A year of Penelope
This past year has been the best of my life. Penelope has enriched our lives so much it’s hard to imagine a life without her. I never knew I could love someone as much as I love her. I love being a mom and I can’t wait to see what this next year brings!
June 30, 2008

July 28, 2008

August 30, 2008

September 25, 2008

October 31, 2008

November 30, 2008

December 24, 2008

January 30, 2009

February 26, 2009

March 30, 2009

April 29, 2009

May 30, 2009

June 30, 2009

June 30, 2009
Happy Birthday Penelope!! Yesterday was Penny’s first birthday and we had a wonderful time celebrating it with Grandma and Grandpa. Penny woke up, opened a few presents played and then we spent the afternoon in the valley. We went to our favorite restaurant, Los Hornitos del Molle, then off to the zoo. Came home around 5 took Leyna to the park and then had cake and cookies, opened more presents, and skyped with Grams, Grandpa Tom, Aunt Pat and Uncle Bob. Penny had a wonderful birthday and was so exhausted we didn’t hear a peep from her until 745 this morning! Happy birthday beautiful princess Penelope!!!
































Grandma and Grandpa are here!
Grandma and Grandpa arrived safe and sound on Friday morning for a visit. Penny is very happy they’re here and we’ve been keeping them busy. We spent Friday afternoon downtown getting ready for Veronica’s going away party on Saturday. Spent the morning setting up for the party, the afternoon at the party and then after Penny went to bed, Steve and I went and played poker (and won)! On Sunday we had Jona’s first birthday party. Today (Monday) is a holiday here so we’re planning on going to the mall and then playing some frisbee golf. Here are some pics from the lat few days-
At the airport- here they come!!



Hanging out-




bath time-


Surprise guest
This afternoon when I went into my bedroom, much to my delight I found a surprise visitor.



a beautiful hummingbird had sneaked in. We have an escape hatch for some reason in our closet that our cleaning lady opens occasionally to air it out and it must have flown in through there. I opened all the windows in the room and helped it get out (it didn’t seem hurt). It was absolutely beautiful to see, it had a green iridescent back, unfortunately my pictures don’t do it justice. When I moved a curtain it flew out and hovered right in front of my face for a few seconds. Penny seemed to like watching it as well! Pretty cool!!

Happy Father’s Day!!
Penny had a great day with her dad today. While Steve slept in, Penny and I made breakfast- homemade english muffins for breakfast sandwiches. Penny had for the first time a scrambled egg with a little cheese and some spinach. She really enjoyed feeding herself and Leyna was able to clean up when we were done. We also played a game of frisbee golf with Rikki, Chris and Jack. Overall we had a relatively quiet day with our family and our good friends. To end the day, Penny talked with her Grandpa and Grandpa Tom and showed of her walking skills. Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful dads out there!!




Book sale
Saturday was our annual book sale with proceeds going to Hogar Redes (an orphanage in town. I spent all week helping to get things ready and I’m happy to say it was a success. This year the hours for the book sale were earlier, from 9-2 as opposed to 12-5, but we ended up raising close to 800,000 pesos (about $1600). Penny and Steve came down for a couple of hours to support us and as always Penny was adorable.

(Penny helping us pack up the books at the end of the day)
Filed under PJ | Comment (1)It may sound crazy to you,
but Penny has started using the toilet. Many people start at 6 months but I decided to start last week. You have to be somewhat regimented with it in the beginning and now seemed like a good time to start. After eating she sits on the toilet for about 5 minutes or less and goes potty. She usually will do something and seems to enjoy sitting on the toilet and talking to me. She won’t be potty trained for a long time, but at least she’s getting used to using the toilet. Supposedly after awhile she’ll only do “number 2″ on the potty, no more poopy diapers (HEAVEN!). Here’s some pics from tonight-
Daddy time-

Dinner time-


Potty time-



MMM, lemongrass
On Saturday, Chris and Rikki hosted a thai food potluck. There was tons of great food, I ended up making a fish curry, that was really good. Of course, for a proper curry, you need fresh lemongrass, so Penny and I headed up to their house beforehand to pick some.







