Make it more Paredes-Miller kid-friendly :)

Today we celebrated Bati's birthday at Hotel Colon. They have a Sunday lunch buffet that is very good. Of course, it isn't kid-friendly. Or, as Andres would say, Ecuadorian-kid friendly (every other kid had no problem eating Brie cheese with scallops and heart of palm ceviche), but not Paredes-Miller kid-friendly. Sure enough, Agustin ate a bit of sausage and meat, some cheese cubes, dinner rolls and plantain chips, and a few brownies and scoops of ice cream. Nico didn't get quite so nutritious. He tried the chicken ("Yummy, Mommy...but I'm not really hungry), had some popcorn and a scoop of ice cream and a small dinner roll.

It's so nice to go, but you feel bad spending $25 on a small plate of popcorn and mini dinner rolls.

I think the picture is funny. Nico looks like he was really enjoying himself, but he couldn't even really get into the ice cream. That's how bad his eating habits have become.

I really wonder - what would it cost them to throw a few "regular" hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill (no parsely or herb-stuffed stuff), french fries and something else the kids might like, like chicken nuggets. I wonder how many more families would bring their kids if they did.

Of course, as I said, every other kid there was eating pepper-laced asparagus and Ceasar salad with sauteed mushrooms and pineapple-glazed ham, so who knows?

Make something cool!

Since school has gotten out, this has become a common sight at our house. All three boys, sitting on the floor, making something "cool" with their Legos. Nico is starting to get better at it, too, with a lot of help from big brother, and now he will also sit for minutes (maybe not hours like Tin) working on some special project.

It's funny to see, because Agustin has always been so good at looking at the directions and following them to a "T" in order to make whatever the project is about. Nico still isn't very good at it. He'll skip a step, or try to work from memory, or just not be able to figure out where a piece goes. Funny how two brothers can have such different visual-spacial skills.

I Love Pluto

Tonight, before bed. "Mommy, I love Pluto."

"Oh, really? Well, then I do, too."

"Mommy, it's not nice that they won't let Pluto be a planet anymore. But for me, Pluto will always be a planet. I love Pluto."

The Days of the Helmet

It's a sign of the times. I grew up in the seventies and early eighties, where safety issues revolved around keeping your windows closed at night in the summer so no one could sneak into your room and rape you in the middle of the night. (My bedroom was on the second floor, but apparently rapists will even climb trees to get at you.)


Flash forward 30 years (ouch! that hurts!) and you can see how the idea of "safety" has changed. As I've written about in a previous post, The Monster at the End of this Book is one of our favorite bedtime stories around here, and recently we bought the app. The other day, the kids were talking about how "now" Grover has a helmet, but in the real book he didn't. I went back and checked it out, and sure enough! That is a major difference from the book and the book app.
Funny the kids would notice it. It flew over my head entirely.

Curbing my sweet tooth

Tonight Amy called me and we had a long, lovely chat. She inspires me so much. I will be forever grateful to her! After we talked I decided to put together some 2-point brownies. I wrapped them all up into small portion-controlled bars and these will be great for a little snack or chocolate craving during the day. They are not very good, which means they curb my craving for something sweet real fast!

Sharks and Bears

Q: What do sharks and bears have in common?

A: They will both show up in our bedtime routine tonight!

Our bedtime routine consists of a book each kid chooses. We read them together. Tonight it will be all about sharks and a Berenstain Bears book.

We get real upset if, for whatever reason, this routine gets messed up.

Happy Fourth!

We don't always get to celebrate the fourth in style, but this year, even though it landed on a workday, I decided we could try to put something together real quick. So we sat down to grilled hot dogs, potato salad, light beer and caramel corn. I went for my run (started c25k today), and when I got back, Andrés, who wasn't feeling very good, asked me to go to the corner store and pick up some hot dog buns. Well, one hour later I finally found a "corner" store that had hot dog buns. Rushed back and we had to put together the rest of the meal in a huge hurry, because the coals were burning out...

After dinner we went outside with the kids and did sparklers.

No playing ball in the house!

Isn't this what every mother says, and something you hear your whole life? For some reason, my mother-in-law doesn't seem to mind if the kids play soccer or play with balls in the house, and they have brought that bad habit into mine! Of course, you never know they are playing ball until something crashes, or you just happen to walk in on them, caught in the middle of the act!

Oops! Better have a good excuse, boys...

Microteaching

Today was the last day of my class for the Master's of Education Degree. The course was called "Aprendizaje Colaborativo" (Collaborative Learning) and there were 15 students this time. The last day is usually when the students put together all the things we have been doing with collaborative learning and finally design a 45-minute class with collaborative learning as the central learning technique. So, most of the day was watching the students teach. It is really fun to see how they put together all the things they've been talking about, but can be frustrating too when things don't quite go as planned.

Here the students were involved in a marketing class. They had 20 minutes to make tuna sandwiches and sell them outside of our classroom, and then use that experience to discuss the strategies they used and ultimately to understand some of the major concepts that should go into a marketing plan. This was definitely the highlight of the day, and a nice change of pace when you are in class on a Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The (lack of) altitude and noise from all the microteaching classes got to me a bit by mid-afternoon, and I ended up going into the airport with quite a headache. I was there early, and had to watch all the other flights going out to Quito, wishing I was on each one! In the end I had to wait for my own, the last of the night, but oh how it stinks to be in the airport early and watch another flight leaving for your same destination!

When I got into Quito the boys were there to pick me up. As I got into the car, Kas asked me, very politely, "Mommy, how did it go?"

What a sweetie!

Last Day of School 2011

It finally arrived. It seemed like it never would. But finally...FINALLY!...the kids are out of school and we won't have to run around at night doing homework or looking for supplies to complete homework assignments... Sigh. Sweet relief! Summer SO makes me feel like a kid.

Yesterday the kids didn't have school (Kas is already out), but Tin had to go back today for the final graduation ceremony and year closing. I had class until 9, so I missed the actual ceremony, but there was a little party in the classroom afterwards, with cake and pizza (Agustin had been looking forward to the pizza ALL week, then got a slice of mushroom pizza and was NOT happy).

In the early afternoon I was off for my last weekend in Guayaquil, at Universidad Casa Grande. Because they waited so long to get my tickets and couldn't find a flight, I ended up getting in much earlier than needed, but I used the time to just hang out a bit on the campus and have a cold drink while reading an ebook. :)

Graduation Day 2011

Well, school is finally getting out here in the Southern hemisphere Andes. One thing I've noticed is that since many students go to private schools, and parents pay tuition on a monthly basis, parents want to "get their money's worth", so school never finishes in the middle of the month, like most places. Nope, the schools want to charge the parents for June as well, so the poor kids have to suffer through 10 months of classes and get only 2 months of summer vacation.

Nico graduated from pre-school today. Next year he'll be going to Paulo Freire with his big brother. We will miss Freedom, but not the homework. I feel like I'M going on vacation! Woohoo - no more homework!!!!

I guess it's fun for kids to have a little graduation ceremony, but sometimes I wonder - seriously? Now there is a ceremony for every grade. Agustin's is on Friday. Graduating from 2nd grade. Hmmmm. One more obligation for the parents, as well (and another day we have to ask for permission from work...)

OK, I'll stop complaining now, just because my kids look so cute posing with their diplomas...

The Mess

School's winding down, and that means that every day there is a pile of books, notebooks, used pencils and markers and glue and tape and paints and construction paper and foam and glitter and... piles of it all coming home in the kids' backpacks. I can't keep up with it. It is accumulating everywhere. It is taking over the house. It's like the Blob.

I need a way to dispose of it all without the kids' seeing. Otherwise, they cry and pick it out of the trash!

The Stash

He found it!

Daddy's (not-so-secret) stash of chocolate.

And, he found it right before bedtime.

Can you say, hyper?

Bedtime favorites

The kids have picked up some bedtime favorites over the past few weeks. Agustin took to reading "Marvin K. Mooney, Will you Please Go Now?" a few weeks ago and got such a kick out of being able to read in English that he has decided to read it every night. Just the other night he said, proudly, "I almost have it memorized." Nico, when he hears that Tin is about to read it, whines, "I HATE Marvin K. Mooney!!"

Nico, not to be outdone, has decided that if Tin is going to insist on reading Marvin every night, then he will read something. Of course, he is just beginning in Spanish, so he chose a picture book that we got somewhere (for free, and you can tell), but he enjoys reading the words out of it (I suspect he reads the pictures but, oh well).

Lastly we have the classic The Monster at the End of this Book. Now, even I enjoy this one! Who wouldn't? And we bought the iPod app and it is so funny. The kids take turns, one reading along with Grover on the app, while the other follows along in the book, and then they switch.

The only problem? It makes for a long bedtime ritual. Some nights we have to get started by 7:30 just to be ready for bed at 8:30!

Practice Makes Perfect

The kids have a birthday party tomorrow. I caught Agustin walking around the house with an egg on a spoon, a few minutes before bed.
Me: "Whatcha doin'?"
Agus: "Practicing. Nico! You should practice, too! For the birthday party tomorrow."

So here they were, practicing a typical party game, with hopes to win a prize.

They also practiced their dancing, in case there is a dance contest.

ETA: They didn't win. But Agustin said he came in second place in the dance contest.

A brief look at our month

I feel bad that I haven't been keeping up on the blog, but then again, for it to be fun to read, it has to be fun to do. More than anything, I have been terrible about taking pictures. I have also been teaching a course in Guayaquil for a Master's program, in Spanish, and aside from hours and hours of prep, the actual stress of having to travel there every other weekend for three weekends in total has really taken its toll. Also, need I remind you, my Overdrive Media Console has forced me into reclusion. Soon, I expect that the novelty will begin to wear off, but until then, happy reading! :)

So, what have we got this month?

A beautiful, relaxing, warm trip to the beach house, where the kids played in the pool nonstop and we only saw the actual ocean for about one hour on Saturday.

Awesome weather, blue skies and no rain, and terrific food - the highlight being grilled prawns at $10 for about 5! YUM! Andres's great aunt went, as well, so we had a full house!

More pool pictures. (There are a lot more. Sorry, but since that is all we seem to do at the beach, the all look the same!)

Our home away from home. Too bad it takes five hours to get there. If only it were a two-hour trip!

Right after we got back from the beach, we started a bit of stress. Andres' mom went back into the hospital for pneumonia (and her stay lasted about 2 weeks again - but she is doing much better at the moment), I started prepping for a new English class I was informed about just a day before we started the cycle (on my birthday, no less!) and then I started the stress of preparing class for, and traveling to, Guayaquil. Well, only one more weekend of that (July 1-2) and I'll be done, and my students are awesome and, though my Spanish is a train wreck, it has been SO MUCH EASIER teaching it (Collaborative Learning) the second time around. The biggest source of stress has been trying to find resources and materials in Spanish, so some translating has been needed as well...

Also during this month I (well, Andres too) have attempted to start up running (jogging) again. We have taken the kids to the park a few times, and Daddy plays soccer with them while I walk/jog. They love it, and we get exercise. A win-win. But it always depends on the weather. Since we usually get home around 5 pm, that is usually when the cold mountain wind starts to descend on the city, so we usually don't bother. We have all been with the sniffles for a few weeks, and that icy cold thin mountain air does NOT help!

Plus, Nico usually peters out on us and then someone has to carry him back from the park. Of course, he doesn't mind!

Also, a friend of ours, the one who gave us the big crates of fruit a couple of weeks ago, sent us a huge crate of the most delicious strawberries I have ever had. If you got anywhere near this, it smelled like Strawberry Shortcake's hair. Pure heaven! Of course we couldn't get through them all. We ate about a fourth of them (you can't see it in the picture, but there is another layer under that top layer), froze another fourth, and with about half of them Andres made homemade strawberry preserves. Wow! It turned out so so so good!

It felt like strawberry heaven!

So, that is basically what we've been up to this month! I hope to get better about posting this upcoming month!

Silly pictures

Be careful. Be very careful.

If you allow the kids to go on Photobooth before bedtime, it will be very hard to get them to go to bed. They LOVE this program. They will snap picture after picture, using every possible effect, and each picture will send them into a fit of the giggles.

And afterwards, you will have hundreds, literally hundreds, of pictures to delete!

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!