~Thanksgiving Celebration~

Well we haven't been doing too much of anything recently. It's been relaxed and laid back, so I'll just skip to Thanksgiving:

I was like a kid on Christmas. I kept waking up once every hour until it was finally time to get up and get started. We had cooked the pies the night before (Thank goodness) and we soon prepped our oven for the Turkey, the last turkey in all of Lublin. It took Travis and his classmate 3hrs to track one down. When they finally fount it, it was the last one in the store. Travis said it was just like the movies. They were staring at it and noticed another person closing in so he quickly lifted it over his head and yelled down for his classmate to bring the cart over; they one. And I'm glad they did. Every 40mins we basted it in Coke, and it was delicious and moist.

Once the Turkey was out, we cooked up Travis' Orange rolls and people began to trickle in, and with them came TONS of food:

Travis' Med Class. Elders took the photo

In the end we ended up fitting 17people in our apt, and everyone seemed to really enjoy the food. We were able to make EVERYTHING we were used to having (including gravy from the turkey drippings). We also had some Indian and Asian dishes that were different and delicious.

We started preparing at 5am, had everyone come at 12:30, and had everyone out by 3:30. The rest of the afternoon Travis studied, Maddix played, and I slept off some of the food I ate, then ate more, then slept more:) Pretty sure I've gained 5lbs since Sat's feast. Then that night one of Trav's classmates came over after we put Maddix to bed and he studied at our apt while we went to catch a late movie. We planned on seeing the new James Bond movie, but we got there just as it was starting at noticed it was almost a 3hr movie! So... we saw the new Twilight movie. I've been embarrassed to admit that I've seen the other ones, but I LOVED THIS ONE. It was amazing, and so well done. I wish they all could have lived up to this standard! It was the perfect way to end such a nice day. Well... almost end. We got home and were exhausted but ended up staying up until 1:30am chatting with the classmate. Of course Maddix was up bright and early the next morning. And he was a terror. He spilled his breakfast everywhere, threw an open bottle of 7up at me and got it all over my blanket, me and the couch, then at church he threw the biggest tantrums to date. I knew he would be that way, and he didn't disappoint. Sigh.... I think that pretty well catches up. Now we're just making all sorts of Christmas crafts and today or tomorrow we're going to go purchase a little Christmas Tree! I love the Christmas Holiday!

~A Weekend With the Mechams~

Last semester when we were here we were lucky enough to live close to a family, who became just like family to us, named the Mecham's. This time around they have been transferred to England, but lucky for us they had so business that brought them to Lublin from this past Thur until next Tues. We were also fortunate enough that they were willing to bunk with us for some of the time! Maddix LOVED waking up to instant friends:)
(top left was our sleeping arrangments, next to it was our soccer game that ended 15mins later after everyone had stepped in dog poop, then the boys watching a movie before bed, then Cole looking very Russian. Bottom photo was taken at the park by the Castle in Old town.) We have loved having them around and look forward to the next few days while still have them around:) So far we've had so many fun activities anywhere from piling all the boys in Maddix's little tent to piling ALL the kids (plus Travis) on one slide and almost breaking the slide! Thank you Nate, Becky, Bailey, Mckay, and Cole for being in our lives! Can't wait to come stay with you guys in a few months!