friends

• hanging out with good friends from America
• going to the neighborhood waterpark and listening to their family-friendly, LOUD, swear word-laden rap
• picnics along the ocean
• picnics along the highway
• building forts in the living room
• going to the farmer’s market, once just the mommies, and again with the older girls
• playing Apples to Apples
• playing Hoopla
• playing Trivial Pursuit
• random art projects
• watching Ice Age waaay too many times
• laughing
• playing at five playgrounds (at least - what I could count, anyway)
• looking at ladybugs
• collecting rocks along the beach
• playing in the kiddie pool on our balcony
• watching the Euro 2008 (congrats to Wes & Megan!). We didn’t do too badly, either.
• doing laundry, washing dishes, and sweeping floors together
• browsing shops in the old city market
• walking to the bus stop in 108 degree weather with four children under 3
• just vegging

Thanks, friends, for coming to see us. We are so thankful for the fun and the memories, and we appreciate the “forced” relaxation! Now we’re even more ready to go back to the States this holiday season. See you soon!

Getting one! Thanks, Sarah, for the great gift of adorable burp cloths, stickers (how did you know they are Chickpea’s current favorite thing?) and paci keeper. It was so fun to have the mailman ring our doorbell. That’s like Christmas around here. We sincerely appreciate you guys thinking of us - it means a lot.

And oh yes, Cheryl’s little girl sent Chickpea a birthday gift about a week ago, and that was a blast, too. It was full of a little girl’s favorite things - heart-shaped Rice Krispie treats, stickers, a shirt, a drawing, a magnetic fishing pole and accompanying sea life, and Kool-Aid packets. She carried those Kool-Aid packets around all week. Powdered gold in her eyes.

I’d take a photo of Sarah’s burp cloths because they’re SO adorable, but, well, they’re all dirty. Yeah. We breed a couple of spitter-uppers, I tell ya. I forgot one of the beauties of this early stage - non-stop moistness and a lovely sour milk aroma. Showering feels pretty pointless at this stage of the game.

Don’t worry, though - I do.

Just want to say a quick THANK YOU to all who came to our shower today! It was pretty wild to attend a shower in Austin via satellite, but it was so fun to see familiar faces. Everything you gave for Garbanzo’s arrival is such a blessing, and we are very thankful to have each of you in our lives. We feel blessed tonight as we head off to bed.

My mom will be here in 27 days, and she’ll bring all the baby loot. Let’s just pray that Garbanzo will wait to make his debut after she arrives…

Have a great rest of the weekend! And thank you, thank you again.

We got three little bursts of sunshine (awww….) in the past week. First, Josh and his fam sent us a little package late last week, complete with cilantro, ziploc bags, an awesome family photo, and soft flannel jammies that Chickpea refused to take off the day we got them. Even though it was 90 degrees. Inside. And they are indeed adorable.

Then today, we received a package from Mallory and her mama - so fun! They sent a swimsuit and t-shirt that matches Mallory’s so that they can be twinkies 7,000 miles apart, a maternity shirt for me, maple extract (so that we can make pancake syrup - woo-hoo!), taco shells that amazingly did not break, taco seasoning, some paintings done by Mallory herself, and - Chickpea’s favorite - stars and goldfish. She took one look at all the envelope’s contents and screamed, “GOLDFISH!!!” You’d think she struck gold. It was gold. Goldfish. Her manna from heaven.

Chickpea also got a little note today from Uncle Darren on Curious George stationery with a couple sheets of Dora stickers. Great fun! And great incentive for potty training! For Chickpea, I mean.

So thank you, ladies and dear friends - you have no idea how those little things mean so much to us. They really do make our day, because not only do those little things like cilantro and maple extract make life just a tiny smidge easier here, but seeing the care involved in packaging the goods, writing our address, the stamp from the post office… It tells us that people were thinking of us that day, and that is such a blessing. Really. So thank you.

The average package time has been about 9 days, which we think is really good. And I still don’t know why, but envelopes arrive faster than boxes.

You know, just in case you were curious.