March 2010

My dad came out in March to see the new guy Cooper, and we went to this restaurant on a cliff where there is this guy who jumps off the cliff everyday to reinact a sad story of a priest who did this back in the day and died, I will spare you the whole story. It is a crazy thing to watch as you eat lunch, the cliff is crazy high and the water is really cold and then he climbs back up the rocks that you can see in the pic and does this a couple times a day.

Brock started big boy school in March, the school year here starts in March, and was so excited as you can see! He is going to a british school her in Lima and loves it. It is a long day, but a great school. I really wanted to take him and pick him up from school everyday, but his school is about 30 min. away and with Zander in preschool, and Cooper only 7 weeks old it was crazy. So we ended up putting him in a transportation service through the school and thankfully he loves it. He leaves at about 7:20 and does not get home until 4, so really long day for a 5yr. old, but he is happy to go each and everyday.

Super animated! Not only will he be brushing up on his english but he will learn french as well. How lucky to leave school knowing 3 languages!

Grandpa and Brock walking to school, bad traffic on the first day. Poor grandpa was a trouper driving with me everday 1 hr. to school and another hour in the afternoon. Good times, good chats!

A little more!

Too tired to even open presents!

Last post for birthday's promise, the boys picked these ones themselves. Such opinions at such a young age I must say!

Birthdays!

Ok so bear with me as I try and catch up on the last 8 months of no blogging, I will make it quick. The boys insist that I post their "ultimate" birthday bash, so here is a quick overview. Just to let you know a time frame we are now in February of this year!

We decided this year to combine the boys bday party becuase we were going to attempt to throw a "peruvian" style party. Which includes, inflables, food, show, cake, servers, etc. We thought about it long and hard, but things are so inexpensive here we decided to go for it since we could never afford to do anything like this in the states. We had it a hacienda that was beautiful and had horses for the kids to ride and all sorts of animals as well. We had three inflables, inflatables, two trampolines, hot dog and hamburger stand, cotton candy stand, a show with Diego, and Power Rangers, and the list goes on. Way over the top, but the boys had a birthday they will never forget.

Zander got tired of waiting to ride the horses, so he went and got one of the workers to get one out for him to ride. He is a do-it yourself kind of guy!

Brock on the water inflable, it was so hot that it was nice to have some way to cool off!

The kiddy candy table equiped with all the peruvian favorites!

A look at the grounds, it was hard to get a good picture of the whole thing!

More Cooper!

I have to say I was a little worried about how the boys would do with a new lil guy around, but those worries were for nothing. Brock and Z are awesome big brothers, in fact Z can't keep his hands off of him, even to this day. He loves his little brother more than words can say. He tells me all the time how much he loves "his baby," and is very protective of him. I could not have planned it any better.

A few weeks after Cooper was born my mother-in-law came out to help, and get to know this new guy. It was wonderful to have her here and the boys loved having Grandma around. Zander got her up bright and early every morning to remind her, and Brock loved cuddling with her in her bed reading stories. That is the only hard part about living out of the country, no family close by!

I have never seen a big brother quite like Zander, he is so good with Cooper and showers him with kisses every day. Brock truly is a big brother and helps me all the time. He loves knowing that he is the oldest of three brothers, and loves his little baby too.

He has Arrived

........well to my blog anyways! Eight months late can you believe it? Cooper Alejandro Tidwell was born January 15, 2010, at clinica Montesur Lima Peru. He weighed 3.760kgs., 8.3 lbs. and was 51 cm. long. He made quite an entrance to say the least, and we are so glad he is a part of our family. Not to bore you all with the bloody details, both of us are lucky to be here today. Which is why it has taken so very long for me to post. It has been a crazy eight months. I had a emergency c-section, without an epidural, very fun but don't recomend it. Cooper was purple and scored a 1 on the apgar scale, so not off to a good start. But long story short we are all healthy and happy now, it was very scary but we had wonderful doctors and a great hospital. Cooper is such a joy and please keep checking in the blogathon starts today!!!!!

Sad but I do not have any pictures of when he was just born because he was rushed to the ICU and I was not in good condition, so here some day after shots.

The new crew, the boys are so excited for their new brother!

The smallest Tidwell, but two weeks early!

Dia De Abuelitos 2

It is about time right! Long time no post, like 8 months too long. I am now in the process of organizing the last eight months of craziness that has been our life to post and catch up. So be patient and please check back in, Cooper will be making his big apperance!!!

Yesterday was grandparents day at Z's school and so I thought I would share this with his abuelitos first. Sorry my camera stopped working right when it started to get good, oh well. We love you all, and he was so sad that he had no appearances from his grandparents. Such is the life of living abroad right?

Ward Christmas Party!

Our family at our ward Christmas party, and yes Santa is you know who. Brock is such a smart little cookie that he relised it was his dad by the ring on his finger. What four year old notices such a thing?

That is one tall Santa, don't ask me how he got roped into doing this for the second year in a row.

Zander getting ready for the primary program part of the party, what a cute little burro!

Of course I can't forget my king. Brock picked this costume right off, he loved being the rey for the program.

Graduation!

The 15 of December Brock graduated from preschool and is now moving on to his big boy school, collegio, in March. The Nido, preschool, that they both go to had a real graduation with cap and gown and the whole nine yards. It was very cute and I have to admitt made me a little emotional that Brock is not my baby anymore.

Brock and his teacher Miss Lilliana. He actually had her for two years straight so it was sad to say goodbye, but then again Z is still there so I will still see all our favorite people for some time to come.

Brock walking the line, he is so handsome!

Holiday Season!

It has turned into a yearly tradition here that I bake a ton of sweets to give as gifts to all our friends here in Peru. It is not a common thing here to have someone make baked goods so the people here think it is amazing. I made lemon bars, no bake cookies, rice krispy treats, magic cookie bars, zucchini bread, and mint chocolate brownies. The best part of it all is that I bake and someone else cleans up the mess, yahooo!
Loved this picture of Zander after a birthday party a couple weeks ago. He thinks it is so fun to get his face painted.
One thing that I really love about living here is the fact that I can take my boys to the theatre for next to nothing, less then the movies in the states. They have about a dozen of different theatres in our area that always have some childrens production going all throughout the year. We went and saw one of the boys favorites, Chimoc the Navidad version. Here is Z shaking hands with one of the characters after the show.
My lil men after thier holiday show at school. We are so proud of them and all they have accomplished this year.
Zander's class had a Christmas party at one of his classmates house, and even Santa came. I have never lived anywhere where they love Santa as much as they do here. We went to over a dozen activities where Santa was there. He even roamed the isles of our local grocery store everyday. Man that Santa is amazing! Here is Z with some buds from class, Santi and Christina.

You want to know why we love living here? ... there is nothing quite like a good latina "Nochebuena" and yes that is from the roof on our house. Dont worry I still have all 9 fingers!

X-Mas Show

Zander is our Dancer!!! it run is is blood what can we say?

He can be a little sheepish at times but he is our little boy.

Ward Outing!

Last Saturday our ward went to a club in Chosica, which is about 30 min away, to have a big activity. In Peru it is very popular to go to these clubs that have pools, games, horses, toys and much more. People usually head out to these clubs on the weekends to get out of Lima. The boys had a blast despite the fact that there was no sunand a little chilly! We ate Choripan, and enjoyed spending the day relaxing and spending time together.

Zander and Chris going for a ride! Brock was so excited because he got to ride all by himself, he did not want to get off.

They even went horseback riding, both boys got to ride solo this time.

My little fish. Brock thought the water was too cold, but Zander did not care how cold it was, nothing was going to keep him out of the water.

The whole ward, playing, cooking and having a great time.

Another Awards Ceremony!

International Business Managememt Awards 2009! Yep he won another award, and we are so proud of him! But let me tell you these awards ceremonies are soooo long and sooo boring that they are lucky they serve you a nice dinner or else I do not think I could make it through another one. Chris really deserves the award for all his hard work and long days. He has really made amazing progress here in Peru and it is so nice to be recognized for his hard work!

These ceremonies are actually quite different from anything I have ever been too. How you may ask? Well every company that is present at the ceremony has a display of their coorporation and hires girls to pass out fliers and samples etc. The crazy thing is that the price of your girl depends on their height, skin color, body type etc. When Chris told me about this the first time I thought it was crazy, but how the culture here does things. So here is a picture with Chris and his rented girls and some distributors, sounds funny no matter how you phrase it!

Chris recieving his award!

Ultimo!

In the resort where we were staying they have huge aquariums with sharks, sting rays, and all sorts of other fish and a model of what Atlantis looks like. Here are the boys in the underground aquarium.

Mommy and Brock standing on the balcony of our hotel room. Look at how beautiful the water is, oh how I miss the carribean.

Pirates were a huge thing in the carribean back in the day, so one day we ventured into town to go to the pirate museum thay they have in Nassau. Of course all we heard the rest of the day was arrrrrrrg!

Mom and the boys after dinner one night. They were so good the whole trip, it makes me want to stay on vacation even forever.

Z playing on the water jungle gym. I just love his smile.

More Bahamas!

The thing that excited my kids the most about our trip besides the pools was the opportunity they had to touch and swim with dolphins. They put on their wet suits and hoped right in the water and the dolphins swam right up to them, They got to hug, kiss, feed and dance with them. Talk about an experience. Z loved putting fish in their mouths, and Brock thought they were just the coolest things in the world.

Dad dancing with the dolphins!

Z giving his dolphin a big hug!

Now it is Brock's turn to give the lil guy a hug. He was a little timid at first, but after a few minutes you could not keep him away.