Sunday Sneak Peek: Fog Mountain

Justin has been dying to check out this amazing mountain since we moved out to our town.  When the weather started to warm up a bit we planned to have a picnic with our friends.  The spring weather is unpredictable but we could not have asked for a more beautiful day.

Our beautiful view

Several different sheep herds came grazing by throughout the day.

Noah had a blast exploring and climbing

The edge of the plateau

Playing in the freezing cold mountain spring.  We put our drinks and watermelon in the trough to keep them cool.

These beautiful plateaus inland are chock full of green grass perfect for sheep!

We had the best day with our friends.  The fresh air, sweet fellowship, and amazing views are so good for my soul.  The kids had a blast running through the grass in their bare feet.   There were still shady spots that had snow to play in.  I am so thankful for the beautiful place that we live in.

Sunday Sneak Peek

Lucy had her first friend sleep over this weekend.  This is Lucy's best friend, Alara.

We were shocked that Alara's parents let her come spend the night with us.  She is an only child and her parents rarely let her out of their sights.  I was honored that they trusted us enough to let her stay over.  They missed her so much!

Mother's Day

This year on Mother's Day we headed out to a new spot for a big 'ole Turkish breakfast.  It is one of my favorite things to do.  Several of my friends had recommended this place and it did not disappoint!

The food was great, the location amazing, and we all had such a fun morning stuffing ourselves and exploring the coast.

We headed home to drop the girls off and get ready for our local soccer team's game.  Justin, Noah, and I jumped on the mini-bus and headed into town.  We played our rivals, the neighboring town.

Of course, our team lost.  But that didn't put a damper on my perfect day.

A Modern Twist on a Classic

Me: Yasin, where is your homework?

Yasin:  (completely serious and totally panicked)  Teacher, teacher, I couldn't do it.  A dog ate our internet cable.

Thankful Thursday

The weather has been beautiful lately.  I am so thankful for the sunshine and the big puffy white clouds.

I am thankful for some different camps and opportunities that are falling into place for our kids this summer.  They are looking forward to a really awesome summer!

I am thankful for the nice garden surrounding our apartment.  Now that the weather is nice everyone sits outside in the evening chatting and watching the kids play.  It's such a sweet time.

I am thankful that Justin has had some really great opportunities to be out and about in our community.  He is such an introvert.  So I am really thankful for him and proud of him for continually forcing himself to seek out people.

I am thankful for the beautiful path and parks that run along the sea in our town.  It such a pleasant place to walk or have a tea.

I am thankful that Noah's big test is over.  

I am thankful for 3 amazing kids.  We have our struggles and we definitely bicker too much.  But they continually make me proud.  They really work hard, are so flexible, and have overcome quite a few obstacles!

Mostly today I am feeling thankful for my momma.  She is more than amazing.  She is kind and thoughtful.  She works hard.  She always goes out of her way to bless and love on others.  I am sure the number of goodies and/or meals that she has shared with those around her is in the millions.  And, more than something for their stomachs, she gives all of us a piece of herself- her time, her attention, her love, and her presence.  After a few minutes with her your heart is happy.  She is the best.  Simply amazing.  I am so blessed and lucky to have her.

A Different Perspective

Somehow the topic of school shootings in America came up in the care on the way home from school today.  Noah said,

"I don't think I want to go to university in America.  It's too dangerous!"

I laughed and told him that most people think that living here is dangerous.  He was surprised to hear that!

It's interesting how our perspective shapes our thinking.  I guess that's why its a good ides to try to see things from different perspectives!

Pondering

Here are a few quotes that I've run across lately that resonate with me...

I found most of these quotes here.

Sunday Sneak Peek: Paddle Boating

We ended our worship time today with a little outing to a beautiful lake for dinner and paddle boating.  The weather was perfect and it was so nice to get out and move a bit.  The kids loved it!

Plus, like many of the good local family restaurants, they have all sorts of fun things for the kids to do while the parents linger over their meals.  This place had a huge bounce house and a playground.  All the kids played like crazy.  They were asleep before we hit the main road headed home down the coast... I was too!

Baking and Remembering

I have been on a baking craze lately.  For our International Children's Day party I made good 'ole American chocolate chip cookies.  Then, just before we babysat our friends' little kids I made a ton of muffins so that I'd have easy food on hand.  I have a loaf of banana bread and pumpkin bread in my freezer just waiting for unexpected company to drop by.

And I made a huge batch of my favorite cookies to take to the 8th graders during their test.

I may have eaten most of them before the test began!  These are seriously the world's yummiest cookies.

Then, my evil friend Jennie sent me these...

We were texting back and forth and out of the blue she slammed me with these doozies.  And I cried a million tears!  Wahhhh... I want my babies back!!!  They were so cute!

Workers' Day

Today is İşci Bayramı, Workers' Day, or Labor Day.  In past years it has been a bit of a violent day as folks protest or stand-up to the government.  But things were calm this year in our lovely little town.

Actually, I don't really know how they were in our town because we headed down the coast to the the mall.  It's a two hour drive to civilization and we were all chomping at the bit to experience it.

My girls and their girls are ready to go!

At the top of Noah's list was the new Avengers movie.  The girls and I were happy to see that the Annie remake was just released here so we saw that.  It was really cute, and the guys loved their movie.

We ate at McDonald's.  Don't roll your eyes!  Our town doesn't even have a McDonald's.  Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder!  YUM!  I am not ashamed!  Ha!

Then we shopped.  The mall has a huge sports store that we love to meander through.  One of our favorite clothing shops was having a big sale so the girls and I each picked up a little something for Spring.

And, to top it off... there's a Starbucks.  So we indulged in a treat!  This little cutie came up to us and entertained us for 30 minutes!  He reminded us so much of my nephew, Cam.  Personality plus!

I promise you he is telling us how old he is not giving us the double birdies!

I wanted to put him in the car with us and take him home!  What a cutie!!

 It was the perfect American day... complete with kids arguing in the car both coming and going!  Ha!