Photo Booth to the Rescue

Daddy is at a soccer game tonight and I am alone with the kids. Homemade (frozen and English-muffin) pizzas for supper, and then some play time before lights out. When suddenly, I hear crazy screaming and running. Nico was on all fours, chasing Agustin around the house. Yes, he was a "cat" (not sure if this meant house cat or puma) and Agustin was freaking out (laughing of course, but you gotta know this kid to wonder when he'd be tumbling down the stairs or falling off a couch or breaking something - any minute).

They would not stop. No amount of pleading, coaxing, screaming, yelling, threatening, would do. So, I played dirty.

Photo booth.

It was the only way to get their attention. I swear. ;)

Not too much silliness yet.

Then Agustin came into the room and the silliness started up full force.

But this was contained, safe silliness. Lots of laughing and giggling, but obviously the kids weren't running around, since they had to stay still in order to get their pictures taken and then to see what masterpiece they had come up with.

So, yes, this is my great advice to all mothers-to-be: when all else fails, take out Photo Booth.

Getting them to stop taking pictures, however, is another story.

This is just a small sampling of what they were able to accomplish in less than ten minutes on the program. :)

What to say, what to say...

So, I need to get that creepy picture (previous post) off my blog! (My father-in-law is doing better, by the way. He'll need some radiation sessions, though, so he's not completely out of the woods, yet.)

I thought I'd be able to do it, this blog, I mean, but without a camera I just feel... blah.

I thought I could use Andres's camera, but...well, HE'S usually using it, and it isn't always on me, and so, well, here we are three weeks later and my blog is ... blah.

I really have nothing to say. Everyone else has such cute posts and fun pictures and interesting things to say, and I've got... NOTHIN'. I've got NOTHIN'!!!!!!

Whine, whine, whine. That's how I feel. Project Life has suffered, as well. Plus, I'm out of ink so no pictures are getting printed.

So, it really isn't that NOTHIN' has been happening, just the everyday little things that I figure no one cares much about (but me, of course!).

A trip to Friday's (the kids LOVE it here, you know, cuz it's always FRIDAY, lol) for chicken nuggets and an OREO madness. Agustin really loves this dessert, and Nico will eat it just because Agustin does, but he is much more of a vanilla boy.

Inspired by the gas pictures I see sometimes, decided to document the cost of OUR gas (we have one car that takes Extra, and one that takes Diesel). Gas prices haven't changed here since we dollarized the economy in 2000. I don't know how much longer it can go at these prices...

A few lazy days at Grandma's. Grandpa is still recovering from surgery, but he is more mobile and not in very much pain, which is a good thing.

Man do I love my boys! And they, in turn, LOVE TV! Like father, like son, I say! :)

Agustín really enjoys days when he has computer homework. That, and Math, are "fun" days. He struggles more when it's social studies or Spanish. I feel like I was never good at (or liked) Social Studies much, either, so maybe he gets that from me. Studying maps and learning all those terms...yucky.

Lailai, Andres's great-aunt, had a birthday this month. I made an ombre cake. Fun! She hasn't been feeling real well, so has some medical appointments lined up to see what the problem might be. 

The kids got a science kit for Christmas, chock full of little experiments. This is the homemade glue. They certainly had fun with this!

Always fun to get washi tape in the mail. It will never get old, I imagine!

Our flowers are doing amazingly! Those morning glories are out of control, and growing like 2-3 inches a day. No lie!

Some dominoes after school...

Let me just say, at this point, that Blogger makes it REALLY difficult to add pictures and then move them around. I am much too tired to fight you, Blogger, so you will have your way. Adding more than one picture on you really sucks, though!

We made it to the stadium for the season opener this weekend. Our team won 3-1. It was a fun night - gorgeous weather and not very cold or windy, lots of people at the stadium so lots of excitement, and a big bucket of KFC wings to calm the hunger pains. 

This guy got a little upset a few minutes later because he needed to be closer to Bati. Oh well. Mommy is first until Uncle comes around...

The night got a little late for my "baby" Nico, but Agustin had an absolute blast. He really really enjoyed himself!

The sky was so blue and clear. The stars that night were out and the sky was so beautiful.

 Agustin decided to make a parade this weekend with his Legos. Man does that kid get some great ideas! Everyone got involved, and it really did look like a parade!

 After the parade, there was a bloodbath. Apparently, the parade was a ruse - just a way to trick the peaceful village into coming out so the bad guys could attack. Poor peaceful village!

 Pedro is still alive, although he might not make it longer if I don't clean his water (water is clean here, today it is MUCH worse). Poor Pedro!


As for me, I am doing well with my resolutions. So far I have lost 5 pounds, which is obviously going in the right direction, although I had hoped for more. Usually the first month you can lose a little faster than that, and I have been tracking food and doing way more activity (walking/running 5-6 times a week, as opposed to nothing before). But at least I am getting 4-5 servings of veggies and fruit every day. That's gotta count for something!

I still have a lot of organizing to do, but the house has been clean since the first of the year, and we're keeping up on that. It feels so great to know the vacuuming and dusting and mopping and bathrooms are getting done on a regular basis. A HUGE relief!

As for my creative challenge, it started to feel like homework about a week ago. I'm pretty stubborn, and determined to do it, but not so sure it will be "fun".

Well look at that! I guess I had more to say than I originally had thought :)

Waiting nervously

Today was one of those days where you feel a little out of sorts. Andrés's dad was going in to surgery to have his prostate removed (cancer was found about a month ago, luckily it hasn't spread so surgery was a "good" option).

I spent the morning waiting for news, then heard at about noon that Andrés's mom and brother had to rush to the Red Cross to get 2 liters of blood, that he was hemorrhaging and the surgery was taking longer than usual (apparently the prostate was very connected to the body and there was a lot of fat and fibrous tissue the doctor had to get through). We spent a few nervous hours waiting (Andrés's mom fighting at the Red Cross - it took them over an hour to release the blood!) but now he's out and doing OK. He is receiving the blood and his color has come back. Andrés spent the entire afternoon and evening there (I stayed home with the kids - no kids allowed), but tomorrow we'll be going in early in the morning (we'll take turns visiting). I'm glad that things seem to be OK and wish him a speedy recovery. They are saying about 4 days in the hospital and then 30-40 days bed rest. It'll be a long road, but as long as he is healthy (and hopefully not in too much pain, but that remains to be seen) everything should be fine.


I have to admit, I got especially nervous this afternoon when I found out a kid I graduated with passed away suddenly today. It was so strange because this morning I was going through my Facebook friends list and saw his name, and thought about him for a second (we were never friends but I recognized his name when he friended me). Then I saw a post on Facebook a few hours later from my cousin, Teresa, saying that her daughter's uncle, Otis Walker (the guy), had passed away. She said he graduated class of '91 at Como, and I just knew. It felt so eerie, that just that morning I had seen his name and paused at it for a second. If I had opened his page I probably would have seen the RIPs. It was strange too that we had that connection through my cousin's daughter (Samantha).

I don't really know what happened, but he was only 39. It just goes to remind us all that we can go at anytime, so make the most of the time we have.

Arghhh, you rascally scoundrel, you no good sunava, frichet frachet...

I spent a very good portion of my morning today wrestling with the Christmas tree. This little sucker just didn't want to go in its box. Doesn't it always end like this - so happy and carefree when the tree is going up, and then a month later all the cussing and kicking and crying as you try to put it away. And it never, never, goes back in as well as it came out.

Gotcha!

Oh well, I figure I got a good 2 Activity Points for those 20 minutes of bending and grabbing and lifting and sweating.
I am seriously considering a real tree next year. Except, this is what they look like here (no beautiful Douglas firs for us!):

There's nothing really wrong with them, per se, but they just aren't the same. But to be able to pick it up and just throw it to the curb and make it someone else's problem? Now that sounds nice.

OLW 2013: Challenge

(All of the pictures below are from December 24th)

For the last few years we've gotten the boys Christmas T-shirts to wear in the days leading up to Christmas.

This year's just made me silently smile to myself. Tin's couldn't be further from the truth! :) It'll be perfect for a hand-me-down for Nico, however. ;)

The beard hats have been a hit even with the adults!

Checho gave the boys these light up clown noses on Christmas Eve. Today, Agustín got home from school and put his on immediately. He seriously spent the whole day with the clown nose on his nose and/or forehead. After about four or five hours of that, I was cracking up. What a character!

You can see that there were a lot of silly faces on Christmas Eve. Not sure what that was all about.

Of course I didn't get even one picture today. Andrés had the iPhone all day and by the time he got home the light was bad and I didn't bother. But these pics from Christmas Eve are fun, too.

Yesterday I wrote a bit about my resolutions. But I've decided to do One Little Word this year, too. I've always thought about doing it, but coming off the holidays this year was hard (I felt a little melancholic), so I thought a little project in the works would clear up any depression. (That, and a good ol' fashioned walk!)

So, the word I am choosing this year is challenge. I always like a good challenge. It motivates me, keeps me on track and accountable, and just makes me happy when I challenge myself to some task. It might be my Reading Challenge, or just something silly like how many loads of laundry I can get done in one morning. And lists - I love lists, so marking off my lists as I complete a challenge makes me happy, too.

To begin a celebration of my word, I have decided to challenge myself each month to a task. None of the tasks are life-changing, just something I either a) have always wanted to do, or b) think might be fun to do. It wasn't hard to come up with a list of 12 things.

January: Write 4 poems, read more poetry and get inspired by it
February: listen to one hour of music (radio, possibly new music or a new station), every day. Listen to more MPR
March: learn more about classical music, composers, go to Casa de la Música and enjoy my newfound knowledge
April: learn the names of flowers and plants, and be able to recognize many by sight. I'll probably focus on a region, like the paramo
May: Make 2 ethnic dishes a week. Countries I will be researching: Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, Afghanistan, Nepal, Liberia, Malaysia, North Africa (Morocco perhaps?), Syria, Czech Republic, Tahiti, Burma, Greece, Romania
June: create a new craft from somewhere online, like Martha Stewart's crafts web site
July: Buy and make something with a Whimseybox (or 2)
August: Run a 5K (July and August might switch depending on the dates of the 5K I join)
September: complete a crochet blanket (afghan) for the family
October: read a book in Spanish
November: make a Joseph Cornell box, immerse myself in the images of his boxes
December: Open my Etsy shop - a dream I have that in all reality will probably stay a dream. But I like dreaming it! :-)

Right now the idea is that after each challenge is completed I will post it here on my blog, and also make a full-page layout about it. So, by the end of the year, if all goes well, I should have a nice little album of my challenges. And it isn't about succeeding or failing, but I will say that I am choosing challenges that I am pretty sure I can do.

I am also going to carry on a simultaneous challenge of creating one crochet item for my fictitious Etsy shop each month. If I am going to open in December, I'll need merchandise! :)

Getting it done in 2013!

Happy New Year!!!

A few things to be thinking about as we start 2013: my resolutions.

1. To stop neglecting my blog and try to post at least on weekdays.
I know, I've said this before, and haven't exactly carried through. AND, I do not have a camera, which will only serve to complicate things, I am sure. Still, this is something I want to do, along with Project Life, so wish me luck! :)

2. Since I've pretty much gained back the 50 lbs I had lost three years ago, and since the last time I talked to my grandma she said I'd really been "packing on the pounds", and even more importantly, SINCE I DON'T FIT INTO ANY OF MY CLOTHES ANYMORE, I have decided to join Weight Watchers again. I joined two days before Christmas (not great planning) and have tracked for a week now. Tomorrow I'll track weight and we'll see if I'm off to a good or bad start! :)

3. I have decided this year I am going to GET (and STAY) organized. Haha, I'm already laughing, but, well, some resolutions are meant to be broken, I guess. (I mean, come on - I'm starting the new year with a refrigerator in my living room for the love of Pete!)

Honestly, this one needs to happen around here so very bad. I won't depress you with views of more rooms in distress, but believe me, they are there. And they are lurking.

On a side note, we got back from our trip to the beach today and while everyone else rested, I did about eight loads of laundry. The good news is, the laundry is almost caught up and tomorrow I get to stay home and take down Christmas decorations! I won't be going back full time for a whole cycle (beginning of April), although TEFL starts at the end of this month and that always keeps me busy. This is why I think I have until March to get organized. Tomorrow I'll get a game plan and we'll see if I can keep the momentum going enough to shape this house up in about three months!

December Daily was finished the day after Christmas, but I didn't have time to get it posted before our trip to the beach. Here is the end to the season, and while I feel sad and let down (I really love this project), and I also am realizing that a new year of Project Life starts today, and I have a lot of journaling cards I need to get making! :)

Day 22. Tin "needed" a Santa beard. Lucky for him, Mama knows how to crochet :)

Inside picture flap

Day 23. The smell of the gingerbread house on the day I joined ww did not work out so well for me and my flab.

Inside the flap again

Day 24 LOVE this pic!!!!!!

Another inside-flap-view. Those two boys have feet that are looking almost like a teenager's!

Day 25

I guess I went a little crazy on the flaps towards the end. I love them, though! :)

Last page. Nice and simple.

I hope all of your resolutions come true!