Happy Holidays

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December

At the Cub Scouts pack meeting we had "decorate the leader" and Don and Titi were decorated by the boys. It was very funny!

We decided not to buy a Christmas tree this year and we decorated the ficus tree we have. The kids also decorated some little ones and are busy making and wrapping presents.

This year I am so behind in sending holiday cards. I know I need to start earlier but the days just fly. This is a busy time at Mayan Families in Guatemala because school will start in January and now is the time to renew the student sponsorships. I help them by maintaining and updating the student's pages on the blog I created and I have been adding and updating many pages a day. You can take a peek here: Student's Blog. They are going to launch a new website soon and that will help me because they will be doing the updates directly from Guatemala but I don't know when they will be ready to do it.

In space

Our pride and joy!!

We have been very busy lately! Lots of school activities. Carlos made the honor roll and the school had a nice breakfast for the children and a ceremony to hand out the diplomas. Don was not able to go but I did and it was such a proud moment for me. They always have activities very early in the day and we can never invite Mema and Grandpa. They also had another breakfast for the third grade book club. It was at 7:15!

Titi also has had a couple of field trips. One to see the Nutcraker and another to see a dance/puppet show and an outdoor picnic. I went with her and we had a good time. She also participated in a play. She said she was nervous but she did great. After the play we had doughnuts and drinks and coffee. The teacher worked to hard to prepare everything. Carlos' teacher knew that we Titi was going to be in the play and she allowed Carlos to attend as well. We have been very lucky and all their teachers have been extremely nice!

They also had field day and they competed in different outdoor events. I was only able to attend Titi's and she did great. She was happy because she was in a team with 4 boys. Her team of 5 people won among 35 players.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! We are very thankful for our health, our family, our friends and home.

Miami Book Fair International

Yesterday we went to the Miami Book Fair. I went by myself last year and this time I wanted to bring Carlos and Titi. They have become interested in books again. For some time they only read if we made them read but lately they have been reading on their own. They got an animal's facts book at the book fair at their school and they have been reading us facts all week long. They were so excited about this book that one night they woke up at 3:00 a.m. to read with a flashlight. I heard them make the plan before they went to bed but I did not think one of them was going to wake up. Well, they did, read for a while and then woke us up because they were hungry!

They had fun at the MBFI. There was a big children's area with activities. Carlos and Titi loved taking pictures with some book characters. Their favorites were the Berenstain Bears. They bought a couple of books and got one nice one for free. Don and I wished we had more time to browse and to attend the author's readings and talks but we were happy to at least attend. Twenty years ago I volunteered at one event of the fair and attended the street fair for the first time. I can't believe it has been this long..... The weather was so beautiful and Miami looked great.

After the fair we went to South Beach because the kids wanted to get in the water. It was late but they played for a while. We then had Cuban food at Larios and watched people for a while. We showed the kids the place where we met, the Clevelander, but they are remodeling it so it did not look too good.

Girl Scout Camping

The leader of Titi's Brownie's troop told me that the troop needed somebody to be trained in outdoor skills before they could go camping. Since she knew I had camped with the cub scouts, she asked me if I could be trained. I said yes, not knowing that I needed to go to a night session and go camping one weekend.

It was actually very interesting. I learned how to do a flag ceremony, how to start a fire, how to make and cook in an oven box, and lots of other useful things. It was so different from cub scouts. We had a class the week before and that night they divided our group of women in two patrols. They gave us a list of items we needed to bring and a list of things we needed to do as a group. We were supposed to cook one meal on foil over coal, another using sticks and another in a skillet over a fire. It took us some time to agree on the menu but we finally got it.

Last weekend was the camp out. It started at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday and it ended at noon on Sunday. It was at the campground that is next to the cub scouts but it looked very different. This was the first time I had slept by myself away from home since Carlos came home! I can hardly believe that but I am not somebody that likes sleeping away from home. I slept in a cabin with two other women and thankfully I was able to sleep most of the night. I made sure not to drink anything after dinner so I would not have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night :-) We were lucky and we had perfect weather, not too hot and not too cold. My favorite part was going on a night hike without flashlights.... Now I need to plan a trip with the Brownies.....

So excited!!!!

Day of the Death

Our "Altar" to honor the Mexican tradition of Day of the Death. I made "pan de muertos", a bread that is only made and sold around this time of the year. I am slowly getting better at making bread.

Halloween

Party at Luke and Mimi's on Halloween night

Don and Larry at work

Baking. The witch finger cookies were a hit!


Halloween parties at school.