Pre-Halloween Party

This was one of the most fun Halloween parties I've been to in a long time! (And it wasn't just because I was in charge of most of the games! Ha!)

On our way there:



Toilet paper the yard! Ha!!







(They were upset because they lost...But they still 'won' prizes anyway...)





Water relay! (I made the mistake of telling the kids that the people who emptied their bucket first, won. Well, some little person decided to dump their bucket out halfway through the game and yell that they'd won... this was the same little person who cheated at 'pin the nose on the clown', then told me they didn't as I WATCHED them do it... Oh well.)







The kids definitely got wet--but it was good!

Pin the Nose on the Clown:






The Treasure Hunt! (We had instructions on where to go to find the treasure! The 'leaders' read the clues, and the kids had to run and find what the clue meant...)










"Is this where the Treasure be?" (This is what the kids were supposed to ask the pirate/guard. Instead, they screamed a lot: "We want treasure!!" "Where is it???" "Who are you?" "How come they got the treasure first?")

"Aye! Here be the Treasure!" (Actually, the guard was supposed to say that...but, being Cameroonian, he said instead: "Oh, yes! You want the Treasure? Here it is, and you are welcome!" Regardless, you could tell the guard was having the time of his life!!)

They found the treasure!




We even had a wonderful dinner! Complete with cookies, cake, hot dogs, chicken salad, fruit...and some fabulous decorations!





Thanks, Rosmarie! We did good! :)

Happy Halloween from Cameroon!

(Nice picture, Devin!)

Peter's First Haircut

Peter is now officially a little boy. He's had his first hair cut! He reacted to it just as Andrew did: A lot of giggles!! :) What a good boy!

Before:




After:




Isn't he just adorable????

The Beginning...

My Best Friend just left Cameroon forever.

My Nanny and Housekeeper now have new permanent Jobs somewhere else.

The internet is finally back after being down for a whole week.

This is the beginning of the end.

In 2 weeks, we send off our Air Freight to Utah so that it's there waiting for us.

Two or 3 weeks later, we send off all the rest of our stuff to Helsinki so that it's there waiting for us.

A week (or less) after that, we're leaving on a jet plane.

I haven't cried this much in a long time.

Fish Rolls

Fish Heads! Fish Heads!
Roly-Poly Fish Heads!
Fish Heads! Fish Heads!
Eat them up--YUM!

I had some ladies from church over, and they taught me how to make Cameroonian Fish Rolls! They're actually quite good--but high maintenance! :) Here are some pictures! I'll post the 'recipe' on my food blog at some point.

First, you prepare the fish. These are Mackerel fish:



You skin it,



Boil it,



Then mash it up!



While doing that, you cut up carrots and green beans into tiny pieces, and boil them with a tomato-ish sauce (it's tomatoes, garlic, ginger, parsley, celery leaves, leeks, basil all VERY finely ground together with a lot of salt added). You add this to the mashed up fish. This is the filling for the rolls.

Simultaneously (I swear these women have at least 12 arms--they accomplish such amazing feats!!), you make the dough:



Just your basic dough (flour, yeast, warm water, salt, sugar).

You let the dough rise while everything is boiling. Then you take it apart into little balls of dough and roll it out into SUPER skinny isosceles triangles:





You fill it with the fishy filling:



Roll it up:




Then you deep fry it! (You CAN bake it, but it seriously does not taste quite as good...)



Voila! :)




And what were the kids doing during this activity, you might ask?

Blessings for the Countdown

I think it looks like all that I see are the bad things here. Well, while I do see a lot of problems, and it is especially bad for me right now, I really think it's all actually quite funny!! Where else would this happen to us? If we were in the states, this wouldn't be happening, so I'm enjoying the novelty of having no power...no fridge...no freezer...no stove/oven...no microwave...no drinking water...no music...no movies...

Anyway, since I've vented a bit about some of my issues, I thought I would also write down some of the blessings and things about this place that I will REALLY miss when our last 2 months (*58 days*cough*) are up...

I will miss having large groups of friends over (with their children), making a big mess, then standing outside to say good bye to everyone...and by the time I get back inside, the toys are put away, the table cleared and the dishes washed. You can't complain about that!

Only two more months... :(

I love that the kids can go outside and play happily at any time during the day. Even if it's raining, they go puddle jumping! There is no such thing as 'too cold' here. Sometimes, there is 'too hot', but then we just sit in the shade and eat fresh fruit and popcicles.

Only two more months... :(

Claire and I have 'school' all by ourselves while Andrew and Peter are happily occupied playing with the nanny.

Only two more months... :(

Cool names like: Napoleon (our guard), Hugh (our sometimes replacement guard, who is francophone and pronounces his name 'Ooog'), Ndumbi (our housekeeper), Meekness (our nanny), Patience (the nurse at the Health Unit), Comfort (the nurse at Josh's school)...

Only two more months... :(

Staying inside my house for days on end and not feeling cabin fever because it's SO BIG!!!

Only two more months... :(

If I DO run into problems with the house (and, yes, it does happen on a fairly regular basis, unfortunately) there is usually someone here within a few hours. That is definitely a perk when you live in a place where there are constant electricity issues.

Only two more months... :(

So, I really do like it here. The blessings are too numerous to count. I will definitely miss the people and all the fun things we've done. It is a beautiful country.

Trunky

I have masses of pictures to post, but I am too lazy to go down and get the camera right now. It has been a crazy past few days!! I think the only consolation that I've had lately is the thought: "Just two more months!" Yes, folks. That's it. We have two more months left. And when something happens, I just think, "Two more months." Within the Mormon Missionaries, there is a word for people like me: Trunky. It means that you are getting close to going home, and you want to pack your 'trunks' (aka bags) and leave!! Yes, that is me. And, in my defense, our bags are actually packed!! HA!!

With that in mind, I'd like to share some of my "Two more months" thoughts and experiences lately:

We have electricians here EVERY DAY working on some air conditioner or another. It trips a breaker EVERY day...or dies EVERY DAY...

"Two more months."

Our house is continually HOT.

"Two more months."

Tonight, ALL the power went off downstairs. We have no idea what has happened. The kitchen, dining room and living room have no power. The electrician was called in, but instead of asking US what was wrong, he asked the GUARD outside if the GENERATOR was on. The guard said no. The electrician left. We still have no power downstairs. I hope the food in the fridge and the freezer don't all go bad overnight.

"Two more months."

Andrew, Claire AND Josh all have ringworm.

"Two more months."

Claire has had a UTI. Again. They put her on antibiotics for it. Again. She had a moderate-severe reaction to the antibiotics. That's a first.

"Two more months."

People like to come over to our house at random times of the day to ask for work, fill out job applications, or con us into giving them a job. It's usually at 6am or 6pm. What the heck is up with that?

"Two more months."

ANY time Peter cries, someone rushes to pick him up and carries him and coddles him around the house until I can get around to helping him. While I don't think it's BAD to hold a baby CONSTANTLY, I can honestly say that it is definitely going to make my job that much harder in Helsinki when I just plain can't hold the kid 24/7. I don't really mind if he's crying at my ankles while I'm making dinner. I can sing him a song and pat his head and hand him toys and feed him little bits of food while I'm cooking, and he's usually fine. But even once he settles down and is enjoying himself, he is whisked away by someone.

"Two more months."

You don't SCRUB non-stick hard anodized expensive cookware with STEEL WOOL. I'm hoping this is learned before they start working for other people....

"Two more months."

You don't wash 100% wool/silk or dry clean only clothes. No matter where I try to hide them so I can get them dry cleaned, they are found and washed. (It's especially bad AFTER I've explained about how to read tags, and it still happens...after I've told them I'm going to do all my own laundry now, and it STILL happens...and what's worse is when it's a PURPLE dress and turns EVERYTHING for the next TWO LOADS PINK!!!!!! Bah.)

"Two more months."

You don't need to iron underwear, socks, towels... When the tag SAYS DO NOT IRON that usually means you're not supposed to. Did you know that if you iron underwear (or pants, as they call them in the UK) the elastic unravels and they are completely useless? Well, now you know.

"Two more months."

We STILL have mice enjoying our house as an evening resort. They are becoming rather bold in their excursions. They run all over the house even while we're walking around!!

"Two more months."

We took a walk today around a fitness circuit (our Wednesday Outing). When we got there, it was sprinkling, but that doesn't stop the Mummies in Crime!! So, we started walking. Within a few minutes, it was POURING!!! We just kept going! (I did, however, send my housekeeper back to the car with Peter...) By the time we hit the middle of the circuit, the rain had stopped. Unfortunately for us, though, the sun came out and it beat down mercilessly!! We dried out quickly. However, within a few minutes, all the children were flushed and the rest of us were tired and drenched with sweat! By the time we almost reached the end, the sun had gone away again, and we could hear the rain storm chasing us again! I got the strollers into the car, the kids in the seats, and everyone situated, when it poured down again, and we left the place just as we found it!! Ha!!

"Two more months."

Thanks for letting me vent.

Weekend O' Fun

We all have those weeks where we just wonder...what the heck just happened?? I have had one of those.

It started off with Claire getting sick last Thursday. She threw up all over her bed and the floor in her room and was droopy all morning. Then, she threw up all over the couch later in the day. Yuck. I am definitely not a fan of the throwing up!! :/ Apparently, she just had some sort of Cameroonian virus.

Here is a side-note: I grew up in places where there are seasons. At the change of each season, people get sick. That's just the way it is. It is, of course, especially bad when winter comes and when Spring comes. Most of you who read this know all about the dreaded flu season. Well, I find it rather funny that everyone gets sick at the change of 'seasons' here, too! What seasons, you might ask? I'm not really sure. They say that there is a dry season and a rainy season. Or, more specifically, the long dry season, the long rainy season, the short dry season and the short rainy season. No one is actually sure when any of these starts or ends. But, I think we all know it by how sick everyone is! Ha! From what I've seen, it rains a little bit less during the 'dry' season, and usually rains a little bit more in the 'rainy' season. However, a few years ago it was very cool to see the red sand in the air from the Sahara when it didn't rain for TWO weeks!

So, Claire was sick Thursday, Friday and much of Saturday. She finally got better... Then came Sunday and I started to feel it come on. I was sick, sick, sick on Sunday night and Monday. To top off the getting sick--Saturday night we had a nice big lightning storm. I LOVE storms! Devin and I sat out on our balcony and watch the torrential rains and purple lightning. Very cool! The storm lasted all night. The biggest problem with storms here is the power issue. Now, the power is not very good on the best of days. When there's a storm, it's worse than terrible. Our power went on and off about every 15 minutes all night.

So, Sunday, we came to find that Andrew's and our air conditioners were completely shot. Blah. So, being the wonderful (?) mother that I am, I gave Andrew my beloved fan for his room, because it was HOT (and I was hoping that it would drown out the stupid birds that start blaring their welcome to the sun at 4 am and waking him up)! Without my fan, though, I just couldn't do it. I lay in my bed tossing and turning, my a/c was growling and not functioning properly, and I felt nasty! Devin was thoughtful, and put a recording of the ocean on repeat on the cd player right next to me. It was helpful, however every time it went to repeat, there was a few seconds of silence that would wake me up. I'm the most terrible light sleeper!!!

Finally, around 11pm, Devin and I tried pulling out the hide-a-bed downstairs to see if it would be any cooler. It was slightly cooler, but BRIGHT (I will NOT miss the florescent 24/7 security lights on our house) and it felt like I was trying to take a nap in the middle of the day. Finally, at 4am, I went back to my dark, warm, quiet room and tried the ocean cd again. I slept until 6am, and just felt sick and tired all day long. It was our scheduled day to have the missionaries over for our bi-weekly dinner and FHE, so I had to prepare dinner for 20 people! No getting out of cooking for me! (We had Hawaiian Haystacks...)

Then, after dinner was over, Peter was tired and hadn't really napped, so I decided to take him up to give him a bath and put him to bed. Well, I put the little foam pad on the ground for me to kneel on, without realizing that there was a big puddle of water on the floor from the earlier bathtime fun... So, yes, I stepped on it while holding Peter, my feet flew out from under me at lightning speed, and since I didn't want to drop the baby, my ribs caught the full weight of the two of us. Pain! So I tearfully bathed Peter, put him to bed, finished FHE and put the other kids to bed...all hoping that I could finally get some sleep and feel better.

No such luck. Monday night I barely slept at all, I was so sick! and I couldn't get comfortable because my ribs hurt so badly.

Tuesday, thankfully, I did feel better, as it was Andrew's birthday and I needed to do a lot of things! I took the kids to playgroup, made 2 cakes, played birthday games... Sadly, we had to go to a temple recommend interview in the afternoon right after Devin got done with work. I went to pick him up to expedite things a bit, hoping that the branch president would be there and we could be in and out quickly with plenty of time to make dinner and have Andrew's little party.

I should have known better. Seriously. Where do I think I live, anyway? Yes, we waited over an hour for the branch president just to GET there. BAH!! Then he took another hour to settle himself in and finally interview us. I felt pretty desperate! My poor little boy's birthday!! and all my babies at home with my poor housekeeper who needed to get home, too. So, on the way home, we got a rotisserie chicken with some fries for dinner. The kids seemed ok with that. They ate their chicken and chips and then while I put Peter down to bed, Devin served out the birthday cake. After Peter was in bed, we opened gifts, and everyone finally went to bed around 8:30...again. *sigh*

Wednesday, I went out to lunch with friends for the first time in my whole life! How fun is that!?!? I felt so grown up! :) It felt so elegant and refined to just sit and chat with my friends without worrying about which of my children were bugging whom. Very nice. Afterwards, I took the kids to another play date, and enjoyed more friends and lots of toys! :)

Thursday, once again I was in the health unit with Claire. She should just live there! Ha! She has some other infection, plus ringworm, too...and I found that my rib is broken. But, seriously, what can you do? Luckily, I have all this household help already, and while I really do most of the work now, at least I CAN delegate if needs be.

Friday, I did a story time on Dinosaurs! It was fun and funny as I tried to think of what songs to sing...and ended up singing songs about turtles and crocodiles. They're from the same 'family', right? It wasn't THAT much of a stretch... Ok, maybe it was, but the kids liked it. Then, I had ANOTHER lunch date! Wow! Two in ONE WEEK after 31 years of nothing! Ha! It was fun! Then I ran home for movie night! Full days at our house! The only problem is, since I've been so busy doing things, the kids haven't been so busy... So instead of me wearing them out by doing things all day, they've just been sitting around and hanging out with the nanny. Slacker mom! Which means that they've gone to bed REALLY late every single night this week! Claire has decided to start being ornery every night. They've all begun the ritual "I need a drink of water... Again!!" and "I have to go potty...Again!" and thinking up every new excuse there is! Good gravy. Hopefully, we'll get them all back on schedule again soon. I'm tired.