thumbs up...

so last week dani, kayla, michelle, and i got the opportunity to go to one of primary schools and teach about nutrition.  we taught 7 classes of kids ages 5 to 10 years old.  they were in a word...adorable.  it took everything inside of me to refrain from stealing one of them to take home with me.  we talked to them about eating more fruits and veggies and less cookies and soda.  did they listen?...who knows, but we tried and it was a blast.  we played a game with them where they had to close their eye's and smell a fruit and then guess what it was.  they were all more than eager to volunteer..."miss, pick me! pick me!" like i said...adorable.  then we played another game where we held up pictures of food and they had to give us a thumbs up if it was healthy or a thumbs down if it wasn't very healthy.  they loved it. and we loved them.

so yes, we have been working as well as playing. the square foot garden is coming along quite nicely.  it amazes me how hard these kids work. amazes me and breaks my heart.  today we got to the school and we were a little late.  the kids had arrived there at 8:00 am sharp.  there was no one there to tell them what to do and yet they just looked around and figured out what to do. they built one of the garden beds completely on their own. it was the cutest thing i've ever seen...

after hours of hard work they got to eat lunch and head home.  the kids helping us are part of the feeding program at this school.  they are kids that can't afford to eat so they are helping us and in exchange they get a discounted lunch.  it was obvious that these kids have grown up working hard. they just kept going and didn't complain once.  one of them was telling us all about how he loved to garden and how he was going to be a scientist when he grew up and that his favorite thing to do [while not gardening with us of course] is watch the discovery channel.  really? i just kept trying to picture doing this at a school in the states...wouldn't happen.  watching them scarfing their lunches and eating every last bite made me want to cry. we knew they were hungry and there wasn't much we could do.  this garden will help but i wish there was more we could do.  our little helpers...

our new garden friend and mascot: crush

TA-DA...almost done building!