What We've Been...

Celebrating We were in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for ten days during Christmas celebrating Marcos' sister's wedding. The weather was amazing, the drinks were weak fruity, and the food was delicious. (Mostly because I didn't have to cook it.) Besides drinking and eating to my heart's content, the best part of the vacation was introducing Rory to her Brazilian family. She finally met her aunt, cousins, and several of her great-aunts. She took to them right away, which meant that Marcos and I were able to have a few adult-only dinners. (Obviously we discussed Rory the entire time.) Of course, introducing Rory to the ocean was a close second. To say she loved it would be an understatement. The first word out of her mouth every morning was "praia!" (beach); so after applying copious amounts of sunscreen, and putting on her SPF 50 rashguard and exceptionally large sunhat, we made our way to the beach where we would spend the majority of our day eating sand building sand castles and chasing seagulls. My only regret is that we missed the white Christmas that happened here in Denver this year. As much as I love the sand and surf, it didn't feel quite right spending the holiday in my bikini. Here are some of my favorite snapshots from the trip:

Oh, heeeeey!

Santa?! I know him! 

Hanging in Santa's sleigh.

Rory's cousin, Leo.

So, the original plan was for Rory and Luca to walk down the aisle by themselves carrying the "Here Comes the Bride" sign. Yeah, it was a cute idea.

During the ceremony. And for everyone who complains that I'm never in any pictures, that is my knee.

It was a beautiful ceremony. 

Seconds before eating a handful of sand.

Her uncle bought her some sand tools. She was in heaven.

Tortilla chips and coconut water.

Cooking With I'm not sure why it took me so long to hop on the coconut oil bandwagon, but I'm on it, and I don't think I'll be jumping off anytime soon. (Okay, let's be honest...I know why it took me so long. It's because Costco never had a sale on Kirkland brand organic coconut oil before last Saturday.) I did some reading, and there seems to be a consensus in the health community about the benefits of coconut oil. It's considered the healthiest of all oils/fats, and it can be used in place of butter/oil in virtually any recipe. (It does have a slight coconut flavor.) There are also about a million uses for coconut oil that don't involve cooking, depending on your level of "crunchiness". (Not everyone is comfortable rubbing oil on their armpits, no matter how good a deodorant it is.)

Good stuff.

Reading I did a lot of reading in Mexico, mostly while Rory napped. Of the three books I read, my favorite was "The Ship of Brides" by Jojo Moyes. Based on my sister's recommendation, I've read several of her books before, and I've enjoyed all of them. She has a gift for incorporating historic events into her novels, so I always feel as though I've learned something after reading them. This one was set on a warship after WWII that sailed from Australia to England carrying hundreds of "war brides" for the purpose of reuniting them with their solider husbands who they married during the war. It was funny, interesting, and well-written.

You can't really go wrong with Jojo Moyes.

Pinning Now that Rory is becoming more verbal and her attention span is slightly more than that of a knat, I decided it may be beneficial for both of us if I begin to add somewhat structured lessons into our day. At this age, pretty much anything-from watching me cut an apple to roaming around in the backyard- can be considered a learning experience, but I would like to use my teaching background to help Rory begin to learn some basic math and language concepts. I am a big fan of the Montessori way of teaching; I like that it is child-centered and fosters independence and self-confidence. So, I've been pinning lots of Montessori activities for one-year-old's. I hope to start with a 10-15 minute "lesson" each day, and gradually increase that as she becomes older and more focused.

I support any teaching philosophy that includes dish washing and window cleaning.

Drinking Marcos and I received an espresso machine from Santa this year. It arrived before we left for Mexico, and since then, we've been attempting to master the perfect latte. There's been a lot of trial and error, which means that we've been drinking a lot of coffee-both good and not so good. (Let's be honest...I'm not that picky when it comes to coffee. Or pizza.) I found a really tasty all-natural, agave-based vanilla syrup, and we've come to realize that whole milk is the way to go. Now that we've mastered the basics, Marcos is moving onto latte art. He made an awesome lop-sided heart for me yesterday. I'm trying not to read too much into it.

One day, Marcos. One day.