Brain-dump

I feel like I just had a catch-up spree and here I am all behind again. A condensed version of the last few days:

Friday- The kids were home from school for teacher prep day. We spent the morning cleaning and getting ready. Around lunch time I took them to run errands at Costco, after which we enjoyed a hot dog and shared a sundae. Some friends came over around 2 so we could sort through all of our socks and underwear for the orphanage. The pile of donations in my dining room began reasonably enough, but quickly overtook area. Friday evening, Kyle and I got as fancy shmancy as we know how and arrived at the kids' school for our Adults-only Christmas Posada. We were rediculously prompt, arriving at exactly 8 p.m. as directed by the invitation. Of course, we were the only couple there for the first hour or so (other than our American friends, the Hawkes) - and we were rewarded for our punctuality by being the ONLY persons kept waiting for 2 and a half hours until dinner was served. Yep, that's right; we didn't eat until 10:30 p.m. You've got to love this latin, laid-back way of life. I "won" by default our tables raffle for a beautiful pewter tray, candle, and some little colored beads that made it all look very festive. We got home around 12:30 and didn't make it to bed until 2 a.m. Somehow, I drew the short straw and had to get up with the kids in the morning. Which brings us to. . .

Saturday - I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I think I let Kyle sleep until about 8:45, then he took over the kids so I could meet my friends for a run. It ended up only being 2 of us, so we kicked it up a notch and finished in record time. I was back home by 10 ish to find Kyle asleep on the couch, Sully's diaper stinky, and the kids eating muffins on the carpet that I just cleaned and officially called a "no food zone." I don't blame him though, I was pretty tired myself. Somehow I convinced him that it would be fun to get dressed and run errands. We managed to drag ourselves and the kids to WalMArt so I could buy all the fruit for the orphanage project and pick up a few things for dinner. Shopping on Saturday in Mexico at Christmas time is total mayhem, but nobody went completely crazy and we made it out unscathed. We made some BBQ pork ribs for dinner. I give them a 6 out of 10. . . they were much better the next day as leftovers. ;)

Sunday - Stake conference helped us decide to use Sunday as a "free day." We were completely lazy all morning. I'm pretty sure I took a few naps and I read through Pride and Prejudice for the millionth time. We ate a really late lunch and got the kids to bed a little after 7. As soon as they were in bed, I started tackling the madness that awaited me.

I washed and soaked all the apples and pears for the orphanage. Kyle noticed that some of the bananas had already turned too slimy, so he picked out the good ones and I added bananas to my shopping list for the morning. I did a few loads of laundry so the kids would have clean uniforms. Why do I always save that for Sunday night?? I remembered that Guthrie is the "Child of the Week" at school this week, so I picked out his favorite toys to take to school on Monday. I poured all the juice bottles into our giant 5 gallon water bottles. At some point, we loaded everything for the orphanage into the car and shortly after, I fell asleep on the couch whiel I waited for laundry to be done.

Monday - This morning was slightly more hectic than last night, because I didn't have Kyle's help. I woke up before everyone and managed to shower and dress first thing. I boiled eggs and made hot cocoa and toast for the kids' breakfast while simultaneously making grilled cheese sandwhiches for their lunch. I had lunches packed, breakfast on the tables, and clothes set out before I woke up the kids; this definitely helped. They ate and dressed with relatively little fuss and somewhere in there I managed to blow-dry my hair and put on a little bit of makeup. We were out the door in record time (8:00 a.m.)

After I dropped them off at school, I ran to the store for plastic cups and a few more bananas and then headed for the orphanage, where I hoped a LOT of people were waiting to help me unload the car.

There were a few people there, and for a while I was disappointed at the turnout of volunteers. As soon as we had the table for breakfast set up, 5 more people walked in; and 10 minutes after, another 5 people showed up. I was pleasantly surprised to have so many of us to help out and it ended up being a LOT of fun. The most fun of all were the "Maternal" age group. They are ages 1-2.99;) The kids were just too quirky and funny about all of it. They all wanted bananas (which turned out to be good because most of the older kids wanted pears and apples.) Some of these kids are just gorgeous and it breaks your heart for all of them to be in this situation. I was encouraged to hear that Mexico has recently changed their laws and has actually made it easier for foreigners to adopt Mexican children, so if any of you have room in your houses and hearts - I'll pass the phone number of the orphanage on; just let me know. There really aren't any "babies", but they have plenty of kids from 1-16 years who are just amazing.

After we served breakfast, and left all the new underwear and socks with the director, we helped Shelley and her friends hang curtains and wall decorations in the boys' and girls' dormitories. Her mom sewed everything herself, and it was so fun to see the girls reaction to their new setup. I really think they were touched and excited about it.

I'll post some pictures later today. It was such an awesome experience. I'll admit that in the middle of preparations, I lost a little of the focus about *why* we were doing it. Now, I can see that any stress was totally worth the outcome.

Adeline and Kyle's birthday party is tomorrow, so this afternoon will be all about preparing for that. I'm actually really excited to see her face. This is her first "official" party, complete with guests, activities, and presents. I can't wait to share this experience with her.