Christmas Memories

So I have finally gone through all of the pictures from our trip back home. I decided to put them into a slideshow rather than posting them since there are just so many and I couldn't choose. We had such a fabulous time and it was exactly what we needed. The trips there and back were really hard and we are all still recovering, but looking through the pictures reminded me just how worth any trouble it was. We really did our best to soak up every minute of every single family member. It wasn't enough because it never is, but we are so thankful that we had that time with all of you.


Thank you all for making time to see us and spend with us. Thank you for all of the giving. We did manage to bring back all of those little tastes of home and it really makes being away so much easier. Going home brought on a lot of different emotions for me and in some ways it made it harder to come back here. I had forgotten a lot of what I love about the U.S. and Texas. I am thankful for the opportunity to appreciate my home which I might have taken for granted all of my life had I not had the chance to move away and look at it differently.


The music in the slideshow doesn't reflect the mood of the pictures, but reflects how I feel looking back today anyway--it is gray and gloomy outside. We really miss everyone so much and can't wait to see you all (and more of you) again. We really mean it when we say to start making plans for a European vacation in the next few years. (Please don't pay attention to the exchange rates and just come!) Our home is always open and we have plenty of room.





We are slowly adjusting back to this time zone and our new routine. Hannah has gone to 4 days of Pre K and she is doing really well. She is tired and struggling with whether or not she needs a nap, but she seems to like school so far. Nathan has done the best with getting over his jet lag and he is so happy to be back at school with all of his friends. His social calendar has once again begun to fill up and Hannah is joining in. Sarah has discovered that she can have free roam of the house and is getting pretty good at it. She is still living in the wrong time zone and spends at least 2-3 hours awake in the middle of the night clapping, laughing and talking. She is a zombie in the morning while Hannah is in school. This morning I tried to keep her awake and she literally fell asleep while sitting up. I have to admit that I am pretty tired myself so I'm sure I am not the most exciting playmate. We have almost been back one week now and we just got Hannah's car seat back today. Way to go American Airlines! I can not say that they have been overly helpful or apologetic for their shortcomings with delivering our things in a timely manner. We only have half of Nathan's booster seat and have resigned to the fact that we will be purchasing a new one this weekend. For some reason American can only reimburse partially? (Well, we do have a partial car seat so I guess that is their logic...) They keep offering these vouchers for our next trip. Oh yay! Can't wait to see what you lose or break next time!


Okay, now that I've gotten the sarcasm out of my system, even after dealing with all of the frustrations that came with traveling during the holidays with 3 kids, mixing in lots of boogers and vomit, we still had the best time ever and are so happy we got to be with our families again. Thanks again for everything. Our love to you all. Here's just a sample of the fun we had...


Christmas 2007 from tsechief on Vimeo.