valentine's day

A few weeks ago we celebrated El Día de Amor y Amistad (Love & Friendship Day) or, as we gringos call it, Valentine's Day. In El Salvador the focus of this holiday is just as much on demonstrating appreciation for friends as it is a day for romantic love, and since Salvadorans love any excuse to have extravagant celebrations, each child had to bring a snack and a regalito (little present) to school for class parties and gift exchanges.

Anne, Jodi and I showed our love for the kids by staying up WAY past our bedtime making breakfast and decorating the kitchen.

Anne's a mean, lean, batter mixing machine

while we cooked, we watched one of my favorite chick flicks - do you recognize it?

hanging with this girl is never dull :)

On Valentine's morning we woke up SUPER early to serve the extra special, made-with-love, waffles to the kids (breakfast is at 5:30 a.m. and the school bus leaves at 6:00 a.m.).

Unfortunately, we forgot to gauge our syrup supply before we made the waffles; there was only enough syrup for about three kids. But no worries - they also like waffles with peanut butter!

We were originally going to make heart-shaped pancakes, but decided it would be too much work. We did, however make heart-shaped Rice Krispies treats for snacks and heart-shaped cakes for dessert.

cute and delicious

we may have had a little accident with the chocolate cake...it may have overflowed the pan...

but it all turned out just fine, in the end!

Anne, Jodi and I weren't going to be home to make lunch, so we talked our sweet, patient cook and tías into using a heart-shaped cookie cutter on the sandwiches. Such troopers!

When we were driving in the city, I pulled over to side of the road (in heavy traffic...a pure Salvadoran move) and bought a dozen roses from a street vendor. I gave one to each of our girls, the cook, Rachel and Kelly.

The Valentine's Day festivities continued a few days later when we cooked a Friday night lasagna dinner, complete with salad and pan francés sprinkled with garlic salt.

everyone was home for this special family dinner :)

I love how every one of them is trying to avoid the camera

After eating, the kids participated in a scavenger hunt. The boys, led by Jodi, formed one group, and the girls, led by Anne, another. Both groups began in the kitchen. The girls’ first clue led them to the roof, and the subsequent nine clues led them down, a floor at a time, until they reached the empty volunteer rooms at the back of the house.

some of the girl's clues

The boys’ clues followed the opposite route, starting downstairs and ending upstairs.

boys' clues

The girls buzzed with intensity from the start. They spread out, combing the roof and terrace for clues. When they found and decoded one, they emitted ear-splitting, high-pitched screams as they tore through the house, searching for the next clue.

The boys were a little slower on the uptake. Not that they weren’t interested; they just struggled a bit when with their first few clues. While they were standing on the stairs trying to decode their fourth clue, 

the girls, located on the level above the boys, discovered their fifth clue and decided their next move was to go down to the little girls’ room. They ran down the stairs, screaming like banshee, almost trampling the stunned boys.

After that the boys, having caught the girls’ contagious energy, started moving faster, and both groups discovered their treasure – bags of candy – at the same time.

 It was a fabulously fun Valentine's Day!