Decade

 
My Gavin turned 10!  A whole decade!  Two hands full of fingers old!  This sweet boy's birthday fell on the first day of Christmas vacation, so I sent in some cupcakes with him to school for an early celebration.

With his good friend Om. (Nestor and Jaelyn in the background.)

With a bunch of little cuties!

We were going to go to Smaaash for his birthday, as he had been with Om before and wanted to go again.  However, after looking at their website it looked too mature for our littlest kids.  We gave Gavin a few more options and he chose to go to Orama again instead.

Up

Up

And

Away!

Noé and Kaleb were too big to fly,

but not to fall!

All 6 of my kiddos ready to play Leap Frog.

Where's Ali?  I see her feet!

Big smiles, well except the birthday boy felt a little intimidated.

Lunch at McDonald's.

Silly faces!

Our Santa Baby has such a kind heart.

He's also a clever little elf.

And a playful little reindeer.

Time for presents.

Hooray!  Remote control transformer car, mini-Porsche, and indoor boomerang.

(While I was baking Gavin's cake, Leonard gave all of our boys haircuts.)

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday Dear Gavin!

Make a wish...

...I hope it comes true!

The last of the colorful cakes this year.  His was green and lime flavored.

My birthday's in August, so I've swam a few times on my birthday.  Gavin's birthday's in December, so this year was the first time we swam on his birthday!

We swam for a good hour, then the little ones were ready for a rest.

Never too tired for a smile...

...or a cuddle!

These 3 never want to get out of the water.

Happy Birthday Gavin!  We love you so much!

Hiram's Name

Hiram came home from school with this cute piece of art he made with some glitter and glue.

I liked what was on the back even more.  It's the first time I've seen his name written by him!  I love that his 'a' is backwards and his 'm' has 3 humps.  Good job Hiram!

Fab India

We went on a shopping spree to Fab India to get us all decked out in traditional Indian clothing.  Len and I needed clothing for the wedding we went to, and the whole family needed some for our branch Christmas party.

I love these colorful kiddos!

They love to make silly faces!

Now I need to find a drycleaner to care for all of this silk, ugh!

Pune

Len went on a road-trip to Pune for a couple of days for work.  He said the terrain reminded him of Montana, Idaho, and California- where they filmed MASH.

His view south from the 20th floor of his hotel.

A band of Afghani musicians.  The restaurant on the roof had an Afghanistan-inspired menu, and complimented it with this band.  He said it was a nice touch.

The oldest and still functional movie studio in Asia.  Built in 1923, it was also the largest in Asia for almost 30 years.  Now it's a part of the Television and Film Institute, India's premier film school.

The Law College; India's third oldest law school.  Repository of one of the five original handwritten copies of the Indian Constitution.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but he said it's actually a nice Art Deco style building from 1924.

He visited classrooms of the Mann Deshi Foundation that helps young women learn skills to earn work to provide for their families.  This class was learning about health and hygiene and that the girls should eat as much food as their brothers do.

He really enjoyed visiting with them.

They enjoyed visiting with him too and wanted a picture with him.  He's the head floating above the sea of beautiful young ladies, ha ha! 

He saw these flowers and had to take a picture of them for me.  He knows me well!

He was really impressed with their ingenuity...

...they converted an old bus into another classroom.  In the back were tables with sewing machines where girls pumped out many beautiful garments.

He told me the life stories of each of these girls.  One of them is the sole financial provider for her parents (who are both disabled) and siblings.  She wants to become a goat doctor to help her family's goats and other goats in her area.  Another girl who made the most of the group, 6,000 rupees a month (about $120 Canadian) makes women's apparel.  The girl who made the least a month (2,000 rupees) makes stuffed animals.  Hopefully, the additional skills they learn will help them provide better lives for themselves!

This is the home of the girl on the right in red and yellow.  It has a hard dirt floor and the ceiling is about 4 1/2 feet high, so no adult can stand up in it.  She lives there with her father and young sister.  She and her dad both work as day laborers, but she is also learning at the craft school to improve their circumstances.  Her little sister is still in elementary school.  

She had these chickens too.  Len knows I love them, so he took another picture for me.

So many times I feel like my life is so much better than I deserve.  Others work so much harder than I do and have so much less.  I want to be helpful to those less fortunate, but I know I can really do so little.  I need to find the starfish that I can help.