Chase's birthday!

Chase woke up early for the last day of school - especially since it was also his birthday, and he thought he might have a few gifts.

Water guns and water balloons are very important for December birthdays... when you live in the Southern Hemisphere at least.

Cards from loved ones...

A shaggy rug for the secret hideout. Sorry, but I cannot tell you where it is!

Then we took a cake to school to share with his classmates.

Seven years old!!!!!!!

His classmates sang Happy Birthday in English and then in Spanish.

Oh, yes, one more gift before bedtime.

Since it was Legos, he couldn't go to bed without putting it together. Thank you to everyone for the phone calls, gifts, and cards that helped make Chase's birthday very special!

SURPRISE!!! - Caleb's party at school

We celebrated Caleb's birthday early this year so that we could have it at school with all of his classmates. Everyone did a great job of keeping it a secret (not easy for pre-kindergarteners). This was the look on his face when his dad came in with the cake and balloons while his mom was telling a story.

Let's have a party!!!!!

Even Chase got to join us for a little while. Our school usually allows siblings to watch or join in on things going on with each other - so nice!

There is a tradition here in Chile where after blowing out the candles on his cake, the birthday boy gets to take a bite right out of the cake. Here is what Caleb looked like after his bite.

Of course, we had a pinata!! These days, you don't use a stick to break it open, you just pull the ribbon on the bottom and out tumbles all the candy and toys. Much safer!

Chase of the Jungle!

Last night was our school's Gym Show. This is one of our favorite shows of the whole year! The boys love it and have so much fun performing. Chase's group performed to the song "George of the Jungle". It was pretty "wild".

Caleb the Lion!

and Caleb's class was in a magical woods where the boys were lions, and tigers, and bears, and monkeys - oh my!! We had sooooo much fun!!!!!!

Hogar de ancianas

In early October we visited a nursing home for women. We went with several families from our Sunday School class. We just spent the day with the ladies there. We had a cookout, worshiped, prayed, did crafts, and visited. It was a very special time and such a blessing to us.

We didn't skip it!

Well, Chad DID have a birthday in October. He celebrated with a chocolate chip cookie cake with chocolate icing that Chase & Caleb helped decorate. Can you tell?

Tae Kwon Do

In front of the whole school chanting "Chase...Chase...Chase"!!!

Where did he get those eyes?

Here's my little sweetie who endears himself to everyone. He is doing such a great job in pre-k.

You don't want to mess with this kid!

Every Friday evening, Chase goes to Tae Kwon Do practice. Today his group did a demonstration at the school. It was awesome!

The students got a chance to break a board with their foot. Did we know Chase could do it? No. Did Chase know he could do it? No! BUT, his instructor knew, and with everyone cheering, he did it!!

And here's the proof!

I'm going to try to get the video posted, but I wanted to let you know how it went...

Father's Day

Chad was able to attend a Father's Day party in Caleb's class. Here are the children carrying the gifts they made for their dads.

Chase made quite a few gifts for Dad also.

Then we captured Chad from work and took him to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. We had a great time!!!

Mountain trip

Weekend before last, we decided to go up to the mountains to scout out a possible ski area. Here are a few pictures from that trip:

Believe it or not, we were not flying - we were driving!!

Chase & Caleb LOVE the snow! Well, at least until their toes get cold...

This was Caleb preparing to face the cold...

Here is a ski village with hotels, restaurants, and ski lifts. It is very nice!

We had a great time exploring. This area had a slope for tubing. We will definitely be back for that!

Our beautiful city

There is a hill right in the middle of downtown Santiago called Santa Lucia. It is where independence was proclaimed and is a beautiful place to visit. It is a hard climb, but worth it! Actually, this was before the climb. What better way to get energized than with a hot dog? Here they eat them with guacamole, diced tomatoes and mayonaise (as Chase is showing us). However, you can see that Caleb still eats his with ONLY meat and bun! Nada mas!

There are lovely parks all around the hill.

AND canons on one level. Everyday they shoot a canon off at noon. The boys were wishing that this one really worked. They still managed to imagine that they polished off a lot of enemies!

Time away

In February Crystal, Chase and Caleb went on a prayer retreat in the mountains. It was beautiful and we had good times of being with colleagues and friends. Sadly, Chad and the finance team had to stay behind in Santiago. The children had VBS and did their program at the last meeting of the week. Chase loved it and still sings the songs and does the motions that he learned.

In the picture below, you can see what Caleb thought about performing in front of people. He mainly thinks about food these days.

Another January activity - going to the beach!!

This equals HAPPINESS!!!!!!

Like brother, like brother...