August Mendez News

Whew! July is long gone, August is finally underway! Sorry I'm a bit late with this update, but the movers are finally gone and I can focus on this once again. I can barely remember what I did in July.

Of course both girls had their birthdays and birthday parties in July, which you've already seen pictures of. And a great deal of prep went into all of that. I think I estimated that I made about 200 cupcakes last month along. Yeah, I'm over cupcakes for quite a while.

One really warm sunny day, we headed over to Mampato (preschool amusement park) for one last trip. Lily was finally big enough and old enough to really have a good time this time. The girls love it there, and they are going to miss it.

This is a scene that I've been trying to capture pictures of the entire time we've lived here. These are REAL Chilean cowboys riding down the suburban streets of Santiago not far from where we live. They all herd cattle and horses and whatever else on the mountains that surround our neighborhood. Cool, huh?

We also had 4th of July this month, and took the girls to see the official flag raising ceremony at the Embassy. We made a point of doing it this year, because we discovered that Abby thought she was Chilean, and we needed to indoctrinate her into all things US!  It is time for us to go home!

The girls were much more interested in the snacks I brought, unfortunately.

Another fun but silly thing this month: the girls discovered burritos! Abby decided it was "super cool" (her words not mine) to eat food wrapped up in a tortilla. And well, Lily will eat anything. So I had to snap pictures of them eating their very first burritos!

Now, these pictures all belong up top with the other Mampato pictures, but the blog is not cooperating at the moment. The photos were too cute to delete, though.

Here's Lily saying "Ta Da." Don't ask me why. Joel taught them.

And one Sunday afternoon, the girls were driving Joel crazy, so he taught them some exercises from his workout. Here is Abby doing arm circles.

And here she is doing push ups! She's not bad actually for being 4 years old.

So that was our month. August is going quickly as well. Our stuff is packed up and gone, and we leave Santiago this week for a month in DC. We can't wait!

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby and Lily

Lily's 2nd Birthday

Lily's two years old! Yes, my little tiny baby is long, long gone. Miss Priss is super independent and super stubborn. She's also a huge fashionista and extremely opinionated on all things related to what she might be wearing. We often hear "otro ropa" (other clothes) a couple of times before she will agree to put on whatever we pull out. Joel and I live in secret dread of what it's going to be like when she's older.

For the birthday celebration at Lily's school I had to provide sandwiches and the cupcakes, along with juice boxes and all the plates, etc. Abby was on winter break that week at her school so she came along as my helper.

Lily's class has a tradition that the kids color pictures for the birthday child, and they get a crown with their name on it. After a while, Lily decided that having her own crown was pretty durn cool.

For her birthday party, we pulled out all the stops. We also turned it into a "farewell party" for both girls since we are going to move soon. So, between Lily's preschool class, Abby's preschool class, their church friends, and all the neighborhood posse, we invited almost 70 kids. I lived in daily panic that all of them would show up.

My other fear was that the weather would be bad. Which of course it was! It rained all day long and was super cold, and in fact, for about an hour that morning, it actually snowed!  So much for having the birthday party outside. So we emptied out everything on the first floor of the house, childproofed as much as possible, and just let all the kids run amok.  I think we ended up with about 25 kids plus parents and nannies at the party - just about right for a house our size.

We rented these little cars from a party company, along with several "kiddie gym" type things. The kids LOVED it.

And we had a Dora themed party. The girls just love Dora and I thought I better do a Dora party now before they were on to something else.

Lily was very interested in the food. Which is normal. We call her our little piggy.

The cupcakes. Yes, I made 70 of them for this party.

The food for the kids (the food for the adults was in the kitchen). 

And here are the kids having a great time.

I know she looks angry here, but she was just so tired by this point. And she was upset we wouldn't let her eat the cupcake first without blowing out the candles.

But a little sugar . . .

goes a long way . . .

to perking a toddler right back up.

The party company brought tons of kid costumes too. I almost keeled over when I saw Abby in the Strawberry Shortcake outfit. I LOVE this costume! (We're big into Strawberry Shortcake too.)

This is the playroom on the first floor (converted master bedroom). In here we had the ball pit, large slide and "kiddie gym" stuff. In the dining room we had the food and huge kiddie playhouse.

As the sugar rush wore off and Lily was tired again, we quickly did the pinata.

Lily went down for her nap immediately after, and all the big kids kept on going - you know, the "After Party Party"

This is Abby and her best friend Cata, putting their backs to the camera so I couldn't take their picture. My sister and mom will get the joke in that.

Here are shots of the insanity in the living room.

And as the party was winding down and the natives were getting restless, I pulled out coloring pictures and crayons. My "go to" backup toddler activity. Works every single time.

So, that was our "Lily is two" birthday party extravaganza! See you next year!