Baby Ximena

Just recently we acquired a new addition to the church family-- A beautiful little baby girl. Ximena. (Ximena is pronounced Hee-meh-na.) Little Ximena, with the big brown eyes.

We had a little party to celebrate her birth and just to have a good time with all of the ladies of the church. And we did have a good time! A good time with good food!

(Food not pictured ;P)

And of course no party is complete with out cake!

Coconut & strawberry cake with strawberry & coconut buttercream. The fresh strawberry frosting was amazing. I must say, I outdid myself. Hahahaa:))

Yes, no party is complete with out cake-- So when one is allergic to cake what does she do?

She makes little matching special gluten-free cupcakes!

I sure did feel like I was breaking rules eating this...!! 

Bethas being a good little helper :))

Ximena and her sister Nayeli.

After eating food, we played some baby shower games.

The clothes pin game....

Lordy this game might sound boring, but with the right people this game can get downright hilarious!

Sis. Mom started off to show the ladies how it was done.

The point of the game is to see how many clothes pins you can get in one hand, while you keep your other hand behind your back... Drop one, you lose.

This woman right here is one of my favorite ladies. Rocio is smart and she's hilarious.

(Read her story here.)

Momma's turn!

Can you believe, the woman with the smallest hands (not pictured) actually won! 14 pins in one hand.... Crazy... And guess who came in 2nd? Hehe meee :)) 13 pins... And boy was it painful! Haha.

Another game we played that involved a LOT of presents... Too much to explain, but we had fun!

Okay, okay, so we sat in a circle and Sis. Mom read a Bible story and each time the word "la" (feminine of "the") was mentioned, each lady had to pass their present to the left.

Hilarity did ensue.

Some ladies didn't want to lose their pretty package, and others just couldn't grasp the instructions of the game, which made for much laughter...

Cake time!

And, the beautiful layers inside.

Even though I knew what I had put into the cake, I was still so excited to cut a piece to see what it looked like!! It's like opening a present :)) Though there's always that thought in the back of my mind, "Did I take out the pieces of wax paper from in between the layers...?" LOL.

This is a cute little diaper wreath that Sis. Mom found on the internet and made! It turned out so cute!

 



Hermana Francis!

:)) I like a little cake with my frosting.

And, lastly, Momma and Ximena with the other women in the family.

There's not one boy in this family! Poor dad is always outnumbered. :))

Alejandra, Daniela, and Nayeli

Well. I'll just skip all the "I know this post is late, I'm so lame" speech... Hahaha.

I actually have a very good reason for why this post was not put up a few days ago--

Here's a hint:

Yup. Maybe some of you can guess what that means :))

I'm gone now! Either me or Beth will be on here very soon with more to say about the above picture, some Christmas pictures, and also a very special announcement!! Eeek!! We are so excited.....

Hope you all had a wonderful past few days...

*Nicole*

School Store!

Hello, hello, hello, and hello again!

Isn't it a bee-aa-uutiful day!!!

-Ricky McLean

Well that quote right there pretty much sums up how I'm feeling this morning! It is a beautiful day!

I'm on the 5th day of the school's winter break, and it's wonderful. (Yes, we still have a school! Hahaa.) And this post is to give a little update on it!

Here are just a few pictures of our boys doing school on Friday.

Arturo

 Nan

Sometimes, while dealing with this little guy's quirks (somewhere along the line he suffered a midlife crisis or something and got to thinking that he didn't have to go to the bathroom to do his business...) and with trying to think of different ways to teach something so that it will stick in his brain, I get a tad overwhelmed... but if I just sit back after mopping up his pee off the floor, and think about how far he's come, (because he really has improved a LOT!), I feel so much better. After 4 months of school, my little student can count to 20, write and say his alphabet, read 2-syllable words, do simple addition and subtraction, and his penmanship is improving.

There is hope hahaha. Ahi vamos poco a poco.

Moral of the story: Pull-ups are a teacher's lifesaver.

Alejandro

This boy is a hard worker and perfectionist.

Fabian

He is our little daydreamer. At any given time in the day, you can catch him slumped in his seat, staring off into the wild blue yonder dreaming about who knows what... Something much more interesting than his schoolwork, I'm sure. :)

All together now...

Since we use the sanctuary as the school during the week, every Friday we have to pack up everything... Beth and I dream of the day when at the end of a week of school, we can leave everything in it's designated place and leave with just locking up.

And this past Friday was a special Friday!! Last day of school before break and store day!! Every week, Pastor gives the boys a few verses to memorize and each Friday they say their verses. For every verse they memorize, they get a little bit of school cash! Sooo exciting! :)

Well, we let them accumulate their money (they also get money for good behaviour, getting a 100 on a test, and lose money for not handing in homework, or cheating on a test, etc...). After a couple of months of this, we set up the school store!! It is a very exciting day for the boys.

Here they are, with all their money out, counting to see who has what...

After we set the store up, they lined up at the door

And voila! :)) Nothing here that I'm especially attracted to, but hey, I'm a girl!

We had plenty of cars, guns, motorcycles, and action figures, and even a pair of handcuffs! 

I stationed myself at one end of the table to play cashier...

(Ummm, me? Me handling money?? Believe me, if it were real money, Beth would be handling it hahaha. I am not known for my skillZ in counting money! LOL :)))

And Bethany got herself a gun and made sure no one tried to shoplift any goods!

 Store day is pretty fun for me too.... I love seeing the boys' faces light up when they see all the toys!

And when little Eddy ran out of money, I saw him lean on his older brother Bryan, and look over his shoulder longingly at aaaallll the cool toys... Eddy whispers something to Bryan, and I hear him say "Ayyy ya no me alcanza para esoooo!!" "I don't have enough for that!!"

Eddy keeps us entertained :))

My little guy has yet to be inspired to learn his weekly verses, so sadly he was severely lacking in funds... LOL. His brothers had mercy on him though, and bought him some toys.. Which actually defeats the purpose of motivating him to learn his texts... But hey, I can't complain about kindness. ;P

And that, my dear readers, is all for today! Tune in later for more news with the Wakefields... We had a baby shower for a new little baby in our church, had a really fun party, and actually took a lot of pictures! So that will be up in the next few days.

(You know I'm jinxing myself when I say that there's a certain post coming up!!! Its like when a blogger says "I promise to be a good blogger from now on" ....and then suddenly you never see another post from them again! Hahaha.)

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

*Nicole*

The Embassy - A Little Piece of Home

On Monday, Dad and I went to Mexico City to renew my passport at the embassy.

Now, I love Mexico City, but I must clarify my love for it-- and express my hatred too! I hate the traffic (It's like rush hour in L.A. times 10), the police are corrupt as all get out, and of course I must keep up appearances and hold somewhat of a grudge against Mexico City, me being from Puebla, you know? :))

BUT--

We went in on a bus!! And that cuts out 99% of my reasons for not liking Mexico City. Like the corrupt police-- since we didn't go in our car, they didn't get to see our American licence plates and try to weasel money out of us or threaten to haul us off to jail for some half-baked reason or another... And the traffic? Who cares about traffic when you're half asleep in a comfy bus!

And about holding a grudge against the Chilangos (people from Mexico City).... I actually know quite a few of them very well and they aren't that bad!! Hahaha (Hola Tia!!!) :))

Noww here's what I looove about this part of downtown Mexico City...

All the greenery!! We had to walk from our bus stop through pathways covered by tall trees... It was absolutely wonderful.

And, just a few minutes later we arrived at the beloved Embassy of the United States of America.

#2 lovable thing about this area: There are so many marvelous people speaking marvelous English! :)) I love seeing groups of American men and women, dressed up in their suits, chatting away in perfect English... Yes, I eavesdropped here and there. Haha.

Business was finished up quite quickly at the embassy, and also went smoothly... Except for the obnoxious lady at the photo counter who didn't quite like the way I had my head positioned for my passport photo, and therefore felt the need to grab my forehead and and position my head the way she wanted it! I really felt like slapping her hand away, but I sat there like a good little photograph-ee, and kept my temper in check... By the way, the lady does the same. thing. every. single. time.

To every one of her victims. I've personally experienced her attitude twice, and seen it several times.

(You'd think I'd know how to hold my head by now...?)

Here's how the process goes:

Photog tells victim to take a seat in the chair in front of the white wall. Victim sits down in chair. Photog takes her time at her desk. *Note there is nothing on her desk.* Photog then makes her way over to where victim is sitting patiently. Photog looks at victim, steps back and squints for a while... Victim knows the drill and braces herself for the inevitable. Photog reaches out and grabs victim's forehead, tilts it this way and that way until she thinks she is satisfied, then steps back and squints. If she is pleased with the tilt, she then takes the awful picture. If not, the sequence of squinting and tilting is repeated.

After seeing the results of my pictures, I am now convinced that she purposefully tries to find the most unflattering way to tilt everyone's head.... And no, I'm not posting that up! LOL. :))

Sadly, I have no pictures to go along with the embassy stories, and turns out they don't allow Starbucks either, so there we stood in front of the gate and guzzled our drinks...

Such an awful way to drink my peppermint white chocolate mocha. Such a shame.

Here is Bro. Dad giving a tour of the city to his tablet. He had me laughing with out even trying-- and  people thought he was doing a newscast or something, staring over his shoulder, or slowing to hear him talk. :))

3rd thing I looove here... Skyscrapers!! Ahhhh :) Beautiful things.

 

We wandered around on Reforma until we came to this beautiful mall.

P.F. Changs is on the corner of this mall, and for their smoking area they have a glass platform suspended over a little pond type body of water that circles almost all the way around the restaurant... And it has no ledge. No little edging around it to let you know that solid ground is about to disappear. It meets up right with the level of the floor! So here hundreds of people are rushing by shopping, talking, not paying attention.... Just imagine if you were to add texting to the situation! Man! I really wanted to sit down and wait to see someone walk and fall right into the lake! Ahhhhhhh hilarious.

^Our dear Mexico has some wonderful little regulations in public places...this little guard sneaked up on my dad in the middle of one of his verbal "tours" to his tablet, to inform him of one of the rules^

-Rules like not being able to take pictures of the aforementioned waterway. In our malls and plazas there are security guards stationed everywhere, and if they even get the scent of a camara, they will come upon you like a swarm of bees, and tell you "No pictures." "Pictures aren't allowed."

Its at times like these that we act like we don't speak Spanish. Or, we ignore them. Or more often we stow away our camaras and/or phone until the guard is no longer looking, and then we sneakily take a picture of him and later blog about it and ridicule the no picture rule. Like now! Hahahaa :))))

My dad really dislikes being told that he can't take pictures, so he asked to speak to the guard's supervisor... We did talk to him, and according to them for my dad to legally take a picture of the water, I had to be in the picture.... So we asked him if I could get in the water :D

Ha. ha. ha. They thought that was reaaal funny. Actually they just gave us two crazy Americans a weak, pained smile... The guards here are way to serious.

The mall was all decorated for Christmas-- lights, wreaths, ribbons.... Very pretty.

After the embassy, the next order of business was to get Pastor's shoes shined! We wandered through the streets, and finally came across this guy's shoe shining stand.

Dad struck up a conversation with the shoe shiner. We found out that he is 75 and has been in this same location, shining shoes, for 45 years!!! Such a long time... And so surprising to hear him say he was 75! He sure was a talkative, spry little guy! 

We decided to wander around a bit more, and found a cute little street with a bunch of American fast food places and  restaurants! Burger King.... (Not so special-- We have this in Puebla, and believe you me, don't eat there unless you want a nice little case of dysentery, if you get my drift.)

^Maybe business is more hoppin' at this BK location, therefore keeping the food supply fresher haha^

And lo and behold, look what we found next! Wendy's!! We were amazed. Its so fun to discover new American places in Mexico...

Dear 7Eleven...

These are just a few of the American places-- Near here is also Yogurtland, P.F. Chang's, and a brand new Olive Garden-- and a few miles away there is a whole other mall with Coldstone Creamery and California Pizza Kitchen, among other places!

But amidst all the glorious restaurants, stores, and beautiful scenery, Mexico cannot trick you for long into thinking it is up to par in its cleanliness and such....

You will inevitably find a pile of trash in the middle of all the beauty, and your dreams of a clean Mexico will be dashed... Hahahaa :))

While wandering the streets of Mexico City, we also found this guy, leading a pack of dogs tied to his bike! So cute and funny. And a little weird. :)) But still cute!

I love to wander around anywhere in Mexico, and see the sights, and my dad and I had a good time seeing what we could see... But really, we were just killing time until the clock struck 12...

Whats so special about 12 you might ask?

Oh, that's just when P.F. Chang's opens!!! LOL.

This place is a major treat! I can't wait until one is opened up in Puebla!

Me and the horse :))

This P.F. Chang's has their horse inside, as opposed to it usually being outside.

I'm thinking it was a smart move to put it inside, so that it couldn't be decorated with graffiti!

After lunch, we walked around town, making our way towards where we had to wait for our bus to come pick us up...

This is the transportation of many people in this area... It's funny to see everyone --young guys, lawyers, women in their pantsuits, all types of people-- go zipping by on these things...

Beautiful!

And here we are at the bus stop! Guess how we know we're in the right spot?

Directly across the street from where we sit waiting, is the sign for the law firm of "Cushman & Wakefield"! Nice little personalized sign to help us make sure we're where we need to be! :)

So here we sat waiting for the bus... it could have been a very boring half hour if not for this guy that was layed out on the bench, next to us! He had something wrong with him... I could read my dad's mind every time he would look over at the guy.... I just knew he was dying to tell him about green smoothies, what vegetables and fruits to put in them, and any other tid bits of information that Dr. Wakefield could apply to the situation. :))) "Oh, chests pains? Here-- do this ______!" Hahaha.

However, Dr. Wakefield did not have to worry any longer-- a paramedic was called and soon came zooming in on the scene in his.... motorcycle...? :))

Yep, a motorcycle! Which in a way seems very innovative... but then again, kind of risky!!

Is this a Mexico thing, or does the U.S. have this too?

Well, thanks to Mr. High blood pressure, boredom was no where to be seen, and before we knew it, our bus pulled up and in we went....

And last but not least, cacahuates japoneses!

--a trip on the Estrella Roja bus would not be complete without these jawbreakers haha. :))

Well, that was our day in Mexico City! After a 4 or so hour long trip filled with lots of sleeping, we finally arrived back in Puebla!

Home sweet home.

*Nicole*