Month of December

Ok, so here is an update of what's been going on the past few weeks. We found an artificial Christmas tree and all the decorations at a store called Koctas. It's very similar to a Home Depot but also has some stuff you might find in a store like Bed, Bath and Beyond. So, we put up our tree the week after Thanksgiving. We've still had beautiful weather for the most part. There was about a week where it rained pretty much everyday and that made for cold temperatures, but cold here is a high of 55 or so:)) We are back to gorgeous sunshine and a high of 70 today! The kids are doing great! Ilkan loves school and happily goes each morning now. I am happy because he is getting used to the food, which is way healthier here and actually likes it! Atakan is silly as always. He still loves all of his instruments and playing music. He now puts on concerts in the playroom while listening to his Playhouse Disney CD. He especially loves the Imagination Movers. I just saw that the Imagination Movers are going to be doing shows in the US and felt a little sad that we can't take him, but what do you do??

This past weekend was a busy one. I hosted a baby shower for a friend of ours, Serhat (he was a groomsman in our wedding) and his wife are having a baby girl at the end of January. Most people have a party for the baby after it is born here, so I mixed up things and did and American style baby shower. We even played games and I think everyone had a nice time. My mother in law and Fecir helped tremendously as MIL made most of the food and brought it over and Fecir helped with cleaning up. On Sunday Kaan and I took some time to go Christmas shopping and then had dinner with Serhat and Ebru at their home. It was nice to have some adult time!

Kaan is leaving for the military in about a week and a half so that is both sad and a relief at the same time. He only has to go for 3 weeks so it's not a long time and it will be over and done with and won't be hanging over our heads anymore. The major bonus is that my brother and Kathi are coming for a week and my Mom is coming for 10 days!! Between the three of them, they will cover 2 of the 3 weeks Kaan will be gone. We haven't told the kids about the company...maybe we'll make it a surprise:))