Navidad-ness

Since the events during December were numerous, I thought I'd do a little Christmas catch-up for the blog...

Diego and José had a Christmas program at their Kindergarten, and a group of us went to see them perform. They were (it probably goes without saying) immeasurably adorable... and danced a little bit more than Aaron did last year... ;)

Aaron turned 7 on December 10, and we celebrated by smashing his face in the cake... :)

He had asked for a Gingerbread Man cake (from our storybook we read at nights; which constantly amuses me because they are German stories, written in Spanish, read by an American... lol), and so I made him one, and elected to use black food coloring for the outline of the figure and the letters... [cough, cough] which was very kind. :)

Christmas morning we had a special brunch in the house for all our kids, and the rest of the single staff who were around. All in all we had 20 people... good times!

Above (left), Bere makes fruit salad, and (above, right) Gloria was bien happy to be in the kitchen watching all the preparation take place! And (below) Joel was a trooper for sitting in the living room, watching the kids all go insane while we finished up details... ;)

LA NAVIDAD...

It was interesting this year shopping for Christmas gifts because I really had no idea what to get the kids. Praise the Lord, we are well-provided-for here, and not having years and years of experience as a mother, it took me a while to figure stuff out... ;)
However, I decided to give the kids all fleece blankets with their favorite characters/superheroes... and it seemed to be a hit! Here they are, "flying" with their new blankets [this picture is also note-worthy because it catches Candi mid-sneeze... :)].

I got a few games also for the kids... Twister (as pictured above with Aaron and Ponch... who really, really need practice figuring out which is "left" and which is "right"), Hi-Ho Cherry-O, Chutes and Ladders, the ABC game, Memory (with superheroes, of course!), and...

... Hungry, Hungry Hippo!!!
(I don't know why the picture is sideways, I can't get the formatting to change...)
However... I decided after 30 seconds of battering down on the hippo tails, the screaming, the racket, the cheating, and the plastic gobbling ping of the hippos... that this game was so much better when I was younger.
Oops.
So -- they will be playing Hungry, Hungry Hippo! whenever they want; and I will be using earplugs. :)

One night, Jenna and I decided to take the kids to town for hot dogs, and then to the plaza for churros (remember the heart attacks I mentioned last time? Apparently, we like to take our chances... lol). It was a lot of fun... and above you see the kidlets of the house (except the youngest, Gloria) -- that's a lot of kids!
Who would have ever thought??? ;)

And (below)... the two crazies that try to pretend they know what they're doing with this many kids! Okay, that's not true... we don't even try to pretend... we just don't know! ;)

And... in a brief update: Pollito!

I meant to blog about this when he came for a visit, but didn't do so. So... Pollito was here for about an hour one afternoon -- Nov. 1, actually, which was my two-year anniversary at CVE. It was really good to see him, and his family. He continues to grow! I know it shouldn't be surprising, but I think we sometimes latch on to photos, memories, etc. of people at different times in our and their lives, and then when we don't see them, we somehow expect that they haven't changed at all... even knowing how much time has passed!
I praise God that their family feels comfortable visiting, and I am thankful for the opportunity to have seen him -- admittedly hard, but aren't most things with those we love?

And here he is (below) with Candi... it was neat to see those two together as well.
Thanks to Nicole for the pics!

And speaking of hard goodbyes with those we love...

... Jenean headed back to the U.S. of A. last Thursday morning, and she is going to be truly missed. It's encouraging, though, to hear that when God speaks to someone, they are obeying... and I feel that Jenean is open to His direction in her life. Please pray that she would find peace with Him as her Comforter, that her life would glorify God, and that her future would be filled with His presence -- wherever it may be!

I love you, Jenean... Dios te bendiga. :)