Painting like George

Keenan is slightly obsessed with Curious George lately and in the movie George paints with his hands all over the place. So, for this morning's activity we made some finger paint with corn starch, water, and food coloring and had a blast together. Keenan stood on a chair by the stove literally squealing as he watched our concauction thicken just saying over and over "Mom, Im SO egsited! Paint like George! I get to paint!" At one point he leaned over, hugged me, and said "We're having so much fun together! I love you so much!" Melt a mama's heart! It was fun to watch him squish the paint all over the place and smear it everywhere. Here are some pictures of this morning! :)
Elliot got in on the action too but then screamed when I would not let him eat his painting when he was done.

Very serious artist here.
And theeeeen, as all little boys do, he got a little crazy.

Pamoja!!

Our conference last week went so great and we had a blast! We came back stinkin tired but we are so glad for the time. I debated a lot on whether or not I should go and take the kiddos for a whole week in a hotel and travel and many other factors but in the end I realized that I was wavering on going because of fear. It was so intimidating to go to a conference that I knew was going to be all in French with students that I am not yet really connected with since my time on campus has been so few. I am not at all an pure blood extrovert and I get so scared of situations where I will need to be one in order to connect. Especially in a foreign language. yikes. But in the end I am extremely thankful that I went. The time that I got with the students and other staff was so refreshing. I loved seeing God move in the students lives and the excitement grow for their relationships with the Lord to grow. Although it was frustrating at times because I could not say all that I wanted just being there and for a week really live life with them could not have been replaced with anything else. It was also such a reminder of how the Lord really does answer and provide all you need when you step out in faith. One of my favorite times was on the last day we had a parade. Random, I know. I laughed a lot and thought over and over how this would just not work anywhere else. We went downtown and all together in matching gear walked around the city playing music, singing and dancing. We were not on the sidewalk or side streets, but right on the main busy streets with one of our crew just walking on the side directing all the traffic to go around us. It was great! We circled around town for a mile or so and went on back to camp for closing ceremonies. We loved our week and seeing God change lives and hearts in the students that we have come to love.

Us with Nogbou
Me and the boys with Micheline
Nogbou and Stephan

Dancin away!
Since I could not go to the big meetings with the boys I spent a lot of time playing outside with them. There was another couple of staff kids (Moise and Roberta) there who hung out with us as well and we all loved it. Elliot would giggle when they were near and Keenan would yell "Look, the girl and the boy!! My friends!!" It was also fun for me because they were so sweet and patient with my French. Nogbou asked me towards the end of the week how Roberta and I communicate since she is so attached to me and I jokingly replied that we communicate with love and a lot of grace!


Awwwww One night before bed Keenan insisted on reading a story to Elliot before bed. They snuggled up together and shared the book as Keenan "read" Pajama Time to his little brother. Really he just said the rhyme from the first page since he has memorized that and then described the other pages to him. It was so stinkin cute!!!

Another great story from the week is a conversation with Keenan again. When people all around Keenan are speaking French he starts babbling nonsense thinking he is fitting in. It is really funny to hear! But one day he started doing this while looking at Elliot so I asked him "Keenan, are you speaking French?" He looked at me wide eyed and very seriously said, "No, Im speaking Baby Elliot!"

Ahhhh...Saturday! I really really love being with my family and doing random things on Saturdays. It is a joy to be all together and play and laugh all day. Today was started by a little bit of sleeping in (Keenan didnt get up till 7 and then snuggled with us in bed and Elliot stayed sleeping till 8), we had pancakes and eggs for breakfast, played some games, and went off to the pool for the afternoon. There is a hotel here that you can go and swim at and this is the first time we have done it as a fam and we had a great time. Keenan is like his mama and part fish so he will stay in the water just splashing around forever. There is a water slide there too which he loved going down with Craig but mostly loved watching the other kids come out of it and fall in the water. Elliot had a great time too and giggled at all the splashes. Here are just a few pictures of our afternoon. Enjoy!




Poor exhausted Elliot and Craig! They both had a little snooze after swimming for a long time
There was a playground there too and of course, Keenan wanted to roll around in the sand! Boys and dirt, huh?





This crazy kid has no fear!!

Elliot's close up

Hooray!! Two whole posts up! Elliot is a giggle monster and I wanted to capture some of his big smiles for everyone. It's hard to believe that he is already 5 months old! He does new things every day and his little personality is coming through all the time. He is such a happy and content baby and we are so blessed by him. He has mastered sitting up, rolling over, and inching along through wiggles and face smashing. He loves his cereal still and we still have not introduced other food quite yet. To be honest, I am intimidated to wash the cloth diapers after the solid food comes, so Im holding out. He is content with milk and cereal and so it shall be until 6 months or so :). Just like Keenan he loves people and will go to anyone who reaches for him and will fall asleep with any woman at church who decides to steal him from me that day. He is learning the ropes of manipulation as well and thinks it's hilarious to cry until you go to him to figure out what is wrong Then he starts laughing, waving his little chubby arms and kicking his legs. Stinker. So, here are a few pictures of our little guy for ya!

Brothers

Ahhhh!! Our internet has been so so so slow and it has not let me upload pictures until just now! I have quite a few to put up but I might just put them as separate posts so it actually gets one up for all of you wanting to see the kids smiling faces. So, since I have not been on campus or gotten out of the house much since our summer project left, I have turned into a semi crazy woman. I have come up with the most random things to do with the boys and a photo shoot was one. So, here are the top 5 since the blog thingy will only let me upload 5 at a time :) This first one is the only one that I got of Elliot smiling and of course, the only one where Keenan's eyes are closed and he is acting like he is asleep. Figures :).


They have really started playing together and it is so fun to see them interact and hear Elliot belly laughing at Keenan's silly faces. And Im loving that they can entertain each other for a bit and I can get a little bit done.
Sweet boys! As I was typing that I have turned into a crazy woman being home alone with the boys all the time, I realized that might sound alarming. There are times definitely where I think I am going to lose my mind and need a little adult conversation where I am not correcting someone's behavior, or answering the question of "why?" 50 times, but all in all we are doing well. I have been reminded in my times with the Lord of how short this season really is where I am home with the boys all day. Before I know it they will be gone and maybe even moving their little families away to a foreign country. Its hard to imagine it all in the midst of giving a spankin but I know that my parents have said this all goes by way too fast and I am really enjoying making binoculars out of toilet paper rolls and homemade playdoh. I love making them giggle and even better when Keenan can get me to laugh really hard and the look on his face of sheer joy that we are laughing together. One of his new phrases when we are doing something together is "We're having fun, huh, Mom?" with raised eyebrows and a huge smile on that sweet little face of his. There are times of great joy and also of great shame as I mess up and react more out of anger than really the big picture of what is going on and really how old they are. I just keep thinking that we as humans learn by modeling FAR more than teaching and I have to be really walking with the Lord day in and day out as I minister to my kids and train them in the way they should go. And that is not a task that I can take lightly. Oh the joys of parenthood, right?! Im loving it and wrestling with it all at the same time!

Soap

Tonight was the first time that I put soap in Keenan's mouth. He has been saying things are stupid and we have told him not to and given him fair warning not to say it anymore, but tonight he said that cleaning up his toys was stupid so I thought that this might work. I made a big deal about it and explained that it was a bad word and his mouth was going to be washed out. We went and got a new little bar of soap and put it in for a bit. Just seeing his sweet face look up and me and his nose crinkle at the gross taste of it made me laugh just a tiny bit but enough to get Keenan laughing a LOT. He giggled and giggled until I figured that it was not having the impact that I hoped. So I took out the soap, he spit in the sink, then turned to me beaming said, "I wanna do it again."