got to indulge in sweet potatoes, green bean casserole (Jeff made fresh onion rings for the topping...never done that before either!) For dessert we got to enjoy pecan pumpkin pie....thank you family for sending the canned pumpkin! Jack helped me make an apple pie for an American family from church.

  Jack talked all day long about cooking the turkey. He couldn't wait to have it finished! We tried to time our lunch for noon, when Jack normally eats. However, some things were running a bit behind and by 12:45 when we sat down to eat, Jack was just too exhausted to eat! Next time I will just feed him earlier and enjoy the meal during his nap:)

 We caught Jack stirring the dressing...hahaha...somehow he was able to reach across the table and pull it towards himself...then began stirring it with his fork. Thanks for being our big helper Jack!

 He wouldn't wear his pilgrim hat, but settled for his trusty leaf crown:)

 Cheese!

 Too tired!

After naptime we watched a bit of Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving movie online. He loved it! We really missed not being with all of our extended families again this year, but we are so thankful for all that the Lord has blessed us with. Jack gave the blessing just before the meal..."Dear Jesus, thank you for the day, thank you for the sunshine, thank you for mommy and daddy, thank you for the food, thank you for the bread, thank you for the turkey, thank you for our friends, thank you for the day, thank you for the sunshine, Amen!" I pray that your and your had a wonderful day as well.