Meet-and-Greet: Shaving Cream fun and senior graduation

So I realized that even though I'd posted pictures to my Picasa web album, I had yet to put them on my blog. Graduation was actually about 2 weeks ago. It was the first senior graduation for Jarabacoa Christian School! Quite a few teachers from past years came down the the event. The graduating class consisted of 4 students; the graduation included the ceremony, a meal, and dancing. We left before the dancing because it was already late by the time the dancing began (almost 11), and we wanted to relieve the babysitter. Here are the pics:


Last Thursday Jer and I went to a friend's house to having some shaving cream fun. 4 boys+ lots of shaving cream = a big mess! The youngest of the other boys is 3, and Jeremiah attempts to say his name. When I ask him if we had fun, or say we're going to have fun today, he nods and says "agua, An-y." (We've also been going to the pool with them once a week). So, Jeremiah associates fun with water and "An-y." And now for pics:

And they're finally clean!

For more pics of shaving cream fun, go to our online album here:

June

For more Meet-and-Greet, head over to The Natural Mommy and meet her new arrival!

Pics

Here are pics of our "making do" without running water:

Daniel lowering the bucket into the cistern

Pushing the bucket under the water

Drawing the water out of the cistern

Dish washing set up: wash in gray bucket, rinse with water from green bucket and pot, put in white basket

Bring over white basket, dip in bleach water, set in drying rack

We'll see how the dish-washing attempt goes. I really want to get some dishes washed in spite of my left hand. I was planning to do dishes Friday, but that didn't happen due to my "exciting" walk.

Our crazy week: including dog attack

Wow, here's a run down:
-Last Saturday (13th): senior graduation; power went out are our house
-Sunday: Church, Cook-out at a JCS parent's house, nap time, dinner at Regan's house
-Monday: Still missing one line of power (we have 2 lines of 110 running into our house), extension cords throughout the house (as we have two working outlets).
-Tuesday: go to pool with another mom and kids, Daniel has meeting
-Wednesday: date night; yay!
-Thursday: Daniel takes off the day and we go to Santiago for baby check-up. Buy a deep freeze with tax rebate. The trickle from our spare water tank runs out leaving us with no running water at all (we were already avoiding showering at home and running wash)
-Friday: Daniel uses buckets to lift water from our cistern to wash the diapers in our washer.
-Same day: I'm walking with a friend when Chiste is attacked by a german shepherd. Of course, instead of letting go of the leash, I try to kick the dog off Chiste. Dog bites me, I start falling (Jer's on my back) and grab the nearest thing: a barbed wire fence. Spend the day going to the clinic, resting at friend's house, etc. Daniel takes off work to be with me. Thankfully, the owner of the dog goes with us and pays for the damages. Chiste has bites, but is doing fine. Jeremiah has a few scraps from the barbed wire fence, but nothing deep.
-Saturday: rest
-Sunday: Father's Day: attempt to make breakfast with not much use of left hand (all scratched up from barbed wire), church, rest, go to hotel for lunch and swimming in pool.

So, that was our exciting week. I'm still on the mend, and my left hand is getting sore from typing. I'm so thankful that Jeremiah is fine and for our various friends who helped us, fed us, gave us medicine, etc. What a blessing they are!
We're still missing our 1 line of power, but Daniel re-wired things on Saturday so that all our lights, and fans are running on the 1 line we do have. Still no water, though, as the pump needs both lines.

Beach Trip!

Here are pictures from our beach trip. As it takes forever to upload pictures onto the blog, I put them on Picasa. You can view them on the slide show or click on the show to reach the album:

On Recovery...

So, most of last week went according to our schedule. Friday afternoon we drove to the beach and had a wonderful time. We joined our friends at a huge beach house that they rented. It even had its own pool! The first evening we relaxed, swam, had a yummy dinner on the beach, and then returned for an evening swim and a movie (the movie Bolt). The next day we walked down the beach to have breakfast, walked back, and then took Dylan and Jeremiah to the beach (the group of beach houses we rented were on the beach, but ours was a little ways back; about a block away). We had so much fun jumping in the waves, playing in the sand, and burying Dylan. The older Jeremiah grows, the more fun we have at the beach!
After about an 1 1/2 hrs of playing at the beach, we headed back to the house for lunch, swam in the pool, and then packed up to drive home. Upon returning home, Daniel dressed for the 8th grade graduation and headed out the door. I fed the boy and put us both to sleep.
The next day (Sunday) our plans deviated vastly from our schedule. I threw up 3 times in the night/morning and felt absolutely terrible. Daniel and Jeremiah stayed home to take care of me. I finally made it out to the living room at about 4 in the afternoon. I was finally able to keep down some food, and went to bed early, but didn't sleep very well. Monday I stayed home with Jeremiah and rested all day. Happily, he was a very sweet boy and allowed me to rest on the couch while he played around me. Due to the half day, Daniel came home for lunch to check on me, hang the diapers, and put Jeremiah down for his nap.
Last night I slept super well and have so much more energy today! I am so thankful that my illness fell on the two days when Daniel had no mandatory events to attend. I am also so thankful to my wonderful husband who took such good care of me!
I'm guessing my illness was mostly due to over-exhaustion along with the active day in the sun (I was really throwing myself out there in the ocean!). The other times (earlier in my pregnancy) when I was this ill also followed multiple days of less sleep and being over-tired.
So, eventually I will post pictures of the beach (we took lots!). And the beach trip was worth it, even if I did over-extend myself!!

The craziness has begun!

It began with this weekend, and will continue for the next two weeks. Here's a rundown:
Friday, May 5: coffee house at our house for JCS staff
Saturday, May 6: graduation ceremony/grad party for two MKs.
Sunday, May 7: Dinner at Ark after church to celebrate Dominican Mother's Day; home for nap; BBQ at Escuela Caribe
Monday: free evening!
Tuesday: Pick up friend and former teacher, Leah, (and her son) from airport
Wednesday: go out for a date; Leah babysits :)
Thursday: Have friends over for dinner
Friday: go to beach for the night
Saturday: drive back from beach in the afternoon; 8th grade graduation
Sunday: church, potluck at Escuela Caribe; church members meeting that evening
Monday: free night!
Tuesday: Kindergarten graduation
Wednesday: Awards night
Thursday: Staff party
Friday: Report Card Meeting, hang out with friends
Saturday: 12th grade graduation
Sunday: Dinner at friends
And hopefully that's the end of the craziness! So, if you want to know what we're doing any given evening, there it is.

Meet-and-Greet Monday: Enjoying the Outdoors

I don't have a lot of pictures, but I'll post what I have. This weekend was absolutely beautiful, following weeks of rain. I had a bad head cold (given to me by my wonderful boys for mother's day), but I was still able to enjoy the weather somewhat. (Actually, I had a very nice Dominican Mother's Day, starting with a yummy breakfast of sticky buns.) We also had a very busy weekend (more on that to come later). In spite of this, we managed to sneak in a little hammock time on Saturday evening:

Our banana trees are growing nicely

Some preggie shots:

For more meet-and-greet, see the natural mommy.