Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was a beautiful sunny day in Musoma as you can see from Tessa's picture. After opening all the presents, she got her new dress on, grabbed her new beach bucket and headed out to do some properly-attired gardening. I got a leather framed mirror from my loving husband (see photo). He got a new shoe shelf made just in time by our local carpenter. Jack's favorite present was all the wrapping paper for chewing. Tessa's happy with toys galore including a trike, a backpack on wheels, and tons of books.

Jack's rash went away on Monday so by Christmas he was back to being Happy Jack instead of Cranky Clingy Monster Boy. We're very glad to have him in good health now that the bizarre virus is gone.

The big meal of the day was an amazing BBQ with 3 other families followed by a birthday cake for Jesus and my pecan pie with real ice cream! Then we played a Scandinavian lawn game where you throw short, heavy wood rods at blocks - fun for the whole family (when else do we encourage our kids to throw sticks around?). We had a great warm Christmas this year with thoughts of all you in the snow.

Thirsty?

Are you thirsty? Well, just come on over for a fresh glass of tap water at out house! Yummy! We had water like this for Christmas day, then no water at all on Wednesday, then finally - clear water on Thursday evening. The sad thing is that we were not surprised to see this junk coming out of our faucets because it's not too unusual. Of course, even when it's clear we still have to filter it to drink it. We're trying to explain to Tessa that she can't drink water from the tub or tap when she's playing or bathing. How do you explain parasites to a 2 year old?

Jack's mixed birthday

Jack's birthday yesterday was a mixture of tears and laughs. He had fun with his birthday cake although he wouldn't touch it till I put him and the cake on the floor. Then he had a ball with the mess, including a few bites of cake frosted with dog hair. He also liked watching his sister and friends open his presents, even though he barely got a chance to play with them because of the stiff competition.

However, he's been sick for 6 days now: 3 days of 101-102 fever, and now a very loud rash on his head and torso. He has been clinging to me the whole time which is giving me callouses on my hips and arms. The upside though, is that he's sleeping more, and his laundry is very clean since he doesn't want to be alone long enough to crawl! Times like these, we wish we had a doctor around, but we've used our medical books and think he has 5th or 6th disease, which is just an ordinary virus that just has to wear itself out.

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

I just wanted to share these two photos of our African Christmas. Here is Tessa honing her fine cookie-making skills. She wasn't too handy with cutting and decorating but got an A+ at licking.

And I finally got my act together and made our family stockings from scraps of fabrics I've used to make curtains, bedding, upholstery, etc. Both Tessa's and Jack's stockings are made with the fabrics I used to make their quilts. I think it will be fun many years from now to remember how I've used these fabrics through our house. Thanks to my Aunt Lynn and her sewing machine, our stockings also have our names!

Due to slim pickings on small gifts in these parts, our stockings will probably be kind of limp tomorrow morning, but I doubt Jack and Tessa will mind when they see all the presents under the tree. Plus, Tessa likes wearing hers as a hat, and we can probably use Jack's as a sleeping bag!

Christmas tree

Several of you asked to see our little fake Christmas tree, so here it is. Some of the gourds are carved, while others are wrapped in a net of beads. The painting behind the tree is one that my mom painted. I wrapped the chairs and tree stand in African fabric.

We'll be here as a family of 4 Christmas morning, opening presents and stockings, with Christmas music in the background and pumpkin bread. We're sharing the afternoon with Australian friends, for whom warmth is normal on Christmas day so they do a BBQ. Two Wycliffe families (our good Dutch friends and a new family), new to our cluster, will also be joining us.

Christmas here definitely feels more like Bible times with the heat and the lack of commercialism. No gaudy decorations everywhere, no ads in the papers, no commercials for the newest toys, no malls or parking problems - just family and friends, presents and food. And heat. :) It's nice not to be innundated with materialistic side of Christmas. And if the internet is working then we'll try to call home on Skype, which would be very special for us and our families.

Tanzanian Thanksgiving Turkey

We celebrated Thanksgiving here a bit more traditionally than we ever did in the States in that our table was spread with produce from local gardens and a FRESH turkey. Yes, Dusty went to some great effort to find a turkey, and fortunately we paid a local man about $3 to get it "presentable." I tried to get there to take a photo of the bird before he met his maker, but I was just a few seconds late. I told them I was hoping to take a live photo, so the man kindly offered to put the head back on! How funny is that? Anyway, that bird was a tasty treat for us in a place where turkey is definitely not common. About 15 missionaries all came together to share the holiday and we all pitched in to pay the $65 price tag, and let me tell you, it was well worth it, but I think we'll just stick with some roast chickens for Christmas.

Kenya Weekend

Last weekend we had a little mini-vacation in Kenya at a beautiful cottage retreat in the only rain forest in Kenya. The highlights were rolling around in the lush grass, kicking the ball with the kids, watching the blue monkey and colobus monkeys play, eating great food prepared by someone other than myself, and having nothing on the agenda.

The lowlights were Jack vomiting all over himself and the car seat
on the drive up (great entertainment for all the locals who gathered to
watch us clean up), a very stressful shopping trip in the city for 6
months' of supplies (isn't shopping supposed to be fun??), a bumpy
detour, and money issues since our bank was bought and trouble ensued
(but it worked out and is getting resolved).

We'll be staying home for Christmas, so this was a nice pre-holiday
vacation. We've decorated the house a bit with a real fake tree and
African carved gourd ornaments which are pretty cool. We're playing
Christmas music, making something resembling cider, and wrapping gifts,
but with the warm weather it's still a challenge to realize this is
actually the Christmas season although we never miss all the commercialization that you are surely getting.

So here's a "warm" season's greeting from Africa: Merry Christmas to all of you, our family and friends - we sure wish we could celebrate with you this year but will eagerly anticipate seeing you in '08.

Who's in your yard?

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of our African backyard wildlife. Here are two of our visitors. Our Rottweiler, Ellie, drew our attention to both of these guys. We only saw the chameleon once, but had some fun watching him change colors and separately move his eyeballs simultaneously in all directions. The monitor lizard, who is about 3 feet plus the tail, comes around all the time and drives Ellie nuts.

We've also had the occasional monkey, hedgehog, rabbit, and a regular band of banded mongeese who keep the snakes away. Plus scorpions, gorgeous butterflies, and icky slugs and bugs. The strangest thing was finding a fish in our grass when Lake Victoria is about a mile away! How did it get there? Dropped by our permanent hawks who occasionally let half a snack slip their talons. So although we don't see giraffes, elephants, and rhinos wandering around every day, we do get some pretty fun animals to remind us that we're not in America.

kuni (firewood)

You might remember seeing Tessa carrying her dolly on her back the same way Rose, our househelper, carries Jack. Well, here's the most recent development on raising our little African-Americans. Rose came out to gather firewood with her daughter and neighbor, which they use for cooking between 3 rocks holding the pot. Tessa watched as I took photos to show all you great folks at home who buy neat bundles of firewood at the local grocery store and toss them in an SUV for cozy evenings by the fireplace. (and wouldn't I love to join you on a chilly evening?)

Anyway, the next thing I know Tessa's doing a bit of her own gathering, and by the look on her face, she's still trying to figure out how they do it. Me too! It's amazing to see huge buckets of water, benches, or trays of fish or fruit all balanced on someone's head! Then again, I've actually seen one lady with just a bar of soap on her head - now I think even I could manage that one. My favorite is seeing someone with a roller suitcase on the head - isn't that what the wheels are for?!

Boga-lantern

Tessa and her buddy Micaiah learned the fine art of pumpkin carving on Halloween. We don't have orange pumpkins though, so we used a regular green one but Micaiah's mama painted hers orange! The girls had a great time watching and participating and even Jack got in on the action. In Swahili, pumpkin is "boga," and Tessa came up with two terms for a jack-o-lantern: boga-lantern and jacko-boga. Pretty cool, eh? She's good with Swanglish or maybe just confused by her brother's oft-used name.

One odd thing was that I actually felt guilty for wasting a pumpkin, which I would ordinarily use for cooking pumpkin bread, soup, muffins, and baby food. I never would have felt guilty making a jack-o-lantern in the States! But I never would have used anything but canned pumpkin either. Also, after a few days, it grew mold and fruit flies - ugh. Never saw that in the States either.

All in all, it was a lot of fun and got some funny looks from our African friends.

Time for a new kid already?

Now, don't get your hopes up by the title - I'm not pregnant. But I've just discovered a new Tanzanian folkloric anecdote. Our friend Rose saw Jack (10 months) sucking his toes this week. She told me that here, when a baby starts sucking his toes, then it's time for the mother to get pregnant again! Her mother got pregnant with Rose's younger sister when Rose was only 7 months old. Yikes! Particularly considering that he was sucking his toes at 5 months. Not to fear - we're not sold on this tradition.

Other families keep their kids 2 to 3 years apart, in other words for as long as the youngest is still nursing. We won't be sticking to that tradition either - no, I'm not making any statements about subsequent children - just saying that I don't think Jack will be nursing for 3 years!

What to do with a flag?

I went to our little used clothing market to get some fabric to recover a chair some friends gave us, and came home with a much unexpected item. Isn't shopping like that? This is a 9'x5' flag (folded in half in the photo). I just couldn't believe that a huge American flag was randomly in our little market. It was pining for a new home and suffering a lack of appreciation and respect. I was trying to tell the sellers that I couldn't possibly use it and that they would never sell it to anyone here so I could get a good price on it. I don't think they really understood what they had. Anyway, this flag was just so sad and lonely that I had to rescue it. For five bucks!

Now the question is, what do I do with it? It's got a few rust stains, but is in good condition otherwise. It's too big for any of our walls, and I would never be so blatently American as to hang it from a pole in our yard - that wouldn't be too appreciated here. I could use it to make a quilt - denim on one side and flag on the back, but should I feel guilty for using it on a bed, particularly if I have to cut it up? So I need your creative thoughts. Help!!

Rare Photo of 4

Here is a photo for the archives: all 4 of us smiling. Our next effort will be to get one in which all four of us are smiling AND looking at the camera. Wish us luck. We make a special effort to get into the backyard on weekends and throw the frisbee or baseball and hang out in our hammock. It makes us feel a bit more American.

What's new with the Hills

It's been a while since I blogged because:
-We've been busily blessed with guests - one in Sept, and 2 in Oct. It was especially wonderful to host our good friends, Andy and Lyle from Denver. They got the real African treatment with days of no Internet, water, or electricity. But they also got to see almost all the African animals on their one-day safari. In Tanzania, guests are ALWAYS considered a blessing, and we've converted to that style of thinking.
-I was sick half of September with a cold and am now apparently shooting to be sick for half of October with a different cold.
-Our Internet has been insufficient to say the least.

Here's an update:
-My head has completely healed since the bump-removal surgery!
-Tessa is basically potty-trained except for diapers during sleep times!
-Jack has his first tooth and matching crankiness. My friend found it before I did, which gave me a "Bad Mom Moment." I'm over it though.
-We hoped we had entered rainy season, but I think we were wrong. It's been pretty dry.
-I'm having my first African dress made from African fabric in a local style for the office opening celebration. Photo to be posted later (if it's a winner). I'm a bit nervous.
-Dusty's extremely excited about the CO Rockies going to the World Series. That is an understatement. It would be impossible to describe how he feels. Especially since I am not him. He's really hoping the Internet will hold out so he can wake up at 3:30 in the mornings to listen to some games. Even I am happy for the Rockies, and that's impressive right there.

Tagged

Ok, I've been tagged by three or four friends, but as they were different topics, I'm just choosing one. (Tagging is apparently where someone writes a predetermined list and then chooses other blogging friends to do the same.) I am choosing the "8 Random Things About Me" tag without tagging anyone else.
1. I SCUBA dive with Dusty when we can - pretty rare these days as we can't so much as dip a toe in Lake Victoria.
2. I only have 24 teeth.
3. I own the World's Only Miniature Rottweiler (full grown at 50 pounds although her parents were both over 90).
4. I am secretly sentimental/nostalgic.
5. I never expected to be a career missionary.
6. I may never master the 16 noun classes in Swahili. The 2 in Spanish were more than enough for me.
7. I really enjoy gardening, but can't seem to do anything with seeds.
8. My favorite sound is Tessa and Jack laughing at the same time.

Tanzanian Style

This is how Tanzanian women carry their children. Tessa has learned this art far better than I have. She and her friend Micaiah are fond of keeping their baby dollies close by. (lack of clothing waist down is due to our "go for broke - naked bottom week" potty training technique. See post below.)

I tried to carry Jack as Rose is doing here, but Jack seems to be happy in front or back, and I really didn't like it when I tried him on my back and he spit up down my spine. I think I'll just stick with my Baby Bjorn front carrier, even if Tanzanians think it is strange.

Little Spooner

Yes, yes, it's true. Even Jack has mastered the fine art of nose spooning! Let's all congratulate his newest milestone. See below for Tessa's spoon photo. She has moved up to the soup spoon, so we're proud of her too.

Potty Time

Well, we're only officially training one of them on the potty, but the other is just there for entertainment. We're entering the 2nd week of training, and it's actually going pretty well. I never knew we could be so consumed in this type of activity, but I have to remind myself that we are teaching her a major life skill. Plus, this stage makes me thankful for our concrete floors!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a good photo of when Tessa and her friend Micaiah decided to wear the potties as hats. Fortunately, they were clean at the time!

Surprise Surgery

When we got to Nairobi, I went to the doctor's office just to have a sebaceous cyst checked out, and 2 hours later walked out of the hospital having undergone surgery! What a surprise - but I'm glad they were able to fit me into the OR and get it done. The doctor said it was infected but isn't worried about the lab results, the tissue seemed benign, and I only have 3 stitches, but it was quite an experience anyway. The worst part was having 2 minor accidents driving out of the hospital (yes, they let me drive myself) but even those turned out with barely any damage.

Tomorrow I've got to get Dusty to pull the stitches out, but it will be a long, long time till the hair regrows. I'm just happy the whole thing is over and that only a spy would know where to look to see where they implanted the super-hero chip in my cranium. Watch out world - here comes SuperKim, whose powers are yet to be seen!

We're Back

Hey everyone out there in blogland. We're back and trying to catch up on everything that has been put aside since June, when we began traveling. We're happy to be home although we have had a great time this summer on vacation with our families in Europe and on the Kenyan coast for our branch conference (see pool picture). It has been so long since I last made an entry that there is too much to say, but we're all doing well and readjusting to normal life - in this case, a very good thing indeed.

The kids had a great time in the pool and ocean during conference. Even Jack went under water. We have an annual waterpolo match for the ladies and one for the men. The guys said it was harder to push Dusty around this year since he's regained his weight. What a rock! Tessa refused to leave the water, even when her lips were blue. Her favorite thing was blowing bubbles, and she loved her floaties, even when she wasn't swimming.

Yeah, we did also have some business meetings, which went pretty well and seemed shorter than previous years. We had a good spiritual refreshment speaker, but I felt like I missed a lot of what he said while I was attending to Jack's needs. Tessa had a great time in the childcare - so much so that she stopped crying when we dropped her off and then didn't want to leave. This must mean parental success - or the childcare team's success. Whatever - we were all happy. And at the end of the session, when the kids performed their songs and verses, Tessa pulled the classic maneuver by trying to take off her shirt and revealing her belly for the whole audience!

New Employee

Here's the biggest news around the Hill Household: a washing machine! We bought it this weekend from some friends who are returning to the USA, the most common route to get good stuff. This photo will give you a good idea about how fascinated we all are with the new toy in our kitchen. What would have taken an entire morning to wash by hand can now be done in an hour. I never appreciated a washing machine in the States the way I do now. Especially with cloth diapers! Yipee! And easy entertainment for the kiddos included for free (when we have power).

Spooning Talkington Style

We just found out that Tessa is a verified, identified, tried and true Talkington (Kim's family)! She has just passed the ultimate Talkington test. We couldn't be prouder. Dusty passes occasionally, and we haven't tested Jack yet, but his time will come. Me, myself, well I can boast of hanging multiple spoons all over my face, and the random fork at times. The Talkingtons have been known to practice this esteemed tradition en masse at many finer restuarants around Dallas, including the Dallas Country Club. Yes, the other diners always look on in awe and great admiration.

Hand Suckin' Good

We thought you would like to see one of the local restaurants in Mwanza, a city 3 hours to our south where we spent the weekend. We go to Mwanza for medical purposes, to visit friends, to get the dog to the vet, and this weekend for getting additional pages in our ever-shrinking passports. Anyway, this place serves chicken and fries and obviously stole their slogan from KFC's "finger - licking good," but doesn't this slogan have a much more scrumptious title? There are never napkins here when you need them, so just suck 'em! I will admit, it's pretty tasty food.

Like Father, Like Daughter

Often, Tessa imitates Dusty in how he is standing, what he's doing with his hands, etc. This is how it looks when he goes to look at a dhow boat on the lake or search for an airplane flying overhead. I'm constantly amused when I watch her imitating him, and he doesn't even realize it.

When I was 9 months pregnant with Jack, she used to shuffle around the floor with her head thrown back, back arched and arms out to the side. It took me a while to realize what she was doing. Even now, if we say "walk like Mama," she does the prego-shuffle. Hilarious! Did I really walk like that?

She also imitates Jack's movements and noises. But I think it's more to get attention and to remind us that she's still our baby too.

Now if I can only get her to imitate perfect Swahili, and then teach me!

Family Weekend

We simply could not get the painters here when we were seriously ready for them, so guess how we spent our weekend? That's right, folks. Covered in paint. All four of us. We turned on the tunes and got busy. At one point, we took Tessa's crayons away and gave her a paintbrush (no paint) because she was trying to imitate us by coloring on the walls. Not helpful. An unloaded paintbrush never made anyone happier. Brush it girl, brush it!

I have to say I never thought I would be painting with a baby attached. Frankly, I had hoped my wall painting days were over, but I now realize such is not the case. Multi-tasking SuperMom Africa-style (well, true Africans would have the baby on the back). Jack was mesmerized by the roller brush, but I doubt I'll ever resort to this technique for quieting him when he fusses. You can see he was a pretty happy camper.

Hospitals and Jails

We recently found out an interesting fact about jails here, which is that the jailors do not feed the jailees. Families of inmates are responsible for bringing the prisoners their food. One of our TZ friends recently landed there as a witness for a theft, and as she has no family, we and other friends brought food to the jail. Yes, they locked her up as a witness who might have been involved. I cooked, and Dusty took the meal to the jail and returned saying "let me tell you, you do NOT want to be in jail here!" Let's just say the cell had nothing in it other than people (and critters) - no beds, toilet, etc.

The same feeding concept goes for patients in hospitals, here at the local level. When I was in the hospital in Nairobi having Jack, they did indeed feed me well, but such would not be true for the Musoma hospital. Plus, if you do not pay your bill before leaving, they will NOT let you go, so you just keep on racking up the cost until you really are in debt and CAN'T leave. We heard of one woman in a Nairobi hospital who has been there for a year - reminded me of Tom Hank's character in Terminal. So, yeah - another way hospitals and jails are similar!

Screwdrivers, Ants, and Popcorn

So what do screwdrivers, ants, and popcorn have in common? Confusion for Tessa, that's what. We thought the word for popcorn was "bisi bisi" so that's what Tessa calls it. The word for ants is "sisi misi"- and the two get mixed up in her mind/mouth, so she points to ants and says "bisi bisi!" But then we learned that "bisi bisi" actually means screwdriver, and popcorn is just "bisi." I don't think she has much need for using the word for screwdriver, so if I can just straighten her out on popcorn, then maybe she can recall the word for ants. Whew!

On a side note, it took me coming all the way to Africa to figure out how to cook non-microwave popcorn, and now I'm a pro (after ruining one pot - which I now only use for bisi)!
As for ants, we have LOTS! They've gone beserk, and I've even found colonies forming in our truck, as well as behind Tessa's curtains, and in the holder for the toilet cleaning brush. YUCK! Dudu (bugs) have great names here. You already know sisimisi, but we also have "washa washa" for asps, "kumbi kumbi" for termites (a yummy snack for some folks here), and "bui bui" for spiders. That's just a start for all the dudu we see daily - inside our house.
As for screwdrivers, well, that's Dusty's specialty. He's certainly puts his to use a lot, so now it's good to know what to call them.

Ants in the Pants

In the effort to reduce crankiness in our children, I am constantly on the prowl for "ants in the pants" - literally. While the diapers are hanging on the line (photo), the ants take a strong liking to them. Why? Well, with hand washing they don't exactly have that "Downy Fresh" scent out here. I am always flicking the dudu (bugs - nice translation, eh?) off so they won't end up on the kids' backsides. Ouch!

With the rain, laundry is a challenge these days. Last night I was up at 1am unlocking padlocks and deadbolts bleary-eyed and rushing outside by the light of my headlamp to pull off the laundry because it had begun to rain. It has taken this particular load a full two days to dry because it's on and off again with rain. Great for the flowers, but not so great at 1am.

When we come home for furlough, we'll have to teach Tessa the word "bugs" so she's not grossing out the other kids when she says something like, "kiss the dudu" as she did the other night. Don't worry: I stopped her from kissing the bug that she was puckering towards.

Introduction to Spit-Up 101

Wow! Yes, she's a cutie, but this morning she gave me a rather severe introduction into the reality of "spit-up," which prior to now I had thought was the white drooly gelatinous liquid frequently emanating from Jack's mouth. WRONG.

When I went to wake Tessa this morning, she informed me, "Tessa spit-up!" Uh, yeah, right. She had vomited copious amounts of chunky tummy contents over her cheek, mouth, ear, hair, PJs, quilt, sheet, and the Very Important Blankie and Bunny.

Dusty picked the best time to be on a work trip as successfully as he picked his fantasy baseball team.

Fortunately, she's as happy as a lark, with no fever. After changing ALL the bedding, Blankie and Bunny had baths, I washed her hair (inducing tears), and now we're right as rain.

But I have to tell myself that I can't complain since this is the first major vomit experience (of many in upcoming years I presume) in her 2 years. I have a whole new appreciation for the good old Jack kind of spit-up now. Remind me next time I complain about frequent white drooly gelatinous liquid.

Birds and Bandanas

This is our outside yard man, Deus, who helps us deal with our yard and garden (flowers, tropical fruit, veggies, grass). They cut grass with a machete type thing here and no sprinkler systems, so now you know why we have a yard man. In this photo of our back yard with Lake Victoria behind, he is holding Flat Stanley, sent to me from my cousin's daughter for a elementary school project.

But anyway... recently, he told me he was having problems with the kites in our yard. No, not the kind that fly on a string, but the kind that helpfully swoop down and pick up mice and snakes with their talons. They were swooping to try and pick up his head apparently, maybe because of the shiny oil he puts in his hair, or maybe because they're just mean spirited. So he started wearing a hat.

On Friday, he forgot his hat, so I lent him a red bandana, which he tied on his head. About an hour later, he told me that a kite had stolen the bandana right off his noggin! He watched until the bird dropped it and in defeat, brought it back to me. I doubt he will again forget his hat! And it's a good reminder to me to keep the kids and ourselves in hats while outside too.

Ellie's Tail

Here's our true canine companion, Elllie (humbly named after Mt. Elbert in Colorado). Being a Rottweiler, you would think she has no tail, but Tessa has informed us otherwise. See the rope Ellie's chewing on? Well, Tessa named it "Ellie's tail." Pretty fitting, huh?

Ellie may be the smallest purebred Rottie in the world, but she's just the right size for Tessa. Their best game is to see who can get in trouble the fastest. So far, it's Tessa: 1,214 to Ellie: 1,063.

Chipotle Sorrow

Yes, Dusty's normal lament is that he can't get Chipotle's here, but last night when I heard "Oh no! Oh man! Aaaargh!" (repeated a few times) it was not because of his tummy missing his favorite burrito. No, it was because Chipotle's stock had gone up 18 points, and Dusty had missed it. You Colorado folks keep eating those yummy burritoes, and maybe Dusty will get a second chance.

The Hill House

Welcome to our humble home. You're looking at our back porch, where we spend lots of time snacking, web-browsing, riding the rocking horse, and chatting with friends. If you look behind you, you will see a lovely view of Lake Victoria and our backyard. This view constantly rejuvenates and refreshes us. Sometimes we have a hammock hanging between these two trees, and sometimes an inflatable baby pool down by the steps. Occasionally we are visited by mongeese, a hedgehog, monkeys, and a monitor lizard. Come on over for some peanut butter cookies, fresh squeezed lime-ade, a game of Boggle, or Sunday night hymns.

2nd Birthday Party

Isn't this a beautiful face? Credit to Mama Tessa of course. A month after she turned 2, Tessa shared a party with her buddy Chloe. Lots of other kids came, had their faces painted, swam after the rain, decorated teddy bear cookies, and generally cried at some point.

Dusty helped Tessa decorate her cookies in the Jackson Pollock style. The kids did great, but the parents were exhausted. I now have a much greater appreciation for all those birthday parties Mom put together for me. Thanks Mom!

As we were leaving, Tessa's younger buddy Josiah came up to her to give her a punch. She responded (nobly) by trying to hug him. Locked in a non-mutual hug, they tumbled over resulting in Tessa's head banging the ground. Josiah didn't seem to mind, but that was definitely the end of the party for us!

Swinging

After deciding that we really couldn't resell our old beat up tire from our truck, we converted it into a swing. But when she falls off, she will not get back on that day. Instead, she cries, shakes her finger at the swing, and says "Bad Swing!" Teaching a kid early where to place blame is so important! Fortunately she does not seem to care that it is often covered with bird poop and the nasty little snotty balls that fall from the tree. Even Dad joins in on the fun, although I am always amazed the branch doesn't break off on him.