A Colorful Week

A theme of our week might be shaving cream and food coloring.

I made this batch of shaving cream with food coloring for Jude to play with. I thought it would be fun to squish and mix it. Doesn't it look delicious? Don't you want to just dive right in?

Jude had a lot of fun with this.  So what else have we been up to?  Well....

We played in the rain.

I made spaghetti for dinner and dyed it different colors, just for fun.

They just thought this was the greatest thing ever. I have never seen three boys eat spaghetti so fast.

Ezzy painted his face red- that was a surprise.

Kai made scrambled eggs by himself.

 We made tin can telephones - they actually work!

 Another shaving cream activity (see, I told you it was a theme for the week).  This one is a little different in that it is half shaving cream and half white glue.  This makes an incredible finger paint!  It could also be used to make a collage, but we didn't do that.  (Ideas from:  Not Just Cute)

Ezzy's making a sunset.

We went to the Farmer's Market and bought lots of fruit, then had a fruit-cutting party.

Now we have bags of fruit in the freezer ready for smoothies!

Some Fun Videos

The boys skateboarding



An obstacle course in our backyard



And a fight at the mall

The Binder

I got this idea from Thomas Jefferson Education and started it right away - it's great and so simple! I got a three ring binder for each boy and put some fun pictures of them on the front. Inside I filled it with empty clear plastic sheet protectors for them to keep their finished work in. Each boy has a calendar in the front. This is a place where we can practice planning as well as recording. To Kai's binder I added his reading list and a place where we write a paragraph each day about what he learned that day. They all love it and are busy filling it up with all their work and special papers. It's unleashed a new wave of creativity in the house and I have more ideas too.

These are the covers I made for their binders:

Crazy Storm

So I don't know if it's on the news or not, but we're having a really crazy storm here on the Pacific side of Costa rica.  Did you see my turtle post from yesterday?  Well the photo below is the EXACT spot where two nights ago we watched the turtle lay her eggs.  It has now turned into a river!

We went to check out the devastation on the beach - it's pretty crazy!

Kai found a light bulb!

On a more serious note - one of the communities my husband's been working with lives right on a riverbank - they had to be evacuated and are in a temporary shelter.  Many people have lost their homes and even their lives.  And the rain continues.  Tonight it's supposed to rain even more, so we ask for your prayers.

Amazing night

I love the spontaneity of living here. I never know what each day will hold.  The other night Scott called me, "There's a turtle on the beach, I'm driving by - get the boys and jump in the car."  Sure enough, about one minute later we were jumping into our '98 Chevy Astro and booking it the short three blocks to the beach.  Scott drove right out onto the compacted sand, we ran through the misty rain and this is what we found.  

It's turtle season in Costa Rica, so every night mommy turtles are coming up onto beaches everywhere to lay their eggs.  There was a man working with a turtle reserve not too far away and he was looking out for this one.  After she dug her hole and settled in, the boys moved closer to see the eggs dropping into the hole.

After she finished laying her eggs, she moved her flippers and covered the hole with sand.  Then she rocked back and forth and did a little dance to smooth the hole to make sure her eggs were covered and safe.  When she moved away she had done such a good job you couldn't even tell anything had happened there.  Then she turned around and headed back to the ocean.

There she is, swimming away.  She is an Olive Ridley Sea Turtle for those interested.  (My camera battery was basically dead - it was really hard to get pictures!)

After she left, the man from the turtle reserve went back to dig up the turtle eggs.  They would not be safe on the beach here in Jaco, so he takes the eggs over to the reserve, protects them and then releases them back into the wild when they hatch.  The man from the reserve only had two gloves, but he let the boys take turns digging up the eggs and placing them into a plastic bag.

We counted 116 eggs!  Isn't that incredible?  Kai was especially thrilled to do this.  When he saw the turtle laying eggs he was very concerned.  He told me he was thinking right away about the eggs getting destroyed.  He was remembering another scene from a few weeks ago, talking to a homeless man.

The homeless man said he was laying on the beach at night and watched a turtle lay her eggs.  He was hungry so when the turtle went back into the ocean, he dug up the nest and ate the eggs.  Kai watched him squeeze lime onto an egg and eat it right before his eyes.  So I'm pretty sure that's why he was worried about this mommy turtle. 

It's for reasons like these that the Hermosa Beach turtle reserve is working to conserve these turtles and their nests.  The man from the reserve said they have already cleared over 150 nests from Jaco beach and taken them to the reserve.  It was really exciting to be a part of the conservation efforts and help to save this mommy turtles' eggs!   I was just having visions of my boys all working as little ecologists. 

Another thought, I was just reading in a book about the importance and spirituality of caring for creation.  The author was saying that, "Modern men and women have lost their connection with creation.  We're always insulated from it by shoe leather, cotton-polyester, glass, metal, plastic, HVAC, and screens of many kinds!  ...I can't help but believe our souls are starved for the company of God's creatures." 

He goes on to say, "If I could live another life, I think I would devote it to ecology, because I also believe that this is a truly spiritual and Christian work.  Genesis begins with our mandate to take care of God's creation, and never has our failure to do so been more acute than now.  Learning to live as caretakers of creation and friends to fellow creatures must be at the core of Christianity."  Interesting, huh?

Koa's Birthday

As promised... photos from the "BIG" day! 

The birthday boy waiting for his pancake.

Our neighbors had pancakes with us!

 I felt adventurous and took the boys to Parque Carara with my friend Renate, who's visiting from Norway.

 The rainforest is so beautiful!






More neighbors came over to help celebrate and wear costumes.

 

Singing happy birthday!



Koa really enjoyed eating a piece of birthday cake!

What a special day!

Happy Birthday, Koa!

Today Koa is one year old!!!  I can't believe how fast the time flies.  We're about to have a pancake breakfast and sing happy birthday to our special guy.  I'm sure I'll be posting more pictures of today - of course I'll have to get a shot of him eating some birthday cake this afternoon.  But for now I'm remembering one year ago today and holding a newborn baby in my arms. 

Remembering one year ago today... (this post was originally published November 5, 2009)

Resting in daddy's hands

sleepy baby

The name "Koa" means strong or brave in Hawaiian. It's pronounced like Noah with a "K." We had a really hard time selecting a name for our fourth boy. He wasn't officially named until his second day of life. I don't really know how we came up with this name, it wasn't even on our lists. It just seemed to fit. Jeffrey is his middle name and he is named for Scott's brother. He was born November 1st at 8 a.m., weighing 6 lbs. 3 oz., 18.5 inches long. Our smallest baby.

My mom arrived in Costa Rica on October 31st. We picked her up at the airport and Rachel made us all dinner. That night I knew I needed to get some sleep and get to bed early. We were leaving for the hospital at 6 a.m. to be there for our 8 a.m. c-section appointment. I woke up at about 2 a.m., just uncomfortable and wide awake. I tried as hard as I could, but I never could go back to sleep! I finally just got up at about 5 and showered and got ready to go. Too much excitement, I guess!

Our plan for the day was that Rachel would stay with Kai, Ezzy and Jude while mom, Scott and I were going to the hospital. Paola would join Rachel later in the day and stay the night. We were a little nervous about how Jude was going to do. The whole week before he started waking up and climbing in bed with me at night. So I had a feeling he would be looking for me at night and might be upset when he couldn't find me. Paola did night duty and she did great with him.

Mema at the hospital - we were lucky they let her into the surgery

Scott suited up and ready for surgery

Everything went really well. I was really nervous about the anasthesia because I've had problems in the past with the epidural not working (this is my 4th c-section). I actually asked the anasthesiologist if I could have general anasthesia! He was so sweet, he said if I really wanted it he would do it, but he didn't recommend it and reassured me that it would be ok. So I went with his advice. During the surgery my mom stood right by me and held my hand. Scott actually went around and video recorded the whole surgery!!! He is crazy! It's a pretty intense surgery.



This moment was really sweet. I could hear Koa crying and crying and when they put him by me he just stopped crying - he knew his mommy! Unfortunately they still had a lot of work left to do with me so Scott went out with the baby while mom stayed with me. It took a full 2 hours to finish the surgery and recovery time. During that time Scott was with the babe. The nurses had him take his shirt off and they put him right on his chest - no bath or blanket or anything! It was bonding time for Scott and baby. They were like that for the full two hours! It is interesting how different countries and hospitals do things differently. In California they had the babies washed, dried, swaddled and in Scott's arms while he waits for me. So this was a different experience, but so sweet!

Scott spent the night with me at the hospital and by the next day we were heading home. This is also different - usually after a c-section I stay 3-4 days in the hospital. In Costa Rica patients only stay one night. I was a little nervous about that, but by the next afternoon I was glad to be going home anyways. I'm not a huge fan of hospitals and I'd just assume be in my own bed.

The only hard thing was the only pain medicine the doctor prescribed for me for home was tylenol and motrin. I didn't realize that until the next morning I woke up in so much pain I could barely even walk to the bathroom. That was not fun. But our friend Mar was able to get a hold of the doctor and get to the pharamacy for us to get some better medicine.

Being home has been a little crazy so far. Luckily we have Mema with us who has been cooking, cleaning and playing with kids - we're keeping her very busy! She leaves Saturday and that will be a sad day. But luckily Scott's mom, aunt and cousin fly in on Monday. I'm feeling better day by day too.


Okay, one of the craziest things is seeing our "baby Jude" all of a sudden look sooo huge! I think maybe other moms will relate to this feeling. He just looks so massive now. The boys are really happy with their baby brother. I think having extra attention from Mema helps a lot while I'm out of commission. The first day back I was in the bathroom and I could hear Kai in my bedroom talking away. I was wondering who he was talking to - when I came in he was sitting there just talking to Koa. "What are you talking about, Kai?" I asked him. "I'm just telling him about the world and that God is with him. He's going to learn that this is a nice, cozy place."

Koa is the smallest baby I've had. The doctor took him out about 2 weeks early. I just can't seem to put him down. He's so tiny, I just want to hold and cuddle him all the time. He is the cutest, snuggliest little thing. It's got to be hard adjusting to this new life outside the womb, but I think he's going to learn, like Kai said, that his new home is a cozy place.

Welcome baby Koa, we love you!