Africa Revisited..........

Ah and here we are again. This blogging every day thing is really getting hard. Derek came home from New York today. This should be the last big, long travel by him for a while. Thank goodness. I am not cut out to do this on my own.

I am going to do one more Africa post and I PROMISE that I will post the charities. I need to do it justice, and in order to do that, I need to have more than 3 minutes in a row to write it........

During one of the days at the camp, we went to the local Maasai village. Everyone that has been to Kenya or Tanzania has done this, but it was still cool. The Maasai are very interesting. They are a tribe that is at odds with the modern world. The are the one tribe in Kenya that have resisted change. They still wear the traditional red cape, their children don't stay in school long and they are always running into trouble with the Kenyan Wildlife Protection Agency for killing lions. In order for a boy to become a man, he must kill a lion all by himself. They carve out a club, about as long as your arm with a bulb on the end to do this with. Killing lions is illegal so that is a problem. The Maasai claim that since they have been forbidden to kill the lions, the lions have gotten bold. They now put doors on their houses for the first time in their history. A few months before we visited, a lion had entered the village and gone into a house and killed a child. Only one house in this village had a door. The hut of the chief.



The Maasai still hold onto the old traditions of wife sharing, FGM and other things that a modern society doesn't approve of. One of their main food sources is cow's blood mixed with milk. They believe that all cows on the earth belong to them, the owners of the cows tend to disagree............. this is just one example of how their ways are at direct odds with the way the rest of the world works. Because they are so unchanged, they now have a booming business in the tourist trade. They used to not allow anyone to take their picture (they are the ones that thought it would steal their soul) but now they will allow you to come to their camp and ask anything you want, take all the pictures you want and generally have the run of the place (you can even stay overnight if you want) for the price of 10-20$ per person. Then they make you go to their little market and buy stuff from them. The fun is in the process and the bickering. Ironically, with all the money that they get, they still are very poor and have the lowest rate of school attendance and the highest child mortality rate and HIV contract rate. It is very difficult to go against tribal culture. There are lots of tribes in Kenya, but a few major ones. I have friends from some of the other tribes and while they retain much of their ancient custom, they have basically assimilated into modern life. The Maasai are unique that way.

If you look closely, the short guy, the second from the right,
is holding a lion club in his hand. He is wearing all maroon.
You can see the rounded part of the club on the left of his hand.
Now, go kill a lion.

When you first arrive at the village, the young warriors come out to meet you. They do a traditional dance and have a jumping contest. The young men wear wigs that have long braids down the back and always have lots of beads and jewelry on (the colorful beads that you see are traditional Maasai beadwork). They also have little tin disks attached to their jewelry that make a little tinkling sound when they move. This little girl was peeking from her dads legs, but you can see the beads and disks.

When they dance, the make a very low, guttural and clicking sound in rhythm together. The day we were there, the other white man in the village was filming the warriors. He kept stealing my good vantage points to take pictures from. After talking to him for a few minutes we found out that he was with Steve Irwin's company, filming something for one of his projects. He graciously allowed me to get the good vantage points for the rest of the dance. Nice guy. He also gave us tips on how to haggle and how to not feel too intimidated.


After the men finished the dance, they did the jumping contest. It was CRAZY how high they can jump. The Maasai are tall and angular anyway, but the jumping was pretty amazing. The little boys stood in a group behind the big boys and had a similar contest. These tiny boys could jump much higher than I can. It was sweet to see them copying the big boys.

Look ma, no pants!!

The kids also had seen enough Mozungu (white people) that they knew what to ask for. "Give me some candy!" "Give me some money" "A quid, a quid" (that is the slang term for a British pound coin). Little stinkers. They did the things that all kids do. They were playing and arguing with each other, teasing the dogs and crying a lot. Most of the big kids had a baby that they were wearing. They all had distended bellies (not enough food) and flies in their eyes and faces that they didn't bother to swat away. We asked them to sing a song for us and they sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". It was funny to see them doing the actions with their naked little bums. It was like bizzaro Primary.

They offered to take pictures of us (for a very small fee.....).

After the boys did the dance, tried to get us to trade them our watches and played with our cameras; the women came out to sing. It was beautiful to see them, but also very sad. Life is hard for these women. They do all the work, and I do mean ALL the work. They herd the animals, they build the houses, they have babies every year. The death rate among women is very high. I can see why. You would think that the guys who are trying to club a lion to death at the age of 14 would have a higher death rate, but that isn't the way it is. All the women had children hanging on their skirts and most of them were pregnant. I was struck by how beautiful they were and how vibrant the colors that they wore looked against the greens and browns of the Savannah.

These girls were copying their moms.

The Maasai market is like the Walmart of The Mara. Every stall had the same types of things. Carved wooden figures, wooden masks, animals and salad tongs. There were salad tongs everywhere!! They kept assuring us that they made everything and that it was all authentic. Salad tongs? My friend Julie challenged them on it and said "salad? You guys eat salad? What kind of salad?" The answer was "milk and blood salad".



I loved the beaded things and got some fun stuff. A young-ish boy was assigned to each of us. There were about 100 stalls. When we saw something we liked, they carried it for us. They even picked things out for us that they thought we would like. By the time I was done, I had 4 or 5 guys trailing me. They learned my name pretty quickly and loved to use it. "Rebecca, Rebecca, PLEASE, look at my brothers stall". "Rebecca, you will LOVE this". "Rebecca, bring your children this machete, they will love it". I am sure they would.

My "carrier" boys. The one in the middle won the jumping contest.

We were worried about being fair and buying things at each stall. Apparently it didn't really matter, they split the money equally at the end of the barter. When I was done gathering all my stuff, they put it on the ground in the middle of the market.

All of the people who's stalls I had taken an item from gathered around me along with the 5 "carrier" boys I had picked up. Apparently it was time to haggle. This cannot be done quickly. Even if you are in a hurry and you just want to pay them for their stuff because it is getting late and your driver is freaking out because you need to get off the Savannah and back to the hotel before curfew. Doesn't' matter. Not even a little bit.

I bought this knife for my dad........

We started out by them asking me what I would pay for the stuff. I had been warned by Clive, the Croc Hunter's guy, to start low. I had a huge pile of stuff so I added a few dollars. I said "5 dollars". The outrage and disbelief was palpable (but all part of the act). I had humiliated them and might as well just spit on their mother's grave. Did I think that their women just had all the time in the world to make this stuff? They wanted 200$$. My turn to be outraged. Didn't they know I had kids to feed? I worked for free to educate the children of Africa about Slim Disease (HIV /AIDS). I was not one of the Mozungu they may have seen before that was made of money. I came back with 20$. "Noooooo, can't you see the orphans that we have to care for? Can't you see how poor we are?" was the cry. Throw in some weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I pulled out my secret weapon. I flashed a picture of my kids. I also had an "orphan" that I was caring for. I took him into my home and am raising him as my own. How dare they throw THEIR orphans in my face. Those cold hearted salesmen didn't care (even though they loved that I was getting so into it). I took things off the pile, I got up and walked away. The more I overreacted, the more they loved it (I had watched some others do it before me and figured out the game). It was pretty fun, especially because I didn't really care if I got anything. The best part of the whole haggling thing was that we were doing it in both shillings and dollars. They would say something like "I will give you all this for 150$ or 5,000 shillings". This is where it was to my advantage that none of them stayed in school. 3,000 shillings was about 40$. Ha!!! I decided that I could live with that and tried to close the deal (plus Naftali was getting antsy). "Nooo, Rebecca. It is ok, I promise, it will be ok" "Just keep going". They were trying to reassure me that in the end I would get all the stuff I wanted.

Sigh.

I was getting a little bit frantic because we had to go and I just wanted to be finished, but that wasn't going to happen. They had to confer with each other and finally came back with another reason why they couldn't possibly accept anything less than 100$ or 1,000 shillings (about 15$). Deal!!!!!!!

I got so much stuff. I got a bunch of stuff for presentations I do here in the US, and all kinds of weapons for my dad. He collects knives and spears. I got pretty beads for my girl and myself and some fertility gods (which worked because Nori was in our arms about 3 weeks later!!). None of it was something I needed, but it is so fun to look back at the stuff and remember the process of getting it.

They are talking about what I got.......there was lots of counting and conferring........

It was the only part of the trip that wasn't really work. Part of our group had a meeting with some government officials for a few days and the rest of us went on the little safari break. I am SO glad that we did.

If I don't manage to get the charity post done tomorrow, I will tell you the story of the balloon ride and breakfast with killer bees. Yes. Killer Bees!

I'm working on it...

But until then, I am going to give you a few more Africa pictures. I know it is a total cop-out, but I wanted to still post every day. Besides, Miss Norah interrupted the Africa report. I have a few posts that I started when I got back.

We went on lots of airplanes during the trip. They were all small planes that seated between 6 and 20 people. I am a TERRIFIED flier and I was just fine. For some reason, being able to see the ground was a good thing (I think the Xanax helped too). This was taken out the window on the way to the Maasai Mara. The Mara is a protected area in the south part of Kenya, right on the boarder with Tanzania. The Serengeti technically ends at the river that creates the boarder between the two countries. We were staying about a mile from that river on the Kenya side. It is some of the best safari country in Africa.

I also took this from the plane. This is a little Maasi village. We saw about hundred of these types of villages from the air. The "fence" of this village is made of thorny bushes. This is to keep wild animals out and the cattle in. The center circle is where all the activities take place and where the animals are penned at night. The big circle on the right side is another animal pen. The little huts are where the people live. Typically a village of this type will have a husbands hut, a first wife's hut, a second wife's hut, an older son's hut, etc. It was pretty cool to see them all from the air and to see that they were basically the same.

This is the landing strip and "ramp" at our airport on The Mara. The long red dirt road is where we landed and walked across this little wooden bridge.

This is what was on the other side of the bridge. This is the shelter where you wait for the plane. There are 4 or 5 safari camps out on The Mara. The plane leaves Nairobi and then runs a route like a bus. You go up, and then down to let people off at the first stop, then up again to the next stop, etc. We were the last stop. On the way home the plane was running about two hours behind. At least there was shelter..........

And shopping....... This was (like all airports) the most expensive place to buy anything!!!

We arrived at the camp in the afternoon. Just in time to meet our driver, Nafatali, and take a quick drive. You cannot be on The Mara past 6:30 pm. After that, they assume you are a poacher and you will be shot at. Seriously. Even though the landscape was sparse, there was still a beautiful picture everywhere you turned....... These trees are where you often can see the big cats.

Sunset on the Mara. It was so beautiful. We went during our summer, but their winter, so the days were a bit shorter. The colors were unbelievable.

Bright and early the next morning we took a balloon ride.......... that story will come in the next few days. It was pretty incredible.....

I'd vote for that............

My dad is very politically involved. I was born in Washington D.C. while my dad was working as a lobbyist for the National Wildlife Federation. Dad is very civic minded and has always been involved in some sort of campaign, project or focus group in some way or another for most of my life. When I was a young person, he headed or worked on political campaigns. He was a campaign manager for a democratic congressional candidate in the most Republican district in the country. They won. He worked for Congressman Orton for many years. This coincided with the years that I was at BYU. He worked just down the road from the campus. We would meet for lunch and I could always catch a ride home to Heber and back again in time for class the next day if I wanted to. I even interned in the Congressman's office for a while. Election time reminds me of my dad. It also reminds me of my birthday. I love November.

My dad is still involved in politics. While he tends to be a little (well, a lot) more conservative on some issues than I am (did you think it was possible to be MORE conservative than me?) I have to admire him for working very hard for what he believes in. We live in a country where most people don't vote. Where "politics" doesn't go farther than dinner conversation or talking about the negative commercials. We live in a country that is deeply divided over many issues and most people don't do more than complain about it. My dad is one of those people in this country that is on the phone, raising money and actively working to make changes that he believes in. They may not be the same thing YOU believe in, but he is doing something. What are you doing? (Me? Not so much......). Many times his "projects" didn't pay much money. Or any money. This meant sacrifices for my family (especially my mom). For right or wrong, his choice was to throw himself behind what he believed in.

This example is part of the reason why I have chosen to be actively involved in projects and organizations that are trying to leave the world a better place than they found it. My children need to see me spending time and energy working in the service of other people. I am involved in some Africa projects (you all know that) but I am also involved in a few other projects that I don't blog about. Ethical adoption issues, birthmother projects, sustainable income projects. Most of the time it is very difficult and uncomfortable for me to see the need that never stops and feel despair in the bottom of my gut that there is so much more to be done in Africa than ANYONE can ever do. I dread seeing the hurt that adoption has caused in the lives of all members of the adoption triad and knowing that adoption is a solution that is not always "happily ever after" for some of it's members. Many days, I feel like putting my head in the sand. I wonder WHY I put myself in situations where I am going to be exposed to hurts and injustices that I can't fix. Why do I do it?

I have thought about this a lot in the last month or so. I think that I know the answer (for myself anyway). I have the privilege of being born a woman in North America in this generation. I have an obligation to those who don't share that privilege. I just do. I have a voice for those who have a voice that isn't as loud as mine. I have access to education and money and privilege that others do not. I can use those things to support those who do not have the privilege of being me. That sounds different than I mean it. I am not saying that other people should be me and that I feel sorry for people who are not born the way I am born. I am not saying that all those who don't have the opportunity to live in America are missing out. I am not talking about being ethno-centric and thinking that our way is the only right way. What I mean is that because I am who I am, when my daughter was having a medical issue this week I knew that I could take her to the doctor. I didn't worry about how I was going to pay for it or wonder if the doctor has the supplies she needed. When I hear that one of my friends is pregnant, I don't think for an instant that they might die and leave the rest of their children at the mercy of the unknown. When my 6 year old daughter had "diary" last week, I didn't even entertain the thought that she will not be alive to go to school next week. Did you? Many people do. Diarrhea kills more kids in our world than almost anything else. Did you know that? HIV is not a terminal illness in our country. It is a chronic one. Did you know that? Not many people die of malaria here (the mosquito is the most deadly animal in the world). I get to take these things for granted.

Now that we have all voted (or at least every Blogger I read voted) lets focus our efforts on other things. Let's take all that "wow, I am a great citizen" feeling and pour it into something that will be tangible for someone else. By the way, you SHOULD feel proud about voting. Very few registered voters bother to. And how easy is voting? I promise you that there is need in your town, in your state and all over the world. Many of the blogs I read on election day mentioned that they were voting and they brought their kids so they could see their parents doing it. To be an example. That is great. The power of example is large. Now, let your kids see you doing other things. Remember that charities need your time AND your money. Most of us have one or the other. Please also remember that a VERY small amount of either can make a HUGE difference to an organization that depends on people like you and I to keep the wheels turning. And, for all the stuff that you guys are already doing. BRAVO!

Tomorrow I am going to post some of my favorite charities that could use the skills that I know many of you have. Some are local (but have chapters in your area). Some are state or national. Some are international. All of them are ones that I have either worked with before or have a working knowledge of their organizations. I am even going to tell you about the trip to Africa that I hope to take in a few months (want to come?). Are you excited yet? :-)

Also, my friend Erin just brought home her little girl, Belane, from Ethiopia. Her story is amazing and you should all read it. Erin has 10 kids now and she is one of the best mothers I know. She is the kind of mom that you see and you think "wow, you should have 20 kids because you are such a good mom". She and her husband went to Ethiopia last year to bring home their son Ben. While there, they visited another orphanage to bring some supplies that they had donated. While there they saw a small girl (who at the time they didn't even think they could adopt) and, well, the rest is history. It is a WONDERFUL story. Erin just wrote about her trip and her journey to bring Belane home. It is on the Adoption.com blog about Transracial Parenting. Grab a bucket of popcorn and a soda and be prepared to shed happy tears. Be sure to comment too (if you can-- or just do it here) because she is going to print them out and give them to Belane.

Happy Thursday!

Which do I care more about.........

The outcome of the election, the fact that Donald Rumsfield resigned or that Brittany finally kicked KFed off the gravy train? Hm?

Let's just say that I didn't call anyone at 11:00 pm last night to talk about who the new Secretary of Defense would be......................


In other news...... My dear, dear friend is having a BOY!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Jacksons. The world needs another HUGH!!!!!!

Bleah.........

We are sick. All of us.

The baby didn't have to stay in the hospital last night. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and thoughts. We are on the evil "third" day at our house (the third day that dad is gone is always the hardest.........) and having a snuffly mom, grumpy baby and bored kids doesn't help much. Madam NoCanBreathe is on the nebulizer and doing much better today. Whew. I have wonderful friends who came over last night to watch my big kids and to just be a support in general. I am blessed to have wonderful blog friends and face friends. Thank's to all of them.

This is why I vote absentee every year. Partly because I am lazy and party because something always seems to come up...............

Happy first week of November everyone.

Baby's first laugh (on film......). This one is for you, Derek. All three of them miss you this week. Mom is no fun at all.

Baby's first hairdo...

Ok friends,

Here is my first foray into the world of hair styles. Norah is only 3 months old and I am not ready to start braiding yet (although it is long enough). I just did sections of hair (but not the super crisp parts that you usually see on little girls). I did a flat twist (that lasted all of two minutes) and secured it with a claw clip. It looked MUCH cuter in person. I am wary about braiding her hair this young because I don't want to pull it all out. The front is pretty long and has such beautiful curl, but it gets frizzy by the end of the day. The sides just start out frizzy. I think that a lot of that has to do with the fact that she is sitting in her chair all day. I don't even worry about the back for the same reason. It doesn't help that we rub it all day long. I put some product in her hair yesterday called "Mixed chicks" and it was awesome. It kept the curl very defined and soft and moisturized, but not crunchy or oily. I have been keeping her mostly in bows and head bands but this is nice for a change. I went kind of crazy in Walmart in the hair aisle. They have really cute little clips. I am so excited to her to wear them all.

On another note, my girl has RSV or Bronchialitis, we have to wait for the test to come back to be sure. We have all had colds for a few weeks and she has been congested for awhile. This morning she was really raspy and was having a hard time breathing. She was trying really hard to get air into her lungs and panting. I was on the way to the dentist w/ the older two (have mercy..............) and they told me to get her in RIGHT AWAY. I took her to the Urgent Care and she was not getting enough oxygen. After three (!!!!) treatments of Albuteral her oxygen level was still not quite where they wanted it to be. I have to keep her on it the rest of the day and if her levels haven't gone up by the end of the day, she will have to stay overnight at the hospital.

Derek is out of town.

We save all this kind of stuff for when daddy is gone. I have to find someone to stay at my house w/ my kids overnight. I guess I could just take her to the hospital and then come home to stay w/ the kiddos, but I don't really want to do that. If my infant is in the hospital, I would like to be there, KWIM? I may not have much of a choice.

Dedicated blogger that I am, I STILL posted today. Keep us in your prayers that everything is going to be fine at the Dr. this afternoon............

All I crave today...........

is one of these........

with this sliced on top (sharp, sharp, sharp cheddar).........

but I only have these...

So maybe I should pack it in and just eat this..........

off to make this for dinner (pumpkin risotto) ................

and I am watching a rerun of this.........

(it is an episode I haven't seen before.....where George Michael runs for student body president and Tobias dresses up as a nanny for Maybe, a la Mrs. Doubtfire). It is awesome.

Time to make the kids do this...............

My Lulu Bug......

My little Lauren. I have seen some huge changes in her this year. Sometimes she just wants to be my little girl and other times she seems like such an old soul. She has a real knack for reading emotions in other people and she is very sensitive to other people who "feel bad". She has a big heart. She is a sports fan (especially soccer) and always asks me "which team we like". She is a great big sister and a prolific artist. Now that she has learned to read and write, she keeps a journal diligently and leaves little love notes for me around the house. She is showing signs of her dad and grandmothers artistic abilities.

She decided that she was a waitress one day (this actually one of the things that she says she wants to be when she grows up. We tell her that if she studies hard, that dream might come true). She brought me a menu that she had written. When I ordered, she wrote down my order and then brought me my food. She drew it all. Mac and Cheese. Molten Lava Cake (from Chili's), chicken strips. The best part is that I could tell what it was that she drew. Even the Diet Coke.

Halloween was a dilemma for this girl. She must have changed her mind 10 times when trying to decide what to be. They were all some kind of fairy. Ballerina Fairy, Butterfly Fairy, Flower Fairy............ we finally decided on Sugar Plum Fairy. It worked because she was a fairy AND a ballerina that wore candy. I made her a tutu out of pink and white tulle (if you want to know how...let me know---so easy!!! No sew). I finally had to give her a date and tell her that there were no more changes after that.

Laurens BFF. These girls have know each other since birth (almost).

We went to the church Halloween party on Saturday AND the pumpkin patch of blow up slides AND her class party at school AND dinner with Aunt Erin and Uncle Will and Sweetie (grandma) and Grandpa AND trick or treating with her friends. We pretty much celebrated for the whole week. Last year she was several costumes (I guess that is what I get for having an abundant dress up closet). This year she stayed the same thing the whole time.

She brought home an entire bucket of candy. I can't believe how much candy there was in there. I told her she could eat what she wanted whenever she wanted. I can do that with this child because she just isn't that interested in candy. I actually put her candy bucket up high yesterday (to save it from my sugar baby Cubby) and she hasn't noticed yet.


We made Nori into a ballerina too, so she could match Lulu (thanks for the ballet shoes Lisa!!!). I had two cute little girls on Halloween. Nori DID end up being something else on actual Halloween because she spit up all over her skirt. But, you will see that costume when we do her next.

This is how we know he is sick............

He never just "falls asleep". Not in the car. Not at church. Never.

All it took was a fever of 104 degrees and some cold medicine. He was SO sick that day.

I got SO MUCH done...................

Friends,

I need inspiration. Derek will be gone ALL week next week (sigh) and I am determined to make a menu, stay on my grocery budget and have yummy food to make the evenings not quite so desperate. We will go out at least one of the nights, but lately, that is more of a challenge then staying home with cranky kids. It is also finally cold and blustery here, so soups and casseroles are right up my ally. Have a favorite soup or casserole? Please share the link or just give me the title if you don't want to type the whole recipe. I can google it (chances are that someone, somewhere has put it on the net....). Many, many thanks!

I pity the fool...........

Pre-Katrina Mr. T

Now he is post-Katrina Mr. T (no chains...)

Aren't you just humming the theme to The A Team right now? How cute is Mr. T? His costume turned out so well. My boy looks surprisingly good in a mohawk too. I might keep it for awhile. Cub was going to be Mr. T last year, but we got the evil outbreak of lice that WOULDN'T GO AWAY (thank you, kindergarten). We had to shave his head right before Halloween and he was Yoda instead.

This year we were ready. We grew his hair out for about a month so that we would get a good mohawk. Derek did the cutting (usually I play the barber) and he did such a good job. It is much more even and precise then it would have been if I was doing it. Cutting hair is an interesting task at our house. The second he hears the clippers turn on, Jacob runs for the hills. Once we catch him and hold him down, he will cry, scream, put his hands in his hair and throw a big fuss. More than twice Jacob has gone for a few days with half a haircut.

I wondered if J would keep the beads on. Lucky for me about a month ago he became obsessed with some of Lulu's bead necklaces. They are the first thing he digs out of the toy basket in the morning and he spends the whole day alternately wearing them and hitting the girls with them (he is still a boy after all). He had about 20 necklaces on for his costume and he kept those beads on the whole day. He loved it. I was pretty impressed. I didn't get a great shot of him in his full costume. This age is really hard to capture on film and I realized why there aren't many pictures of Lulu at this age. Things aren't looking good for J either.

We went to a church Halloween party on Saturday. It was a good dry run with the costumes. We met most of our friends there and got to see how cute their kids looked. There are some very creative parents out there. Also, Steve Young was out there (I don't know if he is creative or not--his son was a Power Ranger, so you decide). He has three kids now and goes to our church. I know that this is lame. You all know how I love my celebrity gossip and he is kind of a celebrity, right? We don't know him at all. Once my son hit his son in nursery, but that is the extent of our relationship. That and me taking sneaky pictures of him during the costume parade.

After the party we went to a pumpkin patch that had three or four big blow up things to play on. There was a giant slide that Lulu LOVED and a little bouncy castle thing that Jacob loved. He thought the place where you get in/out was a slide. Double the fun, right? It only cost about 5 bucks per child and they could play all they want. That is my kind of pumpkin patch. We didn't even have to buy a pumpkin.

We did get a few looks about having Jacob be Mr. T. I am not sure why though. Mr. T seems like a nice guy. I saw him on Conan a few months ago and he was engaging, funny and was holding his own with Conan. He has a new show called "I Pity the Fool" where he is some kind of life coach for people who are (in my opinion) beyond help. He has always tried to be a good role model for kids. He is a terrible actor (sorry T) but seems to be a good human being. We tried to teach Cubby to say "I pity the fool" but it came out more like "pity, folehoseohr". There is always next year.

Coming up next.......... Lauren and the Halloween Marathon (and the story about how she wanted to be a different thing for each party..........).

A blog a day....

I am participating in the National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) event. Basically, it means that you do a blog a day for the entire month of November. I am not sure WHY we are doing it, besides just to do it and have that be an accomplishment. On the hamster wheel of mothering I am always on the look out for projects that I can actually do and ones that give me sense of linear accomplishment. This seemed to fit the bill. For those that don't want to post a blog a day, you are encouraged to leave a comment a day. Go to the site to read more about it if you want more detials. Meanwhile, you will see a new post on this site, every day. There will be lots of pictures and recipe's I think.

November is a good month to do this. Halloween just ended, it is Adoption Awareness month, Breast Cancer Awareness month, Thanksgiving, my Birthday....... the list goes on and on. I can totally do this!

So that it doesn't get buried, I am going to remind you all to email me your addresses. See the details on the October 30th post..... we have some announcing, well wishing and thanking to do.

Happy November everyone..........