Funny Picture Day

So, I thought I would share some funny photos. I can only say that I'm grateful for digital cameras. I remember the days before... *segue music to the flashback* When you would have a roll of only 24 pictures, and that was it. You couldn't delete the ones you didn't want. If you accidentally turned the camera around to see why it was taking so long to take a picture just to have it flash a close-up of your eye:



...you couldn't delete it. You had to pay to have it developed along with all the other weird ones...

Like the one of your daughter using a sticky UPC symbol as a makeshift band-aid because mom was taking too long in getting a real one:



Or the one where the missionaries came for an evening visit because they got kicked out of their p-day basketball (due to a going away party, not because they were being 'bad'), and they were reading to the kids, so you decide to take a picture, and since it was dark and they were far away, the camera caught the dreaded 'red-eye' disease:



Red Eyes, Red Eyes, Red Eyes! What a treat! Bet you didn't expect to see us again so SPOON!

Candids. Don't leave home without 'em!

A Day at the Farm

I got to go on a little excursion to a farm on Saturday for our Women’s (Enrichment) church activity! It was so fun! We left here, and, of course, since we are only one of the two members of the church with a car (and ours actually fits lots of people in it), I drove almost everyone there. It was a nice drive. We got to go a way that I’ve never gone before! Woohoo!

It was such a pretty place!

This is a Cameroonian ‘farm’. Notice the lack of animals and ‘normal’ vegetation. Although there is corn (it is VERY VERY different than the sweet corn in the US, which I do miss a lot!), there is also ‘melons’ (which are sort of like a mix between a pumpkin and a butternut squash—and is a recent discovery for us which we are very happy about!), cassava (manioc), sweet potatoes (which are sort of like the sweet potatoes/yams that are sold in the US, but not quite it…), sugar cane, bananas, and plantains! Fun!



(This is a really retarded picture, but you can see some of the corn that I harvested...)

Here we all are in different areas of the farm:








Walking to a little primary/secondary school:





In the car (this is a different car—the road was dirt and badly rutted. Since our van is low to the ground and the air threatened rain, I wasn’t about to drive it down a steep dirt road…so we walked to the farm!

Luckily it wasn’t far… But when we were done, everyone was tired—not me, though, as I’m used to taking care of 4 kids, so playing with corn is nothing!—so we all piled into the 4 person car [7 of us] and drove to my van):

(This is another retarded picture, but I just couldn't manage to get everyone into the picture all at the same time...but we're all inside that little car...)



It really was a lot of fun. I got to spend time with some of my Cameroonian sisters and get to know them. The kids all stayed home and played with dad. Peter was surprisingly cooperative and slept almost the entire time that I was gone!

Left to Right: Hortense, Agnes, Meekness, Yvonne, Pascaline, Lilian, Me:

My Sisters!

Fall of the Peter Empire

This is SO adorable...Peter is trying to sit!! (Did I mention he's over 6 months old now? Yah, I missed his 6 month old posting...so, uh, here it is...)

Mr. Postman

Well, it seems that since summer has pulled in for a visit, I haven't had much of a chance to write anything. I've revamped our whole schedule, which is a good thing, really. I used to just get up and wander around the house, getting breakfast on the table and Josh and Dev out the door, then I'd set the kids in front of the tv and I'd shower. By the time I was out of the shower, the kids would be ensconced in some random game with Meekness in the play room, so I'd take the time to blog.

Not so anymore! Now that I've instituted the almighty job chart en force, we do chores first thing in the morning. Then we play or read or do some 'school-y' type thing. Then we go on a 45 min walk around the 'block' (or whatever you call it). Sometimes we go on outings to see friends or do things.

This week, we went to the post office! They just opened an actual post office just down the street from us, so I got together with my fellow Mummy-in-Crime and we had our kiddies draw up cards to send through the African post! They all had a blast decorating. Claire dictated her whole card to me, which got very wordy, and I sort of summed most of it up. She wrote to Ant Sulest (you like how that got spelled by Josh??), Josh wrote to Grandma and Papa Edwards, and Andrew wrote to Grandma and Grandpa Hendriksen. They were so proud of their letters! (Now, to you whom they wrote to, you have to tell us IF and WHEN they actually get to you. I'm seriously curious to see if it works...)

Then, off we went on a walk to the post office! We got there and all the workers giggled a bit. They have a high tolerance for children here, which I really appreciate. (It helps that the kids are small.) The ladies took each letter (the kids had to hand their letters to them individually so they could feel cool), weighed it, then said "500 fcfa!", and each child 'paid' for his stamps. We got to look at the stamps and what was on them, then the lady behind the counter put the stamps on, stamped them with the canceled stamp, and handed them back so that the kids could put them in the actual mail slot.

Here they are holding up their cards, all ready to send!



And here they are putting them into the mail slot. So cute!!




It was a great outing--thanks for the idea, Leonora!

So, back to my daily schedule change (which is, I admit, much more boring than an outing to the Post Office of Upper Bastos Road...) With all these morning things always going on, I never get a chance to shower anymore. By midday, it's time for Peter's nap (after lunch), and so the kids get their movie time. By the time Peter is down for his nap, the kids' movie is done, and they need more mom time. So, we play some more until it's time for dinner and bath time. Then we eat dinner with Devin, read scriptures, pray, and everyone heads off for the fun bedtime...where I read to Andrew until he falls asleep, put Peter down, then, often, read to Josh and Claire until they fall asleep. THEN I get to shower, and let me tell you, it's heavenly!!!! I can just stand there with all that hot water--and I know that no one is going to come bursting through that door to tell me that someone stole their bunny or their car or won't let them go on the red swing!!! Why didn't I shower at night before? It's so much better. Then I feel all relaxed and clean and I sleep better... Yah, it's nice.

So, really, the point of this entire posting here is: Shower at night. It makes one happy.

Allowance

When I was growing up, we never got an allowance. Devin didn't either. It was this entity that I didn't know or understand about. You got money for doing your jobs?? Weird.

I remember all the different things my mom did to try to get us to do our jobs. We had job charts, job wheels, tickets, prizes... I remember one of the last attempts at bribery when she had this drawer full of stuff and each one was marked with a certain 'price'--you had to earn tickets (or something...what was it mom? I was about 11 or 12 at the time. Oh gosh, that was 20 years ago. I'm OLD!) and then you could go to the drawer and pick out something (or things) with what you had earned. It lasted for, what? 2 weeks or so? It was a really good idea. I tried to do something like it with my kids, but, just as it did for my mom, it fizzled out pretty quickly.

Well, after much thought and consideration on our part, Devin and I have decided to institute the allowance in our home. It's been an interesting endeavor. We've been doing it now for a month, and I must say that I LIKE it! The kids have a nice long list of jobs that they do every day (clear/set the table, make beds, get dressed, brush teeth, be respectful, do homework, put away toys...) and when it gets done they put a happy face by it. Each day, they earn a certain amount of 'money' by the number of happy faces they have (there is a cap, of course, and the amount is fairly minimal since they're all pretty little--Andrew, for example, gets about half of what the other kids do, but he doesn't know that).

So far, it's worked like a charm! The kids are happier because they're doing things that are constructive and helpful. Work does make people better!! I'm happy because they're learning to do useful things. They do a whole lot more than what is up on the chart, too! It's great! My favorite is at night when they're doing the last chores of the day (clearing the table and putting away the toys) and Andrew will come puffing in and say, "What can I do for ya?" so I'll tell him to bring me some cups from the table. He'll run in, grab a cup, run back, hand it to me, then say, "What can I do for ya?" It's SO cute! He's learning about how to help in the family. So are the others. And they know, too, that if someone else does their job for them, then they have to do extra somewhere else to earn their allowance for the day. They're doing quite a bit around here already, and it's great training for Finland where I won't have any help anymore. Then, I'll add to the list of chores (like vacuuming and doing dishes and dusting and cleaning windows...) and they'll learn even more things!

Every other Saturday, we sit down with the kids and I hand them what they've earned thus far. They count it out. Then, we talk about tithing. They each pay their tithing (10%) before anything. Then we discuss about savings. They each already have savings accounts thanks to grandparents, and now they can consciously add to their own savings accounts, saving for big things like college and missions, etc. We ask that they put in at least 10% into their savings every month--more if they'd like to. (Josh put in almost 50%, Andrew just handed over all his money--we gave some back to him so he could 'buy' a book with it--, and Claire very reluctantly gave barely her 'required' 10%! Ha!! What personalities these guys have!) With what's left, the kids can get whatever they want--but they actually pay full price for it. It's a good learning thing for them. Claire has earned a Barbie, and plans to buy a bag of marbles, another princess movie, a princess book, a princess dress and another Barbie. Josh wants Little Einsteins and Veggie Tales movies, and Andrew just wants books and cars. What funny guys.

I discovered another benefit for the allowance yesterday. Josh has this set of, well, kind of tinker toys. They made this super huge complex car-type thing. It took him and Devin about 3 days to make it. I've had it up on top of a book shelf for quite a long time to keep it safe from the littlies. Yesterday, Claire and Drew were outside playing, and Josh asked to play with his 'car'. I let him. Then, he ran outside to eat his snack, and left the car on the floor. Well, awhile later, I had him helping me peel carrots for lunch. He left for a moment to tell Drew and Claire that it was time to eat, and I heard him yell in anguish. I ran out of the kitchen to see that Claire and Drew had meticulously pulled apart his car--piece by piece--and strewn it about the floor. It was pretty devastating and made me somewhat sick to my stomach, thinking about all the work that Josh and Dev had put into it. What to do to punish them? It wasn't worth a severe punishment, but needed to fit what they'd done. They'd taken away something special that Josh had worked really hard to build and create. He couldn't do it again, as I'd thrown away the instructions (I hate having loose papers floating around everywhere). Then it hit me--they needed to give him some of their allowance money! I handed the money to Andrew and Claire and told them that they needed to pay Josh because they'd ruined something special of his. Andrew promptly handed all of his money to Josh (we use play money from an old Family Feud game, by the way. It's not real...) Josh started to giggle and handed back most of it to Andrew. I thought that was very sweet and responsible on Josh's part, and sweet and innocent on Andrew's. Claire glared (in the way that only Claire can) and handed Josh just one 'dollar'. Then she proceeded to count her money to see what she had left. Ha! She was upset. Good. I hope she learns. But I think it was a good lesson--at least for Claire and Josh. It all turned out ok, though, because now that the car is in pieces, they use it to build lots of different things--and Josh is using his own imagination to build new and creative cars with it, then he tells us all of its specs.

All's well that ends well, I suppose. Anyone for a snack?

Want a New Car?

So, we're selling our car here. Here are some interesting facts about selling your car in Cameroon...

THEY set a value when it comes in to the country (for our car, they said it was worth 10,000,000 fcfa which is about $20,000 USD. Where they came up with that number for a 1997 Honda Odyssey, I'll really never know!)

Customs taxes are 57% of THAT value. (The 57% customs tax was instituted by a previous minister who is now in prison...I wonder why?...and they haven't gotten around to changing that particular law yet...)

So, for someone here to buy our van (that we paid $5,500 USD 4 years ago) it would cost them roughly around 15,700,000 fcfa or around $35,000 USD. Hunh. Talk about going up in value! (And, no, we're not selling it for that much. We wouldn't feel good about making a serious profit off a car that really isn't worth that much! No matter what 'they' say the car is worth...)

Now you can all go home and smile at your cars, knowing that you really did get a good deal after all! :)

Dog Snacks

I've been a slacker with my blog, I know. It's been one of those weeks (or has it been two?)--I'm sure you all know!! Peter's been a little sick and has been trying to avoid naps. Andrew has decided that he no longer will wear diapers at night--but he gets me up every time he needs to go 'potty' in the night. I know that it's a good thing, so I'll just live with it for awhile. At least he goes on the toilet, so all I have to do is stand there with my eyes closed while he goes, then put him back in bed. I don't have to change sheets... (knock on wood)

Claire MUST have a tapeworm. We were eating breakfast this morning (they talked me into making pancakes and eggs) and WHILE SHE WAS EATING she asked me if she could have a snack! Ummm, no! You are EATING BREAKFAST!! Oh. "Well, what are we going to have for a snack after breakfast?" Oh, good grief. This goes on most of the time all day long. She starts to beg for food within five minutes of eating. The kid is either hollow or full of parasites. Here, either one is entirely possible. (She really doesn't have a tapeworm...just so you grandma's out there reading this won't freak out. She's just a growing girl, I guess.)

I've been doing some fun reading with Josh. I'm so impressed at how well he doing with reading. I'm really pushing him (he doesn't know it) and he is doing fantastic with it! He's reading second and third grade books! His favorite books to read are the Magic Tree House books--which is a good thing, because I don't think I could stomach reading them aloud any more, and I KNOW Devin dislikes them. We told Josh that if he really wants to read them, he has to do it all by himself. It's not that they're bad books, they're just REALLY basic and somewhat flat as far as storyline. Oh well. They're supposed to be, I suppose, since they're for young kids.

So, we have now discovered our newest FAVORITE music! I usually always have music playing. Most of the time, it's classical/instrumental of some sort. I do have some 'running' music for the kids. There's one that has Romanian music (Devin's mix), a few 'Brite' Janeen Brady cds (See Me Run series), some nice Salsa (My Guatemalan music...), and now: Dog Train! We were first introduced to this by our neighbors before they moved away from us... I got it for Josh for his birthday last year, but never had much of a chance to play it because of Peter's coming and our subsequent trip to the US for way too long (not because I don't love all of you--it's just difficult to live away from your own personal home/space for three months). Well, I pulled it out again a few weeks ago, and it has stayed in the cd player since! It's HILARIOUS!!! There's a song about throwing a tantrum, about needing a nap (sung by Weird Al and Kate Winslet!!!!), a boring song (the kids LOVE this one!!), a penguin's lament (one of my favorites!)...it is just SOOOOOO good!!! I don't mind letting the kids listen to it over and over and over and OVER because I can't help but giggle every time I hear it! It's VERY well done. I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone out there! Go check it out!!