Decorating themselves

Very rarely do the boys participate in art projects that don't end in screaming and unhappiness or them covered in paint or whatever we were using. Today we outlined their bodies on big sheets of paper and then they could decorate themselves.

For another disclaimer, I do not post these to make it seem like I'm a got it together mom who does crafts on a regular basis but rather it is such a rarity that when we actually do a craft I like to note the occurrence.

Silas working on his head.

He used so much glue that he honestly had his foot glued to the paper.

His finished product. I'm sure you see the resemblance. :)

So though his head was originally covered in pom poms, by the end he took them all off and it looked like this.

Kenan is my more crafty one and got into decorating.

The colorful Kenan.

Dawson wanted his to be the best. After a long discussion we came to the point that he could say he was making the best Dawson. His did turn out pretty cool. The straws are bones.

Last day of L'ecole Samuel

June 22nd was the last day of school for the boys at their french school. It was supposed to be July 1st but then they just changed it. Fine with me. It's just funny how they give out in the end and don't do much at all- including the teachers. Just a different mindset.

Here are the boys that morning. They matched on their first day of school so I decided they should end that way as well.

TCIS, the school my sister works at and where Julie and Brian taught, sent boxes of school supplies, toys and clothes for the school. Here the kids and teachers waving for a thank you picture.

The boys and their teachers. Top Row: Tanti Rachelle (K's teacher), Tonton Noel (K's assitant and best buddy) and Tanti Nathalie (D's assitant)

Bottom: Tanti Louise (D's teacher), D, K, Tonton Moise (D's assistant)

Kenan and his best bud Jean-Marc at the end of the year celebration.

Dawson and Amadou Tidian

Each class put on a little performance for the parents. Dawson was in the skit of the Tower of Babel because he can speak English. :) His line was "Give me the block!" which he said several times. He knew his line and was fine with doing this play until it came time to walk to where they were performing. He began to cry and couldn't stop for probably 15 minutes or more. We prayed and asked God to give him strength. When it was time to perform, he got up cautiously and did as he was supposed to.

Passing the blocks to build the tower

Dawson meticulously placed the block pieces

Give me the block! Give me the block!

I was proud of him for doing it even though he was scared. He walked off stage and proceeded to cry some more, even though he was supposed to join the class in the songs. He just couldn't do it. Since he had done his part in the skit, I let him stay down.

Kenan had no problem going up though he had fallen asleep as he waited for the class to sing so he was a bit dazed on stage.

They practice french by saying a little exercise of open your hands, close your hands, hide them, rub your arm, scratch your arm, make your hands dance, make sleeping hands.

Mains Dormir (sleeping hands)

The teachers got into the singing and dancing as well. :)

They so kindly put us on the front row so the speakers were blaring. Also, added to the crying child, the sleepy child, we had a sleepy crying child named Silas who was terrible. After the boys finished their part we actually left instead of staying for the rest of the classes to perform which would have been a couple more hours. Thankful sometimes for our white skin that "allows" us to get away with bad things we shouldn't do.

Despite the kids having a hard time, it was a lot of fun and neat to see the kids perform. I'm thankful for what they have learned and hope it continues!

Snow day

If you've read this blog for any length of time you know that my boys love to cover themselves in whatever they absolutely can. Since they learned the fun of shaving cream at Grandma's house, they wanted to do it here with Hannah one day. They had a blast. The pictures are awesome but again, I'm not able to post most of them on the blog.

Alison and I said that if these two ever got married we'd have some great pictures to show at the rehearsal dinner slideshow. :)

Blue Man Group

The other week the boys were painting outside. I had a huge piece of paper that we used to trace themselves. They were painting them and having fun so I went inside to clean up some things. I got into what I was doing and was enjoying the quiet. Then I realized that they were too occupied and having too much fun with just painting on paper. Went outside and found them like this. I had mistakenly left them with a full bottle of blue paint.

So here is our own Blue Man Group.

They were covered from head to toe. The full picture is actually better but since it is being posted online, this is all I can show.

Things they say

One of my favorite things of going to the States is seeing how the boys react.

We get into an American airport and they see an escalator and they are terrified. After the first couple of times they are running around on them like it is Disney World.

Kenan: Can we ride the escavator again?

We let them pick a bag of chips to eat while we were waiting for our last flight to Raleigh. They chose Cheetos and Kenan asked if he could kiss the bag.

When Dawson saw a water fountain he looked at it and then looked at me with a sheepish grin wondering if he could really drink the water. He was thrilled when I said yes.

They loved playing in the bathroom with the automatic flush (that they were afraid of) and the automatic water and dryer.

When we walked out of the airport in Raleigh they all shivered and Kenan said, "Ooh, it's cold season!"

The next day when it was still cold Kenan said, "Grandma, why is it cold season again? How come, it used to be warm at your house?" (remembering last summer)

K: When washing his hands, "Why is the water so cold?" (after coming from near boiling water in the afternoon or evening in Mali)

Kenan: You need to tell grandma not to put the dog outside. It’s too cold. I think if you get too cold you can get sick and die.

Kenan: Grandma your toilet isn’t normal

Silas, when looking for the flush on the top of the toilet: No flush? "No fwush…No fwush"

Silas kept looking at Caroline and saying, "Ca va? Ca va, ca va"

Enjoying the little things on furlough like watching me mow the lawn and vacuuming a carpet

Happy 6th Birthday, Dawson!

My sweet Dawson is 6 years old today! Hard to believe. He has grown up so much. He knows his days of the week in English and French. He actually has learned a ton of French this year. He can read! He is doing so well in school. His favorite subject is math, just like his parents! He is a fantastic big brother. He looks after them and helps me with them. He is a sweet, sweet kid. He loves to share with others. He is such a joy!

One of the neatest things I have seen in Dawson this year is how his heart for the Lord has grown. I often think of 3 John 1:4: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." This is true for him. His favorite book to read is the Bible. He can quote many verses. He desires to do good and follow God. His favorite song to listen to on the way to school is "Jesus is the Rock." This boy keeps me on my toes. He knows that "stupid" is a bad word. If he hears us say it, he will come over and tell us what we said. One day he actually told me he needed to know all the bad words so that if I said them, he could tell me! :) I told him he could just make sure I didn't say "stupid." :)

Other quotes from him in the recent weeks:

He has had a cough off and on the last few months. We have been praying that it would go away. One day on the way home from school he said, "I think I figured it out why God hasn't made my cough go away. He does but then I go back to school and those kids cough on me so I get it again. Then He has to heal me again. So they cough on me, and He makes me better, then they cough on me again." He also asked if God could get sick. I said no. He said, "Maybe He could just put his arm out in front of me when the kids cough so I don't get sick." The faith of a child.

He was playing with Kenan outside and said he lied. He looked at me and said, "I think Kenan has a lie in his throat" And a few minutes later, he said, "I wish I had x-ray vision and could see if Kenan was lying or not."

Brett told him this morning, "thanks for living with us for 6 years." Dawson responded, "Thank mommy, she borned me."

Very glad I borned him 6 years ago. Love you, D-man.

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Update: this is his cake from his party in the States, the day after we got into the country. Thanks to our friend Becky for making this awesome cake!

Enjoying gifts with his brothers and friend.

My heroes

They were out fighting crime today....

K may fight on his own now, but he still wants to see what his brother is doing.

just like their expressions and actions in the next few

showing off their skills...

then I realized they were actually in a smiling mood so I made them sit down and take pictures. So happy they were all smiling at the same time.

yes, the picture is basically the same but it is another picture of them all smiling. It has to be posted. :)

Mali Ink

We had a tattoo session today. It was just the older two. Silas kept insisting it would hurt and wouldn't do it.

Here's Kenan showing off his muscles and new tattoos.

And the D man

They may be rough and tough tatted up, but they are still sweet. Here's the bracelet Kenan made for me, completely on his own and unprompted, for know other reason than to be sweet. Love that little guy.