Tag: party

Pickle Balloons and Pregnancy Update

Post author By Shay
Post date May 23, 2015
1 Comment on Pickle Balloons and Pregnancy Update

Beneath the small children and balloons is me. You can see a little bit of my shirt between the pink balloon and the chair I was sitting in and we were in the middle of a game I made up on the spot. I don’t really have a name for it, but basically the kids gave me “pickles” (aka balloons) to eat and after “eating” them (acting it out) they told me, “No, they’re not pickles, they’re balloons!” to which I would immediately begin to spit out the pretend yucky tasting balloon and make a weird face. This was all part of the birthday party we went to today for our friends the Yorman’s son Caleb. He turned eight yesterday and we had a fun time celebrating with him and all his little buddies today at their house. The party was mostly a fun hangout time for the kids, but with a Star Wars theme and a whole lot of Legos. They even had a home made Star Wars Ewok pinãta which Titus took a couple whacks at. Here’s a little video:

Bethany had kind of a rough night last night of sleep. She had a bad headache that kept her up really late (I think past 2am) and the baby was moving a lot which made her uncomfortable. She’s definitely in the home stretch here, but it’s the literal stretching the baby does inside the womb that can also cause significant discomfort to Bethany. Pray for her tonight as we’re hoping she’ll get better sleep and be more recharged. The hardest thing would be to have little to no sleep and then for her to go into labor. If that’s what the Lord has, so be it, but sure would be nice to have rest before things start getting more intense. Even tonight she was having some pains after dinner which weren’t really contractions, but painful enough!

We talked with Bethany’s parents tonight on the phone and they are sitting at the airport in Seattle, ready to take off for their final destination of Prague. We are so excited to have them here and can’t wait to pick them up at the train station tomorrow!

Tags birthday, friends, party

365 Czech Republic

Party at the Zoo

We enjoyed an incredible day today at the zoo with our friends, celebrating both Titus’s 5th birthday along with Gabe and Alex (twins) who turned 4. The weather couldn’t have been better and I’ve even got a little redness on my arms and neck to prove the sun was out. The day started at 10:00 at the zoo and we stayed until a little after 2:00. We brought cupcakes and met a bunch of other families “near the goats” inside the zoo. Everyone joined in singing happy birthday to Titus and then we did another round of singing for Gabe and Alex. After cupcakes and singing everyone headed in to the park and we mostly lost the other groups because we grabbed lunch with our kids, but we still had a great time with Steve and Judy and just walking around enjoying the animals. I got a ton of photos, so here they are!

Let’s pause here a moment for a little story. Above is a photo of Titus eating a hot dog during lunch. Shortly after he was playing on the playground behind him. He had brought a toy car with him that he got for his birthday and was taking it up and down the slide. But then he started crying and came over to use saying he lost his car. I asked him what happened and he said, “That big boy took it.” I asked him which kid and he pointed, so I walked up to the kid and said, “Kde je auto?” or “Where is the car?” He immediately said, “Nevim! Nevim” or “I don’t know. I don’t know.” We walked around and looked for a while, but were unable to find the car. I consider it a lost cause and even if the boy had it, I wasn’t going to dig through his pockets to get it. But that didn’t sit well with Bethany so she walked over and asked the same questions, except she found another little girl to help her talk to the boy. Finally, after a few minutes the boy went to his backpack and gave back the car. I joked that Bethany was in “mom mode” there for a minute and no language barrier was going to get in the way of her getting that car back!

Ok… back to the photos

Titus’ friends Beni and Caleb got him gifts that we opened in the parking lot just before we left. Beni had been talking about it all day and was so excited to give Titus a present. It was really sweet and both Caleb and Beni were asking Titus, “Is this the best day ever?!” It was fun to see them all so excited about Legos and Spiderman and Titus was really blessed. Thanks everyone for making it such a special time for Titus and our family!

Tags birthday, friends, fun, kids, party, Titus, zoo

365 Czech Republic

Our First Easter in Czech

Post author By Shay
Post date April 5, 2015
No Comments on Our First Easter in Czech

“Mom…Dad…” whispered a little voice from Bethany’s side of the bed as we were asleep early this morning. The voice continued, “…it’s Easter!” And with that proclamation we were awake. The voice was that of Titus and he was pretty excited because he knew today meant a “party” at our friends house after church. We got out of bed and made our way to the living room. I looked out the window when, “what to my wondering eyes should appear,” but freshly fallen snow (minus the sleigh and reindeer). Yes…snow on Easter Sunday. Such was the start of a really fun and joy filled day.

Bethany had put together the kids Easter baskets last night and set them out for the kids to discover them this morning (shown in the photo above). Inside each were a few eggs with some candy and just a few small presents that Bethany had picked up, including new placemats for the table, shoes, socks, and some stickers. Other than the candy and stickers, I think the other things were mainly just those things you know you need so you turn it in to a present and everyone wins. The kids really loved opening everything and discovering what was inside the eggs (gummy bears and chocolate).

We made it to church this morning and were dressed for the occasion. Bethany had the kids all dressed up with Avery in a dress and Titus in a suit. I had actually ironed different clothes but when I saw Titus in his suit I decided to do the same and made a wardrobe change. At church there was a lot of special music, a lot of which was done by this women’s singing group. They were actually really talented and sang a bunch of different songs, including an old Stephen Curtis Chapman tune that had been translated in to Czech. Someone actually brought us a translation headset so we got to listen to the message in English, which was a great blessing because the message was really good and focused on Christ. There wasn’t any Sunday school for the kids, but we enjoyed having them with us. Here’s a photo of Avery and Bethany–Avery’s face is classic.

Church actually ended early to our surprise which was the Lord’s blessing because we needed to get back to get the food prep done for our lunch with friends this afternoon (which was at the Yorman’s house). Mostly, the party and lunch consisted of a bunch of Josiah Venture families getting together. Bethany made a green bean dish, deviled eggs, and fresh salsa! They were all delicious. Everyone brought different appetizers and parts of the meal so it was one big potluck. Here’s a couple photos of some of the meal. We ate like kings!

We enjoyed sweet fellowship this afternoon together with the other missionaries and even had time to talk about Jesus with all our kids, as well as enjoyed a time of singing worship songs. Casey and Kristin asked if I would be able to bring my guitar and sing some songs which turned out to be a really fun time. Our friend John actually brought a small hand drum and his accordion, so we had a small band. While we were singing it started to snow pretty good outside, so we ended up singing two Christmas songs. Why not celebrate Christ’s birth and resurrection in the same day?!

The women had planned to do a egg hunt for the kids, so everyone pitched in to put eggs together and hide them. This was probably the highlight for the kids so we I got a ton of photos of it. They are below and I’ve put captions beneath ones that need more explanation.

This is Titus deep in thought over where his eggs might be. All the eggs were divided up by kid and Titus’ were “sports” themed while Avery’s were all pink in color.

Some of these hiding spots were pretty tricky.

There’s a pink one under there for Avery!

And another one!

When it was all said and done every kid had ten eggs. There’s was a little confusion for a bit because everyone thought they had hidden eleven eggs, but we think it was just a miscount. Each egg had either a sticker or a little toy inside. In the photo above Avery is enjoying discovering each little toy and you can even see on the ground that she lined them up as she opened them. Great times! What a fun day celebrating the risen Lord, Jesus Christ (even though the snow made it feel we were celebrating His birth)! It stayed pretty cold all day, but we definitely felt the warmth of friends and fellowship all day.

Finally, here are a few shots I got of the kids in their Sunday best. He is risen!

Tags church, Easter, first things first, friends, party

365 Czech Republic

The Carnival We Didn’t Know About

Post author By Shay
Post date January 28, 2015
1 Comment on The Carnival We Didn’t Know About

As soon as Titus, Avery, and I walked in to the door, I knew we were in trouble. The only thing that can explain all of these shoes in the entry way (shown below) is that the parents are at the school too. And if the parents are at the school, that means there’s a good chance that some kind of event is going on. While taking my own shoes off, I saw Pluto walk by (that is, I saw a kid dressed as Pluto–Mickey Mouse’s trusty dog). The kids said, “Daddy, we saw Pluto!” Uh oh. What is going on?

While making our way upstairs it became clear that there were lots of festivities going on. Parents were rushing up and down the stairs with their kids who were dressed up as princesses, pirates, fireman, and I even saw a little Darth Vader running around. Where were they taking these kids, I thought. Arriving at Titus’ classroom, we found the place completely filled with more dressed up kids, parents, and dressed up teachers. That’s when I called Bethany. “Uh…so this place is nuts and I have no idea what’s going on. But you better come and bring Titus’ Buzz Lightyear costume…and bring your camera!” The kids and I made our way through the camera wielding parents and I dropped Titus clothes off in their changing area. There were other families in there too so I snapped a photo of some boys and one of the dads.

In our defense, Bethany was aware of a carnival but she honestly thought it was going to be on Friday and that would only be in the afternoon. She actually had called me on Monday and asked if I would be available to come, but since I’m teaching a workshop at a conference this week I wouldn’t be available. Titus’ teacher did her best to make us aware of it, but again, the date just got lost in translation.

Bethany arrived a few minutes after I called her and she brought Titus’s costume. We quickly changed him so he could join the other kids. The teachers had congregated the kids in another room where they were doing what I believe was a fashion show. They were literally walking down a wooden plank on the ground and the teachers were taking pictures and video along with all the parents on the sidelines.

Here’s me getting Titus ready.

Here are the kids walking down the runway.

Meanwhile, Avery was enjoying all the toys in the classroom.

We were scheduled to have language lessons this morning, but with all the commotion we didn’t feel like we could leave. That, and Titus got really sad when we tried to leave and started crying and saying he wanted to go home. To be honest, it was hard. I felt caught between getting to our language lesson and taking care of Titus, and we just didn’t know what to do. It was decision paralysis. We tried to console Titus, who I think was just overwhelmed. Finally, we cancelled our lessons and stuck around with Titus. Eventually he calmed down and even starting participating with the class in their dance. Here’s a little video I got and you’ll see Titus dancing with his teacher.

Remember those parents rushing up and down the stairs when we first arrived? We found out where they were going. There was a professional photographer in another classroom who was taking individual portraits of all the kids. Titus’ teacher asked one of the little kids to show us where he was so he could take Titus’ picture. We made our way down and had a few shots taken. I seriously can not wait to see how those turned out. Later, that same photographer took a group shot of the entire class. Here they are in the main hall of the school getting ready for their class photo. You can see Titus in the upper left.

After some time, Titus was doing much better and we left. He did well for the remainder of the school day and Bethany said he came home really happy and excited about his experience. Apparently they had a clown who juggled and they blew bubbles and even passed out balloons to the kids. At the end of the day I can look back and laugh, but in the middle of it it was really difficult. I’m bummed we missed our once a week Czech lesson because that’s so vital for us long term. On the other hand, I’m glad I got to experience something fun with Titus and our family, even thought I had no clue it was going to happen.

Tags carnival, confusion, party, preschool, school

365 Czech Republic

Avery’s First Haircut and Another Full Day

Post author By Shay
Post date December 18, 2014
No Comments on Avery’s First Haircut and Another Full Day

Bethany had a “baby check up” early this morning that we took the whole the family to. Even though she wasn’t having an ultrasound today, they always do the little heart monitor on the baby which we had fun listening to. Titus and Avery thought the little “whoosh whoosh whoosh” sound of the little tiny heartbeat was great, and so did I. The next appointment we’ll be able to find out the sex of the baby which will be fun as well. Below is a quick photo of Bethany and Titus at the doctor’s office today while the doctor had stepped out for a minute. Everything happens in one single office from the medical side to the office side of things which is different than in the States.

As we were saying goodbye to our very nice, English speaking doctor, we said “Merry Christmas” in Czech to her. Then she started to say that she thinks people don’t understand why they say that phrase. It was a little confusing what she was trying to tell us but I think she was making the point that culturally people say “Merry Christmas” without really thinking about it. She said she knew it was clearly religious which is why she questioned whether people realize what they’re saying. We told her that we say it because we’re excited about the birth of Jesus and she just nodded her head. It was kind of a strange interaction, but maybe it will lead to more conversations about Jesus in the future?

We have never done a family haircut session until today. That’s because Avery has never had a haircut in her little three year old life, but that all changed today. Avery got a little trim and did really well. Bethany was a good distraction for her, but she was still squirmy (Avery, not Bethany).

This afternoon there was a special thing for families at Titus’ preschool that Bethany, Titus, and Avery went to. Everyone was supposed to bring an apple to decorate, along with toothpicks and “gummies.” When they arrived, they had candlesticks to stick through the top of the apple, juniper branches, ribbons, and cloves. With these they decorated their apples and ate cookies. Bethany texted me during it saying it was really full of people and that they were having fun at the party. Below are a few photos she took.

School is out now until the New Year which is great for us since we’ll be in states until the 13th of January. We’re getting clothes washed and ready for packing as we’ll be leaving on Tuesday to head to Prague. Our flight is early Wednesday morning so we’ll be staying in Prague one night to make sure we can get to our flight on time. Lord willing, all will go smoothly, but I guess you’ll have to wait until that blog comes out to find out!

Tags Avery, doctor, fun, haircut, haircuts, party, preschool

365 Czech Republic

Avery’s 3rd Birthday Party

We enjoyed a wonderful celebration today of Avery’s little life and were blessed by many friends joining in the fun. As I wrote yesterday, Avery’s birthday is actually next Saturday but with Thanksgiving and traveling many people weren’t going to make a party the weekend after the holiday. So instead of trying to make that work we decided to move it up a week and enjoy a little party today. Bethany did a great job getting things ready and this morning we put the final touches on our apartment to get it ready (mostly just cleaning) and everyone came over around 3pm.

Before I begin with all the photos and stories, it’s fair to note that today actually started very early when Papa and Nana video chatted with Avery and she opened their gift which was mailed from the States. I was actually asleep while Bethany and the kids did this, but Avery loves her new Elsa Frozen doll. Thanks Papa and Nana!

Here are the photos and story from the party with captions below each.

Here the kids are gathered around Avery while she’s opening gifts. The “Czech way” (as we’re told) is to open the present right as you receive it which is basically what we did as people arrived (as opposed to having a large gift opening time during the party). The kids of course were really excited about each present and I think when I captured this photo there was a line of people waiting for theirs to be opened.

Here is Avery opening some new gloves she got from Josiah Venture’s resident grandma, “Grandma Linda,” as everyone calls her. She’s actually Kristin Yorman’s mom and she moved to Czech to help the Yorman’s with their autistic sons. Thanks for the gloves and tights!

Avery was smiling and excited about all the new toys and gifts. She was very blessed and everyone was so generous.

The three photos above are from the cupcake decorating time we did with the kids. The table almost wasn’t big enough to get all the hands and plates in there, but we made it work. The kids enjoyed adding their own frosting and putting gummy flowers and dinosaurs on top to their liking. Thanks to our friend Greg, you get the rare shot of me standing on the right. He told me, “Now your kids will have at least one photo of you.” It’s the classic tale that dad isn’t in any photos because he’s always behind the camera. Thanks Greg for keeping my memory alive!

Here’s Avery with her completed cupcake creation. I realize she doesn’t look that excited but honestly she was!

Bethany actually had scheduled a little craft for the kids to create some pinwheels. It proved to be a little more difficult for the younger kids so the parents were helping out a lot (like Brian in the first photo). But they all turned out pretty good!

Here’s us with Avery as she was blowing out her three little candles. It took her a few tries, but she finally got them all blown out. I don’t want to dwell too long on this thought, but I’m starting to think that the reason we blow candles out is because that’s how fast it feels like the years go by. Bethany and I actually feel like Avery’s little years have gone at a good pace. We’ve had a busy year this year, but God has been gracious to make the time feel slow and we’ve been able to watch Avery grow. We’re thankful to the Lord for our daughter!

The party actually ended around 5pm and we were supposed to join our church’s youth group for their “American Thanksgiving” party. As we were walking out the door we realized our friends who had driven in from Poland forgot a baby bag, but they had already left. I called and told them we would meet them on the road so they would have it and we drove into Poland and met them at a gas station. I actually thought we would be able to turn around easily but this was not the case. The gas station was just off the highway, and there was no place to turn around and go back towards Czech. This meant we ended up driving (and I’m not joking) another 20 minutes into Poland until we could turn around.

We figured we had missed dinner with the youth group and so we decided to eat at the McDonald’s in Poland and made a poor decision on driving through. Imagine an American family, that now lives in Czech, driving through McDonald’s trying to order in Polish (which we can’t speak a lick of). It took forever for us to order and I ended up having to walk inside to order the things that didn’t get communicated. Finally we got all of our food and headed back to Czech (another 25-30 minute drive). And yes, I got a photo of the McDonald’s.

About 6:45pm we made it to the youth group hangout which was a lot of fun. The kids were full of energy and were running around the room while all the students were talking and hanging out. We enjoyed talking with a couple of the students and staff and just being there.

At the end of the day, I’m thankful for how the Lord works out the details. Some things went as we had planned and some things didn’t (e.g. dinner in Poland), but it all went as God had planned. Awesome.

Tags Avery, birthday, party, Poland

365 Czech Republic Friends

Uncle Jonny and a Backyard Bash

Post author By Shay
Post date August 9, 2014
1 Comment on Uncle Jonny and a Backyard Bash

In the ongoing series of people coming to see us in Czech, our good friend Jonny Ardavanis spent the day with us and is spending the night tonight! Jonny came early today and we were able to get his clothes washed and ready or his departure on Monday. He has been working as an intern with Josiah Venture this summer here in Czech and his last camp ended this week so he had a little time to come for a visit. On Monday he’s headed off to Norway with a few awesome guys to take in the site and enjoy a little more of Europe. I love his passion, his love for Christ, and his humor. Jonny is a ton of fun to be around and we’ve known him since he was in junior high. To have him in our home today has been such a joy and a blessing to us.

This evening we had been invited to a team get together at he Brian and Aleisha Stephens house. Since our entire team is now in Czech, the Stephens thought it would be fun to get everyone together for a fun hangout and that’s exactly what it was. I took my camera along and grabbed a bunch of shots. Here’s a lot of what we did in photos and video.

Shortly after that last photo the thunder clouds rolled into town and the rain came fast. We all quickly put toys and things away and headed for the house. Everyone that can play an instrument brought them so we had a little impromptu worship and singing time together while the rain, lightning, and thunder came through. It was a fun night and definitely a great time having the team all together. Thanks to the Stephens family for having us over!

Tags bbq, friends, party

Family

The Craziest Christmas Party We’ll Ever Go To

Post author By Shay
Post date December 23, 2012
2 Comments on The Craziest Christmas Party We’ll Ever Go To

One of the perks of working for a company owned by a billionaire is being invited to his mansion in Malibu to play in the snow. Yes, you read that last sentence correctly.

Today we spent the day at John Paul Dejoria’s house, owner of Paul Mitchell hair care (the company I work for). It was our second time attending this crazy event, but last year we had a brand new baby (she was just 3 weeks old) and the experience just wasn’t as much fun as this year. I’m hard pressed to try and describe all of what this party is, so here’s a few photos with some descriptions below each to try and help make sense of it all.

Titus standing on the snow as we walk up JPs driveway.

At the top of the driveway we were greeted by huge snowflake balloons. Did I mention they were huge?

Founder and owner of Paul Mitchell and Patron, John Paul Dejoria (aka: “JP”) shaking hands with friends and employees. We got to take a picture with him shortly after this photo.

In-N-Out truck! #1, no onions with extra spread.

Titus waiting for his In-N-Out cheeseburger.

Avery being cute in her stroller as we wait for our In-N-Out burgers.

The family is happy as we finish our lunch and head into the party!

This is JP…as a sculpture/fountain. Did I mention he is a billionaire?

This is the snow hill. The Pacific Ocean is in the background just behind the huge blow up Santa. If you look to the left you’ll see the “real” Santa sitting on his “thrown of lies!”

A sign pointing the way to the kid’s play area.

On the way to kid’s play area is a huge dessert table thing. It was ridiculous.

Another dessert table thing. Pretty sure the cotton candy on the tree was real. And the people off to the right are waiting in line for their custom screen printed t-shirts.

Looking down on JP’s tennis courts which held the kid’s play area.

Titus enjoy some bubbles in the kids’ play area.

The bubble guy trying to show Titus how to make a really big bubble.

Titus looking through a huge bubble.

They had a race track and Titus picked the yellow car.

Here comes Titus’ yellow car down the stretch.

Titus playing lego basketball. I didn’t know such things existed.

Titus playing at the lego table. Vroom!

Avery puts her hand on a giant rocking horse.

Titus playing with the bubbles again.

A huge bubble floats by as Avery goes in for the pop.

Pop!

Me: “Titus stand in front of the reindeer and say ‘cheese'” Titus: “cheese.”

And last but not least, the celebrities. Among them, the man with the rubber legs: Dick Van Dyke. We saw him coming up the driveway as we were leaving so I went back for a paparazzi shot. To his left is Suzanne Somers in the furry hat. A few others were Ben Folds and Jesse James. You know us Thomasons, always hanging with the celebs!

Tags Christmas, party