It's CHRISTMAS!!!

Ben and I greatly underestimated our two wonderful children.

There wasn't any crying or complaining about any Christmas presents or lack thereof. 

It was a Christmas miracle. 

 Our day was filled with legos and movies and chocolate.  It was a fabulous day.

Jack, smiling and getting excited over underwear in his stocking. 

The boys.

Christmas dinner, spent with our friends from church. 

This year for Christmas, our big present was a relaxing vacation at the beach.

We went to a resort in the town of Mirissa. A vacation where you never have to put shoes on, and a pool and an ocean are the sources of entertainment. Perfection.

A room with a view.

Thomas.  What can I say, but that this picture captures him well.

Jack. 

The boys having a make believe picnic.

Merry Christmas!

Love you,

Ben, Emily, Jack and Thomas

Christmas Eve.

I love Christmas Eve.  

I think it is my favorite- the kids behave really well, since the anticipation of Santa coming creates angelic behavior in almost every child. 

We played with legos and made dinner- tacos! Complete with beef from Australia. 

We read the bible story of the birth of Jesus, in Luke 2.

Complete with pictures.

And proof that Jack picks his nose and checks out what came out. 

You're welcome.

Then we opened the traditional pajamas and took the obligatory picture in front of the Christmas tree.

Then we scattered magic reindeer food in the backyard (thanks Grandpa and Lani).

All ready for Santa.

And now for tomorrow.  

Ben and I have a bet on which child is going to cry first, most likely from disappointment, since each child has changed their "lists" at least five times in the last week. (And if you are lucky, we will photo-document that moment.)  

But let's not focus on the negative.  

Let's focus on the fact that this evening was perfect.

Stonehenge, Big Ben and an announcement.

How is that for a loaded post? 

I went to London for two weeks because my dear friend, Dasha was expecting a baby.  She is currently living in Bulgaria, but decided to have her baby in London. I happily volunteered to come help to make sure that her girls were taken care of when she and her husband went to the hospital.  You know, I am just so magnanimous.  Or I really wanted to see Dasha and go to London.

Anyway. We had a great time, and one weekend we even had Kelly cross the English Channel with her two girls, and so for that entire weekend it was EIGHT girlies and Dasha's poor husband, Matt. He might not have had a great time, there may have been a vomit incident in the car where his daughter barfed on his FACE- GROSS. BUT the girls did.  We went to Stonehenge, saw Frozen, and just had a great girls weekend. 

The rest of the trip we went shopping, walking, went to the parks, drank hot chocolate, had Chipotle, ate soup. It was so much fun to hang out with Dasha and her family. 

I was able to see Big Ben and pay tribute to my own darling husband, with the same name. *wink wink*

AND the best part was little baby girl Sonia came while I was there! 

NOW for the announcement part of this post. 

Have I told you our next assignment?  You know, where we are moving this summer? No, well, we are going to 

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA 

USA

To answer some questions:

Yes, this is with Ben's current job. He works for the State Department in Diplomatic Security, and they have offices all over the United States, and Greensboro is one of them. 

Yes, we are excited.

AND we are not that far from Washington DC, so we are hoping for a few road trips up there. 

Or perhaps you would like to come to NC for some beach time?  Yes?!?!  North Carolina is A LOT closer to almost all of our friends than Sri Lanka, just sayin'.

All the girls. 

So much different from the two boys I have at home, but SO MUCH FUN!!!!

Emma (Dasha's oldest daughter) and me in front of Big Ben.  We were there right when it struck 12, which was pretty sweet.

Marine Ball.

The Marine Corps Ball.  One of my favorite nights of the year.  And this year, it almost didn't happen.

I woke up Saturday morning feeling horrible.  I had aches and pains and gastrointestinal issues, and I was just miserable.  I decided I wouldn't be able to go.  I was too miserable. 

An hour before the taxi was coming to pick up Ben, I decided to go. 

I have to admit there were only two reasons I went:

1. I love my dress.  I LOVE my dress.

2. There was a flash mob dance at the ball, and I was in charge of the cowbell, so I HAD to go. 

Because what is a flashmob dance without a cowbell, right? 

So, here are a few pictures from our night.

Scenes from the dance. We even had the Marines join in for a bit of it. 

Seriously so fun! I am so grateful for my crazy friends!

And the best part.  I felt mostly okay for most of the ball, but the moment I got home the entire 10 bites of dinner that I ate came up with massive fury.  Then I slept ALL day on Sunday. Today, I am feeling a little better, and hopefully I will be all better soon.  

Welcome November.

Today is the first day of November.  The month of Thanksgiving, and thus the official month of gratitude. As I am not one to let a cliche pass by me by, I will start off this month with a post about gratitude.

I will start off with a little moment with Jack.  A moment that I think will live in my heart forever.  Tonight Jack was in the school play as a tree.  He was a great tree.  He performed beautifully.  The moment that I am grateful for was after the play was over, and the lights were turned on.  All of the students were still on stage, as the performing arts teacher was thanking everyone.  Jack was looking around for us, and the moment he found us, his eyes lit up, and he started waving as big as he could.  He looked at his friends and announced that he found his mom and dad, and pointed us out to anyone who would listen.  He was quickly shushed, but it was so awesome to see how excited he was to see us.  

I am so grateful for Jack.  I am grateful that he loves us and is completely excited to see us. I am so grateful for how loving he can be.

Oktoberfest.

Last weekend, we celebrated Oktoberfest with a few friends. The highlight was definitely the mechanical bull that Jack rode twice. Because in my mind, nothing says Oktoberfest like a mechanical bull.  

Life is pretty good around these parts.  

Jack is loving school, particularly math- he absolutely loves working with numbers. He is also preparing for his school production, which is at the end of the month, and is going to be epic.  He also has a singing solo in the Primary Program, (one Sunday a year in church where all of the children sing and have speaking parts).  

Thomas is constantly surprising us with his bouts of attitude. He is  developing his sense of self, and unlike Jack, I have no idea what to expect from him.  It is a lot of fun watching him.

Ben is excited because he has found some people to play basketball with...now they just need to find a place to do it.

I am busy with school, and am halfway through the semester. The next most exciting thing happening to me is that I am recovering from the most hideous and terrible boil on the back of my neck.  I wanted to put pictures of the horrid thing (which now resembles a volcano) on the blog, but Ben said ABSOLUTELY. DO. NOT. DO. THAT.  Therefore, for everyone's sake, including my own, I will refrain from publicly displaying the development of the growth on my neck- I photo documented the growth from the beginning.  I'm sorry and you're welcome. 

On a less grotesque note, we are in the midst of bidding, and hopefully in the next few weeks- maybe months- we will know where we will going next. We are coming back to the States next, so basically no matter where we go, we will be closer to family, and a lot of our friends. 

There you have it.  The basic summary of all of our goings on.  

Hair Woes

If you have been reading this blog for any amount of time, or you know me in person, then you will know that my hair is used as a negotiation in our marriage. You see, I like it short, Ben likes it long. I use this to my advantage to earn a little extra spending money. The amount isn't that important, it is more of a way that both of us can get our way with such a silly thing. We both agree to the terms, and a contract is entered into. Some years it is more formal than others. One year, we signed an agreement in Ben's journal. This year, no formal treaty was signed, but I have already spent the money...so...well...we are bound for the next THREE YEARS. That's right.

I can't cut my hair, expect for a trim, until July 21, 2016!

So here it was the last time I cut my hair. Around July 21. Also, serious bed head in this picture, but it shows the length.

 

 

This is today.

 

 

I could really use a trim, as my hair has become really fluffy. However, I am nervous because if they cut too much off I have to start the hair clock over. That's a bummer.

So right now, I am doing everything I can to camouflage the craziness that is my hair. This thing in my hair happens to be a belt from a skirt. Yesterday it was the ribbon from a bedding set. Desperate people. Desperate.

I am excited to grow my hair out, but at this point it is a little awkward.

 

Any ideas to cover my mop?

 

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Count your blessings.

Remember in the classic movie "White Christmas"? It is one of my favorites, and one of my favorite songs is about about when you can't sleep, count your blessings.

Last night, I couldn't sleep, and started counting my blessings. It very quickly turned into thinking about all my friends and family that have blessed my life. Then I started writing letters to all those who have played a part in my life. The letter started getting long, and I was afraid I was leaving someone out. I was going to simply write a Facebook post saying how grateful I am for my friends and family, but several friends and family members aren't on Facebook.

 

So I am taking this opportunity to say I am so grateful for all of my friends and family. I have been blessed with amazing people in my life.

I could never thank you enough.

And I want to say that it doesn't matter if I have known you for years, or if we have just met, or never met in person, friends are friends, and you have still made a difference.

 

Love you lots and lots.

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Happy birthday to me.

That's it folks. I'm 32. My birthday was on Sunday, and it was a wonderful day.

First: I called my parents to congratulate them on my awesomeness!

Then I got this amazing card from my boys.

Ben is really good at making cards.

Out tuk ride to church.

Thomas and Jack wanted to try on my glasses.

They are so adorable.

 

I work with the kids between 18 months and 12 at church, and so I spend a lot of my time with these awesome kids.

After church, we played a very competitive game of Charades! It was the ultimate.

 

 

 

That was my special day. Oh, and I got to sleep in AND take a nap. It was pretty much perfection.

I think the only thing missing was a birthday treat, but I didn't mind- I wasn't really in the mood for a treat. However, I did ask my parents to celebrate with some pie from my favorite pie place. I also reserve the right to call on my need for a birthday treat at any time, cause that's how I roll.

 

P.S. The dog is on loan from a friend on vacation.

 

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Going to the Maldives.

The Maldives.

About 11 years ago, I bought a calendar with pictures of tropical paradises from all over the world.  There it was on several months- Maldives.  I dreamed about staying in a hut over the water; warm and perfect. 

So it was put on my bucket list.  Staying on a hut over the water.  In the Maldives. 

Here and now. Ben had the opportunity to travel to the Maldives for work, and I was able to tag along.  We couldn't afford a hut on the water, but this was a dream come true.  AND I still count it as crossing an item off my bucket list.   (Sometimes bucket lists change, but the dream isn't any less fulfilled.)

Ben had to work everyday, and when his Blackberry chimed, he had to answer it.  Even though he was working, he had a few hours after work to enjoy paradise.  When he was working, I was reading, lounging, and taking an occasional nap.  It was the perfect vacation.  

It was an awesome trip, and I am so grateful that we were able to go.  

I am also grateful for all of our friends here that helped out with the boys.  We knew they were having a good time when they only wanted to spend 30 seconds on FaceTime so they could keep playing.

Where we stayed:

We were copying the couples that took pictures before us.  It seemed as if most of the people staying there were models, or at least they liked to pose like they were.  

Here we are trying to fit in:

I don't think modeling is in my future.  

This was awesome! When we walked on the beach at night, these would show up in our footsteps and along the shore.  It was like lightning bugs on the beach.  

Awkward timer picture, that turned out to be my favorite.

Gorgeous.  Totes gorgeous.

Swanky furniture at the bar.