"I be 2!"

After much Bake Sale baking, and Thanksgiving partying, we just didn't quite get enough, so we had leftovers on Friday and celebrated Tye's 2nd birthday on Saturday. We tried to keep it simple with just family and our friends, Shane and Lindsay, in from Indonesia. However, that totaled about 20 of us...simple, huh? We had a great time grilling burgers and the kids (Tye and Charley) played with play dough, sidewalk chalk, punch balls and of course...time at the "Tyeland" park. We had a great time and finished off the Thanksgiving desserts, along with the pumpkin spice cupcakes. Tye enjoyed the ranch dip more than his corndog or his birthday cupcake, but that is my "never touch a dessert" boy, afterall.

Here is my question, though. So we celebrated his birthday on Nov 29th, but he isn't actually 2 until Dec 4th. So do we pretend he is actually 2 now, or wait until Thursday to break the news? Not that it really matters, just curious as to your responses.

Here are a few pictures from the special day. The cute thing is that we taught him when his birthday is, so if you ask him, he says, "Asember four" and on Asember four, he will "be two". When you ask him how old he is now, he "be one". Too cute! He was much more efficient at opening gifts this time and was so kind in telling everyone "tat too" (Thank You) for the gifts. Hope you all had a fantastic thanksgiving holiday and enjoyed your time with family or friends.

Our traditional, "family picture"



Yummy ranch dip!



My favorite construction workers :)



Happy Birthday to Tye!



Tye, Charley and Tim...Fun with play dough!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Dave!

Yesterday, we celebrated my brother's birthday! He made it another year and we are thankful for that. Mom grilled some yummy steaks, with banana pudding for dessert. Tye, of course, helped open gifts and learned how to blow the party favors as well. Here are a few pictures from the night.

Grammy & Pappa's House

Good times at the Dallas Zoo!



Tye trying to learn how to blow a dandelion. He was not too successful, but made for a good picture.



I could not resist this face.

Well, it had been a while...actually, I think since June, but we finally made it up to Big-D to visit Russ's parents and his sister and new husband, Ethan. We had such a great time...Tye had so much fun that he chose not to nap while we were there. That does not mean he did not get put in his pack and play for 2 hours, but he did enjoy play time in it. We had dinner with "Aunt Bibby" and "Unca Efan" and then went to the park and Dallas Zoo while we were there. Whew, a fast weekend, but packed with fun. We got back home on Sunday night to hear our son, wheezing the entire night. Come to find out...it is that season again! The Croup and all those other random virus's that kids get. He is finally getting a little better, but not fun for parents (or their kids). Here are a few pics from the weekend and a shout out to Tye's buddy, Asher. Asher can have the lead if Tye can play the keys with a bouncy ottoman. Enjoy!



Blessings,
Bethany

He shoots...he scores!

Now that the weather is cooling off...for Houston that means it is finally below 90...we have pulled back out the outdoor toys and Tye has really enjoyed rediscovering them (we had to put them away due to Hurricane Ike). Here are a few photos of him shooting baskets. He has quite good form for a 22 month old.







Blessings,
Bethany

Our Turkey Slideshow

Here is the slideshow for our pictures to Turkey. Sorry there are so many, but I promise...I did condense.

Jetlagged, but home!

I know, we said we would post while we were in Istanbul, but that did not happen...sorry. We are now home and settling back into our somewhat normal routine. That means, we are not waking up at 3am wide awake and falling asleep at 8:30pm every night. Tye has done the best of all of us, though. He did not seemed phased by the crazy 8 hour time difference. Anyway, we had a fantastic trip full of fun in the Turkish sun, sightseeing in Istanbul, and many laughs. Much thanks to Ryan and Laura for their fluent Turkish that helped us survive in the country, and their wonderful hospitality, as well as a playmate for Tye while we were there.

There was no rest for the weary because we flew to the beach the morning after we arrived in Istanbul. That means...we evacuated for Ike on a Wednesday, came back into town with no power the following Tuesday to pack. Thankfully, my cousin, Troy and his wife, Alyson let us stay with them to do a little laundry and get a good nights sleep and then we flew out on Wednesday. Our 8.5 hour full flight to Paris, then 4 hour layover, and another 3.5 hour flight to Istanbul...not fun, but hey, we figured we can do anything for 1 day. We got into Istanbul that evening and flew out to Kusadasi (the beach) the next morning at 8am. Whew...after settling into our villa, life settled down a bit. We were a short taxi ride to the beach, and about 30 minutes from Ephesus. We enjoyed them both, and as you will see from the pictures...the docked cruise ship tourists enjoyed Ephesus the same day as well. It was sooo crowded! We tried all week to take a ferry to Samos, one of the Greek Isles, to get Laura her much anticipated Greek Salad, but never made it bc the Port workers were on strike all week...bummer. The beach water was beautiful and the scenery was spectacular.

After a week, we flew back to Istanbul. We had a babysitter for the kids the first day and had a chance to do some sightseeing in the historical European side of Istanbul. We visited the Blue Mosque, the Aya Sophia, the Basilica Cistern, and the Grand Bazaar. Let me say...us pregnant women were TIRED! We were there during the last week of Ramadan, so that was an interesting sight to see the festival atmosphere they had set up for every evening. The people there were so friendly and often enjoyed a cup of "chay" which is like a very strong hot tea. We spent most evenings, enjoying fantastic Turkish dinners, hanging out at the house playing cards, their wii, and lots of laughs since there were 2 one-year olds and 2 pregnant women in the house, we layed low by 8:00pm.





Okay, so that was the trip in a condensed nutshell...I will put a slideshow up as soon as I can, but here are a few pics to get it started.

Blessings...
Bethany

Evacuation from Ike

On Thursday, we left Houston and headed for Fredericksburg, TX. Bethany's family has a house just outside of this town and so we had a place to go to retreat from the hurricane. As most of you know, Ike came on shore about 2 am Saturday morning and we were all watching the news and the weather channel for the most up-to-date information that we could get. All of us evacuated except Ray (Bethany's dad) and he and Don Allison stayed behind in Porter. Don Allison is a friend that is driving down to Guatemala and his family will be flying down to meet him this Thursday. He and his family ( http://www.allisonfamilyinguat.blogspot.com/) will be living in the Canilla/San Andreas metro area ;) for the next 6 to 7 months doing medical mission work in close coordination with the Ficker family ( http://www.adonaiinternationalministries.org/documents/23.html ). John Villanueva, who works with us and specifically with Agape in Action is driving down with Don in Agape's 4 runner with a 4 wheeler stuffed in the back of it. (Please see previous posts for pics on this event).

All of this to say that we are all safe and were mostly spared from the wrath of the hurricane by the Lord's hand but some of our neighbors and friends had some damage to their homes and property. We plan to make the trip back to Houston tomorrow to get ready to leave for Turkey on Wednesday. We have been planning a trip to see our friends "Los Lobos" since March and we are hoping that everything is still ok for our flight out of Houston. We have heard that they just opened the international airport today in Houston. Please be in prayer for the citizens of Houston and the surrounding areas during this time of recovery. We hope that all power and utilities are restored by the time we get back from Turkey. ;)
Our next post might be from the other side of the globe.