Another B-Day!

We had another birthday kiddo around here today. Miss N is now 4 years old!

 

Here she is outside doing what is probably her most favorite thing, to swing and sing.

 

 

The cake

 

"It's finally my turn to be sung to and blow out the candles!"

 

She was so fast I didn't even get a picture of her blowing them out. She seems rather satisfied with her work here.

 

Miss N gets the first piece.

 

Little Miss A "winks" at me.

(Don't judge us about the runny noses. They all have them and it's impossible to keep them all wiped.  : )

 

Miss R completely enjoys her food no matter what it is!

 

Little Miss L having her piece.

 

"Could you hurry up with the picture already, Ate Mindi. I'm late for my sugar coma."

 

Mr. J's favorite pose.

 

Miss J

(I know, we have a lot of J's around here!)

 

We also had balloons to play with outside but my camera battery was low and I had to prioritize what I took pictures of.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS N!!!!!

 

 



The Green Thing

Lately I've been upstairs with the babies and toddlers. Sometimes they get bored with the same toys every day so we keep some in hiding for times like this. Today we pulled out the caterpillar tunnel to surprise the toddlers.

 

 

We only had 2 toddlers upstairs today who were awake at the time.

Mr. R is the first to check it out.

 

"WOW"

 

"Get a load of this green thing B Man!"

 

"See what happens when I lay down and roll?"

 

"HI Ate Mindi!!!"

 

Can you tell who enjoyed it the most?



Puerto Galera

Over the weekend I was privileged to be able to go to Puerto Galera with several of the other staff members. We had beautiful weather for our time there. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Here was the cabin I shared with A.

 

 

Our "separate" beds.

 

Our functional bathroom.

 

The best part of the cabin, in my opinion, was the hot shower! I have so missed having hot water! 

 

The view from our cabin porch.

 

Sunset

 

The was a great place to hang out and fellowship with everyone. There was a table in here so we could play games or have a place to set our cups while we visited.

 

Mr. R having some chips.

 

J and A enjoying the shade on the beach.

 

The mountains in the back ground are from a different island than the one we are on.

 

 

Miss J got to come along as well. What a pretty smile!

 

Miss J dumping water over her own head.

 

Mr. R keeping the water out of his eyes while a wave hits shore. The waves are almost nonexistent here as the island is protected by other islands so the only waves that really amounted to anything were from passing boats.

 

 

Heavy buckets require helping hands.

 

Mr. R's turn for a dousing.

 

The beach was nice with soft sand but when you got down to the shore it was lined with rocks that the tide brings in. Once you got into the water you had to go out anywhere from 5 to 10 feet or more before getting past the rocks.

 

 

How can someone pouring water over your head make you so happy??

 

The chair I like.

 

I really was there but I was always behind the camera.

 

 Oh, and just so you know, I have a new nickname. It's the Great White Shark... do you get it? I'm very white and especially so when in a swimsuit, in the sun, next to a Filipino with beautiful brown skin. Mr. R was calling someone else a humpback whale just to be silly and so I searched my mind for something from the ocean that is white and the Great White Shark was the first thing that I thought of. When I told Mr. R what I was and that I was going to get him he didn't think anything about it until he told me that the human was much faster than the Great White Shark. Then he suddenly stopped and laughed as he realized I called myself the Great White Shark because I was white. It was SOOO funny when he caught the joke, he just laughed and laughed. Later Miss J was sitting with me on the shore and was just staring at my legs. Then she said, "You are very white. Why are you so white?" I told her, "Because that is how God made me. Why are you brown?" and she responded with, "Because that is how God made me." Then we talked about how nice it was for God to make us all different. =)

 

On our way down the shore for lunch.

 

My view from the table while eating. (At least until some guys finished eating and stood right in the way. Or the other guys who took a swim without their shirts, who really should have left them on. I did not need to see that!)

 

Our walk back to the cabin.

 

A look back at the rocks we had just climbed over.

 

Until next time, Puerto Galera!



My Day In Pictures

The last two days I have had morning duty with the babies, although it starts out with all the children together. First on the agenda is breakfast, which I have no pictures of because every hand is busy feeding children. Second on the agenda is shower/bath time for all the kids, once again no pictures due to busyness of everyone and also due to all the naked jaybirds running around. (No way to get an appropriate picture.)

 

Little Miss L says, "I'm good to go, Ate Mindi!"

 

 

After breakfast, bath and dressing the kids play for a bit before the bigger kids line up to go downstairs. The last two days they have gone for a walk before going to school time. While they are lined up waiting to go downstairs the bigger kids get their vitamins. They are so excited because I brought gummy vitamins with me and they think they are like candy! (Thank you Sondra!!!)

 

Here is Miss A showing me her vitamin.

 

Miss R needs a turn, although I never actually saw it as it was held tightly in her hot little hand.

 

Little Miss W needed to show me her vitamin also. Before I came with the gummy vitamins they were getting liquid vitamins. (Poor kiddos! Liquid vitamins are yucky!)

 

Little Miss L is not big enough for gummy vitamins yet so she still gets the liquid stuff but she takes it without too much trouble.

 

After vitamin time they left for their walk but they can only have 5 children per 1 adult while on a walk so some had to stay back with the babies. We worked on puzzles today during that time.

 

 

Miss R is pretty good at these.

 

The B man and Little Miss J were working together... or it could have been that Miss J was taking the B Man's puzzle pieces. I'll let you be the judge of that one. :p

 

 

Mr. R works on his own puzzle. He was very serious about it and did a great job with just a little help every now and then.

 

Baby S gave advice from the sidelines.

 

The J Boy tried out the swing again to make sure it still works today. It does!

 

 

Then, after the bigger kids got back from their walk and the big kids who stayed with the babies went down stairs, we pulled out the special pop up tent for the boys to play in.

 

Can you tell how Mr. R feels about it? Probably not, he is so shy. =)

 

Mr. D chose to relax under the stars ceiling fan.

 

The B man and Mr. R.

 

Mr. D

 

Can you see what Mr. R is about to do?

 

Finally Ate Mindi was done (notice I said nothing about the boys being done) so we headed to the table for some drawing time. Mr. D and Mr. R headed downstairs with the bigger kids so it was the B Man and J Boy coloring with me. I think it was the first time for both of them.  

 

Look at the excitement on his face!

 

 

"Are you sure this is ok Ate Mindi?"

 

The J Boy's turn.

 

He didn't do much coloring this time because he mostly wanted to eat the colored pencils. Ate Mindi just kept helping him make his mark on the paper.

 

While we were upstairs the bigger kids were done with school time and were playing outside.

 

Mr. D noticed me taking pictures out the window and thought it was funny.

 

Baby J is not quite ready to walk on her own but she loves it when someone will help her.

 

"Hey! Someone is tickling me!"

 

Baby C is awake and ready for Ate Mindi to pick him up.

 

He makes the funniest faces and gives the best smiles when it's time to get him out of bed!

 

Sweet Baby S likes to play with her hands.

 

A rare smile was bestowed upon me while the camera was on! She smiles a lot but as soon as the camera comes out she usually stops.

 

The big kids come back upstairs for naptime. After nap they spend some time with the babies again until they go downstairs for snack time.

 

Miss R was giving Baby S some advice about taking care of your toes. Baby S paid very close attention!

 

Bigger Miss J helps Little Miss J to stand up.

 

Miss A says, "See you later!"