Trimming the Tree

I LOVE Christmas! I start playing holiday music the day after Thanksgiving... and I play it through New Year's... EVERY day! (that one makes Sergio crazy!) Although we've had a real tree some years, I really require an artificial tree. That's because I want to set it up the weekend after Thanksgiving and keep it up through January. Generally I have to have it down by Valentine's Day. I know others find that too long a time frame... but I LOVE have it up and I can... so I do! :) The cold of winter just doesn't seem so bad if you get to curl up and watch telly with the glow of the tree next to you... KWIM?

A~ is lovin' the decorating part. She was SO sad when we ran out of ornaments! And this year she's big enough to hand stuff somewhere other than the bottom branches... and she can understand spreading things out so that everything isn't in the same general area. That's a big help for mom who had to sneak behind her last year and secretly rearrange things when somebody was sleeping! :)

Here are a couple of shots to get you in the spirit of the season. We took Christmas card shots last night... but that will be a surprise with your card. Enjoy!

much love,

erin

Very Thankful

What a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I think A~ had her best Thanksgiving yet. The weather was warm and balmy... into the 70's until almost 3pm.

She played out front while everything cooked and caught parts of the parade on the telly. I think she asked where Santa was every 5 minutes at least! Much to her relief, he showed up... although she wasn't happy to find that he was the END of the parade.

We had a great meal (what a relief!) and A~ really enjoyed the sparkling pomegranate juice I got as a treat for her. (Actually it's all gone today... so I think her and Sergio both enjoyed it a lot! Isn't it always those little things that kids find so special?!). After eating we went to the park for walking, scooter-ing, a little soccer, and fun on the playground. Then the cold front came through and gave us a lot of wind and a little rain. We headed home for pie, naps, and playing computer games. Later came more food, more games (including A~ favorite.. Barrel of Monkeys game..., and our first ever family round of "Hello Kitty" Uno with cookies and milk.

Thanksgiving's been a tough holiday to celebrate... since I'm kind of in charge of the planning and execution of it ... but this year it was a wonderful day with lots to be thankful for!

Much love,

erin

Brave little girl

On last Friday, we went to get A~'s flu shot. She was not happy about it at all. I had been mentioning it off and on to get her used to the idea... and now the time had finally come. As we got ready to go, she begged and pleaded, "Please, Mommy, can we do the shot tomorrow and not today?" She cried some more and finally decided that she would feel better if she took some fruit snacks with her (thanks, Mamasan... they came in real handy!). One package was finished in the car... and the second one was going fast, except for that last piece. On our way walking into the flu shot clinic, I was trying to hold her hand, but kept ending up with a little fist. Finally I asked, "What ARE you holding?" "My fruit snack," she replied. "It has a funny face, so I can look at it when I get my shot and it will help me forget that the shot hurts."

WOW! I wish I had thought of that!

Unfortunately that only worked until we got 2 feet from the table where the nurse was sitting. Then we were back to crying and screaming and the other nurse had to help. Once the shot was done, she grabbed my purse off the floor and headed for the door... she couldn't wait to get out of there!

Now, she says that she wants to be an angel... since they don't need shots. I think she's already an angel! I am a bit biased, though! :)

Finally figured out the Flickr feed!

Can you say "alliteration"?! :)

I am SO excited! If you look to the left you'll see that I've finally figured out how to link over to Flickr so you can see my scrapbooking layouts a little bit easier. I am taking my stuff out of the 2Peas Gallery where it was before and reloading it... and, of course, some new stuff... into the Flickr site. It's going to take a little while. I'm hoping that it will make it simpler to see what I'm working on (that's for you Mom!) so you don't have to jump from 2Peas to ScrapGoods, to More Than Scrapbooking to see things. Hopefully it won't take too long to get it in there!

Much love,
erin

Teatime!

Remember the china tea set that Mamasan got me when I was about 8 years old. I still have it. One teacup is gone... broken I'm sure.... and one saucer is chipped (I actually still have the chipped off piece taped to the plate... in case I ever want to fix it! Ha, ha!). Otherwise it is in excellent condition. A~ got a little teaset for her birthday this year while they were in Bolivia. Unfortunately it is still there. So I pulled out my old one and she has been playing tea party ever since. Some evenings she even decides that she HAS to put on a dress first... can't go to a tea party in the wrong outfit now, can we?





Enjoy!

erin

PS. I just put in a new photo... it looks SO much better with natural light! :)

Trick or Treat!

This Saturday was the Autumn Adventure at the Reston Town Center. They have face painters, and kid's activities, hay ride, balloons, entertainment, and a hay maze all for the bargain price of $5. I didn't realize that it was so far ahead of Halloween... so Thursday night I was up until 2am and Friday night I finished the mermaid costume at 5:30am. After a 4 1/2 hour nap, I got A~ up and crossed my fingers that the costume would actually fit. Come to find that the measurements printed on the pattern for length use the length of the middle skirt piece... and don't really seem to take into account the fins on each side. So in a flurry of last minute sewing I created a pair of straps to hold the fins and snap around each wrist... so A~ wouldn't have to hold them the entire event. Not bad... but we'll have to come up with something else for the Candy Hunt next weekend! :)

Much love,

erin

Final Note!

OK... so maybe it's a three for one day! I decided to put up my latest scrapbooking layout. I had a little boo-boo with the title stamping... so I went crazy with buttons to cover it up and make it look somewhat "planned"! Hee, hee! I love the papers as they make me think of vintage fabric.

You may recognize this locale... Monticello! I think this pics are from 1999... but I'm not completely sure since they were on top of the photos in the photo box due to the panaramic shots of Jefferson's grave (doesn't it look cool though?). What a nice visit with Donna and Matthew that summer! I know we saw some other sites... like downtown Roanoke and Natural Bridge... but I can't find any photos of them. I'll keep looking and see if I can put together some more pages of things other than A~. (Ironically, she asked where she was in the pictures and why wasn't Papi there?!)

Until next post,

erin

Light the Night

Hey again... yes, it's a two for one day... two posts in one day! Lucky, lucky to find a little time and a happy dial-up! :)

Saturday A~ and I walked in the Light the Night walk to help raise money for Leukemia and Lymphoma. Everyone gets to carry an illuminated balloon on a course about 2 miles. It starts just before dusk and is really beautiful. Unfortunately my hands were full of balloons, bottled water, snacks, and stroller... so I didn't get a picture until the end. Mom, you've been saying that I'm not in enough pics... so here's a little A~ and Erin self-portrait just for you. (Thanks for the donation too!)

I think that this is my new, favorite photo:

Much love,

erin

The making of a mermaid

Hi all! It's been a bit busy here lately. The Halloween costume-making season is in full swing and we are surrounded by sparkly satin, organza, and sequins! This year A~ decided that she was going to be a mermaid. And that mermaid HAD to be purple and green. I tried to lure her with the lovely turquoise fabrics.. but... "NO Mommy! Mermaids are purple and green." Then I tried some lovely pinks (girls LOVE pink...right?). Once again I was rebuffed... "NO, NO! Purple and greeeeeennnn!" I tried to explain that the green was fine for a mermaid's tail, but the clothes could be any color at all. Well, as you can see... we have purple and green. :)

I'm sure she'll be lovely. I just hope I don't regret buying extra organza and green, sequiny fabric so that I could double the fins, and ruffles to make it extra special!

Much love,

erin

At the Copa... Copacabana....

Finally a good enough connection to post again... this time featuring the sleepy, little town of Copacabana, Bolivia, right on the shore of Lake Titicaca. Well...it's almost always a sleepy town... except of course for the festival week right before we got there. And you could tell! Two days later, it was totally different: neat, clean, and a bit quiet... very nice and still quite a few tourists. It was hard to find actually Bolivian foods on the menu... but it was easy to find full English breakfast, espresso, lasagna, and pizza. The only local food I tried (outside of the popcorn-like snacks in the market) was the trucha... I think that it's trout... and it was very tasty! :)

Our hotel was up the hill a bit and we had a wonderful view of the lake and all it's little paddleboats. A~ so wanted to sail one, but the water was a bit choppy and it was quite chilly. Although it was chilly, it's also quite sunny... and all of us had to get hats to protect ourselves from the sun. Just wish I got mine before the major sunburn on my face!

The lake is absolutely beautiful... and when you are looking at it you can't see the other side at all... looks just like an ocean, with a sandy shore to boot. We climbed up the hill behind the hotel to Calvario, where they have the stations of the cross on your way up to the top of the cliff... a little scary and very exhausting. We made it up right at sunset... and it was quite beautiful! Ironically there are vendors at the top selling trinkets... and I thought my commute was bad?!

Many of the city streets are on the hilly side to say the least... Some are paved with cobblestones or pavers, but many are dirt roads. Here's a photo of the steps at the bottom of the road coming from the hotel. Lots of pedestrians with these roads!

The cathedral was gorgeous, but no pics allowed inside. It's massive and the sidewalk outside has beautiful patterns in it using different shades and sizes of stones. The cathedral is famous for the Virgin of Copacabana which was created by one of the last living indigenous persons. She is the Virgin morena or the dark virgin. For the festival they had a replica outside so that people could stop and take pictures and such with it. I took the cathedral's museum tour where they have many medieval works of art, gifts given to the cathedral, and dresses for the Virgin morena... they have enough handmade, embroiderd gowns to last until the 2040's already.

Little things

Saturday after lots of errands, finally getting A~ to commit to a Halloween costume, finding fabric for said Halloween costume (a mermaid, if you wanted to know)... I got all excited about this cute, child-sized travel cup we saw at Starbucks.

The little birds and books are too adorable (they had stuffed animals just like them for sale - but I resisted!), the the retro colors make the artwork look like something that could have been out when I was little.

Luckily, A~ was excited about it too... so we bought it! She's used it everyday... worth every penny so far! :)

Much love,

erin

Finally the Farm!

I've had all the farm photos from Papa Abel and Mama Florencia's ready to go for over a week. Alas, the dial-up has not been kind to me and it just wouldn't let me upload anything. Finally today, the connection is good... so here goes! Here's A~ her great-grandparents:

We went out to Carcaje a couple of times. They have quite a bit of land there, although only part of it is cultivated with peach trees. They have a wonderful orange tree right in the front and we picked oranges the first time we were there to take back to the city for orange juice. Not the sweetest oranges, but A~ loved the juice! Here's Tio Martin taking a break from all that work.

They also have a couple of lime trees there... gotta be careful with those... they have thorns! A~ would point out which lime to get and we'd have to carefully pluck it for her! :) They also had a locoto bush there... lovely little purple flowers and small, green, spicy peppers. We didn't pick any peppers, but A~ got a few of the flowers.

Every farm has animals, and this is no exception. They have a little cow... Mama Florencia likes her quite a bit as she's a little petite and doesn't eat a lot, but gives them lots of milk. I even got to try some "ambrosia".... fresh milk (still warm even) with a little bit of liqueur added. Yummy, but different! A~ liked checking out the baby calf, but neither she or it were brave enough to make actual contact. They have a few chickens running around, a pair of dogs (both named Rocky), and guinea pigs.

Sergio, his brother, A~ and I went hiking through some of the undeveloped farmland across the road... it was SO beautiful with the clear, blue sky and cacti. I took a lot of pics. Here are the Bolivian fig trees... love their knobby branches.

I'll try to get the next post up sooner... the next installment is Copacabana and Lake Titicaca.

Much love,

erin

On the street...

OK... it's time for your next installment of the Bolivia vacation photos. This time we'll take a look around the city of Cochebamba. Actually Cochebamba technically refers to the entire state and the city is really called Cercado... but if you say your going to Cochebamba, everyone knows that you mean Cercado unless you mention another city name specifically.

The house is right in the middle of downtown. Here is the street. The door to the house is just before the little, round, green and blue sign on the right... just past the parking area where the street narrows.

Here is Tito cleaning up the Jeep out in front of the house.

































I tried to take a number of street photos, but the streets are a bit narrow and with all of the buildings in the center of the city, it's a bit tough to really capture the feel.

Here is a side street near the house.

Here is Calle San Martin... one of the larger streets near the house.

There are many plazas throughout the city. Some are big and well kept, some are smaller, some are in disrepair. I think most neighborhoods have their own plaza. Generally they feature grassy areas protected by little fences, paved walkways, benches for sitting, and, in the nicer plazas, a fountain or other water feature. My favorite was the Plaza Principal which is by the governmental buildings. A~ loved it too... but for the palomas (pidgeons).

Another beautiful area is the Prada. The Prada has lovley, tree-lined streets with little shops and restaurants. It's a popular place to hang out with friends and family.

The Cristo de la Concordia looks down at the city and you can see him clearly from many parts of city. We didn't go up to see it this time around, but here's a shot from the car. Cercado is in the valley and on the outskirts of town the little houses and business kind of creep up on the hills surrounding the city.






















Next time we'll visit the farm in Carcaje!

Much love,
erin

Just One More...

... I forgot to add my latest layout for you to see. Shan said that she couldn't see any pics except the ones of my scrapbooking.... so hopefully this works for you! :)

















Here's one of A~ (no surprise there!) enjoying a strawberry this spring... actually February when we visited Papi at work and he bought us breakfast. I just LOVE the little, green, Prima birdie! Too cute!

Maybe this would work for some of your older school pics, Mom? Like your senior portrait for the large photo and some of the earlier years below? Just use photo corners to hold everything in place.... or make copies if you'd rather just glue them down.


Later!
erin

Inside and Out

Ok... since I've downloaded all those vacation pics, it's now time to start sharing some! You've been quite patient... thank you SO much for that... and I've decided how to break everything down so that it isn't so much of a pain.

We're going to start with Sergio's parent's house in Cochebamba. The house belongs to Mami Sinfo and her sisters Tia Yolanda and Tia Nema. Each of their families has a section and there are some shared rooms on the upper level.

When you walk off of the street you go through a hall and into the central Patio:













There is a workshop to the right and a staircase that leads upstairs to the shared rooms and a section of the house that belongs to Tia Yolanda's family.












Continuing across the Patio takes you to Tia Nema's rooms and a hallway that leads to Sergio's family's portion of the house:






















Most of the rooms are off of this hallway... the kitchen, Tio Martin's bedroom, Coral and Oscar's bedroom, the living/dining room, the bathroom, and an extra room that you step through to get to Sergio's parent's bedroom. It feels a little different that every door has a lock and key, but since it's open to the outside, I guess that's just normal. It took a little getting used to... as I'm used to wandering around the house here in my pj's... to get up in the morning and have to put on shoes felt a little strange. It was pretty cold in July, so shoes and a jacket were a necessity, especially early in the morning!

Here's A~ with Sergio's cousin Carolina at the end of the hall right at the Patio:






















More to come....

much love,
erin