And so it begins...

Another season of hiding the "El on a Shelf" to make sure the kids are extra good during the holiday season. This year Emi wrote a letter to Santa requesting he send a girl elf - you'll notice 'he' made a midnight dash to Target to get a skirt for the elf.


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August

Again - mostly unedited pictures....

For the girl's fifth birthday we were fortunate enough to have Grandpa in town to celebrate with us.  It was also the first time we had an "offsite" birthday party and honestly, I'll never have a birthday party at home again.  So easy!  Emi's friend Elizabeth had her birthday party at a nearby indoor swimming pool which E loves so that's where she chose to have her birthday party as well.  First, we celebrated at home on her actual day.

On her party day Emi chose to invite her special pal Kyrie for lunch at a Japanese steak house close to the house and near the pool as well.  Total hit.  The girls loved the "show" they do at the big grills and frankly ate more than I thought they would!

the chopsticks were a hit as well.

Then it was on to the pool...

 lined up to swing into the pool like Tarzan.

Finally, after a l.o.n.g. summer it was time for the first day of school.  Out to the front yard tree for the usual pictures...

I thought she would be upset seeing many of her friends heading off to Kindergarten but she couldn't have cared less.  Reinforced my belief that we had made the right decision for our girl in holding her back one more year.

These two were headed off to school as well...

I couldn't possibly get all 3 to smile for me at once, could I?

Nope.

the wrap up

An amazingly awesome day spent with good friends and lots of littles on a working dairy farm.  Heaven.

let's say marcus is imitating andres' face whenever he saw a cow or a horse.  he was t.e.r.r.i.f.i.e.d.

 our friend vaquero & jose tomas

 this one was in his element.  latent gentleman farmer genes + finnish farmer genes = one happy boy.

 we spent a lot of time just watching the cows go from pasture to milking back to pasture.  sounds boring, but if you're under 8 it's fascinating stuff.

 llama

 babies were a big source of entertainment as well.... with Fran.

 marcus and javier in the field forever...

 checking out the guinea pigs.

 the boys and agus

 emi and julia rode horses in the afternoon together.

 bunny feeding.

 tire swinging.

 tractor driving.

 a valiant and epic failure of an attempt to take a group picture.  

Back at home...

This is Liliana, one of the girls who takes care of my kids when I go.  Every morning Javier would come downstairs after his own breakfast and sit with Liliana and have breakfast with her as well, stealing nibbles of her bread.  She's awesome and giggling in this picture.  Why?

because apparently she taught a certain someone to sip a little coffee in the mornings as well.

great.