Ahhh...Fall!

School is in full swing. The air is getting cooler. Our annual camping trip to Crabtree Falls is coming up. So...it must be Fall. This is definitely my favorite time of year because 1) the summer's in CLT are nearly unbearable and 2) well...you'll have to wait til the end of the post for the biggest reason why Fall is my favorite (I doubt it will shock any of you).

Fun with Mr. Potatohead! Check out Daniel and Luis' attempts at putting a Mr. Potatohead together. Be sure to note the shoes (or zapatos as we say) for ears on Daniel's and the tongue for hair on Luis'. Pretty awesome! And they were so proud of their creations.

We really are making progress with the dogs. Every morning, Samuel helps me put the dogs in their crates, then the twins spend a couple of minutes taunting them while working up the courage to stick their hands through the bars. ALL of them now let the dogs give besos to their hands. This is followed by a lot of squealing. We still can't all be in the same room (only Samuel is OK with hanging out with the dogs), but I consider the fact that they are willing to touch the dogs at all a real victory.

On Sunday we went to this really cool event called "Touch-A-Truck". It was like it was created just for our boys, but it is really a fundraiser for lung cancer research (which is a cause very dear to me because I lost both my grandmother and - just this year - my aunt to this horrible disease). There were all sorts of trucks/vehicles for the boys to sit in/on. It was AWESOME!!! One of their favorites was the army helicopter.

I have this great video of the boys running around with other kids while all of us parents stand in line to make sure that our children are able to experience the helicopter. I will have to upload it to YouTube since it is sort of long.

How cute are they? You might be thinking, "Where is Daniel?" This is about the time when mama was rushing to the restroom which was quite a hike while carrying a 30-something pound kid who kept reminding me repeatedly that he needed to "chi-chi". Can anyone explain to me why children always have to go when there is NO bathroom convenient? Is it one of Murphy's Laws?

Lastly, the real reason I am glad it is fall - TV is back!!!! I am beyond excited to be in the midst of premiere week. I have many shows that I love, and we have plenty of room on the DVR. Why else do you think we get the kids in bed by 8 PM?

Just a few more updates: Samuel has gotten a sticker from his teacher everyday this week. In fact, I think he is up to 6 stickers in a row. This is a great little victory for us because it means that he is understanding Papa when he tells him to listen to his teacher and not worry about what the other kids are doing. We are very close to figuring out what to do with the twins while I go to work. We have a couple things to work out, but I should be ready to go full-time next week.

GUEST BABYSITTER..The Cast of Grey's Anatomy

Setting: The cast of Grey's Anatomy is at our doorstep....a Snow Patrol song is faintly playing in the background...

Merideth Grey Voiceover: When you babysit, you watch children. And they watch you. Both watching. And maybe we are all children in some way. Sometimes I feel like a child. A child who sleeps around all the time.

McDreamy: Um, we are here to watch your kids.

Andrea: There's mac and cheese in the fridge.

Izzie: That reminds me of Denny! How dare you!

Pager goes off...

Troy: Do you need to take that?

The dude from Can't Buy me Love: No. There's drama going on right now. I only operate at the right time.

Troy: Wouldn't that be when someone is really hurt?

The guy from Loverboy: Not really. I need to wait until Merideth's voiceover is perfect, or at least until The Fray start singing.

Troy: I totally understand. Look our kids play well by themselves more or less, just make sure they are in bed around 8pm. We are going to see The Dark Knight...this time at the dollar theater.

Dr. Preston Burke: Your kids aren't gay are they?

Troy and Andrea: (speechless)

Andrea: Nah....don't think so.

Dr. Burke: Not important. I'm not even sure why I'm here, didn't I get fired? Wait a second, why is Izzie here? Hasn't she trashed everything about the show?

Izzie: How can you say that? I'm a perpetual victim character that way too many females relate too? Can't I be empowered enough so that everything I do should be applauded, yet the second I make a mistake I need to be comforted because I'm a a female?

Troy: I can't really say anything can I?

All the females present: No.

McDreamy: I'm actually babysitting for 2 other families tonight.

Andrea: We figured as much. You have commitment issues...we know. Anyways we have to go.

Sandra Oh's Character: You couldn't work me into this post even though I'm the only one you kinda like?

Troy: Nope. Sorry. Wait for the cast of Sideways post I guess.

Merideth Grey Voiceover: (Coldplay song starts to swell in the background) And so we are alone. With other people. Yet alone. Yet not alone. It's like being a doctor. Except when it's not. 

T.V. Show Ratings

Inspired by one of my favorite books, here's my ratings of kid's TV shows that I've sat through in Colombia.


WOW WOW WUBBZY
First of all, if the theme song doesn't give you a seizure, the rest of the episode surely will.

"Wubbzy" (genus species unknown) is a creature built solely of right-angles, who looks like he was drawn on an etch-a-sketch, and goes on adventures with his friends. On one episode, they helped a squirrel build a machine to help gather acorns. Just kidding, I've never made it through the opening.

Rating: D+


PINKY DINKY DOO
So here's the rundown of every Pinky Dinky Doo episode. Some stuff happens, then there is a dilemma, then Pinky tells a story, then comes up "un gran idea" and her head swells up like a parade float. It is a show rife with imagination since the entire episode is Pinky's stories, and for the most part everything happens inside a cardboard box. However, none of this matters, because after the dilemma, and before the story...there is this dance. Which is awesome in every way. Si señores positones indeed!


Rating: B+

HI-5
Maybe you've been to your local neighborhood amusement park and have seen "the show". At Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, there are people singing all over the artificially reconstructed world....in Italia....in Germany....in New France (can't we just call it Canada?). These are kids making their career stop between "lead in the high school production of Annie Get Your Gun" and "waiter/waitress in NYC". Unlike the amusement park though, there is no roller coaster to look foward too. Just more singing after the commercial break...and dancing...and singing...and dancing. Yuck.


Rating: F


BACKYARDIGINS
Not every computer animator gets to work for Pixar. If you have kids, you're likely familiar with the adventures of a yellow hippo, and a orange moose, and uh, um....a lavender eagle....and, jeesh they all look alike, a chartruse giraffe? The animals go to the backyard and act out fantasies. Think more "hey, you're a gypsy and we're all pirates!" and less "Eyes Wide Shut". This show encourages children to use their imaginations.....and drugs. At least the spanish version of the theme song is better than the US version. Just kidding...it's still horrific. It's the worst song not named "Hotel California" or sung by this band.

Rating: B-


LAZY TOWN
The only show that passes the "I would actually watch this if I didn't have kids" test. When this show comes on I find myself saying things like "Luis, Samuel...stop reading those worthless books and watch some T.V.!". The brilliance of the show can be summed up in an episode where the villian, Robbie Rotten, dresses up as a doctor, puts spots on all the vegetables and kids and declares there is a plague, tries to steal the blimp of the hero, Sportacus, and when he is finally revealed (hey residents of Lazy Town...who could the mysterious stranger be? How about the only member of the town that is not present?) declares "VOY A EXPLICAR NADA!". The show smacks of propaganda....carrots are awesome!, cookies and candies are bad, however the stingy character is allowed to stay stingy, and Ziggy, the sugar-addicted kid, never really changes his ways. It's as if right and wrong are presented, but how we interpret the information is up to us. How Postmodern!



Rating: A

Day #2 Update

Well, this is Troy, so let me say in advance there are no pictures. My wife is the graphc designer/marketing expert....me? not so much. If you need someone to build you a house or pave your driveway...well, I can't do that either. I can however let you know if you live in a FEMA floodplain. Do with that what you will.

Today was long (MASSIVE UNDERSTATEMENT), but we are getting into a bit of a routine. Andrea has established a great timeout plan, so when the boys do something blatently disobedient, they get put in a chair on the balcony for five minutes. With the awesome view of the City that our balcony has, I think timeout is rather nice, but it seems to work well so far. I think the current standings are Daniel-1, Carlos Samuel - 1, and Luis Angel -0, feel free to gamble along.

I spent some time in a shopping center with our translator Mauricio and got bibs, water wings, goggles, coloring books, beach towels, pull-ups, .a ball, alot of other stuff...and lastly a 2.5 liter bottle of Coke for mama that is hidden under the sink. I hope our kids don't check this blog.

The daily schedule shakes down like this: Breakfast is around 8:30, lunch @ 1, nap (more-or-less) at 3, then dinner at 7, baths, and finally pajama time, then bed around 8:30. This has seemed to be close to their current routine, although I think they used to take baths in the morning.

Much thanks to Mark, Dave, and Co, @ Providence Presbyterian for sound advice, brotherly love, and for letting me freak out to them, and to Shelia Derr for a great and calming Facebook chat tonight.

Tomorrow we have a meeting @ 9am with the social worker from the ICBF (government agency) at our room to see how things are going and to check the boys accomodations. Our next meeting after that is next Wednesday basically to see how well we are bonding to the kids. More on that later.

Okay, I'm going to finish a few Facebook scrabble games (I take all challengers,,,) then sleep.

Thanks to everyone who read our words; it honestly means more to us than you know.

Much Love,
Troy and Andrea

Ahhh...Fall!

The air is cooler (except in Charlotte), the leaves are changing (especially since everything has died because of the drought), and someday (probably in February) I will be able to get out my sweaters. But the thing that makes Fall the Esienbergers' favorite season is the return of television!

Survivor: China started last week and we actually had our first Survivor party in Charlotte. We went out for pizza instead of making chili, but it definitely brought back the excitement of "Survivor Night". I was sad to see Chicken go first because the boring people always seem to obtain the upper hand early on and vote out the more interesting folks. It is going to take a couple more episodes before I decide who I would want in the final four. I can tell you though, that the sooner they send Courtney packing the better. Hopefully, I will be able to get Troy to give weekly commentary because his view of the world is really hilarious.

The one show we have been holding our breath for is Heroes. How did Sylar sneak down that manhole without anyone else seeing him? Hopefully they will tell us tonight on the season premeire!

It is a sad, but true statement, that our blog will be far more interesting now that TV has returned. So, if you love TV even half as much as we do, stay tuned! Oh, and when we get adoption info, we will throw that in too!

Andrea