Tamales!

We spent the weekend helping out at the children's homes because one set of house parents was out of town.  We played with the kids, helped to prepare meals, and practiced our Spanish.



In the other house, the "tios" (aunts/uncles - what they call the house parents) were making the traditional Costa Rican Christmas cuisine: tamales.  If you've never seen one, it's a whole bunch of comida rica (like maiz, garbanzo beans, green beans, carrots, pork, etc.) beautifully wrapped up into banana leaves, tied off, and then boiled in a pot over a fire for two hours.  It takes hours of prep work and we were just lucky enough to witness the preparation and even luckier to eat one later.  These are truly a work of art!

Emilia cleaning the banana leaves and Kerby trimming them.

Inside the tamale

Wrapped and ready to be cooked.  Like little presents.

Los ninos.

Kate enjoying being pushed in el carrito.

Lovin' the computer - even the baby!

Kate taking a turn pushing Caia.

Joe's curls - that's where Kate gets hers from!

Crazy, big hair.  Time for a haircut.

 

 

 

In other news: We've been having "concerts" lately at home.  Kate says, "I wanna dance!"  We say, "What kind of dancing/music?"  She says, "Dirty Dancing!"... because we've been rockin' out to the awesome Dirty Dancing soundtrack lately.  We sport headbands and use maracas for mics.  Oh, bring on the memories of my childhood when my cousins and I would sing our hearts out to Wilson Philips' "Hold On" using our hairbrushes as microphones.  Like mother, like daughter I guess...

Kate singing her heart out.

Just look at her face!

Underwear on the cabeza is a new trend around here.  Especially during breakfast.