Parties galore

On Monday Denver had a half day so we headed to the walking street in Praia. It was so quaint with all the Christmas Decorations out and people walking around and shopping.

We had the missionaries over for dinner on Wednesday. One of them is from the Continent (that's what they call mainland Portugal) and didn't speak much English. The American elder did a great job making him try and teaching him English while with the Americans. We learned from him about Portuguese culture. For their special dinners (Christmas, etc) they eat codfish and/or turkey, but it seemed like codfish was the main deluxe dish. I've had a codfish casserole and it was disgusting. It tastes too fishy.

This was the kids last week of school before Christmas break. The weather was magnificent, mainly in the late 60s/ early 70s.
Denver ran the Christmas 5K on Wednesday and got a great time of 20:38. He ran with his running friend and they came in 2nd and 3rd overall. The guys who got 1st place missed a turn and finished running less than 3.1 miles, but still won!?!?!? The first and 2nd place winners got a medal. I forgot to post the picture. Denver didn't get it because he let his friend take the 2nd place, but they ran together the whole time.

Friday we had 2 Christmas parties. The Dental group from 1-5 and then the Med group party from 7-12. The Dental one was a potluck. I brought rolls and these colorful cookies I found on pinterest.

For Garrett's school party I made these little nutter butter snowmen (also found on pinterest-love that site!)
The food at the potluck was very delicious. One of my favorite things was the wings and the meatballs. The meatballs were slowcooked for 5ish hours with chili sauce and a jar of grape jelly per bag of meatballs. Sounds gross, but they were the best I've ever had. I'm going to try them for New Year's Eve.
These snowflakes were made by people in the Dental Clinic. This one says "Natal" which is Christmas in Portuguese.
And this one has teeth. This one took first place.
At the party I was really lucky. I'm never lucky and never win anything, but this time I won three of the 5 or 6 games. I won a $20 gift card to the BX, tied with someone at another game, but let her take the prize without a tie breaker , and then won a bottle of wine which I made my own game up so someone else could win it from me. It was a pretty fun party. We also had a white elephant gift exchange. Denver got $20 cash and I got this sandwich maker.
That evening we got all dressed up for the Med group christmas party. I checked out hair styles on you tube and was able to fix my hair with their instructions. This braid thing was made out of my own hair. I thought that was pretty cool.


We were served a delicious meal. Our experience at these parties usually consists of bad or not enough food, but the food was catered from Portuguese and was very tasty and inexpensive. The only down side was we waited a lot, but we're learning that that is what the military is about; Hurry up and wait.


Toward the end, people were getting drunk and we were getting tiered so we left about an hour early.

Saturday the med group had a party for the kids. The kids decorated cookies, ate with Santa, and each got a present from Santa.

These elves in tights were cracking us up. The one closest to us was skipping and smiling like a goof. He is the head of the enlisted in the med group. Chief something (Denver knows him).



Sterling grabbed his present and left as fast as he could. Either he didn't like Santa or he was super excited to get a gift.
After the kids party we played outside. The weather was just too good to pass up. Denver and all the kids went on a bike ride after Denver put together the bike stroller we found at the thrift store on base. The green car in the background is a security car that drives around base housing all day.
When we ask Cole where his eyes are he does this:
He got mad about something, I just thought it was a funny picture of him


We went to see the goats.

And then we ended the beautiful day by grilling burgers and pineapple.

Sunday we took family pictures. We'll post them soon!

And for the news: We're having a baby in June! Baby number 5 will be born in the Azores if the baby and I stay healthy and okay. If not, I'll go to Germany or England to have the baby.