Tuesday morning the girls chauffeured two people to Agro Shopping and everyone came away with more fresh produce than anticipated. Mackenzie then napped for 3 hours and Kiersten accomplished all manner of things including moving her bike trainer into the living room to watch TV on the big screen while pedaling away.
With Kiersten's free Spanish tutoring sessions she has been trying to "pay back" Brenda and this week we hit on the payment equivalent. Kiersten will go workout with Brenda at least twice a week so Wednesday morning the girls went over and everyone did body weight exercises, including Mackenzie who was right there from the warm-up. Then with no one available to watch Mackenzie, Kiersten brought her to the Embassy for her Spanish lesson and Scott and Mackenzie had some quality daddy-daughter time.
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| She ate a lot for dinner! Everything we had. |
Thursday was a very important day. In the morning Brenda came over to help Kiersten interview a new nanny. It's been over 6 weeks since we lost Annie to her new job and Kiersten has finally come to terms with the benefits of having an in home helper, most importantly the exposure of Spanish for Mackenzie and Kiersten. We met with Alicia who is ready and willing to start work as a house keeper and nanny. Her trial period started today (Monday).
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| We took Brenda to Casa Rica to help her with her groceries afterwards. |
It has been getting hotter and hotter each day this week and we all hit the pool on Friday afternoon after Scott got home from work. Mackenzie's nap schedule has been different this week with her napping later in the day so she was still awake when Scott got home.
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| We were both fascinated by this slug out our back door. He was fast! |
That evening we went over to Brenda's house for a traditional Costa Rican dinner: hot dogs! Costa Rica has their own take on hot dogs just like Chicago or New York City. The set up is normal with a dog and a bun then you top it with shredded cabbage, diced tomato and onion then fry sauce (mayo mixed with ketchup) and finally top it all with crumbled potato chips. It was very delicious. And for dessert we had very authentic Tres Leches which was so scrumptious. Thanks Brenda! And we played Harry Potter and beat level 4 but lost level 5. Curse you, Voldemort!
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| What a masterful looking hot dog. We tried putting the ingredients in a different order and it did NOT taste as good. Trust the locals on this one. |
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| I bought Dumbledore! And we still lost. |
In the morning Mackenzie woke up with a runny nose and was starting to feel crummy. Kiersten went to help clean the church building leaving Scott in charge of a sick baby.
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| Brought home some empanadas for lunch on the way home. |
Again Mackenzie took her nap later in the day than normal (not until 1pm!) and slept for about 3 hours. We had plans to go to a play area of the Galleria Mall with some friends but didn't want to infect other kids or drag her out if she wasn't feeling well. By 5 she was doing ok thanks to modern cold medicine and we went to the mall to meet up with those same friends for dinner at the food court. We got food from Ese Lugar! which means 'That Place' which is brilliantly named! They have traditional Paraguayan food and it was wonderful.
For church on Sunday, we all went for Sacrament Meeting then Scott and Mackenzie went home to rest while Kiersten fulfilled her Primary calling. This week was about as good as last week in terms of the kid's attention level and reverence so I'd call that progress. Still working on getting the leaders to come to church....
Dinner was a delicious chicken breast stuffed with apples and gouda cheese with asparagus side and mashed "sweet potatoes". We spoke with family in Hawai'i (Kiersten's parents are on a business vacation there) and DC where Scott's mom is visiting Scott's brother to help with the arrival of the newest grandbaby! The first boy! We are all very excited but none more than Carey. Good luck! After Mackenzie went to bed Brenda and Netza (her husband) came over for dessert of blueberry peach cobbler and more Harry Potter. We played level 5 three times and lost each time in the course of two hours. Stupid game... but we still love it.
This morning Mackenzie was tired enough from her poor naps and illness that she slept in! Until almost 8! Alicia (the new nanny/housekeeper) arrived at 8 to start her first day and so far all is well. She'll work Monday-Thursday 8-2 and Fridays 10-2. She is studying cosmetology so a partial day schedule works perfectly for her. Mackenzie has taken to her nicely, showing her all the toys and books and immediately playing with her while Kiersten watched this new relationship bloom. Brenda came over for Kiersten's Spanish lesson and Mackenzie played with Alicia. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Misadventures in Baking:
- We used our 1 quart crock pot again to make peach cobbler on Wednesday. My how tasty those Agro Shopping peaches are.
- Avocado Pudding. Hang on it's better than it sounds. Well Scott didn't like it but he doesn't like dark or bitter chocolate. It has the right pudding consistency without as much sugar. Four ingredients: mashed avocado, cocoa powder, honey and vanilla extract. Sprinkle some sea salt on top and it's really good.
Quirks of Paraguay:
- Summer. With Paraguay being in the Southern Hemisphere the seasons are flipped (which I'm sure you all already knew). So during January's winter up north it is Paraguay's summer break and vacation. That means no school for the kids until March! So during this month many kids are attending camps and last week was EFY for the Mormon kids. A few Embassy families took advantage of the summer holidays mixed with the Christmas holidays by taking their R&R for Christmas and summer break and are still back home visiting family.
- Street vendors, part 2. In the mornings we see people at intersections selling fruits and chipa. But in the afternoons you'll see them selling bread from the bakery. Going home after a long day and need a quick dinner or snack? You can get some delicious bread delivered right to your window without altering your drive home!
He's got a big ol' basket of bread.
The Mackenzie Update:
- New Spanish and now Guarani words are in her vocabulary. "Upa" (oo-pah) means 'up' or 'pick me up' and she'll stand next to you, arms outstretched, hands clenching and unclenching and say, "upa" until we bend down and scoop her up. We are pretty sure she learned it from Nursery. She also says 'arbol' which is 'tree'. She always pauses on the first syllable, 'aaaaaarbol'.
Playing under the blanket and "scaring" us. Boo! - She used to nap reliably at 11 but as we've mentioned, not this week! This week she didn't want to nap until about 12 or 12:30. This is probably a good change especially since church is from 9-12 and that has made Sundays hard. Or it could just be because she got sick. Who really knows.
Since Alicia is here we are getting the blog out much earlier than normal which will free up our evening nicely. Thanks for reading! Have a terrific week!
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