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Happy First Birthday!

Monday, January 29, 2007
    Adeline had a great first birthday! I will post more soon, but I wanted to share a few pictures from her big day. From top left: Adeline on her birthday morning opening some gifts from family; Adeline and her little cake - she does NOT like to get messy at all, so she wouldn't even put her hands in it. She loved eating it, but only if mom or dad were feeding it to her; our family at the BIG party; some of the girls who came to celebrate with us. I love this picture because I know that they were all paying attention to Adeline, but it looks like they were each having their own conversations and Adeline is just standing up in the middle of them, by herself! Thank you to those of you who sent Adeline birthday wishes - she loves you and so do we! More to come...

    TV in Turkey

    Monday, January 01, 2007
      We really do get a few good TV shows here in Turkey. Some popular shows in America right now (24, Grey's Anatomy, House, Desperate Housewives) are broadcast here, but usually we are one or two seasons behind. We also get quite a few British shows which we would never watch if we were in America, but we have grown to like a few of them after two years. One of them, Strictly Come Dancing, is almost identical to the American show Dancing with the Stars - but, it came first. Even some of the judges are the same (I watched about 10 minutes of Dancing with the Stars while we were in the states in October). We don't know any of the celebrities, but I still enjoy watching it. Jeff usually doesn't pay much attention to it, but he'll sit through it just for me!

      We're sure that most of you in America watched at least part of a football game today, and more likely than that, you watched football all day! Well, unfortunately we don't get too much football over here, but we keep checking the sports stations just in case! Today, we came across The Viking Obstacle. It is a Korean obstacle course competition and is really funny to watch. Apparently, no one has ever won the entire competition (there are four stages), so it must be pretty hard. One funny thing about it is right in the middle of many grueling physical challenges, there is a fourth grade math problem that the competitors must solve (i.e., 74+23=?) in order to proceed. If they answer the question wrong (which we actually saw men do!) they are dropped into a pool of water through a trap door in the floor. Quite amusing!

      Our New Year's

        We had a great New Year's Eve! We had church in the morning and then we all took a nap in the afternoon, storing up for the late night. Then, we went to a friend's house for a party. Adeline did not want to go to sleep, there was just too much going on and too many people to hang out with. So, she stayed up til midnight with the rest of us. As you can see below, it was a big day for her!

        New Year's Eve morning with friends.

        Baba and me playing in the hallway - that's just where we ended up.

        Getting ready to go out!

        My first steps, caught on camera! I have been holding my balance standing up for a couple of days now, and last night, in front of everyone at the New Year's Party, I decided to take a few steps! It was exciting and today I am up to five steps all by myself (well, after mom and dad stand me up), so it may not be long now...

        Miss Leesa reading to me!

        All bundled up at 12:10am - still wide awake!

        12:12am - knocked out! It was a long, great day!