It Started With A Bang!

Not long after we met the neighbor kids they asked us when our birthday's were.  When I told them mine was in February I think they started planning that day on what they were going to do for me.  Many times when they were here they would tell me how many days it was until my birthday- weeks out.  They counted down the weeks and days and were sooo anxious for it to arrive.  They were planning with David about what they wanted to do, and whispered about it often while at our house.  By the time my birthday arrived I knew just about every detail.  I overheard something about being dunked in the pila and having cake smushed in my face but luckily those things did not take place.  :-)  They did, however, show up at our house at 4:30 a.m. shooting fireworks and playing some really loud music (they had asked David to run an extension cord outside for it).  They were supposed to be here at 4.  They put the song on repeat and played it over and over the whole time they were here.  I know the other neighbors appreciated that, ha.   

After asking around I found out that it is custom to invite them into your home and offer them sweet bread with either hot chocolate or coffee.  I had bought plenty of sweet bread in Coban to serve them.  I was expecting only the kids but their grandmother, mothers, and aunts also joined them.  It was a fun bunch of visitors!

a few of our early morning guests

they all hugged me and told me "happy birthday"

me making them hot chocolate

they stayed around 30 minutes.  this is a few of us before they left. 

For lunch we ate at a local coffee shop- the Oasis.  We had hot dogs and nachos.

my birthday roses

the wooden fruit David bought me

After school the kids came back over to visit some more.  I made cupcakes for them and they sang to me.

my birthday cake

the kids singing. 

Here, after the song, they clap and count up to the number of years you are.  They kept counting, and counting, and counting...  They could not believe how old I was.  They then talked about the ages of their mothers and how much younger they were.  Made me feel great! haha

I ate dinner on this plate I brought from the States.  We will use it for special occasions.

This is a photo of the tamales that another neighbor family brought me for dinner.  They were very good!

It was a fun day, filled with fun people.  We spent the rest of the weekend celebrating as a family.  I'll post about that another day.