January 2009…

     The year 2009 brought many great things, but first it brought COLD! You see, during the coldest spell here, our boiler went kaput, and we had NO HEAT! Brrrrrrrr! We turned it into a "fun", mini- adventure...keeping the fireplace roaring, bundling up in layers in the house, all sleeping on our bedroom to conserve heat and playing games and reading books snuggled on the couch in the lounge. We got small fan blown heaters to try and help cut the chill from the air, but the house is big and that was a challenge to do. We made the best of it and in a little over a week, we were all hooked up with a brand new boiler system and we toasty once again! All part of the "big" adventure...:)

     Trevor was to have his 7th Birthday party, but...SNOW, SNOW, SNOW! It was cancelled due to snow! Now that would NEVER happen in TEXAS! :) But we rescheduled it for the following weekend and the boys had a blast in the snow. They built their very first snowman, made snow angels and had snowball fights. The smiles went from ear to ear and seemed to last several days...

     Looking out our 3rd story window, toward Union Street and the North Sea....reminds me of the roof top scene in Mary Poppins, but with snow added! :)

     Trevor, our BIG 7 year old, eating his birthday breakfast of choice....Hot Cross Buns! YUM!

     Trevor being sung "Happy Birthday", by his 1st grade class at the International School of Aberdeen. Look at that grin...

     Trevor picked Chiquito's, Aberdeen "Mexican" family restaurant, for his birthday dinner. Maybe it was his way of "having" a bit o' Texas on his big day! :) He was very excited about his Play Mobil airplane!

 

     Finally, his party...Trevor opted for a Bowling Party at Cadona's...he had all his friends there (including brothers)...it was great fun! Trevor even ended up with the highest score! Above is Cameron showing all his best bowling moves!

     Lots of birthday fun! Gets very wild when you get this many 7 year olds together...tons of fun...lots of laughing...

     Congratulations Trevor, 7...you are getting soooooooooo big!   God has great plans for you!

           The end of January brings with it another big Scottish tradition...Burns Night! Mark and I went to our very first Burns Supper!

     A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, author of many Scots poems including "Auld Lang Syne," which is generally sung as a folk song at Hogmanay and other New Year celebrations around the world. The suppers are normally held on or near the poet's birthday, 25 January, sometimes also known as Robert Burns Day or Burns Night (Burns Nicht), although they may in principle be held at any time of the year.

     We were able to get all dressed up too, as it is a "Black Tie" occasion, but all the Scotsman wear their traditional kilts. Burns' poems are read, Haggis eaten, the Loyal Toast is made with Scotch Whiskey and it was all concluded with a ceilidh ( a traditional Scottish dance)! It was great fun...looking forward to next year's!