AnTseeeeeeeeee...........

this is a blog i did before we left mexico and didn't get a chance to post before we left for arizona......



This last weekend we kinda had "ants" in our pants.......getting excited about making the trip home to arizona for the holidays. Just wish we could "blink" and be packed, house cleaned, car ready, and on the road! But, we did keep ourselves busy......doing laundry, the kids and Erik washed the jeep and Erik and I went to dinner saturday night with some of our friends at our "favorita" restaurant here in Guadalajara....I Latina(e latina):) YUMMY! We kinda made it our "tradition" before we all leave for christmas break~well, ok this is only the 2nd year we've done it, but 2 years in a row can be called "tradition", right? Anyways.....it was a lot of fun! Stay tuned for how our LONG car drive goes~not looking forward to 24 hours in the car! Pray it all goes well and we get there safe and sound!!!

My little "mexicans"

This is what the kids looked like today when I picked them up from school~

Que Linda! They looked SO cute!!! Being that monday was Dia de la Revolucion Mexicana, and there was no school monday, they sent home a note yesterday saying they wanted the kids to dress up today, friday......The note was in spanish, of course and there were a lot of words I didn't know....so thanks to the "trusty" translator I typed in what the note said and had it translated to english:) It said the boys were supposed to wear jeans and "sombreros" and the girls were supposed to wear skirts and braids in their hair......I thought...hhhhhmmmmmm..... So, I called my friend Yari because her little boy goes to the kids school and she's puerto rican so spanish is her first language. She told me it was the mexican skirts and pants......which we don't own any of those~so my kids went to school in their "standard" uniforms and came home all decked out!!!!!!!! I loved it!



So, I had to wikipedia Mexican Revolution so I could remember what it was all about:

The Mexican Revolution (Spanish: Revolución mexicana) was a major armed struggle that started in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Diaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements.

Over time the Revolution changed from a revolt against the established order to a multi-sided civil war. After prolonged struggles, its representatives produced the Mexican Constitution of 1917. The Revolution is generally considered to have lasted until 1920, although the country continued to have sporadic, but comparatively minor, outbreaks of warfare well into the 1920s. The Cristero War was the most significant relapse of bloodshed. The Revolution triggered the creation of the National Revolutionary Party in 1929 (renamed the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, in 1946). Under a variety of leaders, the PRI held power until the general election of 2000.

Car doctor

Tonight is the second night Erik has had to work double shifts at the hospital, and the kids and I were REALLY missing him tonight when we sat down for dinner! This is a little bit of the converstation we had:

Halle: "I really wish daddy didn't have to go to that school anymore"

Me: "Well, honey he has to finish school so he can become a Dr. and get a job to make some money. That's how we pay for things like, the house we live in, our car, food to eat. eat.

Costa: "Well soon I'm going to be a Dr. so I can work on your car"

It was pretty cute! Gotta love 3 year olds and the way their little brains think:)

Butterflies

My Halle girl.....last night when I was putting you to bed you started to cry and told me you had a bad day at school! I started asking you what happened and was trying to understand you through the tears~It broke my heart to hear you SO sad:( You said that while you were making an art project at school you accidentally put something on the wrong way and then all of a sudden both your arms, legs and tummy started to "shake!" I was trying to make sense of it, and was asking you things like..."were you hungry?" "did you guys already eat lunch before this happened?" "did you feel sick?" and then it CAME to me! You had your first case of BUTTERFLIES in your tummy! You were NERVOUS~and the feeling of it scared you! I explained to you that this is normal, and you will get these feelings sometimes when you are scared or nervous....you just need to take a DEEP breath and say a prayer that it goes away quickly! I know we will have MANY more talks about bad days, but I just wanted to remember this conversation with you about your first BUTTERFLY experience.....I'm so happy you told me about it!!!!! XOXO

BaCkYaRdIGaNs

This last monday was ANOTHER holiday here in mexico, this time it was for the Dia de la Revolucion Mexicana~so Erik and the kiddos didn't have school. This is like the 4th holiday we've had since school started.....GEEZ louise, Mexicans sure do LOVE their holidays!!!! ........I love my kids dearly and our weekend time together, but they get pretty antsy and are usually ready to go back to school on mondays ~they LOVE school! I must say, though.....they were SO awesome entertaining themselves sunday AND monday! Erik called them our little "backyardigans"......SO funny, they were in the backyard for HOURS using their imaginations and having all kids of little adventures and didn't complain at ALL that they were bored! We LOVED it! They were cleaning my outside table and chairs and making a swimming pool for Halle's ponies......they did get a little carried away with the water and were SOAKED at one point, but Erik and I decided they're having fun so we let them be:)
Sunday night Erik and Halle, he calls her his "little chef"....made us spaghetti dinner and my was it delicious! It's so cute to see Halle get excited to help her daddy cook. This is something he started with her when she was probably 2 years old! It's SO special.......I LOVE it! He's so patient and really tries to teach her all about cooking. She told me..."Mommy.... I made these noodles ALL by myself!" SO proud~
We ended the weekend by making a "fort", and watching the movie UP. The kids get SO excited to make a fort with their daddy~he's the PROFESSIONAL fort maker:) I love these special things that he does with them to make memories!

EXCITING phone call

Last night we got a phone call from Dr. Dinowitz, the orthopedic doctor Erik worked for before medical school. He said Erik will be able to "scrub in" on surgeries while we're home in arizona for christmas break! He will be an employee while working there so their insurance will cover him! He will actually get to assist in ACTUAL surgeries, this is pretty big!!! WHOOOOO HOOOOO!!! I love seeing the EXCITEMENT and JOY in my husbands eyes as he's realizing all this HARD WORK is going to actually pay off and can see it ALL coming together! I fell in LOVE with him all over again last night......he is such a HARD worker and deserves all of his DREAMS to come true!!! I am SOOOOO happy and EXCITED for you, babe~you have done SO well and I am MORE than proud of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE you with all my heart....................MUAH!!!!!!!!!! ~your wife

Pajama party!

My sweet friend Yari invited the kids and I over for a pajama and movie night tonight. She told me about it the other day so I went and bought the kids some new "fun" pajamas! The other day when I picked them up from school I told them I had a surprise for them.....I love the excitement in their voices when I tell them I have a surprise! I made them close their eyes and wait for me to get their surprises....They were SO excited when I showed them the superman and sleeping beauty PJ's I had bought for them! I told them about Yari and Gabriel's party coming up in a few days and that they had to "save" these PJ's to wear until the party.......Of course, Costa doesn't know how to "wait" for things....he had to try them on and actually ended up wearing them to take his nap that day!

All the kids looked SO cute in their pajamas~we had 2 buzzs, a batman, a superman and of course our little sleeping beauty.......oh, and my friend Stacie had her baby there too!~Easton, he's so sweet....he's 9 months and is the cutest thing EVER.....I LOVE this age and it makes me kinda want one.....hhhhhhmmmmm:)! The kids had fun playing with their buddies, eating their "fav" pizza and watching Ice Age 3.....of course, they actually only "watched" the movie through eating popcorn and ice cream(total of about 15 minutes!) but after that they wanted to play!!!!!!!!!!! Um, hello? FOUR 3 year old boys! Trying to keep them still to watch a movie? NOT happening! It was WRESTLE time! They had SO much fun together! It's SO good for Costa to get in some good boy play time.... he got hurt a few times and it broke my heart! My little boy, I NEED to let him get hurt and be "tough" and know that it's just part of being a boy:)

THANKS Yari for having us over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had fun:)

Breton, Easton, Boston, Gabriel, Costa & Halle

Excelente report card

Halle and Costa brought their report cards home the other day and Haller's had ALL excelentes(the best you can get) and ONLY one muy bien:) Erik and I were so PROUD of her! She has done so well with an ALL spanish school, she has never once has complained about the language! I couldn't believe it when we moved here, I mean she was only 3 but STILL....she knew NO spanish and was put into a school where none of the kids know any english~and ALL cartoons were in spanish too! I remember our first year living here and one of the little girls in her class kept asking her for her fruit roll up during lunch......I told her "tell her that her mommy can buy them at Costco here"....and Halle said "But I don't know how to say that in spanish mom!" Too funny....we figured it out and she was able to go back to school and tell her friend where her mom can buy fruit roll ups! My has she come a LONG way~NOW she starts singing songs in english and then will switch it to spanish! As for Costi, he did pretty good too:) Pretty much all muy biens and 1 bien.....he's so different than Halle (but then again, he's a BOY and they are SO different)! He's 3 and the language thing has bothered him much more.....he gets REALLY frustrated when he can't communicate.....We should have had Halle talking to him the last 2 yrs in spanish so he would have been more prepared....he's doing much better now since he's been in school almost 3 months now, and is starting to understand and speak more spanish~sometimes I think it's SO crazy that we live in a different country and my kids go to an ALL spanish school, it feels like a dream, not real.....so weird! I know it's such a GREAT opportunity and adventure and I am so blessed to have found such a great school so close to our house that I feel comfortable with to send my kids to:) Thank you GOD!

Halle and Costa~I am SO proud of BOTH of you for how well you have done! XOXO ~mom

Fresh fish anyone?

Tuesday night we had a few friends over to cook up some fresh fish they had caught at the beach the previous weekend. Of course the weekend we don't go with them, they end up catching 4 HUGE dorados with in an HOUR.......there was SO much fish!!!!!!! Marguerite made some yummy puerto rican plantains to go with the fish, they were delicious! Marguerite and Adam made a chili rub for the fish they made and Erik also made a different rub, both were so good~ Chris also brought a ceviche he had made from the fish, that was pretty tasty~It's SO fun to try to new things and watch how they're made:) Thanks guys for coming over and sharing your fish with us! GREAT food GREAT company:)

Telephone call for ...HALLE

Hallers, you are growing up SO fast! Last sunday, I was talking on the phone with Libby and you wanted to talk to your cousins Justyce and Elliana~after I was done talking I let you talk and you were talking like such a BIG girl! You said..."I'm going to go in my room where nobody can bother me!" Daddy and I couldn't believe it! Daddy went to the store and came back and said "Is she still on the phone?" It had been like 20 minutes! You talked for about an hour! I had to tell you it was time to get off!!!! TOO funny.......

New love for sundays...

I think sunday is my new favorite day of the week:) The last two years Erik has had to pretty much study ALL day sundays because he had tests mondays! I used to DREAD sundays because I knew I had to take the kids to church all by myself and then spend the day alone, with out my husband. Sundays are a FAMILY day.....it was hard to get through the last 2 yrs, but it's ALL worth it now! SO proud of US for getting through it, we're 1/2 way there! We now wake up on sundays and have coffee together, get ready for church(he's been with me every sunday this semester, SUCH a happy girl....thanks babe:) and then we either come home and make homemade strawberry waffles or go out to breakfast~this last sunday was actually our church's fundraiser, so after church we bought some sweets and let the kids jump on the brinoclin(jumper) for a little bit. Erik and I visited with a little old lady we have met through church, her name is Loretta....she's so sweet. It was fun to talk with her and hear a little bit of her story. Our church has an english mass, so a lot of the people that attend that service are from the states. EVERYBODY has a story as to why they live in mexico!
The rest of the day we went grocery shopping and then we were kinda lazy......Lately on sundays we've been trying to get creative with dinners and make something GOOD we've never made before.....so we explore recipes online and find things that look yummy! My husband is an AMAZING cook, and this is one of our favorite things to do together:) I really enjoy this time with him~this last sunday we decided to make stuffed flor de calabazas and he made a steak and potato soup that was SO delicious!

I love you babe....and am SO thankful for this time we have to spend together:)

No Scrooge for us...

Erik came to me saturday morning and expressed his interest in going golfing with the guys...he hasn't golfed at all here in mexico because all the courses are "private" and you have to be a member. But, he found a course that's about 30 minutes away in a little town called Lake Chapala. Of course, I really look forward to hanging out together as a family on the weekends now that he's not studying as much...but I knew I had to be a nice wife and let him go have fun with the guys! I knew he would have fun and needed it:)

I had an idea for the kids and I...I called my friend Yari and asked her if her and her son wanted to join us to go see Disney's new movie, A Christmas Carol....they had it in english(total plus since all the kids movies are always in spanish) and it was in 3D....sounds fun, right? Also, it was at the brand new mall, and the movie theatre is gorgeous! All the seats are VIP~2 leather recliners together, so awesome! They have a FULL menu and the waiters come to your seat and take your order...I thought the kids would think this is SO cool:) I always wonder why they don't have VIP in the states? One of my most FAVORITE things about mexico~

So we get all situated in our seats, and order our popcorn and nachos:) Everything is going great, we got our 3D glasses on and we're ready! The kids are content and excited for the movie to start...they did OK until the ghost! Just as Yari was going to check to see if we could get our money back, or a credit... Costa FREAKED out!!! He got hysterical and was SO scared! Then Halle got scared and started to cry a little bit......so here I am trying to get the popcorn, drinks, purses and gather up 3 scared kids to get the heck out of there! Craziness! I had to tell Costa to cover his eyes because it just kept gettting scarier! Poor little guy! I felt TERRIBLE.....bad mom! Who would have thought a Disney movie would be so scary? We even asked the guy who sold us the tickets and he said it wasn't scary? He said..."no, not all"... Whatever dude.....

So we got movie credit and thought of a plan B...they didn't have any other kids movies playing so we decided to take the kids to the play area in the mall for a little bit. Halle and Gabriel rode the boats and Costi rode the train.....they were happy campers:) They kept talking about the "scary" christmas movie...I was like...Oh, great they're going to have nightmares! Let's hope not!!! After the mall we went to our favorite restaurant, savora......SO yummy!

So all in all, a fun day out with Yari and Gabriel~even though we didn't see a movie....Erik had fun golfing~he WON, so he was excited:)

P.S............BIG day! Halle wore PIGTAILS for the first time in almost a year since she cut her hair herself....we were pretty EXCITED, we took some pictures:)

The kids in the movie theatre

Costa tried the boats, but was a little scared and had to get out, he opted to watch:)

Gabriel on his boat ride

The Christmas tree at the mall

Cookies, cookies, cookies

Last monday Halle and Costa didn't have school for "Dia de la Muerte", but Erik did....So, it was up to me to think of something to do....I had wanted to do something fun, like take them to Trompo Magico(really cool kids museum they have here) but they were closed for the holiday, bummer! So plan B? We decided to take a walk to the park and what else do kids LOVE to do? BAKE! Halle and I made a bunch of pumpkin sugar cookies last week and we had left over dough, so we decided we could make the rest of the cookies for the kids friends at school. Halle decided she wanted to make princess shaped cookies and use PINK sprinkles, of course my girly girl! Costi made round shapes with LOTS of green and yellow sprinkles, and ate more than half the frosting along the way:)

Barbies & Ponies

Hallers, this is your favorite thing to play with right now! Barbies and Ponies, you are such a GIRLY girl:) You have such a great imagination and always have new adventures for them....it's so fun to listen to you play with them. The other night you told me they wanted to have a photo shoot, so we lined them up and took a picture!

Cirque Du Soleil

I have the sweetest husband in the world! The other night he took me to see Cirque Du Soleil, it was AMAZING! Neither of us had ever seen a Cirque show before and we LOVED it! The show we went to was the Dralion one....unbelievable the things these people can do! We saw a girl balance her whole body with one arm, a group of girls balancing each other ON point, on lightbulbs, a girl juggle 3 umbrellas with her FEET! What?!?! People just aren't supposed to be able to do these things! Now we want to see ALL the shows, they are so cool....

BIG helper

Costi~this is probably the third time since school started that you have come home with the batman stuffed animal:) You are SO proud when I pick you up and you are bringing batman with you~You can't wait to tell me how you were the BIG helper that day...It's SO cute!!!! I love your little voice and how excited you get to tell me things ....the facial expressions you have are adorable. Daddy and I LOVE the way you say "Hallers"...it sounds like (Hadders) ...I want to tape record your little voice so someday when I'm missing you being little I can play it:)

Park days

Halle and Costa,

Here are some pictures of you guys playing at the park near our house, here in mexico. You guys love this park! We have been coming here at least once a week for 2 years now....both of your favorite things to do are jump on the trampoline and play "hide and seek" and tag with mommy. Sometimes they have a paint area set up where you can pick a ceramic and paint it....Hallers you LOVE to do this also.....we have quite the collection of ceramics you've painted from the last 2 years of living here:)
Hallers, you're getting SO good at crossing the bars, too! You can do it all by yourself and now you help your brother across. I love the way you are with Costi! Such a GREAT big sister always trying to help him even though he gets frustrated with you because he wants to do everything himself! You are SO patient with him:)
My Costi.....you are SO determined to do everything your big sister does, and you want to do it BY YOURSELF! I love how amazed you are by her, it's SO cute! For only 3 years you do so many BIG boy things! I pray your STRONG determination stays with you, it will get you so far in this life:)
I will cherish these memories with you guys forever~
Love, Mommy