Family picture

We took this quick family picture the other day for Kim and Kristin's birthday. It was just meant as a quick hi from our family, but now I am realizing that we don't do this enough. There are very few pictures of the four of us, as a family. Normally I wouldn't care or notice much, but last week we went in to our embassy appointment to renew Nico's passport and one of the things they ask for is "proof" that the kids is yours. This usually means pictures over the last five years that depict kid with parents. We had lots of pictures of Mom with Nico, Brother with Nico, and Dad with Nico, but only 3-4 (in the last five years!!!!) of Mom AND Dad with Nico. And those were the pictures she wanted. Luckily, we didn't have any problem at all renewing his passport (he's gonna need it soon!), so no biggie, but one of my goals this year will be to get more family pictures. You never know when you might actually need them!!!!

Eating healthy

It isn't easy trying to create a dinner that is easy, fast, and healthy, especially when your kids won't touch a vegetable and almost won't even touch a piece of fruit. Daddy got the great idea the other night of making little "tablitas" of cheese and ham for the kids, and they loved it! Of course, no veggies or fruits - these two live off of meat, potatoes/rice and cheese - but it was so popular it has been requested a couple of times since!

Sunday is Empanada Day!

We invited Andres's aunt (greataunt) over for lunch today. We have been meaning to do this for a long time - and more often. She has a lot of dishes and recipes that everyone is interested in, so we decided to make pineapple cheese (just a gelatin dish, but called so because it cuts like cheese - please don't throw up in your mouth a little, Amy :) ) and sweet cheese empanadas (de mejido). The kids had to get in on the fun, as well. Andres had the great idea of using the pasta machine to roll the dough.

Unfortunately, they looked better than they tasted. His aunt forgot to tell us to put margarine in the dough, so they were very rubbery and chewy on the outside. I wrote down the recipe and steps, however, and added the margarine in, so hopefully next time we make them they'll turn out a lot better!

Becoming Best Friends

These last three days the kids have been getting along so well together, it's incredible. They never really fight, but all too often Agus wants to do his own thing and Nico just stares at him, whining "Agus, why don't you play with me?" Today, we didn't see the kids even once! (Except for lunch and dinner). They were so busy playing pirates and looking for treasure, they had no idea we were around. It was so fun to just sit and listen to their imaginations at work, and not have to try to find something for Nico to do while Agus played on his own.

Mini container garden

In Orlando I found some seed packets for basil and dill and decided that those were two herbs that I wanted to try growing myself. Basil because we use it often (or would if it would keep in the fridge - but it never lasts more than a day) and dill because it is impossible to find here (although last weekend I found it at the supermarket. Go figure - as soon as I start growing it, after sixteen years of never being able to find it, so does someone else. Oh well, fresh grown will be better anyway!). The dill is growing very fast, but the basil just sits there. I think it said that it takes about 6 weeks. Hmmmm.... worth it?

Next I want to grow green onions and chives! And cherry tomatoes. And zucchini. I am going to need a LOT more space!

Two Bugs in a Rug

Another restless night - but this time they both got involved. I love the fact that they want to sleep together in the same bed, even though said bed is not really big enough for two growing boys anymore. Usually it is Agustin who sleeps on top of his brother, but tonight, I don't know what came over Nico, but he came out of his normal sleeping stance of vampire with crossed arms over his chest and actually hugged his brother all night. Agustin woke up and said that he slept so well because his brother hugged him all night.

Is it a little stalker-ish that we go in to stare at them while they sleep? We just can't get enough of the kids, I admit. You can't wait to put them down for the night and then all you think about is how quiet and lonely the house seems while they're sleeping.

Eating our fruit

We made taxo ice cream with all the taxo we had. It is one of the only ways we can get Agustin to eat fruits. Ice cream.

I'm sure the doctor wouldn't agree on this strategy.

The Mummy

Agustin, aka the Wiggler, the Wiggle Worm, Mr. Ants-in-his-Pants. This kid can NOT stay still as he sleeps. Poor Nico, who sleeps like a rock and doesn't move an inch during the night, has to put up with this kid's nonstop movements. Tonight, Agustin was whining in his sleep, so Andres went to go check on him. This is what he found. He unwrapped him and put the covers straight, but in the morning he was all wrapped up again like a mummy! And Nico with NO covers!

Reduced-space soccer

The house in El Prado is (slowly) coming along. Basically, all that we need now is furniture. We spent Sunday there having fish and chips and a cake (a little celebration for Bati's being accepted into his Delta Program) and the kids and Daddy spend the day outside playing soccer. The ball went over the fence various times, until they finally had to give up on the game because the neighbors got tired of sending the ball back over.

I really wish there were more parks (for kids) around the neighborhood. The park behind us is beautiful (although built on a hill - not so great for a soccer game) but so full of broken beer bottles that I am afraid to send the kids over there to play. Oh, and dog poop. And other gross stuff we won't even mention. Maybe someday the city will clean that park up, but until they get rid of the midnight drinkers, the broken glass is here to stay.

Off to England (again)

Bati received good news this Friday. He had an interview with the Delta program he was applying for in England, and he was accepted! This is a very prestigious certification program for English language teachers, and very few people in Ecuador carry this certification (perhaps very few, even, around the world). That I know of, there are probably only about 4-5 people in the country at the moment with this certification - and he will be one of them!

He leaves in September. The kids will miss him so much, but I know he is really excited.

Congratulations, Bati!

Lazy Saturday

I've got a couple of big weekends here coming up (I will be teaching in Guayaquil in a few weeks and that will be keeping me busy for about a whole month), so a really lazy Saturday is right up my alley today. We just laid around, reading, playing, doing arts and crafts, going for walks, a little TV. Blissful!

Andres did a favor for one of our co-workers, and to say thank you she brought us a crate of goodies from her own garden. We've been working on it all week, and even had to give some away. She probably gave us like 30 or 40 huge lemons (soooo sweet and yummy - they make the best lemonade), 40-50 taxos (I think these are called champagne papayas or something - I'll have to look it up) - we made some ice cream and delicious taxo yogurts with them, and about 15 avocados - the avocados all got ripe on the same day - so we are up to our ears in guacamole!!!!

You can see we also received the Miller News today. That will be going on a scrapbook page later this week...

Garlic Shrimp...Yum!

Had some garlic shrimp today at a really nice restaurant. It is probably my very favorite dish, ever! It was hot, spicy, creamy and garlicky. I wish I knew how to make this at home!!!

What's my excuse...?

OK, so I haven't been very good this year about blogging. And normally I wouldn't care, but... last year, finding something to blog about every day was so rewarding, and I captured a lot of those little moments of the kids growing up, the cute things they'd say, etc., and this year I'd be hard pressed to even recall one really cute, funny thing they've done/said. (And it isn't that they haven't been saying cute things, of course.)

So, what's my excuse?

First excuse: lazy!

Well, the first couple of months of the year, I really had no excuse at all. I was just being lazy. I wasn't even working fuill time! I just didn't feel like getting on the computer at night. And, for some reason, I absolutely HATE loading pictures onto the computer, so it's usually Andres who does it. So pictures wouldn't get loaded quickly, the time would pass, and the laziness would just grow.

Second excuse: where's the camera?

Our camera was MIA for about the last two weeks or so. I knew it had to be in the house, but where? NO idea.

We finally found it, two days ago, under a pile of laundry. Yes, I had a pile of laundry in a laundry basket that didn't get put away completely for at least two weeks.

Oh, the shame.

Third excuse: Heroin

Actually, not heroin, but I feel like a heroin addict must. Because look what I just found!

OK, you probably can't see that - but it is the screen shot of the online library in Saint Paul. Ramsey County also has the same. So does Hennepin County. I registered my library card online with Hennnepin County and voila! I can check out books and download them to my iPod!!! At three different libraries!!!!!

I spend every hour of the day either reading (I have so so so so many books I have put on my to-read shelf and a lot of catching up to do!), or browsing the digital shelves. My family hasn't seen my face for the last two weeks, and my eyes feel like they will fall out one of these days, but it is like pure heaven. Some people want chocolate ice cream and cake. Me, please, just give me a book. So I think - five minutes loading pictures and updating my blog? Or five minutes reading that book I've got going (I've got like 5 going at the moment). Like an addict, I always go with the addiction.

Can you be addicted to books? Not that I care. Like a true addict, as well, I can't get better if I don't recognize the addiction, and I have no intention of doing so, but just for curiosity's sake, can you?

Oh, don't bother answering - I won't have time to read your comment, anyway, since I'll have my nose in a book.

PS - Just to give you an idea, so far this month I've read five books from my online library:

Blood, Bones and Butter (Gabrielle Hamilton)

Zeitoun (Dave Eggers)

The Girl who Fell from the Sky (Heidi Durrow)

Wicked Prey (John Sandford)

The Help (Kathyrn Stockett) - just finished this last night and it is So Good. Like a modern day Gone with the Wind. Loved it!

Playing grown up

Sometimes I look around my house and feel like it will never be decorated the way I want it to be. It always looks cluttered, yet unfinished. I think that my kids will have memories of this house being what a "grown up" house looks like, but in my opinion, it doesn't come close to how I remember my childhood home looking. Our house on Saint Albans always seemed so cozy, a bit packed and full (five kids, after all, will take up a lot of room!). We had "enough" furniture, things on the walls, a table and chair set that wasn't broken (or about to break) and that looked sturdy and able to withstand the kids. There were things there like fireplaces and hutches and cabinets for dishes, and a dishwasher and all the rooms had overhead light fixtures. There were lamps in the living room and frames and pictures decorating the walls. And even though I hated piano lessons, there was a beautiful piano and a grandfather clock that rounded off the look and made it all seem like it belonged together.

In our house we have furniture, but everything seems put together haphazardly. (Which it is - the accumulation of things from when we first got married, piecing together things decade by decade, haha.)

Anyhow, one thing Andres has always wanted was a bar, a place for his wine collection and glasses. We are not big drinkers by any stretch of the imagination, but it is something that, to him, meant our house is becoming complete.

He found this amazing and gorgeous bar at a department store about a month ago, and went ahead and got it. The price was outrageous, but it looks so nice in our living room and has made things come together better that it is worth every penny.


I love opening it up and looking at it. It's so fun to have some "grown up" furniture!

Umm, now we need to complete our wine glass sets (they break so easily...)

My office

My "office", for the moment. Nice and quiet, not too cold, all to myself. You can get a lot of work done when ou're not interrupted constantly!

STICKY!

I got these cute bowls in the dollar section of Target.

A few months ago, Andres broke my only mixing bowl, promised to buy me a new one, and never got around to it.

So, of course, I saw these cuties and got them for myself on our last trip. And for only a dollar! Pinch me, please!

Unbeknowst to me, however, was the very very sticky glue that the Chinese factory that made these bowls used for the label - which was on the inside of the bowl.

I tried everything, for three weeks.

Soaking. Nope.

Scrubbing. Nope.

Nail polish remover. Nope.

Baby oil. Nope.

WD-40. Nope.

I was SO frustrated. I grabbed some powdered detergent, like Tide, and threw it in there to soak. Nope. Or, at least not until I started rubbing the detergent out. It took some major elbow grease, but the detergent stuck to the adhesive, and by rubbing and rubbing I created a little ball of sticky detergent.

Score!

Not sure these suckers were worth a dollar, though.

(Spring) Cleaning

There is no spring in Ecuador. Here on the equator there are no "real" seasons. But, it must be in my blood, April rolls around and I feel like cleaning!

A couple of weeks back now, I decided that we needed to do something about Nicolas's room. We got the loft put in (still waiting for the carpenter to come and fix the upper railing) and we moved most of the toys in there, but it was always looking like a mess, and there were a lot of toys that really just needed to go. In terms of toys, I've noticed (with my boys, at least) that less is more. YET, they will not throw or give away one single thing, which means we even have teething rings lying around, in anticipation of being played with.


(In all fairness, every time I think I will throw some toy away, the very next day, or even hour, I will spot one of the kids playing with it. So, I am always a little hesitant as well. I've also had those "Mommy, where is that ______ toy?" moments. *Gulp.* I can't say "in the trash" without causing a flood of tears.)


So, a couple of weeks ago, a night the kids went to bed early, I decided to go through their things and get rid of some of these excess toys. It took me hours of separating and throwing, and I couldn't walk for a couple of days afterwards (great exercise for the back and legs!), but the next day the kids actually took out some of their toys and got real excited to play with them.

It just goes to show that a little organization can actually spark a lot of creativity.

Happy Easter 2011

Easter isn't really celebrated here much in Ecuador. Yes, there is vacation, and fanesca, but there is no decorating, or talk on the TV or radio about the Easter bunny or spring sales or what-have-you, and so every year I think I am going to forget about Easter Sunday. So far, luckily, I have always remembered, sometimes at the last minute.

Yesterday we decorated eggs, so the kids reminded me before they went to bed that the next day the Easter bunny would be coming. I don't know how many more Easters we will have of our beloved bunny, but this year the bunny obviously thought that since the kids were getting older, they could handle more difficult hiding spots. It took us a good half hour to find all the eggs and the baskets.

We had a great call later in the afternoon from our family in Minnesota! I was completely surprised! I was in the middle of making suncatchers (I always remembered them as so fun and easy, but now being the adult in charge - and in charge of clean up - I realize that making those things is a bit stressful!). The suncatchers took over an hour to bake, maybe even two hours (is it the altitude? I blame everything on the altitude! Even my moods, haha) and now they are on the kids' window. I will share a picture tomorrow.

In the meantime, we had a lazy day at home. With a little inspiration from my sister, we had cola-glazed ham, delmonico potatoes, mixed veggies (frozen), pickle dip, and French silk pie. We spent the day playing games with the kids like Wii, Go Fish, Old Maid and War (remember that one, Grandpa Dan?) and saw a movie on our new big screen at night.

Oh, and I went for a walk. Just like the last few days, it was sunny and nice (or at least not raining, it really hasn't been very sunny here) when I started off, and by the time I came home, lightning and thunder, and a downpour as I walk through the door.

We decorated white eggs this year, which turned out nicer, and now we've got a pound of egg salad in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch! :)

Blackberry Smoothie anyone?

Andres did a Chavo del Ocho today, blending a blackberry smoothie without the lid on. All over. Ceiling. Shelves. Cooking books. He thought it was hilarious. But I will be the one cleaning it up for the next week. (He cleaned the original mess, but you can imagine that specks keep showing up...when he is out of the room, haha)