My first grader came home the other day with this cool craft she made at school for Carnival. It is a monster face that makes noise when you blow on it.

It is ADORABLE.

We really love Carnival and are looking forward to confetti EVERYWHERE.  Yesterday, I found some from last year (or the year before because one never knows) under a floorboard in our living room while running the sweeper.  I smiled knowing I will have much more confetti to clean over the next month.

Confetti has a way of getting into places you don’t even think about. :)

My son has been going to the village daycare ran by the mothers every week. It is only for a few hours one day a week but it really does help my little shy boy get accustomed to being away from Mama. The last three weeks the kids have been preparing for Carnival. All the kids will be decked out in a Mexican theme complete with sombreros, serapes and lots of noise makers! I am a little nervous that my son will refuse to participate because he is that shy. However, I plan on walking with the kids and hope that he will go along with all the fun if I am right there in the middle of it with him.

I wish you all a happy weekend!

Warning!  Photos below will make you grin ear to ear unless you are blind which means you are not reading this anyway.

My middle daughter is doing very well in school. I am very happy. Actually, I am proud!

The snow is starting to get deep here. Each time it snows a new layer is added. The kids joke that they can swim in it. What is funny is that when I walk on the snow it feels like walking on a sandy beach with shoes on. It takes an effort to walk through it and it is a good work out for my legs.

The other morning the sky was just so pretty and so PINK.

I am still trying to catch up from the time we spent offline for a whole week and a half at Christmas. I have gotten to all the emails that were important but still need to delete the rest. I have processed all the photos that were sitting on the digital cameras waiting to be transferred to the computer. I still need to get those uploaded to flickr so my family can see the photos of the kids opening up all their presents.

Yesterday, I finally got my new printer installed. The one that Vilay bought me for Christmas so that I could print out pictures. Pictures that I will send off to family, friends and hopefully I will sell a few. :)

Below are the last of the photos from Christmas that I had wanted to share with you all.

But, before we get to the photos I wanted to talk about what we did over Christmas break without a computer.

SO….What do you do when you have no computer for entertainment? You watch more tv, clean more, go for long walks, snuggle with your husband and children more, you play cards, you play board games (even Vilay is now addicted to Trouble) and you  TALK  more. I found myself talking with my children and husband much more than when we had a computer.

What I have noticed since getting the computer back is that now Vilay and I don’t sit at the computer as much as we did before. We do what we feel we need to do and get off. We appreciate our time AWAY from the computer more. I think that we had to have it taken away to see and appreciate all the little special moments that our computer time was letting slip away.  We needed to see that those moments are fun and important, too.  :)

My seven year old daughter made this to hang on the tree. She is very artsy.

My six year old daughter made this for the tree after she saw what her older sister had made.

Of course, our four year old son wouldn’t want to be left out. He drew a very nice photo of Santa!

My six year old daughter brought home a tiny Christmas tree from Kindergarten. She had made the paper decorations at school and it was beautiful. We still keep it in the living room.

My seven year old daughter made this Christmas star in her first grade class. It is very festive and I will hang it out every Christmas from now until forever. :)

My mother and brother sent us decks of Bicycle playing cards.  We, now, have four decks. The kids and I have spent hours playing war (the card game) and Rummy.

I was surprised how quickly the kids caught on to playing card games and I am embarrassed to admit that my seven year old regularly beats me at Rummy.  Oh and our six year old wins almost every single game of Trouble!  Playing games with the kids is so much fun but it is a great way for them to learn to be good sports.

At the beginning, it was a little difficult because each time one of the kids lost they either cried or threw things.  Now, they cry less and have stopped the throwing.  Once my son got mad that he was losing at Candy Land to his sisters and angrily swept all the cards and playing pieces off the board before he stomped off crying to his room.  I had to snicker at him because I knew he’d be back.  Fifteen minutes later all three of them were playing again with the understanding that no one would get mad again.  :)

Vilay took the photo of the cute dog above as it was barking like mad at us.   A woman opened the window to her house and told the dog to stop barking. Vilay asked her where the other dog was since the sign said beware of dogs (not dog). She said, “Oh, but there is just that one.” with a smile.

It’s true that it was barking enough for two dogs.  :)

The last bit of our snowy walk I shared with you in my previous post.  Sadly, the trees are no longer covered in snow.  Shimmering frost does cover the trees every morning which kinda makes up for it.

Emmie loves to sit or lay on the back of this chair and watch the birds outside.

She is my girl. Just look at those eyes. Oh, and do you see that plant on the floor in the background? She LOVES digging the dirt out of it every night and shooting clumps of it all over my living room floor. Luckily for her, I love her anyway.

Where she isn’t allowed to sit but will try every chance she gets. :)

Her view from the windows. We have a lot of birds that hang out in those trees. She will sit and smack her mouth at the sight of all those sweet birds.

Our Christmas tree is being stored on the balcony until we can take it off somewhere. Emmie spent many hours under this tree sleeping like only a cat can sleep.

Her new favorite place to sleep is by the radiator just by the kitchen table. One day, I noticed she was hanging out there. I moved her blanket to the floor by the radiator and that is where she spends her cold winter days.

I love my cat. :)

Thank you, M@!!! I was really surprised by the postman when he showed up with your package. You are so thoughtful and I can’t say thank you enough for this!!! Really, I can’t.

You rock!

In plus, Matt made me realize that I could make my own brown sugar. I had no idea but a quick Google search landed me on this recipe. A must have for American expats out there!!!

Happy baking everyone!!!!