december daily days 1-9

I have finally gotten around to uploading the pictures of my December Daily album. The quality isn't that great, but I think you can get the idea.









I'm really having a great time with this, even with the problems of developing 1-2 pictures a day. The last two days I haven't gotten the kids as they have been sleeping earlier than normal, but I guess that gives the viewer a little break! :)

You can also see the before pages.

funny things they say

In tribute to my December Daily, and as a direct result of my faulty memory, I am trying to be better about documenting the little things, the daily things, in my life.

Especially when it comes to the kids and the things they say and do.

Which brings me to the other day at the mall. We went to do a little Christmas window shopping and when we got back to the car, Kas got in and got really worried.

"¿Mi teta*? Where is it? Someone broke into the car and took my teta!" He starts pouting and within a few seconds silent tears are streaming down his face. Of course the teta was there, up front by the driver's seat, but the look of pure horror on his face was sooooo funny! As my sister said, oh the things those little kids have to worry about. Makes me want to go back to the days when I had nothing to worry about. Now it seems that all I do is sit around with a nagging feeling at the back of my mind that there is something I forgot to do... Worse is that there usually was something I forgot to do and now I didn't do it, which sets off a whole new worry. Well, I'm not the product of a Bauer for nothin'!


Later that day, Agustín was admiring the new Hot Wheel he got as an incentive to sleep on his own (we are going on about 3 weeks straight, and I am officially jinxing myself by admiting this in public). He was so excited about it because it was full of "gold". It actually looked like the color silver to me, so I asked him, "Isn't that more like silver than gold?" He simply informed me that it was too shiny to be silver, since silver "es un metal muy sucio"**.

Well. I can't argue with that.


*teta = bottle
** is a very dirty metal

First Day of December

Today is the first day of December and the start of the advent. We found these great retro advent calendars where you open a little window for every day (there is a piece of chocolate behind each one) - do you remember those? I used to love the advent calendar, opening the windows or drawers and finding some little treat. It made Christmas so real, and made it seem so close. I also like it for the kids because it will help them 9especially Tin) with dates and figuring out time better, which has been a bit of a struggle (could it be the age? When do kids start recognizing today, tomorrow, yesterday, etc.?) Actually, Tin was the one who reminded me that it started today, so it's already helping, although he thought that Christmas was tomorrow...

The beginning of December is also a special time here in Quito, when the Fiestas make the city larger than life and an otherwise somewhat conservative little mountain city comes alive. Parties and dancing on the street, traditional food kiosks everywhere, chivas with brass bands taking over the streets. But possibly my favorite part of this time of year is the bullfights.

We won't be going this year, and I'm a little disappointed. It is truly amazing watching a bullfight, and I really want to read the story Hemingway wrote about it now that I have come to understand it better. It isn't just about the fight, it is the bull, the bullfighter, the olés and handkerchiefs, the wine flowing from the botas, and the general festiveness. Every Quiteño putting on a Spanish straw hat and talking like españoles (a little annoying but something you get used to). It's man versus beast, and so exciting to see who will win. (Secretly I always hope the bull gets a piece of the bullfighter.) It's amazing how graceful both are, when the fight is good. Before I had gone the first time, I thought it was like a slaughter, but once you are there in person you can really see the art and culture and history behind it.

I'm thinking about all of this not because it is the first of December, but because today Tin was running around the house playing "bull". "Corre toro que te voy a matar" - singing it over and over. I can imagine that here little boys grow up dreaming not of being firefighters or policemen but bullfighters.




But it has also brought up another issue. Many people have been protesting the bullfights lately, oh, in the last two years or so. Usually college kids, hechos los hippies (acting like hippies), screaming and freaking out outside of the arena. They put up violent images of bulls being slaughtered (not by bullfighters but usually in slaughterhouses - or maybe the images are even photoshopped, not sure), and scream insults at everyone coming out of the arena. It is really distasteful. They call everyone murderers as they chomp on meat empanadas and hamburgers! I'm no tree hugger and I know living in Ecuador for so many years has snuffed out a love for animals I used to have, but these kids really go too far (I'm sounding like my grandpa now!). Anyhow, I was thinking about them because Tin was asking why they have to kill the bull. And I didn't know the answer. And then he said that he hoped the bull won, too.

Thanksgiving Hit

I tried the Miller family slush recipe this Thanksgiving and it was the absolute hit of the day! Why worry about the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie when it's really the booze people care about? :)

So here's the recipe (thanks, Dad!):

1 part frozen lemonade concentrate
1 part vodka
2 parts 7Up

Mix it all up and stick it in the freezer. The alcohol will keep it from freezing solid.

I couldn't find lemonade concentrate here, so I used orange juice instead, and it turned out great. I'm thinking any citrus-y juice might work (passion fruit, pineapple, maybe naranjilla?)

Ringing in December

I'm getting really excited to start on my December Daily tomorrow. I assembled the album this morning and LOVED using a lot of my new supplies and all those Christmas supplies I could never figure what to do with. Bought the photo overlays to help with some journaling squares - I love them and may try designing my own someday.
Here are the before pictures:

Go, Speed Racer, Go!

We're doing the Speed Racer thing for Agustin's birthday Wednesday. We bought the DVD but it was hard (for me) to follow. There was some very strange anime stuff going on, but the graphics were cool. Granted, I didn't know any of the back story, and I was trying to watch while the kids played and screamed and half-watched while asking me a million questions (why does he have eyes, Mommy? Who is the guy in the car? Why isn't the car red and blue?, etc.), so that might explain why I had a hard time with it, too.

On a slight Japanese twist to the whole Speed Racer theme, we will have a giraffe piñata. No monkey, but I'm sure the writers could fit the giraffe into the plot somehow.

random thoughts

On my mind today:

• I miss Halloween. The pumpkins are getting rotten but if I carve them now they'll rot even sooner. Ah, the dilemma.
• I'm sort of bummed out that I convinced Andres that October was too soon for Disney World - the McMahons are there as of tomorrow and it would have been fun to meet up.
• I love the word alas. Alas, I don't get to use it often enough. And when I do - alas - people look at me as if I were nuts.
• My camera has no batteries. Or, rather, it has batteries that work for one day and then stop working again. I change the batteries and the same thing happens. I can't find any rechargeable batteries here. It's a bit disappointing.
• Little boys coming up out of nowhere and giving me the best mommy hug. It just doesn't get any better.
• The pregnant bug is going around - I know of like 5 people who are all due early June. Weird.
• I need to find somewhere that sells good photo paper. I want to print out some photos and they just aren't working - I think it's the paper but no one around here seems to be able to tell me anything.
• I think geocaching would be so cool. Doesn't anyone down here feel the same? Maybe they do it in Guayaquil. They scrapbook there you know.

Tomorrow we'll be going to get our driver's licenses renewed. We had to get a picture taken for the paperwork for tomorrow and the lady surprised us with a composite picture of Andres and I in front of a cheesy sunset picture. Andres is glowing like God, and I am unsmiling, floating rapturously through the sky. So hilarious. If I ever want to laugh, I'll think of that moment where I am telling the lady, "The picture is just for our driver's license," as she photoshops the death out of Andres's shirt.

She was so proud of her work. And truthfully, it is one of maybe two pictures we have of the two of us together.

The kids liked the pics and stuck them up on the bulletin board.

to market, to market

Went to the market this morning for Halloween pumpkins. We found quite a few, of all different sizes and colors.



Got some fresh veggies and fruit (ovos and strawberries - mango season is just around the corner so will be on the lookout for those).



Andres needed to stop for some hornado.

Came back and had the in-laws over for lunch. The kids weren't so well behaved...they're sleeping now and I am SO enjoying the quiet.

School supplies

Forgot to put up the pictures of Agustin's school supply list. It took us about a week to get it all together.



Had to get Kas in there. Stickering up my couch of course...

It's that time of year once again...

Come the end of August, something special happens in the stationary and paper stores of Ecuador. It is the dreaded SCHOOL SUPPLY SHOPPING, and it is back! You may remember my experience school supply shopping last year - what started out as a fun, exciting moment of my eldest being old enough to go to school, turned into a hair-pulling, four-hour long ordeal. Aside from the general lack of product in the stores ("Thin wire? No sorry, we're out. Nope, don't have shiny foam either. No, I've never heard of PLAID fabric paint. We don't carry small rolling pins, and we ran out of markers and colored pencils and modeling clay yesterday"), the fact that the list itself reads like Morse code (1oo hjs papel bond tamaño INEN 75 gr.), and the lines that go to the back of the store, there is an additional problem: everything you buy wrong (brand, size, color) IS SENT BACK! Needless to say, school supply shopping is a small science here, and so this year I came prepared: I brought a translator (my Spanish-speaking and Ecuadorian-raised husband), and I got the list the week before classes started.

Despite my preparation and general prudence, there were still large crowds. My translator was indispensable, and although he does not enjoy this type of shopping at all, I will never again go on my own. Me: "Boxed pencil sharpener?" (He grabs it off the shelf and puts it in the cart. ), "Cheese eraser?" ("I saw those over here..." as he goes to get it), "2 HB pencils? 1 imitation rapidografo, black? 3 large sheets of "comet" paper?" (Hubby scurrying from aisle to aisle, grabbing normal things like fine-lined pens and pencils and tissue paper off the shelves.)

We were in and out within an hour, although we only had half of the items. Since then I have been briefed on what to look for ("brilliant foam sheets" = foam with glitter in it, "thin rope" = thin corded ribbon", etc.) so that over the next few days I can be on the lookout for specialty items, hopefully available in some of the smaller stationary stores. I am still struggling with a "non-traditional story book" (Pinocchio? Aladdin? The Three Bears? What is considered "traditional" here?) and finding a junior-sized rolling pin. Oh, and reusable paper towels - do such things even exist?

And the ever elusive PLAID fabric paint - which I have seen in the U.S. but never here.

So, the hunt will continue and come Monday, will we be prepared? Come back to see!

Note: You may remember from last year that cotton balls were a popular item. It seems that teachers get into fads, since they all ask for the same thing. This year there are no cotton balls on our list, but we have been hard pressed to find the glittered foam sheets and yellow folders. Who says teachers don't succumb to peer pressure?

today's plans

Daddy has to work all day today, so I'm home alone with the kids. We are planning a nature walk, maybe we'll do some arts and crafts, we'll listen to internet radio, and then hopefully the kids will be all worn out and take a looooooong nap.

thankful today for...

It can be frustrating to live in another country - deal with a culture and language different from yours on a daily basis, the little inconveniences and quirks that can get under your skin at a moment's notice. But tonight, coming home from the gym, as I circled the mall to go up the hill, I noticed three stores with little kiddie corners - a place where the kids can go sit, play, watch a video, color, etc. while their parents shop. And I realized that these are in quite a few stores - we've even used them.

And I felt happy and grateful to live in a country that so values children and families.