Augustine, Narcisse and George jr.

Okay, as I am making a big deal about alternative birthday presents for Lennon and Keira, I figured I should put the picture of the boys in Africa on the blog, too. They are 3 brothers whose mother passed away and dad could not take care of them by himself. All three came to live in the SOS Children's Village of Mbalmayo, Cameroon in August 2005. They are, from left to right Augustine (he just turned 8 this month), Narcisse (who will celebrate his 10th birthday on Sept 18) and George jr (George is 12).

All three live with their SOS foster mother and other foster siblings. They seem to be really good kids. Augustine is full of energy and loves to play any kind of ball games. He also loves music, loves to sing and enjoys drawing. Narcisse loves school and likes to take karate lessons. His older brother George jr. seems to be the quietest of the three boys. From what we have been told, he likes going to school, does not like being shouted at and likes to help with chores around the house. He is very attached to his SOS mother and gets along with all his SOS brothers and sisters.

The village in Mbalmayo was completed in 1997 and the first children got to move in in 1998. SOS built a school in the village that teaches not only the children that are SOS children, but it is open to all children living in Mbalmayo. There is also a medical center that serves the entire community and patients from surrounding areas. On average, 300 patients are seen there per month. The village of Mbalmayo is about 45km outside of Yaounde. The SOS village is made up of 11 family homes and provides a home for up to 100 children.

The reason I have chosen to sponsor children through SOS is because my mother gave to SOS on a monthly basis when me and my siblings were growing up and she still gives as much as she can. There are 132 childrens villages around the world and SOS keeps building more to serve those in need. Oh, there are 3 villages here in the US, one in Florida and 2 in Il. If you would like to learn more about SOS Children's Villages go to http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/pages/default.aspx

Monday Gallery

I always love coming home and seeing the drawings that the kids worked on during the day. There was a really nice batch tonight:

"Keira" by Katharine

"Summer Beach Fashion Catalog" by Katharine

"Scooby Doo" by Katharine

"Crocodile" by Lukas

"Turtle" by Lukas

"Mommy" by Lukas

No Lennon pictures. Lennon currently likes to express himself by scribbling in books and on Katharine and Lukas's drawings, so his lack of art today is probably for the best (although those crayon strokes across Lukas's "Mommy" picture might have been his handiwork...).

Off to the show

Katharine and Iria are over at Dallas Summer Musicals presentation of 'Mama Mia' as I speak (or type, in this case).

… will Katharine leap out of her seat and start dancing in the aisles to "Money, Money, Money"?

… will Iria keep the souvenir and beverage purchases to under fifty bucks?

… will we be listening to that soundtrack over and over for the next 5 weeks?

I can only answer the third question with a definitive yes, but I will have to wait until they get home for all of the other info.

Saturday Morning

Okay, this is the last of the 8 hour updates...

Keira holding a book and flipping pages back and forth (not quite "reading" yet)...

Keira putting a pencil to paper and then crumpling everything up (not quite "drawing" yet)...

Katharine and neighbor Michaela finally hook up...

Goofing around with the boys...

Friday Night

The kids went down reasonably well.

Everyone asleep before 8:30 when they are missing their Mommy = success.

And it looks like Katharine will be keeping the bed warm for her tonight.

Here are some books that we read before bedtime:

Now I'm off to play some video games :)

The next challenge will be waking up in the middle of the night when the kids need me. I sleep like a log, and will have to bring the baby monitor upstairs and put it on my night stand if the little ones are to have any hope of getting a new diaper or bottle.

Friday Afternoon

We had a fun afternoon.

Katharine and I started drawing a Scooby Doo book together. She assigned me the "Freddy at a party" page, and Lukas helped color it.

Katharine drew Daphne at the party.

Lukas drew the first semi-representational figure drawing that I have ever seen him create. From left to right: Superman (note the cape), Batbaby, and Batman (note the pointed ears).

Lennon drew a duck. I think that I can actually see a head, bill, and arched neck in there... nah, can't be.

Bath time for the boys.

Nap time (!) for Katharine. This is the first time I have seen her take a nap in years.

We played dress-up upstairs while Katharine slept.

But before it got too girly' Lennon went for the body slam.

I ordered pizza in from a new local restaurant. The kids loved it.

And Lukas especially loved the mozzarella sticks.

Hard to tell what Keira is thinking here, but she did clean off her plate.

Outside after dinner. This is what he looks like when his daddy dresses him.

We threw the football around for a little bit. Here is a great trading card pose.

Finally, the kids waited around for their neighbors to come home. And once they did, they had to turn right back around and go out for dinner. Maybe we will catch them tomorrow morning.

Friday Morning

The kids are currently glued to the TV as I catch up on some work and blogging (it's a Miyazaki movie at least), but they did participate in some worthwhile activities earlier this morning.

All of the kids love puzzles. Here they are finishing up Katharine's latest one.

Here is Katharine teaching Lukas how to hula hoop. Katharine can keep it going indefinitely, and Lukas has yet to get it going- but our little guy is still trying real hard.

Once Keira wakes up I'll make them lunch and then see what other fun activates we can do (and that I can photograph). Iria is out of town today and tonight, so let the Daddy time begin!

Katharine and Keira

Splashing around with Trinity and Gwen

Here is the latest in our never ending posts of pool pictures- this time starring the gang with their good friends Trinity and Gwen.

Ice Cream Aftermath

This is what Lennon always looks like after finishing an ice cream cone.

Lift-off

Keira is starting to let go of the furniture and stand up by herself. She can only do it for a few seconds at a time, but the pitter patter of little feet is not far behind.

Fun with Fashion

Katharine is working on a fashion magazine that features Iria. Here is a preview of some of the new styles to look out for this season:

"Superstar"

text:

"Super Star, what a look"

“What a fashionable sight”

“Need more clothes”

“Make-up is great!”

“Shopping is a woman’s best friend”

“Need that purse”

“China”

text:

“Onboard the plane”

“China is a great place”

“A dragon up ahead… Ahh! Run!”

Time to start hiding the wallet...