June Mendez News

Happy June to all of you!

Our yard sale was very successful, and then we also participated in another group yard sale at the embassy where we were able to get rid of more items. Yes, we still have stuff left to get rid of, but we're down to a manageable pile now. Somewhat. Piece by piece it's slowly leaving our house, LOL!

After hosting Joel's office party (not the relaxing part), I went on a group trip to La Ligua. This is a small town several hours from Santiago that is famous for their knitted items - like sweaters, etc.  I invested some of that yard sale money into a new winter wardrobe and got tons of sweaters and shirts and scarves and things. I've decided that even I'm a stay-at-home-mom, I don't have to look like a "stay-at-home-mom." So, luckily I got some fabulous deals on very pretty sweaters, etc. I almost fit in with the chic moms when I drop Abby off at school now.

Then on Mother's Day, we had a very relaxing day. We went back down to Piedra Roja and took a walk in the sunny weather (too hot to wear my pretty sweaters, unfortunately!) and let the girls play on the playground.

The girls have had a very active social life lately. Here is one of the birthday parties that they attended, for our Chilean neighbor's son, who is six years old. He had a Star Wars theme party.

Mommy and Lily

The girls with their "light sabers"

"Obi Wan Kenobe" and "Darth Vader" in a battle

All the kids fighting and defeating Darth Vader.

Notice - the biggest "kid" in the family had a really great time too.

Another thing that happened this month: WINTER. Uggh. It came really early this year and I'm not pleased at all. Tons of rain, rain, and more rain. But up in the mountains, that rain is all snow. This is the view from our house right now.

So, that's it for our month of May. June will be full of preparing for our move. We're really down to the wire now, and have started making reservations for hotels and airplanes. Only 71 days to go, as of June 1st!

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby and Lily

May Mendez Musings

Happy May to you all! You're lucky, they've upgraded the picture-upload function on Blogger, making it so much easier to upload pictures. So you're getting a ton this month!

First off, EASTER.

Here are pictures of the girls coloring Easter Eggs. The little boy is from Abby's preschool class last year. His family is from Argentina and apparently they don't color Easter Eggs there. His mom was absolutely fascinated by the entire process.

Here are the pictures from Easter morning.

Abby finding the baskets filled by the Easter Bunny.

This picture just cracks me up. I think my mom

has the exact same picture of me at this age.

If it isn't obvious, Lily did not want her picture taken.

Here, she is "hiding" from the camera.

Because, surely we can't see her, right?

And here's her lovely pout. Lily has an A+ pout.

Here is our family picture on Easter morning, right after church.

This is Abby and her little friend, Bridget. They're showing you

that the egg is empty, because in Sunday School we learned that the

tomb was empty just like the egg, because Jesus is risen!

(It was so cute, listening to the little kids recite, "Jesus is Rithen!")

Here are pictures of the girls hunting for Easter Eggs in our backyard.

(Just look at Lily say "cheese" in that picture.)

And this is Abby eating her very first Peep.

The following weekend, we had the Embassy Easter Party - complete with an Easter Egg hunt. I got some of the most awesome pictures of the girls there.

So, that was our Easter!

On the Saturday right before Easter, we went over to Piedra Roja, to get out of the house. I got the opportunity to do an impromptu photo shoot of the gals.

(just wanted to point out - Lily's hair is starting to curl in the back!)

(Now, look how long Abby's hair is! When it's wet, it stretches ALL the way down her back!)

Here's goofy Daddy teaching Abby to be goofy too.

And here are my adorable girls.

(Nope, didn't pose her like that. She did it all on her own. She's a natural model!)

Here's a picture of a sneaky snuggle-tickle fest. I'm very good at that.

One day, the girls discovered the housekeeper's gloves. They have decided that washing dishes is cool! Hey, don't look at me, I'm not complaining a bit!

And here are a few random shots to finish us out.

Ms. Abby Picasso drew this picture of ME in the bathtub.

I never knew how "attractive" I was!

Here is Lily helping Mommy while I attempt to work.

And here are the gals on the swings!

So, that covers just about everything from the month of April. May starts our official countdown to leaving Chile. Yup, we head out of here in about 90 days. Which means a lot of sorting, purging, yard sale-ing, organizing, etc. And I start my Career Coaching certification course this month as well. So, we're keeping busy. The girls are giving us a run for our money too.

PS. (Abby's been dry at night for three weeks now! Whoohoo! We might be down to only one kid in pull-ups soon! Shhhhh, don't say anything, you might jinx it!)

Talk to you all soon.

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily