Oh Boy-s!!!

The boys have been with us for the last week and a half and it has been so much fun and so rewarding! They are easy going, fun to be around and usually do chores without being told :) The three small boys have been with us for over three weeks now and we absolutely love having them and I think they love being here! People keep commenting that they look so happy and healthy. Ian often wakes up singing and sings and dances all day, Martin is full of stories and Karanja rarely stops smiling. I am sure I'll be sad when they return to school next week...

And one thing I quickly learned is that all houses need rules- it is best to have them before you need them but often they come as a result of some sort of issue.

Our house rules

A couple of things that are very different than life in America:

-The kids LOVE vegetables. We had about 20 pounds of sweet potatoes from our farm and they ate all of them in a day and a half. They eat them raw, roasted or boiled- it doesn't matter. Also, for dinner we usually have spinach or cabbages and ugali (boiled corn flour) and these kids can't get enough spinach. They each eat a heaping mound on half of the plate and they always want even more!

Huge sweet potatoes!

-When I was young if we didn't eat all of our dinner Dad would tell us we would have to eat it for breakfast... yuck! But they like eating their dinner for breakfast. If we served too much they save it for breakfast and it's one of the first things they ask for in the morning...

-Language- Most of the kids speak Kikiyu, Kiswahili and English. So at any time you can hear any mix of the three. The small boys are still learning English so communication with me is very interesting. I'm sure all of them only hear about half of what I'm saying when I'm giving orders about flushing the toilet, picking up their things, etc.

-The kids are expected to do a lot of work around the house and garden. The first break when we had kids I thought they only needed to clean/work about 2 hours a day and I let them sleep in until 9 am one morning. Mama Mwangi told me they were being lazy and good Kenyan kids need to learn to work! So now we have a time table. The whole house is mopped and cleaned every day (inside and out), then they go to the garden to work for about 3-4 hours and they help prepare all of the meals.

Our daily routine

A favorite duty- harvesting red beans. Once they are dry you pick the whole plant, then you beat them with a stick until the beans come out.

Somethings that are the same:

- It seems every time I go to the bathroom there is someone knocking on the door with an urgent request for me.  How is it that I can be with them for 2 hours and the minute I go to the bathroom they need me? Knock, knock, knock, knock on bathroom door: "Sheila! Sheila! Sheila!"
Me, "What?"
Small child, "Sheila COME!"
Me, "Why???'
Small child, "Chicken!"
Me, "What about the chicken?"
Small child, "Come, Come! Chicken is ummm.... ummm...umm laying"
Me, "Laying? Is it dead??"
Small child, "No, it's laying an egg! Come, you see!"

 -They love playing games. Uno (thanks for sending Aunt Loretta) is a favorite and they try to cut their garden work short to have Uno tournaments. I taught them Sardines (I think that's what you call it) where one person hides and everyone else finds them. When you find them, you hide with them. The last one there is the looser. So imagine how fun its playing that with 10 boys on a 2 acre farm! They loved it!! We would wait in the house while the person hid. When I'd open the door for us to go find the hider you would have thought they were going to find presents on Christmas morning!

-The other day one of the kids said to me, "Sheila, tell Peter to stop polluting".
 Me, "Polluting? What is he polluting?"
"He is polluting my air!" ahh, farting....lol!

Love these kids!!

Girls, Girls, Girls

We have had the St. Gerald girls at the house for nearly the last two weeks and what a difference the girls are from the boys - girls are complex!!! We have 5th-8th grade and high school girls. I had forgotten what life is like during those ages.... bickering, attitudes, not talking to each other - oh it's fun...ha! The weather has been rainy most of the time so we get to spend the days together inside....

But when they are being pleasant we have had some good times. I introduced them to Mac and Cheese which came with mixed reviews. About half said they liked it and the ones who didn't had some very strong opinions about it! One of the girls told me that it tasted like yogurt. I keep teasing them that we are going to have it for lunch every day since I've had to eat their githeri (red beans and corn) every day. Everyone liked American pancakes and most everyone liked the SlimJims. I haven't yet shared my Twix and York's (thanks Anne H.!) as I'm quite selfish about those!

The small boys are with us and are a bundle of joy and energy. Ian our youngest (in an earlier post I talked about how he said he wants to be a mazungu [white person] when he grows up) asked one of the girls whose skin is a light brown what she eats to make her skin look like a mazungu!

We switch mid week, the girls go back to St. G and the boys come - hopefully life gets a little easier :)

Lunch outside when the sun finally came out!

Enjoying pancakes

First time to ever do a puzzle, thank you Boeing friends!

We have beds!!!! 

"Living in the Clouds"

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the clouds? Well, I have been experiencing it for the last few weeks. Despite living right on the equator, it is about 52 degrees, foggy, wet and windy :( This time of year is our winter. Yesterday, I was sitting in my living room drinking my fourth cup of hot chocolate and could see my breath! We are truly living in the clouds!

Because of the weather we are experiencing, the kids will be spending most of their time here indoors. They will be arriving at our house today!! This time we will have about 15 kids for approximately five weeks. So, if anyone has any ideas of indoor games or activities for children please pass them along. I would really appreciate it; Momma Mwungi and I are going to need to keep these kids busy during their stay. 

Our house on a foggy day.

This is how muddy it is from all of the rain!