Spring/End of the School Year

It's easy to blog the bigger events/adventures in our life, but I certainly don't want to forget all the wonderful day to day moments. This spring was especially fun with end of the school year festivities. Here's a quick picture update of our life this April - June:

Josh officially finished 5 months of twice weekly gymnastics. Most days he didn't want to go initially, but was always smiling and happy by the end. It was a really great growing experience for him, emotionally, socially, and physically. 

We weren't sure if Josh would go up front and accept his medal, so we were delighted when he proudly climbed the podium and smiled for a picture.

Although they are both only around two years old, Liza and Harvey have been great little buddies for Josh while the twins were at school.

The whole Tuesday/Thursday gymnastics crew.

Joshy and Teacher Robey; she was such a great teacher for Josh, fully bilingual and so patient with his social needs. We were thankful for her! 

I cannot believe how much the boys have grown-up this year! Check out these first and last day of school pictures. They have definitely changed and filled out!

Seth (first and last day)

Sam (first and last day)

First and last day of school (Sam left on first picture, right on second picture)

Seth and Sam and their 3rd grade teacher, Teacher Sam. She was a perfect teacher for the twins and we are so thankful that the boys were placed in her classroom. She really seemed to understand each twin for who they are individually and their particular needs. We really saw Seth and Sam grow academically and maturity-wise during the school year and I know that so much is due to Teacher Sam!

Seth, Sam and Teacher Magi; Magi was the boys' Spanish tutor all this year. They met with her once a week after school for an hour. Teacher Magi helped the boys completely catch up to their grade level in Spanish. We all really grew to love and appreciate Magi and are excited that she will be the twins' Spanish/social studies teacher next year at AIM.

Seth and Sam dressed up for their end of the year awards ceremony. We're so proud of how well they did in their first year of school! As a reward, we took them to Mulligans, a really cool golf simulation place in San Pedro. It was a great way to celebrate school ending.

  Ben loves Mulligans

 Sam

 Seth has a great natural golf swing

Daddy teaching Josh

All hanging out at Mulligans.

Besides the end of the school year excitements, here some other things that went on this spring in our lives:

I saw my first tarantula on a walk up the hill behind our apartment. I walked WAY around it; however, the next week on a walk, the spider was in the same place, so it's safe to say that it was either dead, or real lazy. 

We hosted Ben's project team from work for some Mexican food at our apartment one evening when they were all in town for a workshop. It was neat to share a little of our life with them! 

Josh accidentally poked himself in the eye with a really sharp pencil. Thankfully, no permanent damage was done. It is is possible, though, that he will always have a grey "tattoo" in his eye. Only Josh.

The boys totally have World Cup fever. It is so fun to live in Mexico during the World Cup!! The boys have sticker albums with all the teams and have spent many a day trading player cards with their good buddies, Max and Oscar. We had a blast watching the Mexico World Cup games; in fact, the first game was during our regular church service time, so our church had an early service and then set up a screen for us to watch the game all together. It was so fun to be with Mexicans when they scored a goal against the #1 Germans. 

Every Wednesday, I meet with the neatest group of women from church for Bible Study. This is our group on the day when we said goodbye to Carly. Its an English speaking group, so most of us are expats. The unfortunate part of that is that we're all temporary...there will be a lot of goodbyes. 

Tuesday and Thursdays my friend Leah leads a workout group. This has been a real lifeline for Josh and I...a good way to get out the house. I'm so thankful for these ladies!

Ben and I got a great thrill from introducing "Cool Runnings" to the boys. It became an instant favorite in our household!

I've made some dear friends here in Mexico. Megan, Carol, Katie and I spent a delightful evening having dinner together and then went to Harry Potter 3, the movie with the soundtrack played by a live orchestra. It was a pretty awesome experience with some great friends!

My favorite part of the night was when they had live choir sing, "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble." 

Before we returned to America for the summer, our friends Hugo and Carol hosted us for a real Chilean asado: meaning dinner started at 8:30! We are learning the beauty of different cultures here and the art of being flexible. We didn't leave for our apartment until 11:15 and had a blast all hanging out in the late night together. 

Some of our dearest friends here in Mexico; transitioning and suffering together quickly brings friendship to a deep level, and these couples are the best! (The Morris', Hugo and Carol, Dustin and Katie).

The view from the balcony was beautiful!

The kids of our dinner party: Nati and Mariela, Mickie, Derrick, Seth, Kyler, Sam, Josh and Jer

Josh and Jeremiah doing some school work at the Back2Back school...which brings me to an exciting announcement: I'm going to teach at a small missionary school next year! I will be teaching part-time (3 days a week) for a small kindergarten/1st grade class; I will be able to bring Josh with me, and will homeschool him on the days that I don't teach. This opportunity was a great answer to prayer for a good schooling situation for Josh, as well as a ministry opportunity for me and I'm so excited!