Lucy meet Oreo

What happens when good friends discover that both their families have become proud owners of pets within days of one another??  They arrange a "getting to know you" party, of course!

Lucy, meet Oreo

Our attempt at capturing the entire crew in one shot :)  At least they are all accounted for!

 Probably our most fun Family Home Evening in a while!!!  

Thanks Whitt family for pulling this incredible feat off! 

Oh, Did You Want Some?!

 Yum

 Yum

 Double Yum!

With all of the kisses I get throughout the day from this one, it's no surprise I can't wear anything twice :)  

Love... love...double love you, Luke!!!

Meet Lucy

The conversation 2 weeks ago went something like this:

Me:  Kate's still asking when we are going to actually get a dog.

Joe:  Sigh...do you want one?  I was kind of thinking that since we are having a baby, it's not the best time.

Me:  That's EXACTLY what I said.  

The conversation 1 1/2 weeks ago was as follows: 

(sitting on the couch after everyone was finally asleep)

Joe: Pato (his dog breeding friend at work who gave us a ton of help when we were planning on bringing Delilah home) wants to know what the deal is.  Do we want a dog or not?  Because he has a friend that just had a litter and wants us to see them.

Me:  I thought because of the baby, we weren't going to get one...Although, we do have plenty of space for one down here...and we have help (our wonderful nana, Sandra who comes a few days a week).  I don't know...what do you think? 

Joe:  It wouldn't hurt just to go look...

2 days after that extremely productive dialogue:

Welcome home, Lucy!!!

 I'm still honestly chuckling over the whole event.  We went on a Saturday morning with NOTHING because we were just going to look at the beagles.  Not a crate, not a towel...not a thing.  Granted, I had read "How to raise the perfect puppy" 8 months ago, before we were supposed to bring our English Bulldog, Delilah home.  So I wasn't totally naive. This little thing was the sweetest 3 month old.  Kate wasn't the only one in heaven.  Luke and Jake had found their backyard buddy.  This surprised Joe and me.  We thought we only had one animal lover in our family. 

 She has had her patience tested as I've watched Luke drag her from here to there by the tail...

 ...listening to endless screams of excitement as she chases the kids back and forth on the grass...

 ...allowing 2, 5 and 8 year olds to pick her up and to "snuggle" her...

 and she has passed with flying colors.  

 Granted....potty training any mammal isn't on the top of my "Oh I can't wait!!!!" list.  But at least Luke is totally done.  (My easiest of the three, might I add)  And I have to admit, for the week she's been with us, Lucy is doing a pretty darn good job.  

This is a pretty typical afternoon.  Jake takes the lead on some sort of adventure or project he has designed in his mind, Luke is right on his heals, copying EVERY SINGLE WORD and GESTURE, and Lucy is right behind him, wanting in on the action.

  

 Are we crazy?  Very much so.  

But look at that face...

Here's a little video for you, Hansens :)

Farewell to the Smith Family!

One thing I've learned about the expat experience that I don't particularly love, is that the people you connect with, who become like family, come into your lives and physically exit it often times without much warning.

 When we learned that Laura and Abe Smith would be leaving us a few months earlier than expected, within a month, they were packed up and off to their next adventure in South Dakota.  We laughed because the Lamberts were only given a weeks notice.  So even though 30 days sounds like a while, it's a ridiculously short amount of time to organize everything and make this kind of international move.  

Had a little good bye party at our home with our gringo family (that has added some new members!!!) to wish them well.  So grateful for friendship!  We will miss you, Smith family!  We hope your transition to your new home is a smooth and quick one, so baby #4 can join your family when he is ready :)

A Little Birthday Culture

Do you have an inkling as to Joe's response when I texted him to see if he wanted to go to the opera for my birthday date night?  I knew we'd go to dinner...but with everything that's been going on with getting back into school and Joe recovering from surgery and my morning sickness that seems to hit me every night when it's time to clean up the kitchen (I'm really not faking it :)  The smell of "after dinner" is simply revolting) until I crawl into bed...we've been wiped out.

So, when I got an email from my friend Grace Swaine, asking if anyone wanted to use their tickets to the Teatro Municipal, I thought, "Sure!  Grace has just planned our evening for us, THANK YOU!!!"  

Hair is looking extremely 80's in this one--or something--but I'm going to let it slide...

My appointment for a cut is set 6 days from now. Can't wait. :)

My parents took me to plenty of musicals growing up, which I LOVED. and even a few operas (I remember Mom taking me to see the opera of Romeo and Juliet when I was in 6th grade--I felt so grown up--just the two of us!)... so I knew what to expect.  I'd need to look the story up and read about it BEFORE we got there, or else we'd be completely clueless--especially since it was an Italian Opera with Spanish subtitles :) 

 

Google maps guided us to the wrong part of Santiago (not uncommon down here) and so by the time we found it, we were 45 minutes late.  No harm done.  We entered this incredible building at intermission and found that our seats were front and center, 4 levels up.  The railing only came to our knees, so it was a little nerve-wracking!!!  I would have loved to have thrown my legs over the side-- they just don't make things down here for people 6 feet tall and over, but it was fantastic!  So grateful for Grace's generosity.

When the opera was over, we climbed into the car and headed to "The Ox."  Definitely not vegetarian :)  Check out my Caprese salad!  Everything was soooo good.  And when they brought the bill, along came a huge plate of cotton candy!  Couldn't have ended sweeter.

And that below, is our filet!!!  I could barely eat half of it!!!

What a great way to begin my 35th year.  I can tell already that this is going to be a good age :)

First Swim Meet in Spanish!!!

 Because Kate made the "A" team this year, she was invited to Nido's first swim meet at Santa Martina.  We were so excited!  What a perfect way to spend my birthday morning :)  

 It was freezing outside and Kate was panicked that the water would be cold.  She dipped her big toe in the water and her eyes just lit up!  It was bath water.  This was going to be a good meet.  

 One thing we hadn't even considered was the way they start the races!  There were a bunch of different patterned whistles and all of these words in Spanish!!  These poor kids were so confused..."Do we get up on the block?  Do we not?!!!  Oh, was that the whistle for diving in?!!!"  After the first race was under their belt, they got control of the situation and did awesome :)

Celebrating in the hot tub after the races were just one of the perks of having a swim meet at the beautiful country club in the Andes Hills right by our home.

 Kate took bronze in the breaststroke!  WAY TO GO, BABE!!!  She wanted to know what she needed to do to get gold :)  We had the best time watching her.  Love you, Kate.  Soo proud of you!

Mampato

There is this cute little amusement park called Mampato that is about 10 minutes from our home.  I've never taken the kids because I've heard it's always a madhouse.  One of Kate's new friends in her class this year, Melissa, invited her to go one afternoon and I decided to bite the bullet.  Turns out if you don't go on a Saturday, and you go before in the middle of the afternoon, NO ONE is there!!!  I was so shocked, that I called Joe and had him bring the boys down. 

 I knew they'd love it.

The kids ran from ride to ride til they could run no more.  Perfect!  What a great way to spend an afternoon!

The Postponed Celebration

Yes, after our wonderfully slow week at home, the kids jumped back into school and it was Kate's turn for her Dieciocho Performance.  I actually made it to this one and even had her dressed according to instruction.  It's amazing what a bit of sleep and sanity can do for a person!

waiting for their turn to take the stage...

Kate and Drew...not in the same class this year, but I nabbed a picture of these friends

 Getting ready to dance to Cueca!  I loved all of the color on the floor!

 She loves to perform.  Look at that smile!  

Way to go, Kate!  Luke and I loved it!!!

Here is part of the song the 3rd graders learned:

And here's part of the dance!

Dieciocho Week...

Meant no school for the kids!  It also meant a lot of R, R & R for Joe (Rest, Recovery and Relaxation), as well as a little bit of snow!!!

Kate was up first the day the flakes began to fall, and she got out there as fast as she could.  By the time Jake found all of his gear and put it on, things had died down pretty darn fast.  A little reassuring hug from big sis and a little hot chocolate went a long way to cheer up the spirits.

It also meant ANTS... AGAIN... What you see below, probably looks like a bunch of junk that just needs to be picked up and put away.  But in reality, it was a well orchestrated ant trap, complete with a Tiki statue for scaring purposes, that took hours to design.  For once and only once I thought the ants weren't so bad if they caused this kind of creativity and concentration!!  I was told not to touch the trap until all of the ants were gone.  The trap (and the baby powder that I poured every where) worked!! :)  I got to take it down the next day :)

 It also meant hours of catch up homework from our trip for Kate and some intense devotion dedicated to POTTY TRAINING the adorable one on the end with the Texas hoodie!!!  Wahoo!!!  

And what's Dieciocho week without a little celebrating?!!!  Joe was still down and out from his surgery, so the rest of us went to our ward party to celebrate Chile's birthday.  The sack races were a HUGE hit with the kids...

 and the adults!!

 And Kate was doing a darn good job hangin' with the locals as they did all sorts of tricks!!!

  A party isn't a party without a little BBQ

 and the traditional dancing and costumes.  

All in all?  Dieciocho was pretty mellow.   I think we left the house twice the entire week...

and I didn't mind it one bit. 

Happy Birthday, Chile!