Bubble time

 

First time of ever having a jacuzzi tub.  Rare for an Italian home.

 

 

 

 Samantha

 Jana

 Isaac couldn't help but join the crowd.

Pictures of Samantha's 6th Birthday in August

Samantha's 6th birthday. 
We had only been in the house for two weeks before her birthday snuck up on us. We were still living with temporary furniture and trying to figure out the Italian lifestyle. Nonetheless, we wanted to celebrate the birth of our little one, letting her know how much we love her and how special she is to each one of us. It was well worth the effort. Jana planned the games and we all helped decorate. We love you sweet Samantha!

 

 This was a bit more challenging than it looks. We had no tools to make a cake because none of our cooking utensils had arrived yet.  I thought I would just go to a grocery store and buy one. Little did I know that you can't just go into an Italian store and buy a chocolate cake. I tried to find a cupcake store or any store that would sell a cake but nothing did.  If I did find a store it was closed because it was Monday.  So we came up with this concoction.  A thin layer of something that looks like cake and layered it with something that looked like frosting.  We couldn't read it, but through observation it looked just right. It wasn't the best tasting, but it did it's job.

 

 This is what we came up with.   A happy little girl with her dog (fox) on top.  That's all that mattered right?. We made memories and enjoyed the challenge together.

Birthday party!

We invited two families over.  One was from Ike's work and the other was from church.  Precious families we grew fond of quickly. The Nassir family from church with four children and the Gross family with three children from Ike's work.

 One of the games Jana came up with.  Throw the object through the mouth of the dog.

                                                                Little one's turn.

Mrs. Gross (Heather) and her daughter Emma

olive grove November 8 2012

Isaac loved petting this puppy

Grape vines on the way down to the Olive grove

Samantha and her friend

They put an umbrella around the trunk and shook the tree. All the olives fell into the umbrella.

The process in making olive oil.

THis is not the good stuff

Left over stuff from the olives.

This is the good stuff...not quite ready to eat yet