Harvest day, Halloween, Dia de los muertos

Whatever terminology you choose to use it was a fun time for us.

Our school Alliance Academy Int'l holds a Harvest Festival every year. This year they had a Super Hero theme. The boys were batman, both of them. Ben enjoyed volunteering again this year (sarcasm) for the pie throwing booth. And I enjoyed (no sarcasm) throwing some pies in my husbands face only because it raises money for the class:)

Later that week we had our own fun. We had a Pumpkin Patch Dress-up Party for the boys and their friends. A lot of the kids at our party were Ecuadorian who never experienced pumpkin patch parties, trick or treating or anything of that sort. We painted pumpkins (notice above our pumpkins here are pointy and small), we bobbed for apples, trick or treated, had a pinata and ate!!!

We ended our celebrations with a 4 day weekend because in this country Dia de los Muertos (Day of the dead) is a holiday. Unlike Halloween its a spiritual day where catholic people go and pay their respect at cemeteries to their loved ones who have passed away. They eat this yummy bread called Guaguas de pan and drink this hot blueberry drink called colada morada. It was fun to enjoy a little of both worlds festivities here with our family.

Here is Ethan being silly batman. I also dressed up to work and wore the wig and classes to school. It was lovely!!!

hair and home

I have always wanted red walls but never had the guts to do it. I love it!
my favorite part of our apartment our patio. Its our only outdoor space.
colors, colors and colors!! I had fun painting that.

I can finally say I am satisfied with the way our home looks and how my hair looks. I am not the kind of woman who spends much time at the salon. For me salons are for special occasions mothers day or birthday gift certificates. Living here in this country I have come to realize that women spend a lot of time at the salon. Why? Because its so cheap. They go to the salon to get their hair brushed and hair dryed, to get their nails done on a weekly basis, etc... I finally went and got my hair highlighted something I rarely do. It cost me $18 and manicures/pedicures start at $3 in some places the more expensive places cost $8, ha. So I was not satisfied with my highlights the first time around so I went back and asked them to fix it. By the third visit and the 3rd person working on my hair it was perfect. I was pampered and beautified and I left satisfied all for $18. The whole time Ben would say I don't see anything wrong with it.

We just moved into our home and if any of you remember me my home is an extension of my personality so I like it to decorate it. We moved into an apt with white walls that were soon becoming gray thanks to our two boys. After trying hard to put off painting our walls we finally gave into it this past week. We only tackled the living room but that is enough to keep me satisfied until we can get more time.
Thanks to God I am a bargain hunter and I have been able to find cheap finds either used from missionaries who are leaving or random finds. Our walls are covered in the art that I paint so we have been able to make it home for cheap even here in Ecuador where everything(but fruit, flowers and salons) cost 3 times as much as in the states.

Whirlwind!

Summer equals whirlwind! Our end of the school ended with moving, trying to furnish our new home, getting ready for summer mission teams, lots of farewells and family arriving. We were very busy with all the wonderful family and friends who came down to visit us. It was so sweet to have so many visitors our first year here.

Our summer began with most of Bens family traveling down at different times and then we led a summer youth team from our church in Ft. Worth and ended with a ladies mission team from Ft. Worth. This was from our home church so it was nice to reconnect with a lot of friends and make new friends from those teams. In between that time we were unpacking, finalizing our end of the school year routine, Ben was taking Intensive Spanish classes, painting, climbing volcanoes and taking time to breathe and enjoy our summer with the kids.

Our boys thorougly enjoyed the many visitors (especially Ethan). Sometimes the schedule was hard on them but we were able to recoup and refresh last week at the beach with just our little family.
By Gods grace it was a summer filled with many blessings!

a house full of besitos!

So life as the only lady in the house is quite fun. I am spoiled by all three of my men! Ethan is our huggy, kissy one so I am constantly loved on. He also has the gift of encouragement so he is always telling me he loves me and he thinks I am pretty. And since Aidens life goal right now is to copy Ethan I also get it from him. Aiden is actually quite independent but there are somethings he feels like he needs to copy. Aiden rarely gives kisses or hugs on his own but he doesn't mind me hugging and kissing on him. And Bens love language is touch so I get lots from him. So can't beat that. I love it.

Aiden NO pray!

Our nightly bedtime routine includes praying with the boys and normally Aiden is okay with it and even asks for it but on this particular night he wouldn't have anything to do with it. Here is what it sounded like Aiden response is in quotes. Aiden ready to pray- "No pray" okay well you don't have to pray but I am going to pray and if you want to repeat after me feel free to. "No pray". Jesus- "No Jesus" thank you for today- "No thank you for today" and my family- "No family" help mommy "No help" daddy "No daddy" and Ethan "No Ethan" in Jesus name Amen- "No Amen"

I couldn't help but laugh. He was determined "Aiden No Pray"
Wow, I wonder what challenges lie ahead for us with this little one. Though I am excited to see how God will use this determination for His glory. Can't wait to see that!

Not too far from home

School breaks for us usually means that we stay home. Call me crazy but traveling in a bus that is jammed pack with people and hearing your kids whine for hours is not what I call restful. So staying home is so much more appealing. But this Spring Break we were able to rent a school van and go to some cabins the school owns for missionaries to use. Its about 30 mins from the big city of Quito. Big city living if any of you have ever done it can get tiring so this was a break we were looking forward to. In this picture we went to some ruins with the kids. We also got to hike down an inactive volcano that was with out the kids. That was quite the steep climb. On our way down we passed an elderly lady probably in her 70's climbing up. I was flabbergasted that she was not huffing and puffing. We on the otherhand were out of breath most of the way up. I am just amazed at how these elderly people are in such great shape. We did climb it in less than what the guide told us(yea!) but I am not sure if I could do that at 70.
Singing worship songs and folk songs with the girls.
The cabins. Actually, these are the cabins one of our mission teams will be doing a makeover on! Yea! Ethans little friend!

Our friends who joined us!

We love you Ya-Ya!

Happy b-day song

Cowboy B-day Party for the boys at the Tuten Ranch

Many of you may not realize but Ethans b-day is the 22nd and Aidens is the 23rd of March. So this simplifies our party planning- celebrate 2 parties in 1. The boys are 2yrs and 5 yrs old. We have the joy of sharing our yard with the school campus so we had plenty of green space for our outdoor party. It was fun to introduce this -western theme to our Ecuadorian friends. I tried to translate that we were having sloppy joes for lunch and realized that it just wouldn't sound quite right once translated. They tried the food even though it made no sense to them and they loved it. Ben can take credit for that. We had two fun cakes one was a boot and the other was a western scene which they ooh & aaah about because baking is not a very common thing to do here.

fun hand me downs

Aiden is growing sooooo fast. Here is a picture of Aiden wearing Ethans hand me down sz4 spiderman outfit which by the way almost fits him just right. Crazy huh, he's only 2. And here is Ethan wearing Nathan Reeves Dragon outfit thats waaay too small for him, he doesn't care that its a bit small. Nonetheless, they love wearing these fun little costumes. Yes, they even wear them out in public. Gotta encourage those little imaginations even if they look adorably silly.

teach them young

I have actually never asked Ethan to wash dishes or taught him how to do it. He asked if he could do it the otherday out of no where so I wanted to encourage him so I said yes. I remember reading somewhere never discourage your kids from helping you around the house even if they make a mess. Sometimes that is hard to do b/c you know you could do it faster and you know they wont do it right but nonetheless they love helping mommy. For all you mommies reading this and wondering how in the heck do I get them to help around the house. Dont worry they don't always do this it happens randomly which is why I got a picture of it just in case it never happens again, ha. So this was the end product. He was so proud of himself I couldn't bare to disappoint him and point out the soap suds and food still on it. So I just said thanks son your such a great helper.

Ethan at Uncle Mario's Farm

Here's Ethan pouting w/ a smirk on his face.
I realized after this trip that Ethan is not into big animals. He's quite intimidated.


Uncle Mario is not really a relative. It is the name of the farm Uncle Mario's. Ethans class went on a field trip here and I was blessed to be able to join them. Or at least I thought that until I realized that Ethan turns into a baby when mommy is around. Some kids do this when their parents visit there class but Ethan had never done this before until this trip. It was still fun to be out of the city breathing clean fresh air and hanging out with my son.

Pledge of Allegiance to the Ecuadorian Flag Event

The school has quite an international group of kids here is a picture of kids in their traditional clothing.
Ethan was asked to walk VIP in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Ecuadorian Flag Event.
Ethan made a new friend with the Ecuadorian military. Ethan with his teacher

Ethans Christmas program

Ethan Pre-school Christmas program

Aiden is such a ham he went up to the stage during the program and just sat there and waved Ben was on the Christmas Program Committee so they are being thanked for it here!

Ecuadorian Christmas

Make a Smilebox slideshow

whirlwind

Ethans Polar Express Party
Smith Christmas Gathering
Everyone with their white elephant Christmas gifts that were Bebes
"Christmas" morning opening gifts Pawpaw sneeking candy back to my kids In Houston Ethan playing with his cousins Abuelito with baby Julian the boys playing in the fountains in Houston Hernandez Men Uncles, Aunts, cousins, brothers, nephews, nieces- The Family Moms birthday Mariachis Ethan and one of his best amigos Ethan full of bliss as he plays with his great friends ethans fantasy to be a pilot mommy and aiden riding a sled in the snow