December Pictures

For the grandparents, finally some pictures.

12-2009

Easter Eggs

We colored eggs tonight. The kids all really enjoyed coloring their eggs. We told Kaden that the longer he kept his in the color the more of that color it would be. He kept saying things like "mine is getting more green!"        

Emirgan Park

We went to Emirgan park and it was filled with flowers, mostly tulips. They were getting ready for the tulip festival starting tomorrow. It was so beautiful, the day was gorgeous! They had many playground areas and the kids played at almost all of them. It was a fun day.

Emirgan Park - April 09

Ashton's long lovely hair

I am only posting this picture so you can see Ashton pre-hair cut. She wanted her hair cut so that it was easier to take care of. So we chopped it good. You can see those pictures in more recent posts.  

Mornings

Since the day Ashton was born we have rarely used an alarm clock, she has always been an early riser, most of the time earlier than we would like. Her brother, Kaden, has followed in her footsteps. Even on the weekends now, we tell them it is OK to sleep in, so they sleep for about 1/2 hour more than normal! Since school has started we get up at 6:30 to get ready (and usually just Chad and I get up then to start breakfast and get them up later), and Ashton has been complaining about "why do we have to get up so early?" I have no sympathy for her, since I have been saying that for 9 years now!

These days, when Kaden gets up in the morning and we have the lights on he goes and gets his sunglasses to wear at breakfast, because it is "too sunny" in the kitchen!

Today, as usual we were making sure they did everything before we sent them out the door, and Justin, as usual, was checking out his snack in his lunch bag. He wanted to know what he got for snack, when we told him grapes, he was not happy. We sent him to brush his teeth and found him crying in the bathroom because he had grapes for snack!!!! Sometimes I just can't believe the things they cry about.

Visiting Van

For the school break we went to Van (sounds like Vaughn), to visit some friends and see the city. Chad has visited several places out East, but the rest of us have never been so far East before. We had a good time visiting our friends there and seeing some of the sights of Van. We went to a castle that was built in the 9th century BC. There wasn't much left.

Van Trip 08

Thrive08

Here is a link to some pictures from our Thrive conference this year. We all had a great time! I will have video up, as soon as I go through it all and condense it.

Ashton is 9!

Ashton had a birthday in July, she turned 9 years old. She got what most 9 year old girls need, electronics! Actually when she got this portable DVD player from her grandparents I wondered when she would use it, but the kids like to use it even over the big TV sometimes. I think they are crazy. One day Ashton and Justin were watching something up in Justin's bunk bed, I guess being portable makes it fun to watch wherever.

Kaden and Justin both got these gifts from the grandparents as well. They needed to be assembled and I think Grandpa Glen was wishing he didn't buy them after he started putting one of them together.
Ashton admires her new MP3 player. She actually did want electronic things as gifts. She had asked for a phone or a laptop or an iPod. This isn't an iPod, we aren't crazy.
This was a few days later, she had a sleep over with some of her friends. She asked for peanut butter icecream for dessert, so that is what I made her. It was pretty good.

Water Park

We went to the water park with friends and the kids had a blast. Kaden was so tired at the end of the long day. The day wasn't over when we left though, it took us almost 2 hours to get home, where as, it took us less than an hour to get there. Our friends who left just a couple minutes behind us were stuck in traffic for over 3 hours! But the water park part was fun.
       

Free Fun

After we went to the dentist we went out for lunch at the Meydan mall. This summer they have water spouts the run all the time and they are letting children run through them. I think they actually ahve rules, like you can't bring your swimsuit. I did not plan for them to run through the water, but it was so much fun and all for free. Other parents had come prepared and brough extra clothes for their kids. At first I told them to be careful not to get too wet, that was before we went to eat. After we ate they just ran free. Kaden got the most soaked, you can see, but he was the easiest to clean off, I just put a new pull up on him and that is what he wore home.
       

End of year program

The last day of school, each of the kids classes did a little program. They both sang songs and got awards. Ashton got an award for reading over 100 books in the school year (she read 120+) and Justin got a perfect attendance awards. He did this despite almost everyone else in his class being ill frequently and Ashton and Kaden both getting chicken pox. He was healthy all year round.
   

Pinewood Derby

The 3rd, 4th and 5th graders made cars in art class and this is their pinewood derby day. Ashton felt that she did well, she one once and lost 3 times. I think it is more about the event and being with friends for her.

Pinewood Derby

Playing by the creek

The kids were outside playing tonight and it was such a nice evening I took the camera out for some pictures.

May08 playing outside

Hero Day

Kaden and I went up to the school for Hero day and took lots of pictures, he had a lot of fun. He is very popular, many kids know Kaden and they all call out his name when they see him. Even people who don't know him ohh and ahh over how cute he is, especially this day, he was wearing his Fenerbahce outfit (thanks to Uncle Birkan) and they had just won a big game the night before.

Hero Day / Floorball Tournament

This week at school they had a Hero day. You could come as any kind of hero. Justin didn't have to think twice, he was going to be Spiderman. It took Ashton longer to decide. We offered suggestions of "real" heros and she decided to go with Violet from the Incredibles. It was also Floorball Tournament day. Ashton's team made it to the championship game and then lost. It was a fun day!

Easter

Thanks to the grandparents we had ham for Easter dinner! Yummy! We invited Joe, Rachel, Jeremy and Eden over for lunch. Jeremy and Kaden are good friends, they both like cars. I got a few pictures of the kids, but they wouldn't pose for me - as usual.

Spring Break

During Spring break we 1st went to Sapanca, but the rest of the week was kind of rainy, so we stayed in a lot. Ashton and Grandma made goop again this year and played lots of board games and card games, Justin had friends over and they played Wii Spiderman a lot, Ashton got a Hannah Montana Wii game and she got pretty good at that, Papa and Justin played Wii Sports together and Kaden built another "car house" (because we do this almost everyday!).