Lately Happenings

Time has gotten away from us these past few months with all the fun we have been having, but I have been taking pictures. Here are some things that we have been up to.

Pete still loves to read and has recently been keeping the twins fully entertained as he flips through pages and tells them what is going on. Some books that he has memorized, he actually does read it to them. In particular, Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Sandra Boynton books.

Lily keeps an eye on all of us, just quietly sitting back and taking it all in. She is one content little one and is happy pretty much all the time.

We tried to have Thanksgiving here, even though no one in Africa has even heard of the holiday. We made turkeys, had pumpkin soup and even a pecan pie - with pecans straight from TX. Pete named his turkey above "Guinea"--after the lone, surviving African guinea fowl on my parents farm in Anton, TX.

The first wagon ride on a beautiful November afternoon.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! A pretty good three-kid pose, if you ask me! All looking and smiling.

We are studying Creation now in Bible study and these are some of the crafts he is showing off.

Pete comparing his old teething chew giraffe to the new one the twins received. Jude and Lily will quickly rid the newer giraffe of her spots at the rate they are going. They chew and chew on these squeaking little rubber giraffes. I don't know how we would get teeth without them.

Jude is ready to go and loving life in the exersaucer.

Mommy's little elf, helping me put up the Christmas decorations in the house. Pete is loving the hoidays for the first time this year. It has been so much fun to hear him singing Christmas songs and talking about SanTa

Failed Photo Opportunities...

Pete has it in his head that he can hold both of the twins at the same time. The other day, as I was taking some pictures of Jude and Lily, Pete decided he wanted to be in the pictures. Here are some of our efforts at a picture with all three kids.

In this picture, Pete just realized that he REALLY needed to go to the bathroom. He started desperately asking me to get Lily off his stomach and get him to the toilet!

So as Pete headed to the bathroom, Jude and Lily took some lovely, happy pictures together. Perfectly content to be leaning back together and away from the clutches of their big brother.

Then Pete came back.....

....we tried again and again.

...and as you can see, even Jude and Lily are questioning my judgement here! Needless to say, these kids will know that Pete loves them no matter what. And I will keep letting Pete try to hold them, until they get big enough to run away, which I am afraid is ever so close!

You know you're in Africa when...

...your kid downs a bottle of de-worm medicine like it was candy! Pete loved this stuff and kept tipping the bottle back to try to get more. If you look closely in the picture, you can see a white mustache on his upper lip from the syrupy medicine. It was too funny that he liked it so much. Unfortunately, it did take a toll on his little body, causing two days of 102 degree temperature and a bit of a rash. But hopefully, if we had any worms, they are long gone now! :)

New Park in Kigali

There is a new park in Kigali - or should I say a park, that Pete can go play at for a small fee. And I will say that it was completely worth it. He went with his two best friends, Tess and Cy Shelby and played his little heart out. And Jude and Lily got in on the outing too - they pretty much did a lot of sweating and looking wide-eyed around at everything.

This merry-go-round does not even work, but as you can tell Pete though it was great. I am pretty sure he does not know that it is supposed to move and play music - this a case in which ignorance in bliss!

Thanks Grandma Carol for my sun bonnet - it was really hot out there, as you can see from the expression on my face!

The trampoline was so much fun and it was so safe for them to bounce all around in. It was a dream world for these three little squirts.