Fall Festivities

Tenwek does an amazing job of celebrating the American holidays, which we greatly appreciated.  I wasn't sure what the holidays would look like here at Chogoria, but so far our family has been intentional to remember the fall season.  We created some fall-ish decorations and I've been burning a candle called "Autumn Wreath" and I've been baking pumpkin and apple goodies.  

Best of all, we paired with the Webbers to celebrate a "Fall Fun Day" together.  We scrapped school for the day and opted to do all things "Fall" instead.

First on the docket: sugar cookies!  We busted out cookie cutters shaped like pumpkins, apples, leaves, bats, and owls.  The kiddos had a great time, and our kitchen was an absolute mess!  I've said it before and I will say it again: baking with kids is a labor of love.

I loved this assembly line for frosting cookies :)  It was the most focused the kids were all morning.

Then it was costume time!  The kids really wanted a chance to dress up and trick-or-treat.  The former was possible, the latter not so much.  But we busted out some Halloween candy that my sister sent across the ocean and it appeased the disappointment of not being able to trick-or-treat.  Check out these cuties!

The superheroes in action mode :)

And I gotta say how much I love these two together.  Before we moved to Chogoria I was a little worried for Kai because I knew there wouldn't be any other missionary kid his age (whereas both Caleb and Asa had someone their age).  But we've been pleasantly surprised at how much Kai and Olive have become attached to each other.  We often find these two playing in the yard together, or snuggled up reading a book together, or giggling over something silly together, or whatever.  I am so thankful that Kai has this girl!

So, with their costumes on, we introduced them to sack races!  None of the kids had ever done them before, and they loved it!  Because who doesn't love a good sack race?  And who can resist this adorableness?

Kai was the only Horn boy who wanted to race, and he did awesome.  He really jumped his way across the finish line!

After a couple rounds for the kiddos, it was the daddies' turn.  I couldn't stop laughing at Eli in that sack!  He looked so ridiculous!

Then it was another first for these kids: bobbing for apples!  Seriously, none of the kids had ever done this before.  It was so fun and hilarious to watch them figure it out.  The girls were naturals, the boys not so much...

We ended the day with a viewing of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and stuffing ourselves with popcorn.  It was such a great day!

We had really wanted to carve pumpkins for Fall Fun Day, but alas, pumpkins could not be found anywhere around here.  It was a disappointment, but what's a mama to do?  Well, the Webbers were in Nairobi recently and found pumpkins there, which they graciously hauled back to Chogoria, so it was "game on" for pumpkin carving!  The kiddos were pretty happy :)

And, surprise surprise, Asa wanted a rhino carved on his pumpkin.  This boy just loves rhinos!

Also, surprise surprise, Kai wanted a dragon carved on his pumpkin.  This boy just loves dragons!

Then, Caleb wanted a chameleon carved on his pumpkin.  Not too surprising, given that we're living in the land of chameleons.  The one surprise is that Caleb wanted to carve the bottom of his pumpkin.  An odd choice, but whatever!

So we've had a great time celebrating the fall season and are so thankful for another homeschooling family to do these things with.  It's such a blessing!  And since I'm one of those people that refuses to skip over Thanksgiving on our way to Christmas, we'll continue celebrating this season for the next few weeks.

Six Years and A Dragon Birthday

I have to share these photos of our Kai Guy.  They show his beautiful personality perfectly.

I took these photos on his 6th birthday, two weeks ago now.  I haven't been taking as many photos of the kids lately, and these photos make me want to change that.  I also love them because he's sitting on the playground, which he transformed into a jungle.  He was quite thorough with this project, as with all his projects.

Kai really wanted a dragon birthday this year.  He's loved dragons for awhile.  He particularly loves the movie How to Train Your Dragon and also loves listening to Eli tell stories from The Hobbit.  When I asked what he wanted on his cake this year, he was very specific: "A dragon sitting on a pile of treasure inside a cave."  After heaving a sigh, I starting crafting how to fulfill that desire.

I was lucky enough to find gold chocolate coins in a specialty store in Nairobi, then I drew this picture to work with.  All in all, it turned out rather well.

Birthdays are important to me.  I want them to feel special, and because of that I'm willing to go out of my way to make them so.  Even before we had kids I made a point to celebrate birthdays well.  Eli once told me that he didn't enjoy his birthday much until he married me - and that's because I showed him how wonderful birthdays can be!

So doing this dragon cake for Kai was an outpouring of my desire to make his birthday feel special.  And thankfully I succeeded because he was pretty pleased with this cake!

Shortly before his birthday I was able to find these dragons at a toy store in Nairobi.  I didn't know stuff like this could be found in Kenya, but we're finding more and more stuff available in Nairobi with each passing year.  It's really amazing what we can get here now.  I mean, dragon toys!  In Kenya!  Woohoo!

So we had a great birthday celebration, and I am so thankful.  Our Kai Guy is the most beautiful kid.  He is creative and energetic.  He is a fast and curious learner, way ahead of his age as far as school is concerned.  He is messy beyond belief but also the best helper I could hope for.  He loves silly things and laughs easily.  He loves snuggling up with a book and he loves drawing.  He makes sure to give me "Kai squeezes" every day because he is thoughtful and he knows I need them.  He is rather active and plays outside in the dirt and water like it's his job, unless he's literally climbing up the side of our house (which we've found him doing the past couple weeks).  He is brave and willing to try new things, but also shy around new people at first.  And he's a deep thinker.  Kai has a lot of questions and thoughts about God.  Recently he whispered in my ear, "We're like rags, and Jesus has to squeeze the sin out of us" - which he thought of all on his own.  A couple days ago he wanted to know if dinosaurs lived before or after Bible Times, and if before, then why did they eat meat, before sin entered the world?  His mind is always thinking, always wondering, always processing.  He is such a beautiful kid!  We are incredibly proud of him and so thankful we get to call this God-loving, God-fearing child our son.  Our lives are infinitely better because of him.

We love you, Kai!