Reading the Classics

So, little L is plugging through the first grade. I really am a crappy teacher because I do not enjoy it like I should, however it IS fun and encouraging to see her making great progress, especially in her reading!



Because we are SUCH highly sophisticated people, I've started her reading the classics. The classics of Dr. Seuss that is :) And she loves them! They are great beginners books, have a lot of repetition, good pictures, and are really long. To be honest, with her looks and crazy personality the child could be in a Dr. Seuss book herself!

Not sure why these are sideways, but these are the books she's reading!

Now, I haven't read Dr Seuss since I was a child. I know that he's great, his books are GREAT for beginning readers, but... I couldn't help but find some of the pictures in his books just a tad disturbing!

Okay, so this thing is a bit odd, but get a load of Jim!! Maybe it's too tiny in this picture but trust me, little Jim is SCARY and EVIL looking!



And... what can I say. What are all these guys all doing in bed together?? It doesn't say, but I bet one of them has a rubber band ;)

My sister sent these "old" books (plus a lot more!) a while back and they are PERFECT also! In her Language Arts Ella is learning about long vowels and there is at least one book of each, in addition to consonant clusters and other things.



Now, Ella is the type of learner/person that she is totally unmotivated by phonics. The girl needs a STORY, not phonics rules, to get a point! So these books are perfect and she's learning to read them well. And really, the whole POINT of phonics is so that you can read, so as long as she can read, who cares about phonics?

Danger Ranger, after being read a good night story...

This weeks pictures

Whew- what a week. Filled with a family tragedy back in the States, then a smaller tragedy at our own home here. Yuck. Before that I had a lot rolling around in my head to blog about but now there's pretty much nothing left in there. So I thought I'd just post some pictures of our last week. I mean, if you have a blog you have to post something I guess!

A big event was getting new desks!! That's right, the kids actually have a place to do their school now!! Frankie'd pretty much dropped out because there wasn't room at the table for the poor lad. Too much junk on it. So now he has his own little desk and I guess I'll have to teach him something.

Ella is halfway through 1st grade Bible, Science and History/Geography. I'm proud of her. She's doing well despite a VERY crappy teacher. Who complains a lot... :(

Another wonderful thing was this "new" little fridge and sink set!! Oh my, the kids LOVE it!

It's got a really cool little faucet hooker upper that I need to get rigged up to some water. But it's cool even without running water and a great place for keeping your plastic food out of the jaws of the puppies!

She likes it :)

Ellie and Madea sleeping amidst the shoes

Kitchen helper helping to clean off the groundnut sauce that boiled all over the top of the stove.

Thanks old buddy

A little peanut butter in the Kong helps keep a teething puppy occupied for a while

Saturday the kids friends A came over for the day. Her mom took this picture a while back and I thought it was a cute one. These three are just as ornery as they are cute - TRUST ME!! They're a fun bunch!

After watching an Andy Griffith show where Opie was working to earn money, Ella was inspired to work for her own. So we found an empty jar and made her a little bank to save her money in - a foreign concept for L. She has started cleaning the kitchen on the weekends and earning around 500 shillings a pop - but ONLY if it's done well. She is pretty impressive - a six and a half year old cleaning the ENTIRE kitchen? Like, washing the dishes, putting them away, sweeping the floor AND clearing the counters?? She does it and I help her check her work and point out anything she's missed. Yes, I'm picky. Even though she's only six. I want her to learn that you really do have to do a GOOD job if you're going to get paid for work - money is not automatically owed you. Your job is to keep your employer happy - not the other way around!



I was of two minds about this. On one hand I really do want to teach my child to work for her money and learn how to manage it and all that, but on the other hand I don't want the kids thinking they should be paid in order to contribute to the family. I mean, I never was! And I'm still not :). But in the end I figured that a six year old cleaning an entire kitchen on her own was above and beyond a six year olds normal call to duty!

Frank was a bit pissed at first that he wasn't getting money too, but I explained how he could when he got older - now he can practice taking care of his stuff and doing smaller work without pay, in order to prepare him for the day when he was bigger and could do bigger jobs that you get paid for. He thought about that and the clincher was when I asked him if I got paid for any of the work at home that I did :)

The fruits of her labor -and another tooth! 4,000 shillings (less than $2.00) before she tithed 400 shillings of it.

The youngsters children's church was leading the church services today at church and didn't Frankie just wake up this morning looking like this! He got into a tangle with something that stung him last night, so woke up looking like he was at the receiving end of a bar fight. I gave him some antihistamine (which didn't' appear to do much good!) and took him to church like this. And he even sang in the choir! Only in Africa man... anywhere else I'd get thrown in jail for child abuse!

L's the one with the microphone pointed at her head, and Frankie's the little dude in the orange shirt beside her.

We got to church at the ungodly hour of 8am and FROZE during the first service. It was freakin' cold!! Started to rain and just didn't quit. I wimped out after the first service and we didn't stay for the second. Rather we came home, put on some warm clothes, ate pancakes, drank hot cocoa, the kids watched two hours of The Andy Griffith show and I dozed on the couch for a total of THREE hours!! Yeah, what's up with that?? Sure was nice though :)

The last week - in more pictures

So, I've had a lot rolling around in my head this last week that I've been meaning to blog about, but when push comes to shove, it's just easier to post a bunch of pictures of the kids and dogs. And I doubt no one cares much about what my opinions is on crap anyways!



So, rather than my thoughts, our strange life, in more pictures!



Ever since Granny sent the first little bug cages for Easter, Frankie in particular has been OBSESSED with catching grasshoppers and dragon flies. They caught this huge monster last weekend. I couldn't help but love the look on their faces :)



The grasshopper is talking to Frank. He said that it was saying, "Let me out of here, you idiot!" Sometimes grasshoppers have foul mouths, I've noticed....

He was a monster. Lasted almost an entire week in there, feeding on grass. It was actually pretty neat to watch him hold a blade of grass in his hands and chew it! They move their mouths a lot and our expert in the field of grasshoppers says that spiders (?) and grasshoppers talk a lot only that we can't hear them.

We live within easy walking distance to a new swanky meat shop that sells LUNCH MEAT and CHEESE among other types of meat, that we like to get stuff for sandwiches at most Fridays on my day off. I try to incorporate our pups whenever I can, since it's good socializing for them AND the psychological part of it poops them out. This day we had Ranger come along and help us carry stuff in his packs.

Hmmm, now what do I want?

Packing it home. Couldn't figure out how to get the baguettes into the packs without looking weird. Yeah, I know. Make that, without looking weirder.

And here's the poor dogs reward - getting dressed in Frankie's shorts. Much to our amusement, he didn't seem to mind them and proceeded to saunter all around the house!

Billy found the flour!

The H Pack. These guys are my escape from reality. I have a lot of responsibility in my life right now and these guys help me forget it all when I'm with them!

Baby Billy, zonked on the couch

This is where the "twins", Ranger and Madea, sleep - in plastic chairs on the front porch. Strange.

But wait! It gets even stranger!! Madea likes to sleep with her head hanging down like this (?)

Ellie was teaching everyone how to obsess over monkeys. Frankie was taking her teaching quite seriously!

Since Ranger is the same colour as the tree, he thought he could just climb it and catch those monkeys because they'd never see him coming! This was about as far as he made it though. Ranger is not much of a climber.

Sanyu and Bridger took turns carrying our snacks for us. Such thoughtful creatures.

This goofy look is the result of monkey obsession I think

The Pack

Bridger the Magnificent

This was pretty cool - that is a LOG that the GIRL is sitting on, paddling around like a boat! It's unusual to see a girl of this age out having some fun and not cooking, cleaning, or taking care of babies and children.

Bronco hearts pillows and he doesn't even mind sharing them! I found them like this when I checked on them before I went to bed :)

I've a sneaking suspicion...

... that one of his ears is going to stand up!! I sort of wanted ONE floppy eared dog but it would be kind of cute if he has matching ears like old uncle Bridger :) Nice shot of his ridge, too!

Frankie takes after his grandfather in the cat department. The boy loves his cat :) Imagine just how messed up poor little Frankie will be- a cat lover growing up in this house?! The funny thing is, is that Bronco has NO idea that he's a cat!

Life as we know it

Looking back, it doesn't seem like I've posted many recent pictures of the kids for their Granny. This usually always happens when we get a puppy - the next few months are full of puppy and Pack pictures!



So here you go Granny, some recent pictures of your rapidly growing grandtots and even some of ME, all cleaned up with my new haircut! And of course, more of the Pack.... ;)

Sharing a little bit of precious mother/son/Madea time



This is an awesome dog. This was the puppy that was so homely and so what I was NOT looking for that at first I wanted to give her away. But wow, what a personality! It only took a couple of days to realize that no, as homely as she might be (who keeps a WHITE dog in red Uganda dirt?) she was indeed a keeper!



Thankfully I had just become a Cesar M*llan follower before we found her and I have raised her "Cesars way." Which is a darn good thing because unlike her brother Ranger, who has GREAT calm, medium low energy, Madea has excited anxious dominant HIGH energy. Had she not been raised Cesars way this dog would be a monster! But instead she is a submissive, smart little dog who is a lot of fun!





Ranger doesn't want to miss out on all this lovin'! Can't figure out if he was trying to sniff Madea's butt, Frankie's hand or my crotch ;) I heart dogs because they're just like that!

Dear little things...

Okay, Frankie looks like he's gettin a little bit sick of all this lovin', and the rest of the Pack seems to think they haven't got enough! Would you look at how tall Bill is getting? He was in the process of attacking Ranger and almost biting my leg.

Grannies got some pretty little grandtots :) And I have a nice haircut!

Our friend Tanya arrived from Canada last week, en route back to her country of work, and brought us an entire suitcase full of goodies, including these little crafts. Ella and Frankie attacked the project in their usual Ella and Frankie ways.

Pulling the little sticky part off the little squares and sticking them on his globe thing was NOT a problem for Frankie. Easy smeasy man, if you just furrow your brows and concentrate on it.

Man, Ella had those little squares flying everywhere , ended up crying in frustration, then got a glue stick and ended up finishing the project up in about five minutes - after about 10 minutes of chasing little squares and getting frustrated! Fine motor skills are NOT her thing ;)

Frankie's finished product was a lovely green frog and Ella's was a nice little pink pig!

I am at a distinct disadvantage having such good looking kids. I mean, I didn't used to look this homely when it was just me and Bridger!

Have I mentioned that these two really like to climb? Up everything? The house, the water tower, the car, the tree - you name it, they'll probably climb it.

And, because I have so many, some more PACK PICTURES!!

This is how Madea likes to lay. Like, she sleeps like this. I think this dog would be good at Twister!

In the suitcase that Tanya brought for us were three new H*lti's! We LOVE them! I'm a big fan of them as I feel even more comfortable that the kids can handle the dogs safely on the busy roads we walk on. Sanyu and Madea use theirs exclusively and Bridger and Ranger alternate theirs.

Pack dinner and psychological exercise. No fighting EVER!

Another wonderful item that came for us out of Tanya's suitcase was Cesar M*llan's book, "How to raise the perfect dog." Let me tell you, what a great book and very timely as I have three puppies! I loved it and had many of my dog raising questions answered!

I had heard him mention in one of his Dog Whisperer episodes that tug-0-war with powerful breeds is not a good game to play. But I'd wondered about playing tug-o-war with my dogs, who are not powerful breeds. He answered my question! He says that with any breed of dog, be it a Chihuahua or a pit bull, tug-o-war between dog and human is not good. It gives the dog dominance over the human which can lead to imbalance. However dogs DO need a challenge and learn to play appropriately with other dogs, so games of tug-o-war between supervised calm submissive dogs is a good thing. So let the games begin, my little ones!

In Tanya's suitcase came a new squeaking W*bba and a K*ng. The pups LOVE playing tug-o-war with the W*bba and I love to watch them! The Kong is great because it has a very erratic bounce to it - you never know where it will go after it bounces off the ground!

Get a load of how big Billy is getting!

They're actually pretty evenly matched and I think that each one won at least once! Madea is by far the most enthusiastic W*bba puller, chaser and squeaker but the boys give her a run for her money as well!

Cesar also says that puppies need a beginning and ending time to play that YOU, the Pack Leader, make call on, so when I had deemed them finished, I ended the game and took the W*bba back inside. It's not really meant for chewing - more chasing, fetching and pulling.

Bill, exactly one week after coming home from the vets to recover from nearly fatal Parvo! This little dude has probably eaten enough rice and yogurt to feed a small starving village, and he literally has BOUNCED back. At first I thought he was simply happy to still be alive, but actually I think he was just super happy to be eating rice, yogurt, canned dog food and avocado every two hours!!

Score one for Billy and the W*bba! I am so grateful for the recovery of this pup - I've probably thanked God at least twice a day for him this last week! So, so good to have our happy Bill back :)