Sometimes babies just get sad... and you want to help them be happy but you have to take the picture first.

Papi and the worm/catterpillar :)

Fairy Princesses apparently like chocolate doughnuts.

Doughnut eating... they have Dunkin Doughnuts here... That is Mike in the picture with Marlo... he and Zoe are good buddies.

Limbo... all of the little girls were fairys or butterflys.. the older girls were witches and vampires....

K, this is my 3rd attempt at posting this picture... Elfava with green eyeshadow bec. the home made face paint didn't work out so well.

They had jewelery making...

Zoe was a fairy princess, Teac was Blue, and Ethan was a worm that got his head stuck in a pumpkin.... It was a chilly night so she needed the sweater but didn't want to cover her wings.

Lots has happened in the last few days... yesterday I hosted a playgroup and we had a very good time meeting new moms, and letting the kids run amok.... Monday I made pizza here for the first time and I was relieved that with the altitude my dough recipe didn't need changing. I got a request for the Pumpkin Bar (it has a very cake-like texture) recipe so I will post it here. I often substitute some of the flour with whole wheat and it still comes out great. You can also add nuts or sprinkle them on top.

Bekki's Pumpkin Bars
4 eggs
2 c. pumpkin
1 2/3 c. sugar
1 c. oil

2 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon or other spices
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Mix wet together and add the dry to it. Pour into a greased pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 mins. I have made this in a 9 x 13 and a sheet cake pan... both turn out great... you just have to vary the baking time a little.

If you want frosting, this will frost a sheet cake pan or cut it in 1/2 for the 9 x 13 pan:
8 oz cream cheese softened
1/4 c. butter (I use about 1 Tbs)
1 tsp vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar

Today Mireya came to clean my house!!! Hooray!!! She is only coming on Wed. and Sat. so far but a little help is so much better than none!! Because she was cleaning the bathrooms I had time to play blocks with Teac. He actually didn't try and knock anything down. I think we have turned a developmental corner. Yesterday we walked to the park and played with a couple of other kids in the sand. Two of them were very excited about smashing the castles (dumped over buckets) but Teac kept getting frustrated with them. He was actually interested in building. Today was the same story. Six months ago there is no way we would have gotten an entire train track and little city set up before Godzilla came to town. Today he gently pushed the train around the track for a good 1/2 hour and helped me build little houses etc. Then when it was time to clean up he had a great time smashing it... but I was relieved that he waited that long.

OK, I couldn't believe it, but I had just finished posting about the rocks when Zoe came home. The first thing she said to me was, "Mom, I have rocks in my pouch." She tied her sweater around her waist and filled it with about 10 rocks she collected on the playgroud at school.

I bought a pumpkin at the market last week and I finally chopped it up to turn into pumpkin for pies etc. It makes great pumpkin bars- Bekki's recipe, and pies... I have found the only problem with making my own pumpkin is it tends to have too much liquid. I have overcome this by baking it at a low temp for a while before I put it in the blender and then freeze it.

Today we made juice. They will swear up and down to you that even though the oranges are green they make delicious juice.... they are only a few steps up from the sour oranges in AZ. I juiced and froze it anyway.... maybe we can mix it with something. Teac was a really good helper though.

Hooray for being able to hold his head up well! Ethan is much happier now that he is no longer stuck on a blanket on the floor.

There are all sorts of things that kids collect. Zoe collects rocks. I find them in her pockets, under her bed, in her back pack (she currently has about 10 that she insists on carrying around with her). Zoe even had a large collection in China that she kept in a plastic bag under her bed. I had to convince her to leave it behind because of the weight. I am not sure what her criteria is for a worthy rock is because some of the rocks are just chunks of concrete. I did use a couple of them to fill a flower arrangement.
I think her brother picked up on her rock collecting because when I pulled back the covers two nights ago to go to bed, the rocks Teac had been playing with during the day -that I think he found in his sister's room some where- were waiting for me.

Since I have been doing all of this work to get stuff in the freezer, I thought I would share this link for those of you with gardens that might get an abundant harvest. http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/foods/he187w.htm

Close-up.... Guatemala is one of the few places in latin america that still has indiginous people and villages. This reminds me of all of the colors in their huipiles and the things we saw while we were there.

While in Guatemala he found this beautiful handiwork done by Cynthia's mother and brought it home for me.

The last time we were in Guatemala was for our honeymoon the summer after we were married... almost 10 years ago. James took the opportunity being so close to travel up to Guatemala city to see the Calguas- our family in latin america. Everyone has changed so much, but it was such a blessing to be able to be with them again. My only regret is that we all couldn't be there.

So on his flight to El Salvador, the pilot encouraged him to come up and see the cockpit as they were deplaning and even offered to take the picture. It is an Embraer 190 (for those of you who care). But cool... like talking to the engineer after a train ride.

Last weekend we went out to brunch with some friends to Crepes and Waffles... It was great how well they handled and even enjoyed the chaos we brought with us. People who love kids are a blessing to have around.

They still look blue to me... :)

I love my dishwasher... and that my kids are learning how to load it themselves.

This is why little kids can see moving day as a positive experience. They figure someone just brought the play equipment into the house.

Halloween decorations.... and the woven basket combo on the left I bought for 50 cents in the market. A man that was selling them gave it to Teac to play with in the hopes I would buy it I think- and I thought it was cool. Seems like an awful lot of work for 50 cents.

After two days in the kitchen I have tomato sauce, black beans, pineapple, mangos, broccoli, green beans, potatoes, strawberries... and I still have oranges waiting for me. I still need to make some salsa and tortillas and I think I will be good for a few weeks. But I am very tired and very proud of myself. Since I don't have the jars etc for canning, I figure this is the best I can do right now... plus it should cut down considerably on my dinner prep time.

This is my kitchen in the process of making tomato sauce. I make a generic sauce and freeze it. Then when I want to make pizza or put it on pasta, I just add meat if I feel like it. I found that if I put the tomatoes in the blender with the onion, garlic, roasted bell peppers, a carrot or two after I peel them, I get a thicker, smoother sauce.

This was the position Teac took a 2 hour nap in on Monday. Not sure how it was comfortable with his head almost off the chair.

Teac is loving his train again. I think he played with it for at least 2 hours on and off... pretty good attention span for a 2 year old.

Today one of the ladies in the ward took me to the open market in the center of town. I am wishing now that I had taken my camera... at the time I didn't want to get it stolen. We bought lots of veggies... saw pumpkins two feet high.... just huge, and fruit. They make a lot of juice here from all sorts of interesting fruits. I need to take some pictures of those. I bought tomatoes to make my own sauce, orages to squeeze and freeze, veggies to blanch and freeze, a pumpkin to cook, liquify, and freeze for breads and pie.... I even want to make pumpkin soup since I have had it several different places now and it is delicious. Poor Teac got really tired at the market and fell asleep on the way home... and I am exhausted from carrying Ethan in the sling and chasing down Teac. Not sure if I have the energy to take care of all of this food today... hopefully it will keep until tomorrow.

The good news is I have only 5 pounds to go, and a lot of toning, to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. So I can put most of my pants on- some are more comfortable than others, but tight pants are the fashion here so that helps (ha ha ha).

Delilas was right. It takes a lot of adjusting when you are used to having help around the house to now, when I don't have any. I am not sure if we are going to get someone now... maybe just to babysit on the weekends when we need it. Or maybe I really should get someone to come and clean these bathrooms.... the girls can learn to do their own but that still means work for mom to check up on them etc. It only took me the 2 hours Ethan was asleep for his morning nap to get all of the floors swept and mopped and the kitchen cleaned up yesterday. The thing is, that means Teac is off doing something by himself- watching TV or playing with toys. He comes in and checks on me every once-in-a-while or when he needs food. If someone else is cleaning, I could do something fun with him instead. We'll see.

This is the room we really live in. Note our view out the window and sick Zoe on the couch.

Dining room... can you tell that he followed me around the house? Complete with our orange halloween tablecloth. I really don't have that much orange... it just looks that way :)

The living room in progress... you can see all of the pictures stacked against the wall. I spread a lot of the small frames around the house and it is feeling more like home already.

Marlo's room... she said she was glad to get the blue and yellow because she thought her bed was weird before. (She is talking about the pink with green stripes from the last picture.)

Zoe's room.... and all the toys :) She was home sick today so she and Teac got in the picture.... he is potty training... hence the no pants.

I have to share now that I have unpacked some things. This is the duvet cover and shams that I had made in china out fo the thai silk just before we left. I know some of you are thinking.... orange? James picked it out and I found the stripe which is on the back side. Underneath we have our silk comfortor that I bought in beijing and our 700 thread count cotton sheets.... plus we bought a memory foam mattress topper.... because the mattress is not so great. Now we are sleeping in total luxury. I panic a little when I bring the baby to bed... what if his diaper leaks? or he spits up, or or or....
Anyway, now we have no excuse for not sleeping well and it is fabulous! Now I just need to get the pictures hung.

My two beautiful boys.... they look like brothers but definately not twins. They are both 8-9 weeks old in these pictures.

Ok, so our stuff... (more of it) arrived last Friday-luckily they let James be home to help me... then we had the whole weekend to go through things... then the piano came yesterday. They uncrated it in the parking lot in front of the building... took the top off, then tied new pads on it and 3 big guys (well, by Colombian standards) carried it up the 4 flights of stairs to our apartment. I must say we were a little nervous.... but it seems to have survived ok. James even played a bunch last night while the kids danced and sang. The tune was tollerable considering it made such a long journey. My kitchen is mostly organized and I am slowly moving furniture around to settle in. Ever feel like you have too much stuff? :)
Anyway, I am off to put some more things away- and listen to BNL Snacktime while I work. I need to learn the words.
I will take some pictures but most of the disaster is gone- Hooray! I must say I get a little neurotic about having a bunch of boxes sitting around.

Ethan rolled over!!! Yesterday I went in to get him up from his nap and both times he had rolled over. He will be 10 weeks old tomorrow.

Teac and I played with the legos for a little while today. We designed a pirate ship complete with dingy. I must say I was quite proud. It's life was very short however and the ship sank (was pulverized) shortly after this picture was taken.

Zoe lost her second tooth today. She is not sure where it is.... she says when she arrived at school she realized that she didn't have it any more. I think it fell out in her sleep last night.