Polo ~ Pirouetes ~ Pathetic Princesses

Polo Ponies. Argentina is known for polo, and having a taste for all things fine, I've always been interested. Last week there was a polo tournament here in Rosario that was open to the public so I went with Gabe and my friend Janette and her son. It wasn't what I expected. First, the horses are small, which is fine, I jut didn't know that they are called polo PONIES because they are truly small, agile animals. Second, it was so informal. There has hardly anyone there, it was basically just a field and we could have walked right onto it - no real division between us and the herd of charging horses (that didn't seem so light weight when they ran storming past a mete 3 feet from you in a herd, with no barrier in between. And there was no score board, so I had no idea what was going on. But we had fun anyway, Gabe loved the horses and continue to shout "dale caballo, dale!" (go horse go!) The best side benefit from that is when he's piddling along and I need him to get moving I can say "dale Gabe Dale!" and he'll start running like the caballos. Works great.Mateo and Gabe found polo balls and the trainer let them keep them. They're heavy and feel like they're made of fiberglass.

One of Mario's responsibilities in our church is over the Young Single Adults. We were in charge of the regional dance so I declared a snow theme (it is winter here) and taught them how to cut out snowflakes. It was fun to decorate.

We decided to serve soup and water instead of hotdogs and soda. Some were horrified by the departure from tradition, others tried my taco soup and declared that it was so spicy it was completely inedible (I swear it was totally mild) and others were happy. Whatever, I feel like I'm helping to expand their palates and hopefully their minds! (I also made squash soup, pictured below)And in a grand personal accomplishment, I finished my first novel in Spanish. I finally read the first of the Twilight series when I picked it up in English in an airport earlier this year. I couldn't get New Moon in English so decided to try it in Spanish. I had a hard time getting into it, and blamed that on the language but have since heard many felt the same way. Is it me, or is the heroine whiney, suicidal and pathetic in this book?? But by the end I was enjoying the story again. I wanted to get the third in English but then I met a guy the other day that just got back from living in the US for 8 years and his English was not good, and I was really kind of surprised and dismayed, and I don't want that to be me so I think I've convinced myself to read the 3rd book in Spanish as well. But if someone wants to mail me their old copy of the 4th book in English I'd be most appreciative. Santa hasn't come through with my Kindle yet.

The picture was clear

We just got back from the ultrasound and...

Let the shopping begin.

Two = Dos = Two!!

Gabe is "TWO" he will tell you if you ask in english and "DOS" if you ask in Spanish. It amazes me. He is funny, and energetic, and a little mischievous, and his intelligence and the way he connects things often astound me. He also LOOOOOOVES his mommy, and wants to be held all the time, and still gets incredibly jealous if I happen to be holding another child.
He likes to kick the soccer ball, whack the tennis ball with the kitchen spatula, throw the nerf ball, and have someone lift him to try for baskets with the basketball which is truly to heavy for him. He loves his books and can now complete all his puzzles without thinking. But his favorite toys are the cows nana bought him. Seriously, he LOVES the mama cow, papa cow, and baby cows. We have to stop in the grocergy store to examine every kind of packaging that has a picture of a cow on it.
He loves to sing and dance and comes home from preschool singing new songs I don't know. He blew out his birthday candles all by himself...3 times!

And his favorite part of his birthday party was eating the "cream" off the cupcakes. It's all about the frosting for this kid.
He loves his cousins, expecially Vicki and Pilar. And likes to repeat "ojo Paco" warning his uncle Paco that he's going to beat him at golf someday.

We love you baby Gabe!!!

Playing Catch-up

That seems to be my MO with this blog...

A couple of weeks ago we were experiencing unseasonably warm weather here. So we took advantage of it and spent the day at a kids farm nearby. It was fantastic. Gbe LOVED all the animals and it was clean and beautiful.

"zashy, Mingos!!!"

The woman working there came around an got really annoyed that everyone was trying to feed the horses bits of hay that were about, "We've told EVERYONE they are NOT to feed the animals! It makes them sick!!" Yet there was NOT ONE single sign anywhere saying not to feed the animals. We stopped anyway, I just thought their lives might be easier if they actually put up a sign or two.

They day after our visit to the farm, the cold came with a vengence. And that week was "preschool week" in Argentina (random holidays, whatever) so his school celebrated with special activities all week, culminating in a preschool birthday party/costume party on Friday. Since I am expected to be birthing around Halloween this year, I was happy to put emphasis on this costume extravaganza and made Gabe a costume for this event instead. Trying to learn from my failures of last Halloween when I conned my mom into sending me tons of feather boas and then spending hours hand sewing them into a parrot costume that Gabe refused to wear, I attempted to fool him into thinking he was just wearing "normal" clothes...with a small pillow velcroed to his back!

and thus I present Gabe the turtle.

He had fun at his party, and even wore the costume!!

In other family news without photos, Mario has almost finished the golf lessons I gave him before I left to the US (thinking he would use them all while I was gone and not annoy me with this demand on his time, but not so) and is loving them. He is now telling me he needs golf shoes.

I also just finished my first round as teachr for the Self-Employment Workshop that our church offers. It was quite an interesting experience and I liked it a lot. Now if only I can find more ways to make my ifluence felt on the merchandise available in Argentina!!

And like father like son... Gabe and Mario give a shout out to Uncle Matt before heading off to church last Sunday.

Deseret Towers, T-Hall, 1992-1993

I realize that by publishing that I am publishing my age...oh well. I feel like I've had a reemergence of BYU in my life lately. First, I went to women's conference and for the first time really since I graduated spent more than a couple of minutes on campus. Every young student I saw I thought I might know...and then I realized I wasn't their age anymore... Then I came home and the BYU dance group Living Legends came to Rosario to perform, so we hosted two of the girls in our house for two nights. There were super cute, and their performace was really excellent. One must have said "oh yeah" a couple of times, nothing too notable, but Gabe picked up on it and randomly looks at me throughout the day and says "Oh yeah. oh yeah, no hay mas oh yeah!" (no more oh yeah).
Then I reconnected with some old BYU friends from my freshman ward on Facebook. SO FUN. Really, I think someone should plan a reunion of our freshman ward, we had a great ward.

Other than that, we haven't been up to too much, so I will complete this post with some gratuitous photos of Gabe. Here he is at a friend's birthday trying to blow out the candle. He must be practicing for his birthday.

And in his Batman pijamas.

And sorry for the poor quality and sideways viewing (anyone know how to turn video?), but here he is demonstrating his early skill at golf...with a kitchen spatula and a tennis ball. All day long he asks to play with his "raquet, ball"! Mario is very proud.

Please Stop Talking - Pregnant Woman Present

For any of you not yet aware, our family will grow to four the end of October. That makes me just barely four months pregnant, looking slightly chubby but not decidedly pregnant yet. However, I reside in a place where people feel entitled to tell you exactly what they think about you at all times, so here are so recent comments I have been subjected to:

At the vegetable stand...
Vegetable wife: Are you pregnant?
Me: (completely dumfounded that someone would be asking me this while I am wearing a sweater and jacket) um, actually yes, but why would you ask me that?
Veggie wife: because your face has completely changed, so I knew you must be pregnant. Husband, She is pregnant!
Veggie husband: oh, how nice. You are going to have a boy, I know it, you don't need an ultrasound now.
Me: um okay (totally irritated, how does this almost complete stranger think he knows MY body??)

At church...
Me: Hi, how are you, I haven't seen you in a while..blah blah blah
church lady: oh look, your hips are getting really wide, that means you're going to have a girl!
excuse me?? I'm still in my size 6 jeans, maybe you're confused by the pleats in my skirt??

So apparently it's open season for commenting on my body/life/reproductive tendencies/etc. so feel free to comment away!

A Summary That Doesn't Do Justice to the Visit

The plane trip to get there best forgotten, Gabe and I had a great time visiting faimly in the US. Gabe learned lots of new tricks from aunts and uncles.

He spent lots of quality time with cousins.

We got to be matchy-matchy for easter (no fun with just one kid - I needed the cousins)

We got a taste of old western life at Josh & Misty's ranch, which Gabe absolutely adored.

My mostest wonderfulest friends came to visit and amongst eating, pedicures, shopping, long walks and visits to the Chihuly exhibit, I was brought back into the realms of current fashion, good parenting techniques, and pop culture. It was amazingly fantastic and I cannot even attempt to summarize it. Guess who's toes are whose??
I had lots of amazing time with my sisters (also Allison, not pictured). They had to outfit and accesorize me daily because I wasn't cute enough to hang out with them.

I got to go to Women's Conference at BYU with my mom, ashley, lindsay and misty. It was a great experience.

So, I'm ready to become a permanent resident again. Anyone have a visa and a job for my husband?