Happy 4th Birthday Emily!

Today was Emily's 4th birthday.  She has been looking forward to this for WEEKS... pretty much ever since Ben had his birthday in November.  So, it's been a long time coming.  

Yesterday we threw a "little" birthday party with some friends from the neighborhood.  To honor her new found passion for sea life we did an "Under the Sea" themed party.

Happy Girl

I have a friend here named Cheryl.  Her husband is in the Air Force and is in Egypt for a few months.  She's a little overwhelmed  managing her five kids on her own, the youngest of whom  has special needs.  One of her daughters, Emma, is just a few days apart from Emily, so we decided to do a joint b-day party to simplify things.  Emma was adopted from Korea.  She and Em adore each other

The birthday girls.  This is how four year olds pose for the camera.  

Em's friends.  Those are octopus hotdogs in the bowl, in case you were wondering.  

Of course this is her best friend of all

We played a few games, but I think I over-estimated the ability of three year olds to play party games.    I tried to teach them "fish, fish shark" (instead of duck, duck, goose).  But they didn't quite get it.   When they were selected to be the "shark" they would just sit there instead of jumping up to chase.  And every now and then someone would just get up and wander off to the toy closet or the backyard.  But, hey, this is the first birthday party I've ever thrown, so cut me a break.  

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We also played "pin the tail on the whale" and they kind of got this one.  Most of the girls peeked through the blindfold.  And Em, leery of the blindfold, refused to play. But, whatcha gonna do?

After watching everyone else have a turn, Em finally agreed to let me blindfold her

Playing musical chairs to the tune of Octopus' Garden

We also played musical chairs.  And while the girls loved dancing to the music, and rushing for a chair when the music stopped, they didn't quite understand the concept of "getting out."  Em got really upset at Elsa for taking "her" blue chair and burst into tears when no chairs were left for her.   So, we just left all the chairs in and let the kids run around them.  They had more fun that way.  

It was a joint effort to blow out the one candle, and I wish I had it on video because it was sooo funny.  The blew and blew and spit and spattered all over the place before they finally extinguished the flame

Some of Em's friends... Hayley and Lydia

Dancing to the music

So, today, Sunday, was her actual birthday.  And she got a bike... what she's been asking for for weeks. 

C was lookin' cool as ever

Em and her hog

Yes, this is  John Deere bike.  But, hey, it's cute and it got the best reviews.  

I think I had as much fun on Em's birthday as she did.  It was so fun to watch her ride a bike for the first time.  I felt like I was reliving those days back in Westwood when I learned to ride my little blue bike.  

Em is so special to me in so many ways.  I will always remember the first time I laid eyes on her and the instant love that overcame me... a kind of love I had never known before.  That love has been constant for the past four years.  She is a sensitive, beautiful, smart, and caring girl.  She loves her little sister.  And she will never know how much her parents love her until she has a little one of her own.

California Dreamin'

Well, since my last entry, the smoke has cleared a bit, and I'm not feeling quite so negative towards Romania as I initially was.  We're slowly warming up to the idea. Truth be told, we think it's a great opportunity.  But, it's funny...  whenever I talk to people about Romania they like to share with me what little they do know about the country.  It's either one of the following: orphanages, stray packs of dogs, gypsies, or Transylvania.  Not culture, art, food, architecture, or all those wonderful things usually associated with Europe.  But, I will say, I'm looking forward to Dracula's castle.   

So my awesome family came out from Utah to visit me about three weeks ago. (I know I'm behind, but I've been in mourning.) My mom, my sister Bonnie, my two brothers Reed and Dennis, and their wives Amber and Ashley all made the trek.  We had a glorious time.  And no, they did not all stay with me.  They stayed at a Hyatt.  

Here's Amber and Bonnie chilling with C and Em at the timeshare. 

Chilling at Lover's Point.  It was a super windy chilly day, so we took refuge behind this rock wall at the beach.

 

Close up: Dennis, Ashley, Bonnie, sportin' their shades.

After the beach, I made everyone go on a walk along the coast. It LOOKS nice, but don't let that fool you.  It was windy and cold!

My adorable mom and adorable sister

Reed and Amber

We went on an amazing bike ride along the famous 17 mile drive (no, we did not go the full 17 miles).

Yes, I am well aware that I am the dorkiest looking person in this photo, but hey, safety first.  

A beautiful ride not to be forgotten!

The Lone Cypress

We went and ate at the Mission Ranch in Carmel (owned by Clint Eastwood)... the beautiful grounds were the best part.  The girls had a blast rolling around in the grass.  

And checking out the sheep

 The last day of their visit we went to Carmel Beach.  It was finally warm with no wind.  

C and Nana catching some z's.  Aint that sweet?

I feel like every picture I have is of my siblings in their sunglasses staring into the camera.  We did play some awesome ultimate frisbee, which was fun as long as we weren't stepping in kelp and dog doodoo.

So, hanging out with my siblings is one of my most favorite things to do in life, and it doesn't get to happen too often, so I'm so grateful they made the effort to come all the way here!  My two brothers and their wives drove 15 hours through the night to get here and with a 6 month old baby to boot!  But, since it's not looking too promising that they'll make it to Romania, I'm glad they were able to make it to CA.    

News and my sister comes to visit

Ok, so we have news... about our next assignment...

Remember how I posted about our supposed "list"?  You know, Paris, London, Athens, etc.  All those wonderful places?  

Remember how I ended the post with, "it probably won't be very exciting, things never turn out the way you think they will, so I'm bracing myself for disappointment."

Wow, what amazing foresight I had, a very ominous statement indeed.

I've been bugging Ben all week to check his email, knowing that we should be finding out any day. 

 I've been super pumped.

Well, Friday he finally got the email, and the results are in. 

Are you ready for this?

Our next assignment will be in...

(drumroll please)

ROMANIA

Yes, that's right.  Bucharest, Romania as assistant attache for 36 months.  First we go to DC in January for a year of attache training.

What was my reaction?

Well, I couldn't stop crying for the first day.  And believe me, they were not tears of joy.

To say I was disappointed is putting it mildly.

We were shocked because Romania wasn't even on the list.  It came from left field.

We're still finding out details.

That's all I'm going to say about it for now.  Things could change between now and then.  Something else might come up and like I said before, things never turn out the way you think they will, so maybe Bucharest will be an amazing place to live after all (but not holding my breath).

So onto merrier topics.  My dear sister Rebekah came to visit about a month ago.  I'm just now posting about it.  I've decided that Rebekah is the most interesting person I know.  She's so fun to talk to because you never know what she's going to say or what will peak her interest.  

She's my oldest sister, mother of five.  She just brought her two youngest who are Em and C's ages, so that was really fun for them.  

We went to Point Lobos:

Yes, that's Em on R's shoulders.  Don't ask.  

Love this pic.  Em and Ricky are little buddies.

Whale watching

We went to Carmel Beach.  Beck thought she had died and gone to heaven.  

Like my hat?  I thought it was awesome until I asked Ben what he thought and he said I looked like Susan B. Anthony.  Rude!

For the longest time C did not like going down by the water.  But now she can't get enough of it

We went to the beach a second time and built a fire...

roasted hotdogs

No make-up... scary, I know.  But you can see how happy I am to be hanging with my sis

We went to the children's museum in San Jose

I got to bond with Ricky and Deborah

Aren't they a beautiful family?  Note, the girl in the front is mine, not theirs.