Family Pictures!

Every year I look forward to taking our family pictures, and every year I am reminded that I have 3 wonderful boys with 3 very different personalities! Brock loves getting his picture taken and will gladly pose for pictures, Zander is impossible and made faces in every picture, and Cooper would not sit still. Mommy was not to happy, but we did get a few good ones out of a very long foto session. This one I love of Cooper my little chubster.
Quick take the picture everyone is looking at the camera!!!
Oh my little Z man!! He is such a firecracker, but he is so adorable. Look at the smile!!!
The three musketeers!
Brock is my model, he will always give a great smile.

Christmas Tree

On the 4th of December 2002 Chris asked me to marry him, and so we have made it a family radiation to put up our christmas tree very year on this day. As my kids grow I am finding it harder for my kids to wait until the 4th, but so far so good. This year it was greg because it was a Sunday so we were able to spend the afternoon listening to christmas music and decorating the tree. Also Chris wrote a book for me when he proposed so he read it to the boys as well. It was a great day!!!

Our tree!!!


Yep, mommy is the light lady!
So excited to finally put up the tree.

That is my boy!!

Every bimester at Brocks school they have to choose an activity like soccer, art, acrobatics, dance, etc. Brock picked dance for his last activity this year and they put on the cutest show for the end of the year. They did a traditional dance from the jungle here in Peru, and it was fantastic. For a mom who ate, drank, and lived for dance that was blessed with three boys, it was so much fun for me to watch. To make it even better Brock was awesome, a natural. It is even more fun due to the fact that he is learning traditional dances from Peru, what a great experience.
I am having trouble uploading my video of Brock dancing so stay posted as I keep trying. You don't want to miss it!!!

Campeonato!

Last week Brock had his second karate competition and he did great. His first competition was really intimidating so it was great to see him more confident this time around. We are so proud of him and all of his hard work.
He was so excited to finally have his gloves, and they are red even better!

Bunco!

Once upon a Time!!! November was my turn to host our monthly Bunco night, and I picked the theme Once Upon a Time. Each month a group of 12 of us get together to play Bunco and rotate who hosts and the host picks the theme. I had a blast getting things ready for my bunco night, complete with my Dorothy costume. Everyone was so creative and we had a blast.
The crew!! They all look great.
Great food and fun decorations! Bacon wrapped water chestnuts, artichoke dip, pesto pasta, stuffed avocado and yummy dessert. Yum!!!

Gotta luv a day off!

November 1st was a holiday here in Peru and Chris fortunately was in town so we went to a park called Rancho Aventura in Cieneguilla with some friends of ours. The park had rides for the kiddos and a small little water park. It was great because we had the park pretty much all to ourselves. This picture is of Chris and Zander going down the big slide into the pool!!

Jessika, and her two sons and half a picture of uncle Joe!!!

Me and the Coopster!! He had a blast on all the rides and especially the water park. The only bummer was they dont sell water diapers here yet, so you gotta love the water filled diaper ready to explode crystals everywhere. Luckily we never got to that point, but close!!

I think this was the favorite ride of the boys, a good old sack and a slide.

Cool uncle Joe being a good sport and getting in this car with Cooper.

Cooper loved this trampoline. They strap you in a harness and raise you up so you can jump higher, the laughter from him was priceless. I can´t believe my baby is old enough to even do this.

Halloween!

I love this picture of Cooper, he is such a little cutie. Lately he loves finding hats, shoes or anything to put on and play with. He has got such a funny personality, it is so fun to watch it blossom each and everyday. He was not so fond of the whole halloween costume thing, so this was about all I could get out of him!

Or this one!

The pumpkins!

It´s a boy thing! Chris decidied to carve pumpkins one sunday while I was cooking dinner to do something fun and messy with the boys, and I could not believe that not one of my boys just dug in and got messy. Zander was the first one to get in and get dirty, Brock took more convincing and Cooper wanted nothing to do with the slimy pumpkin goo.

Brock´s pumpkin. The silly boy would not put his hands inside to get the seeds out. It took us 15 minutes to convince him to do it.

The best uncle Joe!!! Joe has been living with us for a few months now, and he is so much fun to have around. The boys just adore him!!!

It´s me Mario!!! When Chris was back in the states in Sept, he bought the boys each 2 costumes for halloween, Zander was mario and dash from incredibles. Brock was a transformer and luigi. It was fun to have to so they could switch off for each activity they had, and great for me so I was not washing them everyday.

I just loved the look on Brock´s face in this picture. They had so much fun on this bounce house it was amazing!!!

Cookie Decorating!!!!

The grub!!!

We had a blast making these fun spider cookies!

My powerful transformer!

Busy Busy!

A group of us girls have started playing bunco once a month, it is a fun easy game and a good excuse to get together and have fun. We get together once a month and each month has a different theme. Last month was a vampire theme, and this month I get to host at my house so expect some pics soon.

As most of you know that the biggest perk to living abroad is having help in the house. This is Mary Lou our newest addition. It was her birthday so the boys look for any excuse to have cake and celebrate, and for me it is fun to do something for someone who doesn´t have the resouces to have a special day! She is a great addition in our home and Cooper calls her LuLu, it is so cute. We still have Iris with us and we feel so blessed to have such sweet spirits in our home and that we are giving them an opportunity to work in a good enviornment and earn a living. Mary Lou has 5 kids and a husband but lives with us 6 days a week. I feel guilty sometimes, but then I remmember that I am actually helping her to earn money. Life here in Peru is very difficult and there is a lot poverty. It is just a good reminder to me daily as to how blessed my family and I are.

Last week was Zander´s special week at his school. Each child gets a week that they are spotlighted for the whole week. On the first day they bring a collage of pictures, on day two their favorite book, day three their favorite toy, day four a special activity to do with the class, and the last day they bring a snack to share. I found some halloween candy necklaces to bring to class for each child to put together, they all had a blast. Zander was so happy and felt so special, which in turn makes me very happy!

See that smile!!!

Baby Loghan´s Blessing!

Oh how we miss cousins. That would be the only downfall to living abroad is seeing how much fun these guys have together. My sister-in-law just had a baby so we made a quick trip for the blessing so the boys were excited to see family, and their new lil cousin.

Brock and Loghan!! Brock just loved being able to hold him, now Zander on the other hand had no interest, and Cooper did not know what to think of this lil guy.

I just loved this picture of Cooper and how blue his eyes are.

Yep that is Cooper crying at the pumpkin patch. Everyone else had great time, except for him. He was so tired and hot that he just lost it. The other kids were just trying to convince us to buy a gigantic pumpkin. My boys thought it was awesome since it was the first time at a pumpkin patch. Halloween is something totally different in Latin America, so it was fun to have this experience.

Daddy and Zander go to Cuzco!

I am back tracking a bit to June of this year so I can post about Zander´s daddy son trip. The boys were both lucky this year to be able to go on a trip each with Chris. Brock went to the jungle and Zander went to Cuzco. Zander and Chris were lucky to be in Cuzco for the 100 year anniversary of Machu Picchu. They had a wonderful time together and Zander still talks about it. They took a day and hired a private guide and went horseback riding for 3 hours to a llama farm and got to see some of the less traveled parts of Cuzco. I was surprised to learn that Zander handled the horse ride for that long on a horse by himself, but he did and loved every minute.

While at the llama farm they got to touch and feed all the animals which of course what 4 yr old would not be in heaven!

Zander on his horse and his guide!

Daddy and Zander!

The happiest boy in the world to have his daddy all to himself for 3 days!