Nana's Visit October 2011

In between study sessions in Escobar, we got a much appreciated visit from Nana. She came bearing gifts of toys, accessories, and LSU apparel!

But, best of all, the kids got some awesome Nana-play time!

September - November 2011

And, I realize that my last post was over a year and a half ago and, even then, I was playing catch up. However, I am swallowing my pride and admitting my faults. I am a terrible blogger! The reason I wanted to start this blog, though, was to keep a written history (with cute pictures and videos) for myself and my children. So I will be backtracking a bit to catch me up on this little biography of mine.

In September 2011, we celebrated the birthdays of Tio Bill, Thomas, Tias Rebecca & Rachel, and Lilian early at the Baers' house. (By the way, we love the Baers!)

We also spent the end of September - November 2011 in Escobar studying Guarani with Tio Andy. This put us close to the capital, so we took advantage of being able to get some things done in the big city. We quickly discovered that we loved staying at the SIM guest apartments; there were always tons of kids to play with!

We also got to celebrate Thomas's 2nd birthday while we were studying. We invited the neighborhood children to celebrate with us with a US-style cake--slightly different from their version of birthday cake.

Oh, and, see the poor swollen face of the birthday boy?? He woke up on his birthday with his eyes almost swollen shut. Apparently something bit him on the face (several times, maybe) in the night that he was allergic to. Poor little thing didn't even look like himself!

I hope to, over the next few days and weeks, get myself caught up to present day. We'll see how well I do!

Just some sweet Gabi!

Here are just some cute pictures of Gabi at 2 months...

We start them young! GO TIGERS!

My Gabi dinner table.

Sweet sleeping baby...

Horseback Riding

Lilian's school took a field trip to ride horses. She was a little shy at first, but the teacher scooped up Thomas and stuck him on a horse. After that, Lilian found her courage to ride, too! Here are some pictures from their outing.

Happy 4th! (This is called catching up...)

So, to celebrate the 4th of July, we wanted to do something so the kids would know what the 4th was about (since last year we missed it...it's hard to think about celebrating the 4th of July when your freezing under layers and layers of clothing!).

We decided to pull out the flag and celebrate!

We grilled some steaks outside in the freezing cold. Thomas was not too happy about having to stay inside!

My (Allison's) mom was there to celebrate with us.

We feasted on steak, baked potatoes, and homemade baked beans.

My favorite hour...

Tomorrow will be a month since Gabriela has been born. (I never did an official blog introduction. Sorry! I've been a little busy.) And, yes, we are still surviving. We are finding new ways to do things. The older kids are learning (or I'm trying to teach them) some patience. I'm remembering what goes into taking care of a newborn. And, we are rearranging our daily schedule to try to fit it all in. But, one thing that I have guarded is nap time. That has been and will continue to be a protected time of day. And, Gabriela is taking to the idea as well. So, here is a picture of my favorite few hours of the day--a picture that can only be truly appreciated by those who have had little ones. (And, don't worry. I didn't leave Gabriela there--it was just for the picture.)

Gabi has been a great baby during the awake hours as well. She's a great eater and great sleeper. I'm having to wake her up some nights to make sure she eats enough (something that will end as soon as possible!).

But, it's still hard to believe that we have another baby. Especially since mostly all we see of her is her little round face peeking out of mounds of clothes and blankets! Hopefully soon it will warm up enough for us to enjoy seeing all of her!

Who does she look like?

I have to admit. This question was more important to me with the first one, but now not so much. However, it still seems important to others. We received this photo of Allison below and below that is a picture of Gabi. I think we have a match.

It (didn't) rain on my parade

On the 14th of May, Paraguay celebrated it's bicentennial. The country was decorated in their colors and there were special presentations, parades, and concerts all over the place. Well, everywhere except for the town where we live! Lilian was supposed to march in a parade with her class, but it was cancelled because it looked like it could rain. Being from Louisiana, a cloudy day is not a very good reason to cancel a parade, but we aren't in LA now, right?

They ended up rescheduling the parade for the 25th, which, of course we weren't able to make. Poor Lilian's heart was broken. But, we were able to cheer her up by doing a photo session next to all of the decorations that our apartment building put up. And, we still got some cute pics out of the deal.

I guess we'll just have to wait till the next "centennial"...

The Moto

Thomas just really started getting interested in riding the tricycle around the apartment. He can't quite reach the peddles, but you'd be surprised at how fast he can get around. And, he rarely has an accident. Now, before riding, of coarse, he must put on his LSU hat. And, if it's a sunny day, he's sure to put on his shades (aka, Mrs. Potato Head glasses).

Lilian also caught on to Thomas's love of the bike and now takes full advantage, getting rides to where ever she wants to go. She drags her feet and he pushes her where she wants to go. (She does help steer, at least!)

Thomas has also been making a little more sense lately. Here he is practicing some very meaningful words:

Resurrection Sunday

The Sunday before last, we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord. The most important Easter date to the Paraguayan culture is Good Friday--the death of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, only the evangelicals here celebrate the Sunday of the Resurrection. The Paraguayans miss out on the true celebration that is Easter--Jesus didn't stay dead! He conquered the grave and is alive! He sits at the right hand of the Father as a mediator for those who have trusted Him for their salvation.

So, we started off the day by spending it with other believers, celebrating together the mercy and grace that God has given us through the death and resurrection of His Son. We shared with our kids the importance of the resurrection (in 3-year-old terms, of course!) and told the story of the resurrection.

Later that afternoon, we taught them some things that are done back home around this time. Here are some pictures of our day:

The kids made and decorated their own baskets for me to put candy in them. (Thomas did put stickers on his, but they kept disappearing and winding up in random places throughout the week.)

Thomas thought the little chocolate eggs were balls. We were able to hide the fact that they were actually chocolate for about a week--then he discovered the source of his candy. We had to take them away because after kicking and throwing them for a second, he'd try to eat them--paper and all.

Then we decorated and dyed some eggs. We tried some things to make some fun designs, but they didn't really work. The kids still had fun with it, though!

Then, we put them in the dye. And, being that you can only find brown eggs here, we had to let them sit for a long time. So...

...we went outside for distraction. I thought it'd be better than an impatient child climbing up on the counter and tipping over a glass of egg dye!

So, although we missed family terribly, we had a great time together!