My big boy and the little photographer

Levi is 6 months old this week!  How in the world did that happen so fast???  As of last week he started rolling from his back to his tummy, so he's no longer safe to leave anywhere but the floor :)  He can also sit pretty well without falling on his face, weighs just over 19 pounds, and has his first tooth just starting to poke through.  We just started him on solids this week, and although he's still working on keeping the food in his mouth and swallowing it, at least he opens his mouth and has somewhat enjoyed everything except for plain yogurt.  Its amazing how 2 children can be so different...Juliana got her first tooth at 14 months (she was already walking) and would close her mouth and refuse to eat anything.

How can you resist that face?!?

Juliana has recently decided she wants to be a photographer and is constantly asking to borrow my camera.  I just uploaded my pictures and there were  400 some on it from the past 2-3 weeks (usually there's maybe 20).  She had taking pictures of every inch of our house.  Many of them were out of focus, but she got some interesting ones :)

She figured out she could take pictures of herself by using a mirror :)

She's quite the creative girl...

This week Kyle is gone with the volleyball teams at their tournament in San Pedro.  A couple weeks ago the kids and I went to one of the friendly games that his Varsity girls team played...where I decided that we wouldn't be going along with him to the tournament.  Sitting in a gym for 2-3 entire days, with a 6 month old and a 3 year old just doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun :)  Juliana asks every hour or so where daddy is, if he'll be home today, what he's doing right now, and if we can "skype on him".  Unfortunately he hasn't been at the hotel much, but she did get to talk to him at lunch today.  His girls team lost their first game this morning, but were playing another game this afternoon...and the other teams had 3 games this afternoon/evening as well.  He said they really needed to win if they wanted to go on.

I have been busy working on things for the Honduran Fellowship the last week or so.  We wanted to set up Google Apps for NonProfits in order to make it easier to share files/contacts/calendars between the 5 staff members (instead of having 3-4 copies of everything and trying to keep them all updated).  After spending 3 full days getting everything set up we were denied because of a question over the non-profit status of the Honduran Fellowship.  I'm hoping we can get it straightened out and not have to come up with an alternate plan, but the Mattica's had to make a quick trip to the States this weekend.  

Playing Catchup

Well, we moved into our house 5 weeks ago, and I feel like since then its been non-stop activity.  I had planned to catch the blog up last week, but our internet wasn't working well enough, so now there's even more to post about!

Our Move

We were told the 2nd to last week of February that the school wouldn't pay rent for March for our house so we had to be out by the 28th (and have it cleaned up after we were out).  Kyle was out of town Feb 22-24 so I finished up the packing and as much cleaning as I could do (I packed an entire house by myself!)...while the school maintenance and administrators finished up as much of the new house as they could.  The plan was that it would be completed & cleaned by Monday, we could move Tuesday, and have the old house cleaned by Thursday.  Well Monday morning, Kyle wakes me up early to tell me he has to go on a field trip with the seniors on Tuesday during the move.  Probably not the best idea when your wife has already packed the entire house and you have 2 very young children...

Anyways, I finished up the packing even more quickly than I thought I could and then had to make a quick trip down the mountain in the afternoon, in order to return to the house by 5 to start the move early.  Thankfully we have incredible friends who came to help us and we moved about 1/3 of our boxes and the couches.  The next day Kyle was gone and some of the school's maintenance men moved the rest of our boxes, appliances, and beds...the rest were still finishing up the new house :)  We did get everything in the house and a couple friends came over to make beds and unpack the kitchen.  We still have nothing hung on the walls and a few things not finished on the house, but hopefully things will slow down a bit now and I can think about that.  

Kitchen 

Dining room

Downstairs living room

Levi's bedroom

Upstairs living room 

Juliana's bedroom

Our bedroom

ABSH Soccer Tournament

A week after we moved in Kyle had to go to San Pedro for 5 days for the national soccer tournament (2 of our teams qualified).  I was exhausted from working on the house (and never getting caught up) so the kids and I went along.  Usually our teams don't do very well and I end up spending a lot of time in the hotel.  But this year they did really well (our boys team got 2nd place) so we spend pretty much the entire time at the games.  

HFMM Retreat

After the tournament we returned home, and had a VERY busy 4 days before leaving again.  March 15-17 was the yearly retreat for the Honduran Fellowship of Missionaries and Ministries (the ministry that I have been working for the last year).  My official title is Website Manager, but I am also in charge of creating a database with contact information for each missionary (and trying to college the info from each person) and had a few other things to work on before the retreat.  Kyle had a few things going on at school, so he was coming and going throughout the weekend, but we had a very good time.  A speaker came from Florida, and did 4 sessions on being set free, which left us with a lot to think about.  I can't say that I came back all that rested but it was good to meet up with some old friends and meet some new ones.

Semana Santa/Easter

After the retreat we were home for 1 whole week!  A week filled with laundry, cleaning, LOTS of baking, and repacking.  Earlier in the a group of our friends decided we should all vacation together during our week off leading up to Easter.  After MUCH searching during January that we could afford and would hold all of us...in fact it was even able to hold a few more :)  So last week 27 of us from our church, school, and a neighboring ministry set off for a beach house near Omoa Honduras.  Some of the group was able to go on Saturday & Sunday, but the rest of us had to wait till Monday because of church responsibilities.  Apparently it was hot and sunny over the weekend, but after we arrived it started raining...and rained and stormed for 48 hours straight...during the dry season when it often doesn't rain for months at a time.  It finally stopped raining Thursday morning and we got home time at the pool (the beach & ocean were too dirty after all the rain).  Friday morning, the day we were supposed to leave, was sunny and nice so we actually decided to stay an extra day and return home Saturday.  

Juliana swimming in the rain

Levi getting a little sun on Thursday

Easter morning we had our annual after-sunrise sunrise service...the sun just comes up too early to have the service at sunrise.  As it was, we were up at 4:30, and left for church at 5:30.  That afternoon, Kyle played tennis with a friend, while the kids and I went to an egg hunt.  

At first she didn't want to go down into the yard with the
kids to collect eggs, but then realized there was candy inside...

Levi

Levi is now 5 months old.  We took him for his checkup and shot on March 22nd (same day as our 5 year anniversary).  He's a growing boy!  He's staying right about the 75-80% for height and 70th% for weight.  The doctor keeps insisting that he should be rolling from his back to his stomach, but I think he's just too contented to be wherever I put him.  If I put him on his tummy, he usually just stays there...sometimes he uses his arms and legs to rotate a little to see a different direction...but he just stays on whatever side I put him.  I think his favorite things to do right now are smile, laugh, and scream...he can be one noisy boy!  He is definitely more contented than Juliana was...sometimes I wake up during the night and can hear him from his room just laying in bed talking to himself :)  We took him to the embassy on March 4th to report his birth and apply for his passport, which we picked up last week...so he's now a US citizen!

Juliana

Juliana's not really growing, but she's definitely learning :)  She has been singing some of the Easter songs from church this week, and has mastered the ABC's pretty well (though sometimes it sounds like 'Elmo and a p' in the middle).  She has a little table and chair in our upstairs living room with all her markers, crayons, and coloring books, and sits there a lot doing her "school work".  She loves being in the new house, and being able to yell "good-night Christa" from her bedroom window (the teacher's apartments are right outside her window).  She's starting to get back to her old self, but isn't quite there yet.  I've been working on making her bedtime earlier and things to try to help her more.

Kyle and I

Kyle has had a very busy spring.  In addition to his job he is coaching volleyball...head coach for 1 team and assisting 2 others...so he has practices after school 4 days a week plus Saturdays.  By the beginning of May sports will be over and hopefully he'll be home a little more.  This week I've been unpacking, cleaning up, doing large quantities of laundry, had 2 bible studies yesterday, and am trying to catch up on bills, emails, and a lot computer work that have been piling up for the last month.  

Sorry for such a long blog post...I should probably start blogging after each activity instead of waiting for the end of the month :)