Zander turns 6!

 I can not believe my Zander is 6 years old. I still remember vividly the day he was born.  Zander is one of the sweetest boys I know and is always so kid and considerate. He is full of energy and is such a good big brother. Happy Birthday my big boy!
Unfortunately our whole downstairs was under construction on his birthday, so I just had this little space in the hallway upstairs to decorate for him, but he is such a go with the flow guy I don't think he cared.

 What his Birthday breakfast be with out his favorite, donuts! This guy loves donuts.

 My guys opening presents with Zander.

 A little wrestling match with grandpa Mark. Three against one, not very good odds.

 Zander decided he wanted his party at Pump it up, and since we don't know very many people we thought that it would be a great way for us to meet people and make Z a happy little man. So we invited
all the kids in his primary class and a few neighbors and boy did we have a great turn out. Zander had so much fun, and it was a great way for our boys to be able to make some friends.

 The birthday crew!

 Zander sharing his throne with his lil brother as he blows out his candles.

We love you Zman!

Happy New Years!

 We had the whole crew back over to ring in the new year, and we had yet another night of wonderful food and lots of laughs.

 All the adults were ready for bed, but the kids had their batteries charged and ready.

 The four musketeers! These four guys are the best of friends, so lucky to have awesome cousins!

Cooper and his cousin Tink! These kids stayed up till about 2am, just laughing and having a good ole time.

Christmas Day!

 Christmas morning and the boys are awake bright and early ready to go check out their loot. Well actually Cooper was the first one up and my in laws found him already enjoying his presents all by himself! All right boys come on down!

 We tried not to go overboard this year but at the end of the day they got more then they needed, they had an awesome Christmas. We had my dad Marv and my in laws with us Christmas morning which was so fun to share with them.

 I wonder how santa got this in the backyard?

 My dad gave this to me for Christmas, he said it looks like someone painted a picture of me when I was younger, so he had to get it for me. It is a gorgeous picture and is now being displayed on my front room wall.

 See the tree in the corner? Well when we arrived to our house in california we were greeted by some very wonderful surprises from some very wonderful people. My dad Mark had come down from sacramento and put lights on our house, bought a beautiful christmas tree, put lights and decorations on it, put decorations on my door, and on our back patio left the boys brand new bikes, helmets, bike locks, tools, ladder and some balls for the boys. Wow we were so overcome with joy but that was not all. As we went inside we had more surprises, but these were from my in laws. They had left fresh fruit, chocolates, big giant angry birds on the beds of the boys and a giant furry animal on Coopers. It was so much fun for the boys and we felt so loved. It was a great start to the holiday season.

 Cooper on his new bike!

What better thing to do after presents but to go to the park!

Christmas Eve 2012

 This holiday season our family had many "firsts"to celebrate. Our first Christmas in our new home, our first Christmas back in the states, and our first Christmas with LOTS of family!!!!!! Although we were so excited for all these things we had sooooo much work to do. We had nothing, just the clothes we brought and had to start from scratch. It is a lot harder than one can imagine, simple things like hot pads, can openers all the way to furniture. We had 6 days to do it all before Christmas, and somehow we were able to get most of the necessities taken care of. Oh ya and did I mention we hosted the festivities at our house! It was awesome, tiring, and never ending, but it was well worth every minute.

 What would Christmas eve be without a live nativity. It was the first time we had a Mary, since all we have is boys. The kids thought it was so fun to be able to do this with their cousins.

 Mary and Joseph!

 Sort of a family shot except we are missing Cooper. Poor guy couldn't keep up.

White chocolate coconut cookies for santa and his helpers!

We had so much yummy food, wonderful company, so blessed for all we have. Chris was sad to not be able to do his usual 4th of july type fireworks celebration, but it was a fun just the same.

Our new home! Now lets renovate!!!!!!

 As many of you know we recently purchased a home in Rancho Cucamonga, California. We were so excited to go spend Christmas in our very own home, but little did I know what we were in for! We had to fully furnish an empty house, get ready for christmas, and with three tag alongs it was no small job. Luckily we have some wonderful helpers that would come take a few kiddos of our hands so we could get things done.  Also my dad came down, who is a contractor, and we started ripping our brand new house apart.

 After living in south america for so long and never having carpets, I cant stand the thought of carpet throughout my whole house, so it had to go. We found a great tile that we loved and that was our first project! The boys loved playing with the jack hammer and being grandpas lil helpers.

 Cooper was not so much of a help, but he sure wanted to be.

 My dad put beautiful moldings and baseboards in throughout the house and really transformed the look of our home. I am so grateful to have a piece of him all through our home, it is so fun.

 Our new floor!

 Some of the extras he did for us!

 Window trim!

 Chris tearing our backyard to pieces!

 Cooper doing his part with his tiny wheelbarrow!

I never would have thought putting in a retaining wall would be so difficult. We did not finnish everything before we had to go back to Peru, but it was a good start!

Our new Home!!!!

It is officially done!!!! It has been painful not being closer to see the building process but it is done and we love it!!!! We are so excited, the boys can't wait till school is over so we can hop on our plane and start getting settled. Chris and I actually got to fly out together to do our walk thru, first time ever leaving my kids, but it was so fun to be able to enjoy some time alone. My father in law flew out to watch the kiddos which was a blessing and we were so grateful. I did not know what to do with myself without the kids, the diaper bag and all the other things to lug around. I was gone for 3 days and left Chris in California to go back to peru to wait to close on the house. The boys are so excited to have something that is ours, and as Zander would say not borrowed. He told me he is tired of living in borrowed houses. I guess that was bound to happen after living abroad for almost 8 years.
We are not moving back just yet, but at least they have the piece of mind that it is ours!! I will post more pics when we get in and settled. Just a few more weeks.

Campesino!

 Story time festival!!!! Every year the parents put on a play for the kids in pre kinder and kinder for their story time festival. It is a two week period where the school really focuses on reading and the kids finding a real love for reading books. The kids get to bring books to school to share and at the end of the festival the parents put on a play.  It is so much fun, I don't like to act much but they always have dancing parts, so they can always count on me for that! This year we were campesinos, a traditional type dance from peru. I have to say it has been really fun learning some cultural dances from Peru. We danced to a song called mambo de macahuay! It was so fun to see the kids faces when we all come on stage. Zander thought it was so cool!!!!

 Our group of dancers! I did have to learn patience as everyone learns at their own pace! We spent 8 weeks preparing for this rehearsing at night.

My happy little guy, he said it was the best day ever!

La Granja!

 Last week I was able to go with Coopers class on a field trip to the granja, a farm of sorts.  We all pilled in a giant bus and drove about 45 min south to this farm. Cooper was so excited, he just loves animals and is finally loosing his fear to touch them. He is my fraidy cat!! We had a blast and I am sure we will be back for another visit as his brothers were a little jealous.

 Cooper wanted nothing to do with the tour and went straight for the animals. What farm is complete without a llama?

 Class picture!

 They went for a cart ride pulled by a donkey!

 They got to feed the animals.

 Coopers favorite was milking the cow. All I heard the whole way home was, la vaca les da leche!!

 Silly boy would not hold the bunny rabbit.

The only way I got him to hold the guinea pig was to put it in a basket. Silly kid!!