Christmas Waffles

Christmas morning after we opened stockings, I made waffles for breakfast. It's becoming a family tradition because this is the second year in a row. Since it was Christmas we tried to do something a little special and allowed the boys to have whipped cream on their waffles. N. decided that he also wanted puffed wheat on top of the whipped cream. It's amazing what comes out of a five year old's mind. Who would ever think of putting puffed wheat on top of whipped cream on your waffle? We just couldn't pass up the photo op. A. was a little more traditional and went with just the cream.

Problems

I've been trying to put up a new post for the past couple of days, but for some reason, things are not working right. I received a new computer for Christmas and we're in the process of switching things over. We're getting there, but for some reason I can't upload photos to my blog.
If I ever get it working I'll tell you about Christmas waffles.
I hope every one had a very Merry Christmas and has a safe and Happy New Year.

WDVE

Some of you may have noticed in my blog about Xunantunich, that Dan had brought a Terrible Towel with him. In fact, he bought one so that he could specifically take it to Belize and take a picture of him with it at the Mayan ruins. A local radio station allows people to post their Terrible Towel pictures from around the world on their website, so here is the link. You can all go and see Dan on the WDVE website with his Terrible Towel. Double Yoi!

Birthdays

Today is my 28th birthday. I'm trying to get a grasp on this whole age thing. As a kid you never really understand it when adults say, "You're only as old as you feel." Because I think as a kid you always feel as old as you are, or older, and then you can't wait to get to a certain milestone age. Now suddenly, or so it feels like, I'm 28 with two kids and I only feel like I'm about 18. Where did the last ten years go? It's not that I mind being 28 or that I'm worried about approaching 30. I really am not concerned with what number I am. Everyone gets older. It's not like I'm the only one aging and the rest of the world is at a standstill. It's just the odd paradox of knowing you've lived for so many years, but not feeling like you're "that age". What does it mean to feel like you're 28 anyway? Today is just another day like any other. I got up this morning and ago breakfast for my husband before he headed off to work. Then I got my youngest son dressed and fed him breakfast as well. Now I'm sitting here writing a blog, watching my oldest play with Legos in his pajamas and thinking that he should be dressed and fed by now.
I'm heading up the Christmas program at our church this year, and as I stand up in front off all the kids trying to get them excited about my ideas, I feel like I'm not that far removed from them. And yet I can't help thinking that they're sitting there thinking, "Man, is this lady crazy? Just another adult who thinks shes young and cool". Suddenly I'm one of the adults. And I'm not just one of those "young adults" fresh out of college who are still more like kids than adults. I'm a full fledged grown up woman with a husband of six and a half years, two sons, a mortgage and a mini van. I am blessed!

Xunantunich

Well, it's taken me a little bit longer than I would have liked to get more posted about Belize. I figure I have at least one more post after this one. Our first full day in Belize, Monday, we went to one of the bigger Mayan ruins in Belize called Xunantunich. I believe that it means "Stone lady". In order to get to the site, we had to cross the river. There's no bridge, so we took the ferry. This was a fun experience. I don't know if it would pass code in the US. Dan is walking down to the ferry, because all the passengers had to get out of the car before it was driven onto the ferry. The the operator hand cranked us across.This was the first part that we saw. It was the castle. There were three major "mounds". The castle, the Temple and another mound in between those two which they have allowed to be mostly recovered by grass. I believe this is to minimize damage to it. One of the neat things, was that we were able to climb all of the mounds. This is Cassie and me on top of the castle.This is from the middle mound looking towards the temple. Just to give you an idea of the scale, you can see some people on the steps. And yes, Dan is holding a Terrible Towel. As we headed for the temple it started to rain. Thankfully there was a pavilion near by that we were able to take shelter in. It came down pretty hard for quite a while. These are the steps at the side of the temple. The rain was pouring down them like a waterfall.By the end there was only one dry corner of the pavilion. Poor little J. was so patient and good being held. The rain finally started to let up so Dan, Cassie and I decided to head up the temple. David stayed in the pavilion with J. Dan wanted to take this picture for his waste water treatment buddies back at home. It appears to be some kind of drainage ditch. And here is another Terrible Towel shot. We had to take several to make sure we got the best one we could. Dan hopes to post one on a local radio station's website where they collect pictures of people with the Terrible Towel all over the world. The carvings behind him are a fiber glass replica of what would have been there. That's some pretty impressive stone carving. This is a picture from the very top. It was starting to rain again and we ended up waiting out the worst of it in a little alcove at the top. You can see them in this last picture. We were in the one on the left. That was our Monday. Quite an experience. I'm really glad that we were able to go. It's amazing what these ancient civilizations were able to accomplish, and at the same time so sad knowing how hopeless their religion was.

The Belize Zoo

When we arrived on Sunday, David and Cassie took us to the Belize zoo. It has native animals from Belize. The cool thing is that they do not have the kind of security that they do in the states, so you could really get up close and personal to some of these animals. Of course zoom helps it look like I'm a little closer than I was, but there was still not much between us and the animals. The first two pictures are of a Tapir. This is the national animal of Belize. It's a weird looking animal with three toed front feet, four toed back feet, and a trunk like nose that they can move around similar to an elephant.


Here are a few of the birds that we saw. The black one is a Mohawk Chicken. They can ruffle up the feathers on top of their heads and it really looks like they have a Mohawk.




This next little guy is a parrot. He was very kind and posed for a picture.







This is some kind of Eagle. I can't remember what he's called, but he was very impressive. He was farther away when we walked up, but then he flew closer and started ruffling his feathers at us. I guess we were bothering him, but it was impressive to see his wing span and it made for some great pictures.

These birds are scarlet Macaws which are the nation bird of Belize. Very Beautiful!






I'm not sure what kind of bird this was, but it was preening for us. It was big and white with a really big fat ugly black neck.





This is a spectacled owl. It gets its name from the black feathers around its eyes which look like spectacles. This one finally stood still so that I could get a full frontal picture of him which is quite impressive. Its friend was putting on quite a show for us bobbing back and forth in what looked like an odd kind of dance.
This little guy is called a Tucanette. He created a little bit of excitement for us. I was trying to get a better picture of him without all the wires from the fence, so I put the camera up close to the fence so that it would focus between the wires. I guess I upset him, because he suddenly jumped at me and bit my finger. The skin didn't break and it didn't hurt, but he sure did give me a start.
This is a Grey fox. He was tiny. Maybe the size of a yappy dog.






This is a puma. A mama puma from the look of her tummy. I wasn't patient enough to get a really good picture of her. David waited around and she finally sat down right beside the fence and he got some great pictures of her.




This last picture is of a black jaguar. This little pond was right beside the fence and he came to drink at it right as we were walking by. While he was drinking a little gecko walked by and the jaguar started stalking it and then pounced on it. The gecko didn't give up and managed to get away, but the jaguar won in the end, catching it again, killed it and then just left it there. I guess he doesn't like geckos in his territory.


We had a lot of fun experiencing a completely different zoo that you would in the states. It was a great start to a wonderful week. Stay tuned. I'll be posting more pictures and stories from our trip.

Home Sweet Home

We're back from our trip. Yesterday we left Belize and flew to Dallas/Fort Worth airport and spent the night. I was tired and a little discombobulated, but my wonderful husband was persistent and found us a nice affordable hotel to stay in. It was definitely better than trying to spend the night in the airport. So we took the 5:00 hotel shuttle back to the airport this morning and finally after killing some time.....waiting for the pilot to get to our plane....and a few hours in the air, we were back in good ol' PA. It was so good to see my boys again. And they were honestly happy to see us as well and ready to go home after spending a great week with Gramma and Paw-paw. A. kept giving me hugs all this afternoon and just looking up at me with this glorious smile on his face. I swear they both grew while we were gone. I can't believe what big boys they are.
I am so thankful that I have parents that I can feel good about leaving my boys with and know that they will be showered with love and well taken care of. It allowed Dan and I to go away, just the two of us, for a whole week and have a wonderful visit with friends. I am so blessed to have the family and friends that I do. The trip to Belize was full of wonderful memories. I hope to post pictures soon and write in a little more detail later on. It will take a few blogs I think. But for now, I need to get used to this cold weather again.

Belize

Right now, I'm sitting in an internet cafe that is owned by our friend in Belize. We arrived her on Sunday night and have been having a blast. So far we've been able to experience the Belize zoo, Mayan ruins, staying in a Belize hotel and sampling some native food. We're having a great time and are so thankful to be having this experience. I hope all our American friends are doing well and getting ready to have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Alone

So I'm sitting here in my house at 3:20 in the afternoon all by myself. It's a strange feeling. It's very quiet. I feel like the boys should just be upstairs taking naps, but I know they're not.
They boys are with their grandparent on their way to Indiana. They have been invited to their cousins birthday party and just can't wait to get there. You may wonder why they are going with their grandparents instead of Dan and me. The reason is that Tomorrow afternoon Dan and I are getting on a plane to Miami on our way to Belize.
While I was in Japan I became fast friends with my house mate and fellow teacher. She is now living with her Peruvian husband and son in Belize and my husband is fulfilling a promise he made to me that we could go and visit her. I'm very excited. I haven't seen her since her wedding almost three years ago. We'll be in Belize for about five days. I'm so excited to meet her son who is 10 months old and well as just catch up with an old friend. We're also going to get to see some Mayan ruins while we're there, which I think will be thrilling. So in a week or so look back for an update on how our trip went, pictures, and whether our boys missed us at all or were to busy having fun with Gramma and Paw-paw to notice we were gone.

Fun with bargains

My mom is the queen of bargain shopping at Target. She likes to wait until things go 75 to 95 percent off, and then she gets all sorts of things. Today, while we were there for Sunday dinner, she pulled these out for the boys. Unfortunately, my boys can be shy and they refused to show much interest while at Gramma and Pa-pa's. She will be happy to know, however, that once we got home, they became the new cool toys. N. is really enjoying his "Sir Peter, knight of Wolfsbane" costume, and A. loves his soft horse. Priceless pictures. I love the ones of N. with his curly hair. He certainly does look knightly. It is so much fun having two little boys. They are a joy.

Saturdays

A couple of Saturdays ago, my dad came over and helped Dan build our new set of steps. Aren't they beautiful? This was the next step in our driveway project. Dan still has to finish the landing at the top of the steps, but he hopes to do that this Saturday. I'm so excited to have a nice wide set of steps going up the hill.











Then this past Friday, we had 22 tons of slag delivered. Because we needed it behind the garage, the big truck didn't have enough room to spread it for us. So we got it dumped into a big long pile. Guess what Dan and I did this past Saturday? Yep, we spent the day spreading slag, but we did it. We got it done, and now we have a bonified driveway. We still need to get a little more fill to make the driveway a little wider and thus easier to maneuver the van around in, but we are now parking our vehicles behind the garage. Hip Hip Hooray for progress!

Traditionnnnnn Tradition

Last night we went over to my parents for a family tradition of carving pumpkins. My brother also came with his girl-friend and room mate. The boys had a great time. Dan helped N. with his and A. and I collaborated on one.

Here's N. with the pumkin he picked.

Then he drew the face he wanted and Dan helped him cut it out. This is N. laughing at the "pumpkin boogers" coming out of his jack-o-lantern's nose.

This is the one that A. and I made. He told me what he wanted and I tried to ablige. A. liked the eyes I suggested and he also wanted a big nose and a wide happy mouth with two teeth on the bottom.
N. and Dan's masterpiece. Of course once we were all done and the candles were lit we had to sing the Jack-o-lantern song....."Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern, you are such a pretty site, as you sit there in the window looking out at the night. You were once a yellow pumpkin growing on a sturdy vine. Now you are a Jack-o-lantern, let your candle light shine."
Here's A. and I with our pumpkin. A. is a little less than enthusiastice because he had just been scared by Uncle Noah with a floating Jack-o-lantern.

My dad had also raked up a pile of leaves for the boys to enjoy which they did. Who can pass up a big pile of leaves?

Thanksgiving

I'm so excited I'm about to bust. Dan and I are going to Belize to visit my friend Cassie over Thanksgiving. My mom has offered to keep the boys, our passports are here and current and our airline tickets are bought. I haven't seen Cassie in almost three years, when we went to her wedding. Now she has a little boy of her own. I'm excited to see me friend again. I'm excited to spend a week with my husband. I'm excited to be going to a new country. What makes it even more wonderful is that I don't have to worry about my boys. They can't wait to spend a week at Gramma's and get to sleep there and not have to say "good bye". Belize here we come!!

Dan's day of fun

Dan rented a little mini excavator Friday night to Saturday. We're trying to re-vamp our driveway, making it come around the garage with parking behind. This way we can park closer to the house thus not having to walk as far, get rid of the trecherouse brick walk way we currently have, and have something that is much easier to remove the snow from in the winter, thus it will be safer.

Dan had a blast on the excavator. He was up at 7:30 Saturday morning to work with it. He got a lot of work done and we're very pleased with the progress we're making. Hopefully we will finally get this project done. It's been in the "planning stage" for to long.

Fish

A week ago, we went down to Geneva for homecoming. As we were walking back to the car, A. noticed a booth set up by the career center that had free "toss the ping pong ball in to the fish bowl" games. The prize being a gold fish. Of course he wanted a fish, but he also wanted to play the game. A couple of thoughtful boys who were walking by heard his plea for a fish and handed him theirs. "His name is Enoch" they said. A. Still wanted to play the game and since it was free we thought, "what's the harm" While showing the boys how to play the game, Dan acidentally won another fish. N. named him Bob. Well as is the case with many "prize" goldfish, Enoch lived for about a day and Bob lived for two or three. The boys took the deaths well, but had been so excited about fish that it gave me an idea. Last week we went to the library and got some books about fish and then made a trip to Walmart and picked up four tiger barbs. (I don't like goldfish that much) So far they're still living. The boys have a great time feeding them every day. I figured I could always call it our science lesson. Now we just have to start reading those books.

A Wedding through the eyes of a five year old... Part2

Hear are a few more pictures from my brother's wedding. My brothers can always be counted on for good times, funny faces and great pictures.




N. needed someone to stand between the trees for a picture. So I took the opportunity to have my picture taken with the handsomest man there. I wish that it hadn't turned out so dark.




I took this picture of A. There were all sorts of snacks in the kitchen for those of us who were there early and A. found them and disposed of a few grades and cookies.

My Aunt Myrtle.








A beautiful picture of the lake





The Bride's family. I think was have at least ten pictures of this group shot. N. had a great time taking the picture and found great joy in beating the photographer to the shot at times.

They distributed birdseed to everyone to throw at the happy couple on their way down to the dock to board the boat. Here is N. saying, "birdseed"

The wedding party boarding the boat. We had some fun.

Me talking to my youngest. I didn't see them for a good part of the day, so we had a little catching up to do. I love my boys.

The four brothers and my dad singing "I can't help falling in love with your" or "Fools rush in" On the dance floor. I finally coaxed N. to dance with me. However, there is no need to coax A. He was having fun learning new moves from his cool Uncle Sam

The Bride and Groom, cutting the cake.