Merry Christmas!!!!

Just some pictures

What's going on here....

Isabel hit her nose against the piano tonight, and well, I still need to clean the bloodstains out of the carpet. All my children have earaches, and Sebastian has three teeth coming in. It's not been a very productive week for me because all he wants is his momma. My kind mother drove down and gave me a perm. How does it look?
Does it look better now? Yes, well, I resorted to wearing hats, because I look in the mirror and think, "Woah!!! Poodle!!!" I'm not exactly opposed to a poodle look, it's just so different after having straight hair for so long.

It's actually a really great perm...thank you, Mom!

In other news....Leo has finals next week...sigh. But then it will be extremely happy because it will be Christmas!!! Also, I've been baking cookies like crazy. I'll post in January with pictures and stuff and maybe a few recipes on the highs and lows of that. Really, I thought baking cookies would be more simple than making chocolates, and since I get to eat my mom's chocolates this year, I figured I go for more simple. However, they're really not all that simple necessarily, especially when I don't read the recipe all the way through, (oops!) and then, they're not chocolate. That's sad, really.

Buenas noches, amigos.

Dance Revolution

Ana had a ballroom dance performance tonight.

Ana's Performance from Kami Latorre on Vimeo.

It was a Latin dance medley. I tried to follow her pretty close, but it's a little difficult to pick her out at times. She's mostly on the second row back. She did good.

Other Dances from Kami Latorre on Vimeo.

Here's some snippets from a few of the other dances. The first one is two kids in her class that place first at every competition they enter, then there's Provo High's team, the other 4H Ballroom dance team, and then the K-2 hip hop team. I hate hip hop with a passion, but it's pretty cute with such little kids dancing.

Flamenco Dancers from Kami Latorre on Vimeo. And there isn't really much dancing on this (my kids played shy once the camera was out), but I've been meaning to post it forever. Enjoy.

Sebastian

I would post pictures of Ana too, but she's been hiding lately whenever the camera is out.

Something Useful

I promised Leo I would do something useful (like going over our budget.) But I think this is useful, if it makes you laugh. The baggers at Macey's were talking about it as I left. So I had to check it out.

I love Provo. But then, I went to Utah State. Go Aggies!!!!!

Elena and Sebastian

Help Mom!

Actually, Elena is really good with Sebastian, she makes him laugh all the time.

Christmas Tree

Andrea posted her Christmas tree, so I decided to post mine. This year I did something different--for me anyway--and I made gingerbread ornaments and dried orange slices.
I didn't realize that my kids would like them a little too much. This poor little man had his leg eaten off. Our neighbor, who is two, loves to eat these things. And trust me, they aren't meant to taste good. Also Isabel eats the orange slices like crazy. I don't think I'll be doing this again for a while, at least till my kids are past eat-the-decorations-stage.
Elena, on the other hand, loved making decorations, and insisted I tie a string to this scrunchie, which she then hung on the tree. Umm, yeah. At least it's green and looks somewhat wreath-like. I would like to add strings of red beads to it, but there weren't any at Hobby Lobby, anyone seen those around at a store??? But maybe it will have to wait till next year.

In other news, Leo watched the kids while I went to our local DI (thriftstore) and went through every rack of blue jeans. Two hours later, and after trying on about fifty pairs, I managed to come up with three decent pairs, and one really great pair of jeans. Score. Hopefully they won't wear out quick. I hate shopping for jeans.

Elena and her Lemur

This is Elena, Sebastian, and Elena's lemur. You may know that Elena used to take a beaver (otherwise known as Roadkill) everywhere. Well, the beaver has been supplanted by the lemur. Don't feel too bad for the poor beaver though, he's still around quite a bit.This is a lemur for those curious. Don't make the mistake of calling it a monkey in front of Elena, she will passionately correct your mistake. Trust me, I could hear the screams from inside the house when our next door neighbor (5 yrs. old) insisted it was a monkey.

A Happy Tale

Once, many summers ago, in a place far, far away in a land called Illinois, I was meandering through the fair streets of Des Plaines to find my lovely daughter Ana (at a friend's house) when suddenly I noticed a most thrilling sign. Garage Sale. I stopped, intent on my purpose of finding something in particular--though I can't remember what anymore. Remorsefully, I soon continued on my way, not having found the object of my quest. However, I was beladden with three other objects that I eyed dubiously. Were they worth the price I paid? Were they simply junk? Should I have remained firm in my resolve only to buy the object I sought?

Soon I discovered the magic of the one device. Avocado green and dating from the 1970's, my lovely little fondue pot worked beautifully, and the tasty cheese sauce and grilled mushrooms, french bread, and steak more than won over my husband on the $4 price tag.

The second article I have used frequently as well. Again, a mere $4 for a shining, new, Pampered Chef icing decorator. I felt pampered indeed.

And finely, for another $4, the last gadget, remained, unloved, unused, unopened in my cupboard until this Christmas season, when I finally decided it was time. So of course, I turned to the wisdom of the ages to learn at the feet of scholars how it exactly worked. Yes, Youtube, my friend and mentor, once again you didn't fail me, and I learned to use my cookie press. Not only that, I learned that my $4 investment, is worth $50 in all it's vintage glory. Cha-ching!

Now my story is over, and you can all celebrate this happy day with me.

Elena

Isabel