School Days and Birthdays

We have had some big milestones these past few weeks.  I love milestones and I love celebrating - especially celebrating my husband.  Why?  Because he was never been celebrated much  growing up so he appreciates it so much more and that makes it so much more fun for me.

When Ivan first arrived to the U.S. we headed over to the community college to sign him up for English classes right away.  I wanted him to have something to do and thought that learning just a little bit of English would help him adjust better to the U.S.  It's never fun not knowing the language and not being able to communicate with anyone (except your wife).  So, he dutifully attended all the classes, did all his homework, and learned as much as he could in a free twice-a-week class.  When summer rolled around we decided to take a break from classes because they aren't free in the summer (and cost over $200).  Hubs thought that I could tutor him since I was tutoring people at the library already - why couldn't I tutor my own husband.  Good point, hubs, good point.

Well, I can tell you, that did not work out so well.  I am a busy girl!  I was tired by the time I got home from work and the last thing I wanted to do was sit down for two hours and teach my husband English.  Twice a week.  I think I did it two or three times but after that I just couldn't work up the energy.  So English took to the way side.  He kept learning because he was interacting with people all the time, but it takes TIME to learn another language.  However, I was adamant that I wasn't going to force another class on him.  Although I could hear judgment in people's voices ("He's not taking English classes? Doesn't he want to learn English?  How's he going to get a good job?" - yeah, people are very judgmental even when they don't think they are), I wanted him to want to take an English class.

Then one day (a year and a half later) we were sitting around and he said, "I think I want to sign up for another English class." Woo-hoo!!!!  I took him to register the next day - before he changed his mind.  It was quite an exciting moment for him because his English had improved so much that he skipped a level.  To a boy who was never encouraged and was never told he was smart or intelligent, skipping a level is BIG NEWS.  He was thrilled.

And so, this fall both of us headed off to school again (him to English and me to A&P).  I felt like I should take a picture of his first day of school, since that is what my mother did to me all the time.

And boy does he look excited! Take a look at the huge frown on his face....

This week he also had a birthday.  So, of course, I threw him a big birthday party manly BBQ and invited a bunch of his friends.  I tried to invite all of my friends too, but he told me it wasn't my party.  Boo.

I spent all weekend cooking food and it turned out GREAT.  My sister made cupcakes into the Honduran flag, which was super cool.  I made a bunch of recipes from my Grandma's cookbook for some reason.  The BBQ was reminiscent of a 1970s party - complete with a jello mold with ambrosia salad in the middle, potato salad, yummy fruit dip (cream cheese, marshmallow fluff, and orange juice = pure bliss), black bean salad (from Gina's Skinny Recipes - her blog is wonderful and this was amazing!), BBQ ribs, chicken kabobs, and 7-layer dip.  Everyone raved about the food which made me especially happy.  Although I sacrificed many study hours to cook everything, I was thrilled that there were hardly any left-overs. 

Plus, hubs got lots of wonderful gifts and had a GREAT time hanging out with everyone.  It was truly a great party.  It also cost an arm and a leg so I'm not so sure we'll do another one next year.  Or maybe we'll skip the super expensive ribs!

Happy Birthday Amor!!!