Boyd Bear Tracks

I decided that since Marcos likes animals so much, I would make him an animal cake. I asked him if he wanted a lion, a monkey, or an elephant. He said "e-fant" :-). So, with the cake chosen, I just had to figure out how to make it :-). There were lots of ideas on internet, but my favorite cakes to make are the 3-D ones. Especially when it's an animal. And, for some reason, I really enjoy making animal cakes :-)!

I invited three guests for his birthday and all of them came. Sometimes you wonder if anyone will come--especially since it looked like rain. Here, when it rains, people usually stay home. Mostly because the streets flood (not a very good gutter system--when there actually is one!), and then there isn't much transportation (the taxis all stop, or only go to a limited number of neighborhoods). So, we were pleasantly surprised! We played Zebra, Zebra, Lion (Duck, Duck, Goose); and, we went on a Bear Hunt. Only the bigger kids participated in that one. Most of the little boys, Marcos included, were playing with the little trucks from the baby toybox :-)! Oh well, at least they had fun!


The mom of one of the guests has a birthday coming up this next week, so she asked me to help her with ideas for the decorations (uh-oh--better start charging for "party-planning" :-) before I get too many requests). I offered to make her a special cake as part of her birthday present. She liked the idea :-)!

Marcos started working on potty-training, but we haven't advanced too far with that yet. Now we're working on it every other morning. Eventually he'll get it (hopefully sooner rather than later).

Jason has started crawling and pulling up on things. It's a little more difficult to keep track of him now :-). You set him down and when you come back--he's gone! Usually over by the stairs trying to discover how to get up! He started out crawling on a knee and a foot, but now he's crawling on both knees.




Lucas and Eliana are faithfully working at school. Lucas was accepted at a Christian school here, so he'll be starting there in February. It will be interesting to see how that is all going to work out. School starts at 6 a.m. and goes until 12:45 p.m. So, now Lucas may be able to own the bragging rights for the "earliest riser". He may even beat Grandpa Boyd!! :-)

I'm gearing up for making Thanksgiving dinner. I already have some rolls in the freezer and pumpkin puree too (for the pie). I think it was actually a butternut squash that I cooked up and blended. Apparently you have to start WAAAAY beforehand when you make everything from scratch. Now I just need to find a Turkey (that isn't too big or costly) and make the green bean casserole :-). Oh yes, can't forget the mashed potatoes! I think the only thing we won't have is the Cranberry Sauce. There really is no substitute for that here :-). Maybe blackberry sauce?

Today Juana and I (and another girl--Jenny) worked on the Christmas decorations for the church. We're just going to have silhouettes of the characters from the Christmas story and glitter covered stars. I put together a readers' theater with carols for the kids' program and the theme is "Jesus is the Light of the World". So, the stars will be a nice backdrop. Making the decorations was a bigger job than I thought at first. I thought it was so simple it wouldn't take too long to put together. I should have known, nothing can be quick! Especially when you have to clean up after painting the paper black (on the floor--it's tile), and covering cardboard stars with glitter. Not to mention, clean up after you drill holes in the wall. We couldn't just tack the stars to the ceiling because it is concrete, so I had to put screws in the wall (also concrete) to string a line across for hanging the stars. Did I say that nothing can ever be too simple? !!! :-) I guess I just have to redefine my idea of "productivity". We may not have finished all I wanted to do, but at least we had a good time of fellowship--strengthening friendship bonds :-).