Tag, I'm it!

My sister Vicky tagged me yesterday so here it is.

Here are the rules:
"MY UNSPECTACULAR QUIRKS"
1.Link to the person who tagged you
2.Mention the rules on your blog
3.Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about you
4.Tag 6 bloggers by linking to them
5.Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.
First of all don't expect the links, because I am not that computer literate!

When I first got this I thought, I can't think of any strange quirks that I have. But after brainstorming with the help of my hubby I have come up with a list to share with you all. (I'm pretty sure Dustin came up with most of these. Thanks honey!)

1. I am not an e-mailer. I much prefer a conversation on the phone or in person. When I want to discuss something I don't want it to take a few days, or even hours to make a decision or to hear back from someone. Along with this I'm not a huge fan of e-vites. To me they are very impersonal and how do save that it a scrapbook if you wanted to? No offense to anyone who loves e-vite, that's just me.

2. I love to read! The only problem is that when I am reading a good book I am lost to the world, just ask my family! My husband can't understand how I can be surrounded by 5 noisy kids and not hear a thing when I'm in the middle of a good book. It absolutely drives Dustin crazy!

3. When I am deep in thought or concentrating on something I bite my tongue. Not only that, but when I used to feed my babies I would open my mouth as I fed the baby (unknowingly). It took Dustin a long time to figure out why Austin wouldn't eat for him, he watched me feed him one day and pointed this out to me.

4. I don't know why, but I pass medial tasks, that I could do, to Dustin. It is something I just recently realized, but if, for example, we have a problem with the internet, I will ask Dustin to call them. I don't know why I do this, because I'm sure I have more time and I'm totally capable, I just do. I'm going to have to work on correcting this problem.

5. When I fold laundry everything has to be folded just so (a.k.a. my way). If Dustin volunteers to help I usually turn him down or I let him fold only his own clothes. Now the really strange part of this is that living in Costa Rica I have a maid who does almost all of the laundry and I don't care at all how she fold it (sometimes things are still inside out), I'm just glad I don't have to do it or watch how she fold it!

6. I'm always right! O.K. maybe not always, but at least 99.5% of the time! I can honestly say that I truly believe this when I am discussing something with my husband. In fact one time we were discussing the fact that I think I'm always right and I said "ok, maybe I'm not always right... but really I almost always am!" It made Dustin so mad!

So now I am tagging:
Christine, Kim, Tamara, Crystal, Wendy & Desaray
Have fun!

New York City

A few weeks ago Dustin and I were lucky enough to get away for 6 days with out the kids. I've always wanted to go to New York City and I finally got the chance. We absolutely loved the city! We saw all of the tourist sights and a couple Broadway shows. We absolutely loved Wicked, but weren't crazy about In the Heights. The weather was gorgeous and we walked miles and miles every day. We enjoyed eating American food, walking in Central Park, and of course being together!

The kids stayed in Costa Rica with the maid during the week (I felt a little guilty because she only speaks spanish), and then they went to a couple of my friends houses for the weekend. A Huge THANKS to my friends Jenny and Angela, we couldn't have gone without you both!

Company?

A few weeks ago I walked into our dining area and sitting on our window casing was a parakeet!

The parakeets are always around, sitting right outside our bathroom windows and making all kinds of racket starting at about 5 am.

I hurried to get a picture before he flew away, but apparently he had no plans for leaving. The girls went over to the window to visit and he pecked on the glass while they tapped from the inside. Zoey meanwhile was scared to death of it. We played with it (through the glass) for about 15 minutes, but then had to leave, and he was still there.

I guess it was just one of the amazing things you come across living in Costa Rica!

Independence Day

Some of you may remember our Christmas card last year featuring our "Tico" children (a Costa Rican is refered to as a Tico). Well, Independence Day for Central America is this coming Monday, September 15th, so today they celebrated at school. All of the children come dressed in their typical Costa Rican clothing. The girls get to wear beautiful skirts and blouses, which of course they love!! And the boys dress as caballeros (cowboys) with white shirts, hats and bandannas. Then they all parade around the school grounds carrying lanterns, sing the national anthem, dance and celebrate their independence from Spain. It's fun to see our children dressed up and enjoying this cultural experience.

Braden

ZoeyKayleeIsabellaAustin

All of our little Ticos

Blessings in Costa Rica

I just wanted to share some great news with everyone that we are really excited about.

You may not know it, but Braden has struggled with school pretty much from the beginning. When he was in 1st grade the school did some testing with him and said he had a learning/reading disorder. When I asked what the difference was between that and Dyslexia, they said "we don't like to put a label on the kids". So, he has gone to a reading specialist for about an hour a day during language arts since 1st grade.

When we were deciding to move to Costa Rica we were really concerned as to whether or not he could get the help he needed here. Well, we found a school that we thought would work and we moved here.

Last year the reading specialists worked with Braden, but they weren't having much success. They tried everything they knew to help him, but weren't very successful. They talked to us about getting him further testing to figure out the best way to help him learn. The problem has never been his willingness to learn because his teacher always say he is very attentive and eager to learn. So in May we started testing him and we finally received an actual diagnosis for Dyslexia.

I never knew you could be excited to have your child diagnosed with Dyslexia, but we are very excited. We have found a tutor who specializes in Dyslexia and will be using the Barton System with him. We are so excited about this program and everything it can do for Braden.

We really feel as though this has been the biggest blessing we could ever receive from moving here. I think that if we hadn't come here we never would have gotten a real diagnosis and Braden could have floundered for years.

So I guess...Thank-you Wal-Mart for sending us to Costa Rica!

Beach Boy Braden

Austin and his Prodigy

Last year Austin started band and has been learning to play the drums. Well, lately he has been trying to get Zoey to play too. He thinks she has a lot of potential since she can drum pretty fast. I think she had the potential to be a spoiled rock star, since she throws the sticks when she's done!

Here's a few pictures of Austin and Zoey "practicing". They have to use pillows since we live in an apartment and there's no room for real drums.

Concentrating very hard!

That's a wrap!

No Longer My Baby

Well, I can hardly believe it, but Zoey started preschool yesterday. People here seem to start sending their kids to school when they are only 1. Last year everyone kept asking me when I was going to send Zoey. I didn't really think I would send her, but the problem became that all of her sibling are in school, and so are all of the other kids her age. So in order for her to have any socialization we decided to put her in preschool 2 mornings a week. She was very excited to go and didn't care at all when I left her. When I picked her up they said she was very happy all morning and had a great time. I kind of wondered how she would do, since it is all in spanish, but so far, so good! So I guess she is now a "big girl", and not my baby!

Here she is with her Dora backpack, ready for school.