Happy Holidays from Kyiv! I wanted to post an update now that we are well into December. Unfortunately, some glitch has posted the pictures in reverse chronological order and I'm feeling unmotivated to correct it. So.......... let's take a little stroll back through the past 6 weeks starting this week and moving backwards into November.
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| Susannah and her friend Kate were so excited to beat the boys in their book club with this gum drop stem challenge earlier in the week. Their prize was all the gumdrops they used, which Sarah Avery has been enjoying. |
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| This week were the music performances at school. It was live-streamed, but I used my teacher perks to sneak in and see it live. ;) |
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| Both girls did fantastic jobs and brought lots of Christmas spirit. |
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| Last weekend, some neighborhood Moms organized a little Polar Express progressive party. It was so much fun. This is the conductor who punched tickets at the first stop. |
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| We helped with the first stop festivities........We bought some cookies, baked some cookies, and I read The Polar Express to the kiddos while they drank hot apple cider and enjoyed their cookies. It was a really sweet afternoon. |
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| We had an extra cookie baker in the kitchen last weekend because Susannah had a sleepover after her birthday party. |
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| Best friends. |
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| Our elf, Sam, had a birthday message ready for the birthday girl. |
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| Susannah's Hamilton themed birthday party was a hit. |
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| She had so much fun celebrating with her friends. |
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| They brought lots of sweet presents. |
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| We are so grateful for all of these girls. |
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| Hamilton sing-along |
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| Candy pong |
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| Our neighbor did it again with this beautiful cake. |
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| Ready for the guests to arrive! |
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| Grammy sent her this t-shirt so she even got to dress the theme! |
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| I can't believe she is 11. |
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| Party favors |
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| We have been enjoying all of our Christmas decorations and traditions, but this one is my favorite. We light the advent candles every night and add a decoration to our Jesse Tree. |
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| In keeping with tradition, we had a family birthday party the night before the friend birthday party. |
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Susannah was so excited about the real lip gloss and blush she received as a gift. #growingupwaytoofast
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| Mommy's pumpkin muffins were the dessert. |
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| Before the birthday festivities began, the other excitement of the week was the arrival of Sam, our elf. |
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| He brought a new Christmas book and a Lego advent calendar for the girls to share. |
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| In other news from the last month, the girls have been enjoying their girl scout troop meetings. Susannah is a junior girl scout and Sarah Avery is a brownie. |
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| We decorated for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving, and really had to rally when we discovered one of our snow-globes had busted and ruined several of our most prized decorations. |
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| The saddest being our embroidered stockings. Luckily I found these cheap ones at a grocery store here and we used Shoo-Shoo's glitter and Elmer's glue technique that Peter remembers as a child. They turned out cute and Christmas was saved!! |
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| Love our advent candles and nativity scene in the dining room. |
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| Beautiful tree + warm fire + college football = most cozy night ever |
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| Susannah was the master tree decorator this year so we let her place the star. |
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| We have had a few snows already. |
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| This one was especially beautiful! |
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| We had one mild sunny day in November and this neighborhood girl gang took advantage. |
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| Sarah Avery had a cool Brownie meeting that included an "urban hike" around Kyiv. |
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| I also had a fun fancy dinner celebrating my friend Enesh's birthday. Always fun to share good food with these friends. |
There you have the backwards walk through our lives the past several weeks. I don't have any photos, but feel like I should record our Thanksgiving memories here.......... I had to work which was super sad. I hated leaving the family in the pjs every morning. We had a lovely dinner with friends on Thursday night at a neighbor's house, but then Thursday night, Susannah woke up with a horrible stomach bug. So our Friday consisted of lots of carpet cleaning and laundry. But she rallied and we decorated the house on Saturday and Sunday. We hope all of you are enjoying the advent season. We miss and love you all.
