smiles for mom

 Zach with his new big boy booster, sitting at the table just like his big brother and sister!

Are these kids growing up in a place with constant power outages or what? Reading w/ her flashlight, prepared for the imminent power failure. She cracks me up!

lunch at the river

This super spicy dipping sauce is Elijah's favorite. He dunks his pork in the peppers and eats it, then gasps for water, and as the spicy starts to go away, he'll dip again. He can easily down a whole bottle of water as he eats his pork. haha! These boys love their bbq pork and sticky rice.

Eva loves special time w/ mom and dad

Zach likes to fill his mouth until his cheeks are bulging and chewing gets difficult

 Great food, great kids, great fun!

eva's day

Check out Eva's smile here! She is in heaven b/c her friends are finally back! It's been 8 months since there have been any English speaking kids in town, and Eva was overjoyed.

The next morning, when she saw these dolls sitting out, she got a big smile, and said, "I just remembered my friends!"

living without electricity

This one wasn't naps outside... but the power is off & it's raining, so the kiddos are hanging in the sala again. Can you see what they're doing? (besides throwing shoes, dishes, & broom to the ground)

 Reading! Yee haw!! Rock on guys. You make me proud. :)

another day, more play

 I think this was Saturday afternoon nap time. Or play time as it were. This year, our power has been going off every weekend, which unfortunately means no fans, no a/c, no lights. So taking naps inside in this heat index is just not safe for the kids, and for sure means they can't fall asleep. No problem though... we moved naps outside! Our outdoor "sala" (thatched roof, raised platform, no walls) is the perfect place! What could be better? They don't sleep, that's for sure, but they do stay up there, and they do rest from high activity, and they do have fun. Mission accomplished!

saturday morning

There's something so precious about watching the kids playing on their own. All morning long, they were outside keeping busy in their make believe world, playing together, running here and there. Their ability to play on their own using their own creativity is amazing. Look at those smiles! Isn't it great to be a kid?

snake pics from vaca

Nathan- up for anything. 

Zach- not scared at all and trying to grab the snake's head. 

Elijah- scared but being brave with his dad. 

 

another first

This morning, for some reason, the thought dawned on me that Zach should be eating his oatmeal by himself, without me spoon feeding him every bite. And then a bunch of other thoughts began... why exactly AM I still feeding him? How old is he again? 18 MONTHS!!! What have I been doing this  whole time?? How can my 18 month old still be spoon fed by his mother?! How can he be 18 months already? What else am I totally forgetting with this cute little guy? So I got out the camera and took another "first" picture- eating by himself for the first time. 18 months. 

Here's the picture when I handed over his oatmeal... and here he is going for his first fistful. :)

I handed the spoon to his right hand, which he used, but later switched to his left. He usually prefers his left for things. I'm thinking he might be a lefty.

Look at that smile! From here on out, meals should be that much better! Better for Zach, better for everyone else! :)  Now what else does this little 18 month guy need to tackle?

like some rain?

The rains are crazy this year! They're crazy every year though. It rains at night, rains in the morning, rains after lunch. 

 All the little bugs and critters living in the dirt come out of their hideaways during these months. Thankfully, due to all our yard care before the rains began, we're better off this year than we've ever been in the bug & snake category!

See all the banana trees just starting to grow in the back corner? There's about 15-20 new trees back there crammed into that little space, all new in the last few weeks. You can almost watch the banana trees grow in this season, they're so fast. A regular Saturday morning around here means getting out the machete and chopping down around 30 small banana trees.

You don't see kids around here playing out in the rain, but our neighbor kids are finally getting into it too. They started off carefully keeping dry under their umbrellas, but pretty soon, they were dancing and splashing in the water too! 

more vaca

vaca