Brianna, Whitney and Ellie made some new friends here in Abuelitos' ward. Thier names are Dania and Leslie Lopez. They've been so cute! Each Sunday they have been bringing their Spanish/English dictionary and a notebook full of English words so that they could talk to my ninas.
A couple weeks ago they invited the ninas to a "Lunada." That's a night-time party. It was held at the girls' home. They told the girls to arrive at 6. We got there at about 6:20, and we were the only guests there. The Lopez mom told us that they say 6, so most people get there around 7!
In this photo you can see Whitney, Ellie, Brianna, Dania, and Leslie holding a childrens book in English. She brought it out when the ninas got there.
This was a hoot!! They had iguanas that they tied little strings onto, like a leash. Then they tied the leashes around each little girls' wrist and put the lizards on their bellies! We sure got a kick out of that. This is the little sister Tutula, which is an Indian word for pretty. Her dad calls her "Pretty" a lot.
Brianna, Whitney and Dania on the tire swing in their yard. Their home was amongst the humblest I have ever seen in my life. It was so tiny and a quite ramshackle. the yard wasn't much either. But they had a tire swing and a hammock that the kids had fun on. We talked to the girls afterward about how little these kids have, and yet they are so happy, fun, generous, sweet and smart. We pointed out that you don't have to have lots of stuff to be happy.
Swinging on the hammock.
The whole group of kids at the party. The ninas couldn't understand hardly anything that was said to them, but they had a good time. It was certainly a new experience for them!
This was a hoot!! They had iguanas that they tied little strings onto, like a leash. Then they tied the leashes around each little girls' wrist and put the lizards on their bellies! We sure got a kick out of that. This is the little sister Tutula, which is an Indian word for pretty. Her dad calls her "Pretty" a lot.
Brianna, Whitney and Dania on the tire swing in their yard. Their home was amongst the humblest I have ever seen in my life. It was so tiny and a quite ramshackle. the yard wasn't much either. But they had a tire swing and a hammock that the kids had fun on. We talked to the girls afterward about how little these kids have, and yet they are so happy, fun, generous, sweet and smart. We pointed out that you don't have to have lots of stuff to be happy.
Swinging on the hammock.
And here's Ellie in her dress with the little guitar we also bought there. I bought each complete outfit for about 10 dollars!
So far today she hasn't sucked her thumb! She wanted to a couple times, but she stopped herself. She told me she has only just sniffed her blanky with her nose a little bit. =) What a big girl. She decided this entirely on her own. In the picture she posed all by herself so that all can see she's not sucking her thumb!
Susy (Maho's sister) and I had the great priviledge of teaching a cooking class to some sisters in Abuelita's ward. Abuelita called up 10 sisters in her ward on Friday and asked if they'd like to come to a cooking class Saturday. All of them came!! We taught them how to make wheat bread, whole wheat tortillas (they rarely eat flour tortillas here; just corn), and chocolate chip cookies. Can you believe not one of these sisters had even tried a homemade chocolate chip cookie before, let alone eaten one!! They were thrilled to learn how to make chocolate chip cookies, and to try them for the first time!
Parker on Jacob on Maho.
Camille, Kelly, Josh, Maho, Ellie.
Ellie and Camille.
Ellie coming down the waterslide.
Maho in the "gruta," or cave where the hottest water pours in. This felt like a hot tub.
Maho giving Parker an atomic wedgie.
Jacob, Helaman, Maho, Molly, Luke, Tessy, Crystal, Parker, Lulu and Mar.