Sam's week was full of activities and new friends. He has some new classmates and I think he likes having more girls in class. Take a look at his face on Tuesday (at the light table)...I love that face that Sammy makes. Enjoy!
This past weekend was the ABIA Holiday Fair and as a member of ABIA and Food Court coordinator I had to be there ALL weekend. Yes, all day Saturday and Sunday in the sun, but my boys came to visit me throughout the weekend and it made it more bearable.
Don't get me wrong, the fair was great, but it gets a little tiring when you are there from 8 am - 5 pm two days in a row!
The fair was a complete success and we raised money for our charities in Bolivia. I also got to do some shopping and buy some gifts for family and friends. Some of you in Miami might receive some of the goodies I bought at this annual artisan fair....let's see.
Sammy's favorite part of the fair had to be the cupcakes...you can see all the evidence across his face
Luka was excited to see Barbie again (she was at the fair last year). But this year was special...he got to KISS her. He was in love!
Sam and Luka were walking and dancing all around the fair. Don't you love those hats!
It is a little early for holiday photos, but Sinterklaas (from Holland) made an appearance at the fair and Luka was able to talk to him and his wish list.
Oh, look but Santa Claus also came...thank goodness. Sam didn't want to sit on his lap, but he was okay if mommy held him.
I just can't get enough of these hats. I think JJ needs one too.
Shortly after this photo was taken the boys went home after a long day at the fair and I stayed to close up and wait for the results of the raffle...guess what. SAM WON TWO TICKETS ON ANY ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE!!!! Hello!!! We are really excited and are looking forward to our cruise. First time anyone in our family ever wins a prize that big.
This week Sam just started to look older and bigger....just like that! I don't know what it is but this week he is heavier, more stable and alert and trying to communicate more than usual. Our little Sammy is growing up too fast....please slow down Sam. He clearly says "NO" now and uses his new word all the time. So at least I can ask him something and he can definitively answer yes or no...this is major progress. But we can still see Sam's frustration in wanting to talk...he has so much to say and I suspect it won't be too long before him and Luka can talk behind mommy and daddy's back...ha ha ha.
Here is the Friday update (on Monday because his teacher was out of town).
This week I got to see him the day they played with glue and he was having so much fun that I had to take my own photo with the phone. He was so into the project that he didn't want to go home and usually when I pick him up at 12 pm he can't jump into my arms fast enough for his nap. He loves school, but by 12 pm he is ready to sleep. But on this day he didn't want to leave.
He was also VERY happy when I picked him up on school on Friday from his classmate's birthday party. Here he is with a smile and a lollipop in the car (yes, I know I shouldn't give it to him in the car...bad mommy!)
We are very proud of our "Good Citizen." Luka received his first real school award up on stage at the ACS Good Citizenship Awards Assembly. Students were recognized for various categories: Respect, Cooperation, Outstanding Citizenship, etc.
As you can see from the photos...at first he was a little shy. But then in true Luka fashion he warmed up on the stage and you could hear him laughing and giggling as they came up to him with his certificate. I wish I would have had a video camera, because I think he was even doing a little dance.
He received the "Respect" award for respecting his teachers, classmates and also respecting his environment. Way to go Luka! Let's hope you stay focused on respect for many years to come.
This really make me laugh out loud this morning and I thought I would share. It might get some of you through "hump day" (Wednesday). Thank you to my friend Isabelle McClay for sending this to me.
JJ, watch out...next time I get mad at you, I might just go and clean the toilet!!!
What a great message to post just about anywhere in your house. I got it from this cool blog. I think I will print it and frame it in both Luka and Sam's room. Isn't that what you want them to do....go out there and be AMAZING! Check out the site...they have more fun freebies.
On Sunday we unveiled yet another Halloween look. To tell you the truth Luka was not very fond of this one. He much preferred being a prince, but he did humor me and wear his Frankenstein costume to the party we had yesterday. Sam on the other hand loved his Frankenstein hat and didn't even try to take it off. I just think they look so cute and Sam had his Frankenstein "growl" down perfectly.
Luka is not scary at all...
Trying on his "zombie" face
There he goes again with his funny tooth thing he does...
I must confess that carving my first pumpkin had me very nervous. I don't know why...I just had never done it and I had no idea where to start. Well the first hurdle was finding a pumpkin in town. You see the pumpkins in Bolivia are a completely different color and shape so finding a "gringo" pumpkin was a challenge.
My friend Matt owns a restaurant and his chef goes to the central market every day. For an entire week I had his chef on "pumpkin watch." But no luck...
On Saturday afternoon after Luka begged and begged to make a Jack-o-Lantern we stopped at the market by our house and thank goodness they had a green pumpkin...close enough.
On Sunday Luka woke up at 6 am begging to carve the pumpkin. I couldn't believe his excitement for this truly American tradition. I was kind of excited too, but very nervous at the same time. How the heck do you carve a pumpkin?
So at 7 am JJ and looked for videos on You Tube (seriously, you can learn to do just about anything there) and whala we learned how to carve our first pumpkin.
In the first photo you can see the boys ready to carve the pumpkin. Luka was so excited that he went to get his own camera to chronicle the event.
Luka liked getting all the guts from our special pumpkin.
Sam didn't want to miss any of the excitement either.
Luka drew the shapes so that mommy could cut them out.
Luka was so into this project. I wish I had this type of concentration for some of the other activities I do with him...like reading or writing.
Hey, Luka has pumpkin mouth...is that contagious?
And there you have the first Van Herksen Family Pumpkin! By the way, I asked Luka to name the pumpkin...he named her Isabella. I think he has a crush on my friend's daughter and guess what her name is...Isabella. Kind of a funny name for our 1st pumpkin, but it was a total success.
Luka's school celebrates BOOK WEEK and at the end of Book Week they have a Book Parade where classes dress up like characters from a book and they parade around the gym. Very simple, but very cute and the kids and parents enjoy it a lot. Here is a video from Luka's class at the "parade."
This week LIVE was full of activities and Sam's class got larger. There are now 8 students in his class and by the looks of one of the photos he might have a crush on Daria. Look at this expression in the photo. It is the first photo for "Jueves." Remember you can click on the photos to see them larger.
Friday was a big day. We had the Halloween party. I will post photos on that later, but Sam's favorite part was eating cupcakes. That boy really loves his sweets. He was dressed as an apple and I was Snow White. I really have to post those photos soon so you can see how cute he was. Here is a little teaser...
I don't really love the photos that I manage to snap with my crack berry, but sometimes I don't have another camera close by and my boys have their moments of absolute "yumminess" and I can't resist...
Here is Sammy at the Tennis Club having lunch. This was before we finally took him to cut his hair. It was little long, but I couldn't bring myself todo it.
On this day I was laying on the couch feeling under the weather and Sam was just hanging out with Mommy before he had to go to school. I love his expression in this photo. Will they always be this cute?
Okay, I think we need to cut his hair! ha ha ha ha...We finally did a few days later.
Every Friday Luka and I have "Fun Lunch Fridays" or "Fast Food Fridays" as I like to call them. We go to lunch and Luka gets to pick...so needless to say we usually go somewhere that has burgers and fries on the menu. On this Friday Luka wanted to bring a special "friend"...he loves Catalina. At times he says he wants to marry her, luckily that day they just wanted to share fries and Fanta. I wasn't sure if Burger King could handle a wedding on such short notice.
In Maputo Luka used to LOVE milk shakes, but then he just stopped drinking them. This week he suddenly got the urge and I couldn't wait to share this yummy treat with him here in La Paz. It made me remember all the milk shakes we had at Cafe Sol in Maputo...oh, the good ole days! I think this will become a tradition here. The strawberry shake at Alexander's Coffee was excellent by the way!
Hey, you are drinking from mommy's straw too! You didn't leave much for me! But it is okay...I know you enjoyed every bit of it.
Finally...better late than never. Over one month has passed since the PINK Party took place in San Miguel, but it is good to have some publicity on this great cause. I hope to have many more PINK Parties next year. So people in La Paz get ready and who knows I might plan one in Miami and Holland during one of our holidays. My sister and I have signed up for the 3-Day Walk in Tampa for 2012 so the fundraising has turned into a year-long project. But 2012 will be a little easier since we have a whole year to do it.
Thanks again to Rodrigo and Ignacio from Destapa for such a great party!
Well, not so much, but JJ and I did appear in some of La Paz's society pages recently. The article above is from a Baby Shower I attended for one of my fellow KG4 moms at one of my favorite cafes in town - Harina. Do you see me? That is me with the short hair on the second little photo from the top.
And here you can see JJ at the ambassador's Going Away party. I love how we leave Miami and all of a sudden we are in the Society Pages...who knew we were so posh...ha ha ha. That was a joke! Do you see JJ? He is the 1st photo in the 4th row.
I was a Facebook this morning and saw someone comment on Giuliana Rancic saying she has breast cancer. My first thoughts were, oh my gosh, she has been trying to get pregnant for such a long time. Okay, I am not friends with the woman, but she has been very vocal about her struggle to have a baby and IVF. Having had fertility issues for many years I related with her story and like Giuliana I always talk about my road to motherhood, adoption, IVF, etc. but I am not famous and I think it is very commendable that she has chronicled her experiences to share with other women. I am a strong believer that it is easier to go through the whole ordeal when you talk about it...at least it was that way for me.
Well, today when she went on the Today show, her news wasn't about her pregnancy, but about her new battle with breast cancer. The way she found out was amazing and very important. Before she started her latest round of IVF with a doctor in Colorado she was told to get a mammogram. The doctor explained that he would not go through IVF with her if there was any chance she had any type of breast cancer. The hormones in the pregnancy would accelerate the cancer and would speed up the disease. Reluctantly she did the mammogram and it was not good news.
She is in the early stages of breast cancer. When I went through my final round of IVF, the one that gave me Sam, I also had a sonogram (the doctor said that with "young breast tissue" sometimes a sonogram was better) and I also had the blood test to check for the breast cancer gene. I have a strong family history of breast cancer (unlike Giuliana) but thank goodness all was okay and the IVF was a success.
But I remember thinking I wish all doctors were this thorough and honest. I am so proud of Giuliana to go public with this very personal story. The moral of the story is that you are never too young to be vigilant against breast cancer - check yourself monthly, ask your doctor about a sonogram or mammogram, be informed. If you catch it early, you will most likely be okay and live a full life.
On my recent 3-day walk for breast cancer I met many young girls (ages 25 - 45) that had breast cancer young and as survivors they almost had one thing in common...early detection.
So Giuliana thank you for keeping us informed and aware! We are sending prayers your way for a speedy recovery.
In the end you see everything happens for a reason. She mentioned in this interview: "This baby saved my life. If I had never gone through this process of IVF I would have probably never found out about the breast cancer until later and maybe by then it would have been too late. I found it early and I AM GOING TO BE OKAY."
