{"id":4207,"date":"2013-12-01T05:50:02","date_gmt":"2013-12-01T11:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/2013\/12\/01\/november-update\/"},"modified":"2013-12-01T05:50:02","modified_gmt":"2013-12-01T11:50:02","slug":"november-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/2013\/12\/01\/november-update\/","title":{"rendered":"November Update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I am not sure where November went, but it flew past!&#160; One day it was October and it seems like the next November was finishing up.&#160; It won&#8217;t be long now before our big trip in January.&#160; December is already shaping up to be a busy month with the hostel&#8217;s Christmas camp\/party, mini holiday getaway with friends, Christmas and New Years!!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Max 5 month photo shoot 117\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Max 5 month photo shoot 117\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Max-5-month-photo-shoot-117.jpg\" width=\"444\" height=\"297\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>I love this &quot;selfie&quot; of me and my girl!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Since we missed out on Halloween in October we trick or treated in November.&#160; You can read all about the kids costumes and evening <a href=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/2013\/11\/11\/halloween-2013\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.&#160; It was a fun night and I loved watching Mikayla share her candy with all her friends.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"halloween 008\" border=\"0\" alt=\"halloween 008\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/halloween-008.jpg\" width=\"297\" height=\"444\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Max 5 month photo shoot 001\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Max 5 month photo shoot 001\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Max-5-month-photo-shoot-001.jpg\" width=\"444\" height=\"297\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>Hanging out with some friends, watching a movie on the porch.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Speaking of holidays, we celebrated Thanksgiving with some of our staff members again.&#160; You can read about our first year <a href=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/2011\/11\/27\/first-thanksgiving-in-swaziland\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.&#160; This year we invited the maintenance and transport departments to the feast.&#160; And once again, a feast was had!&#160; There was so much food.&#160; Of course it all quickly disappeared and everyone got to take home a hearty take away pack!<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Thanksgiving 001\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Thanksgiving 001\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Thanksgiving-001.jpg\" width=\"444\" height=\"297\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>The feast!<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Thanksgiving 002\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Thanksgiving 002\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Thanksgiving-002.jpg\" width=\"444\" height=\"297\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>Feast continuted.<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Thanksgiving 003\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Thanksgiving 003\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Thanksgiving-003.jpg\" width=\"444\" height=\"297\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>Dessert spread<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Thanksgiving 004\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Thanksgiving 004\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Thanksgiving-004.jpg\" width=\"444\" height=\"297\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>Some guests<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Thanksgiving 008\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Thanksgiving 008\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Thanksgiving-008.jpg\" width=\"297\" height=\"444\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>Katie hanging with Mikayla<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Thanksgiving 012\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Thanksgiving 012\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Thanksgiving-012.jpg\" width=\"444\" height=\"297\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>Staff member from maintenance department holding Simo.&#160; One of the highlights from the day.&#160; Traditionally Swazi men have little to do with young children, so this was huge that he wanted to play and hold Simo.<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"IMG605\" border=\"0\" alt=\"IMG605\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/IMG605.jpg\" width=\"334\" height=\"444\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>Post Thanksgiving snuggle session on the porch while watching a storm roll in.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>And since we are on the topic of food, Mikayla had a first in the food department this month.&#160; One morning she wanted scrambled eggs for breakfast, but she wanted to make them all on her own.&#160; She did everything but turn on the stove and scoop the eggs on her plate.&#160; She was so proud, and I think she did an awesome job!&#160; She really is growing up way too fast.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Max 5 month photo shoot 008\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Max 5 month photo shoot 008\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Max-5-month-photo-shoot-008.jpg\" width=\"297\" height=\"444\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Max had a first this month too&#8230;his first overnight!&#160; Oh dear, it was a bit of a mess.&#160; 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!&#160; The babies took turns crying throughout the night.&#160; If one wasn&#8217;t going the other was!&#160; And the two older kiddos also had a little trouble sleeping and had some bad dreams.&#160; Needless to say we were all exhausted the next day, but still had a lot of fun playing!&#160; We took part of our trip into town to go to a local play place called Neverland.&#160; Mikayla and Max actually had the whole place to themselves so they played and played and loved every minute of it.&#160; 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.&#160; It was much easier to shop without having to keep up with Mikayla!&#160; 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!<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"IMG596\" border=\"0\" alt=\"IMG596\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/IMG596.jpg\" width=\"334\" height=\"444\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"IMG600\" border=\"0\" alt=\"IMG600\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/IMG600.jpg\" width=\"334\" height=\"444\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, November was not kind to the Kickert&#8217;s tummies.&#160; We all three came down with some sort of stomach bug at the end of the month.&#160; Ben had it the worst, but Mikayla was not her usual peppy self for a couple of days after.&#160; Luckily, we were feeling mostly better in time for our annual Thanksgiving feast.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Max 5 month photo shoot 023\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Max 5 month photo shoot 023\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Max-5-month-photo-shoot-023.jpg\" width=\"444\" height=\"297\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>Max was not quite sure what to make of all the picture taking while he was sitting on his own.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Max 5 month photo shoot 045\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Max 5 month photo shoot 045\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Max-5-month-photo-shoot-045.jpg\" width=\"444\" height=\"297\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>Sibling Love<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Max 5 month photo shoot 009\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Max 5 month photo shoot 009\" src=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Max-5-month-photo-shoot-009.jpg\" width=\"297\" height=\"444\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em>She wanted to wear the towels like mommy does after her shower one night.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am not sure where November went, but it flew past!&#160; One day it was October and it seems like the next November was finishing up.&#160; It won&#8217;t be long now before our big trip in January.&#160; December is already shaping up to be a busy month with the hostel&#8217;s Christmas camp\/party, mini holiday getaway [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[33,153,124],"class_list":["post-4207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-halloween","tag-monthly-update","tag-thanksgiving"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/beth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}