Thanksgiving at Chez Meeks

Here's our turkey.

The whole spread with us.

The whole crew.

 Leila and her friend from school, Samson.

 We even got to watch the Packer game!  Not that there was much to see.

Thanksgiving at the Embassy

We served a Thanksgiving lunch at the Embassy for everyone on Wednesday.  250 people, 16 turkeys, 30 pies, and pounds and pounds of stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots, and green beans.  

Ambassador and DCM...

And Friend!

Food for all!

On parade?

We came across this sight on the way to the embassy last week. Not sure who they are or where they are going, but we were the only ones who seemed surprised to see them.

Post-swimming

Leila and her friend Mary-Esther using the pool ring as a picture frame after their swim this afternoon.

Leila Crazy Dancing

Our First Home Made Mango

Our mango fruits are not quite ripe yet...except this weird outlier we found lying on the ground this afternoon. Delicious!

Our attempts to take a family photo with the new baby

Leila announces the beginning of the photo shoot.

Idea #1: Looks like we're going to need another passport!

Idea #2: What's in YOUR belly?

Idea #3: What's in YOUR belly, the Leila edition (note that she chose the object for each person, and the seed comes from the time she married a tree...yes, apparently she still remembers the day well, and is now expecting a sapling)

Charlie's Birthday party

We celebrated Charlie's 1st birthday yesterday. Here, Leila teaches him how to use her vuvuzela.

Climbing on the playground with Charlie's sister, Elmae.

Playing pin the tail on the lion.

John & Cristin with all the kiddos (and the birthday boy eying up his first ever cupcake!).

Marine Ball 2013

We went to the Embassy's Marine Ball last night.  Here's a couple of pictures...

Leila and I posing with tuxedo.

The three pregnant ladies.

Mommy-daughter tea party!

The grown-ups are all going to the Marine Ball tonight, so our CLO (Community Liaison Officer who arranges all the fun social events at post) decided to host a tea party for the little girls and their moms this morning. 

By popular demand, some pictures of my growing belly at 27.5 weeks!

Leila & her friends decorated our front gate with chalk this week. It actually looks pretty good against the black of the gate!

Checking out her reflection in our metal front doors.

A meeting of the young ladies (there were about 5 more who came after this picture was taken). Age range of all the kids was from 3 months-9 years.

Juice and coloring.

There was even a woman there to do mini mani-pedis on all the girls. Now if only there had been a second station for the moms!!

Song of My People

I brought Leila a vuvuzela from South Africa. 

Alice's birthday party

It was the first birthday party of the school year today for Leila's friend Alice (she is Italian...pronounced Ah-LEE-chay). It was just the girls from her class plus a few other girls. They all got Minnie Mouse outfits for the occasion.

Cutting the cake, the birthday girl is to the right of Leila in this picture.

And of course EATING the cake!

My little helper

Leila eagerly ran outside with me every few minutes to observe the changes in the sun. I was proud of her for following Rule #1: Don't look directly at the sun. (Not that it even would have been possible-the sun is so bright and strong here that you can't physically keep your eyes open when looking even in the sun's general direction!!). She also wants me to point out the maze crown that she crafted for the occasion. 

Partial solar eclipse

There was a solar eclipse over Africa today, though it was only a partial eclipse over us. Leila & I built this special viewer so we could safely watch it. 

The image of the sun was projected through a tiny hole in the top of this tube onto a piece of paper at the bottom of the tube. We could watch as the eclipse happened, and took pictures every 15 minutes or so. This is the very beginning:

My tin foil got a few extra holes in it so you can see multiple images of the sun on the paper. 

At the peak of the eclipse this is as close as we got. It definitely didn't get dark outside, but you could tell the sun was not as strong as usual if you were looking for it.