Friday, March 23, 2012

I've been waiting for this...

One new China hutch...er, wait! Mexico hutch?
I don't know, but either way, I'm pretty excited to have furniture! It's kind of nice to have a place to put things. But once we got the hutch, I had to find dishes. (Previously we only had plastic plates and cups, which are nice when you have 4 small kids, but hardly worthy of such a beautiful hutch, right?)


So, I headed to the market where I found coffee mugs, a sugar bowl,
a napkin holder, plates, bowls, and a salsa dish.
For my birthday, my children picked out tortilla holders! Beautiful!

The furniture that Ryan has been awaiting...
the entertainment center.
A.K.A "future home of the Wii"

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Meet Thunder and Princess Pony

We couldn't get a dog...so we got turtles! They are quite cute, and the kids were very excited to have their very own pets. It was also a bit of a celebration of TWO whole weeks of school!


Ryan was excited to name his turtle "Thomas James Thunder," but we call him "Thunder" for short. Ellie decided to call her little tortuga "Princess Pony"...a fitting name for a little girl's turtle!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Meet Luci...and her family!

This is Luci, standing in the kitchen at her parents' house.
They dry meet over the fire, and when they learned that Clay likes
jerkey, they gave us some!
This past Saturday, we took a trip to meet Luci's parents in the village of Tenejapa. It was a beautiful drive, and we had a wonderful visit with her family. We learned so much about life in the village...and macadamia nuts!


We learned just how hard the macadamia nut shell is...and that must be why they're so expensive!
He had so  much fun investigating everything!


Levi learned quickly that the kitchen was the place to be!

Luci's sister wasn't used to having her picture taken,
but we finally coaxed a smile!



Luci's sister-in-law...in traditional braids.


Luci's sister was making a beautiful embroidered
purse, like the one hanging behind her...so I had to
buy one! 
The ladies LOVED Matthew! And he tolerated them, for awhile.
This is Luci's Mom. She doesn't speak Spanish,
but she still loved on Matthew!
We had so much fun visiting with Luci's family. Ryan, Ellie, and Levi had a blast playing with Monsi (Luci's daughter). They ran and ran...sometimes chasing chickens, other times just chasing each other. They explored and investigated. They drank coffee and ate macadamia nuts and watermelon! It was such a great experience for the kids...they can hardly wait to go back!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A trip to the market










The market is only a few blocks away from our home, and the kids love going...especially Levi! He gets to travel in the backpack carrier which allows him to see everything! It's always funny to watch the indigenous people...they are just as curious about us as we are about them.










I only bought apples and carrots...but there were so many other things that I could buy...if I knew how to prepare them!

Cow's snout?
Chicken's feet? I'll have to invite Aunt Jean to cook
them for me!
Although I know how to cook fish, I don't know if I'm brave enough
to buy from the market.
Um, cow stomach...definitely NOT a fan...

Of course there is so much more...flowers, sunglasses, beans in any color you can imagine, clothes, shoes, papaya, pineapple, oranges, etc. Too much to post in one blog.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Home Improvement 101...Mexican Style

When we moved in, we had plans of home improvement.
On the to-do list, build a roof over the back patio area.

Clay has plenty of opportunities to put his carpentry skills to the test!
Here he is working with our supervisor, building the roof.


Every good carpenter needs an apprentice!



This is the before pic of my kitchen...what's missing?

Now I have cabinets...and according to Ellie,
"Our house is finally starting to look like a real house."
You can see under the countertop...that was all of the
kitchen storage that I had.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

School Days

Just look at that smile!
Here in Mexico, all school kids wear uniforms to school. So, when we registered the kids, we bought their new uniforms. They were SO excited about these sweatshirts that they didn't want to take them off when we tried them on for size. Unfortunately, we couldn't get pants or a shirt for Ryan. Just the sweatshirt and sweater. The teacher kept commenting on how BIG the kids are, which made Clay and I chuckle. They are on the small side of average in the U.S., but not here!  The kids were very excited for their first day of school.  Ellie told me she was excited about finding her new best friend! Love it! Ryan was just excited to get to play with new toys and different kids! Unfortunately, once we got to the school, Ellie's big smile disappeared and was replaced by giant crocodile tears. I was assured the tears only lasted a short while, and Ellie had a great day! And, Ryan had a hard time staying focused on the tasks at hand...he just wanted to play! (No surprise to those who know my children!)


Day Two: On non-gym days, the kids wear these uniforms...although once again, we don't have the shirt or pants for Ryan! When I dropped the kids off, Ryan took off to play. Ellie stayed close, and asked me to pray with her before I left. And the tears fell once again, even though she had a good experience the day before.

 Poor Levi is lost without his big brother and sister. He has walking around, asking, "Where Ryan? Where Ellie?" He also wants to sit in my lap and snuggle all day...and although I love that, I can't just sit and snuggle...unless I have a helper cleaning the house...