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.

Bananas

Our banana tree gave us a big stalk of bananas and they are all ripening at the same time! Don took some to his office but we still have dozens of them. Today I ate lots of fresh bananas then I made a banana milkshake, banana pancakes (froze some), covered others with chocolate and froze them and now I need to go back and see how else I can use them. I am going to freeze some to use them in smoothies or milkshakes.

Our first camping trip

Here are some pictures of our camping trip. We had a great time. It rained a lot during both nights but I kind of liked it. It made it more like an adventure and it was not too hot during the day. There were lots of activities for the kids like archery, climbing wall, sports, swimming, fishing, canoeing and more. The time went really fast.

Next time we will get a bigger tent. The one we had was ok but we only had space for the matresses. The food was very good. On Friday night we ate at the dinning hall and we met people that we knew since it was for all Scout clubs in the area. The rest of the time the wife of the Pack (our group) Master cooked for all of us, and we only helped a little with preparations and cleaning. In our Pack we had approx. 40 people but there were some Packs that were big.

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The kids have been sleeping in a camping tent in the living room for some days. We are going camping with the Cub Scouts and we needed to practice putting it up and of course the kids didn't let us packing it again. They love sleeping in different places and they are so happy to have a real tent. I am not sure I am going to like camping but I will try it. It should be fun.

Laura is Sixteen!

I can't believe that Laura is already 16! She looks so grown up! I remember perfectly the day she was born and we went to see her at the hospital. Time really flies.

Keri and Larry had a nice party for her and we enjoyed it a lot.

Happy Birthday!!!!! We are very proud of you!


Love,
Don, Carmen, Carlos and Titi

Happy Birthday Mimi!!

Today is Mimi's 40th birthday!!! Happy Birthday!!!

We had a nice party for her last Saturday and I know she enjoyed it. Luke got a mariachi band to come and play for her!

Enjoy your day!

Lots of love,
Don, Carmen, Carlos and Titi

New school year

Carlos and Titi started school on Wednesday. They are very happy

Uncle Izzy's birthday

Uncle Izzy and Aunt Mary look great!

We were very happy to celebrate Uncle Izzy's 90th Birthday!! Linda and Joel had a nice party for him and we had a great time.

High School Musical 2

I have a very excited girl in the house today. Titi cannot wait until 8 o'clock, when they are going to show High School Musical 2 on the Disney Channel. She has been giggling and screaming all day, very excited, counting the hours until she can see it. We are going to have a party in the storage room because there she will have enough space to dance and shake her cute little body. She is always saying she is a tomboy but today she is acting 100% girl :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARLOS!!

Titi had to bite the cake, the way she saw it done in Guatemala!

TODAY IS CARLOS' 8th BIRTHDAY!!!

We are very proud of our little (big) boy. We love him soooooo much!!!!

Have a great day beautiful boy!

Mom, Dad and Titi

P.S. The big present was a Halloween talking head statue. Carlos loves Halloween and he wanted one last year so we got him one and could not wait to give it to him until Halloween.

Summer

We are having a great summer. We love not having to rush in the mornings and I am loving not having to help the kids with homework. Carlos and Titi went to 2 weeks of camp, one in a Tae Kwon Do studio and the other one in a gym. We also went to Wannado City and some other places around here.

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