Adventures of Lucy and Ellie

An American-Honduran Christmas

2009-12-25T21:23:00.004-05:00

Here is a glimpse of the things we did this year for Christmas:

Fellowship with friends who we minister to in Armenia Bonito.

Hondurans celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, they spend the day visiting with family and friends, and then at night the celebrate with fireworks, at 12 pm everyone opens their gifts. We were very surprised when we got a call on Christmas Eve morning from some kids we work with in Armenia saying they were on their way to our house. We felt honored that they considered us close enough to share Christmas with, and that they were willing to take the hour bus ride it takes to get to our house from theirs. Our girls were thrilled to say the least.

Lucy and I made ornaments.

We baked lots of sugar cookies!

Sean helped out a good bit in the kitchen this year too, preparing the pecan pie, and decorating the Happy Birthday Jesus cake.

We danced and frolicked about.

We celebrated with friends and teammates, the Pettengills.

We skyped with family back at home.

We laughed and played in our new Christmas clothes.

We went to the beach to steal some sand for one our Christmas gifts.

We played with all our new toys including this water table from Gannie and Mac.

We ate turkey (my first turkey I have ever cooked- mom you would be proud) and lots of other yummy food.

So although this Christmas was very different in many ways, and at times it was extremely hard to not be with family and the external comforts were are used to. We had a very blessed Christmas celebrating the Birth of our Savior!

A Good Read

2009-12-20T15:46:00.001-05:00

This is Ellie's favorite thing to do right now. She goes to the hall, gets a book, and takes it to her reading corner. She will literally entertain herself for about 5 minutes, which if you know Ellie, that is a long time.

Christmas card out takes

2009-12-14T11:26:00.003-05:00

Hamming it up for the camera.

Ellie posed herself on this shot.

Ellie suck it up, don't you know its Christmas card photo time.

This took bribery.

"Seriously mom"

More candy corn PLEASE

All done!

"No, really ALL DONE"

At last enjoying the reward.

I promise your Christmas card from our family will be better than this last shot.

Photo Fun

2009-12-11T22:46:00.003-05:00

I am trying to play around with my camera a little more and use some of things I learned in my photography lesson, Sean gave me as a gift while we were in the States in October. So here is a few pictures I have gotten over the past month while not shooting on automatic :)

Traditions

2009-12-07T20:53:00.002-05:00

My family has a tradition every year to make sugar cookies, so this year Lucy and I decided to carry on the tradition in our house.

She loved cutting out the shapes and since we use the cookie cutters on play dough she was very good at it.

Although I never have baked Christmas sugar cookies in a sleeveless shirt, I guess there is always a first for everything

Guess What we Ate for Dinner

2009-12-04T20:29:00.002-05:00

Gringo Friends in a Honduran World

2009-12-03T22:41:00.002-05:00

Here are our kids closest friends here in Honduras. If you have been following my blog then you have seen lots of pictures of our girls with these friends, but here is a picture of them all together at last.

Here is one attempt at trying to get all 6 kids under 4 to look at the camera:

And at last, after about 30 pictures, here is what we came up with:

We have been so blessed with these friendships over the past year. Being a missionary can be very lonely at times and having two American women in the same life stage as me has helped me get through some of the harder days. I am sad that one of the families is leaving next week to go back to the States for good, but I trust the Lord will continue to provide relationships like these in my life.

Its Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2009-12-01T22:03:00.003-05:00

The Christmas tree decorating morning started with some fun festive Dunkin Donuts to celebrate.

Then we had to learn how to put together our fake tree. You can not find a real tree down here so we decided to buy the cheapest fake tree we could find :)

Wonder and Amazement

Lucy loved putting all the ornaments on this year and it was fun to tell her the stories of the ones we collected over the years.

The finished product.

To most of you this just looks like a bad picture of a mom snuggling with her daughter But we have a blanket on top of us because it was actually cold in Honduras, well it really was about 68 degrees, but it felt freezing.

Our Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T22:01:00.003-05:00

We have so much to be thankful for, and these are just a few of them.

As part of the McCann tradition, we started the morning with a hike. We were able to hike up in the jungle, which is just a few miles from where we live. It was beautiful and very tiring while caring two girls.

To get to the trail you had to walk over this big cable bridge over the river, kind of freaky.

You can't tell but these were some pretty cool waterfalls we saw on our hike.

Lucy loved her ride, well at least for the first 1 and a half.

Then we were able to join our teammates for a thanksgiving feast.

This pretty much sums up our girls view of food these days :)

Squirrels in Honduras?

2009-11-24T20:45:00.003-05:00

Well not really, but don't our little girls look cute in the squirrel outfits Aunt KK made?!

La Finca

2009-11-23T10:25:00.004-05:00

Translated is the farm. On Sunday our family spent the day on the farm, with some new friends in our neighborhood. We met these friends through our new ministry called, Sauce Stories, which is basically a bi-lingual library time.

This is my friend, Mariana, teaching Ellie how to ride.

Rebekah is 3 and Santiago is 18 months.

I had fun riding a horse, but these horses were not quiet "tamed" like I am used to.

The girls loved playing in the sandbox, especially Ellie, but I should have expected that since she loves to get dirty.

There were so many animals there including ducks, chickens, bunnies, and turtles. It was a very pleasant way to spend Sunday afternoon, relaxing outside the city.

Our Pretty Dresses

2009-11-19T20:44:00.002-05:00

One of our family friends made these beautiful dresses for the girls for their birthdays. I tried to get some pictures of them together but failed. All I could manage to capture were the girls having fun in poor lighting.

Goodbye Paci

2009-11-17T20:29:00.004-05:00

We are still back-blogging (if that is a word) to try to catch up, but when we returned home to Honduras, it was time to say goodbye to the beloved pacifier. We have told Lucy for at least 6 months now that when she turns 3, she had to say goodbye, and she knew it was time.

Here she is having the last suck, doesn't she look thrilled?!

Then she wrapped up her paci to give to the pacifier fairy, who took it away while she was on a daddy/daughter date, and replaced it with a special present.

She handled the transition pretty well, with only a few tears, and a couple of days of missed naps. It was hard to see her give up something that she cherished so much but we know this will be much better for her teeth.

Saturday Girls Day Event

2009-11-15T22:27:00.002-05:00

We treated 5 girls from Armenia on Saturday to lunch at a nice place by the ocean and ice cream. It was fun to be with these girls and get to know them more on a personal level. They were a very quiet group, which is a nice change from last time.

Here we all are coloring, making necklaces with beads, and origami animals.

Erin and I look forward to starting a discipleship program with some of these girls, and others that we have gotten to know through the months, some time early next year.

Day 9 in the Mountains- Halloween

2009-11-12T21:30:00.003-05:00

This was our last day in the mountains, and unfortunately the grandparents came down with a horrible stomach bug. So our family went to a random church in Cashiers for a trunk or treat.

Ellie the Frog, and Lucy the Dancer/Flapper.

Enjoying the loot.

And here is a series of pictures where Ellie discovers the joy of lollipops.

What you can't tell in this picture is that it still has the wrapper on when it is in her mouth.

But I gave in and took off the wrapper, after all I didn't want her to eat paper.

Oh pure bliss.

This Halloween thing is pretty great.

Well this now ends the series of us in the States. Even with 850 pictures, there are so many things I don't have pictures of like seeing my fun pregnant friend in Atlanta, going crazy in Target for 2 hours (oh how I miss that place), gorging ourselves on food like Chick-fil-A milkshakes, Moe's, BBQ, and so much more. But I am sure you can tell by all the pictures, we had a wonderful time!

Day 8 in the Mountains- Ellie's First Birthday

2009-11-11T20:26:00.002-05:00

It was so fun and special to be able to celebrate Ellie's first birthday with family. Here are some fun facts to enjoy about Ellie as we celebrate her first year of life:

* If you can't tell by pictures, Ellie loves to eat. She will eat anything and everything and she always eats double the amount of Lucy. The only thing she doesn't like is milk, go figure.
* She has been to 5 countries- Costa Rica (her birth country), USA, Honduras, Panama, and Mexico. That is twice the amount of States she has visited.
* #1 things everyone comments on are her eyes. #2 is usually her thighs. #3 lack of hair.
* She is very active and explorative (much more than her sister) and she started walking just over a week after her birthday.
* She has only 2 teeth, both of which she got on the week of her birthday.
* Her all time favorite activity is knocking down blocks.
* Although we have our days, in general, she sleeps like a champ 15 hours a day. And because we live where we do, she can sleep through anything!
*She doesn't have any other words besides Mama and Dada but she is just now beginning to really babble, so hopefully that will come soon. And she is getting very good at sign language.

Here is the beautiful, and very yummy cake we enjoyed.

Opening gifts.

New books.

Shape sorter.

A new puzzle.

And at last enjoying the cake.

We love you little Ellie and we praise the Lord for your first year of life.

We interrupt this program for an important announcement

2009-11-10T21:37:00.002-05:00

I will continue on with stories from our trip but first a fun video to watch. It is short, so don't blink, or you might miss it.

Day 7 in the Mountains

2009-11-10T20:46:00.002-05:00

We hiked to some beautiful waterfalls.

Hanging out and enjoying nature.

It was very cold with the wind blowing the mist from the waterfall on you.

Ellie and I enjoying a picnic.

And lots...

I mean lots of love from grandparents.

A beautiful sunset to end the day.

Day 6 in the Mountains

2009-11-09T22:47:00.002-05:00

The second part of our week in the mountains was spent with Sean's family. We had a beautiful, warm sunny day so we headed "into town" and discovered a fabulous playground.

The girls loved exploring the park.

And playing turned out to be a great distraction because Ellie finally got her first tooth on this day.

Then once again we headed up to the meadow.

It really is a beautiful place.

Day 5 in the Mountains- The Real Birthday

2009-11-08T08:07:00.005-05:00

On Saturday Lucy turned 3, a few of our friends were gracious enough to make the long drive to come visit and celebrate with us.

Here's the line up: Kreig, Henry, Maggie, Caleb, Sam, Ellie, Lucy and not pictured baby Foard. Whats more than amazing than this picture (where most of the kids are looking) is that all 7 kids took a "nap" at the same time in the same house. Well not exactly all napped, but at least all stayed in their appropriate room/bathroom/closet for a hour, allowing us to have some adult time together. Amazing!

A little cousin birthday love.

Opening presents, as you can see Ellie was not too thrilled at this point.

What Latin American girl can celebrate a birthday without a pinata?!

A little love from the grandparents, it was a very cold and windy day.

Enjoying some grub with some friends.

Ellie is showing Henry some pointers with the walker, although Henry thinks she is crazy since he can already walk without it.

(I apologize for the monstrosity of these photos but I'm not sure how to make them smaller.) Here we are braving the weather in order to get a little fresh air.

Sam showing Lucy how this car thing works. Note that Lucy does seem to be somewhat interested, at least for 30 seconds.

A fun picnic at the meadow.

Lucy's real love, holding a real baby. We all loved having cuddle time with Baby Foard.

Day 4 in the Mountains

2009-11-06T20:44:00.004-05:00

Day 4 was a family celebration of the girl's birthdays. It began with a reading of Goldilocks and the 3 bears, complete with each kid making a bear hat, playing with finger puppets, and then sewing their own bear. Very cute and very creative, all done by my sister, of course.

Story time.

Stuffing the bear.

I can never get my kids to sit this still for me!

Pink birthday tea party, complete with fairy wings.

A series of our little one enjoying her first cake.

Please tell me another story Dabo.

After nap time we went gem mining.

The kids really enjoyed finding pretty rocks.

It was a great activity for a cold rainy day.

And of course playing in the water is fun too.

Day 3 in the Mountains

2009-11-05T20:39:00.001-05:00

A trip up the "meadow", one of our favorite spots in the mountains.

We bribed the kids by giving them crackers in these pictures, can you tell?

Fun with Dabo.

This was the place Sean proposed to me, how special it was to take our children there and experience it with them.

The kids (and adults) all needed this time to get out and run around in the fresh air.

Ellie loved trying to stand up and walk, even though we still haven't quite conquered that skill yet.

A little girl full of adventure and wonder.

Rock jumping.

Day 2 in the Mountains

2009-11-04T20:39:00.002-05:00

A little love with Aunt KK.

Fun with the C-man.

An adventure in the woods.

And a family dinner.

Day 1 in the Mountains

2009-11-03T20:13:00.003-05:00

The week started off with a visit from my family. The girls loved all the love and attention they got and of course we did too :)

We celebrated Easter together and dyed Easter eggs, since we weren't able to do it together back in April.

The kids loved finding the eggs.

Lucy and Caleb had so much fun with each other and it is such a joy to watch them play and communicate with one another.

Ellie loved her swing in the mountains.

Caleb and Uncle Mac throwing balls down the mountain.

A little comparison of the bugs they caught.

There were lots of ladybugs to catch!

Uncle B offering some coaching skills on Ellie's walking.

The cousins playing together.

A little mother/daughter love.

More play time.

And at last a bath.

And this is only day one...I told you there were lots of pictures.

Home Again

2009-11-02T20:00:00.002-05:00

Well I apologize for my lack of blogging but for the past 2 weeks we have been in the States and believe it or not without reliable internet. We spent the whole time in my family's mountain house and enjoyed wonderful time with family and friends, beautiful weather, and lots of yummy food. I will do my best in the coming to recap our time there but be warned I have 831 pictures from the 2 weeks that I was there. Insane right?! That's what you get when you have 4 grandparents, 2 kids with birthdays, 2 sisters who love their cameras, a photography class, catching up with friends you haven't seen in almost a year, and great scenery. So prepare yourself- its going to be a great week (or more) of blogging!