I came home to babies – babies everywhere. Sometimes it is hard as a single person when most of your friends are married and having kids. We have less to relate to and finding time to hang-out has gotten harder and harder. But I love those little ones and it is beautiful to see my friends raising up a new generation. Brittany and Beren are super great to hang-out with. We go do all the things that we would normally do and just bring Beren with us. He is super chill.
Baby Girl Davila is on her way. With her name kept secret, we are all in anticipation to meet this mystery girl.
I came home and met the new and beautiful Bridgette. In college we nicknamed Alicia “Mama” because she seemed to be the most responsible person our age we knew. She knew what medicines to take when you didn’t feel well and how you should dress for a job interview. And now she is a real-life mama. We are all so happy for her and Chris! Here are some photos we took when Bridgette was just a few weeks old.
There is nothing better than sitting on a front porch swing, surrounded by your oldest friends, watching the twilight settle over the southern rolling hills. I got together with my “family” for a family farm weekend. These are the friends that know me the best, who I can count on to welcome me back home to America like I never left. Granted, there were a few more kids and spouses than before, but it still feels the same – the love is still there. We spent the weekend telling stories, playing music, hitting pinatas, swimming the lake, playing cards, and shooting guns. The sun shined bright on our days and sparklers lit our nights.
A Day In The Life: my 28th birthday
Man, I am getting old – do you see all those greys?
Our friend Wendy took us out for French toast at a local hotel. We have to make and bring our own syrup…
I thought it would be fun to show you what our “kind-of-grocery store” looks like… and here is our ride – the decorated bajaj.
My besties Marissa and Jordan made this pinata for me and mailed it to Africa. Not only did it have candy in it but notes from a bunch of my friends. Yup, those are granola bars…I guess I am a grownup when those are what’s in my pinata.
Homemade felafel and pita for my Mediterranean dinner.
Just a little dancing, food, and cake. We also showed “Wreck It Ralph” on the side of the house and invited a lot of people to come celebrate with us, but I didn’t get any photos. It was a wonderful day!
I spent my second Christmas overseas – and you know what? – it wasn’t that bad. The first year was pretty depressing, but this year I really tried to create the things I missed. They do not really have any Christmas traditions here – except eating a lot of food. So we found a Christmas tree, bought and made presents, decorated cookies, watched a lot of Christmas movies, and went caroling. We felt like a family this year. It was good for my heart.
This year, we turned my annual pumpkin carving party into a super-kid-friendly harvest party. We played all sorts of games, ate all sorts of candy, and carved all sorts of pumpkins. Oh, and the best part? Watching Casper to close the day. What comes a close second? Watching all the kids dunk for oranges. (I know, it is weird to not have apples in the fall.)
This weekend we celebrated Megadis’ 5 year birthday. Megadis is our house-worker’s little girl. She has spunk and attitude. We thought the perfect things to give her were “movie star” sunglasses, costume jewelry, and bubbles. She danced around her mom’s coffee ceremony and her birthday cake, blowing bubbles as close to our faces as we would let her. Here’s to five more years of craziness!
only snapshots 