So what happened in August? Well, I finished my certification course and took the exam portion of the class and passed! I still have to deal with the case study portion and other written assignments, but those aren't due until early October. A good thing, because I'm going to need every single second of that time!
In general, we've had a pretty quiet month here. As I mentioned before, it's pretty cold and gross - because while you guys in the US are enjoying the beautiful last days of summer, winter is in full force down in the Southern hemisphere.
Since we've been indoors a lot, I've been wracking my brain for new activities to keep the kids entertained. Lily is so cute, she is very jealous of everything that Abby gets to do, and has to do it too. So far I've scrubbed crayon marks off the walls, the dollhouse, the table, oh and Lily herself. She likes to eat the markers (don't worry they're nontoxic), so she's been banned from those because she kept biting off the tips with her little teeth. That of course would tick Abby off because her markers are all ruined. You know, typical sibling spat type stuff.
Here are a couple pictures of the girls finger-painting. Lily LOVED it. Ended up needing a bath, but she had a great time.
Yes, don't worry it was all nontoxic (a good thing, cause Lily liked to eat the paint too), and came off easily with baby wipes.
Also this month, Joel made a "Man of the House" decision that we were getting out of Santiago for a weekend. "We" as in Him and Me. No Children allowed. What a fabulously smart husband I have. So we found a great vineyard that was having a huge sale on their hotel rooms (cause who in their right minds goes to a vineyard in the middle of the winter?) Well, we do. The whole ride there, we discussed which local vineyards we would try out, what we wanted to do and see. But you know what we ended up doing? Nothing. We ate lunch, had a quick nap before massages, then had dinner, then went back to sleep.
And slept til morning.
With no little ones waking us up or needing milk or diaper changes or having nightmares, or needing to sleep in Mommy's bed and ending up kicking us all night.
It was absolute pure heaven. Seriously I think that was the best sleep I've had since . . . wow. Since before I got pregnant with Lily.
So anyway, we had a fabulous breakfast and stopped in the nearby town for a few minutes, just to say we actually did something, and then headed home to two little girls that squealed for ten minutes when they saw us. It was a great homecoming.
The food and wine were excellent, by the way. And the room was SOOO cool. We had our own fireplace (needed it, it was cold that weekend), and it was so nice. Maybe next time we'll actually stay awake long enough to enjoy it all. I've already made a "Woman of the House" decision that we will be doing this more often. If getting a hotel room is what it takes for me to get one great night of sleep a month, then I don't care what it costs.
Joel's been crazy busy at work this month, just working working nonstop. I've been working on business stuff too, and keeping busy with clients. Joel has found some new football buddies to watch football with, so as long as I provide the munchies, I'm mostly off the hook for having to watch it too. Unless of course it's VTech against Alabama, cause the other folks are VTech fans. (Roll Tide!) And we've turned into Sci-Fi nerds and are eagerly awaiting new seasons of Fringe, Heroes, Lost, etc. And I've gotten thick with a bunch of scrapbookers here in Santiago. We get together often and it's quite fun. I'm currently working on the album of our cruise last March.
Abby is still going to school everyday and loving every minute of it. I'm starting to meet some of the other mothers of the kids in the class, and they are slowly starting to deal with my pathetic Spanish. I even found one that speaks English too, hallelujah. Everyone is so amazed when they listen to Abby speak Spanish, especially when they know that I can't speak Spanish worth spit. I think she has Joel's ear for languages. She goes back and forth from Spanish and English effortlessly and even translates for me sometimes, even though she'd rather speak Spanish if she had her choice. Amazing. I am making her speak to me in English to keep her skills up.
Here are some pics of Abby. This is what we do when she gets too wild for us. She loves it.
Now, one day this month I turned around and wham! Lily went from being a "baby" to being a "toddler." Totally threw me for a loop.
This little girl is fiery and opinionated. She does not like to get left out of anything, so she's constantly yelling to get to do whatever Abby does. Two weeks ago she turned into EVIL queen, and then I realized, oh, she's got two new molars. The girl has six teeth now on the top, and just two on the bottom. And those suckers are sharp. We are constantly on her to stop biting everyone and everything. I don't want her to be labeled "a biter" in preschool.
(Speaking of, we got some kid kicked out of Abby's preschool class because he was attacking Abby. First he bit her face so hard he left teethmarks, and then he clawed her face. She still has little scars from his fingernails gouging her cheek. Needless to say, my inner Warrior Princess came out and was ready to kick serious tail, but the administrators caved pretty durn quickly instead. Sometimes it's nice to have that "I am a US Diplomat" thing to throw around. They want us to be happy so more of our friends will come to the school, and they can talk about how they educate the children of the US Embassy. Whatever. As long as it works.)
Lily isn't really walking on her own yet. She cruises holding onto furniture, and will walk holding just one of your hands. She doesn't seem to be in too much of a hurry. But she is TALKING. Let's see, she says "Mama, Papa (that's Joel, they say Papa here instead of Dada), no, pan (bread), bowwowwow (anytime she sees a dog), mas (more), and globo (balloon). She also will do the signs for "more" and "please." So her first language looks like it's going to be Spanish too. It just amazes me.
And even though she's a fiery little cuss, she is a total snugglebear. Our housekeeper calls her "Baby Teddy Bear" in Spanish. She also calls her "Little Rat" but it sounds much cuter in Spanish. She will pucker up and give you a kiss if you ask for one, so we do it all the time just because it's so adorable. She loves music and dancing, and will bounce her whole body with the music. And she is FINALLY starting to get out of her obsessively clingy phase. I thought that was never going to end.
So, up for us in September is a ton more work, then Abby has a week off from school for a Chilean holiday (pray for me that I don't go insane), I've got to complete all of my certification coursework, and all of the other normal craziness. I've got to start planning for Halloween too to make sure we get the costumes in time. I can't believe it's that time of year already.
Talk to you all soon,
Love,
Julie, Joel, Abby, Lily
On a ride at the arcade
First, a picture of the birthday girl.
First, was 
Then games and stories. Don't ask me why the entertainers showed up in a Princess Fiona from 
Then, Lily started to get tired, so we skipped ahead to the cake. Yup, I made the cake all by myself! Thankfully, it was for a 1-year-old who didn't much care about the 
In hindsight, crowding around a very sensitive little girl who was overly tired and singing and clapping loudly was probably not the best idea. 
We had a pinata for the kids to open. 
Here she's playing peek-a-boo with me while I take pictures.
Then, we colored princess pictures. Crayons, 3-year-olds. Can't go wrong.
Lily really started to blossom during the month of June. She is a very caring little girl. She loves hugging everything. Here is a picture of her "loving" on one of the multitude of baby dolls in our house. She is great about "kissing" too, though you have to be careful she doesn't get overeager and bite your face off. The girl has SIX teeth and let me tell you, they HURT.
Here are a couple more Father's Day pictures:
This is the family on the way out the door for church. 
After church we had a group of folks from our church over for Papa Joe's now world famous nacho dip (a hit wherever we live) and BBQ pork sandwiches. We never go wrong with that on the menu. 
And this is how we ended Father's Day. Why do I post this picture? 'Cause this NEVER happens. Lily never goes to sleep for Joel, only for me. And she just curled up with him and conked out. It's like a miracle. Or it could be the ESPN that knocked her out, dunno. Either way, way to go Joel!
And here is a random "hair" picture for you guys. We've finally convinced Abby that she has to let us brush her hair and put it in pony tails each day. She hates it, but we point out that all of her little friends that have them, and she doesn't like to be left out. As long as we let her play with Lily's hair while we do hers, all is well. (Note the little bow on Lily's head.) Lily's hair is growing in pretty well, though you can't see it in this picture, it's got little bitty curls in the back. She's gonna end up having much more frizz than curl, I think. 
Lily's Already Trying to Get Mommy's Money Out of Her Purse.
Here is Abby in September, when we arrive to Chile. 
Now I don't know what Abby's been eating, but WOW, has she grown some serious hair. It almost even reaches her shoulders now. Hair brushes and all of those hair doodads are hot commodities in our house.
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