Documenting the progress of the garden. Apparently I have not been watering enough. I think the tomatoes would be bigger if I gave them more. The experiment of the week is using grass clippings as a mulch to help keep the moisture in the ground. It looks like it is helping so far.

 
Documenting the progress of my amazing strawberry plants... this one has 12 berries growing on it!!! We are sooo excited.

 
This is Aladdin and Jasmin.

Conversation this morning over breakfast:
Teac: "Mommy, are you an angel?"
Mom: "Not yet"
Teac: "No mommy, don't say that, yes or no?"
Mom: "No I'm not an angel. Why do you ask?"
Teac: "Because it's from Heavenly Father and you always help us with what we need."
Mom: "Oh thank you Teac but I am just being a mom."
Teac: "Oh, OK."

It was too precious to not record. I love my sweet boy.

 
Yesterday we went to the park with some friends. They had this cool enclosed play area with slides, swings, towers and bikes for the kids to ride. These front loaders were the coolest. They could pedal them around and actually work the shovels.

 
Poster Guy with clothes on... The cool thing is, Teac can tell you almost all of the parts we drew on there... and he had to glue some rockets at the top in case his guy wanted to go into space.

 
I had a request for pictures of Teac's poster guy.... so here he is :)

 
This was a cool picture so I had to include it too.

This past weekend was a busy one. We had a house warming party and invited everyone from the embassy. We probably had about 30 people here plus kids. It stopped raining for the day, but it also meant we didn't get to play much out side because the grass was so long and wet. I made hummus which is not a usual thing here, pita bread, and tabouli which was so good. All of them were gone, scraped clean about 1/2 way through the party. We had a lot of left over pitas because the recipe got a little out of control when I added all of the water it called for instead of mixing as I went to get the right consistency. I am trying to use more of the ingredients here that are seasonal and found locally. One, you can't usually find it other wise, and two, it is a lot cheaper if it isn't imported. For instance, they sell a lot of good plain yogurts of different consistencies... they are good enough that I ate it plain on my muesli, and feta... much milder than they sell in the US and it is really good so I am trying to find more ways to eat it.
Sunday we had a lot of left overs and we have been eating cold cuts and cheese for days... oh and salad from the garden.
Monday I recuperated and made kid posters with the boys. You know where you trace their whole body on the paper and then they draw them selves? Well Teac insisted that we draw all of his insides, especially his brains and his penis... there is a good comment that belongs here... anyway, then we cut out clothes out of construction paper and taped them on so that you can lift them up and see his organs. He was very proud of it and it is taped on his door. Ethan held still while I traced him but he refused to color on his own paper... had to help with Teac's.
The girls are doing well. Since the bikes arrived Papi has been riding to and from work (even in the rain) and the girls have been riding to school on clear days. I finally convinced Teac he should practice on his bike... in fact I had to threaten no TV if he didn't ride... and once he was on he rode around the yard the entire time I worked in the garden. I love being outside... it really makes my day.

 
So we still don't have a lawn mower... we are waiting for one that was supposed to come with the house. We have had a ton of rain so now our enormous soccer field yard, looks like this! I can not even begin to think about how many hours it is going to take to mow, and then what do we do with it? My compost pile just can't handle that much grass....but we have lots of wild flowers. There was a cow in the field next door and I was considering inviting them over to help manage it.

 
Footbal boys in action... they even match today... they look like a regular BYU add.

 
Just documenting the progress of the garden. We are eating a lot of salad... don't want it to go to waste ;) and those are California poppies in front just behind Teac. Can't wait to see them in bloom.

 
So, this is evidence of the miracle of the human body. Can you believe that this is just 10 days after the crash? Hardly a mark remains. I bet in a week more, you won't even know... except for the permanent bump on his head that is hiding behind his hair.

 
I was in the middle of making dinner and Ethan decided he just couldn't wait. He picked up the cucumber and started walking around the kitchen taking bites out of it like he was eating an apple. Do you think it affects our discipline when we take pictures of them before we do something about it? At least is wasn't a cookie.

 
I am convinced that someone or many people watch over little kids from the other side. I think they work over time for little boys. Friday Teac fell while climbing in the boxes and split his lip. Saturday after we returned from the coast, Ethan accidentally rode the little bike down the ramp to the garage and crashed with his face sliding against the driveway. Thankfully he seems to be alright in spite of the many abrasions and the huge lump on his head in the usual place. I am convinced his head is going to be permanently swollen in that spot if he keeps this up.
It almost looks like they got in a fight with each other. I have a better understanding of why my mom never got formal pictures of my brothers taken.

 
You can never have too many pictures of the kids at the beach. I forgot to post this one in order... so here it is now.

 
We drove back a different way and came home across Skadar Lake which is only about 20 mins from our house. This view is of the Montenegran side the other side of the lake is Albania.

 
A shot of some of the rocky mountains we drove through.

 
This is Sveti Stefan (The Saint Steven Monastery). You can see the construction taking place out front... in fact there was construction every where as the businesses and tourist attractions on the coast get ready for the tourist season.

 
The view the other direction. When I was doing research for my garden I came across many articles that treat southern California as a Mediterranean climate. As we drove through some of the rolling hills, it reminded me so much of parts of California.... other parts were so rocky and barren that they were other-worldly.

 
Playing on the beach with the Budva old town across the bay in the background.

 
Here is our little group on the beach. We followed some friends to the coast just to make sure we didn't get lost our first time out. Played a little Frisbee, dug in the sand, looked for sea glass... we all started out in clothes and even sweatshirts but by the end of the afternoon the kids were in their swim suits and shivering in the water. It is still April after all!

 
Our first glimpse of the Adriatic coast and the city of Budva.

 
The blossoms in spring are so fantastic. It looks like we have grapes, a mulberry tree, cherries, and maybe some plums? not sure yet. And we ate lettuce from our garden today for the first time.... that was pretty cool.

 
So excited to ride her bike to school.

 
Many wonderful things happened this week. The cherry trees around our house started blooming, our bikes arrived along with our other Christmas presents, our car arrived, and we drove to the coast for the first time.

 
Can you feel the excitement?

 
For Easter... well, for fun... everyone got a BlackGhost helicopter. They have been having a great time flying them around and even Teac is a good pilot. The first night after they opened them Teac even said a special thank you in his prayer for his "BlackGhost helicopter." Ethan has become content to just watch as I think the kids have chased him around with them enough.

This guy has been really fun to have around... as most youngests are. His language development has been particularly fun as he can say "mama" but chooses not to. At first he called me "ayi", the Chinese word for aunt or nanny. Now he calls me "honey". We were riding bikes yesterday and he called "honey, honey" from the back pack because he wanted my attention. It's just cute since he uses it all the time.... when he is looking for me around the house, or if he is frustrated. He doesn't really say any other comprehensible words but since he is only 20 months old we are trying to be patient.

 
This is Zoe working on the back of her shirt. Teac and Zoe both made "science" shirts. They used some stamps I got from Oriental trading company last year, Zoe painted test tubes and beakers and the word SCIENCE across the bottom of the shirt.

Continuing a tradition that started two conferences ago when our friends sent us the most awesome puzzle of the world, we now do puzzles during conference. It keeps us awake, everyone engaged, and allows us to talk about what we are hearing... thanks to streaming. This Noah's Ark puzzle of 1000 piecs took longer and was more complex than we thought it would be. We finished it half way through the last session.
Speaking of conference, I couldn't help notice how so many of the talks were about parents and families. Stressing how important it is that we take responsibility for teaching our children and protecting them from the influences around them. We have often discussed how nice it is to be here with no TV and comercials telling us what we need to buy. The girls are in a small school where there is no competition to have the most expensive jeans or tennis shoes. Granted, it would be nice if they had others besides their parents sharing their testimonies with them at church and other places, but sometimes I think they listen all the more closely when we come to visit because it is special to be in a class with other kids who know the gospel like they do. I am so happy for the opportunity to be home with my kids and to be so involved in their lives.

 
One of the things my kids love is for me to let them sit on my feet while I give them a horsey ride or balance on their tummies to fly. As they get bigger, they graduate to sitting on the bottom of my feet while I push them into the air where they eventually learn to stand on my hands. Good strength training for both of us. Sadly the girls have gotten too big but Teac loves it.

 
So, after the egg dye washed out we had a clean surface for a new craft and I broke out the paints. From what I read online about acrylic paints on cotton, we may get a similar result in the washer to the egg dye so maybe these will have to be no-wash shirts. Marlo tied rubber bands going for the tie-dye effect, Zoe stamped and painted every inch of the shirt front and back, and Teac picked out his favorite stamps, did about 6 on his shirt then pronounced it done. He was totally happy with it and even left it alone the next day when the girls got the paints out again do do some touch-ups. Interesting to compare personalities.

 
We dyed easter eggs again and I always feel sad just dumping all of that fun colored water. So we did an experiement and I won't be so worried about the kids getting the dye on their clothes any more. We took the old shirts outside and I let them paint all over them, I let them dry and took this picture. I washed them with vinagar to help set the dye and the shirts came out almost completely white. Only the red took, and just a little bit. So we had to move on to another way to paint the shirts.

 
After being carried in every night for a week I think my tomato seedlings are finally ready to go in the ground. As I count how many have thrived, and how much space is left in the gargen, I think I may have sprouted too many seeds... extra tomato plants anyone?

 
My garden is making progress... the lettuce and spinach are up. This picture was taken at the begining of spring break...a lot has happened since then.