Another box on its way to Guatemala

Do you want to see something really scary?



This was our guest room back in February. I had just thrown in there all the Christmas decorations and all the donations I still had for Mayan Families and had closed the door! I had sent a box in December to Guatemala and another one in January and I still had so much stuff. One Monday night Don came home to tell me somebody was coming to stay there on Thursday. I wanted to scream! Thankfully, everybody took pitty on me and the guest ended up staying at Larry and Keri's.

Thanks to my birthday gifts from Mema and grandpa and Don and all the wonderful donations from family and friends, today I sent another box to Mayan Families. I sent all the educational toys and materials I had. I hope they will use them at the new Tierra Linda community center. Mayan Families is opening a preschool there, the first one in the town, and I can't wait to see some children using the materials. We packed every single inch in the box. We put lots of stuff inside the puzzle boxes and every space available was filled.


My helpers.

Married for 63 years!

On Tuesday, Mema and grandpa celebrated their 63 year wedding anniversary! We had hoped to visit them on that day but I had to wait for a conference call and it got too late. We did go yesterday and had a very nice time. They live in such a lovely place and it feels like you are on vacation far away. Carlos and Titi swam in their pool and loved it. It was a great way to spend the day. I forgot to take pictures :-(

My birthday at the Sony Ericsson Open

I had a very nice birthday. Courtesy of Bulova, Don had tickets to the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne. The seats were great and we got to see matches with Roddick and Federer. We could not have asked for better players. Well, it would have been good to see Nadal. I did see him walk in a sea of people. He had been training and was walking back to the stadium. We have seen him play in previous years and he is so great.

Titi played beach tennis

On the way out of Key Biscayne we found a nice park. The kids had fun playing with other kids and Don and I played with his phone.

I got to eat Cuban food. Pan con bistec!

Pinewood Derby

Last year I did not go to our Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby and I had not idea what to expect. Well, it was a BIG deal! Everybody was so excited to see their cars compete. Don worked very little with Carlos on his car but it did well. They also had a race for the siblings and Titi entered one car and I can say it was the prettiest of all.

The food was great. Ray brought his gas grill from home and he was busy! We were lucky and the weather was good during the picnic but right after it, it rained a lot.












Titi's car





The best part was when they launched this rocket car.

Congratulations Laura!!!

Wow! Laura did it again! She was in the front cover of the Sun Sentinel and in almost a whole page in the sports section. She was named the Sun Sentinel 4A-3A-2A Player of the Year for the second straight year!! It make Carlos and Titi very happy to see her in the paper this morning!!We are very proud of her!!!

Camping at home

Don did not know that on Friday he was going to get home and be asked to build a tent, right inside the house. He was a good dad and did it for Carlos.

Earlier in the day I had found Titi's small tent and Carlos and I built it for her. Since she was not feeling well, she went to lay down inside and fell asleep. Carlos wanted a tent too but his had broken earlier and he did not have one. I told him that maybe he could have the one we had used for camping since it was too small for all of us. He had made the honor roll at school and he decided the tent was a good present to celebrate it. He kept asking me to bring it down so we could build it and I kept saying we could not do it. When Don got home we decided we could do it to celebrate Carlos' good grades and we built it and Carlos slept there. Titi slept in hers. Tonight they are sleeping there again. Now we have to start working on convincing them that having tents in the middle of the living room and kitchen is not a good idea......

Luke's birthday

March is a very busy month with birthdays and anniversaries. Carlos and Titi have already been to 3 birthday parties. Last Wednesday was Luke's birthday and we celebrated it at his home. Mimi was leaving for Mexico the following morning and she was busy at work so she decided to order Chinese food. I was supposed to go to the house in the morning and decorate so Luke will see it when he came back from work but he decided to work from home and it ruined our plans :-)

It was a good party. The kids and I made some paper lanterns and they colored some dragons and we decorated quickly when we got there. The food was good. I made the cake and brought some strawberries. The kids went to bed late but it was worth it.

A quick trip to Mexico

Sometimes I get really homesick about Mexico. Well, mainly about the food and I crave the things I used to eat there. The closest I can get to Mexican food without going to Mexico is by shopping at La Reina supermarket in Lake Worth. It is more of a latin supermarket, founded by Colombian immigrants, but they have lots of things from Mexico. They sell sweet bread, tamales, chocolate and some authentic dishes.

The kids love going there because they have fun looking at all the "strange" vegetables and fruits they find there. We also get Mexican "paletas" or ice cream bars. I just wish it were closer to home....

Cactus leaves from Mexico

Chayotes

Zucchini flowers

Making juice with some grapefruits from La Reina. They were 9 for a dollar! I wish I had bought more since Don loves fresh juice. Titi only likes to help but she won't drink it.

FCAT is done

FCAT is finally done!!! Today Carlos had his math test and he thinks he did well. I saw his teacher and she said the same thing, that he finished it fast and he didn't think it was hard. He also had 2 days of reading tests. The whole school has been and still is in FCAT mode and no visitors are allowed for two weeks. They had a rally on Monday and the kids have been receiving a protein snack!! They also got a foam brain that they could squish if they felt nervous during the test. We are glad it is over for Carlos!!

We have been stressing because Titi has been a little sick and we were afraid Carlos was going to get it. She started with a fever and kind of a cold and then she vomited at night. She missed 2 days of school and she went for only 1/2 day yesterday. Thankfully Carlos has been fine. Carlos also went to sleep late yesterday and Don and I were hoping it was not going to affect him today. We can finally relax!!!

Lake Worth Street Painting Festival again

We could not miss the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival and it was as wonderful as ever. We invited Tere, Eli and little cousin Mario to come with us since they had never seen it. We had a lot of fun but it was crowded and we had to walk fast, before the kids got bored.










The kids loved the Candy Land drawing!