Beads (but only a few!)

Peer pressure is a terrible thing, especially in adults. I fell prey to it Tuesday and finally let down my resolve to never ever put beads in Ella's hair. Her Baganda Aunties have been pressuring me for a while, as has the little tyke herself. "It's HER hair" they exclaim, and my response always is, "buy I'M the one that makes it." But my weakness got to me Tuesday, hence Ella's head looking like a craft project.


There aren't many, and they're not staying in for long but THERE. I did it! The child has had beads in her hair! Now maybe L and her Baganda Aunties will get off my case... ;)

The Big Purchase

I did it. I actually bought Ella a trampoline yesterday! I had planned on getting one when we got back in September but with the current high exchange rate, a sale on trampolines at Game and a colleague going into Kampala today who was willing to bring it back for me, we will be getting a trampoline before we leave.

The plan is to store it in the neighbors garage until we get back, then send Ella away to the pool with the neighbors for a day while I set it up. Boy will she be surprised when she comes home to a trampoline set up in her yard! I can’t wait : -)

The eight foot trampoline itself cost $190 ($65 less than usual) and we’re getting a $40 cover for it. The sun is what seems to be the killer here so even with a cheap trampoline, hopefully the expensive cover will help it last.

We take playing and having fun very seriously! And considering that Ella spends over 80% of her waking hours outside, it will be well worth it. Especially as we plan to add another little one to the family next October or November : -)

Getting ready...

We picked up Ella’s passport last Thursday, complete with UK transit visa! So that means that we will be able to leave next week and that we won’t have to spend a night in Heathrow. Instead we will be tucked snuggly in a bed at our old neighbor and friends, Diana’s, in the U.K.

While we were in town we also picked up some dog food. 10 bags in fact. Much to my dismay, the price had gone up quite a bit. I can’t figure out which of the dogs to starve to death so I just grit my teeth and bought the food. What’s a dog owner to do?

Ballerina Beauties

This Saturday was Ella’s ballet recital. Not only did we get to enjoy watching the little girls dance, but we got to enjoy the beautiful flower farm where the recital (and our previous ballet lessons) was held and huge bbq afterwards. What fun!

My little ballerina – not the most talented but definitely one of the most enthusiastic!

Ella and her cheer leaders, Sarah and Prossy

Aren’t they cute? The H & H Girls!

The dance

The dances were really cute. They danced to songs from the African Children’s Choir.

Baby Hannah playing Legos with the four year olds

Our neighbor Hope, giving some tips on Lego architecture

Drinkin’ and Drivin!’ The girl’s ready for small town Montana for sure...

While Abi prefers to drive more responsibly

Sarah, Prossy, Hannah and Melinda, shootin’ the breeze...

Monster Puppy

Kayo got his vaccinations last week. It took the vet, a huge assistant, Ella and Sarah to catch and subdue him (Ella being the most effective of the bunch, according to Sarah). Even Cody got in on the action I hear. Kayo ended up biting the vet and drawing blood. Oops! Please tell me why that makes me proud? He also ended up “pooping his pants” as Ella gleefully narrated only, well, he doesn’t wear pants :)

They had to give him his shot inside the house as Bridger and Sanyu were trying to attack the vet and his frightened assistant as they tried to subdue the fighting puppy. We take care of our own, I guess! This also makes me proud...

Just to keep his ego in check a bit, I ended up putting Sanyu’s old pink collar on him, so little mister-macho-bite-the-vet-pants is swaggering about in a pink collar. For some reason it doesn’t seem to faze him at all...

"Who, ME?"

Don’t let those sad puppy eyes fool you! This little guy is a monster :- ) All puppy for sure – the chewing, biting, barking, cat chasing, hanky stealing – you name it, he does it in excess! He DID potty train himself though, so I can’t complain about that.

He is one of the orneriest pups I’ve had and I just love him for it. He’s gonna make an awesome dog (although L wont’ have any hankies left by the time he is!).

The Gangs all here!

Life With A Four Year Old

Need I say more?

Sore Paws

The faithful hounds spent their weekend recovering from their torn up paws. Thursday all of us and the neighbor crew headed to the Botanical Gardens with the boda, for boda rides. All five kids got turns being driven around the Gardens with the loyal hounds running along behind. Sadly, the loyal hounds didn’t use their noggins very well and majorly tore up the bottoms of their little pads. Sanyu faired a bit better than ol’ Bridge because she’d run on the grass some but they both had pretty ripped up paws. Bridger couldn’t even walk back to the house – he had to ride back on the boda with me and Madeline.

Sanyu at least had enough sense to lay down and soak her paws!

Even Kayo insisted on being a part and would start to yelp pitifully if we got too far ahead of him. He hitched a ride on the boda once, sitting happily between my feet and balanced well enough that he didn’t fall off.

Kayo, crashed by the Lake

Friday Bridger could barely even walk and would just shake and cry. I pumped the poor boy up with child pain killers and that seemed to help some but not much. Both big dogs spent the night inside, with Sanyu climbing up on the bed with me and Ella. Cozy!

Nothing like a little reading to help pass the time of paw recovery!

Sanyu, sleeping in the sandpit. Does this look very comfortable to you??

Kayo is getting really big!

Both dogs are well on their way to recovery now and are back to chasing monkeys and barking at people on the road. Wrestling with each other, too.

Socializing and swimming with friends - weekend activities

Since we leave in less than two weeks, I’m trying to get as much socializing and swimming in as we can. This homebody has mixed feelings about a four month “furlough” – what a predicament to have homes on two different continents, with friends and dogs scattered on both. I am one that loves my routine and although not terribly diverse, Ella and I have a very fun life here. It is especially going to be hard to leave the dogs for four months, especially since Kayo probably won’t even remember us very well when we return.

Anyways, this weekend Harriet and the kids came down, the kids went swimming, and then on Sunday, because it was so nice and beautiful out, L and I went swimming again. Ella is actually able to swim in the “deep end” now where she’s not able to touch! She is like a little fish and has had the breathing down clear since last year. All she needed to work on was the actual moving through the water.

So now she can belly flop off the side and swim to me, even treading water to catch her breath before charging on into the waiting arms of her mother. Then she can swim back, all by herself! She has totally taught herself with only a little encouragement from me.

She can also dive down and pick a rubber dog toy off the bottom of the pool, which I think is pretty darned tricky for a four year old! We both swam for about 3 hours on Sunday which is VERY unusual for me. Ella would swim into the night if I let her.

This was Jackie and Jacobs first time in a swimming pool and they loved it! Jackie didn’t last too long as it was a little cold out. Jacob was tentative at first but lasted longer than Jackie!

Jackie, after going swimming on the Equator : -)

A little talking fish!

A little sandpit time

With a bit or reading thrown in!

Growing, growing... HUGE!!!

These pictures were taken six weeks and three days apart from each other. Just look at how Kayo has grown in only six weeks!


I've a feeling he's going to be one big dog. Have I mentioned how sad I feel that we'll be missing out on four months of his puppyhood? How much we're going to miss our dogs when we're gone? If anyone knows how to lightspeed dogs from one continent to another, please let us know!

Could someone else please explain to me why this crazy pup likes to climb up here to eat his kibbles?

French Braids!

Ella's hair is finally long enough to do some really nice French Braids! Her hair is getting really long and thick and is surprisingly straight. Which doesn't hold as well as tighter hair but it's easier to comb out.




Now, to understand my delight you need to know that my family has a history with French Braids. I am the youngest of three girls and we all had long hair when we were younger. As little girls our mom would line us up and French Braid our hair - three different colors! Sadly it would only last a couple of days - if only we'd had hair like L's it would have greatly reduced my Mom's work. To this day when old friends reminisce about the H girls when we were younger, our braids seem to be one of the main things that defined us. So imagine my delight to be able to take my own little H girl back to Montana sporting her own little set of French Braids!

Ella unfortunately isn't too terribly impressed by her french braids because, "I can't see them." Sorry L - you'll have more control over your head when you are old enough to do your hair yourself! But for now, MOMMY IS IN CONTROL!!!!! Hee hee...

Puppy Training

We started leash training the puppy this weekend. Looking back over my posts for the last few months it seems that they are dominated by puppy pictures. I am a die hard dog lover and there is nothing much cuter (in my mind) than kids and dogs/puppies, so I'm not apologizing :)!

The trainer and the trainee - it's up to you to decide which one is which!

Watch out Westminster! This Dynamic Duo will be hitting the Gardens come the 2010 show!

And, nothing like a little game of tug o war after a rigorous training session :)

Oh man are we going to miss our dogs when we are gone!

A bit of damage

Here are some pictures of the minor damage done to my car and license plate on Friday. I was able to take it in and get the license plate put back on yesterday, costing me a full dollar. The guy didn't want anything at all for it but I needed to give him something because the last several times he's done any work on my boda for me he hasn't charge anything. Yes, and this is a mechanic!! Who ever heard of a mechanic not taking advantage of a woman?

Can't see it too well in this pic but it's a bit dented and scraped

The mangled plate, after I'd done a bit of straitening

I may have to go and get the hood repaired if the police start giving me any trouble. I've been told by several people that they may try to hassle me about having an accident and not reporting it and try to get a bit of money out of me. So maybe when I get back in September I'll worry about it, but not now.