And today it snowed!

Yep, it snowed this morning. Ugh! And it's cold out there! But never mind, we had fun helping Elia make her FIRST recipe from her new recipe book that Tio Kenny and Tia Esme sent her for her birthday! Here she is serving up Breakfast Banana Splits! Yum!

When Del first looked out the window, he hollered, "Snow!"

Happy birthday Elia and Mikey!

We had a birthday party yesterday! For Elia (above) and Mikey (below in the red jacket)!

And WHAT A PARTY! The house filled up with 20 excited kiddos and 20 not quite as excited adults!

As you can tell by Del's outfit, it was COOOOLD! And rainy! But that didn't dampen the spirits of the kiddos one bit! Everyone got a chance at the piñata and oh!! the excitement when all that candy hit the ground! The piñata had a princess on one side and a Spiderman on the other - perfect!

Oh! The cakes that Grandma Livovich made for Mikey and Elia!! Aren't they BEAUTIFUL??!! And very delicious too! Thank you, Grandma!

Mikey got a wonderful outfit!

And Elia got a number of WONDERFUL DRESSES! But this TWIRLY one is her favorite! Actually, they're all darling! And she gladly shares them with sister Josie! Isn't that sweet?

Hangin' out with the Hannas

Wednesday night is "fun night" with the young people at Ken and Esme's church, but last Wednesday it was the "young person!" Only Austin showed up, but he and Ken had a blast! Most unusual ping pong game I've ever seen!

Us girls played Apples to Apples (well, ok, we just threw the cards around for awhile!), drank fruit drinks...

...and ate yummy Krispy Kreme doughnuts! Wow! What a treat! Austin didn't eat any because he has given up sweets for lent! What a bummer!

Maria - age 3, going on 15! She's really, truly playing a game, but then got stuck and neither Abuela nor Mami could figure it out! Had to wait for Papi!

"Hello?" When you're almost 2, anything works great as a telephone! In this case, a toy banana! It was totally her idea!

You are my sunshine!!

The girls

You think she's kidding? Nope. She's REALLY talking to Tio! Isn't "pretend" wonderful?

Ready for church, got my pretty dress on, and my scarf, water and my backpack. I'm set! (Fortunately, before we headed out the door, the scarf came off, but the backpack stayed. We found out much later that it was full of shoes! All kinds, all colors!!)

Lluvia let Abuela dress her for church!

Looky what I found on my lap!

EDEN SPRING IS HOME!

A visit in the hospital! Lluvia (21 months) was thrilled and wanted Eden all to herself!

Maria wasn't sure she wanted to hold her! "No quiero, no quiero!" But she did anyway!

Sweet family, right?

And of course, the proud Abuela!

As soon as Mami and Papi walked in the door with Eden, Maria offered her her nightie! And they spent a good while just getting acquainted, looking at her, asking a thousand questions and just being delighted with new baby sister!

Chattin' on the phone

Maria is an extremely precocious 3. She keeps us on our toes, for sure!

Tonight we were reading a book when she says, "Wait for me? My phone!" She ran in the other room.

Back she came with her hand to her ear, talking away. And it was very real - she'd wait a few seconds, then answer, then wait, then say, "Oh!" She talked quite awhile and I'm not sure with whom.

She then hung up, and punched out another number in her palm and talked with someone else, finishing with "Ok, bye."

She then hung up and called her tio in Chicago. She had me talk to him too, then took the "phone" over to Mami and had her talk to him. Then it was Papi's turn to talk to tio! Finally, when everyone had their turn, she hung up and stuffed the "phone" in her pocket!

Very precocious! Who needs TV???

Remember...?

Remember who was Dad's favorite author?? These pictures should give you a hint! Ken the son is INTO the same author now! He's useless when he gets into one of those books! Remember...?

Maria and Lluvia

Can you think of anything more fun than a huge box to play in? Who needs toys?? No, no, Ken and Esme didn't buy that HUGE TV - their church bought it for the young people!

"Peekaboo, Abuela!"

Abuela made the dresses. They fit perfectly! But of course the weather didn't cooperate! It's COLD here in El Paso!

A visit with Carmen and Felix

Esquites! That was our late evening snack while I was with Carmen, my Mexican sister, and his son Felix, in Mexico City. It is corn (field corn of course!) cooked with epazote (something leafy, I don't know what that is in English), served with mayonnaise, grated cheese, salt, lemon. I always say "Hold the mayo and cheese!" Delicious!

Maracuya sherbet anyone? This is my absolute favorite flavor. In English? I have no idea! Some kind of fruit that is LUSCIOUS!

I thought I was the only one who took fuzzy pictures! Carmen and me with the wolf fountain behind us. It's a beautiful spot.

Carmen and Felix. Those who know Felix, has he gained any weight lately?? He keeps saying he's gotta lose weight, then serves himself some more chicken and mole!

This is an interesting park in Coyoacan, southern Mexico City. We were there on a Monday, so it was pretty empty, but on weekends, it's packed.

Love those books

As you know, I love to read. I just finished a couple books. First a small one The Wingtown Parson's Linen Duster. Would you believe it was written in 1903?? Now, THAT'S an oldie! It was a short one, showing the image of Christ in a parson, the parson of Wingtown. I loved it!

The Awakening was a CAN'T PUT IT DOWN book. I read it in one evening - or rather, one evening and half the night! It's a fiction written like a parable and that's all I'll tell you! It's great! COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!

Around town this week

I love to stop at the local "juice shack" for a green juice! They have different choices: orange, orange pineapple, beet, beet and carrot, carrot, or my favorite: a mixture of pineapple, orange, nopal and parsley. Very delicious! It definitely wakes you up early in the morning!

It's not a fancy shop - in fact, most gringos probably would pass it by and not even CONSIDER stopping!

We went to the doctor this week. Sarah, our intern, wasn't feeling well, so the logical gringo thing would be for me to take her to the doctor. But, we're not talking "gringo" here! Her entire Mexican family went along for the trip: Mom Ivonne, son Julio (above and below), daughter Gaby and her two children, daughter Rosy, and me! Going to the doc is a family affair around here! Here Julio is entertaining the young'uns in the waiting room! The baby, as you can see, really loved the horsey ride - he's three weeks old!

Oh, Sarah's doing a little better now, and the doctor is a very good one. I was very impressed with his "bedside manner."

Around church this morning

It was nice to see Lalo up front leading the singing today. It's the first time, as far as I know. He did a great job. He even played guitar while we sang.

Notice the boots! It was cooler than our 80 degree weather of the last couple days, but hello! It wasn't THAT cold!! This morning several people came to church in heavy winter jackets and yes, boots for Alaska weather!! But they're cool, that's what matters, right??