Cat Food

There is no better feeling than waking up to this news...

The University of Kentucky beat Louisville and advanced to the elite eight!!!

C-A-T-S, cats, cats, cats!!  I read that the game was super intense.  Kentucky was behind up until the end!  Way to fight hard and pull out the win, cats!  The UK-Louisville runs deep.  So, beating them is super sweet!  Cardinals make great cat food!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Kentucky.com:

Now it's time to stomp Michigan!!!

Slow Death by Grammar!

Well, I am proud to announce that I passed my TEFL certification with flying colors!!

When I signed up for the course, Justin convinced me to go ahead and get the grammar certification.

I may never forgive him!!

Yall, this grammar intensive is kicking my butt!!  I stink at grammar.  What on earth made me think that I could become a certified grammar expert?!

UGH!  Grammar is that worst!

Parkin' It With My Girl

Unfortunately, life has been very busy lately!  Poor Lucy is home in the mornings (school doesn't start until 1:00!), but I haven't had a lot of time to do fun stuff with her.  Today the weather was beautiful and I couldn't resist putting my work aside and taking Lucy to our neighborhood park!

It was so fun to dust off her beloved scooter and go for a ride!

IMG 4974 from Elizabeth on Vimeo.

Turns out, the see-saw is a great workout!  My thighs were burning after awhile of this!

The swings here tend to be baby-swings.  So kids get very creative when it comes to swinging!

Of course we had to pick a bouquet of beautiful flowers for the windowsill. 

Bonus picture:  My geraniums are in full bloom and gorgeous!  Here's a little hint... if you have a problem with crows, a pinwheel really helps to keep them away!

These Kids are Weird

Sunday Funday

Did I tell you that Justin was out of town... again?!  He had a leader training seminar with our organization.  He gets back tomorrow, so all is well.  Although, when he gets back I am seriously going to crawl into a cave and hibernate!!  I have had enough of the single-mom life!!

When Justin is gone, the weekdays are not so bad.  We are all pretty well programmed- school, dinner, homework, instrument, reading, bed.  The weekends are a different story.  I always try to plan something fun that gets us out of the house and expends energy.  Saturday we had house church.  Then Lucy and I went to her friend's birthday party while Noah and Callie did homework.  Once we got home she did her homework.  Finishing up all their homework meant that Sunday was a free day for fun!

If you want to do anything in this city without a crowd, the best time to go is on Sunday mornings as early as possible.  Folks here are notoriously slow to get started on Sundays.  So we got up and out first thing to go visit the awesome new mall.

My girls and me

We had no idea what this critter was, but Lucy wanted her picture with it, nonetheless!

I had promised the kids that we would see a movie.  The only kids movie out here right now was Mr. Peabody & Sherman.  I had low expectations, but it was really cute.  It had some fun history stuff that held, my history-loving Noah's attention.  I also treated the kids to lunch.  It's funny how living here has changed our preferences!  Normally in America, I wouldn't really choose to eat at Arby's and you couldn't pay me to eat at Hardee's/Carl's Jr.  But, here I LOVE Arbys'.  Those curly fries are like heaven.  And Carl's Jr. is the only place in town, besides IKEA, that you can get free drink refills.

The kids chose Carl's Jr.  It's totally yuck, but they loved it!  I think they each drank more soda than they've had combined this year.  Ha!

To balance out the soda consumption we headed to one of my favorite parks.  It has a huge mosque next to it.  Mosques here always have public restrooms and running water.  So they are perfect "pit-stops" for little girls with tiny bladders!

When we entered the lower level of the mosque we saw all sorts of kids doing this:

IMG 4942 from Elizabeth on Vimeo.

So, in an uncharacteristic moment of leniency, I let the kids try it when we left!  Then we played at the park until it started to get dark.

Eating the lollipop that the guy at the mosque bookstore gave her.

Can you find Noah?

The playground was crowded, so the kids ended up mostly playing on the exercise equipment.

Lucy was thrilled that I wanted her picture with this cutie.  Not!

After a long day of fun we headed home to relax before a new week began!

Get to Work!

Callie is so creative and fun.  The other day while Lucy and I were gone to her friend's birthday party Callie made Lucy a laptop.  She used my computer as a model and copied every last detail!  It was so well done, I'm surprised that it didn't turn on!  When we got home, Callie surprised Lucy with it.  It was so sweet and thoughtful.  Lucy loved it!  They played "work" the rest of the evening!

I made Callie jump in the picture and model the briefcase that she made to carry the laptop.
So adorable!

Sunday Sneak Peek: Feeling the Love... Not!

The lady at Starbucks saw I was a foreigner and didn't even bother to ask my name! :-(

Beyza Sumeye's Birthday

Today was Lucy's (current) best friend's birthday party.  She was so excited, she must have asked me a hundred times when we could go.  We walked over the second I got things cleaned up from hosting our house church.  I think Lucy was extra excited because she had big news... she finally lost her top front tooth!

As I've said a hundred times, birthday parties here are so different.  They are basically just like our tea times together, minus the Koran readings, plus lots of kids hopped up on sugar running around.  Other than having a birthday cake, Moms don't typically do anything special, like games, for the kids.  When I've done parties and had some games, entertainment, and party favors the kids act like they are at Disney World! (Remember the Piñata?!)  They are so amazed at the concept.  Ha!

Anyhow, Lucy's favorite friends came and their are moms are also some of my favorites, too.  So we had a fun afternoon visiting, playing, eating way too many carbs, and drinking way too much tea!

The birthday girl's mother typically wears a headscarf.  But since it was just women and children in her home she didn't have it on.  Since I've never seen her without it, it took me a second to recognize her when she answered the door!

The kids were trying to blow out the sparklers!

Hatice Hanım with my friend Meral's adorable curly-haired son, Rıdvan.

Lucy had a great time and was such a grump when we had to leave (4 hours later!!).  But, quite honestly, I was exhausted!  I am so thankful for sweet friends that always include us in their special celebrations!

Major Milestone

Lucy has had a wiggly tooth for weeks.  Yesterday she was miserable because she was worried that it was going to fall out and hurt.  The poor tooth was hanging by a thread.  It sort of stuck out like the most adorable little hillbilly.

Look at the nasty tooth just hanging there!

 Well, she couldn't work up the courage to give it the final tug.  So she slept on it.  This morning the adults were praying together in our house church and Lucy came running in with the good news...

She lost her top front tooth!!!

This is actually the third tooth that Lucy has lost.  But, being the top front tooth, it really makes a HUGE difference in the way she looks.  She is so excited.  

I am feeling strangely nostalgic about this tooth.  Watching my children grow up has been such a joy.  I like having older kids.  But this tooth was like a punch to the gut reminding me that my baby has grown up.  Once that second front tooth goes, her face will look so different- more grown up.  She's not a baby anymore!

Ballet Blast

The sweet young girl who watches our kids is a professional ballerina.  She invited us to her latest performance.  Even though I knew that Noah, Justin, and to a lesser extent Lucy wouldn't really love the ballet we graciously accepted her generous invitation.  Honestly, it was so fun to go out as a family and do something so cultural.

The performance was fantastic.  Our sitter was amazing- so graceful and powerful.  I was so proud of her.  And, I was proud of the kids (and Justin!) for sitting so nicely through the entire performance.  I wouldn't say that the Leonards love ballet, but it is nice to experience different things every now and again!
 

Lucy asked me several times, "Momma, why are those boys dancing in their underwear?!"

Following in my Footsteps

Noah was chosen to be the goalie on his school team.  He's so excited...

Modeling his new uniform.  It has the school name across the front, but I brushed that out.

His local name is Arda.

I love this goober!

Wiwe le Spelung!

I learned in my TEFL course that English is the only language with a Spelling Bee tradition.  Unlike every other language in the world, many English spellings have to be memorized because they don't sound like they are spelled or aren't spelled like they sound.  Basically, English is a mish-mash of craziness!

I am a notoriously bad speller.  I blame this on my father.  When I was in third grade he taught me the word mirrow.  (Some of you  may spell it like mirror.)  Guessed who missed that one on her spelling test?!  So, at least I come by it honestly.  Dad and I have other strengths!

As you know, I have recently been crowned the school beggar!  Well, now you can add Spelling Bee tutor to my list of accolades!  Because, well...

So, I am meeting twice a week with the sweet little fourth grader who will be representing our school in the area-wide English Spelling Bee.  Today I spent 15 minutes trying to teach her how to say the letter v and make the vvv sound.  Wwwwwacuum! Ha!

We are going to win this thing and bring home the glory!!

Sprung

Well yall, it turns out that I forgot to do the final step in conjuring Spring and that it why it's taken a bit too long to arrive.  I had to write a whiney blogpost!  As soon as I hit publish last Tuesday, things began to change around here!  Praise the Lord, I have hung my winter coat in the closet and hopefully it will stay there for at least 9 months!  YAY!!

When I start grumbling about the weather next year (I wish I could say, if I start grumbling about the weather... but as Socrates said, Know thyself." So when is far more accurate.)  I have to remember to add the big baby whiney blog post to my list of cray-cray!  It seems to be the final step in ushering in the sun!

So glad I've got that figured out!  And, yay Spring!!!

Better is One Day

Better is one day in your courts

    than a thousand elsewhere;

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

    than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

    the Lord bestows favor and honor;

no good thing does he withhold

    from those whose walk is blameless.

Lord Almighty,

blessed is the one who trusts in you.

Psalm 84: 10-12

Sunday Sneak Peek: Moonrise from the Balcony