Things I tell Michael (age 5)

1. Your shirt's on backwards.

2. Eat your breakfast. (20 times)

3. Your shoes are on the wrong feet babe.

4. Please eat your lunch. (another 20 times)

5. Stop touching your sister. You know she doesn't like that!

6. It's not the middle of winter, go change your clothes. (and vice versa)

7. Hey buddy, your shirt's on inside out.

8. Your swimsuit is inside out, bud, go change it. (One of my personal favorites. You'd think he'd notice!)

9. Don't torture your sister!

10. What are you supposed to be doing?

Can you tell he has an issue with clothes? He's always in such a hurry that he never stops to pay attention to how he's dressed! He started Kindergarten yesterday, and this morning, I had to mkae him change three times before he was dressed reasonably for school! He even layed his clothes out last night, but forgot they were there! He is such a sweet kid, but sometimes he just gets distracted! Don't we all!

Tantrums and other fun

So Odessa, being the youngest of five, has, at a very young age, mastered the art of tantrum throwing. You wouldn't think that a child barely one would know what she wants to the degree of throwing a fit to get it.

We were in the grocery store this morning and she was a tad cranky. I pulled her out of the sling and stuck her in the cart. She liked it for a minute and even played peekaboo with the sling for a minute. Until she saw the bananas. It was all over after that. She began twisting and squirming in her seat and doing the sign for food. Explaining that we had to pay for them first simply doesn't work at one years old. We got to the checkout line and she was getting louder, so I got her out of her seat and let her walk around. It didn't work. She wandered over to the next lane and began fussing at some poor woman and doing the sign for food. Poor thing thought if mom isn't going to feed me, maybe someone else will! Oy! So I picked her up and put her back in the sling. This merely encouraged a full on throw my body every which way fit, fussing and signing food over and over and over again. Lovely. And of course, with my cursed luck, I managed to pick the line with a woman who had like three different orders. I finally got her in the car, which she was less than thrilled about, and she screamed all the way home. I rushed in, got her in her seat, cut up a banana and thought we had survived the worst. Nope. She ate a few bites then started chucking banana on the floor. So after all that, she ate a poopy lunch! So when we go in to the doctor for her one year visit and he asks me how she eats, I can officially say that she eats like a toddler!!

The Guatamala Chronicles: Part 2

I started the day with a little yoga. I'm not used to that firm of a mattress and desperately needed to stretch my muscles! We had a fabulous breakfast and had a nice peaceful morning. We then took a boat back across the lake, during which time I discovered that I still get motion sickness. I was a tad queasy getting off the boat, but unfortunately I spent the majority of the rest of the day trying not to lose my yummy breakfast. The lovely guatamalan switchbacks didn't help!! On our drive, we stopped at the breathtaking waterfall pictured above. It was just off the side of the road, and it was spectacular. We stopped at a little town called Solola, which had a biweekly local market. It gave a real taste of what the locals experienced at market. It wasn't geared at all towards tourists, which was wonderful. It was fascinating to see baskets of tomatoes layed out. There were baskets of chicken and geese. People were mostly dressed in traditional clothing. Babies were strapped to mom's backs, and mom was hauling stuff on her head, or trying to sell food from the family farms. It was crowded and chaotic and fascinating.

The rest of the day was a lot of driving. We stopped at a place for lunch, which I know everyone but me enjoyed. It was a buffet with more typical guatamalan food. I was busy still trying not to lose my breakfast! We made it back to Antigua and found a hotel. Our next stop was an active Volcano called Picaya. It was quite the drive during which we got stuck in traffic, which actually turned out to be a blessing for me. Because we were no longer on windey roads, and were stopped a lot, my tummy was finally able to settle down and I was able to enjoy our Volcano adventure!

We made it to the bottom of the Volcano at about 9p.m. (The traffic was horrid in Guatamal City!) We were uncertain as to whether or not we would still be able to go up the mountain, but the locals were able to round up nine horses and we were off on our adventure! My father-in-law survived a fall off his horse, which would have been a lawsuit in the states, but in guatamala it's called fix the problem and move on! I love their attitude! The ride up the mountain took about 45 minutes. There were these little lights along the path, and at first I thought maybe it was bits of lava. I asked my guide, with my limited spanish, and he picked it up and set it in my hand. It wasn't until it started to move that I realized it was some kind of light bug. It was so tiny, it was like a spec of light moving on my hand. I also noticed many holes along the side of the trail. I found out they dug these holes so that when it rains, the path they use doesn't get washed out. The holes allows the water some other place to flow.

When we made it to the point where the horses could no longer go, we dismounted and got ready to hike. It was cold and very windy and the lush vegetation was nearly non-existent. I was grateful for my rain jacket. We walked a little ways before we got to the old lava. Then we walked for quite a ways on very difficult terrain. The old lava was not easy to traverse in the dark. As we approached the new lava, our guides stopped us and went up ahead to test for the safest route to get to the lava. Then they led us up close and we took turns sticking our stick in the lava. I was probably ten feet away, but the heat was so intense, I thought it would singe the hair on my arm. I found a marhmallow that some other tourist hadn't managed to fry in the lava, and we had fun watching it melt. It was fascinating to watch the lava move. It had a life of it's own as it moved down the mountainside. We found out the the old lava that we were standing on was only ten days old.

The way back down was fairly uneventful and it was nearly midnight by the time we reached the car. Our guides were great and it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. We fell into bed in an exhausted stupor around 2a.m.!

Chasing the toddler

Now that Odessa is one, she is turning into quite the toddler! Yesterday, she wanted to make sure I was paying attention and that I never had a moment of peace. She successfully unrolled and shredded part of a roll of toilet paper, pulled puzzles out of the cupboard and dumped them on the floor, disappeared up the stairs only to yell "Ma" at the top, chewed on various remotes and chased the cats. And that was just before lunch! She spent the afternoon playing in the cat water and food, only to run away and squeal with delight every time I caught her. She pulled out all of the plastics from the cupboard. She found a beater and hit several siblings with it, and she tried to bite Katherine numerous times. I have a feeling that she is going to keep me permanently on my toes! I have mixed emotions about this phase of babyhood. On the one hand, I wish she would just stay still for a couple of minutes, but on the other hand, she's so darn cute I just want to kiss her little face!

The slowest checker on the planet!

The kids go back to school on Monday, so amongst the craziness of returning from our trip, I have been running errands like a mad woman. By the time we had survived Walmart, Odessa was done and I was on the lookout for the shortest line. What I didn't know is that I chose the slowest checker on the planet. By the time I realized he was slow, I figured that if I switched lines, it would probably take more time than if I just stayed put. I think I was wrong. The lady in front of me wanted her stuff split into two orders, which must have been beyond the checker's abilities. When it was finally my turn, Odessa had started throwing a fit and wanted down, so I sent Andrew with her to put her on all the coin rides. Minus a coin. She doesn't care, she's one! The slowest checker on the planet proceeded to check each item, and then inspect it. He wanted to know if the dress I bought for Lillie was a shirt or a dress. Then he discovered that there was no tag. I figured I'd die in line if he tried to find out how much it was, so I told him not to worry about it. At one point I almost climbed across the checkstand and took over. When he finally got to the end of my order, I looked up and realized that all the other lines that previously had two or three people in each, were now completely vacant. Lillie had brought Odessa back to me and she had proceeded to climb up and down me, while throwing herself backwards simultaneously. I was overjoyed to finally have a total so I could pay and go. It was truly a miracle! So if you go to Walmart any time soon, be on the lookout for the slowest checker on the planet. If he's having a bad day, you might just die in line!

The Guatamala Chronicles:Part 1

Our trip to Guatamala was an amazing trip filled with some really incredible, once in a lifetime experiences. And since I know most people just look at the pictures, myself being one of them, I figure I'll put all the pictures first. For those interested in the words, you'll just have to scroll down!!

After surviving an excruciatingly long layover in Dallas-Fort Worth, during which time I scoured the airport for a glasses repair kit, we arrived in Guatamala city late in the evening. Our car rental place closed before we were able to get the car, (which they weren't supposed to have done) and so we took a taxi to our hotel in Antigua, about a forty-five minute drive. The first thing I noticed about Guatamala were the large garbage cans in each stall in the bathroom. I quickly learned that flushing toilet paper is a big no-no in Guatamala. That is very much an ewwww for me, but I survived!

The roads in Guatamala are at best horrid. (There are a few decent ones, but they are few and far between.) In the city of Antigua it is cobblestone, and thus a very bumpy ride. Although I was exhausted, I was fascinated by the hotel we stayed in. The streets were very narrow with very little sidewalk. All of the buildings, including our hotel, had heavy wood doors. Our hotel also had a big wrought iron door for security. Needless to say, this made me a tad nervous! I was very nervous about the whole sleeping situation, and checked the bed for bugs before getting in! I'm happy to report that none of the places we actually stayed in were scary!

After surviving our first night, we got up (which wasn't difficult as the beds were very, very, very firm)and went in search of breakfast. Much to my relief, we found a place called the bagel barn. I was perfectly happy to have a bagel for breakfast since eating was the number two concern on my long list of concerns! We wandered around Antigua for a bit whilst my brother-in-laws had a long and exciting experience attempting to rent a car. We went to the bank to change our money to Quetzales and saw our first of many armed guards. It's a little unnerving to walk into places of business and have a man standing there armed with a machine gun. I'm just used to seeing the little handguns!! They take weaponry seriously in Guatamala.

We drove to a place called Chichicastenango and got our first taste of bartering at the market place. The drive itself was an adventure. You've never seen a switchback until you've driven through Guatamala. Plus we saw two giant trucks that had crashed and/or gotten stuck.

Guatamalans are relentless and never give up! That's what we learned at the market! We got the kids some great souveniers and had a lot of fun. It was amazing to see the people with their goods out on tables, and on blankets on the ground. They had things everywhere. After the market, we drove to Lake Atitlan. It was breathtaking. We chartered a boat to cross, which was done by my brother-in-law (thank heavens one of us knew more spanish than what we learn from Dora!). We walked around the little town on the other side and looked at a couple of scary hotels. (By scary, I mean moldy, ceilings falling down, questionable beds scary!) We ended up taking some tuktuks (the funky red taxi's) and staying in a very nice hotel called the Bambu. It was nice, and the restaurant was fabulous! We learned to ask for pure water, which was bottled, and we had no problems with eating or drinking.

Our hotel had a pool, and after dinner, the crazy boys went swimming. It was very cold, and the girls were smart and just watched the crazy boys! After a long, busy, amazing day, we had no problem crashing on our very, very, very, very, firm bed!

The great return!

For my readers who noticed my absence...we have returned from our brief, but exhausting sabatical to Guatamala. I will post some pictures and some stories, but it may take me a few days. Not that I expected otherwise, but life doesn't slow down or stop just because I went on vacation. So I was hurled back into motherhood yesterday and it may take me a few weeks (months, years) to recover.

I came home to a household of happy, busy children and I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. And yesterday, Miss Odessa turned one! We had a grand time birthday shopping and she ate the obligitory birthday cupcake and smeared chocolate frosting all over, just as is required by a first birthday! I pulled Lillie's tooth shortly after our return, so now she and Michael match. The children wanted to make sure that Mom still had the same rules as before, so they spent the afternoon testing boundaries. And so I return to the joys of motherhood, which, as most of you know, are many!