I often feel like pinching myself because we are here in Mexico! Yes, absolutely it's a lot of work (and money) to be here and one of the reasons I homeschool my children is so that we can do these kinds of adventures. But honestly, this life I get to live, it's incredible! Never mind the fact we waited to take our laundry to be cleaned until the last moment and may have to reuse our undies tomorrow or that I have not figured out how on earth to cook here! There are so many other things that land in place for us, a fantastic Spanish school, someone trustworthy to care for Maeve while we are at school, and a wonderful welcoming church community, and this is just naming a few lovely things! One of my favorite things about traveling is the experiences I get to have with complete strangers. These experiences are so affirmative of how much good there is in the world! We met a very kind family at church, the wife is a gringa but has spent most of her life living abroad, the majority of it in Spanish-speaking countries. They have one son who is 6 months older than Greta and my girls get along so well with him! The other day, we went to his school to watch his tennis practice and to see what a school in Mexico is like (because you never know!). Then we went to the park to play and then he came to our house for an hour to play. I really, really love that my daughters have been able to mix with kids here! It's so incredible. And the third student in their Spanish group is an 8 year old girl from Alaska. Life is beautiful.

Here in these photos the girls and Santi are eating jicama and mangos dipped in flavored chili powder. The chili powder isn't spicy, but it is flavorful and surprisingly sour. 

How cute are these kids that are our neighbors and our girls' playmates? Let me tell you, there is a lot of yelling and laughing and a ton of fun! Maeve was very into this little motorcycle and took the approach of hovering so close the poor little guy couldn't even ride it. Her strategy worked because then she got a turn! Having an outdoor space to play in and kids to play with will surely be a high point on this trip! We also met an 8 year old boy at church who lives nearby and who the girls really like. We are going to go see him play tennis tomorrow! 

This year, we invited a family with teenagers to decorate gingerbread houses with us and I think Holly giggled the entire time! Oh gosh, I can't imagine being in the phase of life where we are parents to teenagers, but I guess it's coming! We had lots of fun and our gingerbread house was stripped of all it's candy in less than a week!

In 2016, we had major tree drama. I wanted to perfect tree and Conor and I fought about it and I cried and we ended up spending $90 and then the next day, Maeve was born. 

After that year, we decided that buying a $5 permit and cutting down our own tree was the way we should go. When we are cutting down a tree I care less about a perfect tree because you have to cut from a cluster and it's truly all about the experience. We went to Idaho last weekend with our besties and had the best time cutting down a tree. The snow was up to our knees and the forest was so beautiful! After chopping our trees down and hauling back to the car, we feasted on cinnamon buns, trail mix, oranges and cider until we couldn't feel our feet. I would choose this over a perfect tree every time!

Yesterday, we went to our friends' house and pressed apple cider with them. It was the perfect fall day and wow, pressed cider is so delicious! We had so much fun! My friend, Kristen, made a big batch of cider donuts too. So grateful for the good people in our lives.