So much has happened in the last 2 weeks that I will attempt to catch up. Marlo had a performance at school... you can see her sitting in the center front. She was a grandmother in their little play- one of the narrators.

Yep, definitely backwards...

and up again.... oh wait, I think I am going backwards...

And then on his face....

Ethan is up on his knees... sometimes I catch him rocking back and forth... trying to go forward.

The other night we filled the big jacuzzi tub and turned it on with bubbles in it. The kids had a blast since it is more like a small pool.

Wednesday and Thursday were parent teacher conferences. Zoe's was on Wed and she stayed home with some kind of virus for 2 days, and Marlo's was Thurs. I am so blessed to have such amazing daughters. It was a pleasure to go and listen to their teachers talk about what amazing, positive, enthusiastic, smart girls they are. They both seem to have adjusted well to the new school and are doing well in all of their classes. I am very proud of them. Having them home for a couple of days made me realize how much I like having them home. I am looking forward to the winter break which starts next week. Their break starts Dec. 17 1/2 day and then they go back to school on Jan 13. Long break!

This is from the night we went dancing with Joel. On the right are Mauricio and Sylvia-Lucia some friends we met at church. They aren't in our ward but have become our good friends. Mauricio even had the patience to teach me some salsa.

Just a couple more weeks, I will be 34 and the beard will be gone. :)

Marlo asked me to take this picture of her. She is our climber.... walls, upside down on the swing set...just about anything that is available.

You can rent a piece of the park to hold a party. Zoe is in the blu pants below.

Monday was a Colombian holliday so we went to the park for lunch.

Around Bogota there are these artists who dress up and just stand there. They can be on street corners at rush hour or like this guy at the handicrafts fair on Saturday. Juan Valdez is a national figure around here- there is a Juan Valdez coffee shop on every corner... and no, there is no Starbuck's.

Ok, I forgot to write on the last picture a conversation Zoe had with one of the moms while they were waiting for Santa to hand out the gifts. Zoe said, "that's not the real Santa." The mom was surprised and said "really?" Wondering where it was going to go. Zoe said, "yeah, the real Santa is busy at the north pole getting ready for Christmas right now... he doesn't have time to come to Colombia. He has toys to make and lists to check..." She said it in such a serious tone that my friend could bearly keep from laughing. I told her that before we left the house tonight I had talked with Zoe about Santa being there and when she asked me if it was going to be the real one I wasn't sure what to say... so I told her it was one of his helpers because he was so busy right now.

I think I should have learned my lesson by now, never try and take a group picture at the end of the party when no one will sit still and the baby is falling asleep.

Fuzzy picture while holding Ethan. The parents all wrapped and sent in gifts for Santa to hand out to their kids.

It was so crazy and crowded with kids and Papi couldn't come with us so this was the best outside picture I got while holding Ethan. Too hard to hold the camera still.

They had cookies and sandwiches on the back patio cookies to decorate and crafts in another room for the kids to do. Most of all I think they enjoyed running around on the back lawn.

Last Friday after school we went with some friends to the embassy kids' Christmas party at the Ambassador's house. This is where he lives.... the picture doesn't do the grounds justice. They are beautiful and quite extensive. The kids are all wearing the sweaters that Ayi made them in China.

I don't have any more pictures for the time that Joel was here but I have to say it was a great week. Saturday night before he left we went out dancing with some friends and they even had a date for him. That was my favorite night even though I need to work on learning some of the dances. Dancing salsa is apparently a national past time here. I can't wait to go again.
As a tribute to Joel, he was fantastic to have around. He helped with the dishes, took out the trash, played with the kids, even put Teac in time out when he hit his sisters. All of the kids were sad to see him go. He even invented a game to play with them called surgery. They would pretend to take an MRI or x-ray and then go look it up on the computer so they could see the image. Teac would lay so still while they performed all sorts of operations. They used this anatomy book we have to examine the bones and muscles they were working on. Watching all those Dr. shows can really come in handy.

While they were gone we got out the Christmas boxes. We did wait for Papi to get out our little tree.

Wednesday I made stuffing, prepped the turkey and got things ready for Thanksgiving. We had a fabulous time playing games with friends and eating yummy food. The turkey came out fantasticly moist- the only thing we were missing was sweet potatoes which they don't have in Colombia. Oh well.
The drama for the day was early in the morning- 7 am when I woke up to finish making the pumpkin pies because I had a primary meeting the night before and didn't get the filling made. So as I was getting ready to make the custard, I realized I didn't have any sweet and condensed milk. I literally ran to the store because the pies had to be done cooking before I could put the turkey in. I looked all over the store and couldn't find it. I should have asked someone but I didn't. Anyway, so I ran back home and looked online to see if there were any substitutes. I found a recipie that you can make in your blender with powdered milk, sugar and boiling water. I made it with a little help from my resident elves and finally got the pies in. They cooked perfectly and then I got the turkey in just in time. For our little group we had a 21 lb turkey... so we have been eating it for days :).
The pies had a little of the powdered milk taste to them but other than that they were great- and no one but me seemed to notice the odd flavor.
Friday, James and Joel took the bikes out around town while I stayed home with the kids.

Joel accepted an invitation to continue on to the salt cathedral out of the city and I went back to get the kids. They were having a great time at the park.

Aparently even the ancient people of the Americas had yoga.

We met a lady from AZ- go figure- on the way up to Mont Serate and she offered us a ride to the Museo de Oro. Colombia is know as the most likely location for El Dorado- the city of gold. They have collected many of the gold artifacts they have found in different regions throughout the country into a central museum and it is a huge collection. The museum was just recently redone and reopened and I think they did a great job.

This is a view of the city from the mont as the sun was peeking through the clouds. I love all of the red tile roofs and brick buildings. You can even pick out a few churches. This is the old city center but the new city sprawls in all directions through the valley.

Hmm should I buy the cow-hoof bottle or not?? Why not- it's only $1.50.

Souvenier row...

The grounds at the top are beautiful... and you can see all of the decorations for Christmas. I have been impressed that so far, all of the tourist things we have done are not very expensive. It was only about $3 for us to take the gondola to the top- and the museums were free.

We lucked out and had a non-rainy morning. That is Bogota in the background.

The first day Joel arrived was Sunday so we went to church and stake choir practice and Joel tried to adjust a bit from the altitude. Monday we went to the old city and saw some of the museums... I didn't take any pictures there.... Day 3, Tuesday was busy- we went to Mont Serate. It is a church at the top of a hill over looking the city. The kids had the whole week off so the 3 big kids stayed and played with friends while we went exploring.

This is the airport where we were waiting for Joel... you can play "Where's Waldo" and find the really tall gringo in the center-back of the picture.

fuzzy picture- but this is after the Mariachis arrived and everyone started dancing... it was a family party and most of them are members of the church so there was no alcohol or smoking... so nice.

The night Joel flew in, we went to the birthday party of some friends we have made here. Unfortunately we had to leave just as the party was getting going....

And if you refuse a nap long enough, your body will just make you fall asleep where ever you are :).

Sometimes being a kid is very exhausting.

For spirit week, they had "professional day". Marlo didn't want to use the lab coat we have and go as a doctor or scientist.... she asked for more options of people who make a lot of money. Papi rattled off a bunch and when he said "venture capitalist" Marlo was hooked. She even made herself some business cards.