Summer Fun and Tick-Borne Diseases

Summer is flying by, and we have kept very busy.  We bought a cheap blow-up swimming pool for the kids, and who knew that it would be such a hit.  Hours of entertainment, all for about 25 bucks!  It has sprung a few leaks, so now we have to keep the air pump handy and help it out when it goes flat.  All of the kids love swimming and stick their heads right under the water...even Christian.  I think that he actually stays down the longest of all 3 (enough to scare me sometimes!)

Sun-bathing!



In the blow-up swimming pool





All ready to go to church...now try not to get dirty!!

  We took a little mini-vacation in the beginning of July and rented a cabin for a few nights.  We took the kids fishing, swimming (of course!), and our cabin had bunk-beds and a pull out sofa bed.  The biggest hit of the trip turned out to be searching for and catching crayfish.  Who would have known?  It was our first over-night adventure away from home since we came home in March, so it was kind of a big experiment.  The kids did very well, and we hope that this is the first of many camping trips to come.


Christian's first smore





Fishing on "Secret" Lake



After we got home from camping, I (Nicole) became very sick...fever up to 103 degrees, chills, muscle aches, headache, the pits.  Turns out I was bitten by a tick infected with ehrlichiosis, and came down with the nasty bug myself.  We are so fortunate and grateful that my mom was able to come up at the drop of a hat to help out with the kids.  I got some antibiotics, stayed in bed for a couple of days and made a very slow rebound.  I think that I ate only crackers and tea for about 2 weeks.  Just today, the kids congratulated me on being able to eat a "normal" lunch and dinner.  Good grief!



Helping Abuela look beautiful





I am cute!

 The gardens are growing like crazy, as are the ninos.  The kids are so excited to help out in the garden, and we have all learned the saying "don't step in it".  Of course this comes in handy for vegetables, as well as poop.  For some strange reason, the kids love looking around the yard for poop...dog-poop, chicken-poop, deer-poop, rabbit-poop, you name it.  They then stand next to the pile and say "Poop!  Poop!  Don't step in it!" 


The potato garden




Me:  "Christian, where are you going?"  Christian:  "Booper Bun!" (Super One, our favorite grocery store)




In the garden...don't step in it!

 My mom got me back on my feet, and headed back for home.  A few short days later, we traveled to my parents' cottage for another mini-vacation.  The kids got to visit with Abuelo and Abuela, Tia Vicki, Tia Chrissy and Tio Roberto (Rob, for those of you who know him...but we had to give him a Latin flair for the kids!).

Santiago found a little stray kitten that had been roaming the neighborhood, and worked his magic.  He is so patient, and spent a very long time coaxing the kitten to come out of hiding and trust him.  After only one day, Santiago was able to carry the kitten around like a little baby.  The kitten (he named her Jesse) let Santiago carry her around for hours and she was just loving it.  Jesse liked Santiago so much that she wouldn't leave, and spent the whole trip following him around.  It was very hard for Santi to say goodbye to his new little friend, but we were so happy to find out that she has found a family to live with.


Santiago, taming the wild kitten at my parents cottage

  Since we were all together, we decided to celebrate Juan's 7th birthday.  His birthday isn't for a few weeks, but we all love an excuse to have a party and eat cake...right?!  The party was a surprise, and Juan was so excited to about his cake and to open presents.  The surprise (and the extra sugar) took their toll though, as we ended up with 3 over-stimulated, over-tired-but-jacked-up-on-frosting little boys.  We have always known that routine is good for our kids, but it still amazes us how much the kids behavior can change when too many new and exciting things are going on around them.  An early bed-time and a nap the following day did wonders to get us back on the right track though.  One very encouraging aspect about these kind of situations though, is that now we know our boys well enough to spot when they need to have some quiet time, and we are experienced enough now to know when to pull the plug on all of the excitement.  Thank God for progress!!


Juan with his birthday cake

Summer is flying by, and the kids are getting very excited to start school in the fall.  We will probably try to pack in a few more fun excursions before then though. 

Still Here!

It's been way too long since my last post!  People have been wondering if we are all still alive and well here, and we are!  We have just been very, very busy chasing after 3 little boys!

Things are going well here as we continue to grow as a family;  we are settling in more and more as the weeks go by.  Summer vacation has brought a whole new set of adjustments with all 3 of the boys home with Mama.  While the kids are getting a little bit bored at home, we also think that is a good thing for them - we don't know if they've ever had a chance to be bored before, and probably more likely were always on guard for what changes the future might bring.  Sibling rivalry and bickering is at an all-time high, but at least I happy to say that none of the kids have told me "I'm bored" yet!

Christian has really started to bond with Jason, and it is so cute to see him follow around after Jason like a little duckling.  He loves to sit on Jason's shoulders and adores any sort of "manly" equipment...machines, tractors, trucks.  I don't know how/when he learned this, but he grunts a bunch and then says "tractor" and then grunts some more (think Tim-the-Tool-Man-Taylor grunting).  Are little boys just hard-wired to do that sort of thing?  It is pretty funny to watch.

Christian has really started to flourish in his "terrible 2's" lately with temper tantrums (kicking, flailing, screaming, the works!), hitting his brothers, throwing things, etc.  He wants to be a big boy so badly some times, but his little body just isn't there quite yet.  He has graduated from his crib to a "big-boy-bed", and has been sleeping in his bed for about the past 3 weeks without too much trouble.  Several times though, he has woken up in the middle of the night and silently walked through the house to come into our bedroom.  Not sure what he wants, but he usually settles right back down if we hold him a little bit and then put him back in his bed.

Juan Manuel and Santiago are starting to learn more and more English.  It is actually getting harder and harder for me to understand them as they transition from Spanish to English because of the Spanglish mix, and many times I am totally stumped.  They will often hear a word in English and try to repeat it at a later time, but don't always get it quite right.  For a while they kept calling Obe Wan Kenobe, Ole Guacamole.  At vacation bible school they learned a song called "I am Not Forgotten", but came home singing "I am a Colgat-aye".  We often get a good laugh over the things they come up with, and they are really doing so well with it.  It is fun to listen to them talk to each other too, as more and more they are using funny combinations of Spanish and English. 

Santi is such a good helper, and he loves to pitch in with just about anything that needs doing.  He often cleans up all of the toys "just because", even when we haven't asked him to.  If I vacuum or tidy the house while the kids are out playing with Jason, Santiago always runs up to me, gives me a big hug and tells me thank you.  He loves order and cleanliness, and is very responsible.

Juan finished kindergarten and is loving his time at home, although really misses his little friends.  He did really well with school, and was always so proud to come home each day and show us what he worked on. 

 

We got baby chickens in April, so the kids have been having lots of fun watching them grow and helping to take care of them.  When the kids figured out that we were going to eat their "pets", Juan cried and cried, and Santiago said he couldn't wait to try and hoped they'd be delicious.  Christian just joined in saying "di-den" (chicken in baby-talk) over and over and over.

Overall we are doing very well.  Life seems like chaos many days, but more and more we are able to enjoy the kids instead of constantly struggling with misbehavior.  We've been fishing twice, to the zoo, to the aquarium, and the older 2 boys had vacation bible school.  I just have to say that the kids have done great with all of their outings, and we have had no repeat experiences of our aquarium outing in Medellin.  They have learned what popsicles and rootbeer floats are, and adore running through the sprinkler.  Jason has been working on building them a swing/slide/tower, and the kids burn tons of energy running around on it (and Mom can just sit back and watch!!).  It has been busy, it has been the ride of our lives.  Some days are still really really tough, but it is amazing to see how far we've come in just over 4 months.

Ok, kids are about to get up, so that's all for now.  Thanks for checking in with us!!



Picture from late-March...embarassing that I am posting pictures of snow when the temperature here yesterday was almost 90!





Planting papas (potatos) with Papa!