Day 63

Our Land!!

In the future, hopefully sometime next year, my house will be on this property. Right now we are meeting with architects, drawing up plans, and writing down lists of what we want in a house.

Rent in this city is HIGH, and places to rent can be a bit tricky to find. After lots of prayer, advice, counsel, questions asked by us, answers given by many different people, we decided that building would be the best option for us.

I'm not looking forward to the process, but know it will be worth it all in the end. The neighborhood is nice, with a pretty plaza nearby. The police station is a few blocks away, so is a nice new hospital. It is known for being safe and family friendly.

We own land.

Eek!

Day 64

Miss Elena eating cereal for Sunday night supper. It's the only day we allow them to eat any kind of sugary cereal they like. She is ready for bed in this picture wearing my t-shirt and a butterfly headband, which was removed before sleeping.

She is learning Spanish fast and pretending with us like she doesn't speak a word of it. Sneaky girl.

Day 65 (I think?)

Lexi before getting her ears pierced.

She looks nervous, but it was quick and easy, with lots of screaming.

The big girls couldn't bear to watch so I walked them around the pharmacy while Brian stayed with Miss Lexi. Then I rescued her when it was all done.

A young man working the cash register, about 18 years old I guess, came back to watch Lexi get her ears pierced, but as soon as she started to cry he left. "I can't bear to see her cry!" he said. As soon as it was done he went back in to admire her new shiny earrings.

Another act of kindness to my children and I'm reminded again of why I love living in this country so much.

Day 73

Notice, Elena wearing her pj's and "reading" a book while eating her lunch. That's how I like to eat my lunch some days too. We all wear pajama's for naptime, so she was getting ready. There is no sleeping in regular clothes here. (Is it even possible to sleep in regular clothes? How is that comfortable?)

Day 74

Learning Portuguese...or 'porky-cheese' as the girls call it.

Day 75

Our British "mates" (as they would say) taught us how to play cricket.

I don't remember all the rules, I'm not very good at sports and all they entail, but I do remember that under NO CIRCUMSTANCE WHATSOEVER am I to compare the sport to baseball.

Because if you do compare the sport to baseball, your British friend may or may not threaten to throw you out of his house. (And he has a pool, so you really want to stay.)

Cricket.

The sport that is NOT like baseball.

Day 76

Day 77 - Foz with Friends

Day 78

Coxinha!

Day 77

Out to Lunch

Day 78

Day 79

I love my Mac because it has Photobooth.

I love my Lexi because she hangs out with me in the kitchen and "helps" me cook. Everything tastes sweeter if her little fingers have been in it.

Notice, she is only wearing her diaper. The days are getting warmer, which I'm loving. I think babies are happiest when they don't have to wear clothes. Lots of soft baby skin, cool tile floors, bare feet, watermelon. Bring on the summer!

Day 80

Without ice, and on roller skates.

Figure skating - Paraguay style!

Day 80

Day 81 and shopping habits

I think I paid all of $1.25 for both of these necklaces. That is because I love thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets. Brian thinks my idea of fun shopping is gross. "You mean I have to sort through junk to find something?" he asks. "Yes! Like looking for treasure!" I answer.

He just finds a place to sit and waits for me to be done.

I like to look, browse, preferably alone, for hours. I may buy lots of things or nothing at all. The lower the price the better. I grab anything that looks interesting put it in my cart and walk around the whole store. Once I've seen everything, I go through my whole cart (and yes, I do look like a homeless person at this point) and put things back on random shelves where they don't belong. I even do this in places like Target. For some reason, I feel guilty and hide the item behind other items in a completely different part of the store. I'm too lazy to walk all the way back to where it belongs I guess.

How and where do you shop?

(One more thing, there aren't many thrift stores in Paraguay and it's one of the things I miss the most about the United States.)

Lo siento

My poor, poor, poor, sad, neglected blog. I am so sorry to have left you here for so long.

I can hardly believe the holidays are around the corner. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years...already? It feels like we just did that...yesterday.

So, here's the deal...my blogging has been very sporadic this year (and most of last year too). I place the blame where it belongs, LIFE, and have given up on feeling like I know what I'm doing this year. I'm determined to keep this blog and update it as often as possible, I want my kids to know what our life was like when they were 5, 3 and 7 months. I also want to hone my photography skills (or lack thereof) and this is a great place to show what's on my camera card.

How to simplify all this into something I can do on a daily basis?

The 82 Day Project.

You've heard of the 365 Day Project? Photographers take one picture a day of anything that inspires them, for a whole year.

Well, there are only 82 days left this year, but I have put aside my perfectionism and decided to call it the 82 Day Project, after all it is my blog and I can do that if I want to.

Some days I may write about my pictures, some days it may just be a picture. But at least it will be something...and maybe then this blog won't be quite so dusty and who knows? Maybe by next year I will have organized myself better. (Ha!)

Day 82

Weekending

The weekend is upon us.

Ours will involve a trip to the circus with the big girls, a dinner with friends, and of course church.

I hope your weekend is wonderful, sorry I didn't blog much this week but I'm engrossed in a book. Two books, really. Both good and both hard to put down.

See you next week!