Abby's 14

Yes, I know.  It's January already.  Our family was too busy relaxing and holidaying for me to blog, and so this is Abby's Official Birthday Blog Post.  My birthday baby was due December 25, but thankfully was born Dec 18.  The 15th would have been nice since that's the date of all the other big events in our home, but Abby likes to do things a little independently and that was her way of introducing that part of her personality to us.  We've come to the conclusion that 18 is a nice number too.

For her birthday, our lovely girl had a few friends over, they ate pizza, and they 'slept'. The next morning they were served a white-linened breakfast of french toast on fine china.  It was the first official day of Christmas break, and so the girls were able to bring in the holiday with fun and style.  

Included in this post are a few photos of Abby, since pictures say so much more than words.  On Christmas Eve we had an open house, just like the ones we used to have in cold Canada.  There are a few families here with kids our kids' ages, and they happen to be great friends as well.  I love that they're all so goofy.  It's fun having them around.

On Christmas Day we took a bike ride into the rice fields, and Matthew shot this one of his sister.  

After Christmas ran its course, we had 2 weeks left of finding wonderful things to do.  Most of our friends went on some kind of holiday and so the kids were left with the next best option:  their parents.  My favourite day was when we visited the largest mosque in Indonesia, and then headed across the street to the Catholic Cathedral (where, on a Tuesday, a wedding happened to be taking place).

This final photo wasn't taken during the holidays, but I love the way it has captured Abby's thoughts.  If I tell you that she's watching a cow being slaughtered during Idul Adha (Muslim holiday), does that make knowing her thoughts any easier?