Marlo wrote this essay and I thought I would type it in so that you can all see how much she misses you. I left spelling and punctuation as she wrote it.

Essay 2
I saw the tan carpet and I thought of the desert, like my home. I saw people on the carpet and thought of mountines, that cast shadows at night, above my home town Mesa Arizona! That makes me relize and remember my BEST FRIEND KAISA that reminds me of my extendid family, like my cousins, grandparents, friends. Everyone! I wish I could be with them now, like the olden days. But those days are gone. I wish my wish came true, love for hope, Marlo

 

We have started playing legos.... and I think I am having more fun than anyone. You can see Ethan in the background... he can really move when he wants those legos. Everything seems to be about proper motivation.

 

We received a fabulous package from Aunt Dorothy- complete with popcorn balls and decorating kit. We all had a great time doing them. Thank you so much for thinking of us!!!

 

Ok, so the photographer needs help but the kid looks really great.

 

Teac finally grew out of his tennis shoes (that Kaisa, Marlo, and Zoe wore) and grew into the All Stars that I got in China... we were headed to the grocery store and I thought he looked too cute. I have to post a couple of pictures.

 

We received a few things out of storage... that we haven't seen since we left AZ. The horse was one of them and it is a big hit. It takes up a lot of room, but better here being used, than in storage.

 

He is starting to fall over in the picture, but he is really getting around now, and can sit up. He even has two teeth on the bottom.... now if only he would sleep at night...maybe I need to just give up hoping.

 
James found Bill Nye videos and they are the new favorite.... even Teac is totally glued.

 
I just think they look so grown up in this picture. I can't believe how fast they are growing... and the other part of me is so relieved!

 
Marlo and Zoe each did their own.... Teac helped with his and Papi did everything but his face.... do they look like us?

 
I bought some little wooden things on the craft street and we spent Monday morning painting them. I got little boxes for the girls and a little wooden person for everyone in our family. It was fun...

I just need to journal a few things that happened today- January 4, 2009
Ethan cut his first tooth... the bottom left. You would think he would have fussed more, but he didn't... just woke up at regular intervals every night for comfort I am sure.
Teac told his first original knock-knock joke. We were in the car on our way to church with our friends we get a ride with. All of the kids were telling k-k jokes and Teac says, "k-k mom" "who's there?" I replied, "me" "me who?", "me Lightning McQueen" and then he laughed hysterically. I think 3 years old is pretty early to start the joke telling. It usually doesn't come on 'til about 5 or 6 so we are in for a long ride! I can't wait. :)

 
This picture is out of order but I just had to write about what a big help Marlo is. She loves helping with her little brothers. If Teac needs a friend to play with, she often shares her toys or finds a way to include him. If Ethan is crying while mom is doing something else, like in this picture, she stops what she is doing to try and make him happy. She will even pick him up and rock and sing to him and he usually calms down. I try and shield her from the oldest syndrome of being the second mom but sometimes it is difficult to avoid, especially when she is so good at it. What a hurge help and blessing it is for me.

 
Fuzzy picture but these are our friends who came over to help eat cake for Teac's birthday.

 
Happy 3rd Birthday to Teac. I attempted to make a cake from scratch and adjust the recipe for the altitude... it didn't rise very much and practically fell apart when I took it out of the pans so I wrapped it in plastic wrap and froze it. It was a good thing too because I made fudge icing... I figured it would make up for the cake... but it didn't set up... until I put it onto the frozen cake that is- instantly thick, phew! The cake was edible and the girls had fun helping me decorate it and wrapping presents for their brother. His birthday is going to forever be a hard one... how can he possibly need anything else after we just had Christmas? He did go into the tree the day after Christmas and ask to open more presents though. Come to think of it... they didn't need anything before Christmas either. Notice his Lightning McQueen shirt which he has worn 4 times since he opened it Christmas morning.

Ethan loves music! He will rock on his hands and knees to it or sway while he is sitting. Here he is at the New Year's party we were at. A friend is playing guitar but he danced to what ever music was playing.

 
The day after Christmas the kids just played around the house... one of the bonuses of having big sisters is that they will dress you up too. At least this time he was a blue puppy and not a princess.

 
A very happy boy playing with his cars. :)

 
Ethan is getting more mobile all the time... you can't leave anything on the floor and expect him not to get it. He is like the statues in Dr. Who- he only seems to travel when you aren't looking. Come back one minute later and he is across the room.

  This is Marlo's beauty parlor do.

 
Ethan gave us a Christmas present and let us sleep through the night for two nights, and then was back up to his old tricks of waking up at least twice. Due to the lack of sleep, I have not been able to kick this Christmas cold/sinus infection. One day we stayed in to let mom rest, we did beauty parlor... and Zoe let me put hot rollers in her hair for the first time.

 
I turned 34.... and I used my new food processor that I got for Christmas to make myself an apple pie... much safer than making a cake at this altitude. We had a quiet night with just our family... after all of the Christmas rush, I was happy just to be home.

 
Here is our glamour girl on Christmas morning... I think we took mostly video because I don't have many pictures from that day. We had a great morning and the kids were very surprised at all of the gifts they received from grandparents and Santa... we are very blessed!

 
They are absolutely adorable if you ask me.

  This is the only Christmas picture I got of everyone.... Papi even has a matching vest with the boys and I made them bow-ties....maybe everything is big enough they can wear it next year and we can try again? This was after church and they definately could have used a hair brush :)

 
A friend in our ward saved me and took me with her to the wholesale food market. You have to buy everything by the bushal but it is about half the cost I would pay at the local grocery store. I spent a week preping and freezing everything but it is totally worth it!

  We were invited to celebrate the Novena with some friends from work. Colombians celebrate the 9 days leading up to Christmas and have prayers, scriptural text, and songs that they combine with traditional snacks/foods for a very nice evening. We brought the maracas and tamborines to go with some of the songs :).

 

This is Sugar Cookie time! We had a blast. I even darkened some for papi.