October Mendez Mayhem!

Hi all! I took way too many pictures this month. Oh well. I have some darn cute girls.



So, this month, Chilean celebrated their "National" Day. They call it Dieciocho, because it's on the 18th of September. Abby's school did a week long program studying Chile. She can now tell you all about the Chilean flag. And her class studied Easter Island and dressed up in the native dress. (Think Hawaiian hula dancer.)


(It was cold so she had to wear long sleeves and pants under her hula("Pascuense") outfit.


Then for the actual holiday, we went out of Santiago to a little town nearby for their festival. It was like a big fairgrounds.




Here's Abby and Lily taking a horse ride. Lily, as usual, wasn't a fan.

I'm not sure which of these "children" had more fun on the kids' rides.

The coolest part for me was the rodeo we got to see. Something I get to check off on my "Things to Do Before We Leave Chile" list.

Lily really liked the action, but was terrified of the announcer's voice over the loudspeaker. She's a bit of a sensitive soul.

What else happened this month? Lily decided that walking was cool. She now just toddles all over the place.

She is also talking up a storm. She says "Abba" for Abby, "SiSi" for Iris the housekeeper, "Vein" (Come here), and she says "por favor" (please) very clearly when she wants something. She's extremely expressive, so even if she doesn't have the words you know exactly what she wants. Like right now when she is throwing her a temper tantrum because I won't let her play with the phone.

This is Abby and Lily "standing" on their heads. Just so funny I had to take a picture.

And here are my favorite two couch potatoes. Isn't this hilarious?

Last week, Abby's school celebrated the festival of St. Assisi. (It's a Catholic preschool.) A priest came to bless all the animals. So many of the kids brought their pets. (Lots of dogs, a rabbit, and a cat were several that I saw.) The rest of the kids brought their stuffed animals. Since we're now pet-less, Abby took her favorite stuffed penguin.
I had to bite my lip to not laugh at this pout. Abby never does anything half-way. (She was pouting because I got up to take the picture, instead of sitting with her like she wanted.)

Here is Abby's teacher explaining what the priest was doing. Goodness knows I didn't have a clue what was going on.

What else did we do last week? I found a new outdoor farmer's market. I bought several little plants for Abby and I to plant together. We got tomato plants, strawberry plants, basil and mint. Hopefully this turns into a great lesson in how plants grow and we can enjoy the food we grow, instead of lesson in how Mommy can kill plants.

This month Joel will be gone for a week and a half back to the States for a conference. This picture is for him!

Since I spent most of the month obsessing about all the paperwork for my certification (I turned it in on Friday), I think I'll probably spend most of October trying to get to all those chores I ignored the past few months. Then we do have Halloween coming up, too.

Talk to you all later!

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily