UN Day and Cascarones

Last week was another dress up day, but only for one of the 3-year-old classes.  Nuts.  I´m starting to consider sending Joey next year.  

They celebrated the United Nations, and those that dressed up, all represented different countries from all over the world.  My friend´s son, below, did a very handsome job of representing Germany!  (And flag-fighting with the Uruguayan and Panamanian boys.) 

 There was cuteness overload. It was fantastic.  However,  as it wasn´t my kids being cute and wearing costumes, I didn´t feel at liberty to take too many pictures of strange children.  Particularly with the purposes of posting said pictures on the internet. 

 After the UN honors, the PTA sponsored a kermess--lunch at a variety of booths selling snacky, lunch things (corn on a cob, burritos, chicharones, cake, tostadas, etc.)  And they sold the cascarones.  One of Clara´s first homework assignments.  They were intended for the kermess to celebrate Independence Day.  It rained on the 17th.  So the cascarones were packed away until . . . last week! 

What is a cascaron?  Egg shells.  Stuffed with confetti.  Or flour (but that just seems mean).   

 Lucky for you all, I documented the process of making one.  Or five. 




 





What does one do with a cascaron?  Unsurprisingly, you smash them on top of you friends´ heads.  However, as my very careful children spent quite some time observing, the preferred method of breaking cascarones among the preschool set it to launch them in the air and then gleefully enjoy the crash as they smash on the concrete.  Joey was OK with that.  He even made it one step simpler by smashing his cascaron on the concrete.  (And the living room floor as soon as we got home, as one of the teachers took pity on him as he was sad to leave the school and gave him ANOTHER cascaron.  Awesome.)   



Playing with the confetti is also super-fun. 

It´s the Little Things

Today is that point of the week where I´m starting to feel a little overwhelmed. 

But then I take a look at that grocery list. 

That is the awesomest grocery list.

Ever.

Notes on a Kid-Sized Guyabera

Sometime this year, my mother-in-law came back from Cancun with a beautiful, pint-sized guyabera shirt for Joey.  Gorgeous.  What to make the boy wear to Uncle Dan´s wedding?  Solved.

Guyaberas are traditional dress shirts for men from coastal areas and elsewhere in the Carribean.  I believe Raul Castro is seen wearing them often.  They´re not meant to be tucked in and made out of linen or cotton to make them extra cool.  Literally--not as in ¨cool¨--like I said, they´re worn in very hot and humid places.   They´re elaborately embroidered and tucked, a real work of art.   I was rather thrilled that Joey has the opportunity to look so dapper at such a young age. 

And apparently the child size 4 shirts are made every bit as authentically as the adult sizes.  When washing Joey´s, I was intrigued that the teeny-tiny pocket actually had a pocket sewn into it.  Not just a mock pocket, as is the case in so many toddler clothes.     

A very long, skinny pocket.  What the heck?  Why is this pocket so long and skinny? 

Of course.  For tucking one´s cigars into one´s guyabera. 

In a child´s size 4 guyabera. 

Can´t say it´s not authentic!

Just to prove how handsome he was in his cigarless guyabera.