Things I forgot...

I forgot to mention that when we went to "Sunset on the Mississippi" they had Polynesian dancers beforehand!!! It was sweet!!! We saw the above fire dance, which Leo had to try out back at camp with a little less flames.
Also different Samoan, Tahitian, and Hawaiian dances.
But actually my favorite was the Navajo hoop dance the youngest son did. Yes, it was a family of dancers (the Ahuna family). And yes, they sang Love at Home as their final number, with the grandkids on the stage too. :) Their second to youngest son just received his mission call to somewhere in Russia--the dad asked, "Have you ever heard of a Hawaiian polar bear?"

I also forgot to mention that we met some senior missionaries from Canada who knew our family---"Your grandpa used to drive chariots, right?" Yep. That's us. They claimed they knew me too, only I would have been a newborn at the time--they lived near our dairy farm in Rosemary. Oh and their son is the MD that hired my brother. Random, eh?

Well, I was going to post other things, but I forgot them again. So until next time, chao.

Nauvoo and Otro

First of all, the day we left to go camping in Nauvoo with Leo's YM and Kayli and Wyatt's families, Elena destroyed my lipstick that was in the diaper bag. She obviously did not get in trouble enough, as you can see by the grin on her face.
I actually left her in the bathtub till I calmed down a bit. What a rare occasion that was.
Elena. What can you say about her. Oh, yeah--SHE's CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!! Uncle Wyatt picked her up to give her a hug when he first arrived and she screamed bloody murder and wouldn't look at him for a whole day. She also screamed her death scream at the poor senior missionary in Wilford Woodruff's house. Pyscho girl.
Leo, Jethro and Isabel. I didn't really take that many pictures in Nauvoo, as I left that up to Kayli, so maybe check her blog in the next couple days or maybe when I go down there next I will will get a CD of them and post more.
In this picture, you can see Ana working hard, and also her CUTE new glasses!!! Yeah! She can see! She had a great time and caught a TURTLE! Sweet! Also, she saw two deer and a frog, and one HUGE spider that Leo caught in our tent. Ughh.
Kayli had the idea for us to dress up as stalwart pioneer housewives.
Kayli and Wyatt. It was so fun to see Wyatt and Lindsay Ann--Lindsay is coming to stay at our house for a week or two, and we're going to drag her all over Chicago!!! I'm so excited!
Talmage and Isabel eating grass. A few of Isabel's diapers were a little weird looking this weekend. Hee. Hee.

And now, for a couple funny stories:

1. Ana loves convertibles and wants to buy one someday. The other day we were driving behind one and she said, "Look!! There's my car, an incredible!!!!" She meant "convertible". It was really funny.

2. Elena today was bathing in the tub and heard the icecream truck. (One drives through our apartment complex at least once a day if not more.) She's just recently put it together that icecream is sold by the truck playing music which is unfortunate for me. Anyway, so she jumped out of the tub and raced to the living room completely naked, and wailed, "Bring me a towel!!!" She increasingly became more and more desperate as we ignored her and the icecream truck was driving on. Finally, in annoyance at our lack of response, she yelled, "Oh my heck!! Bring me a towel!!!" It was so funny. I choose to believe that she picked up this particular saying from her Aunt Amy, as Amy says it with the exact same intonation. That's my story anyway.

3. Sunday night when we were camping I was putting Elena to bed and she asked, "Go to the bank?" I was a bit confused at first, but it soon became clear why she wanted to go to the bank as she repeated, "Go to the bank? Get candy?" Hee. Hee.

Sunday's List of Stuff

1. I had my hair cut and highlighted on Friday but I didn't like any of the pictures I took of myself so you don't get to see.

2. I also went garage sale shopping, since it was the city-wide garage sale weekend. I bought some nice things, gloves for Ana this winter, a couple of Christmas presents, pajamas for Elena and Isabel. But half the shirts I bought for Ana were too tight, and I didn't find a coat for her. I needed more time to look more, but we were rained out. (My friend Jenny and I went while Leo watched our kids.) Ruff.

3. Saturday was CRAZY! We went to the Public Works Day, where the kids were able to ride around in a street sweeper, go up really high in a cherry picker, and learn about recycling. We also had a free lunch--hotdogs and chips.

4. Then we went to this dance performance down in Chicago. It was called Mi Familia, My Dance by the Luna Negra Dance Theater. It was fantastic!!! Remember how we swore off modern dance after our last try? Well, we take it all back. Leo and I were both laughing out loud in parts of it. Plus it had all these Latino rhythms, how can you not love that? 5. We took the whole family to that dance performance, Elena was mesmerized. At one point she slid of her chair and started to dance too, but then changed her mind and decided there was too much to watch instead. So fun. Ana loved it too!
6. This is Ana (back row, farthest to the left) at her concert on Wednesday night. It was patriotic themed, if you can't tell.

7. This is Isabel thinking that she should be walking already. Hmm... I don't know about that. I like her all cute and cuddly and in one place. Well, she crawls already, but at least that's not running.
8. But isn't that grin adorable?

9. Oh, and back to Saturday night, we went to a dinner at the church for Mother's Day. We had arroz y pollo y refried beans. And a Mariachi band came and played. Sweet.

10. We ducked out during the Mariachi band because Hermano Franco let us drive his truck. The hood of his truck is taller than me. And he said those were his small tires. Leo drove across the church lawn. (Don't worry, he was properly chastised by me.) That thing was crazy!

11. Then we went back in for dessert and to help clean up. However, after the tables were all put away that's when the DJ started and the party really began!!!! Let me just say, I LOVE the Spanish ward, and I'm never going back to an English one. It was seriously so much fun. Elena was dancing like a maniac. And Leo taught Ana to meringue. Head banging to Mana es mucho divertido tambien. And Leo's air guitar is fabuloso!! It was also the first time I've ever heard Achy, Breaky Heart sung in Spanish. When the Obispo turned on the lights to end the dance at 10 PM, the YW's presidency and Primary presidency were among those shouting for another dance. Which led to a everybody dancing like crazy to Shake It, as the Obispo gave in. Wow. That's all I can say.

12. Elena also has a new boyfriend, Hansel. He's thirteen. She danced with him several times last night. And today in the car when we said he was coming over for dinner, she said, "My Hansel!" Hee. Hee.

13. So today we had Hansel's family, the Puertacarreros, (I'm not sure on that spelling) over for dinner. I tried to make this nice meal on Sunday, and I made Leo and the kids pick up the house--because we were gone all day yesterday, but I overdid it. I should know that Sunday's the day to rest and I got what I deserved. Everything that could go wrong did. I made spagetti, and first of all, I didn't have spagetti noodles. Then I didn't have Worchestershire sauce (it makes the sauce). Then I had to throw the first batch of breadsticks out because I added too much flour. Then I killed the frosting on the cake. And just so you know, putting a frosted cake back into the oven, won't melt the icing and make it look pretty again. (It was supposed to be more of glaze.) It just makes the frosting boil underneath, but the top of the frosting just hardens more and it looks more ugly. Ruff.

14. The best news of all this week though, was that we FINALLY WENT TO COURT!!!! And Ana's adoption was approved!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So as of July 8th it will be official. (Not till then because of an interim period--despite the fact that she's been living with us for 1 1/2.) We went Las Tablas (a Colombian steakhouse) for lunch to celebrate. Ana said it was the best food she's ever eaten. I am so happy to finally have this over and done with!!! Yeah!

15. This week we're going to Nauvoo. I am so excited. I already love my summer of soaking up Chicago.

Other things

Ana looking cute. This was at the dance show. Leo and Isabel have the same nose by the way.

Elena doing Daddy's hair. Daddy's not very happy about it.Elena is happy about it though!
My first ever Chicago style hot dog. It was yummy! (There truly is a hot dog in there.)

Photos y mas

Isabel in her new dress from her abuelita!!! So bonita!!!
She was tired of pictures and crawled away.
Ana playing our new piano!!!! Woohooo!!!!! I'm am so excited about it. Only one key is a little sticky and we bought it for $150! I love Craigslist.
I was at the Polish store the other day and picked these up. The Black Currant juice was DEE-licious!!! Leo and I both really liked it. However, it was also muy caro (expensive) so I think I won't be buying it much. But it was fun to try. The apple-mint juice I'll have to get back to you about it, since we haven't tried it yet. It sounds intrigueing, no?
These are actually German butter biscuits. This is a dangerous item--it goes very quickly, I discovered. So yummy!
This, however, is the "treat" I bought us in the checkout line and it is not yummy. It is in fact, NASTY! I threw almost all of it away. It's main ingredient was sesame seeds. I can't even describe the texture or taste, it's like nothing I'd ever had before. And I hope to never have something like it again.
And these are the banana-chocolate chip whole wheat muffins I made. As Kayli would say--it's typical of me. I quintupled it. Is quintupled a real word? Just wondering. Anyway, I made a lot!!! I had bought a bunch of bananas that were already black for a discount price--I love that Valli has the dicount produce. :) Anyway, Leo will have lots of muffins for breakfast when he's out flying. They are really good too! You can check out the recipe here. I just added the chocolate chips.

A Day At Work

Another day in the office.
My question is: is it really work or another form of video games?
A view from the window.
Miss Liberty.
New York. New York.
Some plane Leo liked.
Another plane he thought was cool. It's huge!
This is where that plane was taking off from that landed in the Hudson. Leo luckily did not have to land in the Hudson River during his landing. (Since he was so busy taking pictures during the landing!)
Just another day working hard.
Above the clouds.
NY skyline.
Not home.
And this view means he's almost home. I know all those roads like the back of my hand, but I still manage to get lost occasionally. Luckily Leo has giant numbers painted on roads he's supposed to be on. :)

Wed. Reminisce: God's Country

This was on a horseback ride with my family years ago. It was near where my mother was born and raised. Mountain View, AB, Canada. The most gorgeous country on earth. I just don't want to be there in the winter.
Left to right: Mom, me, Wyatt, Kayli, Lindsay, and Dad.
That's Old Chief Mountain we're riding towards. It's actually in the U.S. but you can only see this particular face of the mountain from Canada. So breathtaking. That's the mountain that you'd see when you looked out my grandparents living room window. God's country indeed.

Playlist

I was bored of my music so I made a completely new playlist. If you have google reader, you should really click on my actual page to hear it. But, I haven't listened to all the songs all the way through, so if you hear something inappropriate, let me know please! Thanks, enjoy!

Cinco de Mayo

Ana's school had a Cinco de mayo festival today. The third-graders put it on so Ana had a few speaking lines, but then she is also in Spanish club so she danced too.
A live Mariachi band came in which was a surprise to the students. It was fun. Elena was scared of how loud it was at first. She soon was out dancing though. They played a rousing rendition of La Cucaracha--during which the kids even joined in singing unbidden, and La Bamba, De Colores, and Viva Meixco!! Got to love America--where the biggest celebration at the school is the commemoration of Mexico's army defeating the French. Hmmm.... Okay 75 percent of her school is Hispanic and only 18 percent Caucasian and most of those are Polish immigrants, so it figures.
Enjoy the show!

News I forgot.

1) Ana is getting glasses. She is very excited, despite my telling her she will only be excited for a week and by the end of the first month she'll hate them. Oh well, at least she'll be able to see. This of course involved taking her to our freakish optometrist (think 60's hippie Vietnam protester who did a lot of drugs--I swear I catch a whiff of pot every time I go there) and he gave me a guilt trip because Ana was not "sort-of" needing glasses, she really needed glasses. Also he told me not to hit his car when I backed out. I have nothing to say to that.

2) I bought a piano--a spinet actually--for $150 off of Craigslist. Sweet. The lady had owned it since it was bought and it was last tuned in 2008, and from the pictures it looks great. I am so excited!!! Not that I can play. But my children will. :)

3) Isabel may be getting a tooth. Maybe. She might be walking before they actually emerge. It's kind of hard to feed her because her appetite is so big and it's a pain not to be able to give her more solids.

4) I just read an article and I tried to find it to quote it better, but no luck, so sorry if my statistics are off. Anyway, this anthropologist was suggesting that it was not just due to our opposable thumbs or walking upright that allowed humans their edge, but actually cooking. Yes, cooking food allowed us to have our large brain mass. This is due to the fact that cooking makes it easier for our digestive system to extract the nutrients from the food; basically we're using food more efficiently and so have more nutrients available with less effort to obtain them. The overall theory was that it isn't that most Americans overeat that is causing increased obesity, just that we eat more processed food than we did thirty years ago. In rats that were fed exactly the same amount, but one group had their pellets ground up, there was a 30% diffence in weight over 6 weeks. Crazy, eh?

Odds and Ends

I bought this hat for Isabel at Gymborees--from their .99 cents bins. I love those bins, I also bought some stockings for the girls for next year. Mostly they had the footless kind. :( I'm really not into that trend.
Every girl needs a pink cowboy hat!!! Seven people stopped me as I left the mall to tell me how cute she was (I had to put it on her right away, and then re-put it on every three seconds). Gotta love a cowboy hat. If only I could convince my husband of that.Also, the new hat I bought for Elena--she didn't want it on or a picture.
And the new hat I bought for Ana. Ana recently received her belated birthday present--a doll that is sort of like American Girl but half the cost. She loves it. She made a bed for it. And named her Maggie. At least I think that's what it is now. Maggie looks just like Ana, only her eyes are black not brown. Ana wouldn't let me post a picture--she made me promise, I'm not sure why. Anyway, it was a hit, which I'm glad about because I was worried she wouldn't like it at all.
I made this tutu for Elena recently. She really isn't that interested in wearing it.
She's cute though.
I was craving granola. A lot of granola.
And I made these, yes--all of them are copied from somebody else. Thanks, Kayli and the internet.