Dia de San Martin = ANOTHER HOLIDAY

Every month there is at least one Holiday; LOVE IT! They just sneak up on me to since I'm not so familiar with the Argentine Calendar. Wa bam all of the sudden it's a long weekend.
So today was dia de San Martin the liberator of Argentina. We took advantage for some good family + friend time. We started if off on Sunday with another sleepover with Ivan. The first one didn't really count since Mati fell asleep at 9:00.



notice it's nearly midnight and they are still wired, they finally crashed about 12:30 according to Nico cause I crashed right after taking this pic

Ivan: no shame in my game


Aren't my pancakes just adorable?? Well that's all they were because they were NOT edible :( Can food dye really mess up a recipe? They seriously tasted toxic.





first time on his skates, mas o menos


LEAN ON ME.... when your eating your ice cream and just need to chill.... I'll help you carry on......




We had Nico's cousin Agustin and his girlfriend Paula over to merendar. Paula just graduated from Law school on Tuesday so I made nutella, strawberry, banana, cream filled crepes for her. Mati and Ramiro (Bishop's son) worked on the RR and gave Agus a run for his money on the "soccer field"



This is what happens when you graduate here in Buenos Aires. How Encouraging right?

that would be eggs and flour and who knows what else

Stake Activity "day for the child"

Every ward (9) put on an act mostly songs for the kids. It was a hit. The kids really enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun myself. My favorite acts: ours ofcourse from the famous Argentinean artist Maria Elena Walsh, then Hi-5, Topa, Xuxa, Under the sea. This activity would be fun for any stake to put on for the kids regardless of it being kids day.




Aug 11 = day of the child
Argentineans have created a day for just about everyone, my favorite is pet day, I'll never have to buy a thing!! Oh but we have an ant farm now, a few extra crumbs, I can handle that.

Pili 4 years old????

So what do you think Pili learned this week?


Me: How old are you?
Pili: Cuatro 4


Just for kicks. Pili changing her baby and insisting we go for a walk, then she get's distracted supposedly hearing a dog

Joie de Vivre

The last four years with Mati have brought true joy to our lives. He deserves celebrating and that's exactly what we did!

August 10 in school and afterwards at McDonalds with Mati's best friends Juan, Peti, and Manu (and Manu's cousins)







Lucha libre

Video clips from Mati's 4th birthday

SURPRISE


Waiting, and wishing, and thinking, could a train really be on its way?


Tren de Alegria


Spiderman appeared from off the street what a GREAT surprise! He just jumped on and the jumped off for a second I thought he may be going to rob us. haha

PLAZA POTATO SACKS & 3 LEGGED RACE


Casa de los Abuelos

Mati's surprise birthday party!

Kids watching slideshow awaiting Mati's arrival

SURPRISE!!

It went something like this.......
12:00- guest arrive
12:30- Mati arrives
2:00 Tren de alegria arrives(happy train)
3:00 Train drops us at Mabel's for cake
5:00 Party ends
The kids were a hoot and we had fun. Mati's favorite part of the party the presents, go figure. Our favorite part; field day games at the plaza!

DECOR



The classic sandwhich here is called sandwich de miga. They are usually cut into rectangles but I had them left as whole sheets and cut out trains for the kids with a cookie cutter.


TRAIN DE ALEGRIA




We saw parents in the street COOL. Claudio is Juan and Peti's dad and he is the school physcologist almost more important than the principal here. Love these people!



Pit Stop at the Plaza for field day games. Potato sacks and rope.


CAKE- Mabel's sister Silvia made the cake, they almost crashed on the way over and the cake fell. She was so upset when she arrived but the cake was totally salvageable and it was DELICIOSA! Shot out to SILVIA! GRACIAS!

Amazing Grace......

Belen is 16 and has been waiting 4 years for her parents permission to get baptized. It was a special day. I had a great talk with her parents and was recently informed that her parents are now reminding her Saturday night to get her church clothes ready :)

Art project, our ward didn't win, but we had fun painting. I mostly supervised, no talent AT ALL in that area.

...... How sweet thou art Ninja for coming and teaching the youth Capoeira.
When I told Ninja that we would not be able to attend class as much because we were working with the youth in our church he began to ask questions, and immediately offered his time to come give the kids an opportunity to learn something new. It was a great Mutual!

Vainillas= ladyfingers

The vanilla wafer of Argentina I suppose. My kids go crazy over them. Not only are they good in Tiramisu but also plain, with dulce de leche or nutella, or dipped in milk. In need for a new snack for the kids try them out!

Mati is not the only one with FRIENDS

Javi and Lu. Rebeca and Pablo

I remember conversations before leaving NY that went somthing like this:
"I'm not going to Argentina looking for friendships, you guys have been the best friends I'll ever have. My goal now is to just spend time with my family and the extended family." Well the inevitable has happened, I am making great friends.
Lucia I met for the first time at Mati's school she was working there just for the first few months of adaptation. She happened to be in our ward and married to Javier. Javier is the brother of Lisette the girl who took Nico under her wing when he was investigaing the church here in BA. (I think she had other intentions- that didn't work out)
Lucia now takes care of Pili twice a week and I just love her to death!
We met Rebecca and Pablo at a youth dance and thought they were awesome. Rebecca is the stake YW president and Pablo in the Bishopric of a neighboring ward.
So we had them over Friday and it was a BLAST! I made Mexican food which none of them were familiar with and they all loved it.
We played spoons (my dad is a pro) a game they had never played and we laughed our heads off.
Pili slept and they treated Mati like one of their own, and I was relieved that he not only beats me in memory. I feel friendship comin on :)



We took Mati and Ada (jorge's mother) to see SHREK- LOOOVED IT.....

and she loved the gato