A Blessed Christmas

I am up too late but I wanted to post a little something before I go to bed.

We had a wonderful day. My parents came out to spend the morning with us which was so great. The gifts we all received were so thoughtful and generous. The kids and we are already enjoying many of them and will continue to enjoy them once we are back in Torreon so far away from our loved ones. It was so great to have the time today to play, talk and eat with family that we miss so much. This is our first Christmas in BC since 2005! Looking forward to lots more visiting with loved ones over the coming days.

I hope you, dear readers, all had such a blessed Christmas as we did.

And now I must sleep. There are more photos to post but for now I'll leave you with this portrait of my Mom.

One Day Per Time Zone

They say you need one day per time zone to adjust to a change. That means that tomorrow we'll all feel normal again. It has been a wonderful whirlwind. Our flights on Wednesday went perfectly. We were worried about the short layover between our international flights, but it was all good! A great new policy meant that we didn't have to pick up our luggage between flights. And we were first in line for customs and security. We ended up having time to spare! Much to Andrew's chagrin, I insisted on spending it at a restaurant getting some quick eggs and bacon (no meals on the flights and I can only get so far on almonds and craisins- all I could think of to pack that would meet my wheat-free needs). My normally laidback husband gets a little skittish in airports and he was visibly relieved once we were on our final flight.

There was a huge welcome party at the airport which was so awesome. The kids weren't shy at all about doling out hugs and smiles. On the way home we stopped at a clothing store and I scored huge. Whoo! First new non-maternity clothes in a year and a half. So fun.

That same evening I took Josh to see a chiropractor. He said Joshua had stuff going on in his neck and in his back at the stomach level. Gave him gentle adjustments. Hard to tell if there's much change because Joshua is under the weather with the sniffles.

Though he did have a very extended happy time on the floor by the bed this morning! I put him down on his tummy and turned to organize some presents. When I looked again, he was on his back with only his lower half sticking out from under the bed, happily munching on the bed skirt.



The kids are all in their glory. I've barely seen Eva and Micah- they're too busy hanging out with Grandma or playing with cousins or the toys here. Joshua has been quite happy to go to Nana or Grandma.

We went to Christmas Eve service and got to see the Rehmans- whoo! We sure have missed those guys.

Had a nice quiet Christmas Eve dinner and the big kids didn't put up a fight about going to bed. So tired. Just finished wrapping presents and now it's time to hit the hay! Looking forward to a day with no outings, so I can just soak up the atmosphere and really settle in and enjoy. The last two days there has been so much to DO it's been hard to be still and really feel.

Christmas Choir

Yesterday morning we attended Eva's school Christmas party. Sitting in the bleachers watching her, I found myself welling up. Eva is beginning the process of growing away from us. It makes me emotional and proud. Up until now she has mostly been right by our sides, doing most things with our direct help and support. And now her independence is increasing by leaps and bounds.

It really hit me that I'm a MOM attending her child's Christmas concert. I remember being Rudolf in my kindergarten Christmas play. And probably my Mom felt a lot like I did. Oh, the cycles of life!

Here is a little one minute video of the event. Andrew also posted photos on his Photog Blog. Josh enjoyed himself so much he even sang along with the last song!

El Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe

December 12 is the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Wikipedia says:

According to the traditional account, the image appeared miraculously on the cloak of Juan Diego, a simple indigenous peasant, on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City on December 12, 1531. The icon is on display in the Basilica of Guadalupe in the same locality and is regarded as Mexico's most popular religious and cultural image.

Mexonline tells the story of Juan Diego's encounter:

Juan Diego was a young indigenous Indian walking toward the Hill of Tepeyac on December 12, 1531 when he was stopped by the appearance of the Virgin Mary. The Virgin Mary appearing to Juan Diego was a young woman with black hair and dark skin which looked more like an indigenous person. She ordered Juan Diego to go to the Bishop and ask him to build a church at the Hill of Tepeyac. Juan Diego then ran to the Bishop to tell him what the Virgin Mary had told him. The Bishop didn't believe what this young men was telling him and decided to ignore the petition.

The Virgin Mary appeared again in front of Juan Diego and told him to collect flowers from the top of the hill, but because it was December Juan Diego knew that there was not going to be any flowers at the rocky hill. Upon reaching the top of the hill, Juan Diego was surprised to see that it was covered with colorful and beautiful flowers. Juan Diego, as he was asked to, collected the flowers using his overcoat and ran again to see the Bishop.

Juan Diego gave the coat full of flowers to the bishop, and here the bishop discovered the image of Virgin Mary's picture was miraculously traced on the coat. Seeing both the unseasonal flowers and the image of the Virgin, the Bishop realized Juan Diego had told him the truth and The Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe was built on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico City.

MexConnect explains the significance of the Virgin of Guadalupe to Mexicans:

Truly, the Virgin of Guadalupe is the rubber band that binds this disparate nation into a whole. She is the common denominator of this land, it is she giving Mexicans a sense of Nationalism, and Patriotism. Their brotherhood comes from the strength of intense faith rooted in indigenous attributes, images, symbols, magic and myth. The focus of this intense faith revolves around Our Lady, La Virgen Maria de Guadalupe, the mother of God who appeared in Mexico in 1531.
[...]
On her special day, December 12, all of Mexico, and all Mexican sons and daughters on the other side gather for the celebration of the Virgin. An endless parade of pilgrims from the country’s four points appear at her Basilica with their flowers, songs, chants and prayers. They stream in processions led by indigenous dancers, to every church named for her. Wreaths of flowers adorn the signs of streets, neighborhoods, and towns bearing her name.

The church in our neighborhood is called "La Capilla de la Virgen María de la Medalla Milagrosa" (Chapel of the Virgin Maria of the Miraculous Medal). The church members tonight made their offering to the Virgin on this day of celebration.

Every little while they would stop for a Bible reading. I heard the story of Christ's birth from the book of Luke and I heard the Lord's Prayer. I'm not sure what else they read, or what they did once they got back to the church.

We watched with interest and enjoyed the dancing, drums and shakers. Eva was very excited to see her classmate Lorenzo dancing in the procession.

Here is a clip of the procession, a stone's throw from our house.

Even some of the littlest ones participated.

Eva's Photo Gallery

On the weekend Eva did some photography. She became quite incensed at Micah because he wouldn't let her take his backpack and Nerf gun long enough to include it in her carefully crafted setup. Here are a couple photos she took of her birthday loot:




This is a fun series of photos she took of Andrew and our Sunday Dinner guest, Mr. Bill.





By the way, the blue stuff on the wall in the middle of the frame is a picture that Micah drew and then taped to the wall with blue masking tape. I was quite impressed by both things and so I have left it on display for a month or two now.

Cake Party

So I got pretty stressed about Eva's birthday cake. The last time I baked a cake was one year ago. Baking at high altitudes is challenging. And I can't eat wheat so I couldn't do any taste testing. Eva asked for a lemon cake so I found a layer cake recipe online and made it on Wednesday so if it was garbage I would still have a day to get one done. Things were going pretty well. I felt good about how it came together. I made a single cupcake so the kids could try and approve it. That cupcake just about did the project in! I tried to fit the muffin tin plus two 8" round pans on the same rack. And managed to push one pan right off the back of the rack!! NOOOOOooooooooooooooo!!!!

I was able to salvage about 2/3 of that batter and that was good enough for me. The beauty of the layer cake and toppings is that it doesn't matter too much what the cake underneath looks like. It's all about the taste. And the kids gave it two thumbs up (I'm sure the two cups of sugar in the recipe had nothing to do with that, ha ha).

Here is the finished product.



And finally, our FIRST FAMILY-OF-FIVE PHOTO! (Hm, the cake looks rather lopsided now that I look at it. Maybe the cake underneath does matter a little. Ah, whatever. I wasn't going for perfection, just edibility.)

Thanksgiving in Monterrey

We spent the weekend in Monterrey. I attended a conference- The Humanization of Birth- with Joshua. Andrew and the big kids swam their buns off and did some exploring in downtown Monterrey.

The weekend did have a couple of tough moments- crazy big kids refusing to fall asleep, Joshua crying for four hours, beginning the moment after we started eating an expensive meal. But while the weekend had some tough moments, overall it was quite amazing. Joshua was very good about letting me focus on the speakers and even take lots of notes. Eva and Micah were very well behaved for Andrew and they had some really fun times together. And the cherry on top of the sundae? A beautifully smooth bedtime tonight! It was really nice to shake up our routine and do something different. I feel good.

Good, and ready to jump into my own wonderful bed.

But first a short Thanksgiving list. I am thankful for:

- my husband who is incredibly supportive and loving. I am married to an AWESOME man.
- my smart, loving, beautiful, healthy children
- my body that brought forth those children- a miracle each time, and I got to be part of it!
- awesome parents and in-laws
- friends and extended family whom we love and love us so well in return
- our comfortable home and reliable, comfortable, perfect-for-our-needs vehicles
- the means to keep our fridge and pantry stocked with healthy and yummy food
- the opportunity to live and work abroad, to grow and stretch and learn through the experience
- the opportunity to attend a conference on a topic about which I am passionate
- much, much more. I am truly blessed.

This and That

Mom left this morning :( It was so awesome having her here. She supported me, mothered me, helped in so many practical ways, loved on the kids, and never failed to remind me to take the points for the jack in cribbage. I so appreciated her taking three weeks out of her life to be here for Joshua's arrival!

Today was the first day of my new reality- and Eva had the day off school. It was both a wonderful and a difficult day. After we walked out to wave as Nana's airplane passed overhead, the kids played together beautifully most of the morning, and Josh slept for hours in the sling. I got a bunch of things done, including my first sink of dishes in weeks and it was very low key and enjoyable. Quiet Time had a rocky start, with Micah wandering all over and Eva sobbing because she wanted presents RIGHT NOW. But then it took a sudden turn to peaceful, and I found myself in a remarkable situation: all three kids were sleeping!! I did a bit of reading and then realized that I should be sleeping too. So I got a few zzz's. Sweet. The pendulum swung back the other way once everyone was up. Micah and I had a huge battle of wills about him removing his stinky peed-in Superman jammies. (I won in the end) Eva continued to grump about presents and anything else she could think of. Joshua got fussy. Suppertime and after went well. We planned a new, more strictly structured bedtime routine. It all went well until the part where they were supposed to go to sleep. Eva had a huge accident. Micah had a gigantic meltdown. It's almost 10 and Eva is still awake. When will I learn not to let her nap during the day??

We're going to stick to this new routine for a full week whether it seems to be working or not. I am hoping they will come around. I am SO TIRED of fighting both kids to sleep every night. It is time consuming and exhausting.

In other news, it is incredibly dry here. We had a couple of weird weeks where it was raining almost every day and so humid that everything smelled and felt damp. I thought to myself, I'm glad I live in a dry climate because I don't like this. But now that the relative humidity is zero and my lips are cracked and bleeding and I've drunk 2 litres of water since suppertime... well, I'm not so fond of either option.

The Luckiest Kid

Last night Eva was invited to attend the wedding service of her teacher Raquel. What are the odds that within the same year both of a child's teachers will get married and invite their students? Pretty cool. Unfortunately these weddings occur after Eva's bedtime so her self-consciousness was magnified. She clung to me and would not pose with Raquel for a photo.

Raquel and Oscar with Eva's classmate Ana

She almost missed out on the group photo too...


...but finally got up the courage to get in there.


At one point during the service Eva leaned over to me and whispered, "I am the luckiest kid ever. I have a trampoline and I got to go to two weddings and I have pretty shoes." My mother's heart sang.

Beautiful candelit ceremony.

Home Again, Home Again

Winding up our first full day back at home in Torreon. It is weird and normal all at the same time. We've pretty much stepped back into life. Everything is familiar and routine. Which is good and bad. This is our home after all, and there is a certain comfort to being home. But we MISS our loved ones! And spending the whole day together as a family unit, every day. We sure miss Andrew when he's at work.

This trip to Canada was exceptionally rich. We really focused on spending our time with people, and were so blessed by that decision! We have so many extraordinary people in our lives. Thank you to everyone who carved out time for us. We felt very very loved. (And sorry to those of you we didn't get a chance to see. Vacations are always too short!)

I think I can speak for Andrew when I say that a huge highlight (among very many) was seeing our kids with their cousins. Even at such a young age, the kids just know there's something special and different about family. And it shows in their play and comments. That special bond is so tangible.

You could see that the kids recognized that there was something different about all the loved ones we spent time with, and adjusted their behaviour accordingly to be much more open and comfortable than they are with people we are not as close with.

While we did focus on people, we managed to squeeze in some shopping, and came home with most of the things we needed, including: a new maternity swimsuit for me! Goodbye Ursula the Sea Witch swimsuit, hello much more flattering and form fitting swim dress (not even maternity, but it works). I also bought a boatload of new cloth diapers, and was gifted a boatload of used cloth diapers. Thank you so much Louise and Melissa!!!! I am super excited about my foray into cloth diapering. Ridiculously excited, some might say. I am actually saving the washing and organizing of said diapers as a reward for completing my 'coming home to-do list'.

I could devote a whole post to how much I love and appreciate my bed. We bought it right before we moved here. It has been worth EVERY PENNY. Seriously, almost every night we comment to each other about how much we appreciate that bed. We give thanks to God for that bed. It's worth it to spend a little extra on something you spend 1/3 of your life using.

It's hot here. I don't know why I feel I have to comment on that. Of course it's hot here. It's the middle of summer and we live in the desert. So far though, I'm holding up well.

I'm feeling quite nesty. Have the energy to go that extra mile around the house. Like, if I see something out of place or dirty, to do something about it. Hopefully that lasts for a little while. It is nice to hang around in a neat and clean home.

Our yard is amazingly overgrown. I hope our gardener can come tomorrow.

My van is amazingly coated in dust. I hope I get around to washing it tomorrow.

My ficus tree is still alive!!! Whoohoo!! Last summer all my house plants bit it while I was gone.

Maybe I'll even buy a few more house plants now that our annual lengthy absence has passed. Good to have that extra oxygen in the house. Anybody have suggestions of VERY hearty houseplants that tolerate dry conditions and neglect?

Awesome and Exhausting Four Days

Saturday morning at DebnRobnAshe's place. Micah nonchalantly drove Ashley's toy motorcycle straight into the fence. It did not cross his mind to do anything like, oh, try to steer, or take his foot off the gas.

Eva's new- previously enjoyed by Ashley- hat and sunglasses. Can't get them off of her.

Micah trying on a pair of shades.

More photos to come after I get permission from everyone...

On Thursday morning I got a call from Tara. I know her from church here and she invited me as a support person to her home birth this month. She was due on the 20th so we were crossing our fingers it would work out. She called to say her water had broken! She wasn't having regular contractions yet but I rearranged my schedule so I could be ready for her when she needed me. Around lunchtime she asked me to come be with her while her boyfriend went out to pick up her mom. So my mom dropped me off and took the kids with her to her salon appointments. I was so glad they were really good for her! I hung out with Tara until the late afternoon. Her contractions still weren't regular and I thought she needed some space. I got a chance to eat with the kids and tuck them in then I headed over there again for a couple of hours. Things kind of died off so I headed home and climbed into bed with my cell phone close at hand. Still no regular pattern so in the morning I was able to go to the park for a really fun playdate with some of my mom's friends that she had a playgroup with when I was young. Four of us daughters/daughters-in-law were able to be there with a total of eight little kids ranging from 4 months to 4.5 yo. So cool! We went to an awesome park.

Just as the playdate was ending I got the call that Tara was in active labour so Mom dropped me off and headed home with the kids. She laboured beautifully and had the birth she dreamed of in water, right in her own living room at 5pm. I was honoured and privileged to attend and support her, and it was very moving. Mom and baby are doing great! Seylah is perfect and content.

So that was VERY exciting! Also very tiring and my cold which was improving took a turn for the worse.

We had lots of fun plans for Saturday. In the morning we went to see 9-year-old Ashley's lacrosse game. I really enjoyed it! Good entertainment and so fun to see her out there. She is one of only two girls on her team and she holds her own. She is loving it. Now our kids want lacrosse sticks!

Afterward we were invited over for lunch and wow did we pack a lot of fun stuff into a short couple of hours. There was cookie making and trampoline jumping, swingset playing, treehouse playing, BBQ eating, motorcycle driving, and hand-me-down hand-me-downing. We had a blast and didn't want to leave. But we had a family BBQ we were also looking forward to in the afternoon.

Everybody made it and it was great to have a chance to see and catch up a little with everyone. I loved seeing the kids together. Eva and Micah really really enjoyed playing with seven year old Ben and nine year old Jamie.

We got home way past the kids bedtime and by then I was completely out of gas and just went to bed with them. I was thrilled to open my eyes to a clock that reported 7:08am! At least a full hour later than Micah's recent usual.

Today we went to church. This time Eva trotted right into her class and had a great time, and Micah dissolved into tears at the thought of leaving me. So I took him into church for a while where he actually did sit quietly for a while. I knew it was time to try taking him to class again when he crawled under the chairs all the way back to the sanctuary. And he went right in and was ok with me leaving. When he came out he declared, "That was fun!". Maybe next week they'll both go to their classes for the whole time and I'll get a chance to focus on church.

After church a few of us had a picnic lunch at the park. It was great to hang with my friends, see their kids, see them with my kids, and to see the kids together. It was finally really sunny and hot today, whoohoo!

When we got back, all three of us took a super long nap. I actually had to wake Eva up. I'm looking forward to getting back into bed and hopefully sleeping this cold away. Lots more visiting planned for this week!

Quick Update

Andrey and Jen are gone :( We had such a wonderful time with them! As I said to Jen, it felt so exciting yet so normal hanging out. We are incredibly blessed by their friendship.

Micah has been wearing undies everywhere for about a week now and doing awesome. I worried he might regress while we were toodling around in Monterrey but he kept his undies mostly dry. [exactly while I was writing this he had an accident. Ha, ha!] He is always dry in the mornings now, though we put a pullup on him anyway just in case. The problem we do have is that he generally refuses any kind of suggestion or direction to go pee. He is doing well at holding it for hours but eventually he can't hold it anymore. He hasn't been taking himself to the toilet so unless he decides to accept our advice he generally doesn't pee. I hate the power struggles and hope this passes soon. I sure do love seeing him in his cute little Cars and Transformers undies!!

I seem to have a sinus infection. Just on one side of my forehead but the periodic headache is annoying. Yesterday at yoga every time I bent over the pain got really uncomfortable. I have been surfing for home remedies and I will be steaming myself as much as I can and maybe taking some garlic. I don't want to have a horrible headache at the beach and I would like to avoid antibiotics. I welcome any other suggestions for dealing with this.

Something to Look Forward to This Spring!!

The last two years it has been a long haul from January to July. Both years both sets of parents came down around Christmastime, and then we didn't have any visitors or go anywhere until summer.

This spring we have a beach vacation with Andrew's parents to look forward to!! We just booked and are we excited. Whoohoo!

In other news, Eva got a bike on the weekend. A two-wheeler with training wheels. Her friend Xochi grew out of it and passed it along. The first try was discouraging for Eva and she gave up pretty quickly. But today she REALLY got moving. She was devastated when I told her she had to come inside. She wanted to "ride in circles all day long". She had a serious fit, yikes. But it was so exciting to see her on that bicycle. We'll go out tomorrow a few times yet. And I'll get a photo, I promise.

Back in the Saddle

In Parras

Good thing Andrew got really into the blogging the last little while, because I have dropped the ball! Any down time I might have had while my parents were here (can't believe they're already gone!) got taken up caring for and comforting sick little Micah. He had bronchitis for a while and now he's recovering from strep throat. He had some scary high fevers from that and we have been back and forth to the doc and pharmacy quite a bit. Finally he is on the mend! No more fevers, but he is still so congested he has sleep apnea at night. Very disturbing. I am giving him the hated salt water nasal spray which helps a little but makes him scream. No fun.


My parents left this morning. Wow. Blink of an eye visit. They were planning to leave on Thursday but the weather has been so nuts in the U.S. and Canada they thought it would be better to leave a couple of extra days rather than pushing so hard like they did on the way down. Smart move, but very sad to see them go sooner than expected! We had a great visit though. Highlights include:

- The kids' reactions when they got here. They were so excited! And all over them, Papa in particular. It was a joy and a pleasure to see the four of them enjoying each other so much.
- Delicious meals together, in particular last night's Adults Only Steak Dinner
- Hilarious bloopers in the midst of our attempts at Awesome Family Photos. If only our remote shutter release had arrived in the mail on time.... well, maybe next time we'll get a photo of all of us together.
- Christmas Day, opening useful, fun, educational, thoughtful gifts and sharing Christmas dinner with friends as well as family



- BLOKUS!
- Lots of laughs and good times last night

And now Andrew is still on holidays for the rest of the week. How shall we spend it? Well, today is definitely a lazy day. This morning Sherrif Woody and I made pancakes. I tried a new recipe and threw some molasses in there... not terrible but wouldn't make it again either. I just tried to catch up on the sleep I didn't get last night but Micah didn't cooperate.

Weekend in Saltillo

text by Dana, photos by Andrew

This weekend we headed out to Saltillo for a (delicious!) Christmas dinner at Jim and Lorraine's with some other Palliser folks.



Crafting it up. Incidentally, they just moved into our favorite of the houses we looked at. We enjoyed seeing it with furniture and getting a chance to 'live' there.



Lorraine had all kinds of crafts ready for the kids... cookies to decorate and glue and paper and sparkles and scissors... a preschooler's dream! I think in this photo Micah is actually eating one of three yogurts he had in quick succession that morning.



Sunday morning we headed up to the town of Arteaga before going home. It's about 15 minutes from Saltillo and they have a market every Sunday. Very nice Sunday outing. The kids loved holding the 4 week old puppies and we loved seeing them enjoying themselves so much.





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The kids having a pony ride. They liked it but Micah was too ready for a nap to thoroughly get into it.



We stopped for supper at Tio Taco, right by our house. Yummy! Though the kids and I maybe indulged in a few too many cookies on the ride home. And chip appetizers. Our plates weren't exactly clean, though the food was very good.

A Wedding!

Last night Eva was invited to her teacher Anavilly's wedding. It started at 8:15pm! Eva consented to a long nap in the afternoon, and that worked out nicely. Eva was excited at first, a little uncomfortable but smiling at the start of the photos, and kind of sullen by the end. Lots of people and action! All the kids were taken to sit in a section together for the ceremony. I managed to snag a seat right behind them. For a kid who likes to always know what to expect, it was pretty overwhelming. Eva asked several times to sit with me, but did end up staying with the class and doing well. At the end of the wedding, they had all the kids blow bubbles around the happy couple as they walked up the aisle out of the church. Fun! Eva was on a high afterward and needed a few minutes to play and read before she could think about going to bed. An experience to remember!

Happy Birthday Eva and Micah!

Micah in his spiffy new Woody jammies, with "Bulleyes" and his fire extinguisher that actually squirts! (haven't told him yet because he'll be a menace with it)

Eva so pleased and excited that she finally got the Jessie she's been wanting for months

I didn't do a special post for Micah on his birthday because Andrew was out of town. We were going to celebrate a few days later... but a few days morphed into two weeks. He didn't seem to mind and we thought it might be nice (read: easier for us) to have them open their presents at the same time, share a piñata, etc...

This morning when Eva got up the rest of us were already up and watching some Lazy Town. We greeted her with a song but that was a little overwhelming so early in the morning and sent her running out of the room. When she re-emerged Micah gave her a big birthday hug and greetings. I think we all enjoyed it more than Eva did though :)

So now the kids are officially two and four! When I ask Micah how old he is, he says, "Big."

Eva is quite excited to now be four. Though there are some things she's waiting on until she's eight. Watching "The Wizard of Oz". Initiating relationships with her classmates. Attending English class at school (doesn't like parts of the teacher's face). Standing up during music class.

Today when we dropped Eva off at school, she cried. This school thing is good, but incredibly draining for her. By today she was feeling just about done. Good thing it's the weekend!

They had a pretty fun day at school. They worked on the traditional Day of the Dead display, did cooking class, and had music class. Eva sang one of the music class songs on and off all afternoon. For snack I sent a cake and they had a little birthday celebration for her. Sang to her in both english and spanish. Eva did a little some kinda something with a globe (I didn't quite understand her explanation) and then she served her classmates.

She really loved the cake! I am so glad. I don't have a tried and true, go-to cake recipe so I practiced this week. Made three cakes. The first one, chocolate zucchini, turned out well but she didn't really like it. The second one, carrot cake with chocolate chips, turned out ok and she didn't like it. Last chance, last night. High pressure situation. I went with a simple vanilla cake. And didn't hear the timer go off. Came out a little overcooked. But I slathered the fresh whipping cream on those hockey pucks and garnished liberally with fresh strawberries and kiwi. I figured if the cake were inedible, they could still enjoy the fruit and whipped cream. It really did look nice, if I do say so myself. When we picked her up, Eva commented how much she loved her birthday cake! Phew!

Day of the Dead altar display

Andrew took the day off today (!!!). So great. We picked Eva up after school and went to a restaurant called Peter Piper Pizza. One of those places with the games that give you tickets you can redeem for cheap plastic goodies. Kids ate a lot of pizza and played a lot. We played a lot too. Got addicted to the basketball game. It was fun but also gave me a headache.

Goat in back of truck on the way to the pizza place

Self-portrait in Peter Piper Pizza. You can see Eva and Andrew in the background

We came home and opened presents. Big success on that front! Then we had strawberries and whipped cream. We have a piñata but figured we'd had enough excitement already. So we postponed it until tomorrow morning. The kids fell asleep in a flash.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2008

Micah: "cheese!"

Double decker trampolines... wow....

Izabel and Rita

Rita and Izabel

Rita enjoying a snuggle with Izabel

The kids huddling by the "safe pole" during a game of Dragon with Jeremy

Micah doing his best dragon roar

Chase with Jeremy