My 8th Birthday

On January 18, 2011, it was my birthday. I turned 8 years old! It was a Hello Kitty party. I invited 30 children to my party, all my friends from church. Mommy made a Hello Kitty cake. She made it with cupcakes all around, and a little wafer cookie house and fence on top of the cake. It had a little Hello Kitty doll in front of the house. I loved it!

We played a ton of games outside. And we had a lot of fun!























Then we did the Pinata...it was a Hello Kitty Pinata, as tall as me! I got a lot of candy when it broke.












I also got a lot of presents. My favorite was my Jessie from Toy Story outfit.

It was a great day!

Michaela

Diego Danger Daniel

On January 6, it was Kings' Day. Kings' Day is really "Dia de los Reyes Magos". In some countries, kids put out their shoes with hay and water for the camels of the Three Kings. In the morning, they find presents in their shoes! So we put our shoes out. And in the morning, we found gifts, books and a Hello Kitty doll, and a new 3-D Toy Story shirt for Joshua.

Then Mommy came back from running and said there was one more present outside. We went outside and Mommy said to look in a box. And we looked and there was a tiny little puppy. He was SOOO cute. He's only a few weeks old. Jonathan kept wanting to grab him.

We looked for dog names on the computer. We found some funny names! We chose the name Diego Danger Daniel. We named him Diego after Dora's cousin because he likes animals, and because it's a good spanish and english name. We named him Danger because he's going to be a guard dog, because he's little now but he's going to be huge like a real guard dog. He's a German Shepherd.  Our cousin Aidan is also named Aidan Danger. We named him Daniel because he has to have a Bible name.

We like our puppy!

Joshua and Michaela

Our Cousins Visit

After Grandma and Grandpa left, our cousins came to visit. They are not REALLY our cousins...they are our Daddy's cousins! Their Daddy is our Grandma's little brother. His name is Uncle Norman. His wife's name is Aunt Kristin. And their children are Ava Lauren and Kristanna. Ava Lauren is really tall, but she's only 4 years old (almost 5) and Kristanna is 6 years old.

They came to Honduras on a Maranatha trip for families. They spent some days building something somewhere else in Honduras, and then they came to visit us. We had a lot of fun!

Joshua and Michaela

The Zoo

One day, with Grandma and Grandpa, we went to the Zoo. The Zoo was kind of fun. It was a bit messy, not like the zoos in America. It had some animals, most of which live in Honduras, like owls, snakes, monkeys, deer, and even a jaguar. 

That's when Jonathan learned to say his first word other than Mama and Dada and Papa and Baba, and Mas which means more in Spanish. We were looking at the jaguar when Jonathan said “Cat.” We had never taught him that, so we thought maybe he didn't really know the word. But when we got back home, Jonathan saw our cat, and he said “Cat” (like this “Cah”) and he kept on saying it, every time he saw our cat, even when we gave him a toy cat. That's still his favorite word.

I would like to go back to the zoo again some day, even if it's not the most beautiful Zoo.

Michaela, Joshua, and Jonathan

Grandma and Grandpa visit!

One day, Grandma and Grandpa came. They are Daddy's parents. They have never been to Honduras before. They came to stay with us for two weeks, starting December 14. When they came, we had a fun time. We had already moved into our house, so they got to stay with us. Our attic wasn't really ready yet, because the men from the hospital were still painting it and fixing the floor.

Grandma told me Little House on the Prairie stories. She knows a lot of them. And Grandpa cuddled with Joshua on the couch every night until Joshua would fall asleep. We had a very fun time! Jonathan was 8 months old, and he was already crawling. They helped to watch us when Mommy and Daddy were busy.

I love Grandma and Grandpa! I hope they will visit again some time.

Michaela

The Christmas Program

We had started a choir and we were going to have a program with the choir for Christmas. Joshua and I were both in the choir. We practiced every Saturday afternoon, but at the end we practiced every Friday, Saturday and Sunday to get ready. We had learned nice songs, all in Spanish. I loved them! The program was about Jesus, we were acting the story of Jesus. Joshua and I were angels, in the angel choir. We didn't have any real animals but we had a real baby Jesus, he is the brother of one my friends, who was only 2 months old. People kept saying we should use Jonathan, but he is really big! He would start crying and try to crawl off the manger.

At the end of the program, I sang a song all by myself. It was called “Mary, did you know?” but in Spanish it's “Tu Sabias Que.”

Mommy made a background picture for the program. It was humungous! Mommy paints really good, better than any other painting I ever saw!

I think people enjoyed the program. I did too.

Michaela

Christmas Day

After waiting for so long, Christmas finally came! Grandma and Grandpa were still here, and we were having a fun time with them. We put up a Christmas tree with lights. And I have this Barbie with wings, and since we didn't have a star for the tree, we thought we could make a dress for her to use as an Angel. It turned out very beautiful! 

I got a ton of presents! Grandma gave me a pretty Hello Kitty purse, and Grandpa gave me a new electronical toothbrush, and they gave me a lot of other things, too. I got cowgirl clothes and costumes, and a little play kitchen that goes up to my waist, all with food and stuff to play. We had macaroni and cheese and hot dogs for lunch, my very favorite food!

It was a Merry Christmas!

Michaela