Having Friends Over

We had a Taco Night the other night and had some friends over. Ellie labeled the cups for everyone.

While the adults played a game in the living room, the kids cuddled up on Ellie's bed to watch the movie "Up".

It was fun.

On the roof in September

 Abraham, always on the move, and he loves to carry buckets.

 

Ellie, writing sweet messages.

Ellie and Abraham, writing on the floor with sidewalk chalk.

Abraham writes a little and puts it in his mouth a little... 

And I knit, or blow bubbles to be chased, or play games where there are letters missing from the alphabet that Ellie has to fill in, or chase Abraham away from some danger, or talk to neighbors, or play dodgeball, or fold the laundry, or just enjoy this stage of life, this pace of life.

Sick baby

Overlapping with Franklin's illness, Abraham was sick, too. Here's the night he went to bed with a fever just over 100. Poor guy.

Fingerpainting

Ellie's trying new things when it comes to finger painting.

Rice, anyone?

Have you noticed I post lots of pictures of Abe in his highchair? I have. I think it's because 1) I spend tons of time with him there everyday and 2) this is one of the only times of the day when he is contained! So, until the next season of his childhood, we'll enjoy the pictures from the highchair. :)

Birthday Disaster

Birthday season is upon us in the Family Five Leaves household. We have three birthdays to celebrate in five weeks.

Franklin's birthday was August 24, and I wanted to surprise him with a nice cake, not just a ho-hum one like usual.

So, I made a separate small cake and cut the necessary numbers out... no problem here.

I made icing...

and turned it into some fun colors. Any guesses yet what design I was thinking of?

During a moment of distraction, Abraham decided he would like to be part of the fun. I did pause to take a picture during his moment of stunned silence after my booming, "Abraham, what are you doing?!" Earlier when I was mixing the cake and pouring it into the cake pans, when he decided to open the Tabasco Sauce (I didn't think 11 month olds were supposed to be able to open little lids like that.) and sample some, I did not pause to take a picture... but it happened.

And here is how the cake turned out.... um, I think the shelf in my oven was tilted. Grrr.

But, I cut off the smallest bit and it was the perfect shape for what I needed.

 A Solomon Islands' flag! Unfortunately, it was so hot in our apartment that the icing melted. I popped it into the fridge right after this shot and cleaned it up a bit later.

But.... the birthday boy was sick on his birthday, so when we were going to be with some friends to surprise Franklin, we weren't there. Poor, Franklin...

A few nights later, while he was still under the weather, our friends came over and Franklin slaved away making pizza for us. :) We watched a movie together and afterwards I kind of surprised him with a much less impressive cake. It would have been much more surprising if Ellie had not given so many hints throughout the day. :)

Happy Birthday, Franklin!

Eid Visiting

Eid is a great time to go visiting. Unfortunately, this Eid it was raining and our road got flooded. We still got to visit our neighbors upstairs, though.

The day after Eid, we took a trip to visit the family we lived with when Ellie was a baby. It was nice to catch up and see how the kids have grown. I was also able to have a meaningful conversation and hear a family story that I hadn't heard before. It exposed the lack of training for midwives in village settings. It was sad to hear what people have suffered unnecessarily.

Before we left we posed for some photos.

The men...

(A visiting nephew, Abraham, the son of our family, and Franklin)

 The women...

(The mother of the family we stayed with, me, Ellie, the daughter, and the aunty)

Our family...