Singing in the shower

I was working in another room while Ellie was taking a bath... I heard her singing and I went to peek at her and this is what I found. Cold water on a washcloth on the head feels good...

After a storm.

A huge, wonderful (read cool-weather bringing) storm came through our town a few days ago. After the storm was gone, a few things were left.

1. This beautiful sky.




2. These amazing temperatures. We woke up in the morning to it being below 80 in the house!!! It was like we had an air conditioner!!! We slept with blankets!


3. It was so cool that Ellie could wear jeans!


So, now that the cool weather has gone again, I'm just waiting for the next storm. :)

A flute and marbles

What would you do if you had a flute and marbles? Ellie decided to put the marbles in the flute... and then dump them out... and then put them in again... and then dump them out...


My friend Monica gave me this game with the marbles when I turned 19, during our first year of college. We had dorm rooms next to each other. At that time we probably would have never imagined my daughter would be playing with it over 11 years later!

An addition problem

What do you get when you add frozen papaya...



and an orange...


to a banana...

some milk powder....


some sugar....


and put it in a blender?


Wonderful papaya smoothies!!!


I think it's important to note here, that not everyone enjoys papaya smoothies in the same way. While Franklin and I enjoyed drinking ours, Ellie would have none of it! She just wanted to put the cold glass on her body parts... first the elbow, then the knee, then the cheek, then the head, then the chest... and it just went on and on.

Silverware and Cups

Ellie is getting pretty good at using silverware. Although today I had to remind her that a spoon does not work the same way as a straw.


She's also able to use a cup on her own. That's a good skill to have during hot season, since the amount of water she drinks in a day has increased a ton. Drinking all the water she would want out of a sippy cup would take forever.

Welcome to the World!

I'd like to welcome this beautiful batch of snickerdoodles into the world!


Unfortunately, their stay on earth will not be long... yum.

Embracing Imperfection?

I like to read people's blogs... and sometimes when I find a link to another blog, I follow it and find another cool blog. Lately as I have been gallivanting around cyberspace I have noticed lots of people doing series (how do you make "series" plural?)... Anyway, I was thinking the other day, "If I was going to do a series, what would I do?" I decided I would do a series on embracing imperfection... but I am not really going to do a series. I am just going to think about it and tell you my thoughts about it. :)
Today was one of those days when there were enough imperfections to fill the series all together. Here are just a few of them.

I woke up and my yogurt hadn't set. :( I make my own yogurt, and it usually turns out fine, and it gives me joy every time I get to eat it. Today, there was not much joy. I did find out later that the flavor is fine, it's just the texture that is weird. So, I guess it's not a complete loss.

Later in the morning, our water filter tipped over and broke... and it filled our dining room and part of our bedroom with water. I was glad that we have cement floors, not carpet.


Then, even later in the morning, part of my granola burnt. Only about 1/3 of the batch burnt, so that's better than it all burning... as I type Ellie is enjoying some of the good part.

To top it all off, it is HOT. This is the thermometer INSIDE the house, and it's not even at the hottest part of the day yet. I'm glad that we have a cold shower for relief.


I'm also grateful for this little one who gives me a million reasons to smile and laugh everyday.

New Year's Day

Last week was New Year's Day here... for the year 1417. Ellie and I got dressed up and went to visit some friends. Our house helper made this outfit as a gift for Ellie.

Ellie made it clear when she was done with the pictures.

Foods for hot weather

It's been so hot lately that I have found my appetite changing. A hot lunch is SO not appetizing. Today I made salsa to go with some cheese toast.
This evening I went to visit a lady down the road. She has a mango tree in her yard. The mangoes aren't ripe yet, but they still occasionally fall off the tree. She gave us a few to eat. I slice mine up and eat it with coriander.
Ellie just gnaws on a peeled one.

Cleaning the storage room

I'm not teaching classes this week, so each day I am trying to do a deep cleaning job. Today was the storage room... which was just cleaned a few weeks ago. We decided to take out the refrigerator box to make more space... for a few days we'll let Ellie have it in her room to crawl through as a tunnel. Today she had tons of fun.
Below is a lovely picture of what I found in our storage room today.... YUCK!
We have geckos that run around our house... which is really good, because they eat mosquitos. Well, one must have died in our storage room, and the ants decided that would make good food. I think I'll deep clean my storage room more than once a month now.

Carried Away

I love that Ellie's hair is growing. Occasionally after a bath, I get a bit carried away with the combing.
When I was little, after getting out of a bath, my mom would put the towel against her belly and I would lean my head on her and she'd rub the towel on my hair until my hair wasn't dripping wet. I've started doing that with Ellie. It's fun to do things with Ellie that my mom used to do with me. :)

Bubble Blowing

New Necklaces

We had some friends over the other day to make necklaces. When I bought beads for Ellie's necklace making last time, I bought more than enough, so I didn't have to go buy new beads.
The girls worked hard.
We ended up with some spilled water and beads on the floor, but the results were worth it.



We'll miss you guys for the next few months!!!

Celebrating Easter

We celebrated Easter this year by getting together in the morning and having a small worship service and picnic breakfast. It was before the heat of the day, and the field was almost empty besides us.... until the water buffalo came. And yes, we still let our kids run around.

Baking Bread

We bake our own bread in an electric toaster oven. Some days it turns out great... some days not so great. Hahaha. :)

Duplo Daddy

I thought I was pretty cool, because I made a phone and a plate and spoon with Duplos. Ellie and I had a great time playing. Daddy is apparently cooler, because he makes watches and hats. Or is it a crown?