Partay with Brandon and Sarah

We had such a wonderful time playing with Brandon and Sarah last week. We ate, ate, and ate some more! haha. After they left Ryan mentioned to me how funny that what we kept wanting Brandon and Sarah to experience down here was the food.

I called the gorging, the pre-Thanksgiving stretch! I am feeling pretty good about it!

Anyways, what didn't we eat? It was so fun showing them our fav rest., and hole-in-the-wall places! Thankfully, neither of them got sick either.

We were also in the car a bit, driving back and forth from Mexico City and we also made a trip to the Geiser. The car rides were great opportunities to sit and chat. Though, Easton was a bit squirmy, I tried to tune in as much as I could.

The Geiser is an 1-1 1/2 drive from our house, where a geiser has been tamed and feeds several large pools. They are like hot tubs and a lot of fun to visit. There is also a "tirolesa" there, or a zipline. It was one of the most intense things I have ever done! I am not joking, it was scary! So there are three ziplines and 2 bridges. All five events are over a desert canyon-type terrain. So you feel like you are hovering far above the Earth. The ziplines were fun, but the bridges were intense. One of them had little steps you take to get across. It was a brain workout not to get vertigo. Your line is attached to a zipline of course, but it is loose, so pretty much you feel like you are crossing without any security. I know this prob doesn't sound like a big deal, but it surprisingly was. I love testing heights, like skydiving, repelling, etc, but this was a whole new thing. Since, it has been awhile since I have done anything like this, I think that also added to the hype. One way or another, it was a lot of fun and a bit intense! Great sisterly bonding, hamming it up between Sarah and I so as to distract us from the heights.

Last week was great fun! Since then, we enjoyed/somewhat-endured a 15 hour temple trip with Easton on Saturday, put up Christmas decorations and I am in the middle of my prep for Thanksgiving. It takes me about a week of work to put on this great show! Ha! I LOVE Thanksgiving. And speaking of which, I should prob get off here to make and freeze my pie crusts!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Halloween Bear

For Halloween Easton was a bear. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to use the costume to its full potential. Mexican day light savings was last Sunday and so for the past few days we have been trying to get Easton on the new sched. too. Unfortunately, with an earlier-than-usual bedtime, Easton was a wreck by the time it hit six o'clock. Suffice it to say, we didn't make it to either nights of trick or treating (some Mexican neighborhoods go trick or treating on the 31st, while others go on the night of the 1st, which is Day of the Dead). Bummer! One way or the other he was going to use this costume! So I just dressed him up in it on Monday and then took some pictures... enjoy!

As he was pretty exhausted at this point of the day,

we only got a few smiley shots in the bear costume

Within moments he was back to making this face

His very concerned nanny checking him out to make sure all is well,

as Easton hits a new octave

I think all the commotion was stressing Violet out because

she tends to chase and chew on her foot when she

is stressed out or full of energy. I guess she fit both

categories here.

Almost...

There! She won!

Mom and Dad come to town!

Easton walking from Hannah Frank on Vimeo.

My goal for today is to get a blog up before the end of the month, so here goes!

First off HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I will prob post another blog soon with pics of Easton in his bear costume, so stay tuned for the sweetest little Halloween bear!

I could blog about a lot of different things, but I think I will stick to my Mother's visit last week. It was absolutely WONDERFUL!

I looked forward to my parents coming out for awhile and then tried soaking them up every second they were here, and now it's somewhat depressing that they are gone again. Isn't that always the way?

So, unfortunately, my Mother was only here for three full days. My Dad came down with her, but had a full schedule with work meetings. Easton and I managed to steal some of his time early in the morning before anybody else was awake. Neither my Dad or Easton sleep in, so for once, it worked in my favor:)

Easton and I got to spend our days with my Mom, which was such a treat! I seriously felt like I was on vacation too, since I negated all chores and responsibilities and enjoyed the more tourist parts of the area. My most favorite day was going to Leon with my Mother. I wish I could relive it every week. In Leon there are giant malls with purses, shoes, and accessories. All things leather. Ryan and I went three weeks earlier too, but that didn't stop me from finding a lot of new treasures again. It was a blast shopping with my mother!

We also enjoyed daily stops at the store with the delicious horchata, trying local candy in centro and just hanging out and relaxing at the house while Easton napped. I love that Easton had naps cause it gave us time to put our feet up and just chat chat chat!

Easton loved having my Mother around and was quite disappointed when the fun stopped the day after she left. He loved all the new toys she brought down for him (thank heavens for the switch up cause I am almost all out of new kitchen utensils to give him!) and he loved all her attention!!!

My mom discovered Easton's love for walking around, while you hold him by his arms of course. When he gets excited his little feet go a million strides a second! It was really cute and I have a video ill post if I can figure out how that works...

All in all it was a wonderful week! makes it hard to go back to ordinary days... At least I get to look forward to seeing everybody at Christmas again!

Below are some pics of the week.

Split Entry

(I apologize for the lack of pictures. Somehow, we have already used all the space on our comp in one year, so I cant download them till I weed out some other things to make space.)

First off, a few pictures for your enjoyment!.... It was another wonderful Mexican independence week! Love the Aztecan dances, the long weekend with the hubby and though we couldn't party late with Easton, it was a perfect lazy weekend with lots of movies!

So for the real juice.... We are moving home to the lovely USA!

The news came as a surprise and I totally admit that I bawled a little. Mostly cause I started to get that homey feeling here and was getting a bit more settled here. I feel like year one is the most difficult living abroad. Then year two becomes a lot more like home. Year three, you just don't want to leave! So in many ways I'm grateful that we aren't leaving at year three! I'm still in the position where I would be happy to stay and happy to go. I absolutely have loved living here! Being reshaped and eyes opened again by living in another culture is such a gift. Personally, experiencing my first year of motherhood here will always make Queretaro extra special! The good news is that I will never say goodbye to this place. It will always be see you later since Ryan and I plan to come back to Mexico often. I hate goodbyes, and love see you later! Wish I could leave with return tickets in my hands.

My biggest ties have been with the Jaras and my ward, and with my sweet young women, especially. Can't wait to see what these amazing girls make of themselves.

When I asked Ryan what he will miss most he said just being surrounded by the culture like walking through centro hearing the music, smelling the air, and watching the people. He also said the food. What can I say? A mans heart is through his stomach right? At least that's how it is with my two Frank boys!

For me? Well, no brainer, the climate here is impeccable and I will probably miss it more shivering my way through wisconsin winters! I will also surprisingly miss Spanish. It has been my feat as well. Languages are only a small part vocabulary and grammar, the real feel of a language is through it's people. Can I claim fluency? I suppose according to a resume I can, but in real life I still feel an amateur. Maybe it's just me but I feel like in English you can organize your words just right to convey feeling behind the words, with Spanish I feel like I was finally starting to see the light. Language has always been a pitfall for me, even in English. I don't have much talent with words.

Anyways, back to the point! On the flip side, I'm so excited to be near family, to find every ingredient for my recipes, to smell those Autumn leaves and to be able to road trip it without paying an arm and a leg for tolls or worrying about shady areas. Also can't wait for nature! Its difficult to go hiking here and virtually no swimming in lakes!

Really, the list could go on, but their are happy and sad things on both sides. We move back this coming Spring and I plan to get a head start on Ryan to find housing, cars, etc. I already have my eye on a cute cape cod, that with a little tender loving care could be my dream starter home. I foresee lots of beautiful memories there with my first little kiddos!

Now for the split entry part of this blog! Easton is six months tomorrow! Where did the time go? This last month has taken me for a spin! He did a total 180 with sleep patterns and I felt like I was dealing with a crabby newborn. This past Sunday made it all better though. His first tooth came through and it made me feel sorry for the little guy cause all that fussing was just pain and discomfort. Sunday also marked the day when he first held out his arms for me! Best moment of Mommyhood. I feel like it was the closest he's ever gotten to running up to me and giving me a hug and a kiss. You know, reciprocation. Anyways, I almost teared up. And even though Ryan shined a big gleaming light on the subject that him wanting me to hold him will get old, for now it's quite the opposite effect!

He is my little prince, complete with me as the servant:) He makes my days so much more worthwhile and even at the toughest moments, if I hand him off to somebody for more than an hour I come back missing him and so excited to have him with me again. I think the separation anxiety is not just in relation to the baby!

Anyways, he's now 17 pounds and just over 26 inches of pure bliss!

Easton Eats Squash

Poor baby Easton has had some not-so-fun reflux. Our peds man told us to start introducing pureed solids so that he has some positive conditioning to texture in his mouth, especially after eating his milk twice in most cases. We were told to start with green, bland chayote. Unfortunately, I can't say that positive conditioning came into play. Ryan and I couldn't help but take a bunch of shots of E-Man's ridiculous faces as he ate his squash. He didn't really fuss or cry, he just kept giving us quite the facial theatrical experience. So here are some fun pics of the event.

Part1:

"I really don't think that I like this stuff, guys"

"Eh! What the heck is this crap?"

Yeah, he's had it right about now. Hand with spoon finally recoils.

"I'm mad at you Dad"

Part2:

Ahh the motherly touch!

okay, okay, so I switched out the squash for the cereal.

See, it's not all torture.

He actually really enjoys eating off the spoon.

I think he thinks he's a big kid doing it, cause he also insists

on drinking out of our water cups at the dinner table.

"yeah, much better"

We even got a smile

So maybe next time I should switch spots with Ryan and have him feed Easton the cereal. Though, I really think Ryan was getting a kick out of it. Oh, man, this kid is doomed to be ruthlessly teased. What can I say, he came down a Frank!

The sound of grass

Have you ever listened to the grass after it rains? It sounds like pop rocks on a tongue. I imagine that it is the water evaporating, making the blades of grass "uncrinkle" back to it's regular shape.

Anyways, where am I getting this from? Well let's just say Easton makes me stop and smell the roses quite a bit...

This past weekend I helped decorate a chapel for a youth activity. Of course Easton was with me and twenty minutes into decorating, Easton started fussing. So I took him outside to put him to sleep. Can't tell you why but nature soothes this boy. As there was nowhere to put him down for a nap, I took a seat under a tree once he conked in my arms. That's when I heard the grass.

My point? This is one of the reasons why I love kids... Originally I was a little put out that I had to stop decorating and put Easton asleep. But then really enjoyed being left to my own thoughts with my baby boy nestled in my arms. And I feel like thats what kids help adults do... They help us to forget ourselves and help us notice different things around us.

So thanks Easton for making me stop and hear the grass!

Dr. appointments

So Easton had his second dr appointment here in Mexico. Nothing too out of the ordinary, except apparently one leg seems longer than the other. Took an Xray and we will hear more about it at the next visit... But that prob sounds a lot worse than it is. The dr thinks it's not a big deal and I'm thinking it's a discrepancy that will work its way out...

No that wasn't the interesting part, the best part was Easton laughing through the entire visit! What kid likes to go to the dr? He seriously flirted with the dr and giggled during the physical. I guess I'm a lucky mom for that! He had his second set of vaccines as well. Both times he just pouts for five seconds and then is right back to his normal self! What a surprise! I almost look forward to the next visit as my kid is better than his normal self!

Man, Eman sure likes getting out of the house, even if it means a dr visit!