A picture one

So...I realized it's been a while since I actually posted any substantial amount of pictures. Some of these pictures date back to about a month ago and some of them are within the past couple days. I've done my best to keep them in chronological order, and hopefully they give you a sense of where we've come from over the past month to where we are now.

In general, Kenya continues to surprise, delight, infuriate, and occasionally defeat us one grocery store run or uneven table top at a time. We are overall glad to be here, I think - and while we attempted to ignore the impending holidays, the absurdly large & fake Christmas trees at every shopping center, and the Caucasian electronic dancing Santas greeting us at the entrance to many grocery stores forced us to come to terms with the smallness of this holiday for us.

So, we've embraced it - we borrowed a fake Christmas tree from some family friends - it independently stands at a glorious 3 feet but we've elevated it using a couple moving trunks so from the right angle, it looks like it almost touches the ceiling :)

Kai borrowing Mika's giraffe towel - Thanks Robbie & Marie!

I hope you really enjoy these pictures - Kai promised to write soon. He's getting so big, so quickly & has quite a bit to tell you, I hear. For now, enjoy these pics and understand the randomness of them is truly just a representation of life in Kenya itself.

Reasons #2345-2401 why we're looking to purchase a larger vehicle...the smaller ones don't really survive

Road construction 

Happy Mika in a laundry basket

Taking the kids to a restaurant I went to as a kid - very weird.

Kid plastic cup? Um no...but wait, we have a washed out yogurt container. Perfect.

Kai at his 'playground'. There are no real kid friendly parks here, but dozens of restaurants have full playgrounds. Works for me!

Delicious pizza in the middle of setting up our apartment - the boys liked it....

And so did the girls!

Kai learning the finesse necessary for drinking coke from a bottle - he's also developing an affinity for Ethiopian food. Good  boy.

First dinner in our new apartment - no table, or beds, or couches, or dressers...but we have plates!

Kai eating lasagna...coffee table + trunk = perfect kid table

Kitchen now...pretty much the same but now the cupboards are full!

Kitchen pantry - a Kenyan commonality the US could use

Living Room when we first moved in...and for about a week and a half after.

Making couch cushions

The cushions I'm making...

Making lamp shade covers...

I think it worked!

Dining room when we first moved in....

Dining room with a small table...we currently have the big table but it's crooked so I'll post a pic once it's improved :)

Kai has a bed!!!

Kai's bunk - as is for now, until he learns to stop falling out of bed & we can put the mattress underneath his bed back on the top bunk.

Kai's room is mostly finished - much further along than the rest of the house...

Mika's bed - right next to ours...think I'm gonna keep her there for a while. Who needs a crib at this point?

Practicing table top dancing

Am I a negligent parent?..note: no children were harmed in the taking of this photograph, or immediately thereafter.

Oh Charlie Brown...how I do empathize with your tree...

Kai's first time hanging ornaments

He did a great job, if I do say so myself.

Mmmm....I think my head is getting bigger.

Settling in - one obscure piece of foam for couch cushions at a time. 

So - there you have it, there you go. Some little bits & pieces of our lives here. I'll be better about putting up pictures on a more regular basis. Unfortunately our internet has been given us quite a few problems which is why there are far fewer entries here than I would like, and far fewer pictures. Give me a bit of time (Kenyan time...which means 3 times longer than you think it should take) and we'll be updating you, and giving you 'glimpses' much more often.

For now - I leave you with the two brightest spots of my every day: