Gwangi's 14th birthday!

Gwangi celebrated his birthday over two days...really three! Having your birthday on a local holiday is a pretty sweet deal!

We had his friends over for a slumber party on the Friday and Saturday before his birthday. He was able to open his gifts, enjoy his special meals, play the "Prince Valiant" role playing game, share time with his friends on the WiiU, and watch a Star Wars movie on May the 4th. They all had such a good time, that even as I'm writing this, they are making their way to our house for another gaming day!

His gifts from family, all wrapped up and ready to go.

Starting off the night right, pizza and presents!

And S'mores Cheesecake!

Group hug. This is such a great group of boys.

Snacks and treats from friends for Gwangi's birthday.

Another sweet gift from a friend.

Minecraft for the WiiU...definitely a hit.

A few new Infinity characters that I bought last year. You've gotta have Han and Luke when you're a Star Wars fan, such as Gwangi.

Another big hit, with ALL the kids...Super Smash Bros.

Carrying on our pin collecting tradition, I found this fun Aladdin "video game console" pin. The kids say I'm finding so many good pins on eBay, they don't want to trade any of them!

Another tradition...comic books!

The big surprise gift, the board game, "Star Wars Rebellion."

Some of the figures from the board game.

Then the boys took some time and put in the new WiiU games Gwangi received for a bit of play time.

While they were playing, I got busy making bagels for breakfast the next day. We served them with bacon and eggs so they could make a classic bagel sandwich.

Pictures of my boy on Sunday, May 5th.

The backyard is often a good spot to take some family photos.

My handsome boy.

I love it when he puts his head to the side. So sweet and cute, with his double dimples!

Looking so grown up.

On his actual birthday, the 9th of May, the country of Kyrgyzstan celebrates Victory Day, noting the surrender of Nazi Germany and the end of World War II in 1945.

We met up with some friends in town and watched the parade to the Eternal Flame.

Looking at some of the hardware on display.

Standing on the sidelines as family members walk by carrying signs and photos of family members that served during WWII.

Lunch time! We enjoyed a meal at a local Georgian restaurant.

An evening view at Ala Too Square. The night was beautiful!

We're so proud of our boy and thrilled that he celebrated another year with us. He has grown in so many ways this year, physically, but also mentally, in his character development, and spiritually.

Happy 14th birthday, Gwangi!

Easter and our Seder Meal

This year, Easter was a bit off schedule. 

Indy had some clients in from Norway and we scheduled them before realizing it was Easter weekend. The kids and I took some Sabbath downtime and went to church on Sunday, but Indy has worked the last 3 weekends without a break and so I went ahead and protected Easter Monday and put on the family calendar, "Family Day - Celebrate Easter Together!" because I knew he (really a collective "we") needed it.

We went low key on gifts this year...when the kids were younger we did maps and scavenger hunts, dyed eggs, made Resurrection cookies and biscuits (they are hollow, so you can tell the story of Jesus' resurrection,) did the Family Life Easter Egg story, watched Veggie Tales...but, as they have grown up, we just sit and talk about it, because they know the reason we celebrate Easter and it means something to them personally.

This year, I saw these beautifully decorated chocolate eggs at Kylikovski and so got three of them; one for each child. We had chocolate chip pancakes and fruit for breakfast and then went to church. 

I also had to get something fun, of course, so when I was ordering our birthday and Christmas Disney pins on eBay, I saw these super cute Hong Kong Disneyland pins from Winnie the Pooh; all the characters in the shape of an egg. They are in a set of 5, so we each get one for our lanyards.

This egg is Gwangi's.

This is Sissi's egg.

Gwangi holding his egg. Realized I didn't get a close up of Krypto's....maybe next year.

Our Seder Meal set up.

We had to wait for Indy to be home, so it was a few days late.

Unleavened flat bread that I made, Matzah, charoset, bitter herbs, roasted egg, salt water...All things that represent the Israelites leaving Egypt through the deliverance of God.

Our meal at the completion of the Seder...roasted potatoes, some steak, charoset, flat bread, and matzo ball soup with apple juice. We had a lovely day and evening together and are thankful for all that the Lord has done in and through our lives this year.

Birthday #16 for the oldest

Our oldest turned 16 on the 6th of April!

We are finding it very hard to believe that this little guy in the picture below, in a Federation onesie, has grown into the amazing young man that he is!

Now, he writes novels, practices Sambo (a Russian self defense martial art,) is learning several languages, is laser focused in his studies, talks about having a wife and children some day, and dreams big dreams about what the Lord wants him to do with his future life.

Here he is with his friends for a party on his birthday.

They spent several hours creating characters using the "Prince Valiant" medieval role playing system and then working their way through a role play together.

The kids all had a great time with the system and said they wanted to do it again.

Krypto was the GM, or game master, for the evening.

There was much discussion and laughter in the room as they all worked through the scenario.

They also spent most of the day on Saturday playing the enormous board game, "Federation and Empire."

Again, fun was had by all and they said they would like to play it again.

A close up of the "Federation and Empire" board game set up.

We celebrated with cake...peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake!

Group shot after the requisite birthday song.

Gifts!

He got a new Wii U game that I had picked up last fall in a sale on eBay. I still have games for the other kids for their upcoming birthdays and next Christmas...you could say I am a planner.

I had also picked up some new characters for the Disney Infinity game. Knowing the game was being "discontinued," I was able to pick up some great characters at some incredible prices on eBay. Love that site!

And, of course, Disney pins are a thing in this house...so when Krypto recently said that Jafar was his favorite Disney villain, I found him a Jafar pin! Just in time, too, as I now realize there is a new "Aladdin" live action movie coming out later this year. The price of "Aladdin" pins may go up; but, that's ok, I got a few ;)!

Comics are a return favorite each year as well. We picked up a batch of about 50 of them the last time we were in the US (in 2017)...so we're good for a few more birthdays and Christmases!

His new favorite, that I had to order from Amazon and have shipped in via Express US, is Zelda. This  DS game was his combined gift from Gwangi and Sissi. They definitely know their brother.

And, his big surprise gift, from Mom and Dad, was a board game version of Fallout. We picked this up on a close out sale last fall and had some friends that went home over Christmas bring it back to Kyrgyzstan with them. We've been holding onto this secret for awhile!

 

In addition to it being Krypto's birthday, it was also our 1 year anniversary with Vera, our Bernese Mountain Dog. We picked her out at the Osh Bazaar last year, on the weekend of Krypto's birthday. I just had to make her another batch of pupcakes, because I am that kind of "mom," and she of course loved them. I used a recipe that everyone could eat, so we all partook in her celebration.

Vera, sitting and waiting patiently to eat her pupcakes.

 

Our boy, 16 years old.

Love his personality.

He is such a great kid and we can't wait to see how he continues to grow in the coming years! So much change is ahead of us, but we know God has plans for Krypto's life that are far and above anything we could hope or dream of for him. We trust his life and future in the Father's hands.

Family game night...last week. Had to break out the birthday game and give it a try. It was definitely a family hit.