Grinding the roasted cumin.
Ayaan chuckles at our attempts to make Malawax.
Sambusa filling. It tastes so good!
Asho teaching me to make the Sambusa pockets. Asho would laugh (good heartedly) at my attempts and was able to fix all of the mistakes.
The ladies packing us up. We left with food for 10!

Holiday Weekend Fun!

Yep the camper does sleep 7!
The kids had a great time with their Dad!

A Trip to the Capitol

Yinghua School Carnival

The kids had a great time at the school carnival this year. They played many games and ate a Chinese dinner. And yes there was ponies too!
Our friends Le Que and Briana. B is going to be in kindergarten with Asa next year!

My Mother's Day

I was woken up on Mother's Day by the children delivering me breakfast in bed. I had eggs, toast, cereal and tea. Grace gave me a gift of all my favorite teas and a couple candies from the pantry all wrapped up. It was very sweet. Grace wrote this letter (which was dictated by Asa) with out any help. I was told that the black circles we "happy yells". We had a great day and went to the "Good Earth" restaurant. The children behaved well all day and were very complimentary all day. "Mom you are the best Mom in the whole world" was said more than once. :) I felt very loved and special.

Sweet Photos of the Kids

Up close and personal with Zeke.
Yep, a tie with a Tshirt.
My sunshine (taken on Mother's Day).
My angel boy (taken on Mother's Day).

Handsome Young Man!

We picked 'em up today. It was ok with him for about 3 seconds. We got to the car and he came undone. Fully convinced his friends were going to tease him and that he looked "stupid" he cried, and cried, and yelled and screamed. His little heart broke and so did mine. He then got mad. Yelled and said how much he hated them. By the time we got home he decided he was ok with glasses and was very happy that Zaboo was easier to see. I think he looks so much older. My little baby boy is getting all grown up!

Happy Mothers Day!

So Barn and the kids took me out last night to get my Mother's Day gift. Man was I surprised! I got this!

Here are some of the photos we have taken thus far. The one of Zeke is blurry because I didn't want to turn on the flash and wake him up. He is currently sawing some pretty big logs on the couch!

You Put the Tatto Where?!

So last night our house mate was doing some cleaning and came across some tattoos (temporary ones). Asa loves these things so Chris gave them to Asa. This morning he asked if he could put em on. I said "Sure." I was getting ready for us to go to ECFE so I let him put them where ever he liked. He came in with the muscle car on his neck, a skull and cross bones on his shin, and a chain around his wrist. "Very nice." I say. "Wait honey, did you put them all on?" "Oh yeah!" he says with a sly grin and a twinkle in his eye. Warily I say "Where did you put the other one?" He giggles..."I put it on my guts!" Now "guts" for Asa means, we are all adults so I will just say it, testicles. Yep. Asa has a skull and cross bones on his testicles. Thank goodness that he has had all his doctor appts done before this! So yeah, thats my boy, skull and cross bones....on his guts...

Soccer Lessons

Asa decided he wanted to teach Zeke how to play soccer. If you look closely Asa decided that soccer balls were to be kicked off of tees. (Yeah this whole post is in bold, I have no idea why.) Zeke then decided to pass on tee soccer and ride his bike.

It's been a while...

No we are actually rather happy folks! :) Barn caught us with rather unhappy looks. The picture actuall made me laugh when I saw it (we look so cranky!) so I had to post it.
Zeke loving his oatmeal.
Photo by Zeke.
Our friends Jake and Diana (and their little guy Bridger) came for a visit. Diana and I took the crew to the Science Museum.

Hey Y'all! Yeah, I totally got caught up in "getting back to normal". Sorry I have neglected the blog. I know my Mom called asking for pictures the other day, so here are a few. I am going to get some video of Grace playing her violin and some photos of the boys helping me with the garden (when it stops raining which is supposed to be Thursday! Dang.) Nothing too exciting around here. Grace is looking forward to being done with school and then she and Asa are going to go camp and me and the big Z will have mornings to ourselves! It is "Taco Tuesday" here at the Compound, the whole house gets together and brings something, sorta taco "Stone Soup" if you will. We are celebrating Chris surviving another year of art school. Oh I don't remember if I posted this already but the Wards have found themselves a great apartment in Minneapolis. They will be saving about $250 a month in gas being close to Chris' school. We will miss them but will enjoy the added space. Grace is anxious to get her own room. She is talking pink and lavender walls. :) I will post the before and after photos.