Holiday Week and Rako performance!

It's that crazy time before the holidays when life feels so busy. It's nice here, but I'm also feeling homesick. It's hard to muster up my Christmas spirit in the sweltering heat/non-stop rain storms. I SO love this time of year- the music, the lights, the kids' excitement...but I'm missing my peeps too.

Mere came the day after Anne left. The first day she was here we ran into Santa at the mall! Yay - no searching all over town like last year. They asked me why Santa had brown skin and I said, "Well, maybe Santa changes his color every where he goes according to the culture he is in. No one really knows what Santa looks like for sure." They seemed ok with that answer. I keep waiting on Andie to ask the real real truth....but she hasn't yet.

Mere is pleased she is so comfortable with the escalator!

We went to a fun embassy Christmas party where we played the white elephant game. I love that game! It's so fun! The girls also sat with Santa and an elf here too!

In other news, the girls (largely Andie) have decided they want their own rooms. Andie has been pushing it for a while, but now, after 6 years of sharing a room together, they've each got their own bedroom. It breaks my heart a little, but I can see that this is the natural progression of things. Both felt a little sad that first night at the actual reality of sleeping apart, but during the day they are pleased as peaches! The second night they were apart, they had a sleepover! So stinkin' cute.

Zoe's room

all alone....

Andie's room

Sleepover!!

The girls went to Rako-Pasifika again for three days this week. They had a holiday concert where Moana and Maui showed up (their teachers from the week). It was so awesome to watch the kids perform after only a few days of practice. They loved it!

Cool Hip-hoppers before we left for the show

This was soooo awesome! The singer didn't show up so Andie volunteered to do this three minutes before they went on stage. I am SO proud of her confidence. She is a true performer.