A Day in the Life

I documented our day in pictures yesterday (Wednesday). It was so much fun to capture the little moments that make up our day. The last time I did this was almost 3 years ago (you can click HERE to read that post).

7:30 - The kids begin waking up, starting with Isaiah. This is sleeping in for us because Brooks is usually up well before 7:00.

7:30 - 8:30 is the crazy hour as the kids get up, get dressed, make their beds, eat breakfast, brush their teeth and get their book bags ready for school. Joel always makes breakfast and I clean it up, that is our routine and it works well for us. While Joel is in the kitchen starting breakfast, I start a load of laundry and help the little ones make their beds and get dressed.

I am thankful for a husband who makes a hot breakfast every morning. This morning he made the kids oatmeal and eggs, toast and coffee for me.

Colson was the first one ready for school so I enlisted his help to hang out the laundry.

8:45 - The big kids are out the door for school.

9:00 - The little boys say goodbye to daddy who is leaving to go to the pottery shop.

The boys play with random items they pull out of the kitchen cabinets. Then I put Brooks in his highchair so he doesn't get into trouble while I hang out the next load of laundry. Brooks is not happy about this!

After I'm done hanging laundry, I get Brooks out of his chair. I turn my back for one second and he has climbed up the stool and onto the window seat. I get him down and put the stool on the window seat so he cannot climb up, which again he is not happy about!

9:30 - Isaiah asks if he can go visit Aunt Melanie. He decides to take his backpack. He knocks on her door and is told it's not a good time right now and to come back in the afternoon. He comes back home without crying, which is big progress for him!

9:40 - We head downstairs to play and discover it's still a mess from yesterday, so we play for a bit then tidy up and vacuum. One of Brooks' favorite things to do is play with the vacuum, so we do a lot of vacuuming every day :)

Then it's back up to the kitchen and I start making granola, break up fights between Brooks and Isaiah who are playing in the living room and then put Brooks up in his highchair so I can finish the granola.

10:20 - Our granola for the week is in the oven! I take the boys upstairs, so I can put a few things away in the kids' bedrooms, empty bathroom trashcans and start another load of laundry (I put Brooks in his pack and play so I can get this done).

11:00 - Granola is done. I bundle the boys up and we walk down the street to take some granola to a neighbor and bring her son home to play with us.

11:30 - I feed the 3 boys some leftovers for lunch. During lunch Isaiah teaches Nash how to take his socks off and "get the yuckies" between his toes (the fuzzies from his socks). This is Isaiah's favorite pastime as of late. Nash is unimpressed.

12:00 - I send Nash home, watching from the porch to make sure he gets there.

12:15 - I heat up some milk, give Brooks his bottle to hold and we walk upstairs where I sit on Vienna's bedroom floor and feed Brooks his bottle. Then I lay him down for his nap and come back downstairs where Isaiah is still sitting at the table finishing his lunch.

I start peeling and cutting potatoes for dinner. I hear Brooks talking upstairs and go check on him. He has pulled the curtain down. I lay him back down and tell him in a stern voice to "go to sleep!"

 12:45 - My sister stops in to say hi. Isaiah is STILL finishing his apples from lunch.

1:00 - Isaiah is finally done with lunch and I put him down for a nap. Brooks is STILL awake playing in his bed and calling "mommy", so my sister decides to go upstairs and try to rock him to sleep. I get started taking the dry laundry off the line and hanging up the 3rd load of wet laundry. Melanie is not successful and Brooks is now crying. I go up and snuggle him a little and lay him down. He finally falls asleep at 1:15. I come downstairs to find Mel folding my laundry that I threw on the couch. What are sister's for?!

We chat for awhile and then Mel leaves at 1:45. 

2:00 - Joel and a friend arrive home and begin working on Joel's latest endeavor - making bee hive boxes to sell to local beekeepers. I start mixing up the meat for kofte (Turkish meat balls).

2:30 - Isaiah's up from his nap. I get him a snack and put on Cars in Turkish for him in the basement. I finish chopping up some things for dinner and take tea and a snack outside for Joel and his friend. Kofte is made and put in the fridge.

3:30 - The big kids arrive home from school. They get changed and get a snack. Yohanis and Colson head out to the backyard to play soccer.

4:00 - Brooks wakes up and we go outside to play. Vienna and Isaiah go play at my sister's house with their cousins.

5:00 - I come back inside with Brooks and Isaiah to get dinner in the oven. Brooks and Isaiah play/fight in the living room. At 5:30 I call the big kids in to start homework.

5:45 - I call Joel and his friend, B, in for dinner. B ended up eating with us last night too and we had breakfast for dinner, which he went home and told his wife all about. I can only imagine what some people think of us strange Americans. Haha. Anyway, hopefully I redeemed myself with tonight's "real dinner".

6:15 - Joel leaves to take B home and pick up a few things from the hardware store for his beehive boxes. Isaiah and Colson go with him while Vienna and Yohanis finish homework and I clean up dinner. And Brooks runs around and gets into trouble like any good 15 month old does :)

7:30 - Yohanis is finished with homework and we play a game of checkers. Joel, Colson and Isaiah are back. Joel starts making spaghetti sauce. He is the best! We got 9 kilos at the market yesterday and I wanted to make spaghetti sauce but didn't get around to it. Joel knows I'm tired and has those 9 kilos of tomatoes turned into a delicious sauce in NO TIME! 

8:00 - The kids start getting jammies on and brushing teeth, I grab a quick snuggle with sleepy Brooks.

8:15 - Joel tucks in the big kids while I give Brooks his bottle and lay him down. 

8:30 - Joel has a meeting and I sit down to REST with some hot chocolate! I upload and edit some pictures from the day and get up every now and then to stir the sauce that is simmering on the stove top.

10:30 - Joel gets home and we put the sauce in jars and then head up to bed where we catch up on each other's days and are asleep by 11:30 :)

Pizza night

It is our Friday night tradition to make pizza and watch a movie together. We began this tradition not long after moving to Turkey; it was hard to find good pizza here, so we started making our own. And after inviting several different Turkish friends over to try our pizza, we discovered it was a big hit with many of them. Some of them even said we should go into business. Our close friends know that Friday night is pizza night, so they always joke that they will be coming for dinner on Fridays. 

Last Friday we invited some friends for pizza night, but then their nephew ended up in the hospital on Thursday, and after he was released he came to their house to recover. So we ended up bringing all the dough, sauce, cheese and toppings to their house and made the pizzas there. It was a lot of fun and their 13 year old daughter was really excited to learn how to make pizza.

Dinner was a beautiful mix of cultures: pizza, salad, lentil soup and sarma (wrapped grape leaves stuffed with a spiced rice mixture). The wife knows how much I love sarma and even sent me home with a whole pot full! 

And I couldn't help but feel thankful for how full our lives are. We came to this country and were introduced to so many new customs as we became friends with people here. They invited us into their way of life and our family has changed in many ways as we've embraced this culture and these people. And it has been fun to be able to share some of our traditions with them as well. I love how enriching it is to share and learn from each other!

Lunchtime Conversations

Isaiah is ALWAYS talking. If he is awake, he is talking. And we have recently entered the stage of questioning EVERYTHING. He asks a lot of questions. A lot. This kid, he is something else. And I want to remember him at this age: his stubborn, silly, creative, extremely cute little three-and-a-half year old self!
 
The following conversation happened in about 10 minutes while we ate lunch today. I don't know how he managed to eat 3 bowls of soup in 10 minutes with all the talking he did. WHEW . . . 


Isaiah: Can we get salt? I'll go get it.
 
Me: No, I already put salt in it.
 
Isaiah: Does it have salt? I don't see it, I want season it. Do you see it? That sugar? Do you, Mommy? Why? Do you stir it up? Like this? So I can't see it? Mommy does Brooks need this little bite? I need big bites, right? That what I need! Daddy need SO SO SO SO big bites, right Mommy? Like this? Like a huge two big bites. Mommy when we eat carrots, the monster take our food and eat it. Is that funny? I should karate chop it. That would be funny. Is that ice warmed up? (he was referring to the frozen jar of pizza sauce that I left thawing on the counter) Can I touch it? Can I? Does it have honey? Is it honey?
 
Me: It's pizza sauce.

Isaiah: Why? Is it spilling on my belly button? (talking about his spilled soup) Mommy talk to me! IS IT? IS IT? Do you see it? RIGHT HERE! Is it opening? It's not opening. 

Me: What isn't opening?

Isaiah: My belly button won't. It need to open. See it won't open. Why mommy? You have to take it off and open it. There's batteries in it. You have to break it and open in. There's batteries in it.

Me: Sit down and eat your soup.

Isaiah (Burps then starts making annoying noises at Brooks): Mommy remember the monster guy in Road Runner? Him has a fork and knife to eat. Road Runner do boink boink boink. That what he does. The bad guy, he has forks to eat him. Mommy Brooks wants more. This time I need more. I'm beating you. I'm doing a race and beating you.

Me: Good you're eating fast!

Isaiah: Mommy I eat all the way down here and I started to eat and eat a lot! Right Mommy?
It went on my pants. I told you it went on my pants.
 
Me: Can you get if off?
 
Isaiah: It's all stuck. Look. I cant take it off. (the soup on his pants)
 
Me: You ate really good, bud! Do you want more?

Isaiah: Uh-huh. Whoops. Can I have more? I need more. Is it hot? Can Brooks have one bite. Him talking to eat some more. Him opening his mouth. Him want more!

Me: Please eat your soup.

Isaiah: But there's yuckies in it. There's some on my belly button too. It dripping. I beat you eating. Like Brooks.
 
Me: Good job. You were a hungry boy!
 
Isaiah: MORE! I'm full. I want more. Can I have more? I want more! Mommy, I want more. Why you keep running?
 
Me: So I can get you your soup fast.
 
Isaiah: Why?  

Me: So you can eat.
 
Isaiah: WHY? It's super hot. IT'S HOT!

Me: Blow on it! 

Isaiah: Mommy, Brooks burn his tongue. Mommy Brooks say more and please. Is Brooks going to beat me? I beat him! Some got right here (got soup on his belly again) Mommy look! Look at this! What are these (points to a carrot in his lentil soup that didn't get quite blended up) Mommy a carrot was in here! Mommy I told you there was a carrot in here.
 
Me: Did you eat 3 bowls of soup? WOW!

Isaiah: Uh-huh. Mommy, is there more in here?
 
Me: Nope, you ate it all!
 
Isaiah: Why?

Me: Cause you were hungry.

Isaiah: Can I go at the Kirks house (my sister's house) Can I? I did an arrow. See that arrow? I just blowed it and it came out of my mouth and it did an arrow and flyed up in the sky. Right all the way over here, Mommy see it? It flyed in the sky. Want me do another one? I did another one. (I have no idea what he's talking about ?!?!?!)
 
Me: Are you all done?
 
Isaiah: Yeah I'm full. I ate a lot.
 
Me: Can you take your bowl to the kitchen?
 
Isaiah: No, I'm tired. I did it a long time ago.
 
Me: Well, take it anyway, please.

Isaiah (walking into the kitchen with his bowl): My bubbles in the trash. Cause you throw it in there a long time ago. This time I tell daddy to buy more. (I threw an empty bubble container away probably about a year ago and from time to time he still brings it up and gets mad at me).

We were having church in our living room this morning when our good friends called us up around 11:15 and asked if they could come over. They wanted to hang out and grill chicken for dinner, they said. 

Of course you say yes, even if it's not a good time or you have plans to do something else (like finishing up homework and giving kids baths, so exciting, I know!).

Church was over and everyone left our house by 1:00, we quickly fed the kids and ourselves some leftovers for lunch and our friends showed up at 2:15, with 6 extra people.

You would think by now I would be used to this sort of thing, but I'm not. I'm sure my face totally gave me away, but I tried to give my best smile as I ushered everyone into the living room. My friend came into the kitchen with me and started opening up cupboards and asked, "Should we make nescafe or Turkish coffee?"


I kind of love that she just comes in and takes over because I probably would have forgot to even offer coffee as my house was suddenly very full of adults and noisy children and it was hard for me to think, let alone function in Turkish and remember to offer the guests things that you are supposed to, like slippers for their feet.

The extra guests were relatives that were not staying for dinner, just coffee, I soon found out (insert big sigh of relief). 

One relative, whom we shall call Teyze (Auntie in Turkish), followed us into the kitchen and started to chat with my friend while we busied ourselves making the coffee. She stopped once to look at me and say, "You've gained weight, haven't you? You used to be a lot skinnier!"

I was a bit dumbfounded for a second, and even though I know better than to get offended by Turks who just say what's on their mind all the time, I totally did. And I was glad that they were leaving after coffee, because all I wanted was to get this lady her coffee and get her out of my house. 

But Teyze continued to boss us around during the whole coffee making process. I really didn't know there were so many wrong ways to make instant coffee. First, I put too much hot water in the cups, so we had to dump some out because it was supposed to be "half hot water, half milk." Then, after I heated up the milk to a temperature I thought was hot enough, I had to put it back on the burner and heat it up some more because it wasn't boiling. 

What I really wanted to do was tell Teyze to make her own coffee, but I gritted my teeth and tried to just nod and smile and get through the making of the coffee that felt like it was going to take the rest of my life. Oh and I should add that during this time, Brooks woke up from his nap, Isaiah came downstairs when he was supposed to be napping and Vienna kept coming into the kitchen every few minutes whining about this or that. 

But we did finally get the coffee made and served and about 10 minutes after everyone finished, Teyze, her husband and two kids got up and left. Just like that. The whole situation really was pretty laughable, maybe not in the moment, but it is now!

And even though the afternoon got off to a rocky start, I'm thankful I was able to get over it, change my stinky attitude and have some fun and not dwell on feeling like I'm always the foreigner who can never do anything right in this culture. The rest of the afternoon and evening with our friends went well. We grilled chicken and lamb, made oven fries and a big bowl of salad. We ate on the living room floor, sharing food from the same bowls, my friend washed all the dishes for me, we laughed at Brooks' silly antics, we drank tea and just enjoyed being together. 

And I am so thankful that even though there are moments that are hard, I am reminded that we are making such rich and beautiful friendships here in this country. And we have come so far! 6 years ago, EVERYTHING felt so foreign and uncomfortable, but now it feels much more familiar and natural. 6 years ago I would have never thought that living here in Turkey would ever feel like home, but it does more and more so every day!

Colson's 8th birthday

On Sunday, the child that made me a mommy turned 8. Eight years old!

We usually keep birthdays pretty simple. I have never had a big, fancy birthday party for my kids with lots of guests (I know, what kind of mother, am I?!?!). It just seems like so much work and stress and I want to be present and enjoy celebrating WITH my kids, instead of worry about party decorations and making lots of food for many guests.  And actually, with how many siblings and cousins there are, every birthday is like a big party!

Colson wanted to have a sleepover with his boy cousins, so they came over Saturday night and slept in a tent in the basement.

For breakfast the birthday boy wanted cinnamon rolls and for dinner he requested burgers on the grill and oven fries, with some chocolate milk to drink. And he wanted a marble cake for his birthday cake.

I should note that Joel made ALL the food for Colson's birthday, right down to the cake because I was out of town and only arrived home Sunday afternoon (I know, I know, after I just said that I like to celebrate with my kids. But I did make it home in time for him to open his presents and have his special dinner and birthday cake). But Joel definitely wins dad of the year award for doing so much to make the day special for Colson!

After I got home in the afternoon, Colson opened his presents. I have never seen a kid so excited about getting a tool-belt and some tools! He is definitely his father's son. I think his favorite gift was a vintage hand drill that Joel searched high and low to get. He also got his own calender (he likes to keep track of important dates and count down to special days), a few books and some roller blades from my mom. 

After dinner we invited cousins and a few friends over for cake!

It was fun celebrating this kid. He continues to amaze me with how sweet, kind, caring and wise he is becoming. The other day he told me that we should also celebrate me on his birthday because I became a mommy that day.

We love you, Colson Riley!

February Highlights

We got to dog-sit our friends' dog, Luis, for two weeks while they were out of town. The kids had so much fun and Luis is pretty much the sweetest dog ever, but after this trial-run, I decided we are not yet ready for 5 kids AND a dog :)

Hands down, the cutest helper!

The kids collecting "treasures" (for real though, they picked up a bunch of trash) for the clubhouse they built in their cousins' backyard.

The beginnings of their clubhouse

Making manti (like a dumpling filled with minced meat) with some of our best friends. You put a little dot of minced meat on a small square of dough then wrap it up. Then you boil the manti in water and after they are cooked you eat it topped with a garlic yogurt sauce. It is one of my favorite Turkish dishes! Even though it was a tedious job, it was fun to do together. We did get a bit lazy towards the end and our manti kept getting bigger and bigger so we could be finished faster and eat it! :)

Having fun on a date with Joel! We checked out the art gallery in the newly built Folkart Towers (Europe's 5th highest twin towers). We were only on the 18th floor and had a beautiful view of the sea and snow covered mountains. I can only imagine how great the view is from the 40th floor!!

Some Sunday afternoon exploring.