thanksgiving roundup

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. . . I have so much to be thankful for it is hard to even begin.  I'll just give a short list: my guys who bring me so much joy every day, my family, this little apartment we're in {even though there's lots I'd change, if I could}, and so on.  I feel ridiculously blessed.

We went to Massachusetts, of course, as we're pretty much locked into vacations that a) we can drive to and b) have free everything once we get there.  So, Mass it is!  Good thing we like it there :)  Anyway. The plan had been to have the Olatundes - our friends from the UAE - over for their first Thanksgiving in the US, but my mom threw out her back and there was just no way we could host.  So instead, we went to the Hammons' house, and carried on a life-long tradition of celebrating holidays with their family.  I left the camera at home because I knew I'd rather spend my time eating and talking than taking pictures, but it was a lively party - 19 adults, I think, plus a handful of children.  My dad made . . .TWO turkeys, which were awesome.  No one went home hungry, that's for sure.

On Friday, we had the Olatundes over for a little pizza party. The girls - Peace, 8 and Praise 14 (I think?) - came early to help with prep: making dough, making sauce, chopping veggies, shredding cheese, etc. Isaac, Adeola and Covenant came later for the feast.  It is really wonderful to have them so close by and to be able to enjoy time together - already we're thinking about a cookie decorating fest for Christmas.  Because, really, what's a gathering without food???

The pizzas (FIVE of them) were perfect, but the first one, just a simple cheese, was perfect:

 

We put all the kids - even Covenant who's 17 - to work...

Oh, and Covenant brought us (well, my Mom!) and apple pie that he'd made.

melting hearts with pie

smart guy

We all had a good time, the pizza was a huge success (and I love it because it is so easy to throw together, more or less at the last minute...or...hour), and we'll look forward to a Christmas visit in just a few weeks.

The rest of the weekend was filled with shopping (no malls, thank you) and relaxing.  Dexter and I had talked about going out to dinner while we had free babysitting, but some how it just didn't happen. Instead, we watched "The Natural" on TV with my parents...until Dexter called it a night and went to bed long before the movie ended.

Keeping the romance alive folks.

And now we're back in NJ where we had snow on Tuesday and temps into the fifties this weekend.  Which is good because my friend Jana flies in tomorrow from Minnesota for the weekend. NYC here we come!  

We're also in the home stretch of Dexter's first semester of school.  Two weeks to go which is amazing.  Then, we'll be a quarter of the way done with this program.  Time to start thinking about the next stage in life!

Does it ever end?

another great gift

It is kind of hard to follow up my last post, because really. . .there is nothing better than a friend delivering her baby on your birthday. I'm still flying pretty high from that.  :)  Still, life carries on, and blog I shall.  I figure there will be the occasional photo of Lisa from time to time.  Hope you don't mind. 

A couple of weeks ago, a big box arrived via UPS for me, containing this:

A Kitchen Aid! A Kitchen Aid mixer has been at the top of my "When Dexter is out of School" wish list for a long time, so to get it NOW is awesome.  But this isn't just a Kitchen Aid.  Oh, no.  This particular Kitchen Aid was my grandmother's (Dad's Mom).  Mama, as the grandkids called her, was a fabulous cook, especially her cakes and pies.  Her lemon meringue pie lives long in my memory.  She was also known for her perfect, fluffy and light angel food cakes.  I feel privileged that when I was about 16 she taught me how to make it.  Of course, I only ever made it under her watchful eye, and while I have her recipe, I would do it all differently now, if she were still here to teach me.  In this day of food blogging and step-by-step photos (here's how to crack an egg!  mix the ingredients together! and so on) my recipe seems somewhat lacking.  I wish I could have her teach me again - this time I'd take more notes, perhaps a picture or two - certainly one of her - and then I'd make it. A lot. This recipe (minus the "sparkle") seems to most closely resemble my grandmother's recipe.

But back to the mixer for a minute.  Mama was married in 1941 and had a Kitchen Aid that she used so much it died on her. This is her second one - I'm guessing from around the 60s?  I'm still waiting for one of her kids to chime in with a possible date.  This mixer has worked hard.  It has turned out a lot of mashed potatoes, oatmeal cookies, angel food cakes, pies, and so on, over the years.  I hope I can live up to it!  Since I've had it I've already made two batches of this pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and Hershey's Perfect Chocolate cake (that's no lie).  With Christmas around the corner, I imagine I'll put 'er to good use in the next few weeks. I can't wait to churn out triple batches of cookies with ease!

Thanks to my Aunt Marg who sent it to me.  It is in good hands.

the greatest gift

Friday, the 9th, was my birthday.  Another year older! Groan.

I didn't have time to focus on the fact that I was another year closer to 40 though, because I woke up to the news that Evelyn, in Kijabe, had her baby!  Allow me to introduce you:

Lisa Wairimu Mbugua

born: November 9, 2012, 12:20 PM

2.7 kgs/5.9 lbs

the new happy family!

Evelyn did amazing - she went into the hospital at 6:30 am on Friday morning, and shortly after noon, the baby was born! She is basically a superstar because really, who does that?

I think that, since she was born on my birthday, she should be named after me.  And "Lisa" comes from Elizabeth.  So I am trying to convince them to cancel Lisa and switch it to "Beth" which is my middle name.   It seems only fair.

Who's with me?

There are not enough words to express my elation for them, but also the sense of sadness I felt (feel) because I wasn't there.  They were so essential to my {never ending} labor day, and I am sorry we couldn't return the favor.  But mostly, I'm just sad to not be there in Kijabe celebrating with them, helping them settle in, and running up and down stairs for Evelyn.  It is hard to be on the other side of the world.  I shed a few tears because the reality has finally settled on me that we're in the US, and we don't know when we'll next be in Kenya or see these friends who are so dear to us.  Tonight, for kicks, I looked into flights for December, when Dexter's on break: $11,000!!!  So, that's out.  And I feel the separation just a little deeper...

Oh and did I mention that she will be Kyalo's wife?  They've settled on a "reasonable" bride price of 1 million US Dollars.  Good thing we have 20 years to fund raise and negotiate that waaay down.  Feel free to contact me if you'd like to make a contribution to that noble cause. . .

 so much hair!

We love you, Lisa, and look forward to meeting you and to many happy memories together in the future.

Well done, Francis & Evelyn!  We love you, too.

{But, if she is sleeping through the night before Kyalo is, I may need to reevaluate our relationship.}

first snow

Well, this post is coming a little earlier than I would have expected.  Last night, we had our first snow!  This was the result of a nor'easter that swept through here and up the coast - bad news for those still without power (or worse, homes!) in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.  We feel fortunate to not be in that situation.

It was snowing fairly steadily from early afternoon, but I didn't expect it to stick - the big, wet flakes were disappearing into the ground upon contact.  Imagine my surprise when, when Dexter got home and I looked outside there was close to an inch or more on the ground! 

Yes, it is the first week of November: time for me to get some winter boots!

Kyalo enjoyed watching the snow from the house. 

He's reading a book by Archbishop Desmond Tutu - giving him a broader world view

While I was putting Kyalo down last night, Dexter went outside to snap a few pictures.  This was also HIS first snow {I'm a little bummed he didn't wait for me to experience him experiencing}.  He was surprised by the crunch of the snow underfoot.

 Belleville at night

Our trusty little snow-covered Honda

Dexter had to scrape it clean with a dustpan and broom this morning.

Can we say: ill prepared?

 November 8, 2012

off to school. does he look excited?

(Probably not since this was 7 AM, and there had been murmurings of a delayed opening, which didn't happen)

I wanted Kyalo to experience the snow first thing - figuring with warming temps it would melt quickly.  I {sort of} bundled him up and let him get his first taste of snow. . .

No surprise here, but he loved it.

Here's what happened when I brought him back inside:

 not amused

I better hurry up and get some boots, because I think we'll be spending a lot of time in the snow this winter.

memory lane

Remember this?

My little munckin, staying warm on a cold and rainy day in June 2011 in Kijabe.  This was a sweater handed down to us from dear friends, and was made by another dear friend.  It lasted through Brooke's three kids and then Kyalo got to wear it.

I'm happy to report that Nancy was kind enough to knit him one of his very own - and a size a bit bigger.  It is perfect for these cold days in NJ right now.  And since Kyalo despises hats, this is a nice compromise.

November 2012

Since there was sixish inches of snow on the ground -- yes, in {early} NOVEMBER -- I think it is safe to say he'll be wearing this a lot.  Thanks, Nancy! 

19 months

On Saturday Kyalo turned 19 months, and since we'd escaped Sandy-soaked NJ for Massachusetts, we headed to a local apple orchard for the morning.  It was pretty cold so we skipped the hay ride and just wandered the grounds for a bit, and then settled in by the fire with cups of cider.

Kyalo enjoyed driving!

Safe to say the cider was a hit!

This was an interesting month: Kyalo experienced his first hurricane/superstorm.  He wasn't a fan.  It kept us inside, after all, and I think things just felt off to him on Monday night.  He still doesn't talk much yet, but he sure is trying.  I tried to teach him Sign Language for "more" which he learned as "please" and so he'll do the sign and say, "eeeezzzzzzee" which is more than I can handle...I can't say 'no' to that too much!  Still, I'm grateful that we're starting to see signs of language coming.  I think the exposure to Swahili might be slowing things down a bit.  He seems to be settled on only having five teeth (two on the bottom, three on top) as there hasn't been much movement in that front for a while.  I guess he likes to do things slow and steady!

I decided that I needed to get a few more shots of him in the Kenya T-Shirt, so did that this week.  It has been cold here, so I bundled him up.

 {laughter}

In addition to talking more, and just generally being more independent, he is also becoming more toddler-y.  Some examples include: playing with the knobs to our gas stove, biting my legs - which he apparently thinks is some kind of joke because he keeps doing it - and suddenly hating his car seat {boo}.  I'd welcome tips/ideas for (staying sane. ha) discipline or books worth reading or words of encouragement/wisdom to get me through these days.

He certainly keeps us on our toes.  I think we like it that way.

international lunch

On Saturday -- which now seems so long ago, pre-Superstorm Sandy -- a few of Dexter's classmates and their families gathered for an international lunch, each family bringing something traditional from their own culture.  Represented were Koreans, Indians, Cubans, Kenyans and Americans.  It was bound to be a good time!

I promised to bring dessert, and brought my three favorite type of cookies and apple crisp with ice cream.  I hope that wasn't overkill.  Dexter made sukuma and ugali for his Kenyan contribution.

The day was filled with good food {my favorite was Korean which I didn't expect} good conversation and good times!  Kyalo was in good company with Rua (13 months) and Sophia (16 months) and even Hosny though she was the old lady of the group at 5 years!   After eating (and eating) we got outside for some group shots, and a chance to let the kids play on the playground.

 Rua

Sophia

walking over to the playground

{I'm wearing socks. Classy}

  {everyone!}

 {the girls. and Kyalo}

 getting the babies to smile

I think the kids liked the playground a lot.

 Hasni

 the slide was a hit!

Kyalo conquered a new climbing thing

I wonder what Rua & Kyalo were up to?

Joel, from Cuba, and his wife and daughter

I can't wait til we're all together again!