Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!

This year went by so fast!! It was a wonderful year and we are very thankful to end it in good health.

We are in Orlando and have been going to the Disney parks. We had hoped not to go to the parks but Carlos and Titi cannot be here without going to Disney. We bought the annual pass so we will be coming back frequently. The parks are very crowded but it is not too bad. The weather has been great, not hot but not cold at all, we have not had to wear a sweater at all.

We went to Magic Kingdom and Titi and I saw the Christmas parades and when they lighted the castle, it was very pretty. Yesterday we went to Epcot and I got to see a little of the Christmas shows. We might go back tonight there. There are so many things to do here for New Year's Eve but it might rain and we don't know if Carlos and Titi will be able to stay awake until 12.

It looks like we are not going to be able to camp later in the week. It is going to get very cold the days we are supposed to camp so we might have to go to the condo and stay there at night and then go back to the campground to enjoy the activities the Scouts have planned. Don thinks we could do it but I don't think it is possible, no matter how many blankets we bring.

Christmas

Luke and Mimi cooked a delicious meal on Christmas Day.

Christmas morning. It was still dark outside when the kids woke up. They were happy with their presents.

Titi's list to Santa. It was loooooong!!!

Carlos and Titi had fun at their class parties. I was in charge of one of the crafts and I did the same for both classrooms, a winter scene with cutouts, stickers and lots and lots of glitter. They kids really love using glitter.

Carlos and Titi participated in a play at the last Scout's meeting. Titi is not supposed to be part of the group but she wanted so much to participate in the play that they let her do it.

Carlos has the best teacher. She asked us to send Carlos' favorite recipe and a bag of chocolate chips for a project. The project turned out to be a class cookbook and jar of chocolate chip cookie mix as a present from Carlos to us. It must have been a lot of work putting all that together for each child in the class! She also gave me a gift card to Starbucks since I help in the classroom from time to time. She is definitely a great person and teacher. Titi and I immediately made the cookies and they were very good.

Santa's list

Carlos and Titi have been busy writing their letters to Santa. They keep changing their mind and have written many lists. This week I took them to the store so they could write their final list. They were busy! Titi's list is loooong!

December

Carlos has been our driving force to decorate the house, inside and out. He keeps asking us to put more lights and decorate more. He put lights in all the house plants. We never finished outside but I am sure he will make us do it.

Titi is now wearing glasses. She has been very good about it and she wears them all the time. She looks cute!

HANUKKAH

I haven't posted in a long time. I have been so busy updating the student's blog I keep for Mayan Families and I never have time for this one.

We had a great time at the Hanukkah celebration at Steven and Janie's. They had delicious food like always and we were happy to see everybody in good health. Carlos and Titi loved the presents they got and we hope their cousins liked the presents we gave them.

A big hole in the garden

Today we discovered a big hole under the kid's slide in the garden. It must be a fairly big animal because the hole is pretty big. I am hoping it is a turtle or something like that. I would hate it if it is an iguana. They are becoming pretty common around here and they are huge. The other day I saw two giant ones crossing the road. They are ugly!

We didn't see anything inside during the day but I was afraid to get too close. Titi was not afraid and wanted to look closer but we didn't let her. Don and the kids went to see the hole at night but they could not see anything either. Don thought that he might have seen eggs inside. We will try to look again in the morning.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! Don and I finished closing the box that we are sending to Guatemala with shoes and presents for the families that we met during the summer. We were able to fit 97 pairs of shoes and lots of other presents for the children and their families. Fortunately they only charge by size and not by weight. It was so heavy because we packed it to the max.

We are hoping to send another box in January full of shoes, backpacks and school supplies. The school year is from January to October so they will need lots of supplies in January. Mimi, Luke and Roc already donated towards that box. Mimi found 12 pairs of girls shoes on sale and she bought them for the kids in Guatemala!

We had a great time at Steven and Janie's. The food was delicious, as always, and it was good to see everybody, specially Mema, Grandpa, uncle Izzy and aunt Mary. Carlos and Titi played with the kids and they had fun.

We also went to see Mimi and Luke.

Hannah Montana concert

Thanks to Steven and Janie, Carlos and Titi were able to go to the Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers concert! Don and I never thought of trying to get tickets because we knew it was going to be difficult to get them but Steven and Janie got tickets for Hailey and Andie and they had 3 extra tickets and they allowed us to use them. We know they could have made a lot of money reselling them so we really appreciate it.

Carlos and Titi loved the concert! Titi especially, she danced a lot and had lots of fun. Carlos had fun too but he thought it was too loud so he spent a lot of time covering his ears!! They are very lucky kids!!

Day of the Death

Don wanted me to post pictures of the altar we put this year. I think it looks the same as last year's. We could not put food out because we have been having a problem with ants. We did put candy, rompope and coffee.

Halloween

The kids had fun at Halloween. Both wanted to be vampires so it was an easy costume. They wore black pants, white shirts and we only had to buy a cape. I wanted to paint their faces but they only wanted to have "blood dripping from their mouths".

We went to downtown's Kiwanis parade and it was good. They love trick or treating at the stores. They don't like walking on the parade as much but they did it. Don was in costume too so it was nice. The had fun at the park.

They also trick or treating at the shopping center and they saw lots of their classmates. They had a magic show.

Their class parties were good. They did nice crafts and ate cookies. Carlos' teacher painted faces, she was good.