Thanksgiving!!

I was a little homesick over Thanksgiving. It was hard knowing my whole family was together eating some of my favorite foods, staying up late playing games and going to the Aggie football game (actually wasn't a bad game to miss;)). We ended up having a really nice Thanksgiving over here though, and we realized just how much we really have to be thankful for...an awesome school, plenty of food and some of the world's nicest friends!
It was pretty weird on Thursday, Thanksgiving morning, when Brent headed to work and all the kids headed to school. Luckily, I was able to go into all the kid's classrooms for Thanksgiving celebrations. I love going in their classrooms! In Jake's class I helped another mom make turkey hats with the kids. They were so cute! I can't believe I forgot to take pictures!!
I headed to Lily's class next where I told them the story of the first Thanksgiving. Lily is the only American in her class of 22 students, so it was really neat to get to talk about this holiday with kids that had never celebrated it before. Her teacher wanted me to bring in a pumpkin pie for all the kids to taste. I brought extra whip cream and some cookies because I assumed they wouldn't like the taste of the pie. I was shocked that most of them loved it!
I went straight to Ella's class next where they had a little feast of popcorn and stone soup! They had also made pumpkin bread that morning with one of the moms...super yummy!! They all looked precious in their pilgrim outfits!

Thanksgiving night we went out to dinner for good ole' American hamburgers at a place called FatBoys...I thought that was a fitting restaurant name for a Thanksgiving meal:)

And of course, some Baskin Robbins for dessert!!





We had our big Thanksgiving meal on Saturday evening. We had 3 families over to feast with us and had such a wonderful time!! There were kids running everywhere and tons of food! It felt like Thanksgiving! We are truly blessed with amazing friends.  I absolutely love these families. They make KL our home away from home.I was a little nervous about hosting my first Thanksgiving meal. I have more respect for the moms and grandma's in my life! I was so nervous about making a turkey and dressing! The turkey was done, so I count it a success!!

 We recorded the Thanksgiving Day Parade and of course some American football!

 So, the kids decided to strip all the beds and make a huge pillow all over Jake's floor to jump on and roll all over! It took a little while to clean up, but it was totally worth it!!

The next day, Bruno our Elf arrived!! The kids were so excited they had a breakfast picnic by him while Lily read the Elf on the Shelf book:)

 We ended the weekend with a Danish/English Christmas Party...yummy food and great friends! And one of the best parts of living in Malaysia...you get to have a Christmas party at the pool!!

Brent learning about the food...all we needed to hear was "...like a donut" :)

So, even though Thanksgiving started with a little homesickness, it turned out wonderful! We have a whole lot to be thankful for!

Deepavali and Writing

One of the coolest things about living over here is seeing the different holidays that are celebrated around the world! Every year the kid's school puts on a big parade and dance for Deepavali, or "festival of lights." All the ECE kids (kinder age and down) dress up in Indian clothing and parade around the school, ending in the courtyard. There they do an Indian dance...so awesome!!
The kids were all SO cute in their clothes and did a fantastic job with the dance! Ella absolutely loved getting all dressed up! Luckily, Brent's office is right in the middle of Brickfields Little India, so I had no trouble finding outfits! All the clothes are so bright and colorful! Ella felt like a princess!! We bought lots of bangles and even henna stickers for her hands:)
Jake wasn't so sure at first:) Lily and Ella told him he looked like Aladdin! I didn't think he was going to enjoy any of it, but I was so wrong! Both kids did great and really got into the dance!

Luckily, Brent had been traveling so much, he was able to take the day off because Lily had a writing celebration at the same time. Brent loved going to the class where the kids served them treats and coffee and read them 3 stories that they had written and "published." Brent had a fantastic time and Lily loved having Daddy there:)

Halloween 2014

So this year we had a witch, a butterfly and Batman again (his costume still fit...whoohoo!!). I wasn't too sure about what to expect with Halloween here. If there would be any candy, costumes, decorations, trick-or-treating? Well, KL had it all!! It was definitely different than our Halloweens in the states with going door to door to trick-or-treat, but the kids all had a great time and got plenty of candy!
Ella and Jake got to wear their Halloween costumes to school on Halloween morning and had a little party in the ECE hallway. ECE includes Kinder and younger. Each teacher had an activity in their classroom and the kids had an hour to go from classroom to classroom making crafts, feeling sensory boxes, dancing and enjoying Halloween snacks. Lily was very jealous:) I got to walk Jake and 2 of his little friends around. All the kids really had a great time!

All of Jake's little class in their costumes:)

Halloween night the school PA puts on a huge Halloween Carnival for all the elementary families. I actually was on the committee which was a lot of fun! The whole time that we were planning though, I really never understood how big it actually was until the night of. There were SO many kids!!! And the majority of the adults dressed up too!! There was a DJ with dancing, lots of games and of course a trick-or-treating path. The lady in charge of decorations did an awesome job! I was truly amazed! It almost felt like Halloween back in New Orleans:) Brent was in charge of the kids for most of the night since I was helping out, but I got to catch up and play with them too!

A super sweet and talented mom organized a flash mob dance that Lily participated in and absolutely loved!! It was very cute and amazing how much they learned so quickly!

The next night, the condo did a little Halloween candy hunt. There were quite a few kids there too! The grown-ups kinda just thru candy all around ground floor by the pools and park and the kids ran for it! The kids had a blast! And I got an Almond Joy...it was a good night:)