Big Sisters

The other day I was getting Andrew dressed in his Spiderman costume. As I was putting on his socks (beige), he asks, "Are these Spiderman socks?" Of course I answer, "Yes, these are Spiderman socks" He is perfectly happy with the answer. Then Gina chimes in, "Those are NOT Spiderman socks." Aren't big sisters great?

Halloween Fun

It seems like we have been celebrating Halloween for a long time. First it was Gina's field trip to the pumpkin patch, then Andrew's class went to the same pumpkin patch for his first field trip and then there were a variety of activities this past weekend.

On Sunday we first went to the 04 LM group Halloween party. All the kids were dressed up and had fun doing all the crafts and playing outside. At the end they had trick-or-treating with several stations set up that the kids went through in a line. Gina insisted that I stay close by and then she went mute at each station. Instead of saying "Trick or treat" or even "Thank you" she would look quizzically up at me and then refuse to move on without a push from me.

After Dylan's nap it was off to the pumpkin patch again to meet up with other friends. Gina changed from her queen costume to a ballerina costume for this outing. The kids had a great time running up and down the hill, going into the haunted house and jumping in the jump house. At the end we actually got most of the kids on the hay bales for the annual group photo, only Gina and Gabriel were uncooperative.

Yesterday was yet another Halloween event, Vic's work had a Halloween party. So the kids got to dress up again, Gina as a queen, Andrew as Spiderman (there were A LOT of little Spidermen running around this year) and Dylan got to be a zebra. There was a lot of good food, and crafts and candy for the kids. Gina even ran into a couple of her preschool friends.

Today for Halloween, Gina and Andrew both got to dress up for school. Andrew's daycare had a parade of all the kids while at Gina's school, the two kindergarten classes got to parade through the school. They were all very cute. In the afternoon, Gina's school had a carnival which was fun for the kids though Gina spent half her time swinging on the monkey bars.

For the grand finale, Gina and Andrew went out trick or treating with Vic in the evening. They each got a good haul of candy which they promptly started eating when they got home. After a little sugar induced squirrelly behavior, the kids finally went to bed.

A Country in Trouble

So this is a little off topic from the normal posts about kids and life here.

A few friends from work are living in Zimbabwe and it is just incredible how terrible the situation has become. The inflation rate is 8000% so that you never know how much things cost. The exchange rate is roughly 500,000 Zim dollars for 1 US dollar. Milk is now $12 per gallon, expensive if that were here, but unimaginably expensive in Zimbabwe. Gasoline is $8-10 per gallon. The people who work on our projects are paid in US dollars so that they are less affected by the inflation rate, but they have to take the US dollars out of the country to spend it. So they spend money on gas to drive to Botswana or South Africa to buy things like toilet paper.

Maize, the staple of the country which is used to make a dish called sadza (it is like grits or polenta), is not easy to find. My friend Seble said that she would go to a store, discover that they had sausage for sale, call friends to tell them of her find. The friends would go an hour later only to discover that they were sold out. Getting gasoline is a day long headache. It certain areas the power goes out almost every night in the early evening, making it very difficult to cook a hot meal. It is even difficult to buy stuff on the black market. Days are spent calling friends to find out who has food to sell. Seble did say that you can go to restaurants for meals, but you usually don't need the menu. Often there is only one dish available, the chef's special.

Every time I talk with people about Zimbabwe we wonder how much worse it can get and it does keep getting worse.

Dylan at 11 months old

Dylan turned 11 months old yesterday. Hard to believe he will be one next month. He is such a happy kid, but boy when he shrieks, it is earsplitting. Vic has started to wear earplugs during dinner time.

Here is Andrew hard at work, coloring. He is really good at coloring in the lines. Since Gina draws all the time, I guess it is only natural that Andrew would be interested as well. The other day I picked him up from preschool. There were six or seven boys and a couple of girls. All the boys were playing with cars and trains and puzzles on the floor but Andrew was standing at a table with paper and crayons.

Dylan stands up

Dylan pulled himself up into a stand in the bathroom the other day. A couple of days earlier I had pulled him up into a stand but now he can do it himself. He is also good at lowering himself back into a sitting position so he doesn't get stuck.

Here is Gina at just about the same age when she first stood up by herself:














And here is Andrew at a year when he first stood up by himself. He is pictured with his pacifier which he just recently gave up. He had chewed on the last one so much it had holes in it so it wasn't good anymore. After tossing that one, he hasn't asked for it since and we haven't come across any more of the old ones, though I'm sure there are many hiding in various corners.