After a Year and a Half...

After a year and half I had to clean a toilet today; and not only a toilet, but my sheets, floors, and bathtub. Then on top of that I have to prepare meals, clean my dishes, cut my fruit, wash vegetables, iron clothes, and make fresh lemonade. {over the course of the week}

WHAT'S THE WORLD COMING TO????

After a 6 week of tension with having Ana in my home, we came home two weeks ago from the airport with my parents to find a letter stating that she quit. I cried in shock, hurt, and disappointment and then I became angry. This week I'm happy and relieved to not have to manage a person in my home. Although I have a sick feeling in my stomach about talking to her, I know as a Christian, that we need to meet and discuss the issue.

We all have at different times an "easy way out." I need to choose the high road by meeting with her and hold her accountable as a Christian to take the high road too.

Good-bye Latin lifestyle, for now.

p.s. I still don't have to pick up a mop since Theo, our gardener

who comes M/W/F, cleans the downstairs floors and

takes care of the garden and pool.

So really, do I have it that bad? I mean really, he even carries in my groceries!

One of the benefits of cleaning my own home: my children are learning lots about helping mommy; including what Soft Scrub, gloves, and a rag look like ;)

Mountains. Cold Weather. Are we in the DR?

This past weekend we traveled up a windy windy mountain road to the beautiful town of Constanza. You will notice we had to wear pants, long-sleeved shirts, and jackets!
Constanza is in a valley...pictured behind my parents.We even got to enjoy a fire in our villa!

Saturday morning we travelled to another valley to reach a waterfall. Constanza's temperatures allow for lots of vegetable produce and flowers that the rest of the island can't grow. The white buildings are a nursery and the mountainsides are covered in produce. You can't tell how narrow the road is here with a dropoff on the left side, but at this point in the road I said, "Let me out of the car and you can finish the trip without me!" I bucked up and trusted my hubby enough to know what he was doing.

Finally el salto (waterfall)! We called mom Dora the Explorer for her attempts to try out a path that was just a little too steep for the rest of us ;)

We stayed at Alto Cerro and enjoyed the campgrounds and horseback riding on Saturday afternoon. The worst part of the trip...the attack of the mosquitos in our room! Around 3am on Friday night when you could have sworn it was only midnight because you just knew you hadn't gone to sleep yet, Scott and I got up to kill the mosquitos that were buzzing in our ears and flying up Scott's nose! Poor Adeline woke up as well itching and helped us spot them.

"There's one!" Slap. "There's another!" Slap.

For a FULL HOUR! My brilliant husband then devised a cage plan for each of us to sleep in for the remainder of the night and the next. Dman got the worst of it, but since he didn't wake up we assumed he wasn't being bitten as much. At one point Adeline cried in terror when she saw a mosquito! It was hilarious. After she got into her cage, she said "It's stinky." Why? Because of her breath! I'm still laughing at that one. Sunday morning the clouds broke and God blessed us with gorgeous blue skies to clearly see His beautiful creation of the mountains in the DR. We celebrated Adeline's 4th Bday with my parents last night before they left. My first outing with Scotty back in 2002 included him wearing the yellow shorts pictured. So when I saw yellow shorts for my Darton they were a must-have! Darton was very excited to match his daddy.

We really aren't getting anywhere with potty-training, but this pic is too cute to not pass on.

Nonnie smocked a beautiful dress for A's 4th bday. We can't wait to wear it to her Tea Party Bday (thanks Emily for the idea!). Time with Grandmommie always involves cooking in the kitchen.

Mis Padres

My parents arrived almost two weeks ago and we'll be saying good-bye as they leave early tomorrow morning. It's been their longest visit and it was very enjoyable to not feel pressure to rush through activities outside the house and just relax.
The first weekend here we spent in the city and visited the aquarium and the new subway system. Last Monday we went to Punta Cana for the first time. Punta Cana is nothing but all-inclusive resorts. We found a resort with a waterpark and had lots of fun! Grandmommie has battle scars from all the fun ;)

22 weeks pregnant

Jenny & Ella's Visit

Imagine living somewhere in these mountains...

People do. And they survive! Most campo shacks don't have the nice rock at the base of the house. The mine has for one reason or another rocked the washedout dirt road to this small community and the owner of this house was fortunate enough to receive some extra for his house. Kitchen in the campo. They were burning eggshells to keep mosquitos away. I gotta Google that one!

The past 5 wonderful days were spent with Jenny & Ella. We spent 3 days in Las Terrenas at a beautiful hotel. We visited the mine and surrounding countryside (pics above) and the Botanical Gardens before heading to LT.

We are at 20wks pregnant and found out we are having a boy! This is the first one we have found out the sex beforehand. The sonogram was great and very advanced...better than the sonogram I had in Elko. The kids watched the tv monitor and Dman danced to the rythm of the baby's heartbeat :)No one can say "you don't look pregnant" anymore! Baby Geer popped out there at 19 weeks.