A Couple of Weekends Ago

We went to This is the Place Monument and then to the Heritage Village. It was hot. But we put our kids to work right away.

Poor child laborer. (She loved it! I think I should get her this set up for Christmas and let her scrub rags all day during the summer.) Ana, hard at work, plowing the corn field.

By a few of her friends.

I love Isabel's expression here. So cute.

Ana forgot her homework.

Leo was writing fluid dynamic equations on his slate. What a show off.

Ana wanted her hair cut.

And a shave.

A hatmaker!!! I so want to learn this. Although, I wasn't that impressed with most of her hats. (Yes, I'm mean, I know.)

I liked this old mill.

On a train ride. Ana was mad at me because I made her sit by Elena and Isabel. She wanted to sit in the last car by herself. I'm such an awful mother.

Ana found gold for all of us.

The other kids, well, they just got wet.

Sleeping on a ship's berth.

Ana posed like in Titanic for me, although, she had no idea what I was talking about.It was hot. We were tired by the end. But yet, stay tuned for parte dos.

Why is it?

Why is it that I can remember the banal detail of where I put my favorite pen when I cleaned off my dresser today, but not where I put my new flash drive that I can't afford to replace?

Why is it that my son just learned to crawl yesterday and today he was tugging at the leaves of my plant and getting in the dirt in a pot that is taller than him?

Why is it that dishes never seem to end?

Why can't I ever finish one project before starting three more?

Miracle!!!

Marmato, Colombia

Leo has been calling Marmato, Colombia and harrassing the poor lady, Luz, who works in the parrish there, and finally after several months, she found the baptismal records of his maternal great-grandfather, his siblings and his parents. Sweet!!! This is pretty amazing considering that Leo's dad didn't even know his grandfather's name till just this past November, because his mom had had some long-held grudge against him. She gave us the most information because my kids buttered her up--no, just kidding, I don't know why, but I sure was happy about it. I can't wait till those records arrive so we can call Marmato again and start bugging Luz once again about other names.Marmato has the largest gold deposit in the world. (I think a Canadian company was trying to buy most of the rights to it.) It's been operating since 1625 under Spanish rule, and even before that by indigenous people. Leo's great-grandfather was a gold miner. No surprise there, almost everyone in the town is.

And just another picture from the town.

Sebastian Sticking Out His Tongue

A few kiddos

Isabel has been sick. Very sick. It's not been fun. She's usually clingy, but when she's sick, it is exponteniated (is that a word?) into "I can't let go of my mother or I may die." She still puts on a happy face though and laughs at everything.

Elena's been really pleasant lately. It's been nice. Although, she's taken to saying, "I can't hear you, speak English!" whenever someone talks to her in Spanish. Lovely.

Oh Sebastian. How do little boys just win there mothers over with no effort at all.

I mean seriously, could I possibly resist this kid?

Oh sweet! Sibling squashing!

And I posted all my new pictures of Ana yesterday. So I had none to post today. Lo siento.

Pictures by Elena

Meet Elena, my avant-garde photographer.

She managed to get a hold of my camera for almost 20 mins last night. So here's her take on our house.

Ana was kind enough to model for her.

My shoe.

And do you see what she caught?!?!

Sebastian learning to crawl. He is way too big.

Her feet.

Ana translating her talk into Spanish for Sunday.

Isabel, playing in the curtains, which she's NOT supposed to do.

Me, changing Isabel, and trying to get any of our YW to come to Youth Conference (I was unsuccessful.)

Isabel modeled too.

The dishes waiting to be done.

Close-up.

The bathroom. She also tried to take a picture of me using the bathroom. I kicked her out.

And lastly, the computer. There were many more. Every square inch of our house was documented. As well as several coloring pages and our front yard. What a goose.

What I did instead of sleep. (Besides write this post.)

It all started simply. I was looking at patterns for historical men's costumes (they always have women, never men--what's with that?)And I successfully found one Victorian era men's outfit. That's about it.I did find this though. Wouldn't that be awesome for Leo to be Napolean for Halloween. Seriously. That would rock.Or a matador? Really, just the thought makes me smile.Then I started finding these. Old patterns.Really, I adore that dress.And these ones.And this one.And the black one here.Umm, that 3/4 length sleeve one in red, well, I would probably never take it off.Again, the 3/4 length sleeve--I love it. I had the top of my wedding dress entirely redone to 3/4 length sleeves and a boat neck instead of the ugle princess neck. And then I found a blog. This one. And I read it. And I read it. And I kept looking through it for, well, I won't tell you how long. That's not her by the way, in the pictures I mean. But her blog is great nonetheless. And here's the blog from which she showed those retro styles. I can't help but love it. I mean, the girl is trying to learn hatmaking. I so could see myself doing that. Which leads me to the fact that I also found these. I would love to make these. And wear them. If only Leo would let me.

Which then led me to this. Well, not Mona Lisa Smile. But hairstyling tutorials on pin curls. Yes, I know, I'm sick. But seriously, ever since seeing this movie, (which I didn't like by the way) I've wanted Julia Stiles hairdo. I've had these pictures saved in my files for years now.And now thanks to Youtube, I could probably manage them. Goodbye my short hair, I think I'm going to be growing out some nice, softly curling locks.I could even go for this. It's classic, right?And just for the record, I asked Leo's opinion and he agreed wholeheartedly. (I think he just recognizes that no matter what I did at that point, my hair would be longer, which is what he wants.) I could even go for this. But I'd have to look up another hair tutorial.....But altogether, not totally a waste of time as I became excited once again to sew my children's Halloween costumes. (I was somewhat burnt out after sewing several hundred poodle skirts, well that might be a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea.)