great news. i meant to speak english today, but i spoke spanish instead! that means my brain is thinking in spanish first. well, once in awhile, at least.

today was awesome. we weren't going to have school - no one does on independence day, but i asked chuy if we could have a shorter day and make flags. there was a big parade with students in the morning, but it was too far away and too early for us to load everyone up and go to. so instead, we had our own parade! i found a story about the history of mexico so chuy read a little bit of that and then we talked about what we were actually celebrating (omar thought we were celebrating making flags. kind of...) we had three different flag stations - the kids could cut out a flag, paint a flag, or color a flag. then we walked to ted and renie's house, down the street, shouting viva mexico! and cheering. it was awesome. the kids had so much fun. this is what i wish school could be like everyday and hopefully will be...interactive, exciting, engaging, and purposeful.

in the afternoon i made flags with the kids in the big house and taped them to their wheelchairs. it didn't go quite as well as with the kids in school. ramon tried to eat his flag, jaime threw his on the floor, and victor crumpled his up because it was bothering him. sonia, ely, and chely loved their flags, though! i put chely's in her seatbelt and she still had it when we went to dinner. i went to feed her and her flag was in the way - she thought it was hilarious. i love when those girls laugh. at first it's scary because it sounds like they're screaming...but it's their laughs :)

orchidia made fish tacos for dinner tonight. oh boy were they delicious. the kids loved the fish.