Two on Thursdays

So she was my date tonight. Pizza and then to the park to feed the ducks was on the agenda for us. We had a good time together.
Since bringing HG home, it has been hard for all of us. We are SO grateful, of course, that she is here. It's just an adjustment for us all. The "big girls" are feeling a little left out and so we decided to have a babysitter each Thursday afternoon/evening for HG (and ironically, her name begins with H as well!). J and I each take a kid and go do something, just the two of us. There will be times when HV and HM have a sitter too and J and I will be having a date. We've got that lined up for next Thursday! So, if you want to "borrow" our big girls for a Thursday afternoon/evening, let me know! It's good for all of us!

Serving Spoon

I had a date tonight, just with my oldest "baby." Check out that spoon that came with her pork lo mein! She thought it was hilarious!

And yes, I did eat at a chinese food restaurant. They WILL prepare chicken lo mein without veggies, just in case you wanted/needed to know. :)

Princess HM Visits a Princess

On Saturday, we had HM's 7th birthday celebration. As you know, we don't make a big deal about getting presents and focus on celebrating the day with good friends instead. HM's best friend, G-man, asked if he could take her to see a theater performance of "Cinderella" for her birthday. J and I thought that would be a great plan for all of us to do together. And so, on a rainy Saturday afternoon, we met at the theater for an afternoon of fun followed by dinner.

G-man, HV, and HM before the show

The show was cute and pretty short, only 54 minutes. I think HV and HM expected it to be more like Disney's Cinderella in terms of the songs, but they liked it nonetheless. HM did get a bit afraid with the darkness and so we switched seats so that I could sit by her the whole time. After the show, the kids could get the autographs of the various characters and pose for photos with many of them too. At first, they thought this was goofy, but then they got into it and wanted to go back through the crowds and get the autographs of almost everyone!

The girls with the ugly step-sisters

With the king

with the Fairy Godmother

With the Prince and Cinderella, who signed her name as Cindy! You couldn't ask to pose with the Prince or Cinderella. G-man's mom snapped this photo for us as we went through the line.

HM and G-man with their gumballs

HM and G-man go way back. Way back. They were cribmates together in Guatemala and so our ongoing joke is that they knew each other before we knew them. G-man LOVES him some HM. HM LOVES her some G-man.

HM and her loot from her family

per the Princess' request: Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting! Watch out, that blue frosting will turn your teeth and lips blue too!

Our big 7 year old! Happy Birthday, Princess!

Tree Selection

I know that these pictures are old, but they are fun and I thought I would share. We went to a tree farm this year and cut down our own tree! I've never had a live tree in my whole life. Here are some pics from the day:

looking down the Super Shoot--yep, that's J and HM at the bottom!

looking up at the Super Shoot

I did it!

Me too!

riding around

on the walking maze

HV made it to the middle of the walking maze!

HM made it too!

chillaxin' in the GIANT chair

heading out to find the perfect tree

cutting, cutting, cutting, and more cutting!

Carrying our tree back to the office

On top of the FJ, ready to unload and decorate!

Our master piece is finished!

Happy Halloween from The Ghouls

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Pumpkin Fun

Do you remember seeing the pumpkins in the back of my car during Trunk or Treat on the left hand side?

Well, the girls decorated the larger ones themselves. They picked them out too, even one for HG, this past weekend with HM's godmother. The little pumpkin was HG and they insisted that she have glasses. So, here they are for you to see more clearly.

Notice that the yarn hair matches their normal hairstyle--the largest pumpkin is HV with bangs and a bob. The medium pumpkin is HM, no bangs with a bob. The smallest is HG, complete with the glasses. While I never did braid her hair, we did do ponytails quite a bit. Too cute!

I also just had to share this little guy's picture from our Trunk or Treat. I know. I'm bad. I took a picture of him but not of my own kids. He LOVES vacuum cleaners! He insisted on being one for Halloween and so his sweet Mom made him this costume. Isn't it too cute? He was thrilled to say the least.

Trunk or Treat

Our church held it's second annual Trunk or Treat event. While this concept is incredibly popular here, I guess it hasn't made it's way to all areas of the US and so if you don't know what it is, let me explain. People decorate the back of the cars, all parked in the same parking lot (for us, it was at church) and then the kids go car to car, saying "Trunk or Treat!" The girls were delighted to wear their costumes (and I failed to get a picture of them--can you believe it?), have a hotdog dinner, and get some candy! I think that HM ate 5 pieces of chocolate in 5 minutes! That girl! The kids also got to decorate cookies (and eat them) as well as take many rides on the train that we had too. What fun!

Our car. HV wants to do something scary. I told her that we don't have anything scary. These decorations came off of our front porch.

This family LOVES Halloween. They had two cars this year, both complete with the fog/smoke machine.

I like this dracula cow!

Isn't this train cute?

HM is in the second seat of the first car, wearing the dark purple. She was a cheerleader. HV is in the last seat of that same car, wearing a turquoise cape/shawl. She was Queen Esther (it was really a Cleopatra costume, but she thought Esther sounded better).

Cabelleriza

I just realized that I never published this post from when we went on the horseback riding tour. Sorry! This was one of the highlights of the trip for HV. That girl loves horses! So, here you go--one month after we did the ride.

I started this post yesterday/Wednesday, but my internet connection was spotty and I never could get it finished.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

This morning, HM, HV, and myself went for a ride. This wasn't just any ordinary ride. It was a ride on HV's most favorite animal, THE HORSE! HG stayed behind with A and had a great time. We rode for 2 hours and saw so much of God's beautiful creations. I don't know that these pictures will do it justice, but here's some (ok, lots of) photos from the day.

Coffee plants. There were tons of coffee plants on the trail. My horse, which seemed to eat the most while on the walk, did not care to eat leaves from the coffee plants. She would put them in her mouth but not pull them off of the plants, leaving them behind.

Avacado tree

Carrots growing

Beautiful view from our ride. Having been to Guatemala many times, this was not a "touristy" thing and I loved it! The girls did too.

I have no idea where these men and their horses were going. Occasionally, we would see people along the way like this, but I never saw any houses or anything that remotely resembled a dwelling place. Everyone was very friendly.

Another man we passed on the trail, carrying his heavy load on his back and his machete in his hand.

Looking back towards the city in which we currently live.

It was rather sunny and I did not stop my horse to take many photos so I simply had to hold the camera up and push the button, hoping it came out ok. You can tell from the photo, but the volcano on the left is puffing some smoke.

Vincente walked the entire time next to HM, leading her horse. He was very nice, always making sure we were all ok.

Heading down the trail between the maize. The horses would grab some of the corn stalks as we walked by and eat while walking. My horse in particular always seemed to want to eat.

After we rode through the trails, we ended up riding through this City. I don't know if it was because HV was riding this very big house by herself at the front or my white/blonde self that attracted the attention, but it like we were in the Macy's Parade. People coming out of their houses, waving, smiling, all very friendly. I thought it was rather funny to see these toothless little old ladies smiling and waving at us as they sold their produce on the side of the road.

This was the largest stallion there, Principe. He was gorgeous! In the stall next to him was Princesa. The two had mated but, from what I could gather between my "great" spanish was that Princesa had the baby yesterday and that the baby had died. Princesa was sad--you could see it in her eyes. I didn't photograph her, but she was almost as big as Principe and the same jetblack color.

trying to get close to the little philly you see in the background, but she wouldn't let them. This was as close as they were able to get.

Our tour guide's wife took this picture. She had never used a camera and so I had to give her a little lesson first. Not too bad for her first photo.

Ah! That's better! I picked up HM, thinking that it would make it easier for her to get us all in the photo. I think it worked!

Vincente, his wife, and their son, Julio Rafael

He was fascinated by seeing himself on my camera in the family shot and so I took his picture alone. While he isn't smiling in the photo, he sure did when he saw it!