Happy Thanksgiving Birthday Cumpleanos!!

Buzz Lightyear, Nemo, Backyardigans, beer... you would think the party was for Daddy. El Rey, Max, turned 2 yesterday and there was nothing terrible about it. After turning down turkey, stuffing, green beans, and giblets on Thanksgiving, Max was all about cake, candy, pop, chocolate milk and presents on his birthday. It must have been the 2 extra days that he needed to mature and accept the difficult things in life. Max worked the crowd of 30+ by performing magic tricks, singing karaoke, and he did a wonderful monologue from Raging Bull that no guest is going to forget. It was a fun day for all and there will be plenty to talk about when dad isn't completely exhausted. Still waiting for one big gift. Should hopefully have something for you in a couple of days. Stay tuned!!

Oh, and Max spit on cake I have been told makes it taste better.

Sorry the rest of you couldn't be here. All are missed greatly. Sorry to hear about the snow back home.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoooooo Mark, Jen, and El Rey MAX

Speak Up!!

As I sit here enjoying pizza from a quaint little authentic Guatemalan place called Domino's, I am reminded how lucky we have been to be here for almost a year! Receiving news today that our file was resubmitted to the PGN made us melancholy as we realize that our time here could be coming to an end soon. We might actually be able to make it home by Christmas...........2013. Let's hope!!! Again, we won't try to make any predictions.

While Max still is not exactly talking up a storm, he is saying lots of new words. For balloon, he says "booooon". For ball, he says "boooooooo". For moon, he says "booooooon". And then, of course, there is still "deet" for everything else. See an apple, "deet". Step on daddy's head, "deet". Point to poo in the diaper, "deet". Good to see that vocabulary grow.

With weather in Chicago beginning to take a turn for the worse, and rainy season ending here I must admit I am excited to be here. It has not rained once in 2 weeks. Sunny and 70's every day! With that, I was excited because that means the end of mosquitoes...or so I thought. The ones that attack me in the house are gone, but now there is a new breed that comes out at night. Max loves to play outside at night. Bad news for daddy. Apparently they love my rum soaked veins because last night I counted 92 bites on my legs and ankles alone. Meanwhile, Jen gets a couple of bites while in bed one morning and she is convinced we have bed bugs. So now I get to spend a good majority of my time here ironing the bed. Uhhhhh. Oh, yeah, I haven't seen 1 bug yet...other than the carnivorous spiders.

Finally, big ups to Max for having the foresight to vote absentee during the election in true Chicago fashion. His vote, and votes just like them, helped put Obama over the top on Tuesday. He was even smart enough to get his friend Anna Lou and his birth mother to vote. He will have a solid career in politics when he grows up. They did shoot off fireworks here when the winner was announced, and I did hear a rooster crowing, so I think they were excited here in Guatemala. It was a little weird watching them celebrate in Chicago while we watched on a laptop here, but hey, at least we got to watch. God bless the Slingbox!!

As always, all are missed. Wish we were there.

Mark, Jen and El Rey MAX
xooooooooooooooooooooooooooooox

Who's Got File?

Daddy here. It's amazing to think that these days receiving our file so that we can correct yet another ridiculous error is good news, but it is. We got word on Friday that after about 7 weeks of trying to get our file our lawyer was finally able to retrieve it from the PGN. That's it. No more updates for now. No more predictions. Those haven't worked. Just trying to continue our efforts to get Max home ASAP. We'll keep you up to date though!

Friday was Halloween also and we weren't sure Max was going to get to celebrate, but Ana Maria who helps us with Max was sweet enough to bring over a costume for Max. He was a brown care bear. I'm glad she didn't bring pink or try to make him Rainbow Bright. She took him to a day care where all of the kids had costumes and they ate cookies and drank juice. While I'm sure the cookies weren't windmills, and the juice wasn't Hawaiian Punch, I am sure he loved it. He then got to search the house for "hidden" candy. Pretty tough to find on the couch, on the beds, on the coffee tables. It's like the search was designed for me. He also loved his costume. He got upset when we took it off, and we had to put it on again over the weekend. Next year we think he will be Scarface.

Here in Guatemala they don't really celebrate Halloween as much as they celebrate Day of the Dead. As far as we have been able to tell, this means that they all make kites and fly them in the cemetery. Two cities have big kite festivals, but unfortunately we weren't able to get to either of them. Instead we went to the Bodegona. This is the Guatemalan A & P. Pretty fun.

Hope everyone had a good Halloween and rotted their teeth out like a good kid would. Enjoy exciting video of Max eating bread!!

xxoo Mark, Jen, and Care Bear Max