New Hair.... Again.

Yes! I did it! I got tired and bored of my hair so I decided to try something I've been wanting to try for a looooooooooooong time. (Chris finally said yes, Yay!) See for yourself:

Before:

Now:

It's not exactly what I had in mind but in a few weeks when it grows a little longer in the front it should be just right.

Fun in the kitchen...

I've had an epiphany: muffins are relatively easy and fun to make! (Those of you who really know me and my fear of the kitchen will appreciate the magnitude of that statement.) I have to thank Julie as she makes the most incredibly scrumptious muffins/cupcakes you've ever tasted, so when she was gone I wanted some so badly that I stretched out of my comfort zone enough to try baking some myself.

The kids love baking projects so this has been a fun, easy project that we've done a few times. So far we've made:

• Lemon muffin (VERY yummy but turned out kind of crumbly)
• Banana muffins (definitely NOT my idea of something tasty but the kids liked them)
• Carrot-bran muffins (had potential to turn out but we under-cooked them accidentally and they came out gross, ha!)
  
• And our very best: zucchini muffins (they were supposed to be carrot but when we'd mixed all the other ingredients we realized we were out of carrots, heh. Daddy came to the rescue and suggested substituting carrots with zucchini and voila! They were delicious!)

Another fun one: Peanut-butter balls!

More pool pics

Here are some more pics of Justin in the pool. We've taken him in pretty regularly so he'll get used to the water. For the past few days he's had a runny nose (please pray he gets better soon) so this week we haven't put him in the water. He loves it and gets really excited, splashing all around even though it's extremely cold.

At parent time Ben had hiccups...

Ben: "Mom, can hiccups swim?"

Mom: "No."

Ben: "Good! Then I'll go drink some water to drown them!"

Summer School!

This past Monday the kids started 2 weeks of Summer school. The Lord did a miracle and we were able to get a good discount for both of them to attend. I'm very happy about this as we'd been interested in getting some extra classes for them so they could not only be more exposed to Spanish (and hopefully pick it up faster) but also so they're able to socialize with other kids their ages, and get some extracurricular input that they hadn't been getting at Home.

They're in school every morning and take classes in Swimming, Tae Kwon Do, Soccer, Music & Belly Dancing, Arts & Crafts and Yoga (for children; mainly stretches, etc.). None of the children who are in Lily and Ben's age group speak English which is a big plus as it forces them to try to speak to them in Spanish. However their teacher speaks perfect English so it's nice to know that if they need help she can understand them, etc. I explained to her that I want them to learn Spanish so she speaks to them mostly in Spanish.

One cute thing is that since they've started going Lily has really taken up the role of big sister to Ben. The teacher mentioned that since Ben doesn't really understand anything that's going on, Lily always makes sure to pay very close attention to what the teacher says so she can try to explain it to Ben. I'm so proud of her!

All the classes are very physical and Ben is a more studious child so they were a bit overwhelming for him. He's even managed to weasel his way out of some of them by feigning a headache and asking to sit on the teacher's lap. (Such a little charmer, of course he got his way.)

Anyhow, I'm very happy and thankful to the Lord that they're getting these little extras. I'll stop rambling here and leave you with a pics of my cutsies on their way out to school.

Another gem from Ben

Ben to Mom: "Did you know that sometimes I just sit here and talk to my brain?"

Mom: "What does it tell you?"

Ben: "Well, it tells me what to do, except for when it's sleeping. Then the Emperor Azurro wakes him up." (Pauses to think for a minute) "Mom, did you know that dogs are good swimmers? I told my brain that and he said 'You betcha!"

Well... Don't you?

Ben's Birthday party.

We had Ben's birthday party yesterday. Here are some photos:

This was taken at Parque Chapultepec on the day of Ben's 5th Birthday.

The crab cake that Chris made for Ben. (In the weeks before his birthday Ben had gone down the list of all the different kinds of cakes he wanted: a rainforest cake, a bat in a cave cake, a mole cake, etc. 3 days before his party, we told him that he had to make up his mind on a final and he chose a crab cake.)

The cousins were going to come for his party but at the last minute they weren't able to so Ben was very happy that his little friends were still able to come over.

Traditional family photo. It's so cute how Ben can't stop looking at the cake.

Ben asked me if he could have a 'surprise' party. So, even though he knew that we were having the party, we asked everyone to hide and pop out yelling 'Surprise!' when he came out into the porch. He got all startled and covered his ears with his hands but he was so happy! (Note the cute little Sebastian crab that Agnes gave him for his birthday. It's entered the club of Ben's favorite stuffed animals and occupies a special corner on his bed.)

Time for the presents!

Happy with his new dinos!

Anisha very sweetly gave Ben her old bike for his birthday. We fixed it up, got him some training wheels and a helmet & voila! Perfect gift! (A few weeks ago we took Ben in for a foot checkup and the Dr. recommended a bike for him as it helps to straighten little kids' legs if they're turning in at the knees. So that suggestion makes this gift even better for him.)

Trying it out!

Justy really enjoyed the balloons!

I'm 5 months old today!

Happy 5th Birthday Benny!

My love is 5 years old! He's such a big, handsome, interesting boy and I love him so much. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect, loving and entertaining little boy.

For his birthday we went to Parque Chapultepec (which is a park that has a petting zoo and other attractions which he really enjoys) in the morning as we're waiting until family day to have his party.

In the afternoon we were looking through some older pics of Ben as a baby, toddler and so on, and he's just SO cute that I had to post them here for you:

My tiny Ben! Here he's only 15 hours old. He was SO small; born weighing only 2.800 kg.

1 month old. He was SO snuggly.

2 months old. I think he looks a lot like Justin in this one.

4 months old.

His 1st Christmas!

6 months old. He was such a small baby.

Learning to sit up by himself at 7 months..

Doing it pretty well at 9 months.

His 1st Birthday!
We had a party with games, balloons, music and a very cute cake decorated like a car for all the children in the Home we were living in, but all the commotion scared Ben and I had to take him out of the party. The above picture was the simple celebration we had at my parents' house with just our family (aunts, uncles, cousins,). We gave him a baby sized basketball which he loved.

So handsome!

At the zoo!

I love the contrast between his blond hair/fair skin and his daddy's darker hair & skin.

La Marquesa and the first time we took him horse-back riding.
I think it was this visit that sparked his incredible love for horses which lasted for about a year and a half. We had posters of horses all over the wall in our room and he wouldn't go to sleep without a small plastic horse toy in his hand. To this day he sleeps with 2 stuffed animal horses (one is named Todd and the other is Styrofoam).

Licking the icing off his cake on his 2nd Birthday.
Of course, he asked for a 'horse' cake so we made a cake shaped like hills and placed his toy horses on it. We had a big party with a pinata for this birthday as well but the horses on his cake and the Noah's ark play set that Daddy got him were the main attraction for him.

Daddy's favorite Halloween costume turned pijamas.

My scruffy-haired 2 year old.

Cuernavaca! 3 years old and getting silly.
(Daddy made him an awesome train cake for his 3rd birthday but I can't find the photos of it.)

So cute in his baggy clothes.

My tiny Mexican!

4th Birthday!
He was well into his dinosaur stage here so he asked for a volcano cake with dinosaurs around. Peepers also made a special appearance at his party and sang him Happy Birthday.

Ben is so interested in all kinds of animals, ocean creatures and creepy crawlers. I love the way he's always trying to learn more about them, what they eat, their natural habitats, etc. He's so smart for a 4 year old. The other day he opened a 4th Grade science reader and began reading it out loud (he was interested in some insects the book was teaching about).
I know I'm bragging here but every Mother has a right to, especially if her son is nearly as cute and smart as mine.

I love you Benny!