Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Our Quinceañera

Modeling her favorite peanut bars! Clara's gift!
Our firstborn, Emily Jo, turned 15 this month. In Latin American culture turning 15 is a very big deal. Many spend their life fortune and have a party similar in size and pomp to a wedding. We asked Emily if she wanted a Latin American 15 year old birthday party, but she took one look at the dress she would have to wear and said "NO"! Those of you who know her I'm sure are not surprised. Instead we had a day long birthday bash... We started the morning in a traditional Booher fashion and had (some) gifts at a special breakfast! Tia Techy had breakfast with us in honor of Emily's birthday and brought her the first of her favorite gifts of the day... (you'll see what I mean later on!)
Opening Tia Techy's gift!
SIDE NOTE/STORY: Tia Techy left our house the afternoon before Emily's birthday and went into town to La Concha to search for a gift that she knew Emily wanted. About three hours later and after dark, Tia's sister called our house looking for her, about fifteen minutes later he husband called. While he was talking with Emily his cell phone died. We did not have his number to call him back, but we knew that he was worried about Tia and was looking for her also. Well those of you who know ME know that I was already planning a funeral... I know my family is laughing about this... I was worried sick. I figured that she had gone into town to find a gift for Emily and I felt horrible that she had gotten kidnapped or worse, all because of Emily's birthday. I figured that Javier had run out of credit and would not call us back and we did not have number to reach them. Tia always forgets, loses, or doesn't have her phone charged, so of course, she was unreachable, which is what had us all worried in the first place! At about 9 p.m. I told Rudi that he had to go out to Tia's house and make sure that she was home or I would not be able to sleep... (I know that my family is laughing at this too!) He took Emily with him to show him the way, as she had been to Tia's house twice before. When they got there a very apologetic Tia met him at the door. She was very sorry that she had worried us all so much. (I guess her mother-in-law was in tears about it! A kindred spirit!) She had gotten late shopping for Emily and going by her mothers house on the way home. He husband also was more than a little peeved that she had not taken the time to call... Tia is learning to be a better communicator... She has been more quick to call if she is late since then!!!! I was just super happy that she was okay!

Okay back to the party...
Here is the infamous gift that Tia was shopping for: A Cochabamba Futbol Team Shirt!
Egged
Another tradition in Bolivia is to "egg and flour" someone on their birthday. Clancy did the honors with the egg and Myles did the flour. They were supposed to wait and let us all gang up on her, but jumped the gun on us. Emily would not stand still long enough for a proper photo of the blessed event!!!
Floured
And for lunch we all went to our favorite pizza place, Cozzolisi!
Waiting for the amazing pizza
Vico and Elena, Volunteers Kaley, Anna, and Carlee joined us and gave Emily her second favorite gift of the day: A Cochabamba Futbol Team shirt!!! Great minds think alike and all that! It was super sweet of them to all go in on a gift for Emily! It also made our party special to have them all there to celebrate with us!
Emily, in her second team shirt of the day. The first was egged and floured!
After pizza we walked down to Frozz to enjoy some delicious birthday ice cream! From L.to R. in the picture above, Carlee, Kaley, Paula(back) Emily, Ruth, Anna, and Elena!
Baby Snooze Time! Abby and L.
A. and K. enjoying the party!
We opted to take all of our "casa kids" instead of dropping off the babies at House 1. L. has been sporting an eye infection for awhile now and we didn't want to share that around. They did great napping in their new strollers we had gotten them from La Concha!
"Aren't these shoes sweet"
After pizza and ice cream we worked it all (or some) off by going bowling! I loved the shoes they loaned Rudi! Finding shoes that fit his size 14 here in Bolivia has proven to be a bit of a treasure hunt.
We had lots of fun. It was Tia's first time bowling and she did great. And as it should be, Emily racked up the highest score of the day!!!
Myles securing the strollers for the ride home.
We all crammed back into the Happy Mobile for the ride home. (Vico, Elena, and Kaley went home before the rest of us went bowling.)
One side full!

Other side full!
Clancy, Paula, Ali, and I rode in the front with Rudi. It was cozy for sure! Another thing was that the latch that secures the back tire to the door, and thus making it so that the back doors do not spring open, broke right before departure. Anna who was closest to the door on that side was a little nervous. At one point Rudi stopped because the door was coming open and secured it with Myles' shoelace! It helped a little and when Anna would look worried I would assure her not to worry that the shoelace would keep the door shut... Maybe? We did arrive home all safely and the door is currently being repaired at the mechanics!
Emily with some more of her gifts!
Emily with 15 Candles on the Cake!
In the evening Jake, Jen, and Anna joined us for Enchiladas and Cake! We also had more gifts for Emily and Jake and Jen brought her another t-shirt that says "I love Cochabamba"! The paper flowers on the cake above were made for Emily by Myles and Clancy.
You can run......
Of course, Emily knew what was coming next...the "take a first bite" then "cake smash"! She tried to get away, but Jake caught up with her and gave her the traditional face plant!

But you can't hide....
At least she let me take a proper picture this time! It was a great day even if it didn't measure up to Latin American standards! Emily is growing into a sweet young lady and we are proud of her many accomplishments so far: Follower of Jesus, awesome musician, great friend, incredible big sister, accomplished diaper changer and bottle feeder, Spanish speaker, responsible overseer of the children, great baker, Ultimate frisbee player, barista, laundry master, and much more! We are excited to see what the next 15 years will be like, hopefully they do not go by as fast as this first 15. Something tells me that they will go by even FASTER! We love you, Emily!
"Ukelele Jo"


9 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Emily! Or is it "Feliz Cumpleanos"! (I think I remembered that right but if not please excuse me I haven't studied spanish since before you were born)?
    I was thinking of you and praying for you on your special day.
    The bowling pictures reminds me of fond memories from your 8th birthday- bowling with your family and aunt Naomi and your cousins Kathryn, Kyla, and Kelsie. We had pizza that day as well if I remember right. Your Daddy and I were having a competition against each other and your Mommy complained the whole way there how she hated bowling and how she and Naomi both were agreed about how terrible a sport it was and that if it wasn't for your birthday she wouldn't be dreaming of playing bowlin, but if I remember right, she bragged the whole way home how wonderful bowling was seeing as she and your aunt Naomi had won. It might have had something to do with the fact that we were playing with the side rails up :-) Although the side rails didn't seem to do any good for the veteran bowlers (your Daddy and me) who had planned to be the top two players :-)
    I hope and pray that this coming year would be a wonderful year for you of drawing closer to Jesus and experiencing exciting adventures as you walk with Him!
    With love,
    Juliana K.

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  2. Our dearest Emily,

    What a wonderful birthday you had! We loved reading your mom's description of the day, and all the great photos! I don't think I like the whole egg and flour tradition! Yuk! It would be so hard to wash out! :-) However, the "first bite of the cake" is a sweet one!

    We miss you so much, and pray for you always!!

    Love,

    Grandma B







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  3. Wow! What a great post! I was thinking it was about time for another one.
    Looks like you had a great birthday, Emily, although I am very disappointed that you opted out of the fancy dress thing. Tsk. Tsk. :)
    The shoes Rudi had to wear are so funny! Totally not him.
    Thanks for all the great pictures, you guys do a really good job of documenting all of your adventures!

    Lauren

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  4. Happy Birthday Emily! Glad you got some Cochabamba gear to wear! I'm also glad I've never been in Bolivia on my birthday to take part in the egg/flour fiasco! -Denise

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  5. HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!!!!!!!!!
    Looks like you had a great day! It reminded me of when Brendan and I went bowling with my fam on Caleb's birthday. Both Brendan and Caleb are NOT good bowlers to say the least. Brendan threw his straight into the gutter and when Caleb went to throw his ball he let go and it flung out of his hand backwards. I love bowling!! Anyway, glad you had a special day. We look forward to celebrating with you when your back:) we love you and pray for you!!!
    Brendan and Sarah and fam:)

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  6. Happy Birthday again, Emily! What a wonderful post/pictures. I think that big families + Bolivia makes for GREAT adventures! :) Thanks for inviting us to participate in your big day!

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  7. Happy Birthday! Looks like it was a blast! Love the new futbol shirts!! I'm also glad I've never been in Bolivia for my birthday. The egg/flour don't seem like much fun!

    Denise :)

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  8. Oh my word, I love this blog! Carla, you're a fabulous writer. Love the pictures and captions, too. Ems, what a fun day. Happy Birthday from the Dwight crew. We love you all!!

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  9. PLEASE PRAY BOOHERS!!! http://bythisiknowlove.blogspot.com/2013/03/pray-for-miracle.html

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