Woodworking and Valentine's

Benjamin has always been interested in woodworking but time, storage and interest have never all collided until now, perhaps spurred on by necessity. Living in a small house with five people, one of which is a toddler who is very curious and good at breaking things, has forced us to be creative with our storage. The house is great, but didn't have much in the way of storage that was out of Ezra's reach. Benjamin looked around online and found some templates and how-to videos and whipped up a storage racks for the coffee cups he is emotionally attached to as he likes to collect them from every country or important milestone he reaches.

Here, some are being washed, but it is currently full.

Afterward, he liked working with it so well, and we have a lot of other ways it could help, so he made a hinged work table that can store tools when not in use.

Today he created little toolboxes for the children and let them paint them. They loved it!

Talia chose red.

Elias chose blue.

They also helped me make Valentines's Day surprises for Ben today. One was all of these hearts to hang in the room to surprise him when he got home from getting supplies.

Then we made him a favorite dessert: apple crisp. Elias was in charge of mixing the apples and spices, Talia made the topping and Ezra supervised... Everyone enjoyed it!

May your weekend be filled with love also.

Los Cabos Half Marathon

This morning was crazy. We were going to meet at 7, Ben had to be there at 6:30. He left and I tried to get everyone ready. I fixed Talia's hair and got Ezra ready while Elias had a meltdown. His meltdown continued while a co-worker called to ask for her things and as we had to run to the plaza. I ended up having to carry him while Talia carried Ezra. My co-worker grabbed her number and ran in the 5k. I was late so instead of running in my 5k I ran with my students in theirs. This was the first enjoyable part of the morning.

I was proud of Talia; she made it to the end without stopping!

I like running with her! I hope we get many more kilometers in together in the future.

(But with a less stressful morning, please!)

Paying for the Rosca

Christmas is celebrated in Mexico with a variety of different slants: some of my students believed in Santa, some did not (try being the one they go to to settle that argument) and some waited until the Day of the Kings; or Dia de Los Reyes to get gifts. (Some received gifts BOTH times.) this celebration of the wise men arriving to see baby Jesus is traditionally accompanied with rosca, or king cake. Inside the cake are little figurines of the baby Jesus, and if you get one, you (here) are responsible for bringing tamales the 2nd of February.

Of course, I got one. The owner of the school took care of the tamales so instead I made cinnamon rolls. 75-80 of them. I filled the original rosca container- it seemed fitting, and was big enough to transport them covered.

Ben ALSO got a figurine and his job was to bring champurrada, or hot chocolate. Elias helped him with it this morning:

Out of the 75-80 I brought, only 7 made it back home. It was a fun experience!