~ Surfing El Salvador ~

I'm behind in posting this - I apologize to my son who asks me on a near daily basis "Have you finished my surfing video yet?"   We had a great opportunity while in El Salvador to give Amos surfing lessons for his birthday.  BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT EVER!!!  He had so much fun during those 2 hours!  Cheers to his surf instructor, Emilio!  I wish we could have stayed longer and let him practice more - but ya gotta come home sometime!  I have no doubt that this will not be the last time my boy will surf!

~ Dick Dale & the Deltones ~ Misirlou ~

~ Indian Food ~

My newest obsession...learning to cook Indian food! I made a mean Saag Paneer last week from some of our garden's last spinach and boy was it YUMMY! 

My good friend, Heidi, volunteered to cook an Indian dinner for a class auction project and I volunteered (selflessly of course...) to help her.  Last Wednesday we shopped at a local Indian market and now I have another place to haunt!   It was great visiting the store for the 1st time with her because she explained so much to me and another friend.  The next day, she showed me how to make cilantro chutney. Mmmmm, mmmmmm tasty!! Now, I'm trying to convince her to teach some Indian cooking classes.

New Girls!

YAY!!  We got some more girls last week and once again we are in the chick business!  This time we only have 3 instead of the 9 we started out with last year.  What a difference 6 chicks make!!  We also learned from last time that the more you handle your chicks the friendly they are as grown chickens.  You have nothing to worry about...these girls are getting plenty of love.  Especially, that Sugar, she has found her way to the favorite spot...

Pinterest FAIL!

I, along with every other Mother on Pinterest, thought we'd take a different Easter Egg dying route this year...what an epic failure!!

First we started with the "natural dyes" you know from blueberries & red cabbage...the kind that stinks and not just from the smell of them cooking!  OK, to be fair, the natural dyes did work when we left the eggs in the dye for over 12 hours.  How's that for fun with a 9 and 7 year old?  Patience?  These kids don't even have the patience to wait for me to pee before they start screaming for me to help them with whatever is on their mind at that very moment!  Imagine me trying to convince them that their egg will come out a pretty blue once we return home from church services, the NEXT day!  Epic failure #1

Next, we tried the rolling your egg around a pile of shaving cream with food coloring...Yes, this is a good idea - NOT!  OK, it was fun squirting out all of that shaving cream, something I know a lot of us have dreamed about doing.  But, how many of us sent our kids to church on Easter Sunday with black fingers and nails?  I swear to you people...I cleaned their hands!!  It was the food coloring that stuck to their hands and not the eggs!   Epic failure #2

Next year, I'm sticking to the PAAS Easter Egg dye we all grew up with.  Heck, what's one more unnatural dye in our lives?   It might even cancel out the sugar from the jelly beans and giant chocolate bunnies we devoured the next week!

~ White Chocolate ~

This past week the kids had their Winter Break and it was our 11th Anniversary, so we thought it would be fun to take a trip back to where we celebrated our 1st Anniversary...New Orleans!!  What a great place, we had so much fun!!  New Orleans really is such a fun town - even with kids!!

One afternoon, we were walking to get our daily dose of beignets at Cafe DuMonde when we stopped to watch some street performers at Jackson Square.  The leader of a performance group was scouring the audience for certain people to join him and one of his requets was a "cute kid".  Well, I have 2 cute kids...and one who is not shy...so, my boy joins the gentleman and well, why don't I let this video tell you the rest...

White Chocolate from Lindsey Lingenfelter on Vimeo.

Hot Tortillas

 Leighton & I stumbled upon these ladies making tortillas on our 2nd day in El Salvador.  We were in San Salvador about to head to Ahuachapan, where we spent the bulk of our week. The interaction between the women who could speak no English & the woman who could speak no Spanish was like a comedy of errors!  Although, we all parted smiling & laughing, mostly at me, but still...

Travel!!

It's been a long time coming!  Sadly, my passport expired last year...the kids did not have passports...we couldn't go anywhere outside of these here United States of America....BOO!  Then we got our act together, renewed & applied for passports & BAM! we were on our way!!  Where?  To El Salvador of course!  Fortunately for us, our main squeeze, the husband/dad, was teaching a course in El Salvador for the majority of January & the kids & I could piggyback that trip!

We had an awesome, awesome time!  And I mean awesome!!   My kids kicked ass traveling!!  Airports, no problem!  Custom guys, no problem!  Bathroom way in the back of the plane, no problem!  Speaking very little Spanish...no problemo!  

This trip was the best mix of travel, service & vacation!  We were able to visit a volcano, play soccer with after school program kids, visit a nursing home, trek through a village with a local doctor, eat fresh tortillas & papusas, drive on crazy, hair raising roads, ride in motor-taxis, visit a beach with black sand, see the Pacific Ocean for the 1st time and take surfing lessons...all in one very short week!

There's so much for me to show!  I'm going to start with our travel!  The kids were such troopers! 

Christmas 2012

What a wonderful Christmas!  I have to be honest & tell you that my favorite gifts were the handmade ones!!  

My favorite...for sure!  Hands Downs!!  Little House on the Prairie puppets made by my children!  We are currently reading this series & have all fallen in love with the Ingalls Family (again)!  

Handmade sock puppets for Alvin to use when he tells the kids bedtime stories.

A special handmade ornament given to us by some very special friends!!

My favorite handmade gifts!!!

And an obligatory family image on Christmas morning!!

Runaway!

Everyone knows that during an extended school break, i.e. Thanksgiving, there will be stresses...enough stress to make you want to runaway from it all!  Luckily, his sister was there to capture that moment!

His trusty wagon loaded with all his worldly belongings and necessary survival gear.

This boy is at his wits end!

Man's best friend must come along!

Loaded up!

There they go - a boy & his dog.

~Happy Thanksgiving 2012 ~

~ Amos 1st Gig! ~ 2012 ~

What an exciting day! Our school had it's annual Fall Festival and part of the festivities include a Coffee House with live music. Both of my boys played a 1/2 hour set and man was it exciting! I don't remember ever being a prouder Mama!!  I love that last image because I'm pretty sure his Dad doesn't remember a prouder moment either!!

Warm Chicks

 This is why our chickens are so good to us...we take extra special care of them!  I love the feet hanging out of her jacket!