November 2012

 The saddest thing about this post is that I don't have any pics of Tio Jake and Tia Tifani when they came for a short weekend... :(

De todos modos we enjoyed their visit!  They just need to come back again... :)

 Marcos feeding Ithan his juice bottle!  The kids were/have been amazing helpers with the two little ones... we are so thankful!

 Diego giving Ithan "rides" in the laundry basket -- this is a frequent pasttime... STILL!

 Marcos capturing a "gangsta" moment for Ithan... :)

 This was the stage when Ithan was starting to "walk" around the perimeters of rooms -- he even found Dr. Wilder to be quite fascinating!  :)

THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION CELEBRATION...

... is celebrated in November, so the kids had a parade!

(Above) Mariela, Xunachi and Candi on the trailer!

 Diego (on the right) got to lead in the parade riding one of the horses!

(He has been taking horse-riding lessons from Cassidy.)

 Jodi even dressed up her dog, Floppy!

(and managed to wear a bicycle on her head as well... talented lady! :)

 Watching the festivities:  Joel with Ithan and Samuel with Panka

 Diego and his friend, Giezzi, with their very creepy mustaches... :)

 The 5th and 6th graders did a rap, so these were Marcos and Aron's "rap" outfits and faces... :)

 Life was good... he could finally reach to play the piano!!!

 This year Joel decided to put up a star in the "pine" tree outside our house, which looks awesome from the road and anywhere on campus!

It looks relatively safe on the ground...

 ... and then you see what he "rigged" to get it up!!!

THIS WAS NOT SAFE.

[understatement]

Thankfully, he didn't die OR become a paraplegic, which was what I thought the inevitable outcome would be...

 We also put up icicle lights -- yeah for icicle lights!!!

On the other hand... these stayed up until, oh, let's see...

MARCH.  :(

 Tadeo stayed over and watched the star and light-putting-up show for awhile!

 And inside the house -- I had quite the little helper for decorating!!!

 Joel found a video game four-pack at a second-hand store in Tucson (with Pacman and a couple others that I have no idea what they're called!), which the kids LOVE.  

And judging by his expression... so does Ithan!!!

 We were able to host a few kids for supper and games one night while the single ladies from CVE and the community got together and had some fun... it was neat to see our kids starting to play "older games" and having an awesome time with it!