Thailand vacation January 2014

First of all, so sorry that I haven't blogged in such a long time!! Looks like my last blog was not long before we went on stateside and then I guess I took a break while we were in the States and then never got back on it. Well, I am going to try once again to be more faithful about blogging - we'll see how it goes :) This year during the winter holiday the kids were off school for almost 5 weeks. It was a very nice break for all of us but by the end of it we were all ready to get back into a normal routine. For 2 out of the 5 weeks we were in Thailand taking a much needed break from the cold and the gloomy clouds here. It was a great time of resting, relaxing, and playing! And we got to celebrate my mom's birthday while we were there.

Julia turns 2!

It is hard to believe that our little baby Julia is already 2 years old! We had a fun time celebrating with some friend that had come to visit us.

Poor little Julia didn't eat much of her pizza or birthday cake - she had a fever up to 103 on her birthday :(

Some of our friends from Tulsa

Julia opening some of her birthday presents - you can tell she is feeling a little better at this point :)

Trip to Houston

Liz, Jacob, and Julia went to Houston in June for Liz's grandfather's funeral. We are so thankful that we got the opportunity to go and remember Granddad and spend precious time with family. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Julia and Jacob on the flight over


Jacob with his cousin Connor - they had a great time together!

We got to meet our youngest cousin Kara for the first time - what a blessing!

Julia with her cousin Katie - very fashionable of course!

Papa with the grandkids

Great Grandma (G.G.) with baby Kara

Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Gerald with Katie

The cousins (and Mimi)

Julia getting some precious time with her Great Grandmother (G.G.)

The grandkids with Mimi

Children's Day

Jacob and Lydia got to participate in the school performances for children's day this year. They both had a great time and did a great job!

Lydia enjoyed wearing makeup - especially the glittery kind!

Jacob with some of his classmates

Jacob got to wear a tux and get his hair fixed up special - what a handsome boy!

Jacob on stage - this performance was a fashion show of sorts...

Lydia with some of her classmates

Jason's Aunt and Uncle came to see us!

We are so thankful that Jason's Aunt and Uncle, Carol and Curt, got to come and visit us in May. We had such a great time seeing them and the kids really enjoyed them! What a blessing!

Uncle James' visit

We are so thankful that Uncle James got to come visit us for Liz's birthday this year!

The kids always have so much fun with their Uncle James!

We got to go to kareoke for Liz's birthday this year. James stole the show and Julia stole things out of Liz's purse :)

Lydia never gives up an opportunity to be on stage!

Julia loved Uncle James (even though she called him Uncle Jerry the whole time)

And a visit with Uncle James would not be complete without a trip to the amusement park!

Kids Playtime

Just a couple pictures of the kids doing what they love to do...

Half dressed pirates?

Julia loves her babies!

Jacob loves his swords - especially ones that light up and have sound effects :)

Girls night with manicures - mommy likes that too!

Jason and Lydia's "big date"

Jason got invited with a group of people here to go and see the peach blossoms (a very popular thing to do this time of year) and he decided to take Lydia with him since Jacob got to go with him on their last adventure. Jason asked Lydia if they enjoyed their adventure and she said "it wasn't an adventure it was a date". So I guess Jacob goes on "adventures" and Lydia goes on "dates" - parents are always learning :).



Lydia makes friends wherever she goes (lucky for us :))



Jason gets his ears cleaned local style...

Jacob's 5 year Birthday Party

Wow, our little boy is already 5! He invited one other American friend and 5 friends from his class. We had a full house and a great time!