Tortilla Pizzas

So Papa got the idea to make pizzas on a couple of tortillas we had lying around. We'd use the mini toaster oven. Too bad Mama threw away our cookie sheets because they would have really helped. Papa thought it would be a fun activity to start teaching Sarah how to cook.

After The Spaghetti Sauce, The Chopped Green Pepper
(Thanks Mama!)

After The Onions & Pineapple, Some Chopped Mozzarella Cheese
From A Big 10-lb Bag We Got At American Discount Foods
(Mama Loves Cheese So Much The Bag Has Almost
Disappeared In Just A Few Days)

Waiting For The Cheese To Be Golden Toasty

We Were So Hungry We Tore Into The
First Pizza Before Pausing For A Picture
(Sarah Only Wanted To Eat The "Peepee-ronis")

At Our Second Breather For Photos

Verdict: Tortilla Pizza sounded like a good idea, and was quite delicious, but the tortilla is flimsy and floppy and harder to eat than regular pizza dough. Also, it cools off faster than you might expect. The house still smelled delicious in the morning!

YMCA

Like the other day, Sarah was helping soothe Stephen at the YMCA again. This time, Mama got a photo of it through the observation window. Thankfully, he cried less (this was yesterday) and today, basically none at all.

Somebody Give This Girl A Great Big Sister Award!

Coloring

Sarah (coloring Dora pages with her friend, Maiah): Papa you can't color because coloring is for gowols! Coloring is not for boys!

Horsey

Bird

We Saw This Really Big Bird At The Park
(Guess It Was A Gray Crane)
Then Had To Run Grab The Kids To Keep
Them From Falling Into The Lake

Inflatable Santa

Stephen Was Afraid Of Inflatable Santa
& Would Come No Closer Than This

Ho, Ho, Ho!

"I Want A Bicycle!"

Christmastime

Sarah seems naturally and magnetically drawn to anything Christmas-related. Santa Claus, Christmas trees, decorations... She still has no idea what it is about but seems to love the idea and everything related to it.

Although she does miss Halloween, too, as she just was asking to be dressed up like a rabbit again and to have Stephen put on his fireman outfit (their Halloween costumes).

Mr McGregor

Stephen at some point picked up that in the story of Peter Rabbit, Mr McGregor chases Peter around. So now any time that he hears the words Peter Rabbit or Mr McGregor, he raises his hands up "I'm-gonna-get-you" style, says "Rooarr!" and its time for little Mr McGregor to chase Papa around the house for a few minutes. Peter Rabbit actually gets mentioned quite often, so this happens sometimes several times in a single day.

Park Photos

After visiting Tata, we went to the park next door to play on the equipment. There is a nice view there of some fields below with some cattle and horses.

(Stairs To The "Big Mountain" In Background)

Drinking Water With Nana's Little Cup

Little Monkey #1 And Little Monkey In Training

(He Had Some Help Getting Up There)

Two other posts from this visit: Nana Swings With The Kids On The Swingset and Sarah Running Home

Tata

We visited Tata in the cemetery in Bacerac...

Spanish

Sarah started out life speaking Spanish, then after Mama and Papa were warned that she could be held back a year in school, she started to speak more English, especially when we were getting ready for a trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Now, 6 months later or so, she speaks mostly English. So this trip to Mexico was a good chance for her to be fully immersed in Spanish again so it will stay strong.

The funny part is that she is now speaking with a certain Mexican intonation where the tone goes up at the end of phrases instead of down. It sounds kind of silly, sort of like a protesting Speedy Gonzalez.

Sarah: Ayy, Mamaaa? No me gustaaa? Ayy, noooo?

Number Wan

Sarah has a funny thing she says sometimes that she has picked up from Mama. When she is arguing a point, she will say something like:

Look, look. Number two, you need to obey me. Number three, I'm so big!

(Number this or that, not necessarily in order or coherent, but usually pretty funny!)

She also likes to argue things on the point that she is so big, and that Mama and Papa need to obey Sawah or Sawah will give them pow-pow.

Sarah and Nana

Sarah had a bit of a bumpy relationship with Nana. She preferred to go spend time with her aunts and uncles rather than spend much with Nana. It probably has something to do with Nana correcting her and the other people not.

Nana told me the following story:

Tu suegro me decia, Elvia, si disciplinas a los ninos, no te van a querer. Si les das todo lo que quieren, te van a querer. Y asi fue, el no les pegaba, y yo si. Y todos me dicen, mi papa fue bueno conmigo, pero mi mama no. Pero ves, todos, todos crecieron derechitos, gracias a mi Tata Dios.

(Your father-in-law used to say to me, Elvia, if you discipline the kids, they are not going to like you. If you give them whatever they want, they'll love you. And it was like that, he didn't hit them, and I did. And they all tell me, my dad was good to me, but not my mom. But look, each and every one of them all grew up honest, thanks to my Grandpappy God.)

Time

After visiting Mexico for 2+ weeks, it really seems like we were hardly there any time at all, and yet it seems like we were away from home for a really long time.

Zapatillas

Sarah, looking at an old, rundown abandoned building near a place we stopped in Mexico to get gas:

Quiero ir a esa escuela. Mira, tengo zapatillas! (I want to go to this school. Look, I have high heels!)

(Ever since she saw her Tia Lupita wearing high heels on her way to school, Sarah has understood them to be essentially linked to school, and puts on toy high heels when she wants to play pretend school.)

Highway?

One of the campaign promises made by the Mexican politicians was that if the local and national leaders of the PRI party were elected, they would pave a much more direct highway from A.P. to Bacerac. That would be nice because it would cut travel time from 6 hours to 2 or 3. All of the appropriate persons were elected and took office Dec 1st so now we'll wait to see if they pave the shorter road to Nana's house.

Swim Classes

Several weeks ago we signed the kids up for swim classes at the YMCA. Unfortunately the heated pool was still pretty cold and the swimming instructor waited until after the class was over to inform us that the kids wouldn't learn how to swim, but that rather the class would be to accustom them to the water. Papa was let down, Mama never thought the classes were a good idea, but the result was that we cancelled the classes and are still waiting for a time for the kids to learn how to swim.

(Grandma later commented that she remembered having some failed swim instruction at a Y many years ago herself.)

YMCA

It's been a couple of weeks since we've gone to the "Y" and Stephen is out of practice, so he is crying in the childcare area (visible from the workout area). But Sarah the whole time is being an excellent big sister by hugging and holding him. She pulled up a little kid's chair and sat in it, holding Stephen's head on her chest/lap while trying to soothe him. What a great sister!

Update with photo

Hey Gowol

We were reading a book at the library reading castle area and a girl a little bit bigger than Sarah came up and wanted to play Barbies.

They played for a bit and then the girl started getting frustrated with Sarah, who was jumping on the cushion inside the caste, and walked away a little bit. Sarah followed her toward the water fountain:

Sarah: Gowol! (To Papa) I want wader!

Girl, mad: I'm not "girl"! I'm Savannah!

They return to the castle area for a few moments before the girl runs off, escaping towards another part of the library, with Sarah trailing behind her.

Sarah: Gowol, where are you going?!

Library

The Lego Table

Stephen With Lego Car: Ppppbbbbbvvvvv!

We Love This Place

Leaving Nana's

Yes, Some Peanut Butter Did Make It
Past The Face And Into The Mouth

Another Picture That Completely Fails To Capture
The Awesomeness of "La Cruz  Del Diablo"

The Ladies

Sarah: Says It's A School, Wants To Go To School Here
(Huasabas, Mexico)

Visiting Loreto And Pregnant Lorena In Moctezuma,
Where We Picked Up Some Huge Bags Of Beans

Made It To A.P.

Playing Nice With The Toy Sarah Always Asks For

Now Stephen's Turn

Then a trip to Walmart before hitting the road again.

Tortillas

Nana makes delicious, home-made flour tortillas. Sarah helped her one time. Or should I say, Nana let her carry around a dough ball in her hands. A very black, dirty dough ball by the time I saw it.

Mmmm. Delicious.

Early Mornings

In Mexico we were so tired from so much activity every day that we ended up going to sleep several hours earlier than usual. The kids went down at 7pm or even earlier. That was nice but that meant that they woke up starting at 4am. Every morning. Rrrrrr.

Ete!

Mama: Stephen, de cual quieres comer? Este, o este? (Stephen, which one do you want to nurse on, this one or this one?)

Stephen: Ete! (This one!)

Ride Back from Mexico

The kids, moments after getting in the car to leave Mexico for home:

Zzzzzzz....

Mmmmffffffzzzzz...

We made a peepeepoopoo stop in Benson, AZ.

Running Laps Around A Train Car

Sarita Clean And Dry!

Got gas at the cheap place in Tucson ($3.12/gal)

Running More Laps

Luckily, entering Phoenix, we were able to stop by one of our favorite places:

Historic In-N-Out From Drive Back From Mexico

"Aaaahh!"

Moments Later, Outside In-N-Out

Siii!

In Nana's kitchen, Stephen hides behind kitchen door.

Papa: Ramoncito, estas atras de esta puerta? (Stephen, are you behind that door?)

Stephen, from behind the door, shouts gleefully: SIII!!! (YES!!!)

(Then comes out from behind the door, beaming)

Sarah Loves Stephen

Sarah, spontaneously at breakfast table: Stephen, I love you so much! (Hugs him)

Stephen: (Smiles broadly and hugs her back)

A Heartfelt Hug

Empty Cart

This is what it is like shopping with Stephen.
(Channeling Nacho Libre): Every Day.