Wrapping Up Fall and On to Winter!

It is definitely a busy time around here. November went by in a flash, and it seems December will be the same. Hope I can keep up!

D and I began Girl Scouts this year and were welcomed into the organization with an Investiture Ceremony at the school. It was a really special night for all 90 of the girls! (Only 8 in our Daisy troop.) We were "pinned" and made official. With a few meetings under our belts now, we're really having a lot of fun!

We've also done our best to be involved in the continued flood relief efforts. C and I made our weekly trip to Makro, a local warehouse/club type store for supplies. He enjoyed the ride, and was a good little helper too. Insisted on carrying boxes of goods to the cart and then helping  the cashier bag things. Also tried sticking his hands in the cash drawer. People still just smile and love on him.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful celebration with friends. SO delicious, and we're still enjoying some leftover pie and sweet potatoes. HEAVEN!!! Thank you the Gros and Hopkins families for all your delicious dishes!

  Time to start D in some pie-eating contests! The girl knows good pastry when she sees it!

 Finally, on Sunday, we decorated for Christmas. Being that we've always travelled back to the US for the holidays, we have not done much decorating here at our house. But, a trip to our local Christmas decoration factory produced a tree, ornaments, and lots of other lovely things to make the house festive for our first Christmas spent abroad.

The opening of the Veggietales Nativity is always a cause for shouts of joy! Long time, no see Junior Asparagus!

C is quite the little decorator... if you like all the ornaments in clusters along the bottom branches. But how he enjoyed himself! Love him to bits!

Happy belated Thanksgiving and early holiday prep to everyone out there!

Pitching In

The parents, staff, and students at ISB have been doing something amazing over the past 2 weeks. They have launched a flood relief effort that is supplying food, water, medicine, and other necessities to flood victims in our area. (See my facebook page for an awesome and moving video of the middle and high school kids)
I took some snaps of D's class taking a shift in the Flood Relief Room at ISB today. Those 1st graders can pack a bag of necessities like nobody's business! So proud of our global citizens!
Here, they sit and listen to instructions.

 Ready at their stations. (D was in charge of the insect repellent)

 Fill those bags!

 They make a great team!

So proud of our kids!!!

Halloween 2011

It made the grown-ups (who remember trick or treating on cool, fall evenings) miss autumn weather back home, but our hot, sweaty kids had a great night out filling their bags with goodies!

 Group shot with Snow White, Reid the Fierce, a firefighter, a cowgirl, Spiderman, Batman, a little punkin, and a pirate.

 Trick or treat!

Happy Halloween friends and family! Such good fun!!!

Pattaya Mini Vaca

Last week an opportunity for a beach getaway arose and we decided to take advantage of it. T's office closed down Thursday and Friday due to the risk of flooding. So, we packed up our sand toys and headed for the gulf.

Diving for sand dollars.

Other fabulous Nichada families were there too so we had a ton of fun playing and dining with friends.

Who ordered the yummy cocktail served in a hollowed pineapple with carrots making up the facial features??? Me!

We also handed the underwater camera to the kids and let them snap all the pool fun. Love it!

The girls with creative hair-dos!

On our way back, we stopped at The Sri Racha Tiger Zoo. A real treasure of Thai family fun. :) We did have fun despite a very humid day. Tiger show, elephant show, feeding baby tigers, capybaras, and kids!

Hungry baby tigers.

Capybaras like green beans!

Kids like popsicles!

Who likes scorpions?! And I don't think this was featured just because of Halloween!