Potty Time?

Guess who's getting interested in the potty???

Perhaps we should get one that's not so....pink.

Proud Performance

After practicing for weeks and weeks, the day of Lucia's school Christmas performance finally arrived.

There was a party before the performance so the night before we made and decorated some Christmas cookies. I bought some food coloring pens to decorate with and that went pretty well. Lucia enjoyed it, but the cookies ended up looking rather...interesting.



And this is how Milo helped with the cookies:


Both Antonio and I got to go to the performance and Lucy was so excited.


Lucy's on the right, just behind the little girl who's swaying back and forth.

Birthday Party

Just a couple of weeks after starting at their new school, Lucia was invited to one of her classmates' birthday party (and Milo tagged along).

I was itching to build something, so I put together this workbench and made a small toolbox to go with it.


Lucy was very proud to help paint and it dried just in time for the party. We got a few plastic tools to go with it and it turned out great.


The party was held at a bouncing place and the kids had so much fun that afterward they came home and crashed for a good three hours.

New School

After we got back from Bolivia, we decided it was time to put Lucy and Milo in a new school. Lucy will be in pre-K(!) next year and the school we chose has the option of choosing to enroll in the state program or a private program, each with its own curriculum. We still don't know which one we want her to be in, but by moving to this new school, we now have that option when the time comes.

Lucy and Milo already love their new teachers and have made new friends. Here's a picture of each on their first day!

Hometown Holiday 2010

The town we live in is always putting together community activities for the families around here and for the Hometown Holiday 2010, they didn't disappoint.

We were running late, so by the time we arrived for the Candy Cane Hunt, they were all out of candy canes. No biggie..we just moved on to the next event, which was a show at the ampitheatre.

We saw an orchestra playing Christmas carols...


...enjoyed a mini-performance of the Nutcracker...


...lit some candles while we sang Silent Night (not pictured: Milo getting a little rowdy with the lit candle)...


And at the end of the show, Santa arrived in his golf cart.


We then took part in a golf cart procession (this is the view from ours) and followed Santa to City Hall where we watched them light the "big 'ole" Christmas tree.


And since I have no idea what happened to the video I took of the lighting of the tree...here's another of Santa after we arrived at City Hall. This is where the little kids got to sit on his lap. My kids, however, refused to and just stared at him from afar.

Bolivia - Part 2 (Santa Cruz)

After a week in La Paz we set off for the tropics...Santa Cruz, Bolivia. After battling that nasty stomach bug, it was nice to be able to stay at a resort and get some "vacation" time in.

Here's our Fred Flintstone-like mode of transportation at the resort.


There were about sixteen different pools in a very "natural" setting, all with fun rock slides. The kids had fun in the water...and so did Mommy and Daddy. That's me on the slide with Milo.






But even more than the pools, Milo was enamored with this fountain!


The kids discovered hammocks...and we ended up buying one in a market and bringing it home with us.






And we got to see lots of exotic animals.

Like toucans:


Parrots:


Sloths. Yeah, I didn't even know what a sloth was until this guy crossed the path in front of us.


There was an island crawling with monkeys:


In the distance it was hard to capture them on camera, but I think you can see this guy.


And of course some not-so-exotic animals (but still fun to see):


Lots to do and lots of fun!

Bolivia - Part 1 (La Paz)

So we decided to forego Thanksgiving this year and instead we took a little trip down south - to Bolivia. This was Lucia's second trip there and Milo's first. It was great seeing family.

Here's Lucy with her "Gordis".


And here with Tio Javi.


Lucia and Milo showing their sibling love on the streets of La Paz.


The whole crew has fun in the neighborhood supermarket.


Here are Lucy and Milo learning how to entertain the family pooch at Antonio's cousin's house.


And this is how the kids get some entertainment while Mommy and Daddy have a cup of coffee.


We did run into some "hitches" on our trip. Namely, a nasty stomach bug and a street blockade:


But we didn't let that stop us from getting in our fair share of saltenias. Here we are at las castores...but I think Lucy preferred the lemonade (saltenias not pictured).


Perhaps their favorite place we visited was Pollos Copacabana (complete with kids' meals and a playland).






Until next time, Bolivia.