So the hard thing is when the baby wakes up early, nurses and falls back to sleep in bed with you. Do you risk it and try and put them back in their own bed? No way. I usually just pile up the pillows while I take care of the other kids and get them off to school. This morning I went back in to check on him and he had moved into this position from his original spot under the covers. At least now he stops when he sees the edge of the bed coming. Am I too careless? or is it just obvious he is the #4 child.
On Monday we were haing FHE with some friends. The kids left the room to play after eating their treat and a few minutes passed before Marlo came running in to tell me that Teac was crying because he bumped his head on the box. I asked "is there was any blood- no, is he really hurt- not really, well if he wants some sympathy he is welcome to come in here." She left and no body came. A few more minutes passed and Marlo came again. "Zoe bonked her head on the door while we were playing around." "Is there any blood?- no, is she going to be ok?- well, probably, ok, well, if she would like some sympathy she is welcome to come in here." Thankfully that was the last head injury of the evening. Am I just too callous? I think that night I was just too tired. I had the baby on my lap and no husband home from work yet.
Sometimes we muse about what it would be like if the other of us left (died). I think about how hard it would be. I want to say I couldn't do it... but that's not true. I wouldn't like it, it would be really hard, and I would be terribly lonely, but I could do it. Maybe if I keep that attitude the Lord will keep it from happening.

So I got my hair cut... I need a picture of it to post but so far I don't have a good one. Based on the recommendation from a friend I called and made an appointment. Then Friday I drove there all by myself (which apparently in Bogota is amazing for a woman... let a lone a foreign woman to do). Found the place without incident. The stylist was great.. Fernando... he had kind of a flat top with his curly hair that was a little bleached in front and huge tattoos on his fore arms. Just a really cool guy that considers himself an artist. He told me it is impossible to do the same hair cut twice because it is like the canvas for a painter... no two can ever be the same. I was a little nervous since I had a bad experience in China and I was not sure how well I would be able to communicate what I wanted. I took some pictures with me, we talked for a few minutes and then I just let him cut about 8 inches off the back. Not quite enough for locks of love.... Everyone says I look younger. I never really thought about it but I guess at this stage of life that is a good thing? Sometimes I wonder how I got here... the days fly by and the kids just keep getting bigger. I suppose I will wake up at 50 and wonder what happened. Maybe I will be sleeping all night long by then?
I am finally going to start taking Spanish classes this week. I have to drive into the Embassy so we will see how it goes.

 
Colombia has such a beautiful countryside. I wish we had more opportunities to be out in it. I love the tall grass and the rolling hills with the fog comming in. I almost felt like we were on the set of Darby O'Gil and the Little People.

 

Of course Papi was not sad to have to give the kids rides on the quad.

 
If you zoom in you can see the wild horses running in the background. They were up in the ruins when we pulled up and they ran off right in front of us. About 6 of them. Aparently there are many wild horses in the area.

 
This is Zoe, in the red shirt, and Alicia, her best friend, in the yellow shirt along with some other kids in her class.

 
Here we are having our little picnic with the ruins in the background.

 
After horse rides at the finca, we took a rough road up to some ruins of an old church where we had a picnic. You can see the 4wd vehicle parade. That's our Honda parked in front....

 
We weren't sure how close to let Ethan get to the bird.... he was gentle but his fingers are very tiny...

 
As we were exloring the house, Papi found a bird (amazing I know) and brought it out to show all the kids. The bird was amazingly gentle and friendly. The owner even offered to let him take it home.

 
Marlo on a horse....the little boy leading her is in Zoe's class. He rides amazingly well.... like he has spent years on a horse. Amazing to see such a small kid ride like that.

 
Zoe on the horse...

 
Saturday we went on an "integration" trip with Zoe's class. One of the families hosted it and they invited everyone out to their finca... the hacienda that has been in the family since it was built 300 years ago. The house was like a museum with rooms full of antique furniture. It was amazing. The dad lived in the house 'til he was 5 years old. The bathrooms had been slightly updated, but such a huge cold house. I didn't really take any pictures of it because I would have just felt weird.... They had two horses saddled for the kids to ride, and a carriage hooked up.

 
Ethan has 4 teeth working their way out on the top. You can see 2 in the picture.... because of the teeth he has not been very happy lately. He just turned 9 months old on Saturday.

 

Zoe had to conduct an experiment with plants for 4 weeks. At the end of the 4 weeks she had to make a poster to display her process and results. She cried at least twice last night as we were finishing the poster because she was just so overwhelmed with how big a project it was. She was very relieved and proud of herself when it was all done.

 

Ethan is a total climber. Last week we turned around and he had climbed up the little slide and was standing on it so proud of himself. He climbs everything he can. The other day he tried to climb up a barstool in the kitchen and pulled it over on top of himself. He is definately not as cautious as his brother.

 

While I was sick in bed Papi brought home some old gas masks for the kids to play with. They thougth they were great. Those of you who have watched Dr. Who can appreciate how freaky it was when he got them to all come into the room and start asking, "Mummy, mummy, are you my mummy?". So I got well enough for the trip- we went, had a great time except for the car sickness on the drive there inspite of the dramamine, we decided to leave Saturday evening to make it back for church on Easter. Well, Saturday night Papi and Marlo were both up sick, with aparently the same thing I had. We didn't make it to church after all. Papi is still in bed although Marlo is feeling much better. I can't wait until we are all well at the same time again.

 

For some reason kids and Cheetos just seem to go together with water and sun. You can see the residue on his face....Teac for some reason didn't really like the water. He was perfectly happy walking around the pool shooting people with squirt guns, pushing people in (they all encouraged him much to my dismay), and playing with buckets. He got in the pool a couple of times with me or Papi, but it was either on top of a blow-up elephant or under much duress. Hopefully he will get over it by the time summer comes around.

 

Yes, I did get sunburned... I was so good about everyone else... I just neglected myself. Part of it was how happy we were to just be in the sun that I didn't care... well, I care now... but too late. :)

 

The tricky part about this trip was what to do with the baby... there were stairs in the cabin... which he went up and promptly bonked his forehead on the way down.... around the pool there was this really rough decking- not slippery but not comfortable either... everyone was so helpful and took turns helping me hold him when he didn't want to be in the pool. In fact it was too cold for him really until the very last day.

 

Dinner inside the cabin.... not everyone was happy about the food choices. :)

 

We filled over 200 plastic eggs for an egg hunt Saturday morning. They wrapped 5 of them in aluminium foil and filled those with money. It helped inspire the big kids to hunt.

 

Looking from the pool back towards the bungalos. They also had a little store where the kids could buy ice cream, soda, chips.... a ping-pong table, billiards, and a playground.

 

Little duplex bungalo

 

So the day before we are supposed to leave on our big trip out of the city I finally started feeling better. We got everything packed and caravaned with some friends to a little hotel in Anapoima. It was down out of the mountains and although it rained on and off the first two days- the third day was sunny and hot. We spent all day everyday hanging out by the pool.
This is one of the little cabins. Each family had their own. It was just two steps up from camping. They have a little kitchenette, beds and a little table with chairs. The best part was that it was an enclosed compound where the kids could really just run around and have some freedom.

 

Close-up of where we are :)

 

This puzzle arrived from some of our really great friends just in time for us to work on it while listening to conference. It is an amazing map of the world that has historical events, resources, and cool- silly illustrations.

 

Ever noticed that sometimes you can take 10 pictures in a row and the first one still comes out the best?

 

This is the back side of the house and the patio just full of families doing crafts and eating snacks.

 

But I can't find any eggs mom.....

 

So the Friday before spring break I got sick. Really sick.... fever, stomach- the works....for 5 days! yuck. Inspite of it, we all went to the easter egg hunt at the Ambassador's residence. We arrived a little late because we were listening to conference so the kids didn't find as many eggs as they would have liked, but it was still fun for them to run around on the grounds as it is huge and there were lots of kids.

 

The kids' good buddy Mike got baptized a couple of weeks ago. Here they are standing in front of the podium in our chapel.

 

Papi and Teac went with the youngmen in the ward fishing up to a little pond not far from home. They brought back one trout and when papi asked who wanted to help clean it and see the guts etc. Zoe was the only one who came running.

 

Everybody likes to help papi. Teac is an especially big help in the kitchen... when he's hungry. :)