Sam's Friday Updates

This week is a first for Sam...he has his first "girlfriend." Today when I went to pick up Sam I ran into Nicole's Mom. She told me how much Nicole talks about Sam. Sam doesn't really talk yet...I mean a few words here and there, but I still can't understand his adorable gibberish so I hadn't heard about Nicole.

Nicole's Mom and I were waiting for our little angels and then the teacher came down with both of them...Nicole, kept saying Sam, Sam! And then Ms. Lourdes told us of their torrid daycare love affair. Apparently they spend a lot of time together. Sam pushes Nicole on the swing, they share their food at snack time and even feed each other....OMG my son has a girlfriend! Under "Viernes" you can see them sharing together. They are so cute!

The Boys Strike a Pose for a Local Toy Company

A couple of weeks ago Luka and Sam were invited to participate in a photo shoot for Anatina Toys - a toy company in Bolivia. Here are some of the top picks from the session. I was not super impressed with the photos. The photographer and company representative did not do a really good job of directing the shoot. When taking photos of children you really have to specialize in that or else you lose something when taking the photographs.

Luka is usually the super photogenic sibling, but I think Sam beat him on this one. What do you think?

The photos are supposed to be used for their 2012 Product Catalog and some advertisements in the states, mainly Miami.

Sunday with Our Boys

Sundays are usually pretty quiet for us. Well this Sunday we woke up and went to the gym, then while Sam napped at home with the babysitter we took Luka to the Food Court at the mall for lunch. He loves to eat all types of junk food, so I was very surprised to see that he chose Spaghetti and Meatballs....Mommy and Daddy had Subway....YUM!

Here we thought we were going to have some "quality time" with Luka....but all he wanted to do was play with the iPhone and take photos. That boys is obsessed with all of our gadgets...like parents like son I guess. I really can't get upset with him because I spend my life "Instagramming" photos every chance I get...So I think we need to cut down our gadget use before I start yelling at him to put down my iPhone.

After lunch we headed home to get ready for a BBQ at our friends Andrew and Ginger's house. The boys had fun playing with Bash & Axl...Axl has a drum set so you can imagine how much Luka and Sam had.

Sam was especially sassy on this day. He was off and running on his own and really didn't want our help or listen to anything his parents had to say. Here he is with his doggy and eating a chocolate chip cookie (Ginger makes the BEST cookies).

Here he is telling me he doesn't care if I tell him to take his hands out of the cheese dip.

Oh, there he is eating AGAIN...he was determined not to leave any room for dinner.

There he is on what I think is his 5th chocolate chip cookie. There was no stopping Cookie Monster.

I think here he had enough of Mommy telling him to not eat cookies, slow down, etc. and he just wanted to take off on his own. If he could I think he would have.

Sam's First Computer Lesson

Yesterday I posted about Luka's addiction to our iPhones, iPads, computers, etc. Well, Sammy is not far behind. Lately he sees how much his big brother loves to play with iPhoto and yesterday I found them both in the office and Luka was giving his sibling his first computer lesson.

You should have seen it...Sam would listen for a few seconds then push Luka out of the way...when he couldn't do something or get stuck then he would call Luka over to help them. So far he can scroll the photos and open albums. I was shocked!

Here you can see his excitement!

He loved seeing photos of himself and his big brother!

Here you can see his focus and concentration on the task at hand.

By the way when did toddlers get so into computers. I guess kids learn from their parents and if Luka and Sam see JJ and I on our computers all the time, then they are destined to pick up our habits. I really need to get out from behind the screen more.

My Little Models

Wow, I am loving the photos from our recent family photo shoot more and more every time I see them. And even more when I use CameraBag2 to edit them...not for nothing, but these boys are photogenic. Too bad I don't live in the states so I can have these boys model and pay for their college tuition...ha ha ha. In La Paz there is not really a high demand for blonde or black cuties.

Thank you to Patricio Crooker for taking the photos. We had to hire a local photographer to document our family for an upcoming article on adoption for BZ Blad - the internal magazine for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (will post the article as soon as it comes out...I will have JJ translate some of it).

Look at this photo of Luka....I love him so much!!!!

I haven't loaded all the photos from the shoot to our online gallery, but I will soon...promise.

Candid iPad Moments with Luka

Photo: Luka with Elvira (our weekend nanny) using Photo Booth

Ever wonder what your kids are doing when you are not around...well my son documents his adventures with our iPad, iPhone, MacBook Pro...really anything Mac he can get his hands on. Luka (I guess like his mom and dad) is addicted to all the household Mac gadgets, but lately it is out of control. JJ and I find numerous videos and photos on our respective iPhones, so much so that one of our daily tasks is reviewing and deleting about 25-50 items each.

Actually some are really funny. I especially love the videos where he talks to himself. Here are some photos we found on the iPad from tonight...I guess Sam, Elvira and Luka had a good time playing with the Photo Booth app.

Here Luka is documenting his little brother Sam. If Sam is this concentrated on the TV is must be Barney, or as he call him "Marney."

Oh, there is Sam running with his "wow wow."

This one is kind of creepy, but then all photos with the X-ray feature are scary! It is Elvira. I wonder if she realizes all the photos he is taking...ha ha ha.

This one is really funny. Luka loves to make faces for the camera.

And this is Luka's pièce de résistance. If I were to name this photograph it would be "Psychedelic Cholita."

Luka is becoming quite the photographer and maybe for his birthday we might get him a camera so he doesn't run our iPhones and iPads to the ground.

Sam's Friday Updates

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Sam had a fun week at LIVE, and this week Vicente started. He is the son of one of my good friends. They really seem to be getting along and today he started saying his name, "Cente."

Not ready to get rid of BATH TIME

This week two of the mom's from Luka's class told me that their kids were already bathing/showering on their own. I was like, "Really, no way!" This evening I was reminded that I am NOT ready to get ride of Luka and Sam's joint bath time. They have so much fun together and I love to see them play together. Look at them...I can't imagine telling Luka, "No, time to shower on your own." How boring right? I will try and keep this bath time as long as possible. I think I still have one more year...at least.

CameraBag2: My New Obsession

I am a little obsessed with Instragram and those of you that are a Facebook friend know that I am constantly uploading Instagram picks...well I always get a little sad when I have photos of my Mac that I can't instagram...well I guess I can if I transfer to my phone, but what a pain right...well I discovered CameraBag2...what a fun editing program and so easy. Here are some picks I whipped up in 3 minutes (I timed myself). You have a 30-day free trial and then I think it is only $24.95. Happy editing!

Here are some photos documenting my little Sammy's style:

They look like the photos I used to spend hours looking at when I was little. My mom kept so many scrapbooks...now I can get the same photos of my little ones. I bet they would look and feel amazing printed.

A City of Herbalife by Luka D. van Herksen

My family is definitely an Herbalife family now, but Luka has become a little bit obsessed and I am not sure what to make of this obsession. We all have our shakes in the morning, but Luka wants to attend meetings with me, give presentations. It is really cute. And now when we sit down and draw...all on his own he is always drawing the logo and incorporating it into the scene he is drawing. Last week he asked me if he could sell Herbalife. I said you can do anything you want after you go to college!

At least it is a "healthy" obsession, right?

Quick Visti to El Alto

Yesterday I got to make a quick visit to El Alto. The trip ended a week full of Herbalife club visits. We visited 4 clubs in El Alto yesterday...more on that later. But here are some photos of the "flat" part of La Paz...seriously El Alto es "unico." I am still trying to figure it out and see if I love it, hate it or something in between.

It has this solemn & somber feeling. My initial impression is sadness, but then you see the people and talk to them and that feeling goes away.

How can you feel anything but happiness when you pass this group of school girls "charlando" and having a good time after they have had their shake at the club. They were so cute I just couldn't help myself to a photo.

These next photos give you a good idea of what most of El Alto looks like...I was like where are all the people...they must be at work. If you live in El Alto you probably work somewhere Downtown or maybe even the Zona Sur (where I live)...maybe that is why it is empty. These photos were taken around 10 am.

I hope you enjoyed this quick glimpse of El Alto in La Paz. This is the where the airport is and the first impression everyone gets of La Paz when they arrive on a plane to this city full of many faces. This is just one of them.

New Take on a Bolivian Recipe...Majadito

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Tonight we will have Majadito for dinner. Majadito is a typical Bolivian plate from Santa Cruz, but although it is delicious it is also high in fat and carbs. This a a picture of the original version...heavy right?

Well this is the healthy version with quinoa...I think it looks even better. Vicky (our empleada) did a great job. But honestly the recipe is so easy I could even do it...that means it is VERY VERY easy. Doesn't it look delicious? In addition to replacing the rice with quinoa, we also boiled the plantains and eggs instead of frying them.

Thank you to Claudia Portugal. I visited her Herbalife "Club de Nutricion" this week and one of the activities she has is she shares healthy recipes with those that attend her club every Wednesday. The training this week was fabulous and learning this recipe was just an added bonus.

While visiting the club Claudia gives you a sheet of paper with the title (seen above) then you have to write the recipe yourself...easy way to learn the recipe forever. Well forgive my grammar and spelling in Spanish. If you have any questions just send me an email.

Sam's Friday Updates

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This week I officially started picking Sam up at 12:10 pm. That is a big improvement from 11 am just a few short months ago. Now that he is a "big boy" he can last until that time...the moment he gets into the car he is out like a light and takes a nice long nap at home. He is also loving his class...look his teacher plays the guitar! So fun!

Our Not So Little Sammy

This morning during snack time Sammy walked right into the kitchen and sat in his big brother's chair...no more baby high chair for him. Doesn't he look big? I swear I blinked and my baby was GONE. Please, please come back! It was 10 am and I just woken up (I love to sleep in on Sundays) but for Sam it was already snack time, well he stole some of my Herbalife shake...he loves it...and I love the mess. I still can't believe he walked into this brother's chair all on his own.