Eva's First Day of Kinder 3

Have I already explained that they do schooling a little different in Mexico than they do in the states?  Well, I have a horrible memory so I am going to explain a little about schooling here for the sake of enlightening everybody.  Private education is quite the boom here.  I guess it is because I live around people with quite a bit of money, but even people that don't make much make the sacrifice to send their children to private school.  Most of the reasoning behind it is that people want their children to be bilingual and almost all of the private schools are bilingual  The other main difference is that people send there children to school very early on.  Even mom's that don't work will send their children to school by 18 months.  But really, kinder doesn't start until the child is 2 to two and a half and that is considered kinder one and there are up to three kinders.  Now that Eva is five she is in Kinder 3 which is the last of the kinders.  The children by the end of this year will be able to read close to fluently in Spanish and will be able to write in cursive as well.  Crazy huh?  In math they will know there numbers up to 100 and will begin to add and subtract.  Of course coming from the states I am amazed that my daughter will be able to do all this but it makes sense here since children go to three years of kinder right?  Should I get on my, I advocate free preschool education tangent now?  I will spare all of you.  So my Eva is now in Kinder three and these were some of the shots from the first day of school.  It wasn't as emotional as it would have been back in Oregon starting kinder, but I will get over it.  She is excited about school still and for that I couldn't be more thankful.  

Now enter her brother.  Elijah is not so excited about school.  Tiny Town likes to take younger siblings to school for free on Fridays.  So starting that first Friday that Eva had school we put her little brother there too.  He was a mess the first day, and has slightly been getting better but not really.  They don't have him there long, only two hours but he stills prefer to be home with his momma watching a little Elmo and chilling out.  Okay, we don't watch a ton of Elmo, just one episode a day but he still loves the red furry creature.  Why do I send him to school you ask?  Well, really it's his dad's idea because he thinks he's too attached to me, but the other reason why is because we feel it would be good for him to learn to interact with other children and socialize.  I am hopeful he will get better there but today, he did stay home with me because he panicked and didn't even want to get out of the car.  And of course, I am NOT willing to send my kid into school in hysterics when I am not doing anything at home that couldn't have a cute little toddler with me.  I know I am a sucker but when the time comes he will get this.

Mexico Part 18: Chapala

Anjane and I got adventurous and posed next to this old man in his costume.  Since we gave him money, he let us hold some of his weapons.  

Our tour boat was Wendy, and the pictures are all blue from the inside of the boat.  The island is where the fisherman stayed part of the year.

First of all, don't judge.  Here is my sorry attempt at making a photo collage.  I used lightroom but I don't really like how they turned out.  So, if anyone knows of something a little more user friendly that I don't have to pay a million dollars to use, I would love your input.  The only reason why I want a collage in the first place is just to quickly put pictures in without having to decide which two or three pictures I will use for the blog.  I like that I got more pictures but I don't think they are pleasing to the eye.  

Okay, back to the real post.  I think almost a month ago now, WOW, I am horrible at updating, The Hiatts and the Herreras from our ward went to visit Chapala.  It is a lake in Jalisco and is apparently the largest fresh water lake in all of Mexico.  Lake Chapala is important to Guadalajara because it provides water for the city.  In fact, I think there is a controversy right now because Guadalajara wants to continue to develop this area, but of course, is putting the water levels of the lake in jeopardy.  It is about a 45 minute drive from where we live and worth it at that.  We went during the "rainy" season and everything was green.  It really was beautiful.  The touristy part is less than a mile long.  They have vendors on the street and tours on the lake.  We decided to take a small boat out on the lake and take it around the island where, two times out of the year there is a heavy fishing season for these little small fishes that the people here like to fry and eat.  I didn't try them, because they didn't seem like my cup of tea but you really do see them everywhere.  After walking the strip, taking the tour and eating at a yummy restaurant, it was time to pack it all up and head for home.  We don't get to see the sites of Mexico often since we aren't on "vacation" but when we do we wish we could see more of this cool place.

Pet Sitting

I feel like I have been such a slacker, which I know I have been, and it is because I am extremely behind on getting my pictures and thoughts up on this blog. Have you ever seen people's blogs in a book and think, YES! that is totally what I want for my blog. Well, I want it too but the bad thing is, it takes time and a lot of effort to document all the good things in life. And more so, when you want to get all the little details in. One day when I get this book into a blog, all my random thought will be so worth it. But for now, I tend to feel like it is a chore. One more thing to add to my to do list. Bare with me, while I post, things that seem very insignificant but for me will be important later. Every night, when Matthew and I lay the kids to bed, Matthew has a new story for Eva. She wanted me to tell her stories about me, and I hate to say it but I can't remember! I am not even that old, but I just don't have a good memory. So now, when I think about this blog, I think about how important it is for me to write this stuff down, especially the little things. I don't' want to forget anything anymore. These are the things that make life interesting and what the kids will want me to remember for them when they are older.

With all that said, this is a rewind blog post. Rewind because it happened back in July but still something that happened in the kids lives that was exciting for them. We dog sat for some good friends of ours. The kids were SUPER excited to have something different in the house that wasn't River. And I actually got kind of attached to the dog. Daisy was super nice and I felt bad for her most of the time because River did nothing but herd her. River wasn't very nice. There was one night where Daisy wouldn't even fetch her toy anymore because River intimidated her. I know, my dog has issues. However, on the other hand, I couldn't blame River either because Daisy got a lot more attention. They kids snuggled with her and she in meantime snuggled and cuddled on with everything that River felt was hers, like Eva's blanket, bed and my bed too. She was only here for two days, but the kids feel in love. In fact, when she got picked up it was in the middle of Elijah's nap. He didn't notice she was gone until the next morning when he was asking for "Deesy." It took me awhile to know what he wanted, but eventually it was clear to me that he was asking for Daisy. If you know Eli, you know he doesn't speak much yet, so for him to make the effort and say Daisy's name meant he really liked her.

With the start of Eva's second week in school, she has been doing great. On Wednesday she was able to bring Mickey Mouse home from school because she had behaved so well, and then over the weekend she was able to keep the class pet turtle as well. I wasn't too thrilled about the turtle but didn't mind because I thought it was tiny enough that she wouldn't be an issue. Well, boy was I wrong. When bringing her home from school the thing was trying to escape and I started to get worried she might be able to bust free. So on Friday night, I had a girls night and Matthew texted me while I was gone wondering if i knew where the turtle was. He thought that Eva had taken the turtle to bed with her, seriously Matthew??, so he went into her room moving the sheets looking for the turtle. He even woke Eva up asking her where the turtle was. Well, apparently, the thing managed to break out of her cage (which really isn't a cage, it is more like this open bowel) and was in the corner of the kitchen. Mind you, she had a huge fall! Luckily the thing didn't die on us but I seriously cannot wait to take the turtle back to school.  Because of this turtle incident, I am not sure if I need to tell Eva to start misbehaving in school so we don't have to pet sit, or if I should be more cautious when it comes to bringing creatures home. The other funny thing about the turtle, is my brave Eli who loves dogs and cats and is fearless of most living things, was scared of the turtle. He eventually warmed up to the thing, but lets just say I am thankful tomorrow is Monday so that Alejandra (the turtle's name) can go back to school.

Clearly, not that excited to take a picture with the turtle

Just because I wanted to share...

Elijah still wears diapers

Oh, I wanted it so bad. I wanted to teach Elijah to poop and pee in the potty but it didn't happen. I thought that because Eva was so easy, Elijah would be the same. I started on a Monday. I was determined and ready with the m&m's, a small potty, and underwear. The only thing I was missing was a willing participant. We spent the entire first day avoiding the potty at all cost. Originally I bought the m&m's to give to him when he peed in the potty but that quickly changed to him getting them if he sat on the potty. The truth is that by the end of the day I was thinking that we didn't learn much about the potty. Day two seemed to be better. I felt that if I could just get him to go in the potty once than he would be excited enough to keep going in it. So for almost two hours we sat in front of the tv on the potty with lots of fluids. I gave him juice, water, even soda and he held on for a long time, but eventually I got him to to pee in it and he was so excited. He kept wanting to pee in it more and more. I was super excited. Once I thought he was done, I let him play outside with a new pair of undies but it wasn't even a few minutes that he peed in them. I changed him and then a couple minutes later he tinkled in them again. I wasn't too annoyed but I realized that he had more self control if he wasn't wearing any undies. Then for the rest of the day, I was stuck watching Elijah naked and catching him pee all over the house. Once I would see him tinkle on whatever, I would run him to the bathroom but, of course by then he wouldn't go. It was exhausting watching him 24/7 but I really wasn't upset at the process. I know it was a boring two days for Eva but we managed. Then, Matthew came home to no dinner and the house in disarray for two days straight and I was questioned whether or not Elijah was really ready. At this point, I questioned it too. He wasn't figuring out when he needed to go and I had to watch him all the time. After a long talk, we decided to call it quits with Eli. I was super disappointed that I couldn't do it at this time, and I am wondering still, if I kept going how much longer it would have taken him, but I think it was the right thing to do. I am still determined to get it done soon, but what I really need him to do is learn to tell me he needs to go and that requires him speaking. I am hoping that he will speak more soon. He seems to be more verbal than a couple months ago, but I know he is nowhere close to where he needs to be. For now all I can do is enjoy the cute pictures of him in his undies and now realize that I now have to end this post to change...you guessed it, a poopy diaper. I can't wait until this is over.

Eva turns FIVE

Eva at her Birthday Party.  Poor girl didn't have her hair done because I ran out of time.  Yikes.

On July 14th, Eva turned FIVE.  I can't even believe it.  I made a point that morning to tell her that five years ago on that day, she was born.  I didn't go into too many details, but I am sure one day soon she will be able to tell her entire birth story to anyone who asks.  It doesn't seem that long ago that I had her. But that's what time does isn't  it?  This year we did our annual, invite all of our friends over to have a barbecue and celebrate the little lady. Except, since we had no home of our own, my parents were kind enough to offer up their house.  It was a lot of fun.  We had a ton of people over with their cute kids.  Many of them who had been to Eva's first birthday.  It has been fun to see all those little kids grow up alongside Eva.  When asked what kind of birthday she wanted, she said a Barbie party, so that is what we did.  With the help of my sweet friend, we brainstormed what we could do for a barbie party.  We came up with a glamour theme.  We had the girls come over and get manicures with stickers and all.  Those were quite the hit.  Then, they were able to make necklaces, and even the little boys joined in.  We had goody bags, that were labeled barbie and ken.  That was my idea, and I thought it was pretty cute. And of course a barbie cake.  My brother Erik helped make the entire thing and I thought he did an AWESOME job.  And of course the pinata.  This was a must have since at her school party she couldn't have one of those per school rules.  I was impressed that when I went to the Mexican store to get one, there was even a barbie one.  It was a sign that we had to have one at the party.  It was filled with lots of yummy American candy, oh how we miss it when we are in Guad. Sure you can find it but it is just too expensive to indulge in too often.  I thought it was nice that I had one of my friends there who helped me sing the pinata song.  I guess Americans don't know that.  People here would be outraged :)  Lastly, even though it had nothing to do with the theme, I think the hit of the party was the bouncy house my parents rented for the kids to go in.  It was pretty cool.  Even one of the moms said so herself.  And that was her speaking from experience.  (Heather, next time, invite me to go in with you okay?)  I realized that this is one of my all time family traditions.  I LOVE Eva's birthday parties.  I know you are probably sick of hearing about all her parties, but for my sake, I have to post about them before the memory is forgotten.  I just love that I can have all my cool friends under one roof for me to enjoy.  I know I am always running around like chicken with my head cut off, and I hardly even remember to sit and eat at these events, but it is SO worth it.  As my kids have birthdays and I throw them multiple parties, I seriously think it is one of my favorite things to do.  So, thanks to everyone who came and made her birthday special.  It seriously wouldn't be the same without you guys.

This is for you Eva Maria...

Eva I love you.  I want you to know that.  I know it seems like I am on your little case so often but I think it is because I love you so much and I always want the best for you.  Right now you think you want to be a dancer, but I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to be a doctor as you grow older.  You have a fascination with wanting to see the war wound, on whoever the kid or adult may be.  You would think it would gross you out or scare you, but not the case for you.  You want to see the action. But, when it comes to your wound, no matter what the size, it automatically needs neosporin and a band-aid 

You are a goofy kid.  You love to make others laugh.  The other night we had you say the answering machine message, and with your cute little English, you said, "This is the Powlls (no, I didn't forget the e).  Leave us a mesh...(pause) missionary."  That was followed by a ton of laughing.  You think you are so funny.  Which, let's face it, that was pretty clever of you.  You also like to pick on River.  Your current joke is to close one eye and say, "Mama, I'm River."  Everyone who sees you do that thinks it's pretty hilarious 

You like to follow your brother around even though he is constantly inflicting pain on you.  Which brings me to the next thing...you cry A LOT.  It seems that in the last couple weeks that you are finally five things are slightly better but not by much.  You like to have your way and you want to stay up too late making you tired, thus the bad moods.  But your mama and papa are trying their hardest to not lose their patience with you and love you for the sweet spirit that you are.  However, the truth is crying comes easy to you.  Maybe you will be a telenovela actress.

You are our little artist.  You love to sing and dance.  You can stand on your tippy toes so well that it makes me cringe to watch you do it.  You draw some beautiful pictures.  Currently of fairys and little girls.  Your drawing cover all of our walls and you love to draw on your papa's desk with the dry erase markers which in return he takes a picture of every single one to save it.

Anything pink makes you happy.  And you want to wear dresses all the time.  Heaven forbid you wear some pants, unless they are under a dress of course.  You really are such a girl.  Although you don't enjoy your hair being done.  This is one of those things that makes you...any guesses?  Cry.

You aren't too fussy about your food.  You eat well actually.  We are working on eating more veggies, but I think you eat well.  I don't even know if I could pinpoint a favorite food because you seem to like it all.  Maybe macaroni and cheese, or McDonalds?  You do like your manzanita ever since we got to Mesico as you call it.  That is actually a really cute thing you say.

You love a schedule and you don't ever really like to be alone.  You always want someone to play with you.  You have always been this way, and I don't think it will change anytime soon.  You like games because I think it requires another person and you can even be a little cheat.  You love to win.

You have a super duper command of both English and Spanish.  Pretty amazing for a five year old.  You can count to almost thirty all by yourself in both languages and you almost know all of your Spanish sounds.  We think you are pretty smart.

You are independent at church now, and you quickly seek your friends to leave for primary.  I am your primary music leader and I think you really like that.  Although it is hard not to play favorites in there when you are sitting so perfect wanting to be called by your mama to participate.  You can sing the primary songs well, and all the teachers say they can tell who the primary music leaders daughter is.

You are getting to be quite the mermaid.  You are more and more daring everyday in the pool.  I think you will soon learn to swim.

All on your own the other day, you told me this.  "Mama, I don't like spiders, I don't like the dark, I don't like whales (but you really meant hippopotamus, you just didn't know the English word), I don't like playing by myself.  But mama, you wanna know what I really, really, like?  Bunny rabbits!"  For whatever reason you want a bunny and you are even willing to sell River for one.  Only you would think of such a thing!

Eva thank you for being you and always striving to be a good daughter and sister.  We love you more than you will ever know.

The Barbie Birthday Cake

She seriously spent most of her time in Oregon with miss Molly.  Eva was on her own vacation.

July 14th with her cheesecake.  She LOVES this stuff.

Sibling love, although I am not sure if that a hug or a choke. 

Mexico Part 17: Year 1 Completed, School Birthday and a Haircut

We have officially finished our first year of med school in Mexico. Okay, so technically, it hasn't been difficult on me, but I know that this has been a lot of work for Matthew. We came back to Oregon for the summer. He gets four weeks of vacation and while the flights are expensive we had to come back home to see Cathryn, Matthew's sister, came back from serving an 18 month mission for our church and my brother Ricky get married. We are enjoying our time here. We came in on Sunday, and thankfully the kids were pretty good on both flights. We had to get them up really early in the morning because we flew out at 7 am, but to much to our surprise when we got to the airport, we were apparently flying out at 6:45 and we arrived at about 6:15. The flight people weren't to happy with us. And while we purposefully, like to show up a little late to the airport, we didn't mean to show up that late. It was a miracle we were able to get on the flight. We were literally the last ones to get on the plane, but thankfully we did. Then when we flew into Phoenix, I think we blew it because they were offering money to take a later flight. the airlines overbooked the flight, and I couldn't do it. Do you know how you want to, but the thought of having kids break down on you because you changed what was going to work for you wasn't my idea of having fun. So, we didn't take the money and instead flew in to Portland and we were all super tired. We recovered quickly though and are having a great time. We split up the trip to spend two weeks in Sisters and two weeks in Hillsboro. I decided to stay an extra week with the kids and fly alone so I will spend that week with my parents. Even though it seems like a long time to be away, it does go by quickly. While on our vacation we have been sleeping the kids in the same room, and I have been surprised how well it has worked. They both go to bed pretty happy. At first they were so excited to be in the same room that it took them a while to fall asleep but now they seem to be fine. In fact, the other day Elijah didn't have his sister with him to take a nap and he was pretty sad. I might have to move them into the same room when we go back to Guadalajara. There really is no need for it, but we might do it if it will make them happier. I will have to wait and see.

The common question I get now that I am not working full time is if I miss it. And what I often tell people is no. I miss my coworkers who are my good friends, and the kids but I don't miss what it means to work. All my friends who work know what I am talking about. I don't miss getting the kids up early in the morning to rush them to daycare, then be late to pick them up because I had a late meeting. I don't miss rushing home to make dinner to a bunch of grumpy children because I just got home and that is their job apparently, to be grumpy. Or quickly get them into the bathtub only to put them to bed and do it all again in the morning. Nope, I don't miss that. This year, I have learned instead that I love my free time. I have watched a TON more t.v., learned to love my sewing machine, read some more books, and hang with the kids. I have even gone on more dates with Matthew. Since we hardly get time together, we have made it more of a point to go out together and that's been fun. We'll see what next year in med school brings me. Hopefully, more good times and less stress. I sure I will have more good times, but I am not to hopeful on the stress part.

Before we left Mexico we celebrated Eva's birthday at school. She knew it wasn't her "real" birthday, but she still thinks she's already five. Whoops, that won't happen until July 14th, but she asked me all year when she was going to have her birthday party at school so I had no choice but to do it before we left. The kids in Mexico are actually still in school. They get out the first week of July, but with Matthew starting school then we couldn't wait for her to get out. She originally wanted a strawberry shortcake party, but I couldn't find a strawberry in my cricut stuff. I convinced her instead to do a bunny party because for the last couple weeks leading up to her birthday she couldn't stop talking about bunnies. So, we had a bunny party. We had a bunny cake, because I lost on that one. I really wanted to do bunny cupcakes, but she refused, saying that all the kids had cakes, so she had to have a cake too. But as you can see the bunny split right open. The roads in Mexico are horrible, and my little cake couldn't handle the bumpy ride. It looked cute at home.

                                      

And, the last thing that happened before we left home, was I chopped off Eli's hair. I think he looks younger, but most people say he looks older. Maybe I am just in denial, because I can see that he looks more like a little boy, than my baby. Now we have just been practicing how to get him from one end of the room to another with a pillow in hand, since he is going to be the ring bearer at my brother's wedding and I think he will be adorable. That's all for now.