A Field Trip for the kids means a Field Trip for the moms

It's that time of year again where all of the classes go on one last field trip to finish off their time in the grade they're in. Since all 3 of our boys are in elementary still, the moms are invited to come along and help chaperone the group. 

I have gone on many field trips over the years, mostly to the zoo as that's the one I enjoy signing up for. We have one of the best zoos here in Guadalajara! 

So today I went along with Carter's grade, which is grade 5. I must say, I enjoyed this grade more than the younger grades. Not because of the kids! But because this age is just so much more independent and you don't need to worry quite so much about someone going missing by accident. 

Only 6 of us moms went along on the trip, but they happen to be 6 that I enjoy being with a lot from this grade, so we had just as much fun as the kids did. Most of these ladies I've known since Carter was in kindergarten, so 6 years now.

There is a Safari that you go on as well and I gave my phone to Carter for this so he could get some pictures.....he was one of the few that did not have their own phone along (as he does not have one!) and he felt a little left out. But I told him that I think he can enjoy seeing things much more without having to see it all through a video on a little screen the whole day and he was fine with that.

I know at this age they like to fit in...and that's a balance we're working through, in knowing what to allow our kids to have and do to not feel "out" of things but also helping them be human beings that are happy even without a screen! It's a hard one in this day and age where 10 years old are taking phones everywhere.

So anyway, the following pictures are from Carter :)

To finish off the day we also went on the Sky Zoo which is a slow meandering ride over top of the zoo.

A few other things I learned today:

1. Our kids will need to learn what are good thing to take pictures of if they plan on having the privilege of using my phone once in a while. In other words, taking pictures of certain animal parts or of ostriches mating is maybe not the best choice ;) Yes, I know, everyone else took the same pictures.

2. One mother (not pictured) shared with me many the different ways there are to cross into the US without being detected, even today with all of the security.

3. Carter has good friends! Yes, really! I love seeing him with them and I love that he (and his brothers) have invited many to a local Bible camp this summer and today 2 mothers confirmed that they will send their kids with Carter and 4 confirmed that they will send their kids with Logan! Our kids are influencing their friends whether they know it or not. Pray for these kids and their parents that we continue to rub shoulders with.

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?!

30 Days of Writing: WHAT SPEAKS TO YOU (literally, today)

My day literally starts every morning with Logan giving me a hug and a smile (how is that my roughest child is also my cuddliest? I guess they both have to do with touch).

And then I'll usually get a good morning or some random comment from him.

The day continues with a hundred words a minute coming at me from all 3 boys. Yes, they speak to me even before I've had my first cup of coffee. Oh, what brave children I have!! Dallas has long seen that important conversations are best left until I've been awake at least an hour. 

But regardless of the time of day, I do love having the boys talking all the time! They have the most interesting conversations and I learn a lot about what goes on in their minds just be listening to them talk amongst each other. 

This evening we also had some "sharing" time as a family, as we watched Masterchef and had to pause it every five minutes to let it download some more. During each pause, we took turns asking each other in the family questions that we all had to answer.

Would you rather be an elephant or a turtle? 

Would you rather be invisible or be able to fly?

Would you rather sleep in a tent or a cabin? 

What's your favorite thing that happened this year?

What's something you like about yourself? (no hesitation here, their answers were that I'm handsome, I'm crazy, and I'm awesome)

What's something you would change or do differently that you did this year? 

So there's the kids talking to me all day. 

And then there's Dallas. Last night at 10 pm he handed in his last big assignment for the class he's currently taking, a class that is so interesting (to me as well as I hear about it! all about the brain and it's connection to our emotions and behaviors) but a class that also has taken more time with homework. So today we had more time to talk and hang out together, which was nice! 

Oh yes, and Jack the cat, meowing to go out.

Today this verse became a focus and an encouragement for me. 

Other people that "spoke" to me today, in person, via Whatsapp, etc.......a lawyer, several friends, my mother...

30 Days of Writing:
DREAM, SENSES, LIGHT, INSPIRING, WHAT-SPEAKS-TO-YOU, HAPPY, FLY, MUSIC, TASTY, SUPPORT, SPECIAL, PLACE, BREAK, TOMORROW, DESTINATION, BRAND, EVENT, NO, LAUGH, FEED, MIND-BLOWING, FABULOUS, COMPARE, EXCLUSIVE, FUZZY, FRIEND, BATTLE, SIGN, GRATITUDE, SMILE
*#an_snapaword

A Day in the Life: Carter

Since this is Spirit Week at school, today Carter and Logan had to dress up as what they want to be when they grow up. They both decided to dress up as missionaries. Their plan was to wear a white button up shirt with a tie and carry a Bible.

Well, let me tell you, there are a lot of Mormon missionaries that go door to door here and I think they would end up looking like Mormon missionaries. Besides, we told them, when does daddy wear a tie except for weddings or funerals?? Well, says Logan, Calvin's dad wears a tie when he goes to church, so therefore probably a missionary wears a tie.

I guess there are two things to note here:
1. Calvin & Hobbes seem to know where things are at
2. We must not look like real missionaries

After some brainstorming they decided they would still wear nice clothes, just not white and not a tie, and still carry a Bible. Way to go boys on not being ashamed to show your friends that you want to be dedicated to sharing God's love!

Carter's class is pictured below :)

After school (2:30 pm) it was lunch time and today's lunch was tostadas (hard flat taco shell) with toppings - refried beans, shredded chicken, cheese, onion, cilantro, tomatoes, cheese, avocado, salsa. As you can see, Carter's version of a tostada is quite plain.

After lunch it was clean up time and Carter got to clear the table and clean out Jack's cat liter. Then it was Bible reading time with dad. 

Once this was over Carter had Logan and Brady playing his card game that he made. He is constantly making up games and cards and is so good at it! He draws pictures and then teaches the boys all of the rules and they play for hours at these kinds of things. He's also written and illustrated several books, he's quite creative. 

Then it was homework time...

And now at 7:30 pm his friend Leo and his little brother Damian came over for a couple of hours as their parents have a meeting! So they're busying playing now and in an hour or so when they get picked up, it'll be bedtime for Carter (and the other boys). 

This was a fairly straight forward, regular Wednesday for Carter! The kinds he likes ;) He loves people but he also loves his home time.

A Day in the Life: Brady

It's time for our yearly A Day in the Life posts! Today we decided to begin with Brady, as it was a bit of a special day for him at school.

7:00 am - wake-up and get dressed
7:10 am - eat breakfast, brush teeth, comb hair
(forgot to get a picture of any of this)

7:30 am - leave for school (Dallas or I drive them in the van, a 15 minute drive)

Now, before you can understand the following pictures, I will need to give you a bit of background.

All Mexican schools have the Escolta (the Color Guard or the Flag Guard). Six students are chosen to be in the Escolta, based on grades and behavior. They serve on this Escolta for one year and are expected to show honor and pride and respect to the Mexican flag (in other words, to the country of Mexico).

They take their jobs seriously and practice every Thursday in order to know all of the marches, steps, turns, and commands. At our kids school the grade that Brady is in has one to represent the younger kids and then there is another group made up of Grade 6 students that represents the older grades.

As the Escolta marches with the Mexican Flag, following the routine they've learned with the National Anthem playing, the rest of the school are lined up facing them in a u-shape, like a square all around them. There are specific times during the routine for the Escolta to salute the flag and specific times for the onlookers to salute.

They also wear this uniform! Everything needs to be crisp and clean and on special holidays they also wear white gloves.

7:30 am - As I said, we leave for school and arrive there at 7:45 or so

Today both Dallas and I went as I went to attend Brady's program and Dallas had a meeting at the school (he's a Board member there). This being Brady's day, of course his brothers tried to block him out.

Classic posed smile.

Right after the Flag Salute they had a Spring Parade so Brady quickly changed into his favorite lion costume (it'll be an awful day in this house when that thing is too small for him).

Brady has such good kids in his class! I love the friendship they have even at such a young age. 

10:00 am - the program is over and I head home and leave Brady at school to finish off the day....he has a snack/lunch time at 11:30, and has all of his regular classes

2:00 pm - the boys all get picked up from school and come home...

2:30 pm - lunch time! Yes, Mexican lunch is between 2-4 pm typically and yes, you do get used to this schedule! And I totally forgot again to take a picture at lunch so he posed for me afterwards ;) We did have broccoli, along with sopes (a thicker corn tortilla with several yummy toppings)

And following meals, Brady's job this particular week is to clear the table after we eat and wipe up the table. 

 3:00 pm - get changed into uniform for Taikwondo class (this happened by fluke - Carter is on a soccer team and we hoped to put Logan and Brady in at the same place in their age group but those classes were full...Taikwondo was the only sport available around the same times as Carter's..soo....)

....and then Brady did some drawing while he waited to go...

3:40 pm - leave for Taikwondo class (actually Carter's soccer is from 4-5:30, while Logan and Brady's class is from 5-6 pm, both on the same University campus. This is on Tuesdays and Thursdays) 

Since Logan and Brady just recently joined they are waiting for their white uniforms...

 It's hard to get good pictures as the parents can sit outside of the classroom and look through a small piece of glass, but below you see Brady fighting :) him and Logan both love it

 6:30 pm - arrive back at home

7:00 pm - have some supper

8:00 pm - shower....no worries he actually has his pj's on in this picture already! But he wanted to show you what he does when he gets out of the shower and he's cold.

Then he and Carter played a little in their room with some lego and played with the cat as they waited for Logan to finish his homework. Ah yes, typically Brady has about 20 minutes of homework each afternoon as well, but this week is no-homework b/c of special events. 

8:30 pm - bedtime! (aka coffee time for this mama)

Their room does not usually look like this. These are bunkbeds, and Brady's bed is a pull-out one underneath. However, recently no one has wanted to sleep on the top bunk. They much prefer to sleep all together. Sooo.....we gave in and said they could keep it like this for a while. One big King size bed for the 3 of them and they're happy as can be. It means less floor space to play but hey, they've got the rest of the house. 

They also don't sleep with "normal" blankets, they only sleep with their special blankets that they've chosen. Incidentally, they are all blankets made by either my mom or my sister-in-law Dwylla or given to them by Dallas' parents. And there is always a slew of animals joining them on the bed.

And that was Brady's day today.

The boys did rock-paper-scissors and have decided that tomorrow will be Logan's day.

Cell Dump (prepare for an onslaught!)

Yes, here comes an onslaught of pictures from the past month or so! Bits and pieces of some everyday life moments, mostly of the boys as that is what I tend to take pictures of!

Let's begin back in Feb.5, on my birthday. It was on a Sunday, so we were with our cell group for Bible study. Everyone stayed for a bbq afterwards as well. This cell group has people from all ages, from a 2 year old all the way to an almost 70 year old, but we all love each other and learn so much from each other.

They insisted on Dallas wearing a hat as he bbq'd ;)

February also brought numerous events for the boys at school.

Carter's class went to the Centre to a Wax Museum, and he then had to dress as a historical figure and his class put on a wax museum at the school where each student had to enact something their figure did. Carter chose Alexander Graham Bell.

Logan's class all had to write stories and then dress in formal wear for school one day to read their story in front of the class. 

Brady had to dress as Abraham Lincoln (for President's Day) and recite part of his speech. 

The boys and I also stopped by Red's burgers on the way home from sports class one day...love these burgers!

 Last Sunday was Juan's birthday, from our cell group, and since Dallas' was just this last Thursday, we celebrated the two of them together.

With all of our activity and Bible studies each week, the boys love the opportunity also to just hang out at home sometimes. They play all day, or ride their bikes around the neighborhood, or play a bit of wii.

We are the kings of family selfies......

A month or so ago all 3 boys also started a sport. Two of Carter's friends are on a soccer team close by so he wanted to join them. We were hoping to put Logan and Brady in soccer as well, as there is also a class for their age at the same time. But....their age groups were full so they're on a waiting list and in the meantime are doing Taekwondo! It was the only sport available for their age at this same location so that's what they'll do for now...they love it though! We do hope to switch them to soccer yet though as it's cheaper ;)

The bonus for me is that I have two friends there to hang out with for the 1.5 hours of practice, as their sons are the ones on the team. They are families we've gotten to know well over the past number of years.

 I don't often take pictures of my food but this was a pretty one ;) On the top is Chilaquiles, which is corn chips with a salsa and sour cream, onion, and cheese on top. On the side are refried beans and an egg in a chili ring. Chilaquiles with beans and egg is a typical Mexican breakfast.

 Mangos are coming out more now and we loooooooooove Mangos!

Well that's it for now! 

This weekend Dallas is away with some friends, biking over the mountains to Puerto Vallarta. Yesterday they biked about 6 hours and today it's another 7-8 hours or so. So the boys and I are enjoying our time together and this afternoon we get to hang out together at home and relax. It's not often we have the whole day to just "be" together so we're enjoying it.

Jack the cat gives a good example of what we'll all like to do on a Sunday afternoon...

Hope you're all enjoying your day today. My coffee and a piece of banana bread await.