Back in the day when I was a nanny for the Latimers, their four year old Julie would come home from school and sing all the songs she had learned...it was beyond adorable and I made her call all my friends to talk and sing to them because her voice was just the squeakiest, precious thing you have ever heard.

Fast forward to today, Julie is 14 going on 25 and a minute from broadway having starred in several plays and musicals, including playing Sandy in Greece (I know totally impressive huh), and a zillion others. Yet today, I cant forget the sweetest song she used to sing to me, so I taught it to Jax and now he and I sing it to Riley every night while Riley helps with the moves...

So without further adieu, here is Jax singing "Little Caterpillar" and Riley helping out...

Beach Trip

On Saturday the kids and I went to the beach with Judy and met up with a friend of her's and her daughter. It was a GREAT day to go to the beach, the breeze was just right, the sun wasn't too hot, and the best part, there were lots of trees to shade the sand. We had a blast as usual!!

Look hard, that is a horse in the background!

First day of school!

The school year in Costa Rica is different than that of the states as the "summer break" is during the holidays... so Jax is basically off from the beginning of December all the way thru January.

School started on Monday, Jax goes from 8-10 this week, then 7-12 beginning next Monday. This is an hour earlier than years past and I have no idea how I am going to get the kids up, dressed, fed and out the door by 7am...booooooo 7am.

Anyway, this year Jax marched right in, hugged his teacher and sat down in his chair. No tears, no extra hugs, no longing to stay home with mom *sniff sniff*. He is getting so damn big. Riley, however, did have some tears when he realized he didn't get to stay at the school and play with his brother.

So...here are some photos of before and after school!

Jax enjoying his breakfast

This peanut butter is GOOD!

Riley just being cute hanging with the dogs

Please don't leave me brother

Riley tickling his bro

MMMMmmmmm how good does that look?? One root beer float, Jaxon's request for his first day of school treat!

Delicioso!!! (delicious)

New things...

When we got back from the states our bathtub was done and the boys have been in it every day since (I feel like a broken record...). But here are a couple pics, its super deep which takes awhile to fill, but there is a ton of room for both boys to play in there, AND Riley cant climb in and out of it!



AND - The day after we got back two horses had babies! So here is Cali and her baby, and Jean and her new baby!



ALSO - Judy got a puppy!!! A stray dog rolled into the office awhile back and managed to get pregnant right away, what a surprise! At any rate, the mom had some complications at birth and all 12, that's right 12, puppies had to be born via c-section. Mama dog was having a hard time healing and two ladies from the office basically supplemented the puppies with formula until the mom could nurse more...unfortunately all the dogs were also sick with pneumonia or something equally as awful and only two survived. Judy took the male, he is adorable and his name is Shadow, so here is Riley and Shadow!



THEN - The kids got haircuts, its always a party when we do haircuts!

THE END!!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that jazz...

Well we have gone and returned for the holidays. I admit to being a total blog slacker, I have no excuses! Our trip was wonderful, we got to spend a lot of time with family and friends and I even got to go to DC to see my friends all by myself, without kids, sans ninos, solo mio. It was awesome.

There I said it. I LOVED getting some time away from the kids, seeing and talking to friends without someone tugging on my pant leg, not having to put anyone in time out, enjoying a meal before it got cold, riding on the escalator instead of finding the elevator at the airport, getting to pee without stuffing a stroller and two kids into the stall with me...it was bliss. I, however, was ready to have them back after the weekend and I think they were a little excited to see me too:)

Since returning Riley has been a bit of a...I will put it nicely...needy. He feels the need to carry everything all over the house, at once...including two blankets, two babies, his sippy cup and whatever toys he is playing with at the moment. Needless to say he gets a bit frustrated when he can't accomplish this. Hopefully it will ease up soon!!

Jaxon starts school on Monday. Hopefully he hasn't forgotten too much Spanish! His school has two new teachers this year so I pray the transition goes well!

To all of you I did get to see, it was great! It was so nice to be home for the holidays despite being the only one in my family who likes the snow/cold... to everyone I didn't get to see...get your ass a plane ticket and come visit me. So far we have ZERO confirmed visitors for 2010...not a good way to start the new decade people!!!

Okay I promise to be a better blogger. Until the next time...peace out!

Fall fun

The leaves were overtaking the back yard so I broke down and raked them. It was quite the project but the kids enjoyed the results. Here are some pics.

A pre-school graduation...

Jaxon had his first ever pre-school graduation last Saturday. Each year his school has a ceremony for those who are graduating and moving on to the next level, I guess it would be considered moving into kindergarten... however they make a spectacle of all the children, by inviting all the parents and family to graduation and making them all sit around for hours and be entertained by parading the children down the isles and singing a lot of anthems.

It went something like this.

We were instructed to be there NO LATER than 3:30, in our seats and ready. In years past people have been late, which is typical, if not expected in Costa Rica. Well this year they were NOT, repeat, NOT waiting around for everyone to get there. They rented the facility from 4-6 and did not have time to wait.

So we all (Giff, Judy, Aaron, the boys and I) manage to arrive by 3:28 give or take, we were not going to be the one's who were late and talked about next year. Then it was time to wait. And wait. And wait. Oh yeah, then we waited some more. Finally, at 4:45, we were allowed to take our seats. The ceremony started by introducing Jaxon's group, who were dressed up in assigned costumes from princesses to Peter Pan. Jaxon was a "mago" which is a wizard or magician. Judy made Jaxon's costume and it turned out so cute. She even found a wand for him that lit up and made magic noises, he was delighted!

So each child was introduced, then they introduced the actual graduates who were adorned in real caps and gowns, quite cute indeed. Then each child sat down and they paraded in the flags of Costa Rica, Guanacaste, and Bagaces up the isle. Then the MC talked and talked and talked. Then they sang the songs of Costa Rica, Guanacaste and Bagaces. THEN they introduced each child AGAIN and had them up to the stage where they were given their "diploma". THEN the paraded the flags down the isle while singing some more. Are you exhausted yet? We sure were.

By the time this hoopla was over it was nearly 5:45, almost time to leave right? WRONG. They had a show you see, a wonderful show for the kids. This consisted of two little people, real little people, dressed as elves and a singing man. The kids really liked it, standing in front of the stage and dancing and singing along. It would have been even better, had it not lasted 45 minutes. Finally, FINALLY, they let us eat, at 6:30, the time we were supposed to be arriving home. The kids were starving and tired, as were the adults. Luckily we were in the first group to eat so we literally ate and ran.

It wasn't THAT bad. Jaxon was adorable and sat in his seat without getting into trouble for a LONG time. But next year, we may just have to be out of town.

Here are some pics of the affair.

My little Mago

Jax and his friend Carlos as Peter Pan