United Nursery: November 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday and enjoyed celebrating with a few friends here in Costa Rica. Our family has many things to be thankful for this year 2008: God's provision for us through our financial and prayer supporters, cultural adjustment, language acquisition, Ellie, beautiful Costa Rican weather, and new friends just to name a few. When we asked Lucy throughout the week here is what she said: Gannie, Mac, Necy, Dabo, KK, B, Caleb, Curly, Ms. Gloria and Stephi (her teachers), Elmo, Ellie, and potatoes (which she doesn't even like so I am not sure where that one came from).

We had school in the morning but afterwards the guys went to play American football while the girls cooked and prepared the food.

The chefs. The children are in the picture because they helped too, both Ellie and Lucy took a 4 hour nap which allowed me to do all the cooking that needed to be done.

Our spread. We had soooo much food. Some of the ingredients you can not find down here so we had to be creative but since both of our parents just came down to help with Ellie we had them bring lots of stuff to help us have a more American thanksgiving. We did not buy a turkey because they are incredibly expensive down here and none of us like turkey that much to spend the money and time preparing it so we had rotisserie chicken instead. Also our sweet potato casserole is made out a special kind of potatoes they have here that are slightly sweet because you can not find yams here, but it turned out good nevertheless.

Ellie slept through most of the post dinner activities which included watching football, playing guitar and singing, and playing Settlers of Catan.

Our family shot at dinner. I think overall Ellie enjoyed her first thanksgiving, and Lucy enjoyed having all of these people in her house to play with.

Lucy loved watching a little of the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special before bed. This was the first cartoon she has ever watched on T.V. in English and she was completely enthralled.

Children's museum

While Gannie was here we took the opportunity to get out a little. We went back to the children's museum because last time we went we felt rushed and didn't get to see a lot of the exhibits. It was a fun adventure but we were thankful to have the help. We are learning that it is hard to get around with 2 especially because we don't have a car so getting any where is a adventure these days.

This first picture is of Lucy shopping. They had a grocery store where everything was fake and child size. She loved playing shopping and I think we could have spent all of our time here. They even had a check out counter where you scanned all your items in at the end. How fun!

This is what Ellie did throughout the entire museum.

A little water fun with dad.

Fun train ride.

And last but not least a helicopter.

All Alone

We were blessed to have both of our parents come all the way to Costa Rica to help out the past 2 weeks. Ann left yesterday and now we are officially alone. Yikes! It was such a blessing to have so much help. Lucy especially enjoyed all of the play time she got with her grandparents. Ellie can't wait to come home for Christmas to meet Mac, Aunt Curly, Aunt KK, Uncle B, and Caleb!

Sweet Ellie

Well I promised pictures of Ellie so here they are. This building to the left of my shoulder is the hospital where Ellie was born. Ellie loves this sling and some how ends up spending lots of time in it since we are on the go quite often.

She has been such a good baby so far, very content and easy going. She consistently has been sleeping around 4.5-5 hours at night between feedings and is only really fussy around dinner time.

She is already getting very strong with her head muscles.

And lately her eyes have been focusing on objects and people.

She and her sister love each other and keep each other quite entertained when playing on the floor.

Cute Lucy Pics

So I know these pictures don't include Ellie in them but they were too cute not to post. Lucy is at such a fun age right now and she brings so much joy to our lives through the things she says and does each day. Having a newborn around the house makes it feel like Lucy is so old and grown up now.

Lucy loves to take care of her baby dolls. As you can see in this picture Lucy got her very own cabbage patch doll for her birthday this year.

Swinging at the park is one of her favorite things to do.

Check out her new ballet shoes.

Our New Ride

This is our new double stroller. The girls seem to like it, Lucy especially likes that she has the option to either sit or stand. Unfortunately we will not be able to use this stroller for the next 2 months because to save shipping we went ahead and sent it on to Honduras with the interns when they left last week. For now we will just stroll Lucy and put Ellie in the sling to get around town.

A New Girl, A New Look

Our website has had a makeover since we have welcomed a new addition to our family. We hope you enjoy the many adventures of Lucy and Ellie.

The Many Faces of Ellie

Here are some fun up close pictures of Ellie, so you can see her many expressions. The pictures of her in the green outfit were taken at the hospital. She continues to be a great baby and very content.

Help has arrived

Necy and Dabo arrived here on Sunday afternoon and here all week to help out. Lucy has loved having her grandparents around and Ellie doesn't seem to mind the extra love and attention as well. Gannie comes next week after they leave so we are blessed to have 2 weeks of help as we adjust to life as a family of 4.