My very own 'red hot chili pepper'.

The many faces of Justin.

He has this new thing he does when he's very happy: he holds up his fists and punches the air like a little boxer. Here he is boxing with mommy.

Trying it all by himself. (His great-grandfather in the Philippines was a professional boxer so it's in his blood, heh!)

"You want a piece of me?"

My fatso.

Check out those rolls.

Housewarming Party!

A couple of weeks ago we had an official housewarming party. Even though our DJ didn't show up till halfway through the party and our loudspeakers gave up the ghost -thus forcing us to resort to a laptop with small speakers for music- we really enjoyed getting to see old friends again. I don't have lots of pics so I'll leave you with this random assortment.

Jonathan & Liza (Chris' cousin) came from Puebla and spent the next day with us as well.

Chris, Liza & Nadia hanging out before the party.

Our beautiful bar set-up. This is in the middle of our living room.

Lovely ladies, Julie & Sharon.

Nadia & Julie looking beautiful.

Yes, they try hard but they can't outshine the glow of an authentic superstar!

I got to see Jamie! YAY!

Francesco loved Justin. He held him, danced with him and rocked him for a good hour while everyone else was partying. I'd hire this guy to be Grumpatoose's babysitter any day!

It was also the first time Irene got to see Justin. She's 3 months pg so I'm sure Justin and tiny-unnamed-cousin had some good telepathic bonding moments.

Lucky John with the ladies!

Just another day with Ben...

Our parent day project this week was a toilet paper roll woodpecker. As we were making it Ben gave me a peek into the world of his imagination...

Ben: "Mom, did you know that I work in Woodpecker Land? I'm an officer there and my job is to hold a triangle and call all the woodpeckers to lunch. It's beautiful there! The rainbows are black and the fruit that grows on the trees is pink. You can come see it Mom, but you have to say the magic words 'Meshack, twoshack & Woodpecker-Benny!'"

Happy 24th!

Happy Birthday Dave!!

I know I'm a day late but I just want you to know that I'm praying this year will bring you many more blessings and a real sense of fulfillment. It's great having you as a brother!

Please make sure you plan lots of trips to Cuernavaca this year so we can see and play with the handsome Tiny.

I love you!

Easter!

I'm sorry I haven't been updating. There's so much going on it's hard to find time for it.

Last Sunday we had a very fun Easter Kids Club Activity thanks to Paula who organized it. The children from the other Homes in our city came over for the afternoon and enjoyed the pool, games, snacks, an Easter egg hunt, egg painting and more!

Showing Agnes how fat he's gotten.

Tiny princesses.

Adina (of Andrew & Agnes)

Allison (of Phil & Paula)

Daddy time! Micah (of Liz) with Julian.

Andrew (of Agnes) with Alvin.

Paula came up with the wonderful idea of having the Easter egg hunt in the pool.

Showing off his chocolates.

Once he finished his chocolate Julian got started on the dirt.

Fun in the sun.

My handsome!

Painting eggs with Nadia.

The finished product.

Bub (of Stephen & Amber) giving it a try.

The Easter Bunny!

And my very own Easter Angel!

Hope you had a good one too!

Splash!

Ben is slowly losing his fear of the water & is starting to venture out into the deeper side of the pool (with his trusty life jacket on of course). This brings with it the great dilemma of what to do about the other kids splashing him as he can't stand that. The other day we were talking & he came up with the following brilliant solution:

Ben: "I have an idea Mom. First we'll get a toilet paper roll and we'll write a new law on it. The law will say 'Kids! Please don't splash Benny when he's in the pool 'cuz he gets grumpy when you do.' Then I'll get Stephen & Amber's horse and ride all around the house with my toilet-paper-roll-law and show it to all the kids. Once they read it, they won't splash me anymore!"

Right! So now I'm off to find a toilet paper roll and that horse that I know Stephen & Amber have got stashed away somewhere.

Pics

My grumpy is getting cuter and fatter than ever. Here are some photos to brighten up your day!

Showing off his 'big boy' clothes.