Pizza pockets for days

The boys have 2 weeks off for Easter break and the days have been flyyyying by. 

Today they wanted something to do, as they said they were getting bored (as evidenced by their picture taking), so I got out a kid's cookbook that we have and they started looking through it to see what they wanted to make. 

They ended up cooking up some chocolate fudge popsicles and we came across a recipe for pizza pockets. Great idea for school lunches I thought! 

Since the dough in the recipe called for rolling out the dough from a tube of Pillsbury crescent rolls....which doesn't exist here....I went to look for a dough recipe and ended up using a meat perishky recipe (minus the instant potato flakes the recipe included as "optional"...which also doesn't exist here as far as I know and seems a little odd to include in dough in the first place). BUT it's such soft dough and worked great and tastes super. 

Little did I realize what 11 cups of flour looked like when making little pockets ;) my little impromptu project ended up taking up a few hours of the afternoon. 

For fillings we did some with pepperoni/bacon/onion/cheese and some with ground beef/bacon/onion/cheese. 

But at least that meant that lunch was made. And supper was made. And many were put into the freezer for future school lunches.

Yes they opened up in the oven...but that only allows the boys to see what kind they're choosing right?!

Canada Part 1: The boy's bucket list

All right, it's now been almost a full month that we've actually been back in Guadalajara after having been on Home Assignment in Canada for 2.5 months! We were there November 4-January 17 (to see what Home Assignment is, see my post from fall! Click on the link to take you there).

Coming back though is always really busy with re-connecting with everyone, getting connected again with Bible studies, relationships, school, family routine, etc etc that I have let the blog get behind me. However, I will do a few quick posts over the next couple of days to re-cap and then move on to our current ministry and life!

First off, the boys made a bucket list before we went to Canada. It had been 7 years since we were there in winter, meaning that they really didn't have any memories of snow or of a good Manitoban winter. Many of their items had to do with these things, and many also had to do with things they wanted to do with their cousins and grandparents.

So let's go through their bucket list and see what they accomplished! 

1. Play "I have never". 
I can't remember who they all played this game with, but we did play it had our extended Zac gathering with their cousins, second-cousins, aunts, uncles, etc and they had a great time.

2. Eat Lucky Charms.

3. Eat Rice Krispies cake.
We can't get rice krispies here and they love this cake...I do sometimes buy them the pre-packaged bars at our Costco here though ;)

4. Eat Puffed Wheat cake.
We also can't get puffed wheat here. Another cake they love.

5. Have a snowball fight.
One big disappointment for the boys was the discovery that snow is not always sticky, meaning you can't always make good snowballs or snowmen whenever you want to! They did have a couple of good sticky snow days in November.

6. Make a snowman.
They did this together with their friends, Rueben and Joy, from our Kleefeld church.

7. Slide down a snowhill.
We went tobogganing a few times.

8. Make in igloo.
We didn't make an igloo exactly, but Dallas did make them a quincey, together with his brother Dale.

9. Make a snow fort.
I don't think they counted this one as done. Their idea was to make snow fort and hide behind them to have a snowball fight.

10. Watch hockey.
Lots of hockey on TV, and we also took the boys (and their grandparents and great-grandparent and great-uncle and uncles and aunts and cousins and friend) to a Manitoba Moose hockey game for Carter and Logan's birthdays!

Dallas also went to a Winnipeg Jets game as his Christmas present from his parents.

11. Sit in the hot tub, roll in the snow, and get back in the hot tub...maybe.
I guess they weren't convinced they wanted to do this one ;) and they didn't, that I know of, although their cousins did.

12. Drink Root Beer.
Yup. A&W root beer, sometime they love and that we find here on a rare occasion (although it's getting to be a little more common).

13. Drink Dr.Pepper.
This we can get here.

14. Wrestle with Grandpa.
Something they like to do with their Grandpa Wiebe sometimes.

15. Learn how to sew something with Grandma.
Their Grandma Zac has cross stitched each grandchild a blanket and they wanted to learn to do this. They each cross stitched a small picture that they picked (Mario themed).

16. Put on lots of pajamas so we're not cold. :)

17. Make white cookies.

I don't think we ever got to actually making white cookies, but they ate a lot of them courtesy of their Great-Grandma Harder.

18. Go ice skating.

They got to do this several times and all enjoyed it.

19. Drink hot chocolate.

Plenty of that to go around.

20. Decorate the Christmas tree together.

Did this at both sets of Grandparents.

21. Make Logan's Minion birthday cake.

We did a small Minion themed party for both Carter and Logan with the Wiebes and some friends. More to come on Logan's birthday in another post!

22. Make Carter's Lego Batman cake.

This didn't happen....we were so busy everyday that I didn't have (or take I should say) to make them elaborate birthday cakes. The minions were just cupcakes and for the boy's party with the Zacs we had an angel food cake, which they did request as well.

23. Play with our cousins.

A ton! More to come on that yet, still going through those pictures.

24. Play Chess.

25. Play Checkers.

?? haha not sure about these, as we have these here at home also.

26. Play Poker against Risa.

Carter and his cousin Risa had this thing going about beating each other at poker :) Unfortunately we only got to see Risa's family for 2 days b/c of work situations so we made the most of it in other ways and didn't get to poker!

27. Go bowling.

The boys did this for their Grandpa Zac's work party (which they say didn't count as Dallas and I weren't there) and then we also went bowling again with the Wiebes.

28. Make a fire.

We had a weiner roast at the Wiebes one "warmer" evening.

29. Roll a big snowball down a hill.

30. Jump into a pile of snow.

There wasn't a lot of snow this winter in Manitoba!!! But they did play in snow.

31. Night of Christmas carols.

We sang carols together for our Harder Christmas gathering.

32. Eat perogies.
Yuummm....the boys had this for one of their birthday parties and we had them for a Christmas gathering, and several times in between.

33. Christmas painting competition.
Not a competition but they did some painting, drawing, crafting type things with their cousins several times.

34. Find a hibernating bear.
Enough said.

35. Eat Canadian Candy.
Too much of it. But it was good.

36. Make stockings for our Grandparents and everyone.
Didn't happen! ;)

37. Drink a Peppermint Mocha and get donuts from Tim Horton's.
Grandma Zac introduced them to Peppermint Mochas, and Carter and Brady are all about anything that remotely tastes like mint.

38. Open presents.

39. Bonfire outside.

I guess the weiner roast refers to this one as well.

40. Fireworks.

Instead of finding some Fireworks for New Year's Eve, we went to the hockey game.

41. Crack glowing sticks.

Pretty sure they got this from a movie, that you should crack glowing sticks in snow. Well, I bought them some at the dollar store and they sat in my room for a long time until I forgot about them....

42. Same pj's for all the cousins.

My mom tends to buy the cousins matching clothes or pj's and they all had matching pj's this year! I do need to get some pictures off of other family members yet!

43. Sleigh ride.

We went on a sleigh ride at Roseau River Bible Camp!

44. Movie and popcorn.

45. Cover us in snowmen.

haha they wanted to make themselves into snowmen. Didn't happen.

46. Buy and play Clue.

The boys like this game, and they got it as a Christmas present.

47. Punch snowballs.

Another invention in the boy's minds :) They would throw them at each other and punch them in the air.

48. Make monster cookies.

So, that's it for their list! Of course they did a ton more as well, and next post I'll update on what Dallas and I were up to during our time in Canada.

Interview with Brady: On turning 7!!

It's been a few weeks now since Brady turned 7 but time has gotten away from us! So it's time to record a bit about him, our 3rd boy. 

His actual birthday was August 14th, a week before school started. On their birthdays we let the boys choose an activity they want to do and a restaurant they want to go to as a family. This year since we were going on a little holiday as a family earlier in August, we let Brady choose the hotel he wanted to go to (there is really only one option in the boy's minds). 

He also chose the restaurant, which was Olive Garden, as he loves the bread sticks and he wanted them to sing for him. He remembered from another time there that the waiters sing for the birthday person and he would not let us leave until they came and sang for him. He doesn't shy away from attention that's for sure!

A week later school started and they celebrated him there as a class and Dallas and I took a cake for him to share with his friends. 

So his birthday celebrations lasted a few weeks by the time it was all said and done. 

I can't believe our youngest is already 7. He seems like 7 but yet with being the youngest it feels like he should be much younger than that. I'm sure all mothers feel that way ;) He started Grade 1 this year and he is so happy to be in the "big" school with the big kids (in Canada he would be in Grade 2). 

I'll let Brady do the rest of the talking in this post and tell you a bit about himself: 

1. What is your favorite color? Red

2. What is your favorite toy? My potato head America

3. What is your favorite fruit? Mango

4. What is your favorite tv show or movie? How to Train your Dragon

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Waffles

6. What is your favorite game? Padres vs. Hijos
(A Spanish board games where parents and kids ask each other questions about Mexican history, culture, etc)

The boys love to help decorate their cakes

7. What is your favorite snack? Lollipop

8. What is your favorite animal? Chihuahua

9. What is your favorite song or music group? Sugar  

10. What is your favorite book? The Book with No Pictures 

11. Who are your best friends? Mateo, Santi, Cesar, Ale, Enrique, Agustín, Niki 


12. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms

13. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play with my neighbors. 


14. What is your favorite drink? Coke Light
(oh dear!!)

15. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

16. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My blankie, my teddies, my pillow  

17. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Bagel with nutella, toasted

18. What do you want to be when you grow up? A video game maker of Plants vs. Zombies

20. Imagine that you can become invisible whenever you wanted to. What are some of the things you would do? Eat all the food in the tiendita and go behind a person and then go uninvisible and scare them.
(The "tiendita" is the snack shop at school where they can buy lunch items)

21. I am very proud of…I don't know... 

22. If I were President I would…tell everybody to be Christians.

23. I am afraid to...dive from a cliff into the water.

24. Name one thing you do really well: Making Jack playful.
(our cat)

25. Describe what it means to be a good friend: To help kids that are sick or hurt. To be nice to them and to play with them. 

26. What is your favorite time of day? Mid-day because that's the time where we usually play lots.

27. Describe your best day ever? Playing with my lego.

28. Describe your favorite hobby: Play with my friends at school.

29. Climbing trees is…boring. 

30. I wish there were a law that said...go to the jails and read the Bible to the robbers.

31. What makes you feel sad? When you guys give me punishments.


32. What makes you feel happy? When I play with my neighbors.

33. Pretend that you can fly whenever you wanted. Where would you go? To the clouds because I want to see all the fog and see if I can make shapes with them. 

34. If I could choose a different name, I would choose…Toby. 

35. Where do you want to go on vacation? To the crocodile slide.
(A water slide at a hotel they like)

36. What is your favorite thing to do with Mom or Dad? Do these questions with mom, and watch dad play games.

Springtime in Gdl

It may be hard to believe that it doesn't always feel like summer here in Mexico, but it's true (to some extent)! 

I admit that I miss the marked changes of season - snow in winter, springtime melting and budding of trees, summer heat, fall weather - BUT I do like spring and summer weather most of all and that is what we have most of the time. 

We're past winter now, and to us and our bodies that have acclimated to Guadalajara's weather, there are times that it feels chilly or cold during December or January. And now we're in the heat of "spring". May and June are actually are hottest months, as July brings rainy seasons which cools it down (who am I kidding though, it cools down to 30 or so). 

But we are in fact in spring now and that brings with it the flowering trees that I love! All of the grass that isn't watered is brown this time of year, but at least our trees are green and colorful. 

These 2 pictures were taken in the small town were the Orphanage is located that we volunteer at. It's a tiny little town an hour out of Guadalajara but there are a lot of beautiful flowering plants along the roads as you enter the town.

Heat means drinking a lot of water....while our boys are in sports class, two other moms and I walk/run/yak along this trail beside the soccer field. 

Brady's red face is how we all look when we're out there ;)

We also drink more tereré starting this time of year (cold version of mate if you are familiar with that). This is not a Mexican drink at all! People think it's strange, and perhaps a little gross to share the cup around, but we drink it together at home. Ice cold refreshing. 

We happen to be up on our roof in this picture...Dallas and the boys enjoy going up there and hanging out with the stars. I, however, don't enjoy the boys being up there. But what are you to do in a city where they want to be in the free air...we are sitting facing a lower part though, that is "cut out" 2 feet into the roof, so for the most part they are not on the flat roof and it's safe in that way. But. you know. I'm a mom. This particular evening they had the music going and we had snacks and they thought it was the best (if only their mom would stop telling them to be careful that is). 

With it being Spring Break now we also took a morning to go biking in the forest nearby...

(love Logan's posing)

And we always come back with some treasures.

The boys also are loving the fruits that are coming into season and made a video about some of the fruits and veggies! We had a lot of fun with it as they like to pretend they're YouTube stars.

The boys are currently out in front of the house playing on the street with our neighbor kids and are enjoying their Spring Break! They get two weeks of it, always the week before and after Easter, and this weekend we head to Mexico City, 6 hours away, for some fun with another family from the boy's school that have been friends since we first moved here.

Biking trip to Puerto Vallarta #3

A few weeks ago already, Dallas went on a weekend biking trip across the mountains to Puerto Vallarta. This was his third time doing this, the second time with these friends. These two are brothers and then one of their wives went along as well. 

The first day they did about 10 hours and the second day 8 hours. In PV they were met by a couple that had taken our van and they came back home by van.  

 

They don't travel the highway but take paths that go through the forest. Some are narrow paths and some are wider cobblestone or dirt. 

It's a lot of climbing, especially the first day to get over the mounatains!

Dallas is attempting to have our boys follow in his footsteps ;) actually we just like to get them out of the city once in a while and do some biking in the forest right close by here. 

Yesterday we went out for a couple of hours and I enjoy it as living in a big city like this makes me want out of it sometimes. Having so many houses and non-stop traffic around you all of the time can get a little claustrophobic (although you do get used to it to some extent). The boys also enjoy it but we need to get out more often so that they get used to the different terrains (and the flies that look like bees and the bumps on the paths etc etc!).