the video

So I got the video of us being surprised by our friends.

I need to share.

It brings a huge smile to my face every time I watch it.

Just reliving the moment!

Love the hugging.

Love the screaming and laughing.

Love Cade asking "What's going on?" - completely not getting it,

but then jumping up and down after it sinks in.

Love it all.

Um... don't love that they showed up when I hadn't showered for three days (yes, gross) and I am all nasty.

But love that they love me anyway!

Christmas - two months late

The kids love their P.E. teacher.

Pretty much every kid loves the P.E. teacher at the school.

And he is pretty cool.

Well, the kids wanted to give him a special Christmas gift.

Problem was that I just plain ran out of time to make a gift and we didn't know of anything "special" to buy for him.

So we were a little late.

Two months to the day, to be exact.

I made him I shirt - my first attempt at stenciling with freezer paper.

Cut the design or letters out of freezer paper.

Iron it onto the t-shirt, shiny side down.

Paint the whole area - I used regular acrylic paint although I would have preferred fabric paint. Acrylic leaves it kind of stiff. But it works.

I also would have liked to use red. But I was out.

Green it was.

Once it all dries, remove the freezer paper, and ta-da! your very own personalized shirt!

Ya, lousy picture, I know.

It was dark and grey outside but I had to get the picture done so we could get the gift to him.

I'm sure you understand.....

carnival

It's a holiday.

No school all week.

Yipee!.......?

It is Carnival.

Something like Mardi Gras, but from all I can tell, it is a whole lot more tame.

The only thing we've heard that goes on is people dumping water on each other.

Or spray foam and silly string.

And if you go outside the city, flour and eggs are thrown as well.

Maybe they are trying to make cakes?

I think the rain has put a bit of a damper (excuse the pun) on the whole dumping water business, though. Not so much fun to throw water at people who are already wet - or are stuck inside their houses because of the lousy weather.

Well, we made the most of it!

Our friends invited us over for our own Carnival water-fight.

It was raining, but that certainly did not dampen (I'm so punny) our spirits.

The kids "before".

It isn't exactly an accurate before, since they are already a little damp and foamy.

But the big business began

(sign of a great writer - alliteration..... I must be awesome with four "b"s almost in a row)

when we hit the park.

Mr. B against Lucy and Molly.

Mia acquiring ammunition.

(notice the speckles of foam on her face)

Mr. B. and Eric (in full rain gear - cheater) being assaulted by Mrs. B, Maddy and Molly.

Maddy and Mikala on an all-out assault against Mrs. B.

All the attacks were too much for Mr. B.

Either that or he's seen one too many gangsta movies.

Snow in Quito!

Or bottled foam spray stuff thanks to Jordan.

(no, he doesn't go to school on a short bus - he wisely wore his helmet to combat water balloon assaults.

Eric has enough of 13-year-old-girls.

And has even more than enough of his own 13-year-old girl in particular. Lucy enjoys seeing daddy beat up on Maddy.

The whole gang - very wet.

Very very wet.

Especially since it was raining the whole time.

Everyone was very cold.

About as cold as they were wet.

We went back to the B's house, trashed it with our dirty, wet clothes, and warmed up with some hot chocolate.

After we had our bellies full of fabulous fajitas (note: more alliteration), and delightful conversation, it was home time.

Carnival is great.

Good friends are even greater.

We are so so thankful for our friends.

We are richly blessed.

sharing the bed

We have definitely been in a bed time funk for the last little while.

Inevitably one or more of the kids ends up in bed with me.

It started as one of those the-kids-are-sick-or-going-through-a-tough-time-empathy things, so we let them climb in bed with us. At times we let them pretty much oust Eric out of bed all together - a trading places kind of thing. One of them would sleep in his spot and he would sleep in their bed.

But things have gotten just a little carried away.

No more.

Tonight I put my foot down.

I would like to share my bed with only my husband, thank you very much.

Problem is, after I put my foot down (and dealt with tears, bad dreams a mere 3 minutes after they were tucked in bed... "yes, I was asleep and did wake up and had a nightmare", and all that other rot), I realized that I wouldn't be sharing my bed with my husband after all.

My husband, being the most wonderful and caring man out there, volunteered to spend the night at the hospital with Karlita.

(hearts are currently melting.... do you wish you married someone so great?)

I didn't ask him to. He knew they needed someone and so he volunteered.

He also mentioned to me that he will not be returning home with her in his arms and one night stay with this little gem is not going to convince him that we need to adopt her or any other precious little orphan child who desperately needs a home and some loving parents.

Okay - he didn't say that last part, about needing the home and parents. I put that in, just in case he reads this... so he might feel guilted into adoption.

Yah, yah, I know.

Guilt is never a good reason to do something like that.

Well, regardless of his lack of desire to adopt, he still is rather wonderful.

I really don't think the thought of helping out in this way would enter the heads of many men.

Just one of the reasons why I really like him.

looking for something?

For those of you looking for the entry about our week in the jungle, look further down or click here.

I started loading pictures and writing a while ago, so it is back on the day that I started.

slowly coming along

A while back I decided that I wanted to jazz up Lucy's room.

We really hadn't done anything for her room, other than put up memo board thingy.

I really wanted to do stripes.

Random stripes.

I thought of it during a momentary lapse in sanity.

Stripes=work.

Then, throughout the whole process, I had more lapses in my sanity.

Here is another one:

Yes, I let Lucy join me in the painting process.

And here is my third:

Uh-huh.

I let all the kids, and a friend who was over, join in the fun.

My thought was "more hands make less work".

Careful which hands you choose....

But alas, they did have a good time.

And in the end, I probably put as much time into fixing all of their errors as I would have had I painted all by my lonesome.

And the kids came away with a sense of accomplishment and enjoyed their creativity.

So it really was a win-win.

At least that is what I will keep telling myself.

It did turn out very cute in the end:

And Lu is really happy with it.

Oh, and remember the "artwork" of Lucy's?

So far I have put 8 coats of paint on it.

Yes, paint here is a wonder.

are we like handcuffs?

I just learned the Spanish word for "handcuffs" is:

"las esposas"

The word for "wife", if you didn't know is:

"la esposa"

the plural therefore being:

"las esposas"

Hmmmmm.

So what exactly are the Latins saying about wives?

Perhaps the Spanish word for "ball and chain" is "esposo" (husband).

KIDDING!!!

You really, those of you who struggle, need to not take me seriously; Eric is no ball and chain, okay?