Photos from Grandma's Visit

Another beautiful day to picnic and enjoy Parque del Museo Chico

Both Katie and Emily wanted Grandma Shore's love and attention

With a few short weeks without rain, the girls could actually play in the sand at Parque 93. They were delighted!

Papa taught Katie how to use sand toys to make shapes in the sand. We were all thrilled that he could take some days off to spend with us while Grandma was here.

My adventurous Katie works her way across a moving balance log with ease and confidence.

Emily was peeking at the goldfish and carp in the pond at La Granja, the petting farm we enjoyed visiting with our friends, Brandon, Amy, and Charis.

Katie loved feeding the animals on the farm. Charis wasn't as convinced that they wouldn't take a piece of her hand.

Animal delight!

Loving La Granja, the petting farm!

Ahoy matey!

January and February

I'm enjoying a few quiet moments as two little girls rest. Somehow January and February slipped by, and I haven't written any update. My apologies!

We kicked off January with a visit from my mom. We had so much fun as we celebrated her birthday (a little late), packed picnics and visited parks inside and outside of Bogota, visited a petting farm, and celebrated Christmas (again :-) We were so thankful for her visit, as one of the challenges of living overseas is not being able to spend holiday with beloved family and friends.

February was filled with weddings, friends' birthday parties, Valentine's Day festivities, and homeschooling. (We have started to use ideas from another pre-school curriculum from a homeschool mama on Confessions of a Homeschooler, and we have loved the themes, the games, and the learning that has happened.) Katie often does "school" with her dolls. I have fun eavesdropping on her lessons to hear what she has learned.

Emily, meanwhile, at a 1 1/2 years loves books. She particularly likes Sandra Boyton's Snuggle Puppy and Moo, Baa, La La La, as well as Dr. Seuss' Go Dogs Go and There's a Wocket in my Pocket. After having milk in the morning, she goes right into my night stand, pulls out a stack of books, and plops down in my lap for her reading time. Conveniently (f0r her :-), Katie is still sleeping so she can "ask" for as many books as she wants.

I am fascinated by the language and motor skill development of a second child. Emily seems to have quite a linguistic ear as she picks up words in both Spanish and English. And Katie is quite happy to take credit for teaching Emily many of them!

While Katie and Emily have their share of squabbles, their love and enjoyment of each other is very precious. Watching Emily's whole face light up as she hears Katie's footsteps on the stairs in the morning is delightful. And as they learn to share (this is still a work a progress! :) and Emily continues to grow in her ability to express herself, I have no doubt they will be the best of buddies.

(The photo attachment button has stopped working, so I will post more pictures in the next post.)

Christmas Continued

Christmas

December was a full month. Ben traveled to Cali to work on a project for 10 days, so I was solo with the girls. We were thankful to have skype so that the girls could talk with papa each night.

Besides Ben's travel, we had all the usual hustle and bustle of the season . .. gifts to buy, Christmas cookies to bake for all our neighbors and church, friends to visit, and advent activities to keep us grounded and focused on the true meaning of Christmas.

Katie had been gearing up for Jesus' birthday since November when she first popped out of her room with a towel on her head and announced that she was Mary and that she had given birth to baby Jesus. As we sang carols, read the Christmas story, added stars to our advent calendar, and did Christmas crafts, Katie's excitement grew. By Christmas Eve, Katie was eagerly anticipating sharing cake with Jesus and singing Happy Birthday to Him. She drew him a birthday card and told me to write, "I love you. You are my best friend. Thank you for loving me. Happy birthday." The simplicity of her faith and love is so precious!

Christmas Day itself was spend first celebrating as a family and then with our dear friends, Amy and Brandon and their little girl, Charis. Certainly we miss being with family at this time of year, but we were grateful to have friends to celebrate with.

October and November with a Sprinkle of Early December

For the sake of catching up, I am going to compress October, November, and early December. Those months were a flurry of birthday's (mine and little friends of Katie's), Thanksgiving (which we have no pictures of because our camera batteries died :O), and little Christmas parties with other expat families. I will write a blog about getting ready for Christmas once I have uploaded our most recent photos.

For my birthday, my dear hubby surprised me with a picnic out where he works. Part of the surprise was that he picked up my dear friend, Amy and her little girl, Charis to enjoy the morning with us. (Charis is Katie's best friend, so needless to say, Katie was thrilled.) The birthday festivities continued as my friend, Patrycja, hosted a little birthday get together/play date a few days later. What a great way to begin my 36th year!

Without having a fall season to enjoy here (no foliage, pumpkin patches, apple picking, or cider), I learned how to use a Colombian squash to make a myriad of pumpkin muffins, cookies, breads, and cakes. Somehow having the "fall" smells waft through our house made it seem like we had a little taste of autumn here.

October and November were filled with baking (see above :-), our pre-school coop, "school," play dates, and just day to day living.

My Precious Katie

(Thank you, Patrycja, for these wonderful photos!)

A month after Emily's birthday, Katie turned 3 years old. For her special day, we invited four little friends to come to a princess party, complete with princess costumes, pin the crown on the princess, and princess picture frame making.

Dress up is but one of many activities that my beautiful little Katie enjoys. Playing in her kitchen, nurturing her dolls and bears (everything from breastfeeding them (ahem!), changing diapers, doctoring them, reading with them . . .), reading books, & singing made up and "real songs" are amongst the things that she enjoys doing.

After her birthday, in October, I began to do pre-school with her, and she really delights in learning whether it is a nursery rhyme, a Bible verse, a letter of the alphabet, or something completely different.

Katie is very agile; she loves to jump, hang, climb, dangle, and roll around in the park, in our living room, on her bed . . . . She loves to be outdoors whenever possible and is always looking for little friends to join her in playing.

Emily

(Picture taken by my dear friend, Patrycja)

Perhaps a birthday reflection is a bit past due, but my precious little Emily turned one on August 26th. At that point in time, she had taken her first few steps (at 11 1/2 months), but she much preferred the security of using furniture, walls, and adult hands to get around. Emily was also very attached to me, so leaving her, even with papa, had to be done with stealth. At the time, she was saying, "papa," "mama," "hola," and "bye bye," but Emily was much more in the observing and listening phase of development.

Who knew in the few short months since then how much Emily would change?! My dependent girl has become an independent explorer who loves to climb, run, ride on her sister's tricycle, and get into mischief. By 12 1/2 months, she was not just walking, but running (and she hasn't stopped).

Having an older sister to imitate seems to have helped in everything from learning to drink from a cup to picking up vocabulary. Having an older sister also means that Emily has learned how to defend herself and "speak up" when she feels Katie is taking advantage of her. I sometimes stifle a laugh as Emily pushes Katie, pulls her hair, and screams at her when Katie takes a toy away. It is quite comical at times to see Emily, half the size of Katie, staking her claim. And I also have the opportunity to give another lesson in sharing and kindness!

Emily loves music and will often try to sing or dance along, especially when I am doing school with Katie. Like her sister, Emily loves to look at books and snuggle with various bears and dolls. We love the personality, sweetness and love that Emily brings to our family!