We had a beautiful week here in Swaziland this week. The weather was gorgeous (much different than the sweltering November we experienced last year) and Ben even had some meetings cancelled in town so he was home (working regular schedule) all week. Next week is a different story, but this week was nice!
We started our "Thankful Tree" this week. I drew a large tree on some chart paper and posted on the wall with fall colored leaves. Each day in November we will work together as a family to say what we are thankful for and put on our tree. Basically Mikayla gives us an idea and we fine tune it! So far she is thankful for food (especially the people who make corn), art supplies, toys and maps!
On Wednesday we passed out some candy to our neighbors and they graciously allowed us to let Mikayla trick or treat at their houses. Since we only have a few Americans here that understand the concept, we trick or treated at both front and back doors. Mikayla was so excited and had so much fun! Ben even got in on the action too.
Pretty (albeit cheesy) princess grin.
Twirling in her dress from Uncle Tim and Aunt Chelsea!
Mikayla and daddy ready to go. Please notice his massive bag! I think he was a little ambitious.
Stephanie (a long term volunteer) passed out candy from both office doors.
Sister Barbara even got in on the action!
Joe, knowing Mikayla’s love for cooking, gave her spices in addition to the candy. She LOVED this!
Joe’s birthday was a couple of weeks ago, but we were waiting until the sisters got back in town to really celebrate. He requested a dessert themed party, so on Friday and Saturday I spent the day making desserts! We ended up with quite the spread and all were on a sugar rush when it was through! We had donuts, churros, cookie dough brownies, frozen cheesecake, fudgy oat bars, and rainbow cupcakes with icing! We ended the sugared evening with a showing of A Bug’s Life on our "screen" outside!
Joe with his birthday candle and spread. The picture of the desserts is not great, but trust me there was a lot!
Today we have had another lazy Sunday filled with a walk to the river to skip some rocks, tomato basil soup (thanks Joe) and then plans to grill out tonight! Last weekend we introduced Mikayla to "Family Reading Time". Basically this is where we all take our respective books and spend some time reading (or in Mikayla’s case looking at pictures). Last weekend she spend almost 45 minutes "reading" and then asked for it again later in the week. This morning she asked if she could paint during Family Reading Time. She spent a good hour painting this morning! She is doing so good at painting and staying in the lines and is so proud of herself when she does so.
Tags: Family, Halloween, weeks happenings