So the talent show was an interesting example of the lack of communication coming from the school. She tried out two weeks ago today. Then on Friday the list was supposed to be posted of who made the show. When Marlo looked for the list it wasn't up yet so she didn't know until after she missed her practice on Tuesday that she was in the show... so I woke up at 5:30 every morning last week to get her there for the rehearsals. Thursday she had an appointment and couldn't go to school and then Friday was the show. I tried finding out if there were other performances we could see besides the night performance. Marlo's teacher told me 10 and 11 am. So papi took time off, got a shuttle (because our car is still not available- see other post)picked up me and Teac and then we went up to the school for the 11 am performance only to find out that she at sung at 10 am and was not going to sing again. Talk about frustrating. I didn't get one note home saying something like: your child has been selected to participate in the talent show.. he/she will be required to be at school for rehearsals at these times and these are the times for the performances... nothing!!
We went to the principal's office to let her know and she was very apologetic...and worried that there would be other parents as well that didn't have any information.
You know, sometimes in the US it feels like they do everything just to avoid a law suit... well here they just don't care so no one tells you. I think part of it is that most of the kids have been going to the school for years and so they know how things work.. it is just the new people that suffer.

 

Kind of a random picture but I needed to post about how Ethan is pulling up onto everything. He is at the stage where everything up high is better than the stuff on the floor... even if it means he falls over and crashes his head, or gets nervous and doesn't want to fall- so he cries or, the chair he's hanging onto falls over ontop of him while he crashes his head on the floor. In this one I put the nice low stool in a carpeted area to hopefully minimize the bruises.

This is one of her best model poses... I couldn't resist posting it.

More roses.... I spent over an hour cutting stems and putting them in water... I filled every vase in the house and then we emptied the cookie jar and filled it too. It was a really fun surprise and perfect decorations for the party we had the next night.

The night before Valentine's Day a box with 24 dozen roses was delivered to our house... they are still absolutely gorgeous!

 

Ethan started eating cereal a couple of weeks ago... this is a picture of his response to his first taste of food. Not too bad... he actually likes it, which has been very liberating for me since he wouldn't drink from a bottle which meant he could never eat if I was away.

So you can see how mobile he is when he really wants something... I had to use a small chair to block him from the computer cables. He still won't travel large distances though... if he thinks I am too far away, he won't even try to come get me. He will just rock on his knees and make noises that say "please come get me". I'm sure he will get over that soon enough. And I have to say that he has been sleeping through the night on and off for the last two weeks....two nights of sleep followed by two nights of no sleep... so at least he is improving. I need to start feeding him cereal but so far I am just too lazy to do it I guess... I gave him a piece of apple to suck on and he didn't really like it... I think I am just loathe to pump in order to have something to mix the cereal with.

 
Just in case you might have been worried that the kids were under nurished.

 
Note the traces of chocolate chip cookies on his mouth.... he just finished off the entire container (3 cookies) that was left in the family room last night after we finished playing games. I just have to note that Papi got his dress, was club president and had a steady boyfriend within the first 10 minutes of the game, way before everyone else, and he still didn't become queen of the prom. That Barbie game is really cool and papi is a good sport about playing it with his daughters.

 
Princess by day, crime fighting grease buster by night.

 
This is what happens when you are so anxious to play with your big sister that you are willing to let her and her friend dress you up in all sorts of outfits. Maybe the fact that they bow down to you afterwards makes up for it....

 
We were treated to some fan dancing by Marlo and then ate yummy cookies.

 
Two of the beautiful dishes I made... I was very proud of myself since this was the first time I attempted to make so many dishes and to do it for guests... we ate: beef and brocoli, dry fried green beans, sweet and sour pork, fish fragrant egg plant, kong pao chicken, steamed squash, salvaged fried dumplings and white rice. Only the fish fragrant egg plant did not come out as I expected... way too much salt.

 
Last Monday was Chinese New Year's Eve.... we began the year of the Ox. In commemoration we had some friends over to eat Chinese food as prepared by yours truly. I attempted to make dumplings... the traditional food for the celebration... we made them in the morning, it took like 2 hours, and then put them in the fridge to cook them later.... big mistake. The outside of the dumplings all stuck together and tore and opened while they were cooking. Papi did a fantastic job of salvaging some of them and they were delicious... just made me that much more sad about the ones that didn't make it.

 
We finally used one of the 3 fire places in our house. It took forever to get the wood lit, but once we did, the kids really enjoyed getting warm in front of it and watching all of the colors. We had hot chocolate and ate apples with arequipe (caramel).

So a bomb went off last Tuesday about 4 blocks from our house.... http://www.agi.it/world/news/200901280923-pol-ren0001-art.html
I was home with the kids and had just put everyone to bed when we felt and heard it. I haven't posted anything until now because I just didn't know what to say about it.... They totally destroyed the Blockbuster video store just around the corner from where many of our friends live. Some people react by locking themselves inside the house- afraid to go out. For some reason the reality of it just washed over me like my morning shower and down the drain. I know that bad things happen, I am thankful we are safe, but I don't feel in any more danger than I did before the bomb went off.
Things are interesting here in that there is not one supermarket chain, or business that hasn't received bomb threats because of extortion. Most of the larger places don't pay it and so every once in a while a bomb goes of... Some people try and tie it to political unrest or rebel groups... but basically it just comes down to money and a government struggling to keep up with the criminals. Fortunately for us things are much better than they used to be.
I went for a run today and there were security guards posted along the trail to discourage petty crime. The run was fantastic. The sun was shining and people were out running, walking their dogs- it was 8:30 in the morning. I haven't been able to go in months and it makes me feel so much better... even if I had to walk every 1/2 mile because I couldn't breathe... the altitude really gets you even if you are used to it.