Happy Halloween!

Halloween isn't celebrated in Bolivia, but the tías at Casa de Amor do know about it due to volunteers celebrating. Last year, I tried to plan a Halloween party for the babies that ended up being a bit of a joke, so this year we just dressed up the youngest kids for some pictures… They looked too cute!

Baby G. was a kitten 

 Baby A. was a lumberjack (as requested by Lindsey!)… He wasn't a fan of the hat!

Baby D. was a clown

Baby E. was a turtle… The tías thought this was the perfect costume for him, and it really is! E. certainly isn't known as the baby who hits his milestones first or quickly :)

Baby B. was a mummy

R. was a princess

 And then N. came in and tried to steal everyone's costumes! 

I think Baby A. pulls the lumberjack look off better!

 And the cutest of them all! My mom sent Baby C. this adorable owl costume! C. must've loved it because she was taking steps independently all morning long while wearing it!

Baby C. is ready to go trick-or-treating!

Our little crew ready for Halloween!

Sneak peak of our Nativity picture!

We're just a casa full of amor!

Feliz Cumpleaños, A.M.!

Even though we celebrated A.M.'s birthday yesterday, she was SO excited that today was her actual birthday! On the way home from school (side note: She didn't actually have school but we didn't know it… She spent her entire afternoon at school as they for some reason had no way to contact us to let us know… Great birthday present for her!), she asked if we could stop and buy Pilfrut, these little juice drinks in a bag. We rarely buy them even though she always asks, and I said yes since it was her birthday. However, when we got to the store, she asked for "just one little ice cream please????" and how could I say no?! I told her to pick out an ice cream bar and wouldn't you know she chose the most expensive one in the whole store! 

On our way home, I got my usual list of questions (where's Carmin/Angel/all of the other babies, where are the girls, which tía is working, which tía works tomorrow, when will Raquel move to the girls house, why is Nayely not moving instead of Raquel, etc.) and then last but not least… "Tía Hannah, how much longer until my next birthday?" The countdown begins NOW… Just 365 more days to go my dear!

A.M. turns 8!

Today we celebrated A.M.'s 8th birthday! She has been waiting for this day since her birthday last year… Every time I see her she asks how much longer until her birthday. When we finally got to October, she then wanted a daily countdown. Yesterday at Horita Feliz we told her she just had two more days to wait and she was giddy about it the rest of the afternoon! 

We made a last minute decision to celebrate this afternoon instead of on Monday, her birthday day. She didn't know about it and was SO excited when I showed up unexpectedly with a cake today! Her first response was "It's finally my birthday TODAY?!" Her big wish is another sleepover at the baby house so I'll bring her over in a couple weeks to finish off her birthday celebration!

A lady who loves A.M. very much and comes over to spend time with her took her shopping and out to lunch this morning! She bought her two new outfits, and this was one of them. 

 She looks so grown-up in this picture!

 Tía Daniela and J.

 R. and S. playing together!

It's almost time for cake!

Oriana came back to visit for A.M.'s birthday! The girls (and us too!) were very excited to see her again!

 The boys came over to help A.M. celebrate!

Cake time! Do you see the smeared frosting on/under her name? During lunch, Samuel came to the door of my bedroom and said "Mmmmm Tía Hannah cake!" I immediately leapt out of bed to find him sitting in the doorway to my bedroom licking his fingers with frosting smeared on his cheeks. I went into the kitchen to see the damage he'd done, and fortunately, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be based on what his face looked like! Luckily A.M. didn't even notice!

 We couldn't find any candles so a match worked just fine :)

Biting the cake!

After putting literally her entire face into her cake last year, she just had one little mark from her nose in the frosting this year.

K. enjoying the birthday party!

 Tía Luz with Baby C. and E.

Cake, ice cream, and soda is a combination the kids don't normally get and makes birthdays exciting!

The party was clearly too much fun for S… We found her asleep in her chair, her plate of cake untouched.

Could you have possibly made a bigger mess with your cake and ice cream?! Sad to say this picture doesn't even do it justice… I even found cake on the back of her knee!

Horita Feliz Group Pictures

Every week before leaving for Horita Feliz or church, I like to take a group picture of the kids. It's really the only time they get dressed up (and in clothes that actually match!), and I like looking back at them. I'd rather not post what are basically the exact same pictures every Saturday, so here's a few group pictures from past Saturdays… Cute kids with lots of cheesy faces!