Here we are in Costa Rica......

This is San Jose's version of San Marco.



This picture is on one of the ceilings. The Italian artist had never been to Costa Rica, and he didn't know that coffee plants are over 6' high, and that a bunch of bananas this large would weigh over 100 lbs.
Most of the paintings and artwork is Italian.

Here we are in San Jose. Yesterday, we went to the Teatro Nacional. It's a lovely old building, built in the late 1800's. After the Teatro, we found a nice bakery and had some coffee and delicious pastry.

Happy Birthday, Mary!!!

Mary had a great first birthday. We ate hamburgers, beans, carrots, and cucumbers. All chosen with Mary's 4 teeth in mind!


Then she had TWO cupcakes! Katie also had cupcakes while the rest of us enjoyed an ice cream pie.






Finally she and her daddy went swimming. Tonight was the last night of lessons. Don't worry, the new session starts next week. Happy Birthday, Mary!!!

Gymnastics

Here are some pics



Katie was pretty excited to have someone else there taking pics. She did really well. Jumped over ropes, has good balance, lots of things...

Ogni riccio é un capriccio

In Italy they still use curlers!!! And not electric ones!!! I had to try it.

It took a while to get them rolled.

Marco and Gabriella gave me a magazine so I could be very Italian.

Getting them out took an act of congress!!! They were all tangled in my hair.

Look at the result. I was hoping to be beautiful, but instead I thought it was just goofy. After 6 hours. And they didn't even last so that anyone on the plane the next day could see me with curls or people in customs could think I wasn't me.

Santiago

I am back from my Spain Italy tour and here are a few pics. I wanted to post some from over there, but I only had access to dial up, so no thank you for uploading pictures. More will come soon
This is inside the cathedral. If you bump your head on this (the statue of the person who created it, Mateo) you will get some of his genius.

This is a picture of the tapas bar where we had lunch everyday. It was YUMMY!

We got Mom's camera this evening. She's pretty excited. We'll post some pictures from her camera as soon as it's charged and she finds something to take a picture of.

New Paint

Here are a few pictures of what the new
painting looks like in our living room, dining room, and entry hall. It looks a lot warmer than just white.....

For Sale

All good things must come to and end. Molli and Josh are selling their house. You can see more details at www.randysellshomes.com. Good luck! Hope you sell soon so you can get something else soon!

Be still my heart

Today Katie saw my yarn lying on the desk and was curious about it. So I told her that was for knitting. She said, "I wanna knit." Never have more beautiful words been spoken. I ran upstairs and as soon as I could cast on we were having our first lesson. You can imagine the progress we made...There is time. There is time. BUT we've got her!!! (I hope.)

SOLD!!!

For $215,000. And they don't have to do any repairs.

Bumper

You can see the bruise (a little) from Mary continuously bumping her head. We're going to nick name her Bumper. I couldn't quite capture the bruises on her forehead. The look a little like she is going to sprout horns.

So you don't get worried, she is still cute as ever! Maybe she'll be a cowgirl!


Katie, on the other hand, really likes the shirt Marco's mom got me for Christmas a few years ago. Think of it...A pole dancer and Bumper.


I'd like to apologize for not posting in so long. I did have some pictures of the Christmas Tree out front for pick up. Alas it was too sad. Rhoda from Northville asks, "When are we going to see some pictures from Italy, Marco? You got a fancy new camera AND a haircut! We are waiting!!!"

Ringing in the New Year

Well we had our first party at 11570, and it went pretty well. Here are some pictures from the big night!

We had about 25-30 people there, and the floor was black and sticky by the end of the night, but it sure was fun. We wish you all could have made it!

Cheeburger Cheeburger

Well, there are 4 big hamburger lovers in the house!!! Marco, Derek, Josh, and I all ate a 20 oz cheeseburger at Cheeburger Cheeburger to get our photo on the wall.



The waitress said I was only the second woman she had seen do it. That was a proud moment. I think my strategy of not drinking too much water before hand was helpful. There was a moment with about 1/4 left where I thought I might not make it. I received some words of encouragement and finished. Josh took first place, followed by Marco, who was still eating fries when the waitress, Brittany (I noticed the weird spelling) took away his plate. Derek rounded out the top 3 while I came in fourth. Our of four.

The photo was signed, "We could eat more than that in a day." We placed it under the photo that said, "I can't wait to poop."

We're screwed

Mary can stand. She'll be walking soon. We're looking forward to explaining to a NINE month old why she shouldn't pull on the Christmas tree.

Snowman....

This is the latest snowman I've made....
I busy.... I busy.

11 Days...

Guests start arriving in eleven days and WE BUSY. We're getting ready and trying to make sure people don't starve. Tonight we made cookies. Derek made, rolled and cut the dough.




The assembly then moved to Katie and me. We decorated. Well, Katie was very interested in sampling as well as poking the dough with the red-hots. She also liked eating sprinkles. YUM!






Mary Kay worked on peppermint bark. She had some problems melting the white chocolate. And by that I mean it wouldn't melt! It was very curious.


And finally we have Mary. She was so exhausted from crawling all day that she just chewed on whatever was in front of her.

Rhoda from Northville asks, "Where are everyone else's photos? I've heard that people are also going to post how they've decorated their houses and what not. This is the Pflumpfamily blog, not the 41450 blog."

Toenail Update

The rest of my toenail fell off. I'll post a picture IF there is a high demand.

So festive you could just spit!!!

We decorated our tree this weekend. I think it looks very nice.

Balloon Festival

It was a beautiful lift-off.
Gallup, yes, Gallup, has had a Balloon Rally this weekend. The weather was REALLY windy, so the only lift-off they actually had was this morning. There were over 200 balloons registered, but probably not all of them waited around for the perfect lift-off conditions of this morning.

I busy

I've been making some table decorations to give as Christmas presents to folks around here....for Gene's co-workers and some other friends. They're all different, but you get the idea. I also made a "Spa basket" for my PEO gift for Tuesday.....

Toe Nail

The other night I was in bed rubbing my feet together as you all know I do and hate, especially when it's under you. Anyway, I felt my toenail lift right off!!! The only problem is that is was still attached by a little piece. I pondered what to do for several days. Today I decided to cut if off. Well, unfortunately I decided to make a blog entry AFTER I had cut it. So that's too bad. Anyway, here is the toenail and toe. You can see the little piece that is attached still. I'm sure that'll be fun getting it stuck on socks and what not. Too bad I don't share a bed with someone so I can scratch them with it!!!

Do you think I could auction it on ebay? Maybe someone collects them, whatever "it" is, including old toenails!!!