Back to School Week and A Look Back at December

January 22nd Note:For whatever reason, I cannot move forward until I recap December and even my start of 2011 feels off kilter until I just give myself a chance to sit down and write down some memories of that month, which I want to remember. Yes, I am compulsive sometimes. So be it. What follows is the blog I started on January 14.

The boys are down for naps and I am thinking about a nap for myself. The return to a regular schedule after a month of vacation definitely found us tired this week! Still, after a somewhat shy first day back, Micah has had a ball returning to school. He loves his teacher, learning new things, and seems to enjoy all his classmates. He has a best buddy, K, and it's all K's aunt and I can do to get our boys off the playground after lunch and head home because K and Micah want to just keep playing together. And this makes my heart happy!

I must confess to having major blues Micah's first day back because I love spending time with him and had gotten really used to having him around all the time during his winter break. He is funny and sweet and even when he is stubborn and debating me over something, he often entertains me with his logic and way of presenting himself. Still, he had loved school so much last term and as the week went on, I found myself feeling happy and upbeat about being back (as did Micah).

Tiras has adjusted fairly well to the new schedule. Although he seems very cranky after we leave Micah behind at school (though shows no sign of wanting to join him, just of wanting to keep Micah around), he and I are having some fun one-on-one time and also had a wonderful playdate earlier this week. A little girl who is two years older than Tiras came over and they got on really well together.

Tiras is talking up a storm these days and he's a lot of fun to be around as we can communicate more and more. He has a cute sense of humor and he can be such a little ham to make our neighbors laugh. He is not super tall for his age, but carries himself with all the confident swagger of an NFL lineman. He seems to be keen to begin the "terrible twos" with all their attending tantrums and attitude, so he keeps me on my toes.

So that has been our first week back to reality. Before I forge on ahead with the blog, I did want to take a little time to just reflect on December. It flew by so quickly, but was packed with a lot of wonderful.

And now, DECEMBER 2010
Happily, we rang in December with our Christmas tree up and decorated. It looked a little tiny in its new setting, which has much higher ceilings than we had before, but it was a festive and cute tree and the boys loved it. Sometimes the whole family would sit on the couch after dinner and just look at the lights and enjoy the tree and enjoy the chance to connect a little before dispersing for bedtime and the return to replying to work emails and the various "to do" items I always seem to have.

My parents and grandmother arrived in Nairobi on Friday morning, December 3. They came out to Kisumu the next day and it was just wonderful to have them here. They got to see Micah's school and ride the tuk tuk into town and shop at Nakumatt and all manner of slices of our life here, including the craft market and coffee shop!

A highlight of their first week was getting to see the Christmas show put on by Micah's school. Micah was a Jack in the Box and one of my favorite memories was of working with my parents to create the box portion of his costume. I found a really great sparkly gold paper and my dad worked like an engineer to create precise angles with a purple paper and that made for a Harlequin pattern on the box that looked really great! It reminded me of old times when my parents helped me with school projects and it was fun to have them join up with me now to help with a project for my child.

It was Micah's very first school musical. Don't have a photo of Micah in his wonderful Harlequin box. Happily we do have video coverage of the big moment, though less ideal coverage than we might have wished. Deron was as enthralled as I to watch Micah perform for the first time. So enthralled that he had eyes only for Micah during the "Jack in the Box" song. So it was quite a surprise to him to later review his video coverage and discover that in the frame was another schoolchild diligently and energetically picking his nose through the ENTIRE song. It's a bit of a distraction. But there you go.

School got out on the tenth and we then geared up for our trip to the Masai Mara. We had an early flight out to Nairobi and our connection to the Mara wasn't until the later afternoon, so we got to go to the Westgate mall. It was beautiful and so clean! I hadn't really consciously articulated that all the dust of Kisumu kinda gets to me after a while, but being in this pristine setting was a fun experience in and of itself. We had brunch at Art Cafe and I had a smoked salmon sandwich which had REAL cream cheese and an avacado and was one of the single most enjoyable meals of my life. We also got artisan chocolates that were as amazing as any chocolates I have eaten. Between the smoked salmon, cream cheese, and chocolate, I was really set and blissed out for a goodly number of months in the food category! (Still excited to eat New England clam chowder, scallops, and Mexican food when we visit the U.S. this summer!)

After several blissful hours at the mall, we drove to Wilson Airport to take our wee little plane to the Mara. It had 3 seats across and about 8 rows or so, so was not the most wee little of wee little planes. But it was wee little enough for Tiras to suddenly notice that one leaves the ground in an airplane and to feel all the turbulence and to wail and cry and protest in horror during the whole flight. Luckily wee little planes have very noisy propellers so our fellow passengers did not have to hear this outcry for the whole flight. It was quite poignant, actually, but he bounced back immediately once we landed.

We stayed at the Mara Serena again and it was glorious. There is no place on earth I would rather be if someone told me I had to live out my days in one and only one place for the rest of my life. The Mara Serena is set up high and looks down on the vast Mara which is beautiful and filled with glimpses of elegant giraffes grazing and baboons strolling along and so many other wonderful animals to behold. The Mara is too beautiful and vast and full of wonders of nature for me to do any kind of justice to them with my words. So I will leave this paragraph on that note.

It has been a lifelong dream of my grandmother's to visit Africa and suffice it to say that she was not disappointed. She and my parents fell just as head over heels with the Mara as we are. They saw all of the "Big 5" (so named both because of their size and the danger they posed to those who hunted them): lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, and rhino. They saw a zebra crossing. (And no matter how frazzled I may ever feel as I try to be a good mom to my boys, I never face crocodile infested waters and have to just hope my baby makes it across and helplessly cross along with it, unable to protect it from being snatched away. Nope. Nothing in my parenting duties is ever as poignant and horrific as that.) They saw baby animals. They saw the Tanzania border and looked out at the Serengeti on the Tanzania side. They savored it all and could have stayed on and on. It was a wonderful success!

Along with all the splendour of the Mara, we had another big event during this week. Micah rang in his fifth birthday. Half a decade with this fun, creative, playful, witty, wonderful, loving, funny, imaginative, sensitive, logical, changed our lives forever for the better kid. The wait staff surprised Micah with a birthday serenade and a cake with five candles. Micah had a wonderful day and has been planning both Tiras and my birthday trips to the Mara ever since.

We did have to depart from the Mara eventually and flew back to Nairobi. I believe what helped us ease the blow of leaving the Mara behind was getting to stay in the Tribe hotel. It is a beautifully designed hotel in a lovely part of Nairobi. There is all sorts of gorgeous African art and even though its main clientel are business travelers, the staff are warm and wonderful to our boys. In fact, Micah received a Dora holiday DVD as a birthday gift (I thought my parents' suite at the Mara had a DVD player but it was VHS) and they set up a DVD player in a conference room with a soft sofa in it and let Micah view his DVD there. (Turns out we had a DVD player in our room but the extra space of the conference room was nice for Micah and Tiras.) We were next to the Village Market and got to do some fun shopping, including taking in the Masai Market which comes through weekly with all sorts of crafts!!! Gorgeous crafts! Some the same as what we have in Kisumu, but because it is so large, many items that were new. It was fun to behold. I remain horrible at bargaining, but did pick up some tips when I saw Deron in action.

While at Tribe, we met a very nice woman with her baby. They had just moved to Nairobi from China and her little girl was younger than Tiras but very friendly and interested in Tiras. Tiras decided to play the shy card and just suck his index finger and stare solemnly at her or burrow his head into Dad's chest. I mention this interaction because of the "small world" moment that follows later.

We flew back to Kisumu with our treasures and many wonderful memories. Micah opened birthday presents and my dad did some cooking for us. Wish I had his talents because he can always take the food he finds and make something delicious out of it. I am reading Nigella Lawson's How to Eat and she talks about understanding food and food preparation rather than "slavishly following recipes" and I think I am definitely her target audience. I love to try recipes but have very little understanding of cooking. So hopefully an unexpected result of living here will be that I take the time to learn a bit more about good food prep and can become more like my dad in this regard.

We spent some low key but happy days with my parents and grandmother and they headed home on Wednesday the 22nd. Due to snow issues in London, there were some worries that their flight might be canceled. Even the day before their departure, the analagous flight to theirs was canceled. But apart from a mere two hour delay, all went smoothly and according to schedule. They made it home with many treasures and memories from their trip.

And what saved this next part of December from being a tale of how I plunged into sad despair at their departure and wallowed around for days in a funk of missing them is that we left that very same morning for Mombasa with neighbors from our compound. Going to the coast holds its excitement, but what REALLY distracts one from a tearful goodbye is travel with a toddler. Just cannot focus too much on your blues when you have an active kiddo who needs to be managed on a plane. So the transition was seamless and I am truly grateful because the day before my parents left I was already crying and blue and I think would have plunged still further into sadness if not for this trip not giving me a chance to mope.

We stayed at White Sands, a resort in Mombasa. We had heard good things and it really was gorgeous. Beautiful grounds and pools. Delicious food and warm and friendly wait staff plus super talented bands singing and playing music in the background of our meals. And the ongoing wonderful of being near the ocean and hearing the surf. The boys had a blast!

And here's the small world moment. On Christmas Eve there was a huge outdoor buffet and people had dressed up a bit. A very pretty mom and baby smiled at us and greeted us and we recognized them to be the mom and Baby CeCe from Tribe in Nairobi!

Deron and I felt a little homesick on Christmas day when we attended the service at the hotel. It was a nice service, but half of it was in Swahili (which makes sense, of course) and it made us miss being at a familiar church. And it does seem that holidays such as Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July can sometimes make the distance from home and friends and family there more acute.

We had a great last day on the 26th, which included riding out in a glass bottom boat and walking on a sandbar, and then headed back to Kisumu on the 27th. The rest of the week was quiet and low key. I did lots of laundry and unpacking and enjoyed cooking and cleaning and running the house with just our family. Rose is wonderful and nice, but sometimes the quiet of being just the four of us is a nice thing too.

Come December 31st, Deron and I talked long into the night and rang in New Year's long before most of our friends and family. We reflected on all that 2010 had held and imagine 2011 will be a quieter year. We look forward to seeing what unfolds.

Mara Babies

I am looking forward to sitting down and writing a longer post about December. It has flown by in a whirlwind but contained many special times and I look forward to slowing down enough to sit down and reflect and savor the memories. For now, I am cooking up a storm for a potluck. It seems fitting that it is at the home of a new friend here who brought us our first meal upon arrival. And it also seems fitting that I am making both the Mexican Brownies and the roasted tomatoes I loved so much and for which I discovered the recipes while living here.

In the meantime, I thought I'd post a series of photos from our visit to the Masai Mara this December. In August the great migration of the wildebeests dominates the scene. In December things were greener and there were so many baby animals to see, which was also wonderful.

Enjoy! And happy last day of 2010. Wishing you joy and peace in the coming year!

Zebra Baby


Giraffe Baby


Lion Babies


Hippo Baby


Rhino Baby


Elephant Baby


Cheetah Babies (3 large cubs, still with their mother)


Baboon Baby


Topi Baby


And...Blue Hoodied Brother Babies

In Light of Weather Delays...

I really did mail holiday cards in time for Chrismtas delivery. But dreams of a white Christmas apparently were answered in abundance this year and as far as I know, nary a Christmas card has arrived. I mailed Hanukkah greetings earlier and they DID make it, so yay for that!

In the meantime, here is a little sneak preview. The family picture is different on our actual card, but this was a close second, so really, this weather delay has a nice silver lining of giving me a chance to use both pictures I liked.

Happy last day of December and best wishes for a joyful new year!

Joy Magic Story Christmas 5x7 folded card

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View the entire collection of cards.

The Week In Review

Well, technically, the week and a half in review because a few items happened last week. But The Week in Review just has a bit more of a ring to it, don't you think?

Belated Thanksgiving wishes to all. It was bittersweet. But I think I say that in a good way, actually, because it brought about a bit of reflection. Here is the little status snippet I posted on Face.book yesterday.

"I keep not posting because I vacillate between overwhelming gratitude for so many blessings and (small, sheepish voice) feeling very homesick for family and friends! Since the latter is a sort of blessing--great to have people I love and miss, right?--I guess I will be thankful even for the tinge of blues I feel at times today. Wishing much love and a happy day of gratitude and thankful reflection to all!"

Not only were the replies to my status report very sweet and encouraging, but the process of typing out that status report made me think of the reality that it's a blessing to have people you love and miss. It's a blessing to have so many happy memories of Thanksgiving over the years. The very presence of a wistful yearning to be in the U.S. in the midst of that Thanksgiving vibe, or able to pick up the phone and speak to loved ones and not have such huge time zone differences preclude a call (or significantly shift the tenor from excited connection to groggy disbelief) are reminders that I have many blessings for which to be thankful.

And, to be sure, I have a great deal to be thankful for right here in Kisumu. I have people right here in Kisumu I already love and enjoy so much! I have experiences here that I wouldn't trade. And, I sort of feel a kinship to the spirit of that first Thanksgiving when people came to a new place and started flourishing there. Mind you, my journey has not been nearly so rugged. Still, those first six weeks or so in our new home saw many ups and downs. I sometimes joke that they lasted for years and then the following months flew by in about a week's time. I am thankful that life is so full and happy here that time zips along in a good way. I am thankful for all the strange and new things that no longer feel strange and new. I am thankful for all that I have yet to discover. I am even optimistically thankful for the day when I will be amazed that I once would not drive around here. That "once" phase is where I live now, but I am thinking positive that I am going to get the courage and confidence to do a bit of pushing myself on that front.

I am not sure how well I am articulating. The bottom line is that I spent a lot of time yesterday being grateful to God for all the places where He has taken me in the past and thankful for where He has me now. I am thankful for so many amazing people I have gotten to encounter in all those places. I am thankful for technology that lets me connect with people near and far.

And, to be sure, along with giving thanks, I also spent part of yesterday eating turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. And so many other yummy and examples of classic American Thanksgiving fare. We joined a number of other expats and it was very nice indeed.

And, as so often occurs on this blog, I have a few anecdotes about the kidlets I want to remember.

Last week, just before bed, I had Micah and Tiras on my lap. Tiras was being fussy and Micah had been in rare form pushing my buttons that day. And I had not, alas, always been the picture of grace, wisdom, and patience in my response to that button pushing. But day's end had arrived, as it always does, and we were all three sitting on the green rocker together and I said a little bedtime prayer.

Micah and I had just been reading about Jonah and The Whale and the story talked about a second chance for Jonah and a second chance for Nineveh and after our own rocky day, I was inspired to thank God for giving second chances and helping us move forward and do better in the future and for loving us all the same. And that started a roll of thanking Him for various things, such as Daddy coming back home safely from the U.S. and Ghana, a great week at school, good friends, and how much Tiras and Micah love each other.

I was about to say Amen, but asked Micah if he wanted to thank God for something (as he does when we say dinner grace each night) and he emphatically whispered "yes!" and this is what he added: "God, I really think you are the best person in the whole world! Because you're God! And I really like this prayer we're saying to you!" It's hard to convey his earnest and sincere and effusive tone and it was just a really sweet moment. I think we both felt comforted and encouraged about the character and love and mercy of God! Nothing like a little praise to just make a grouchy and/or off day melt away! And nothing like seeing your kiddo caught up in his own love and enthusiasm for God. A very sweet moment indeed!

And, today, Micah's class performed "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" at Friday Assembly. They had made their own paper oars and were all rowing as they sang. They had on cute sailor hats and just looked generally happy and adorable. The other "Early Years" classes performed as well and if they could bottle up the cuteness and sweetness of all those little kids and the smiles of the older kids watching them along with the smiles of all the adults, well, my goodness, the world would just be all hearts and rainbows here on out! All three classes got a bit of stage fright and shyness, but the audience loved them and Micah felt just thrilled by the performance. I really did not see him moving his mouth to sing, but he was belting it out at home after school today and he remembered himself as singing. And I think it's nice that in his mind, he was happily singing and performing--it was clearly a positive experience.








As for Mr. Tiras. He makes me smile. Mind you, he has started his run of the "Terrible Twos" early and can sure throw a tantrum with the best of em. And I read a P.ublix parenting newsletter for this age range which mentions the emerging trend of hitting and Tiras is proving to be right on track with that as well. And he loves to hurl food and sippy cups to convey his displeasure at anything ranging from no longer being hungry but still sitting in his high chair to being given juice he has asked for, but in a sippy cup he has apparently not envisioned holding his beverage of choice this time around to not being understood as he emphatically speaks to us in words we don't yet interpret correctly. And those moments can feel long and my patience can feel short. And, yet, when I think of Tiras, I just smile. There is something about that lumbering walk and bruiser swagger and happy giggle that just grabs my heart. And, of course, the daily snuggles into my shoulder with that sweet little head pretty much melt my heart.

Though I earlier alluded to words he uses which we do not correctly interpret, there are some new words we are successfully identifying. He now tells us to "See, See!" and/or "Look!" at "burps" (birds). And yes, I am apparently an eight year old boy at heart because that makes me crack up every time. (Hee, hee, he said burps!) Must be genetic because whenever Tiras actually does burp, he looks at me and cracks up. It's like he KNOWS my secret sense of humor already. There were other words this week, but as I sit to type this I realize that "burp" has eclipsed them all for me. Oh well...

Big news for Tiras last week was that he had his first haircut. Micah had the very good idea of doing a brother haircut wherein he would go first so that Tiras could see how it all worked and be less afraid. Tiras watched with rapt attention and seemed quite happy and calm. When Micah was finished, Tiras seemed to sit in my lap with happy readiness. If you have spotted the operative word "seems", good on you. As soon as the smock went on, the tears flowed. The tears did not stop until the haircut was over and he and I were out of that chair. He did manage to give the hair stylist a smiley high five, so evidently there were no lingering hard feelings.

Will leave you with some closing shots of Tiras getting his first haircut. Deron and I will try and get a more chipper shot of him tomorrow as well as one where you can see the new look he is sporting. Will also leave you with wishes for a very happy weekend!

Added A Few Photos

I went back to a couple of June and September entries and added photos. I am just getting the hang of formatting options and have not yet figured out how to change up the order or the layout if it turns out less than stellar, as you will see.

Still, it's an exciting beginning!

Edited to add that I just keep adding photos as I see thematically and chronologically fit. I am REALLY having fun here! I may be inundating the internet with blog entries now that I have this fun new feature working for me!

"See, See!"

"See, See" is the refrain that echoes through our compound these days because that is what Tiras says several hundred times each day. He especially likes us to "see see" things in the sky.

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Sometimes he will say "See! See ant!" And sure enough, he will be pointing to an ant. While we have a range of sizes of ants in our compound and while they all seem to send an occasional representative or two on quests into our home, we are fortunate to have very genteel ants. None of those biting fire ants or safari ants for us so far. And I hope it will stay that way because those biters sting! Here's hoping that by typing that in the Blog I don't have to soon eat my words and fend off the biters!

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In general Tiras is talking up a storm! He loves to use new words and seems to be gaining them by the day. "Indow" (window) is a newly acquired word Tiras seems to particularly savor saying! He also has started saying "Micah" rather than just "Cah" and this has proven to be a source of great delight to Micah, who is intent upon teaching Tiras to now say Micah James.

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And Micah has his own special way of "see see"ing lately. If he really likes something he is viewing, he will announce "I'm going to take a picture of that." He will then make a clicking camera noise and capture the image in his mind forever with his brain camera. The other day he beckoned me, "Mama, come and see this grasshopper!" Out on our entryway was a beautiful green grasshopper. I was just thinking how great it was that Micah appreciates nature with so much enthusiasm when he busted the brain camera move. And it touches my heart every time!

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And, oh my goodness, I can barely concentrate on typing any more news and text until I say "See! See! I learned how to post an image!!!" And it seems fitting to give you the setting of our blog tales. Pictured above is our compound. Our home is the unit on the right of the duplex pictured above.

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To the right you can see the shadow of the one stand-alone home on the compound. Living there is a couple with grown children and they are great with the boys. Tiras makes several trips a day to their front steps. Cement steps he insists on climbing. And our neighbor always comes out to visit with us when one of these climbing sessions is underway. Even when it is early in the morning and she is having coffee and still in PJs. She's that kind of friend and neighbor. And she sure does take time to get to know my boys and what they are like and what they like. She has planted various veggies and recently went out of her way to share seeds with Micah so he could do the same. She also showed him the first squash to grow on the thriving squash vine she cultivated from a seed! She likes science and seems to anticipate well what will be magic to a science fan like Micah. She also came to the Friday morning assembly at Micah's school to see him presented with a certificate for being a student of the week for reading.

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Behind the photographer is the other duplex on the compound. This is the home of the other two CDC families. This is where I ate just about every night Deron was away in the U.S. and Ghana for a conference and meeting. This is where I watched my boys lavished with love and smiles. This is where I watched my boys giggle and laugh with their beloved buddy, Aria. This is where I was kept far too busy and happy to ever have much time to feel lonely while Deron was gone.

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And the couple residing in the other side of our duplex are very nice as well! They just arrived here fairly recently and both have had some travel, so we don't see them quite as much yet, but always encounter warm smiles. Plus, they have added two more doted upon dogs to the compound. What's not to love about an elderly pug named Pudgy and the frisky and ever-jumping beagel puppy named Harley?!

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This, right now, is home. And come Thursday, I will be giving thanks for the blessing of my friends and family far away and for all the ways technology helps soften the blow of that distance and I will also be giving thanks for this wonderful and warm community which has become like a family to us here in Kisumu. We are blessed indeed!

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Note: I could not get spaces between paragraphs and since it looked like an overwhelming blob to my eye, I tried several ways to get those spaces and settled on the asterisk approach. For those of you who "follow" the blog, I hope you don't get an alert for every time I edit or you probably have about 10 for this entry alone!

November Hello!

Note: On November 21, I added some images from our expat Halloween! Many thanks to Grandma for sending us costumes and Aunt Kimmy for sending us Halloween candy from home. Skittles and Tootsie Rolls do great in the mailing process!

It is NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) and the idea is to post every day of the month including weekends. Well, in honor of NaBloPoMo, I figure I will endeavor to at least post ONCE this month. Wry smile. Blah blah blah internet down and blah blah blah busy with kiddos and all the usual reasons for falling way behind.

I do miss blogging more regularly. I have had the distinct delight of finding out good friends have been reading my blog and it makes me feel so connected to you to know you are out there reading this from time to time! Plus, I like the idea of having a little record of our family's time here in Kenya and here in toddler/preschooler mode for the boys to read later (and for me and Deron when the details so crisp and pronounced now start to inevitably fade a bit).

It's been a happy time. Because I have let so much time go by between posts, we have yet another bullet format update.

• In October Micah started really making some breakthrough progress in his swim class. He was concerned about drowning for a while there, but finally trusted Teacher Mark enough to spread his wings and fly, or swim as the case may be. It's been a number of years since he took his first steps in our New York appartment, but I do believe my thrill at seeing that face in the water, arms reaching overhead, and legs kicking was as acute here and now as it was back then. I realize walking is such a huge developmental milestone, but there is something about seeing my baby boy SWIMMING all on his own that just seems so incredibly capable and independent and as if he is plunging into the outside world. It is thrilling to me!


• Tiras is like a little toddler version of an extreme sports athlete. It's not enough to climb tall cement steps, which has my heart in my throat more often than not, but I am learning to hover close and yet give him enough space to try out new skills. No, it is not simply enough to insist on making an obsession out of climbing up and down the most precarious spots on the compound; once he masters these steps he has to start swinging his arms as if to jump and, at a minimum, to make balancing more difficult. I haven't found new grey hairs yet, but we shall see what I am looking like when he rings in birthday number two!


• Tiras is talking more and more. I think I am going to have quite a chatterbox when we share more words from the same lexicon. For now, it is so fun to see his delight as he uses a new word and looks at my face for a reaction. He also makes me laugh with all his pretend phone calls. These can take place with my cell phone, a shoe, his hand, really just about anything. They start with a hearty "hello" and have a pretty animated middle content (though this is where the differing lexicon limits my ablity to fully appreciate all that is going on) and end with a "goodbye". One morning I heard him chattering away in his crib and came in to discover him in the middle of one of these phone conversations. He smiled brightly at me but kept talking to his hand/phone and I swear the smile looked as if he were trying to say "good morning--so great to see you mom--but I really have to take this call". It is rather hilarious.


• Micah received a certificate at one of his school's Friday assemblies recently. I thought he was going to be too shy to even stand up. Instead, he walked up to the head teacher and I swear he puffed out his little chest and just beamed at all his schoolmates, teachers, parents etc out in the audience as the head teacher explained that Micah was reading three letter words. He was thrilled and delighted and I got such a kick out of how much he enjoyed being the center of attention. Did not see that coming based on how shy he can be in group settings.


• While we do not have crisp weather, gold, crimson, and orange leaves, jaunty pumpkins, or other traditional signs of autumn here, we DO have an expat community which celebrated Halloween in style. There was trick or treating on a couple of the Embassy compounds here followed by a potluck dinner party at our compound. The kids were SUPPOSED to get to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown but the DVD did not work. This DVD was provided for the occasion by yours truly. Yes, I do have a teaching background in which I was trained to test every single audio visual before class time. No, I did not do this because I did not think our brand new boxed set of Charlie Brown holiday DVDs would contain any defective DVDs. Yes, I did assume and yes I do remember what happends when one assumes. Yes, the defective DVD did have to be the one DVD which we needed for a group of kids hopped up on sugar who had been successfully corraled into one place and were now impatiently waiting for this great movie they had been promised. Yes, I have learned my lesson! (I have also ordered a replacement and Micah watched it yesterday and had a giant grin on his face! How fun is it to see my kiddo watching what I watched as a kid?! I tried to explain how we did not have DVDs and so we could only see this cartoon when it came on television once a year. I explained how everybody would be home watching it at the same time and how it was really special. Micah seemed pleased to have the DVD option!)


• We have plans for a big expat Thanskgiving gathering next week! Looking forward to it. Still, I cannot actually believe it is already November. Time is truly flying by!


• My history books and Schoolhouse Rock DVDs have arrived and I am really excited about both. The latter brings back so many memories. The history series is really great. It's by Scholastic and is the If You Were There series. I love the format and it contains a lot of information. Micah loves the Schoolhouse Rock videos. "Interjections", "Interplanet Janet", and "The Shot Heard Round the World" seem to be his favorites right now. Which is a nice range of grammar, science, and social studies now that I type this out!

Here endeth today's writing. I may try and jump on the NaBloPoMo bandwagon late and do some daily posts. I think it might be fun later to have slices of life reported that consistently. Recognizing, of course, that some slices of life might be "could not post yesterday because internet was down every time I sat down to computer."

And to all a good night!