Monday, November 28, 2016

Last Week Was A Busy Week

Last week was an extremely busy week.  Thanksgiving week usually is, but we had a couple of graduations also.

I normally spend 3 days preparing for Thanksgiving.  This year I did it in two.  That would not have been my preference, but when one lives and works in a children's home, one does not always have options.

Wednesday morning I mixed up the first batch of bread to rise.  I went to Casa with the celery, onions and cheese. 




I said I was not going to do any of the chopping and grating, but I help with onions.  Cris and Josue cried over onions.  Before we finished, I think everyone cried over onions.  They were really strong.   Little Josue was really intent on grating that cheese.  The celery crew took a couple of hours.  

Haley and Emma came down after school on Wednesday to help with the cooking.  They spent the night so we could work late and start early.  Emma was a hoot.  She sprinkled a tablespoon of sugar on one loaf of bread.  She cracked eggs long before anyone was ready for eggs.  She was thrilled that she was big enough to join us this year.  She liked tasting everything we made.  She was really serious about getting the bread rolled out to the proper size.  

Emma went to bed before Haley, which is very unusual.  Haley wanted to help get the first of the cornbread made and in the oven.  Then she crashed.  I worked about 3 hours longer.

I got up at 4:00 and hoped to have the first turkey on by 5:00.  I almost did that; it was 5:20.  We do not baste turkeys, we paint turkeys.  I thought I would be painting the first one by myself.  I was wrong.  The girls came busting out of the bedroom just in time to paint.  After the turkey was in the roaster, we had a break.  

Emma soon got tired and was off to play.  Haley worked hard all day.  Matt and I were the dressing taste testers.  I think we got it perfect this year.  Matt and Haley did the green bean casserole.  

Apparently, there are things I say every year.  "There is no way I am ever going to get this done by 2:00.,"  "I will never get all these dishes cleaned up," (even though I am washing as I go) and "I don't think I will ever get this nasty floor clean again."  I really did not think I would ever see the end of the dishes or get the sticky floor clean.  I did.  And, for the first time ever, I was not worried about the time.  Everything came together very well.  Maybe I forgot something, but no one missed it, if I did.

We always invite all of the Casa de Esperanza and Honduras Hope employees.  This year we invited some other friends as well.

Everything was ready at 2:00.  

We had a great day, fun, food, fellowship, family and friends.  The only missing was a little football.  The Casa kids always eat too much.  Everyone was telling me how much Emma ate.  She really liked the deviled eggs and the dressing.
















Friday morning, there were 2 graduations.  Nicole and I went to the sixth grade graduation and Maria went to the kindergarten.  Somewhere in everything else, Jackson had 9th grade graduation, too. 

I have no pictures of the events that I did not attend.

Sixth grade graduation is a big thing here.  It is a lot more emotional for some of the kids, than sixth graders moving up to seventh grade in the States.  Some kids do not get to go on to 7th and the ones that do, may go to a different school.  There is a high chance that some of the kids will never see each other again.

This year 6th grade graduation was a lot more fun than ever before.  After signing the book and receiving the diplomas, we all had sparking grape juice, a nice meal and cake.  The decorations were all hand made and very pretty.  We cannot even comprehend doing everything by hand for 40 graduates.  I was very proud of Katy and Nohemy.

A tradition we began long ago is to take the 6th graders to Chili's.  Nohemy, more than Katy, had been excited about this all week.  It took us 2 1/2 hours to get to Chili's because of the traffic.  That just made us all that much more hungry.  Both girls ordered chicken crispers.  They enjoyed.  We enjoyed.





















And, then came the molton.


The very best part of all.



Monday, November 21, 2016

Emma And The Theater

Haley's choir was asked to sing with the Honduras Philharmonic in the National Theater.  This was quite an honor, as only four schools were asked.  Even more so when you consider that the school choir is only in its second year.  That performance was yesterday afternoon.

We knew what Haley would wear, but Nicole and I talked for days about what we would wear.  Nicole bought a beautiful new dress.  After seeing this dress, I knew I would feel under dressed, no matter what I wore.

Nicole had said all along that Emma was not going.  No one thought Emma could behave in the theater.

Yesterday morning, I wondered up to Nicole's to see what she thought of the dress I had maybe chosen.  Emma met me at the door.  She was all smiles and said,"I going, too."

Haley wore regular clothes to church and was going to change in the car.

We left church a few minutes early.  Haley had to be there at 1:00 and we needed a bite to eat.  We decided against chicken since it is so greasy.  We decided to stop at Uno.

Emma and the baby were asleep.  Nicole and Haley went in to buy food for all of them.  Then I went in.  Nicole's dress has a side zipper in it and she needed to nurse the baby.  We are sitting in the car, Nicole half undressed, eating really bad C-store food and Emma says, "I'm sorry."  Nicole says, "sorry for what, Emma?"  

"I spilled my sprite on Haley's uniform."

Silence.  From everyone.  No one thought this was funny.  No one.

Restaurants and C-stores are not known for their generosity when it comes to napkins.  I took the only napkin the four of us had and begin to blot the jumper as dry as I could.  I then put it on the dashboard and hoped the sun would complete the job.

In just a few seconds, Emma says, " I lost the lid to my sprite."  Nicole says, "I hate that Sprite."  That was not the last time those word would be spoken.

We headed on the theater.  We got a really good parking place.   Haley got dressed and, after arriving, Nicole did Haley's hair.  We walked across the street.  The choir director told Haley she needed a water bottle.  Nicole said she would go back to the car and get it.  Then she asked me if I could take Emma outside and let her drink a little more of her Sprite.  Nicole handed me the Sprite bottle and we went outside.  Emmie drank a little bit.  I told her she could not drink it inside the theater to drink all she wanted.  She said she did not want any more and put it in my purse.  Without the lid.  Of course, I did not know that until we were back inside the theater.  Everything in my purse was swimming in Sprite.  I looked at Nicole and said, "I hate that Sprite."

We had a long wait before the show began.  We were hoping Emma's behavior would get better once the show began.

The theater is over 100 years old.  It was beautiful.

Of course, after the Sprite, Emma had to go to the bathroom.

Different ensembles and solos from the members of the philharmonic played.  I enjoyed every second of it.  Even with Emma not behaving well.  I think I heard the best flautist I have ever heard.  All of the musicians played extremely well.

Nicole would occasionally say, " Emma you are not getting ice cream," and Emma would howl.  But even that was not enough to make her behave for more than a few seconds.

The people behind us were laughing at her antics.  Nicole and I were not.

Emma was really good when Haley's choir performed

Toward the end, the baby got restless and Nicole took her out.  Emma did not want to go with Mommy.

When the maestro announced the last number, Emma got on her knees and turned around to the people that thought she was so funny and begin screaming, "la ultima, la ultima." (the last,the last).   I wanted to die.

The theater was beautiful.  The performances were flawless.

Emma will not be going back to the theater for a long, long time.

I did not get a picture of all of us.

And, Emma did not get ice cream.