November News from the Mendezes

Well, we made it! We made it through the month of October! Wooohoo!

At the beginning of October, Joel went back to the US for ten whole days. It was very hard for us to be without our Papa in the house. We managed okay up until the next-to-last day, then everything went downhill really fast. But finally it was all over and that Monday morning we sat by the door just waiting for Joel to arrive at our door.

Here Abby and Lily color a "Welcome Home Papa" sign.

Daddy's home & so happy to see his girls.

After Joel got home, we took advantage of the great weather that day and headed to Piedra Roja, a community about 20 minutes past our house on a man-made lake. They have a nice little shopping area on a boardwalk, so we grabbed lunch and let the girls play for a bit.




And here are just some random cute pictures of girls:

Snuggling up before bedtime

Playing horsey with Papa

Lily has discovered the fun of playing with boxes.

Lily saying her prayers at night.

Julie, Abby, and Iris

Joel amazed at how fast the girls can destroy the playroom.

Abby and Lily playing in the dirt at a picnic. So much for the cute dresses.

Our house has also become the hangout place for the toddler crowd in our neighborhood. I don't mind too much, it makes the girls happy to play with their friends. The only thing that drives me bonkers is that Chileans don't seem to mind filling their 3 and 4 year old with Coke or any other highly caffeinated beverage. And then I'm stuck breaking up hair pulling and squealing fits.


So, it being October, we also got ready to celebrate Halloween! Here are the girls in shirts that Tia Lucy sent us.



And finally, the big event. Yup, Halloween Day. We almost didn't make it to the Embassy Halloween Party. We had emotional meltdowns in our house (only one of them mine). Even Joel will tell you it wasn't very pretty. But finally we all calmed down and got on our way.

Once there, everyone had a great time. I call these costumes "The Last Time Julie Has Complete Power Over What The Girls Wear For Halloween." Ah well, it was a good run while it lasted.

See, bribing kids with candy to behave really does work!

Lily was a very determined little girl. She went after that candy.

Isn't this just the precious thing you've ever seen?

And here is one last picture of my "Fall Fairy Princesses." Once I told Abby she was a Princess, she was more than happy to wear the costume. Whatever works, right?

Abby and Lily are truly adorable sisters with each other. They just love playing with each other, and Lily wakes up every single day from her nap, begging for Abby (who is at school). And Lily is the first person Abby asks for when she comes home every day. I love that. Abby's language skills are improving - her English is getting better and more clear, and she's starting to follow logic and hold real conversations. Lily is picking up new words every single day. She now says "Zapato" (shoe), "Pato" (duck), "Bate" (stir- it's from a Dora song), and "Dora".

One bit of final news. Joel has gotten a forward assignment after we leave Chile next year. He will be going to Afghanistan for a year, while the girls and I stay in the US. The current plan (until we change our mind, which seems to happen daily) is that we'll go ahead and buy a place in the DC area, and the girls and I will go ahead and set up the house and get settled and get Abby enrolled in a school district for kindergarten and all that good stuff while Joel is gone. He will get to come home and visit us at least three times during that year so that will be good. And it's a huge job opportunity and hey, the money is good too. And we feel like we need to bite the bullet and go ahead and get "our" unaccompanied tour over with now while the girls are small when it's our "choice." That's the life of being a Foreign Service officer, I guess. We'll all be fine, we just wanted to give you guys an update.

That's all for October! November is another whirlwind month. I'm busy busy with work (I got my CJSS Certification, by the way!) and Joel seems to be slammed with work as well. He's got another business trip to the US this month, and of course I get to fix my favorite Thanksgiving extravaganza meal with a couple of guests from our church. I'm also now the official Sunday School teacher for the 3 year old class, and then the girls are keeping busy just playing and running around.

Talk to you all later!

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby, Lily