February 2015

Four month ago, we moved to a place we knew very little about.  Now, we've gone through some ups and downs and are really calling this place home.  We miss our family and friends in the states but we are so thankful for the people we've met and grown to love here! It's not always as rosy as the pictures show but it sure is good to have rosy pictures to look back on and be thankful for! Enjoy, our last month in review!

Kaitlynn enjoying time with a friend at her 2nd birthday party

Jeremy's first man project, complete and successful, leaky pipe under the sink fixed! no more standing water in our bathroom!

2 years old and a bundle of....let's be for real, this girl is a ball of fire like her momma! Don't let that cute face fool ya!
We absolutely love her and are committed to working, working very very hard with her :) 

And this little guy, isn't so little anymore, he's 3 now and he is going to preschool soon! WHAT!?!

5 men, count them, one driver, small car

going

going 

gone!
There are 6 grown men in a car that's small enough to fit inside most cars! Can't even figure out where they all went!

Happy Birthday! When we told Kaitlynn it was her birthday week, she just said "CAKE!!", maybe she is a little like her daddy after all!

"Birthday" balloons that Daddy brought home

This is when you know you are in another world, in English, sold at a children's toy store, Who would've thought they weren't birthday balloons?!? lol

Shy little girl when folks start looking at her...when they all leave, she's running all over the place :) 

Sick little guy.  We all got a viral cold and had it for a couple of weeks, not fun.

A princess and a policeman

We got a couple warm days and took advantage of as many of them as we could! Neighborhood kids are just super cute! We don't know all of their names, but William just calls them "my friends" and Kaitlynn says "boys outside". Hoping for some sweet girls to come out and play in the spring for her :) 

This month we went to a puppet show and saw traditional dancing at a shopping mall we visit to play but I can't put all the pictures on here or I will run out of internet :) yup, there is a limited amount of internet, and it's better that way!
Until next time, smile a little, it's worth it.

"What's cookin' round here?" February 2015

Many folks have asked "Hey! What have you been cooking?" (however, in my mind it has an oh so missed southern drawl to it :-)) So I decided to post one thing I've cooked in the last month and share.  I wish I could share local dishes that I've learned here, but I've not been able to really get a recipe lol I mean I have a few I'm working on but nothing makes sense just yet.  These wonderful women around here just do it all from memory and put it together so fast I can hardly keep up in my little food notebook! Maybe in the months to come, I will have a local dish I can share, but until then, I will try to share a recipe each month that I cooked recently.
This month.....wait for it....I made doughnuts for dessert when we had our neighbors over for Perfect Roast chicken, oliveye salad (local salad that I can share soon once I get pictures!), and glazed doughnuts.  Sadly, I only make special, yummy food when we are going to have guests over.  But hey, it helps everyone look forward to having friends over! (When we aren't having guests, we go as low key and easy as we can so as to save up energy for when the cooking for friends time comes!)
Here are the pics from the closest to "those doughnuts" that might be possible from home!! Seriously, warm, they were almost perfect:

Doughnut holes

Frying, something I never did in America lol

Finished! And Our neighbors loved them!

Alrighty, so they were actually super easy even though I thought the recipe was lying when it said that! So thankful for my friend who passed the recipe to me, shout's out to Sarah! Love and miss you friend!
We got the recipe from Pioneer Woman, who is awesome! Here's the specific recipe with pics from her: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/02/homemade-glazed-doughnuts/
HINT TO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO TRY IT: THE SIMPLE PRINTABLE RECIPE IS AT THE BOTTOM OF ALL THOSE LOVELY PICTURES and looking at it there is much less overwhelming for me :) I'm thankful I just had a print out from Sarah and didn't read the warning about how bad it could all go.  And I don't have that mixer thing with the paddle and all that stuff, just a good ol hand mixer with some dough hooks did the trick.
So glad our neighbors (and my husband and children) loved these yummy things!
If you try 'em, y'all enjoy!