OLD!!

Yes, I think that would be an appropriate title for this post. Devin is OLD today! :) I love that I can tease him about being older than me...for about 2 weeks! But, since it is his birthday today, I get to do a little blurb about him right here for everyone to see and enjoy! :) These are in no particular chronological order...


Devin LOVES to be outdoors!!

Here he is with Josh at a 'beach' on the edge of Lake Erie in PA:



Another outdoorsy day with a swingset and a Joshua:



Another excursion to Presque Isle (Lake Erie, PA) about a year or two later. Claire is on his back. Devin is rarely seen without the baby backpack when we have little ones (which is pretty much all the time....)



Help me!! He is so fun!!



He takes time to play with his children--to teach them things! :) He spent hours bent over 'driving' Josh's trike for him with Claire holding on behind. They loved it!



Our big fun in Virginia! How he loved going on bike rides every weekend! He even rode his bike to work! The kids had a blast on the trail-a-bike and bike trailer...what a great idea, Dev! It was a definite wholesome recreational activity for the whole family to enjoy!



Giving 'Wheelbarrows o' fun' for the kids! They loved that, too!





Devin is the best daddy in the world. Yes, I may be prejudiced, but somehow I don't really think so!!
He always reads stories to the kids (even though he usually falls asleep)!



Like I said, he falls asleep if 'reading' too long! So sweet! :)



Holding Josh and Claire. He is so gentle and loving with his children!! :)



Proud Daddy!!! Unfortunately, once again the loss of the scanner makes me sad, as all the pictures of baby Josh are 'hard copies'... but...
Here he is with Baby Claire:



Here he is with Andrew...while enjoying a smoothie! He is just as health conscious as I am, and I'm so grateful!



Ready to go Trick-or-Treating! What a dad! He's always game to do something fun with the kids!!!




What would I do without this guy??? If it weren't for him, our trip here would have been even more horrendous than it was! He's so good with the kids--so patient and thoughtful--it makes traveling just a little bit easier!



Isn't he cute?? I thought so! Still do. (this is from our wedding, by the way, in case anyone was wondering)



Here is his birthday cake for today...



and him posing with it! :P



The traditional blowing out of the candles (including about 8 trick candles that kept coming back!! That gave oodles of fun to all the little kiddies there! We had movie night at our house tonight, so after the movie was over, we did the singing and blowing out of the candles for both Devin and a neighbor friend.) :)



Happy birthday, my one and only love! I'm SO thankful for you! You are my best friend--I am happy every day because I married you! :)

New Bikes and Happy Dynamics

Josh and Claire got new bikes this week! They worked very hard to earn them! Here is Claire on her 'pretty pink bike':



Unfortunately, we ran into some problems with Josh's bike. Devin was trying so hard to get it all put together last night--even making a few runs over to work to find some sockets. Then, as he was tightening the last bolts onto the rear axle, it cracked!!!! It was heartbreaking! Not only because now Josh has to wait for another 3+ weeks for his bike to be completed, but because Devin had worked so hard to get it together for him. Poor guy. But it is a cool bike! I'll put pics up when we get the new part and have it all together! :)

But, it hasn't been as traumatic as I thought it might turn out to be. Josh is so wrapped up with school, and LOVING it, that he doesn't have too much time to think about the loss of his bike. He comes home looking like he's grown a foot--just glowing from how much fun he's having!! He sits right down and does his homework (which I LOVE that his teacher gives him homework!!!) and Claire and Andrew do the same (Ha ha)--they all sit at the table and draw letters and pictures. Yesterday, every time they drew a letter, everyone would yell, "I did it!! YEA!!!" And we'd all clap. Pretty funny! I've been able to have some great quality time with Andrew and Claire--especially Claire, as we've been learning things and having 'classes' together. It's been nice, and she looks forward to it. We play games, sing songs, do activities and projects, and she helps me to make yummy snacks for everyone. I think she is really benefiting from Josh being at school as well. Andrew wandered around sadly the first day he was gone, but he's adjusting, too. He does some of the games and activities with Claire and me. It's been nice. I've also been teaching my housekeeper how to cook things the way I do. She's been enjoying that! :) So, as worried as I was about the new 'dynamics' of the schedule of our home, so far it seems to be a really happy one! :)

An interesting story about little Joshua's school experience: It seems that pretty much all the kids eat lunch there in the 'Canteen' (cafeteria). I guess it turns out that one of the teacher's helpers in his classroom thought that all the kids ate there, and that Josh was just bringing snacks from home, so she told Josh to get in line and get some food! I was getting really concerned that he would come home and not have eaten anything at all!! He leaves here at 7:15am and doesn't get home until almost 3pm. I know he likes to eat a lot, so I was really starting to worry about his health!! Josh, I think, knew it wasn't right, because he came home from his first day and told me he had a secret and he couldn't tell me. Then, when he got home today, he said the same thing at dinner. We finally got the story out of him, but he was afraid to tell us in case we got mad. Poor boy! We didn't get mad, of course. I sent in a note to his teacher explaining that we decided to send lunch with him instead of buying it because I like to have some control over his diet (due to allergies, etc., besides the fact that I KNOW that what I send with him is healthy as opposed to lots of deep-fried 'goodness'). I also sent him with the money to pay for the two days that he had eaten there without paying. Hopefully he learns a lot of things from this experience: #1-it's ok to tell mom and dad anything. We're not going to get mad at him for telling us the truth!!! #2-to be honest and pay for the things that you have had. #3-mom makes better food! (ha ha) He's a good kid. He helped me pack his whole lunch in tonight, so hopefully with the note explaining the situation to his teacher, a long talk with mom and dad, and having put his own favorite things in his lunch, it should be mostly resolved now. We shall see.

First Day!!

The official First Day of School picture:



Josh on his very first 'bus' ride to school! He is ecstatic!!!! :)


So, as you can see, Josh has started school! My little baby! I've been wondering about all the reasons why I've been so nervous and upset about Josh starting school. Here are a few that I'd like to share:

I had always thought that the reason I was dreading school for Josh was that I felt that I was giving up on him. Like I was admitting that I just couldn't cut the whole homeschool thing. I felt that letting him go to school was saying that I didn't want to have him home with me anymore, which, of course, isn't at all true. But what I discovered as I sat and pondered over this problem--trying to sift through all the guilt and sadness--I realized that that definitely wasn't all of it! It may not even have been the reason for the crazy feelings at all. My biggest concern, I found, was the new life dynamic. For the past 6+ years, I've been a stay at home mom with little babies. We did whatever we wanted whenever we wanted without worrying about too many schedules and hardly any conflicts. It was a laid back time--not without its stresses, of course, but very different than the school days. So, my stress turned out to be a mixture of missing my big boy, but mostly grieving for the end of that 'quiet' time with just me and my babies. Life will be different now. The time for school has started and with that comes juggling many schedules, after school activities, lunches, homework, play dates, weekend getaways...all the things that come with the start of the school schedule. And now that it's here, there's really no turning back. Josh was made to go to school. We enjoyed our homeschool time together for the past 3 years, and I think I've prepared him very well mentally, but he is VERY ready for school. I suppose I've just been preparing myself for that change of tempo in our house that will come with this. I know, as well, that with that hectic school schedule time will fly even faster! And here I am, holding on with both hands to what I still have here at home. As flustered as I can get trying to teach and train the little ones, I will miss it TERRIBLY when it's done! I'm beginning, once again, to see the method in what my mother did and said when I was young...SORRY, MOM!! :) I will miss the days of no real schedule and lots of play time. Life has taken us up a notch. And, as is always true: The one constant in life is CHANGE!! And it's not always a bad thing.

Faux Alarm Clock

So, I always thought there was no other sound more irritating than that of the grating BEEP of the alarm clock going off in the morning. I was wrong. Three children screaming their heads off in unison first thing in the morning definitely takes the cake!!! :) Don't get me wrong, I love my kiddos dearly, but that fighting scream that takes place every morning (usually either 'Josh pushed me!' or 'I want Lucky Charms first!') is getting REALLY old! Once they're settled and eating, it usually takes a break. But, depending on the type of breakfast they have, it can start right back up again within minutes! Ah, the joys of motherhood!

But, of course, mixed in with those frazzled moments come the hilarious ones, or the super sweet ones, that I wouldn't miss for the world!!!

Like the other day, we were having breakfast. Andrew decided he wanted a different spoon. So, he asked for a 'tiny spoon'. Ok. So I brought him the smallest baby spoon we have. Then he said, 'No! A tiny spoon!' I said that that was a tiny spoon! Did he want a big spoon? 'Yes'. So, I got a big spoon. 'No! A tiny spoon!' Well, I ended up giving him about 6 spoons altogether, but he had the biggest grin on his face! He kept passing the spoons out to everyone, then taking them back and counting them! It was hilarious! :)

Music time and Espanol

I admit I haven't been keeping up with my music, but, ummm...yesterday I think I got myself into some trouble! :P Josh starts school on Monday, and I was asking them about their music program--it's just a part time-part time teacher that does a little singing. NO ONE offers ANY instrumental instruction here at all! And it's a PreK-12 school! So, silly me, I mentioned that I've been a music teacher for forever and even studied it and they were excited. Many parents want their kids to study instruments--especially piano--and they even said they used to have a band and have some instruments here! So, we'll see if something pans out. I don't really want to go to work, since #1 I still have the other two little kids here, and #2 I'll be gone from here for 3 months starting in December and going through to February. So, yah. But it would be fun to do something with music again. AND, I was in this parent teacher conference yesterday, and talking with the principal and noticed that they had a poster up that was in Spanish. That's a weird thing, as no one here speaks Spanish. It's a French speaking country. So, I asked her why, and she mentioned that they were hoping to have a Spanish teacher, but the person backed out, so, again, before I thought about it..."I speak Spanish!" And her eyes got really big and she says, "Would you be willing..." Well, we'll see. Who knows, right? I would really enjoy all of that, but I DO NOT want it to take away from what I have going right now! I'm still training my housekeeper and nanny to do lots of things, I'm starting Claire in homeschool preschool--which, of course, doesn't take millions of hours every day, but it does take some time and preparation! as would teaching music and Spanish. Either way, I think I may start up a piano/clarinet studio now. Seems like it might be the opportune moment. I've just never gotten around to it, but I should.

Spiritual Cookies

So, Sunday I taught Sharing time in Primary at church. Normally, it's not so bad. I usually have someone there for crowd control. Ummmm...I was all by myself! So, I conducted, played the music, taught sharing time and singing time...then taught my regular Sunday School class...AND the lady who usually plays the 'piano' in church didn't show, so I got to play for Sacrament meeting as well. I was super busy!

But, that is all beside the point. I wanted to share what we did for sharing time because it was so funny! The theme was 'After Baptism, the Holy Ghost will help me repent and choose the right' (or something to that effect). So, I thought about what I could do for it that would be engaging enough for the kids that I wouldn't feel so much the fact that I had no help in there that day. One of the ideas for the lesson that was given, was to pass out a maze for the kids to do, following good choices as they would follow the Holy Spirit. So I thought to myself, "Why not have a live maze??" I made up about seven different signs of choices that kids have to make--sometimes on a daily basis--such as 'obeying parents', being kind to brothers and sisters, helping at home, sharing with friends, going to church, reading the scriptures/following the prophet, praying... I cut out pictures from old issues of the Friend/Liahona magazines that gave an idea of what it said on the paper (for those who couldn't read). I planned to put them at certain points in the room and make a maze using the benches there so the children could walk around them as they 'made their choices'. Then, I had two missionary helpers. One represented the Spirit, and tried to help them make the right choices. The other represented the 'dark side' and tried to get them to choose something else. For example, the first one: Obey your parents. I gave them the situation that their parents had asked them to do their homework for school before they could go play. Then the 'Spirit' would say something to the effect of, "Yes! You should do as your parents say because doing your homework will make you smarter! They love you and want you to succeed!" Then the 'other side' would pipe up and say, "Nah! Why do homework? It's completely boring and useless. You get enough school at school. Your parents are just trying to be mean. Go play with your friends instead. That would be more fun!!!!" AND to top it all off, the 'other side' had a plate full of 'cookies' as an extra enticement.



The only problem with these 'cookies', though, were that they were made out of playdough!!! I thought they looked pretty good, though! Ha! So, if they chose to follow the 'other voice', they could have a 'cookie'. Well, the kids all did really well until almost the very end of the maze, and then a bunch of them just couldn't handle the suspense anymore! Ha!! So about half of the kids ended up going over and eating some of the 'cookies'! I was laughing so hard! Most of the kids, didn't even bat an eye as they started into these nasty flour and salt creations! I couldn't believe it!!! Some of the kids took a bite, then looked at me very accusingly! :) Most of them just tried it, then dug the chocolate chips out! :) I asked them if they were yummy, and they looked kind of afraid of me as they started to slowly shake their heads!!! Then I explained that while Satan would try to entice us away from right choices, most of the time, he would make it look like a really good idea, when really it wasn't! That, just like the fake cookies, he can make things look really good on the outside! And if we give in, we will be disappointed! Then, the 'Spirit' helped them to repent and make good choices, and we all ended up at the end with a big bag of REAL chocolate chip cookies--which, again, the kids looked a bit wary to eat after their encounter with playdough counterfeits! :)



We talked about how the rewards of following the Spirit not only make us happy now, but for forever and ever; and they taste better, too! :) It was a fun lesson. The kids did get a little out of control in the middle, but I think a lot of it was because it was something so different than what they've ever done before...AND there really wasn't anyone else there to help me out. But, we all survived, and hopefully everyone came out learning something from it. :)

Antics

Here are some funny shots from the weekend:

First, we have Josh all ready for church. Yes, he dressed himself. Can't tell, can you? Ha!! When Josh walked in, I had to look away--Devin thought I was crying--I was laughing so hard!!! But, he was sure proud of himself! At least he has the white shirt and tie idea. I suppose we'll work on the shorts vs pants and buttoning up the shirt all the way, later. :)



Next, we have a snacktime. Now, snack time at our house is always a pretty funny affair. These little guys love to eat. I usually have them all sit at the table and eat whether it's snack time or meal time, so we all sit at the table together about 6 times a day! Ha!!! Usually, we tell funny made-up stories, talk about silly dreams we had, talk about things we learned at church (or 'school'), discuss what we would like to do next or what we want to eat next...Ha! Today, I was teaching the kids to make Condorman 'masks':



And here are some funny shots of Claire and Andrew, courtesy of Josh. He REALLY wanted to take pictures with the camera, and this is what he came up with:





Aren't they cute? Andrew LOVES to have his picture taken. Claire was actually posing for both of those photos. She wanted to hide behind the big bowl, and she wanted to look like she was drinking water (her cup was empty). What a ham! We ate popcorn and homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for our snack this morning! Mmmmmm....

Hellos and Goodbyes

This past week, we said goodbye to our good friend, Louis. It's not for forever, but it is for a very long time!!!! He went back to his mum in Ireland while they are waiting for their new little baby to come. Sadly, we won't get to see him, his mum, or his new little sister until the end of February or beginning of March when we get back here with our new little bundle o' joy! Such a long time! But, once we're back, we'll have plenty of time to play together again!!! :) (Leonora, I'm sending you some photos!!!)



We also said hello to some new friends here! Not only do we have new neighbors (who are very nice people!), but we have a new missionary and new missionary couple here in Yaounde! Wow!! So, our new neighbors got here last Sunday and we'd been busily getting things ready for them. The new missionaries got here around the same time, but arrived in Yaounde on Tuesday. (Well, the single missionary got here a few weeks ago, but the couple got here this week...) So, Monday we had dinner with the new family next door and another couple who are fairly new to the area (one of them being Devin's new boss--who is a wonderful and funny person!!), and on Tuesday, I pulled out all the stops!! We had all 6 missionaries over, plus the new senior couple, plus the senior couple who are serving in Douala, PLUS our friends who used to be our neighbors but now live down the street until they leave the country! Part of the family didn't make it, so it only ended up being 19 people instead of 21... But I made food for everyone! Woohoo!!! We had two different kinds of soups: Beef stew (in a giant crockpot) and taco soup (in a 12 qt saucepan!!!!); I made 5 loaves of whole wheat bread (and the recipe is absolutely FANTASTIC!!! I should post it!!!!); and two giant green salads using regular green leaf lettuce, spinach, parsley and tomato--along with croutons! My goodness it was good! :) And my friend Stacey made the desserts (she 'pulled out all the stops', too--a coconut cake, brownies, peach cobbler, and 4 different kinds of homemade ice cream)!!!!!!!!!!! It was absolutely fabulous and completely fun! :)



The rest of the week (well, at least Wednesday) I didn't hardly cook at all! :) Thursday, the kids and I went to a fun get together for the kids and moms. Josh and I made oatmeal, coconut, butterscotch cookies. Yum! That was fun! Our front gate door fell off that day, too. That was exciting! We even went to watch Devin and a bunch of guys play basketball after Devin finished work and we all had an al fresco picnic lunch there before coming home, putting the kids to bed, then Devin leaving for the airport and not getting back until midnight. Blah.

Yesterday was a holiday here in Cameroon. So, there was no work! Yea!! We went shopping with our neighbors, got pizza at Euro marche (made while we watched and cooked fresh in the big brick oven!), ate it while watching a movie, played games, had a movie night with lots of friends over (I made coconut bread and served it with freshly cut pineapple--voila--pina colada bread!!)...it was a great day!

Today, Devin went hiking with the kids while I prepared a last minute sharing time lesson for Primary tomorrow. It appears that the president of the Primary won't be there, Stacey (my friend) who was supposed to teach, is out of town for the weekend, Pascaline (who was asked to substitute by Stacey) is sick, and that takes care of everyone else in primary except for me! Woohoo! So, that means I'll be teaching sharing time, playing the piano for it, and be all by myself! I think I'll enlist Devin's help. At least I am now all prepared for it.

Speaking of prepared, lunch is on the stove, so it's time to feed the masses before they revolt and mutiny!!!!

Welfare

So, another week has passed us by... Sadly, our internet was down the whole entire weekend, so I haven’t been able to update anything! Silly providers. At first we were concerned that the ‘plug’ had been ‘pulled’, so to speak. But, we are still connected to the world for the moment.

So, I’ve been thinking. Last week, someone Devin home teaches (we’ll call him George) called Devin up and said that he needed to talk because he was having some problems. Uh oh. Lots of warning bells went off on this one, because quite frankly, usually the only reason people come to us if they have trouble is when they need a whole lot of money. It’s the old “You’re not from around here so you must be rich” ploy. So, we waited around for him to come and see what he needed and we were all ready to give him the “We can’t just give you money. We pay fast offerings so that the branch president can take care of the needs, because we can’t support the whole branch monetarily!!” So, in he came. The poor guy looked so downtrodden. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him, as I was trying to get the kids ready for bed as he and Devin chatted. Well, he didn’t necessarily ask for money. The guy has a fairly decent job (as decent as most people get here...) but his boss has been refusing to pay him! He hasn’t been paid since June, he has 3 boys, and they hadn’t eaten in 4 days! And, to make matters worse, the weekend before, he was in the market and was robbed. The person who robbed him took the food that he had bought, the money he had on him, and his ID card, which was the worst part! Here in Cameroon, if you don’t have your ID card on you, and you get stopped by the police, they will take you to jail until someone bails you out. If you are anywhere near a fight, the police round everyone up who was even nearby and check for ID’s. If you don’t have one, they automatically think that you’re here illegally, and they cart you off to jail. This poor guy, ‘George’, took a taxi home, but didn’t have money to pay for it, so they called the police and he got carted off to jail because he didn’t have his ID card! ‘George’ had already talked to the Elder’s Quorum president (who also happens to be Devin’s home teaching partner), and the EQP told him to go and be more firm with his boss so that she would pay him. When he did, she just told him that she didn’t have any money to give him, and to just leave her alone. Nice. So, Devin called the branch president for him (because, of course, he didn’t have any minutes on his cell phone to call anyone, let alone money for taxi fare to go drop by and see them...) and the president set up to visit with him and help him out the next day. I’m hoping this happened. Sometimes the branch president is a bit flaky and doesn’t show up for interviews and meetings... Anyway, Devin set the guy up with a few pineapples and some cereal and stuff to eat for the evening at least, and drove him to a taxi rendezvous (with taxi fare, of course...) and a few words of advice (like to keep paying your tithing and obey the commandments because God is always watching out for us and will help us). All through this event, though, I kept thinking of when I was the Relief Society president in Pennsylvania. I had known a little about the church’s welfare system, just because I had done some welfare work on my mission, but let me tell you that the welfare system that is set up in the US is super fantastic! Those people really don’t know what they have there! I know that the people who are the recipients of the welfare program are very grateful for it...but I can tell you right now, that they honestly don’t need it as much as the people here do. They ‘homes’ they live in, the foods they eat, the lives they lead...it’s heartbreaking!! Most countries outside the US could really use the vastness of the welfare that is set up and readily available within the continental US (I don’t know if it’s as easy to get to in Alaska and Hawaii, having never lived there). When I was in Guatemala, I know we could have used it. However, as bad and backward and sad as life was there, it’s worse here. These people have nothing. I know there’s really not much I can personally do about it except pay a generous fast offering and hope and pray that it’s used wisely, but I must admit it is frustrating. I know that Heavenly Father knows what He is doing. He cares for all of His children all over the world in the way that is best for them. I’m sure that if it’s this hard for me to watch, it must be a million times worse for Him.

CPR and Mouth to Mouth

Here’s an interesting side-note. Today in church, I had to sort of giggle a lot through the talks that were given. I didn’t actually hear the first one, due to some settling down of the kiddies, but the second talk that was given–the lady basically read a chapter out of a first aid book! Ummm...she kept going on and on about mouth to mouth and CPR and how to do it. My friend sat behind me and we kept wondering why these talks were being given. Why would we have a first aid course on CPR in the middle of church? This sounds to me more like a mid-week class activity or something. She talked about it for a good 20 minutes, though! Then, the last talk was on having good health. Now, really, this could have had some very good doctrinal points to it. Having good health is important to be able to lead a good life. This talk could have been based around the Word of Wisdom...that crazy doctrine that teaches us that we shouldn’t put anything into our bodies that would hurt us. We don’t drink coffee or tea because of the caffeine and harsh chemicals that bring on addictions and things of the sort. We don’t drink any type of alcohol because it hurts our bodies in many ways and impairs our minds...and again, is addictive and harmful. We don’t smoke or chew tobacco. We believe that our bodies are special gifts from a loving Heavenly Father; temples, if you will, as it says in the book of Corinthians in the Bible. Why would we want to damage something so special? We can’t get a new one! :) And then the talk could have gone on to talk more about the Word of Wisdom, how it’s not just about the things we shouldn’t take into our bodies, but the things we SHOULD! Like eating healthy grains, vegetables and fruits. Exercising. Just trying to follow those things, guides us towards good health and happy living. But, no. This talk centered around how if we have a fever or get sick, we should find a doctor. If we need some medicine, we should go to a pharmacy, and we’ll probably have to tell them about what our symptoms are so that we can get the right medicine. And he went on about hospitals and medicines and trying to avoid getting sick (like not walking in the rain so you don’t get malaria...what???) It was....really interesting to listen to. And from what I hear, they had the same topics last week. Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but if I even get the chance to listen to the talks in Sacrament meeting, I feel pretty lucky. With three active little munchkins, it can get rather difficult. And with our meetings being in French, there’s an added level of fun to actually getting anything out of it! Today, though, I felt pretty on top of things. I had my huge bag o’ fun stuff–and Josh and Claire stuck to coloring and cutting things out the whole entire time! I didn’t hear one peep out of them! Andrew ate cheerios and was as happy as could be! This was a once in a lifetime chance! I was really to hear some talks and feel the spirit and be uplifted! Instead, Devin, my friend behind me, and I, all wondered what they were thinking to give out topics like this when, quite frankly, it would probably be more spiritually beneficial to have some topics like ‘paying tithing’, ‘fasting and fast offerings’, ‘scripture study’, ‘meaningful prayer’, ‘heeding the prophet’...and a million others. Oh well. There’s always next week, I suppose. At least the kids aren’t screaming through the whole entire meeting as they used to do for the first 3 or 4 months after we got here. Now it’s rare, and so I’m grateful that I even got to hear how to give mouth to mouth and CPR...in French. He he he...

Little Picassos

This was a super fun and SUPER easy activity for the kids to do this morning! They have had a ball and it's hardly messy at all!! :)



They look so cute in their paint shirts! I just got out some foam paint brushes, put on their paint shirts, filled some bowls with water, added a bit of food coloring, and let them have at it! :) They are outside enjoying the nice morning, using creative motor skills and playing happily together. What more could you want out of an activity??!?!? :)

Flower Arranging 101

Today the kids and I got creative with some fake flowers that someone so generously gave me right before leaving the states! So, here are their creations:

Josh did 2. Here he is happily posing with his pretty flowers:



Claire did a nice one, too. But she had gone for a walk when I was taking the pictures, so she wasn't in it. Josh took the picture. I think he had his finger over some of the flash! :) It sort of blends into the fun African Batique that's up behind it, but, well, that's where they wanted it! :)




It's been a nice day for us. It is day one of having another person working here at our house, and it's turned out very nicely. The kids have actually helped out MORE and had a blast! And it was certainly very nice to have the extra help while the neighbors were over! :) I'm becoming so soft! I used to be able to look after loads of kids all by myself... Well, I still can. Now I just have extra hands to make it more fun for me and for them! :) I am very grateful to have the extra help, and what makes it even more fun, is that they are very grateful and happy to be here! Happy, happy, happy!! :)

Benjamina

Yes, Ben, I KNOW that you LOVE that name! :) I still remember when you were first called that...he he he he...

But, the point of this post is not to tell the world about the time that I dressed you up in my clothes and put make-up on you (of course, I was 5 or 6, which means you were 3 or 4, so you really shouldn't be held responsible...), but today is your Birthday! So, it's your turn to have your face plastered all over my blog! :P

Sadly, I still don't have a scanner. Otherwise, this post would be FULL of some SWEET pictures! I have pictures of us at all the camp-outs we went on as kids with the fam--we always wore the...uhhh...coolest clothes! :) There are ones with us holding up our fish catch when we would be at family reunions at fish lake. Those were fun days! I have that one picture of the time we went to that Halloween party at the Robbins' house...remember what we dressed up as? Oh dear! You sure looked nice in that yellow wig!! :P (Aren't you glad my scanner isn't working???) There are pictures from our days in Marching Band--aren't you glad I talked you into playing on the drumline??? You did a great job on that bass drum!! :) My stack of pictures of the two of us is pretty much endless, since we were pretty much inseparable growing up! I was always happy to have you around (even if I didn't always act like it...I know I was quite the snothead!) and I've sure missed you! So, all I have here are some more 'recent' pics of you with your little fam in Germany, and of your tour in Iraq. I'm still always proud to say I have a brother in the army who served in Iraq!!! :)

So, here comes your claim to fame today...

First, a few pics of you in Iraq:

Nice closeup in front of an Iraqi monument. Reminds me of you and Danno and all those swords.... :)


Surrounded by little kids. I don't know if I'd let my kids stand by a big army dude with a gun...although, they're all over the place here, so I suppose it's not a big deal, eh?


"They kept yelling, 'Pinata! Pinata!' What is a pinata anyway?" Yea! Get those bad guys! :P


You always liked tanks and things like that. So, you got your wish, eh? I still think these photos look doctored up... :)


Yah, that's a big gun. That was another thing I always remembered--you liked to have the upper hand in any fight or argument. Well, I do believe that with that gun, you will always have the upper hand!!!!



Now, here are some nice ones, just for fun... I'm glad that you get out and do nice things with your wife and family! Way to go, Idaho! :) (Hope you don't mind that you're in here, too, Amber!!) :)

A nice welcome home from Iraq by your boys. :) I still like your glasses.


You always liked to dress up and look like you were an undercover agent or something. I see that you are passing that on to your posterity...



Remember when we went to the dinosaur park in Washington, Utah? With all the big dinosaur footprints? And how we went looking for indian arrowheads?? Here is a picture of you,Ben, with your boys at the dinosaur park in Germany:


You were always a Star Wars fan. I remember the story that Mom and Dad used to always tell, about how they would go to a drive-in movie, make a bed in the back of the car, and we would fall asleep there and they'd be able to enjoy a nice movie. But the first time we stayed up to watch the entire movie was when they went to watch Star Wars! I think you were hooked ever since!!! :)



Didn't we used to play 'chicken' in the pool? He he he!! Here's little Talmage on your back:



Ben and Amber at...

The Eiffel Tower:


Neuschwanstein Castle:


Rothenburg:


The Defense Wall at Rothenburg:

(Still doesn't prove you were there...) :)


What a nice family you have...


I'm so proud of you, little bro! Of your family, of your dedication and service! I can't wait to see you again.......maybe next year?? Sheesh! You've never even met half of my kids!!!

One year closer to me! This is the fun month where we're only one year apart! :) Have a Happy Birthday! Eat some cake and ice cream for me!

Good News and Bad News

Well, the good news is, we've been having so much fun here, I keep forgetting to post!!! Our week this week has been exceptionally busy as I've fed 6 missionaries (and let me tell you, those guys can EAT!!), plus tried to help out my neighbors who are in the process of moving all their stuff out and shipping it off to their next post and moving to a new temporary house until the time they leave. Sufficeth to say, I am completely and totally exhausted every night! I've spent most of every day this week watching lots of kids and making LOTS of food! :) My favorite was on Wednesday when we went to story time. We took my neighbors' kids with us, and so here I was walking down the street with 7 (and a half) little white kids in tow. People stared a LOT, and I don't blame them! They all looked at me like I was nuts! I had to laugh at that one.

Here are some fun photos of the fun we've been having:

This is a view from the balcony off my room. The kids are finding 'poppie' seeds. Claire isn't there for some reason... The guy off on the right looks like he's sort of at his wits' end, doesn't he? Poor Patrick!



Our guard stuck 4 of the 7 kids into the jogging stroller, then ran as fast as he could up the driveway. The kids loved it! and the older kids would try to race and see if they could go faster.



Josh, Claire and Andrew taking a popcorn break together.



Josh and I have continued to do some 'school' together. He's learning so fast! And it is so fun to see! We did a little section on art, and how artists use objects that they see, or like, or imagine as their paintings. We looked at some art in some humanities books (old college fare...never throw those books away! They're useful!!), and then I had him find something that he would like to draw. I told him he could use the 'paint' program on the computer, and that I would save it and post it here on my blog for everyone to see! So, here is what he drew:



(In case you were wondering what it is, it's a train. I have no idea where he came up with that, but there it is!)

I will miss him when he starts school in a few weeks!! But, now I can focus more on giving Claire a good pre-school education just like Josh. We actually decided to hire on someone else as a nanny. Now, I know that I really don't need a nanny. I love my kids and love to be around them. But I had this epiphany the other day. I keep wondering why we're here and what good that I personally can do while I'm here. It's been difficult for me, just because I'm not really able to get out a lot, since I'm busy here. I'm NOT complaining...I just want to find something that is helpful to do here without giving up what I love to do, which is being with and teaching my children. Then, I was thinking about my housekeeper. She is a very good person. Very sweet, hard working, and has a lot of potential. I know that if I train her well, not only in cleaning but also in American cooking and doing REAL childcare (which means not just making sure the kids don't jump on the couches, but playing useful games and doing projects, etc., with them) then she would be completely and totally secure in getting another job here once we go. Wouldn't that be something worthwhile?? Just a little help to someone here, so their life is better and more productive, and so the economy isn't as hurt when someone is out of work like half the population here... And I found that her younger sister just lost her job as well. She has been a nanny for another diplomatic-ish family, and the family had to move back to France. She doesn't have a lot of training...she's watched kids, but not like I do. She doesn't have any cleaning training, or cooking... and if I were to take her on, I would have someone else to help out, someone that I could train to work as I like, and I could leave her better off and ultra ready for another job when I go! I would have someone to watch the babies so I could give Claire an hour or so 'lesson' every day (one on one is SO handy!), AND I could train both of them on how to play games with kids and do activities by having them help me do them with the kids! So, I would be able to do even more with the kids, having fun with them and teaching them, while benefiting other people and helping to make their lives better and giving them a future! Talk about 'welfare in action'! When I was on my mission, I was technically a welfare sister. In the MTC, it was ground into our brains over and over again, 'Leave people better than you found them!': What talents do I have that can better the lives of those around me? Well, on my mission, it was music. I could teach the people there to play the piano so that they wouldn't be dependent on me or any other transient missionary in order to have music in church. Here, though, while music is still a talent, it's not something that is as needed. Now, I can teach cleaning, cooking, and childcare skills that are invaluable if people want a really good job here! A good nanny/housekeeper here who really knows how to care for children and how to cook and clean can make a killing! :) So, that is my goal. I can help these two be the best nannies/housekeepers out there, and use my kids to show them how! It benefits everyone and makes me SO excited!!!!!! :)


On to the bad news now. The bad news is, today as I was walking through the living room, I looked down at our super ultra sticky mousetrap behind the couch, and instead of catching a mouse, we caught a gecko! :(



The kids were so sad! (Well, Andrew wasn't...he just kept yelling, "A Gacko! A Gacko! Wow!!!") Josh could hardly eat he felt so sad about the gecko (it was lunchtime). Poor little guy! We all thought it was dead. My housekeeper took it outside to try to scrape the poor thing off, and found that it wasn't dead after all! So, she pried it out of the super ultra sticky stuff using a toothpick. But, the poor thing then just stuck to the ground. All of it's fingers/claws were so stuck together. It was trying really hard to move, but just couldn't make it. What do you do about this? I feel so sorry for it! I'm a Gecko Killer!!!! :( I want to put it out of its misery, but can't bring myself to do it! So, we put some water in a leaf, and put it up to its face, and it drank, but it really won't survive for long without being able to move. It can't catch bugs, and it can't run from other bugs/animals. We tried pouring water over it, thinking that that might lessen the effects of the sticky stuff, but it really is this super ultra sticky glue stuff that just won't come off. Very effective for catching mice, but not so forgiving if you catch the wrong creature. We also caught a couple of spiders along with the gecko, but weren't as careful when trying to pull them off... And there are some cockroaches caught in the trap downstairs...he he he... Oh well. I am sad that we lost a gecko friend today. *Moment of silence, please*