It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Oh my goodness what a busy week. It wasn't so much that we did a lot it was that a lot of things happened so let's get right to it shall we?

On Tuesday Kiersten found herself once again at the Embassy for the asado lunch. Can you tell we really love this stuff? It's just barbecue but its seriously good barbecue! The real purpose for her being at the Embassy was to pick up 8 packages from the post office. Christmas is a comin'! Considering these events now, Tuesday was our least busy day of the week. K&M went for a "walk" after Annie left. We say "walk" because they just went across the street to the park and Mackenzie quickly became enthralled with the birds eating bread that that was as far as they got. Kiersten was content to sit on the low, stone wall and watch her run back and forth. After about 45 minutes of this, the heat finally got to Kiersten's head which turned into a headache and left her with zero desire to make dinner so we had leftovers.

She is helping to clean up the nature off the sidewalk.

Wednesday morning Kiersten decided to change up her exercise routine and run in the early morning before the day heats up to avoid these headaches. It paid off. No headache! Anyway. There were various chores and running around that was done on this day including Christmas decoration set up! Two days from December was close enough for us. We really only have a few things because we've always lived in small spaces. We set up all our Nativities first. We have five, six if you count the slightly sacrilegious one of rubber ducks we set up in the guest bathroom. Three of these Nativities are from foreign countries and we love them.

From America

Our newest addition from Paraguay made with natural items like a nut shell
as Jesus' manger.

From Thailand from Scott's brother a few years back.

From Mexico curtesy of our Honeymoon.

And the ducks.

We don't however have a tree. We've either purchased a real tree or borrowed an artificial tree from a parent for the last 6 years. So this year we needed to buy one. We've only seen artificial trees out so we have concluded that Paraguay does not do real Christmas trees. Therefore on Thursday morning, with Annie and Mackenzie in tow, Kiersten drove to Plaza Hogar (Paraguayan Home Goods) to make some returns and buy a tree. Long story short, it was a success! After returning home, Kiersten spent the next 20 minutes assembling the tree branches and fluffing them and it looks fabulous. It feels more and more like Christmas with the tree.

New tree and skirt. So pretty!

We added some candles this year. No need to worry about
lighting the tree aflame. These are LEDs.

Our musical Christmas corner.

First time we've had a bannister to hang garland so we bought some of that too!

Scott had tasked Kiersten with getting a tree this week but she didn't tell him she'd bought it so when we came home there was a lovely Christmas surprise for him. He also surprised Kiersten with something. Our car! Yes after 4 months we finally have our sleek, black, SUV nestled safely under our car port and all of our things are officially here. It was quite the saga getting the car too. Two cars arrived at the Embassy that day on two separate trucks. The hydraulics of the truck lift for the other car worked, ours did not. So after unloading the first car, they backed up the truck lift to our truck and with Scott's permission, they very slowly backed up the car onto the other truck lift. But that's not all! This wasn't done inside the Embassy compound, no sir. This was done in the middle of a fairly major road in front of the Embassy. Welcome to Paraguay. In the end, everything worked out. We have our car, nothing was damaged and everyone went home happy, I assume.

Mackenzie also wore this shirt for the first time. K bought it in Hungary and has
waited for this day for 4 years! It says, 'My first lesson in Hungarian'.

There was also a 6 inch gap between lifts so they laid down some wood planks.

The safe lowering of the car.

There is it! Safe and sound.

Friday morning, Kiersten and Mackenzie drove to a wonderful park to go for a walk with Molly and Liam Wheeler. Parque de la Salud. Last time she was here she used the umbrella stroller and some of the walking path was unpaved. This time we had the jogger and all of the path was paved. It was so nice! It was also nice to get out of the house and have some adult time with a good friend. She had a rough week and needed to vent some frustrations. Kiersten was so happy she turned to her and could be a listening ear.

The babies enjoying the playground after the walk.

After work on Friday, we listened to Christmas music and decorated the tree. Kiersten strung the lights while Scott kept Mackenzie occupied as best as he could. Then we all hung ornaments, even Mackenzie... and then she'd take them off again. Last Christmas she wasn't mobile so we didn't have to worry about broken ornaments or trees getting knocked over. This year our bottom branches are more bare than usual and we have to be very vigilant about teaching her to be soft and careful. So far it is going well.

Reaching for a candle...

...trying to blow it out...

...and giggling at us who are laughing at her cuteness.

Once decorating was complete we all went for a swim! Kind of strange, huh? Decorate for a white Christmas then jump in the pool? Oh well! The water temperature was perfect and it was very fun. For dinner we had breakfast for dinner, pancakes made by Scott. Then after the babe went to bed, our neighbors came over to play level 6 of Harry Potter and treats. 'Tis the Christmas season and one traditional Jackson treat are Oatmeal Carmelitas. We made ours with dulce de leche and oh yeah, they were delicious. Oh and we defeated level 6 too.

Our neighbors provided the ice cream. Yummy combo.

Saturday we completed many home chores then finally took the "new" car for a drive. Wow, what a difference! So much room. Shocks. Functioning AC and radio. Higher clearance. Now we can't use rain as an excuse not to get out of the house. It was wonderful. We drove to Shopping Mariscal to have lunch at Johnny Rockets because we were craving burgers. Yes, there are other (MANY) burger places we could have chosen but we know it's good. 

Getting friendly with our booth neighbors.

After lunch she found this little car and climbed in.

When we got home, the Christmas baking season continued with a Hammond Christmas tradition of fudge. This recipe calls for 10 large marshmallows. They sell three different brands of marshmallows at Casa Rica and two of the three have an American flag on the bag. Oh yeah! We also used some Milka milk chocolate in the recipe and it was very yummy.

American brand marshmallows.

Our neighbors came back over that night to finish the Harry Potter game with level 7 which we defeated in just under 2 hours. Totally worth it! Next game night we'll tackle another game.

Sunday was a hot and humid day with the promise of rain later that day. Church was night and day for S&K. Kiersten agreed to "teach" Nursery the second hour so she brought Mackenzie along which freed Scott up to actually listen and get something out of Sunday School. By third hour K was back in Primary but with a hangry attitude and let's just say things weren't pretty in the middle there. Kids can be loud and annoying, that's all I'm gonna say. Everything worked out in the end, we went home, had a snack and watched a cute Hallmark Christmas movie (A Wish for Christmas on Netflix).

Matchy Paraguayan dresses with Hermana Weech.

After Mackenzie woke up we had breakfast - Stuffed French Toast with bacon. Mmm! Then we went on a family walk and had to then quickly rush back to church for choir practice. We perform this Saturday for a Holiday concert. When we got home we FaceTimed with the Jacksons in London then the Hammonds in Manassas. It was a very busy Sunday.

Beautiful plating by mommy and she wouldn't eat any of it.

So good.

The perfect bite.

Back to the start of the week, Monday. Can you believe it's December 2017? Where has this year gone?! Kiersten ran some general errands in the morning then began prepping our pizza dinner with the Sister missionaries. We like them a lot and one of them is going home next week! We are going to miss her dearly.

One of the errands took her to this magical Christmas wonderland.

Their requested pizzas: pepperoni and Hawaiian.

Misadventures in Baking:

• Christmas is the season of baked goods and Kiersten has made a list of all the baking she wants to complete this season. Baking is the best way for her to combat homesickness and who doesn't love the smell of freshly baked cookies? The first treat to be made were Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies. They are double chocolate chip cookies with a kick of cayenne pepper. She only made the dough and froze it in preparation for cookie exchanges that will surely be taking place later this month.
• Oatmeal carmelitas always seems like such a daunting taste so we leave it up to Scott's sister, Jenna, to make them. Since Jenna isn't here this year, Kiersten stepped up to the plate and learned it isn't hard to make them at all. We might be making more this season they are so scrumptious.
  
• We've only made the fudge a few times and it is a temperamental little thing. Boil the sugar too long and it gets grainy. It turned out softer in both texture and color than we remember so after it cooled it went into the fridge to hold its shape better. We attribute the lighter color to the use of Milka milk chocolate along with the Ghirardelli chocolate chips. 
  
• Coming up next week (hopefully): Sugar cookies, Spritz cookies and homemade peppermint bark? Can't find candy canes here but we have some that we've used as tree ornaments for longer than I care to admit... it's just sugar! It doesn't go bad, right?

Quirks of Paraguay:

• Say hello to our ice cream man! Almost everyday for the past 4 months, Kiersten has heard this horrible, ear piercing train whistle outside in the afternoons. At first she thought is was a car or bike braking or someone's garage gate. Then one day she saw the culprit. A man with an ice cream wagon/bike whistling for all the girls and boys in the neighborhood. It's Nestle so it's gotta be good!

  

  Why would they sell Nestle when their stuff is so much better?

• Gas. Not sure if we've mentioned this before but we do not pump our own gas at the station. There are station attendants who do it for us much like in New Jersey back in the States.

  

  Our car was empty upon delivery so we filled it up.

The Mackenzie Update:

• More new words are creeping into her vernacular. She says, 'bonk' and 'stuck' but you need to listen very closely and pay attention to environmental cues. If she bumps her head she says, 'bonk'. If she opens a door enough to attach it to the doorstop in back she says, 'stuck'.
• She now is an active participant during bath time. We put soap in her hand and tell her to rub her belly, for example, and she does.
  
• Her waves are changing from just the finger and hand to moving the wrist. It looks very similar to a Princess wave.
• Her new favorite thing is "helping" in the kitchen. She loves to sit on the stool and watch as Kiersten flounces about the kitchen but now we are letting her get closer to the action. We position the step ladder near our work station, with caution if we are cutting anything, and she climbs up and "helps". One day she handed Kiersten carrots for her to peel. It really was helpful.

  

  Helping pump up the jogging stroller tires.

• At seemingly random times during the day, Mackenzie would put her hand under her cheek and lay her head on her arm. At first we didn't know why but after reading one of her books and she did this action we figured it out. She is reacting to either being tired or seeing a character go to sleep because the daddy in the book is doing it when putting his son to bed! Such a smarty!

  

  Not the best picture of her doing it but you get the idea.

We love that you read our blog each week. We hope everyone has received or shortly will receive our Christmas cards. Got them out with time to spare! Have a wonderful, merry week and we'll see you back here next Monday!