birthday madness

so it turns out that with so many people living on the property now, there were four who had birthdays within a week of each other recently. of course, we had a big party. any reason to buy pepsi, right??

we set up everything in the activity center, made four batches of brownies, 2 major pot-loads of arroz con pollo (the fave party food!) and loaded ourselves up with pepsi. the little ones were turning 1 year, 2 and 3 years and the oldest turned 14 on friday. whew! lets do this again next year, shall we?

first, the preparations...brownies. nail painting. and fan flashing. 

you guys. aside from the fact that we've had some serious mascara melting days around here {we like to complain about how "tropical" it is around here instead of hot. sounds more fun and less suffocating}, when you're baking brownies all afternoon long with the oven cookin' there are not words to describe. 

anyway, then there was the party. the kids had fun popping all the balloons and chasing each other with bubbles before dinner.

believe it or not, above is the best shot of all the birthday girls. do you know how tricky it is to be taking pictures of 3 girls under the age of 4?? 

baby kelly is turning the big "1" this week! and yes, that's the biggest cheese smile you've ever seen, right? check out the johnson's blog to see life in the jungle from their perspective.

partner in crime for life, monica. or as the kids like to say....moquia. don't ask me why i/we                                    are standing that way. it just happened, alright?

then came the after-party, complete with a bonfire, marshmallows and face painting.

hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!

today's agenda

today is sunday {duh}. do you know what that means?

it means that today's agenda includes unnecessary blog banner changes {sorry, again}, getting around to making breakfast at noon, reading, a little podcast-listening action, watching our new favorite tv show and a sunday {mango, orange juice, coconut milk} smoothie. if you want the recipe i just gave it to you. just put it in a blender, folks. 

oh, and it also means some extra time to spend together as a little house family before we welcome our summer groups full of awesome people coming to work on some awesome projects. 

what are you up to this sunday?

holy water

 

great things about being back in honduras:::

well, #1, i actually got here again. a miracle in itself.

--getting to see all the kiddos and families again

--the/my {oh so important} job of fetching milk in the morning. i missed that! it's like watching the village CNN report because i always get the top stories before 7am. and believe me...there are top stories.

--hiring scorpion hit men to take care of those creepy nightmare-ish things that hang out in my bathroom. {oh wait, i didn't miss that}

--those babies! i think i was going through cuteness overload withdrawls not being able to hang around those two. they are baby BFFs. 

anyway..

we just got this wii game thing goin' on down here. introduced the kids and house parents to boxing today at a little get together we had and they loved it. and i totally got my butt kicked by a nine year old. we would have done another bonfire but, since it's like torrential downpour around here seemingly every afternoon we had to save it for another day.

speaking of downpour, i included a few snaps of our yard. where does all that water come from?! and the chocolate river {that's right, we've got one of those down here} is fillin' up quick. oh, you wanna know my favorite part? well, i'll tell ya. all that rainwater thinks it got an invitation into our kitchen. like three days in a row now. love iiiiiiiit. the cool part is that after it rains this crazy green/yellow aura comes glowing through our front windows and doors. kinda eerie kinda sweet.

welp. that about tells it all, friends. 

and still, at the end of this post, i'm not real sure what it's about. 

oh! for all you LOST lovers out there, we're watching some of that tonight. but i feel like i'm breaking a cardinal rule of the tv show and starting at like episode 12. isn't that horrible? 

i probably won't lose sleep over it.

someday soon

took a little trip this weekend up to my future home i'll be moving to in the fall after i get rid of this jungle fever. being in the city was so much fun. and you know that feeling when you get to see all of these wonderful people you've been missing for a long time? yeah. it was like that. 

highlights include::

                               future roomie talk about how incredible this fall will be.

                               cheese grading my thumb off. woops!

                               dancing!! i'm serious. people need to dance. it makes everything better.

                               an ice cold strawberry lemonade {or two} to cure one of those 

                                                                                                  "melt your mascara off" kind of days.

                               not getting super lost driving{we're making major steps toward success, people}

                               awesome church service 

                               a nice long -catch-up-on-so-much-life- kind of dinner with that one guy, JT. 

aaaaaaand my heart is full. see you again sometime, home. 

until then, it's back to honduras. can't freaking wait to see all those faces i've been missing. and it is SO time to get back on that jungle diet...my jeans can't take any more eating out.

                               

do what you do

brother's graduation yesterday -- oh yeah, you know it was just a magical experience being back in that high school all over again. {thank the good Lord we're all done with that!}

the graduations speeches were actually above grudgingly average this time and being able to check out those ridiculous heels (?) all the ladies were sportin was entertainment in itself. {the question mark because i'm not sure you could call something like that a shoe -- it's got to be closer to a stilt or something.}

admittedly, all that inspirational jabber was kinda good to hear again. ya know about how you should not care what other people think, blah blah blah, be successful in whatever you do, blah blah blah, you've made it through high school you can do anything, {sorta true} blah blah blah. 

but you know what? if people actually did what they all set out to do, if they {we}, actually pursued life goals that we cared about...something we're good at...something that makes someone else's life a little bit easier...well, maybe all of our blood pressures would go down a little bit and "work" wouldn't be so, well, terrible. 

it is not your adult obligation to be miserable doing what you do.

so as a little graduation-sparked reminder to all of us....

remember all those things you said you wanted to do when you got out of high school/college/whatever?

DO 'EM.

like right now.

do what you do. be who you be. just don't be miserable please. 

that job position's been filled too many times. 

   

sorry for the cheese-fest post. just had to.
happy weekend!
xoxo

awkward and awesome thursday

awkward::
-- my parents hiring maids to clean their impeccable house..i wonder if they walk in and are like, so...what's the job? what's more awkward is that they came while i'm melting into the land of social networking on my computer and simultaneously watching live with kelly {come on you know you like it}. so i'm like lifting my feet up so they can clean the floor. do i help? do i leave? at least i understand their spanish conversation about going and getting something out of the car. useful.

-- hair trims that are 55 buckaroos. that's outrageously insane, right? or is it just me...?! not awkward. just minorly majorly upsetting.

-- doing a walk/jog around the block with an infant and toddler because auntie erin forgot to make sure everyone went to potty before going to the pahk. i sat for a minute and decided if bushes were easier {do people get fined for that now??}  or if hopping the neighbors fence was worth it. instead i was a grown up {kind of} and booked it back. we made it. now if only the drugged up neighbor dog didn't wake the baby.

-- getting asked by way too many kids this week why my skin had so many dots on it {or any uninhibited variation of this question}. they're freckles, okay young people? that never gets old. oh wait, it does.

-- having to pick the register at wal-mart that didn't have one of my fellow high school ex-classmates standing at it. #smalltownproblems

--paying almost 7 dollars for a bowl of froyo at yo mamas because of a few amateur mistakes...putting a little big of everything in there. not paying attention. no room for toppings. complete overload. realizing that i have to pay for however much it weighs. at which point i look for a place to put some of it back. {can't do that.} paying for it anyway. i'll try harder next time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:: awesome

-- getting to spend so much time with family i usually don't get to spend mounds of time with. aka my three favorite little nieces in the whole universe. {and their mom and dad ; ) }

-- practicing my mad tortilla making skills so i don't loose what i got when we're back on jungle diet.

-- eating any kind of food from wherever. whenever. oh, and i didn't cook it. it's a miracle! it's amazing how many eating out places you can hit in one day when you really want to.

-- seein mah GB packers woop some firemen in a game of basketball.

-- being about 6 feet away from a real life giraffe. gosh i love those guys.

-- sleeping on these sheets that just smell absolutely magical. straight out of the garden but like better. where is that detergent from?! is that normal? and can i bring it back to honduras with me??

that's all for now.

happy thursday! getcho awkward on.

the daybook

the homeland

oh the treats about being home...

since "operation: get out of central america" has come and passed, i thought i'd share little bits and pieces about being home to visit. so far i've been totally overloaded with love and treats -- 

1//targeeeeet, the place where anything can be bought.

2//magical manicures with mama {something i could never get myself to pay for on my own, but still love}

3//brother's last day of high school classes! oh, what a miracle.

4//my new morning friend, the classic french press. i know you're not supposed to put espresso ground coffee in there but, what the heck, i love that stuff.

5//the biggest {i mean for real} pizza i've ever eaten in my 23 years of life.

6//a treat to get to go to niece's gymnastics expo

7//kites at the park with friends

8//the classic "cute baby with large sunglasses on" picture {had to!}

9//reunited with the one and only alterra coffee {major happy face.} and no it doesn't embarrass me to be kissing a coffee cup.

10//wagon ride to the park

11//a bit of swing action

12//my favorite little girls in the whole wide world.

it's been a nice rest to be home with family and friends doing {normal} american things. 

good good news:: officially headed back to hondo in a little over a week. who hoooo!

next stop tomorrow:: the zoo. with many small children. oh boy.

happy sunday lovelies!