I am not sure where November went, but it flew past! One day it was October and it seems like the next November was finishing up. It won’t be long now before our big trip in January. December is already shaping up to be a busy month with the hostel’s Christmas camp/party, mini holiday getaway with friends, Christmas and New Years!!
I love this "selfie" of me and my girl!
Since we missed out on Halloween in October we trick or treated in November. You can read all about the kids costumes and evening here. It was a fun night and I loved watching Mikayla share her candy with all her friends.
Hanging out with some friends, watching a movie on the porch.
Speaking of holidays, we celebrated Thanksgiving with some of our staff members again. You can read about our first year here. This year we invited the maintenance and transport departments to the feast. And once again, a feast was had! There was so much food. Of course it all quickly disappeared and everyone got to take home a hearty take away pack!
The feast!
Feast continuted.
Dessert spread
Some guests
Katie hanging with Mikayla
Staff member from maintenance department holding Simo. One of the highlights from the day. Traditionally Swazi men have little to do with young children, so this was huge that he wanted to play and hold Simo.
Post Thanksgiving snuggle session on the porch while watching a storm roll in.
And since we are on the topic of food, Mikayla had a first in the food department this month. One morning she wanted scrambled eggs for breakfast, but she wanted to make them all on her own. She did everything but turn on the stove and scoop the eggs on her plate. She was so proud, and I think she did an awesome job! She really is growing up way too fast.
Max had a first this month too…his first overnight! Oh dear, it was a bit of a mess. I will leave it at there were four kids, all 4 and under (two under the age of 1) and not a one of them wanted to sleep that night! The babies took turns crying throughout the night. If one wasn’t going the other was! And the two older kiddos also had a little trouble sleeping and had some bad dreams. Needless to say we were all exhausted the next day, but still had a lot of fun playing! We took part of our trip into town to go to a local play place called Neverland. Mikayla and Max actually had the whole place to themselves so they played and played and loved every minute of it. You can actually drop the kids there and come back to get them, so I left Mikayla to play and Max and I went to the grocery store. It was much easier to shop without having to keep up with Mikayla! All in all it was a great couple of days away from the mission, and despite the lack of sleep, everyone had a great time!
Unfortunately, November was not kind to the Kickert’s tummies. We all three came down with some sort of stomach bug at the end of the month. Ben had it the worst, but Mikayla was not her usual peppy self for a couple of days after. Luckily, we were feeling mostly better in time for our annual Thanksgiving feast.
Max was not quite sure what to make of all the picture taking while he was sitting on his own.
Sibling Love
She wanted to wear the towels like mommy does after her shower one night.
