Dia De Abuelitos!

I have been really slow at posting the last few weeks, you know sick kids and the works. Last Friday though was grandparents day at Brock's school, and they put on the cutest program. Of course Chris and I went as the grandparents, so we were little out of place, but I did not want Brock to miss out just because we live away from his. So Grandparents here are some pics from your special day. Brock loves you all and asks when you are coming to visit. Thanks for everything and we love you.

Funny Hat Day!

Today was funny hat day at Brock's school, so here is the end result of our project. Kind of crazy Huh! We had fun decorating and making a huge mess of sparkles everywhere, and Brock is pretty proud of his hat. Chris and I only stayed up till midnight finishing it all, cant wait till he is in grade school. The kid is three and we are staying up to the wee hours of the night to finish my preschoolers homework, its only the beginning I am sure. Everyone at school thought it was pretty cool, so we thought we would share a few pics with you.

Disney!

So I am still trying to figure out this slideshow thing so bear with me! So we just got back from a few days of fun in the magic kingdom. We went to disneyworld with some of our good friends from Puerto Rico. Brock was so excited to see his novia, girlfriend, Sara and they were inseparable the whole time. It was so adorable. I am already planning an arranged marriage for them. We just love their family, and we had such a great time navigating the massive parks together. My goodness that place is huge. We spent one day at Hollywood studios, one day at the magic kingdom, one day at the water park, and our last day at the animal kingdom. The poor kids were so tired by the time we got home, but we were so sad to say goodbye.
It was great to have Chris all to ourselves since he has been working so much lately. Brock amazed me at how brave he is, he went on every ride he was tall enough for. Splash mountain, Thunder mountain and many others to mention and was not scared a bit. We would get on the ride and he would just keep saying "I'm not scared." Poor Zander was left behind a lot, but he was a trooper. I think we all were on sensory overload by the time we got home. Zander loved dinning with the characters and walked right up to them to give them a high five. We stayed right on disney grounds so it made it really easy to get around. Brock cant wait to go again, but I think our wallets can! We had such a good time, the boys miss their friends, but hopefully we will see them soon.

More Chile Pics

Just a few more pics of our Chile trip.

Chile Here We Come!

For Chris's Bday we took an impromptu trip to Chile, totally unplanned. Chris needed to go for work, so I got a call on Wednesday asking me if I was up for an adventure, always a scary question. So I said sure and so Friday we were on a plane to Chile. And an adventure it was. Plane delays, hotels full, tired kids, Brock throwing up, crazy!!! We had a great time despite it all, and wow is Chile beautiful. We need to go back and have it planned little better, but it was a great experience.

Making a mess!

Brocks friend Liam came over to play today, and it was cold and misty outside so we decided to make rice crispy creations. They had a great time and made a huge mess, but look at their creations, pretty good huh! Brock had the system one for me one for my cookie going on, so I think he ate more then he used.
The proud creators!

Crabs!

Just down the cliff from us there is this pier that has these beautiful crabs all over the rocks. The boys had so much fun checking these guys out. Grandpa Bryan actually was the one who found this cool spot.

My boys on the pier!
So here is a pick up the cliff to our house. I always take them from above but never from below. Isn't it pretty!

Move It!

Brock and Z are dancing fanatics. Hmmm wonder where they might get that from? Anyways this is one of their latest favorite songs to groove to. This ones for you grandpa Bryan. (oh and you gotta love Brock telling his dad he cant dance.)

Backyardigans!

Last night we took the boys to see the Backyardigans live, so here are some pics of our night. The boys were mesmerized the whole time. It was fun, but take a look at the seats of this theater, can you say crappy! I was so mad that we paid 150 soles to sit in a seat like this. What a rip off! The show itself had awesome props and costumes, but yeah you already know how I felt about the seating. They just had a piece of tape on each seat with a number on it, and of course it started an hour late. I try to stay positive, but man give me a break. The boys did not care one bit, so I guess that is what counts right!

Out for a Walk!

There are some of the coolest parks here in Lima, nothing like in the states. Here is a cool one just down the street from us, it has these big designs made out of flowers all over the park. Aren't they cool? If you know anything about Lima there is a place here where you can take a small plane and see formations like these on a huge larger scale that to this day they do not know how they got there. Pretty neat!

Fun Finds

Here is a little taste of the art in Peru for you(sorry the lighting is not very good). They have all sorts of hand painted art here in Peru that is just beautiful. We found this piece at a market in Lima and just loved it. So it has found a new home in our front room!
This is a treasure that Chris found while I was out of town. He was kind enough to not buy it until he showed it to me, but of course I loved it. This is a handmade rocking chair out of solid word, and the seat is made of hand detailed leather, native to Peru. It is the most comfortable rocking chair I have ever sat in. Chris and I were laughing the whole way home because in PR we bought a piece of junk rocker/glider at K-mart for more then we paid for this beautiful chair. We love finding treasures like this.
OK so I have gotten in the habit that every Monday when I pick Brock up from school we walk across the street and buy fresh flowers for the house. This Monday I gave him 20 soles( about $6) and told him he could buy what ever flowers he wanted with his money. So he walks over to the flowers and finds these beautiful blue flowers and asks the lady in spanish how much they were and showed her how much money he had and so here is the end result. They are so pretty. He was so proud of himself, and everyone that comes to the house he has to show them the flowers that he bought. Flowers are so cheap here and so beautiful, it is kind of nice always having fresh flowers in the house. In the states it just costs to much, well at least for me, so it is a nice change.

Semana Del Nino!

This week was semana del nino at Brock's nido(preschool), on Friday they had a huge fiesta at school with a bounce house, Barney and of course food. Brock kept asking me who's birthday it was. The first thing he said when I picked him up was, "I had a great day mom!" They painted these hats and made little cars to take home. I have a whole drawer full of all his projects, I just don't have the heart to throw any of them away.

Spider man!

I'm a failure! Yesterday Brock did not have school, due too parent teacher conferences, but we had ours before we left on vacation so we did not go to school yesterday. Well last night I happened to be on instant messenger the same time as one of the moms from school and she asked me what Brock was going to wear tomorrow, and I sat there puzzled for a moment before asking why? She then informed me that the kids are supposed to wear their favorite costume, Uh Oh. We have nothing of the sort, and of course it is 8pm and Chris is still at work. What to do? I called Chris to tell him "our" predicament and to see if we could round something up quick. He was in a meeting and asked the guy he was in a meeting with if he knew where we could buy a costume. Oh did I mention I had the car, so off went Chris and this poor guy on a quest to find a costume. An hour later and I don't know how many stores later he came home with this spider man costume. So poppy is the hero in this story thank heavens. And of course if you cant tell Brock loves it!

What A Week!

So Grandpa Tidwell flew back with us to Peru and has spent the last week with us, which has been so fun for the boys. We played a lot, and ate even more then we played. We went today to a place called Gamara, which is a giant clothing market(super cheap) that goes on for days. We found these super cute spider-man pajamas, Brock is into spider-man these days, so of course Z wanted them as well. Aren't they cute! So any of you who want to go shopping come for a visit.
Brock and Grandpa at a Parilla Restaurant. Look at all that meat! Yummy!
So Chris is in love with an instrument that is native to Peru called the Cajon. It is such a cool instrument to listen to, so here is all my boys playing the Cajon. Chris wants one for his Bday, but I don't know if I can handle the boys banging on it all day, until one of them can take lessons!
There is this gorgeous park that has these Paloma's for the kids to feed. Brock thinks it is so funny cause the birds just follow him around begging for food. Today we went first thing in the morning so the birds were hungry and he had about 30 of them following him all over. Now Zander likes to run thru the birds to make them fly. Needless to say they had a great time.
So if any of you have been around Z lately, you know how much he loves his chupon, pacifier, one just is not good enough!

Vacation!

I just love this pic of Brock, isn't he adorable. He looks so grown up, he is not my baby anymore!
We ventured to Utah for 4 days for a family reunion that was a blat. The boys had so much fun with their cousins and their uncle Tyler. We even went camping, with both boys and no husband can you believe it. I have never seen my boys dirtier then they were camping, but they had a blast playing in the dirt. It was so fun to see all the family that we rarely get to see.
The boys and I enjoying some pool time at the reunion. Z is going to be my lil dare devil. There was a slide that went into the pool that he loved. I think he made his uncle Tyler go down it with him a billion times.
Grandpa, Grandma Higbee, Brock, Zander and I on our last day in Utah.
A Day at the Zoo! One of our last days in SD we all went to the Zoo, including Grandma and Grandpa Tidwell. We had so much fun, and the boys figured out real fast that they could get a free ride from Grandpa! Brock got to see the hippos, his favorite, and it was a great day to spend with family.

Back In Cali!

Fun in the sun! My kids were so excited to take off their sweaters and put on the swim suits, being in the sun and the warm weather has been so nice. It has been so crazy since we got here, so we are all exhausted, but having fun. Unfortunately, Chris has to go back early and is leaving tomorrow, but we still have some more time to soak up the sun. Here is Brock and Z in the pool at Grandpas house with Uncle Joe, Aunt Meggie, and cousin Tnk. They had such a good time.
So the main reason for this trip was because Chris's brother got married last Friday the 11. So the next few pics are of the boys at the San Diego temple having fun rolling in the grass. It is such an amazing temple and the boys just loved being there. Brock loves temples and could not go to the one where mommy and poppy got married.
Chris and I at the SD Temple, waiting for his brother and new wife.
All the munchkins playing in the grass. Z thinks he is as big as all of them and amazingly enough keeps up with them.

So Sad!

Today was my last class with Mauricio, my tutor, since we leave for California tomorrow. He has been so awesome, and most of all patient with me and my kids as they run through the house during our lessons. I could not have asked for a better teacher. I have only had 24 hours of study time with him so far, but I am so excited to come back in a couple weeks and get started again. Hopefully my brain will remember all that we have learned so far. So Mauricio if you are reading this Thank You and we will see you in a few weeks!!!!

Uh Oh!

I normally keep things pretty short and to the point, but I just had to share this experince. Today I got pulled over for only the second time in my life, and my first time in Latin America, and let me tell you it is not an experience I want to have again. So here is the situation: I pick Brock up from soccer practice and I am on my way home and thought I was obeying all traffic rules that I know of when I drove through the intersection with a green light. I guess maybe it was the wrong shade of green, because next to me is a police man on his motorcycle pointing at me to pull over. So I calmly pull to the side of the road, with both kids in the car by the way, and roll down my window. He proceeds to speak to me in Spanish and I pretend to not understand anything he is saying. Chris told me to never speak Spanish in this type of situation, so being the good wife I did just as we had rehearsed. Half an hour later I am still sitting on the side of the road, and at this point the police officer is so mad at me he literally is about to crawl through the window and punch me. {I am not kidding} I just kept saying, "I am sorry I don't understand." I understood everything he was saying Shhhh! First, He wanted me to follow him to the police station, then he wanted to follow me to the bank, and then he asked me how much money I had in my wallet. I showed him the $20 I had in my purse and he got even more mad, I told him the only other thing I had was a dollar bill. He finally gave in and handed me the car registration, which is in a plastic slip, and told me to put the money inside the slip and give it to him. So I did as he asked and we were on our way after a short 35 minute drama. Oh yeah dd I mention Chris is not even in the country, he is in Paraguay. I can honestly say life is never boring.

Singing Time!

This is the only song I hear around the house these days, a big thanks to his teacher! Every month they learn a new song, nursery rhyme, and valor. Sometimes they are in English and sometimes they are in Spanish. I think it is so cute to hear him sing, but I have to say I am ready for a new song.

Nap Time!

i just thought this was a cute picture of Chris and Brock taking a little afternoon snooze. That is one thing they both do very well!