Happy Mother's Day...

Molecular Science...

Nah, just making Play-Doh. However we did talk about molecules. It went something like this.
Me: "Paige, when the molecules of the items we put in the pot get hot, they start bouncing around really fast."
P (my daughter):"So they are like, having a party!"
Me: "ah, yes."
"Now that they are cooling down, they are different, they have changed. They are tighter together."
P: "So now they are hugging really really tight!!!!" As she hugs me to show how tight.
Me: "Yep."
Kinda cute I thought. :)
You can check out the lesson we used with a great Play-Doh recipe, it's a link on the right.
Enjoy!

Our pet froggie..

Actually I think he's a toad. We have at least two of these guys in our courtyard. At night when I went out to finish laundry, my foot met one once. Now I always wear shoes. (for those of you who are worried, I just swept the frog to the side, it didn't meet it's fate) This is how creature capture and release happens in our family. They older boys T and D spot it, they run and announce the find to P (my daughter), she darts in the direction they told her and catches it. Then she hands it to them after they know it's safe. The boys love to be the ones to release, and she, well let's just say she's not the happiest camper when the animal is let go. Isn't this guy so cute??? He reminds me of the book "Frog and Toad" that I read when young.

My BIG blue bins...

I love these guys! This is what I packed all our stuff into to come here to CR. What a genius I am! I should have taken a picture with us and our 12 blue bins at the airport.
Why I love my blue bins (I should have my friend Penny write me an ode to my blue bins)
They stack nicely when empty or full. You can cram a lot of stuff in them, including 2 large Tonka trucks for my little boys. I have used them for bathtubs, storage bins. shoe closets, dressers and a ladder. Because they have locking lids, they keep the insects out of our clothes and shoes. Boy and I smart. O.K. no more boasting.
What I wish I had brought was baking soda and cream of tarter. Those things I can only buy in packages of about 2 teaspoons. And I pay about $1.00 for them. Crazy! I can get 100 teaspoons in the states for only $1.00.
For those of you that giggled when I said I was bringing my bread maker, I'm on my 5th loaf of bread. I also brought 20 pounds of Dallin's bread flour (he has a wheat allergy) and other baking ingredients for him. Go glad I did. There is no way I'm finding xantham gum here if I can't get a decent sized baking soda. :)

What a wonderful "day"...

Today is a wonderful day! T and D start school! Bless this day. We coughed up the money for private school yesterday. All I can say is “ouch!”, that hurt!!!! As if the monthly fee wasn’t bad enough they attach 2 more “outrages” fees just to start. I’ve been home schooling these past 2 weeks; seems like a month. Without Internet access in our “cozy” home, it’s been about impossible. As of last night the Internet has reentered our lives. Whoo hooo!


I will continue to home school Paige and Aiden. He’s just starting to read little words. If anyone has a two year old (or older) I HIGHLY recommend “Leap Frog’s Letter Factory” DVD. It is the best thing I’ve found for learning phonics! You can find it at Target or Wal-Mart. Aiden has known his phonics for awhile now. His cousin Ethan picked them up after a week of watching the movie. It’s worth the $12.00.



As long as I’m recommending things here are two more recommendations I have. I have found the best dentist on the face of this earth. Well, at least in the Inland Empire. His name is Dr. Mohns. He and his staff are amazing. They are happy, and kind and Dr. Mohns is so gentle and careful (and honest) with your teeth. So if you are nervous to go to the dentist, or tired of grouchy staff at your dentist, call his, they are wonderful! He's in Riverside on Tibbits off of Brockton.
(I actually can’t claim I found him, my good friend Christine B. found him first. Way to go Christine!)


And for my final recommendation, a book. “The Peacegiver”. Most of us understand the atonement but when we need to apply it to our lives, do we know how? This book is written in story form so it shows the practical application to the atonement. It is about a severe problem in this man’s life, but even though we aren't going through the same situation, it is a huge benefit to understanding our part in the atonement. When you read it have a pen handy to underline! Great book.

More of Manuel Antonio Park...

Here the little ones are playing, unaware of how gorgeous it is around them.


This is an adorable white faced monkey. Not sure why the call it that! (hee,hee)


And finally, back at home Dallin caught this in our pool. Can you tell what it is???? It's a cockroach. It's huge!!!! I just finished killing a centipede in the kid's room. Wes and I can be found in their room most nights now. I don't want them playing with a creature they aren't supposed to be touching.

Manuel Antonio...

Sometimes it's so beautiful here I have to remind myself that it's real! Manuel Antonio Park was as exciting as I thought it would be. Iguanas were everywhere! As we were hiking around the pennensila to find the beach we wanted, Paige ran out through the brush to get a better view and screamed. Then said, "Oh I thought that was real!" Then Troy replies, "It is real!!! Mom come check this out!" There was a HUGE iguana about 2 feet from Paige. She slowly backed up and then we were able to enjoy the reptile better. There were 4 of them in this particular spot. We are guessing they were guarding a nest. Iguanas are known to charge at humans if they feel threatened.

We also saw these rather large ants and some were carrying leaves on their backs. While the picture doesn't do it justice, it was pretty impressive to see in person.

We also saw a sloth. It was high up in the trees so the picture isn't that clear. That's why I didn't post one. But they are soooooo sloooooooow. It was funny to watch him move from one branch to another.



T,D,P and A on the first of many rocks they climbed today.

Professional Farmer's Market Consumers...

This is now my second time at the farmer's market. There are ton's of fresh "organic" fruits and vegetables. We can even get breads, fresh sqeezed juices and chicken, very fresh chicken.
Here is a picture of Wes and the little ones getting their fill of orange juice. The other picture is of a gentleman with a sugar cane juicer. Yep, I said sugar cane juicer. It is very loud and fast as you can imagine. He puts one end in and then guides it out. The juice isn't that delicious if you ask me. It's also green. Not my favorite juice color.
Tomorrow we head to Manuel Antonio Park. I have yet to go there so I'm pretty excited. If you check the side bar you can learn more about it.

This is how I get around town...

I love this little red taxi! It costs be about $1.00 to get to town in this thing. I use it to do my grocery shopping. It has made it much easier to deal with not having a car right now. It wouldn't be that difficult to get a vehicle for us if we didn't have 5 munchkins. But what are we to do. I couldn't decide which two to leave at home so they all came with us to Costa Rica. :)
The taxes on a vehicle are 80% of the value of the car. The cars that have more seats are so much more expensive here. We are going to be putting another seat in the back of Wes' sister's SUV. Then we will use that and she will get a new car. Should work out great. (but may take awhile)
We are renting a car this weekend to get to church (together) and to do some sight seeing. I'm wondering how church will be this Sunday. It's fast Sunday were we have the opportunity to get up and express our feelings for our Savior. In this branch there are maybe 12 adults. I'm thinking that we will all get to get up 2 or 3 times to make the testimony meeting last it's usuall hour and a half. We will see. :)

My daughter's new style...

I usually threaten P that if she screams while I carefully brush her hair, I will cut it! Today she called my bluff. She said, "then cut it!" After I tired to talk her out of it, I gave her the best hair cut I could with blunt sissors. I'll admit it does look better on her. I guess Sunday I'll just have to find someone to give the curlers I brought over here to. Oh well.

Don't Feel too Sorry for Us...

In case you feel sorry for us with the heat, cozy living quarters or toilet situation, don't. Here is what we do all day. Troy and Dallin will be starting private school next week. It's called Falcon and it's only a few blocks away. MaryAnn, it's right by the opening of Los Suenos. They have to wear kacki shorts and a white polo shirt. Troy is rather irritated. Dallin's excited.
They will only be going for a month. Then school is out until September. The three of them will start together then.
Yesterday I took the 5 kids by myself into town for a few hours. We took a taxi bus. It was interestingly hot!!! But we got TBCY yogurt, TWICE!!!! MaryAnn and I have special memories of TCBY yogurt.
It's amazing how I can get around not speaking Spanish.
We sure miss everyone but are happy here. Oh and by the way, I have the same email address. Enjoy your day.

Just A Few Little Observations...

People here don't move out of the way. I was in a mock Costco the other day (and I had to drive 2 hours to get to it) and every aisle that I would go down someone would stop right in the middle to do what they needed to do. They see you, know you can't get by and yet they continue with what they are doing. What is that all about? I would have to say, excuse me and even then they only moved sometimes. It's the same with the highways. If someone needs to do something, they stop in the middle of the street and do it. Everyone else has to slam on the brakes and not hit them or go around if they can. So interesting don't you think? I'm not complaining, just observing.
Something I love here is the grocery bags. They are thick and won't rip even if you put too much in them and try and carry too many bags. I love it.
Something that is quite an inconvenience is that you can't flush toilet paper or anything of that nature. Yep! I'm sure you can imagine the implications that has. It makes for quite an adventure sometimes. If you are sensitive regarding this subject you won't want to read further. Just warning you. :) So as I was saying, you wipe and then throw it in the trash that is next to the toilet. So the trash gets emptied at least once a day. I know some of you would empty it more often than that but that is the best I can do. I can't imagine being pregnant and taking out this trash. Can you????