weekend getaway to aguascalientes

A few weekends ago we took the girls to Aguascalientes with us. We went to McDonald's which was a big hit with Bella. (I had my little digital camera and didn't get very clear pictures...sorry.)

I didn't want to embarrass Jorge and look too touristy taking pictures in the McDonald's so I only took the one of the outside from in the car.

Then we went to the mall. The first picture shows Sears and the second shows you how big the mall is. On the left of the bottom picture you can see the new Marriott they just completed.

The girls wanted to pose by the water fountain outside of the mall entrance. It was warm enough that day that we wouldn't have minded getting in the water.

Inside the mall they have this game type place (kind of like a Chuckie Cheese with out the food) and the girls had fun playing little games.

The girls liked posing as Buzz Lightyear.

It was a nice family day spent together. The girls were pretty good overall and the day wore them out. The whole ride home (an hour and a half) the girls slept.

no short cuts allowed

Days like today I realize how many conveniences there are in the US. Everything is at your fingertips.

Here, in Jalos, I find myself not missing them most of the times but when I would like fun little snacks for the girls and can't find any here, it is frustrating. My mom helped a bit by sending some goldfish crackers and some fruit snacks in the mail the other day.

I found a recipe for graham crackers the other day and thought I would try them. Now, I must mention that I brought 14 lbs of brown sugar back with me. That is one thing I can't find here that I really don't like to do without. And, I have found a way to make it as well, but I would like a few easy steps along the way (plus I am not sure if they have molasses here...I will have to look).

I made the dough yesterday and put it in the refrigerator and forgot it until today. It was definitely correct in the fact that the dough is VERY sticky. After making the first cookie sheet worth of graham crackers, I was over making them and I had just started. So, I decided to add a bit more flour to the dough to make it less of a mess to work with. And, I lowered the temperature t0 325 degrees F and baked for only 15 minutes.

They turned out better than I was expecting.

Bella grabbed one before heading out the door and she seemed to like them. Overall, a success. And once I added the flour and used a cookie cutter instead of making them the way the link shows, it made the whole process a bit more pleasant. Pleasant enough that I would make them again.

Here are the little ladies eating lunch in their room. I was feeling brave that day. Usually I have to hose Emily down and the surrounding area after she is done eating. But there isn't too much damage she can do with ham, apples and carrots.

Easter Sunday they had a fun morning of finding the Easter eggs. Bella was totally into it where as Emily was a bit slower. Bella found most of the eggs, but being the nice big sister handed every other one to Emily. What a good sister.

Oh, and one last cute thing. I found a link to make a pom pom wreath. It is in the process. The link to show you how to make the pom poms shows a use of making them into flowers. So I did one that way and it is too cute.

things I like about living in Mexico

I am not sure I will ever really enjoy living in Mexico. Although my feelings/attitude towards living here have drastically changed over the past 2 years.

But, even with the negatives that will always exists, there are things that are rather pleasant about living here.

I thought I would point out a few things that I enjoy about living here.

1. I like being able to be with the girls. As much as they drive me crazy sometimes, I know that I will look back on this time fondly. Plus, look how funny they can be.

2. I love that the weather is nice almost all the time. We can take the table outside and color pretty much any day of the week.

3. I get to be obsessive about things like sewing. Once I start it is hard for me to stop. I can't stop making these tote bags. I know, crazy!

4. Knowing that I will be able to teach the girls and have fun doing it.

5. Being able to potty train the girls at my own pace. We are now onto Emily. It's a work in progress, but I like that I can start it with her and get her up to speed.

6. Getting things repaired, due to the cost of living being very low, is very cheap! Our refrigerator went out this past weekend and we just got it repaired, something about the gas in it being out, for $570 pesos. That is roughly $43 USD. And let me tell you not only did they fix it but also picked it up, took it to the repair store and delivered back to us. Can't beat that! Now we get to go grocery shopping.

These are just a handful of things I like about it here. I could, in turn, create a list of "don't likes" but I think we have covered most of those in the past when I was whining about living here. Let's not go down that road.

a little bit of everything

I have been trying to keep busy lately. My house is always clean. The dishes are clean and put away. The beds are always made. This is due to lack of things to do. Not because I am a neat freak. Although in a small way I am.

I find myself sitting on the couch just itching to do something and other than reading the only thing that comes to mind is sewing/crafts. I do have a good amount of books (thanks Heather and Ms. D!) but I don't want to get through them all within a few months of being back. So, the sewing/crafts it is.

Sitting on the couch, looking around, I realize that the pillows on the couch are not very pretty and think that I should recover them. So I did. Looks pretty cute and a bit of a girly touch. Which I like. Jorge doesn't seem to mind.


Jorge brought out his feminine side the other day when I asked him to help me make some paper flowers. Let's just say he is a man's man. They were in a Martha Stewart kit that I bought. Good ol' Martha. Always making beautiful things especially hard for the everyday folk to make. Jorge was a good sport and tried a few and let me clean them up. I got a handful completed but decided that the rest could wait for another day.


Martha also makes some kits to make little accessories. Don't let the photographs fool you into thinking they will be so easy to make. I think Martha gets some sick pleasure from creating kits that are NOT easy to do but look super duper easy to do. EVIL! But, I managed to do a few. Take a look.


I only made the one hair accessory but Emily still wanted to pose for me. We can't leave her out now can we?

Speaking of Emily, real quick, the other morning I asked her what she wanted for breakfast and she said broccoli. Weird! But, I made it for her and surprisingly she ate it. (note the lovely morning hair)

When I was in the US I kept looking for a tote bag/purse. I had something in mind but could never find it. Well, today I decided to make what I had it mind. I have a link on the side of my blog to exactly what I wanted but I was being lazy and didn't want to make it. I wanted the easy route of buying. That didn't work out. What did work out was me making it. And it didn't even take that much time or effort.



Of course I don't leave the girls out of my crafty mood. We were coloring the other day and had an idea. Not an original one, but knew that what I was thinking would be a hit with them. Or so I thought.

The girls are always playing with little cars. I thought it would be fun to color them a mini track on paper that they could use to play with their cars. I did and here are the results.



I had to stage a car on there because this is what they ended up doing once I put this on the floor in their room.


I guess I planted the idea of a track in their mind and they found one elsewhere. Oh well. You win some and you lose some. But, when daddy got home he sure did enjoy the paper track.

So, after a mega long post, you can see I have been dabbling in a bit of everything trying to keep myself busy.

it's finished!

Well, Heather, you asked and you shall receive. Here is the finished blanket.

I got on a kick and just wanted to finish it. I cheated in a few ways. One, I was intending on making it a queen but just didn't feel up to it. So, it is sized for a twin.

AND, I cheated at the edge around the whole blanket. I should have hand sewed it but I went the sort of faster route and I sewed it with the machine. It looks decent.

Here it is on the girls' bed (which is a queen). It gives you some perspective of how big it is.

And, it wouldn't be complete without the girls modeling it. Bella is very excited about it and both girls walked by while I was making it saying, "I like it!".

It might not be perfect. And it was a lot more work than I thought it would be. But the outcome is exactly what I was looking for, the girls are happy with it.