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.