Dia Del Nino 2014

October 1 is "Dia Del Nino" (Kid's Day) in Guatemala.  It's a day of the year set aside to celebrate the kids.  The day is filled with parties, pinatas, cake, presents, and surprises.  It is a lot of fun for all the children (and can be for the parents too, ha). Here is how we celebrated this year-

I made this banner last year to start using as part of my decorations on this day.  I also use streamers and balloons.  It was simple but festive.  Because our house is built around an open, covered sidewalk it makes it easy to decorate for holidays.

I hung these balloons and streamers on the boys door to find when they got up that morning.

I also sat out the crowns they made and put a little surprise inside.  I had them each a Hot Wheels car and some new markers (that Cruz specifically asked for).  They also got some new Playdough but I gave that to them early.

Here they are after they woke up that morning.  They immediately asked for white paper to draw with their new markers.  I let them do that while I prepared breakfast.

We had banana pancakes for breakfast.  I made theirs in the shape of the letter of their name.  I added whipped cream and sprinkles.  My boys LOVE sprinkles!  I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out their watermelon.  It was the first time I tried that and I loved it.  I'll be doing that again.

They were quite impressed and squealed when they saw their plates. 

I made this new banner to hang in the kitchen.  Isn't it cheery!  I also hung a few balloons and streamers.  Ben climbed into his chair and just put his head into his plate and started eating.  I guess there's no utensils necessary for a fun breakfast like this, huh. 

my precious boys

Cruz had school that morning.  They had a fun day planned for the kids.  They even planned to stay an hour later to have plenty of time to celebrate.  David went a little early to get him so he could hang out, take a few pictures, and watch Cruz play.  They had games, lots of food, cake, and a pinata.

on this game you had to throw a water balloon into the lions mouth

here's Cruz throwing his water balloon

hitting the pinata

You think he had a fun day celebrating at school???  From the looks of that smile I'd say so!

When they got up from their naps I had this cake waiting for them.  It was our afternoon snack.

Checking out their cake.  Of course they wanted to pull all of the M&M's off first and eat them.

After that we drove into town for their evening surprise.  Cruz has wanted to go back bowling ever since we went last month.  We thought it would be a fun activity on this day so we made plans to return.  They were tickled!

The sign outside of the bowling alley advertising "Kid's Day".

Suckers were handed out when we entered the door.  If there is one thing my boys love it's suckers!

Here are the boys using the metal ramp to bowl.  This is such a fun device for the kids.

And as you can see it helped their score tremendously!

So what did they do when it was not their turn to bowl?  Well, they did what they always do-  they DANCED!

As a disclaimer:  I have no idea why they kept pulling their shirts up.  I assure you we do not do that in our home, ha. 

these boys are super silly

The snack shop also gave all the kids a bowl of popcorn to eat while they bowled.  We added an order of fried cheese and had a great snack.

our family on a bowling outing to celebrate "Kid's Day" 2014

We ate at the Chinese restaurant for supper before returning back home.  What a fun day it turned out to be celebrating our boys.  There's not much I enjoy more than spending time with my little family.   We are blessed!