Abby and Kaylee enjoying watching us make fools of ourselves attempting to square dance!








Our newest friend...Madelyn Alana Greenwich! Two weeks old and sweet as can be. Of course she'll be Sydney's best friend forever. =)















Yay! We caught a smile!







































First family photo, I think.

October 2008

So, here is our chunked up Sydney! Every time we get her smiling and laughing, it stops JUST when we get the camera out. Someday we'll get you a smiling pic.
The school social committee planned a hoe down Oct 11th. This horse was there for the kids to ride. Abby and Kaylee had been pumping themselves up for a WEEK saying "I'm going to ride the horse!!!" Of course, when it came time to do it, Kaylee just flat said NO and Abby kept thinking she would get on and then chickening out. One time she even said she would ride with this older girl that's here, but then SCREAMED when the man started lifting her up! Yeah, it was embarrassing. THEN, she decided she really did want to ride, but with me and she wanted Daddy to lift her up. SO....here is our brave girl!
Dan had a fun time roasting hot dogs and marshmallows with the girls over the bonfire.
This is Sydney at the hoedown, so it's a nice recent picture. Like her double...or triple...chin???
CUTE!!! So Caleb missed out on the photo op, but the kiddos were "cheesing" so well we couldn't pass up the chance.

Here is the first Nipper baby that takes a pacifier! =) She sleeps ALL the time, night and day. Doesn't her hair remind you of Abby?


Woooo! Pig Sooie!!!! The shade of blue gray of her eyes makes us think she might be a blue eyed brunette.

Sydney Danielle hanging out on the couch during one of her FEW awake moments. I guess some of you might be interested in some stats. She was born July 28 after a 3 hour labor. Fast and furious...get Dan to tell the story, it's like a sitcom, with "Just give me the drugs!!!!!" moments and everything. =) It was a drugless delivery since it happened so fast. She was 6.9 lbs, 19 in and had a nice, small head.

Dan's birthday party was fun. Abby baked him a cake and insisted we light candles and sing to him. So, Dan had the spectacle he didn't want for his 30th. Looking at this picture I can see how pale I am. I lost a lot of blood and am still trying to get my hemoglobin levels up. Anyway, this is our happy family!

July 8, 2008 Nursery

Got the nursery painted!!!! The walls were already this gray blue. Our desk is to the left and I am standing in the doorway. This is the room that was added on to this house a few years ago. It is long and narrow just like it looks. We're doing polka dots as our theme. I was doing polka dots and stripes, but have not found stripes that I like here. So, right now it is polka-dots in cream and brown. If the baby is a girl, I will add a few pink dots.


Okay, the cream looks pink right now...but it's brown and CREAM.

The bulletin board is my next project, but after the baby is born. I will do pink ribbon if it's a girl, and don't have anything yet if it's a boy. I also got some big brown buttons to put at the cross-sections.

Other projects are the curtains and the rocking chair covers. I am getting the campus seamstress to do that for me and make a few pillows too. Fabric is chocolate brown and tan. I am excited to get these things done. =) As of tomorrow, 4 WEEKS til due date! Long time, but finally down to one month.

4th Of July!!!

The girls loved having their faces painted for the 4th. I got some face painting crayons from the Eaglets room and decided what better day than the 4th to bust them out. Are those the cutest little sisters or what!?!?
Dawn sent the girls these ADORABLE headbands and they are so excited to wear them! The little decorations on the table beside them are made with toilet paper tubes by Abby, Kaylee, Gabe, Caleb, Ann and myself. Aren't you proud of our crafting abilities? =)

So, we celebrated the 4th at Pamma and Grandpa's house with the Greenwich's and the Canadian Krymusa's. The kids had a blast playing together and we even had some sparklers and spinner fireworks that surprised us all!

Here is our family! Tried to give you all a belly shot, but it isn't angled enough. Oh well. Happy 4th everyone!

Kiddos having a blast acting CRAZY and SPAZZY!!!! It took a while to get Caleb in the picture, but Jeremy bribed him with cookies.

July 1, 2008 Canada Day

It's Canada Day! Yes, we're wishy washy and will celebrate any country as long as it means free cookout! =) Kaylee with her Canada flag tattoo from our neighbors. She did NOT like me putting it on her, so the water got under it and it stayed on for all of 15 minutes.










Magdalene is a true Canadian, but Abby didn't mind being Canadian for the day either. She didn't really appreciate Phil's rendition of "Oh, Canada" though. =)












We had a fun time in our front yard and the Krymusa's backyard having hot dogs and sodas. It was fun chat time and the kids loved roasting marshmallows.









Probably talking about golf...but who knows. Wes and Phil are being greatly entertained by Dan's stories. =) The baby is Josephine who is just now 2 months old. Kaylee LOVES holding her!

June 18, 2008

Abby and her friend Julia (who is TOO CUTE for words) playing in the sandbox outside Gabe's house. We caught a rare smile from Abby for this picture.



Kaylee swinging at Gabe's house. When she wants something "extra" she uses the word "double". So, when swinging, her request is, "Push me double high!!!!" =)

Some friends of ours are on furlough for a year, raising money to come back. They loaned us their swingset for the year since they'll be living on campus when they come back and will be our neighbors. Dan got it up in a couple days and the girls have played on it every day since then. Kaylee LOVES to swing and asks to be pushed "double high". I can't wait for the day when she can get on teh swing and pump by herself! Abby is a very sweet adn helpful big sister, though and happily pushes Kaylee.

We had an end of the year school banquet at a really nice restaraunt called Lord Errol's. The dinner was nice, the speeches weren't too long and it was fun to dress up. Yes, that's my belly.

This is at Gabe's b-day party at the end of May. THere are so many pregnant people on campus right now! Well, my friend Kirsten just had her baby, the secretary Josephine had her baby. Amy, on the left, is due July 24, then me August 8, then Ann, Oct 3. Aren't our bellies lovely?

Here are the girls and their friends here on campus playing fireman at Gabe's birthday party! Aren't they cute!?!

Masai Mara Safari

Hi everyone! I know, it's been a LONG time. Oh well, I warned you. =) So anyway, just thought I would let you all know about our safari trip this past weekend. We went to the Mara with Pam and Gary. We left on Friday the 6th and came back on Sunday. Kaylee was sick Tuesday evening and Wednesday with some kind of stomach bug. I caught it the night before we left. I was well in the morning, but weak. We were all in a van that was pretty roomy and comfortable. The driver took us to the main office in Nairobi so we could pay up and then we had to make a stop at the market to pick up food for the hotel restaurant. =) After about two hours, we were on our way! It was about a 6ish hour drive after that. The girls traveled really well (thanks to Pamma's bag o' tricks). When we got there, we had an evening game drive and the girls enjoyed seeing animals. Kaylee's favorites were cows, goats, and zebras. =) She was VERY easy to please. Dinner was European, served at 7:30!!!! Needless to say, we were all ready to crash. The rooms were fine, nothing special, but the funny thing was that the whole place was under construction!!!! I should say, renovation. Anyway, we slept well until about 3 int eh morning when Abby woke up with the stomach bug!!!! Well, Saturday was our all day game drive, but Abby really wanted to go and see the animals, and none of us could really see the point in sitting in a hotel room with no TV or anything for the day. SO...we packed a trash can, sacks, extra clothes, and medicine, and we all went on a game drive. Abby laid in the back seat with a fever and threw up into a trash can every hour or so. BUT...she sat up every time we saw animals and was actually able to enjoy seeing the lions, hippos, elephants, lion kill, ostrich, zebra, secretary birds fighting over a cobra, and monkeys. When we got back from that drive, we knew that Dan was coming down with the bug!!!! SO, while Kaylee, Pam, Gary and I ate dinner Dan and Abby went and slept the bug off in the hotel room. Abby was well in the morning, Dan was okay. Pam and Gary went on one more short morning game drive while we slept in a little. Breakfast was at nine and then we were off, back to Nairobi. The drive was MUCH faster coming home. We didn't make stops and it was mostly downhill so our driver was going quite a bit faster! We were all a little more uncomfortable, but we got home quickly. =) Overall, it was a fun trip and we did get to see quite a few animals. Abby and Kaylee LOVED it and are already asking to go on safari again. I have pictures I will post from Ann and Jeremy's computer this weekend...really! =)

March 28

This has been a fun week having Daniel home for Spring Break. We started the week with Easter celebrations and ended it (almost) today with a date. It's been interesting in between though. Kaylee had a visit to the doctor for some ongoing stomach issues and ended up on an IV for dehydration on Monday. We took her back for a check up on Tuesday and by Wednesday evening she was doing just fine. She had RotaVirus. So, we've enjoyed some time at home with the girls. Dan has had fun taking them to the playground and messing with them here at home. we've gotten to enjoy time with Pam'ma and Grandpa, too. Dan starts back to school this Monday, but no more coaching for the year. We're both looking forward to a little more family time. I am still working on new recipes, more meatless, or less meat meals. So, if any of you have great recipes to pass on, please do! Oh, we're going for our sonogram Saturday April 5, so it will be fun to get that on video. We aren't finding out gender still, even though Abby has asked if she can know. =) She desperately wants a baby brother. Well, I am working on posting some pictures, but our computer is not reading the drive right now. I will try to get over to a friend's or to Dan's classroom tomorrow to get it done before the week starts. Okay, I am off to bed.

March 11, 2008 Pictures!!!!!

Abby and Kayle enjoying the beach at Silver Beach in Egypt this past Christmas. The water was chilly, but it didn't keep us from wave splashing and sand castle building. Dan even took a quick dip in the water (after making sure Dad promised him a Starbucks mocha).

On Sports Day there was a race for all preschoolers before the events started for students. Abby and Kaylee were both hesitant to run and the crowds definitely intimidated them! Both girls were zoned out (imagine that!) when the started sounded so Brent (the man in the red shirt) gave them each a friendly nudge to get them going. Abby started and ran her little heart out. Kaylee fell face first into the dirt but, instead of crying, she hopped up and started running...then walked the rest of the way holding my hand. By the way...Abby came in first! Yep, we're proud of our preschooler!

Yee-ha! Ride 'em cowboy! Our version of rodeo here in Nairobi. We went to the Ostrich Farm with a group of people and had a nice time. It was a relaxing environment and we ate at the restaraunt while we were there. Dan had an ostrich burger. I had chicken. We got to tour the farm and see ostriches at all ages and stages. Abby held an ostrich egg. Dan and I both took an ostrich ride. I'll tell you...there's not much to that saddle. Three guys HANG on the ostrich (one on the tail feathers, one on each wing) as they guide the ostrich in circles. They are hanging so the ostrich won't take off in an all out sprint! VERY awkward ride, but fun to say we've done it.

February 26, 2008

Hi everyone! Trying a new thing her. Thought I would start a blog and see if it's worth the effort. =) Hopefully I can post a few pictures every once in a while. I have to do that on a friend's computer, but still, it's something. Anyway...let's see if I can update you all a little on what's going on.

Daniel is coaching JV basketball and enjoying it pretty well. He is coaching with Jeremy and they are having a pretty decent season. I think they only have three more weeks of games. Schedules are iffy right now because with the school we missed and games that have been rescheduled (due to the unrest) nobody is sure which ones we'll make up and all that jazz.

As far as the political stuff goes...we're just waiting to see what happens. All these possible solutions are on the line, but it all comes down to stubbornness. We'll see if Kibaki and Odinga can FINALLY strike a deal. Then we'll see how it goes from there. There are, of course, still violent areas and many refugees, but there has been an amazing recovery also. Churches and camps have really taken care of people and they are getting food, homes and jobs. There is definitely progress, slow as it may be. just pray that God is glorified through all of it, and not man .

The girls and I are still at home just living life. I am working on potty training Kaylee...not going so well yet. =) Abby is still loving Eaglets twice a week. The lady that's doing Eaglets leaves March 16th, though, so I don't know what will happen then. I am considering taking over Eaglets just to finish the year out. I will OBVIOUSLY not be doing it next fall. Oh, I think anyone reading this probably knows, but just in case you haven't heard, we are expecting baby #3 August 8. =) Abby and Kaylee are both very excited. Abby is really hoping for a brother. We are not finding out the gender, so neutral is the name of the game so far. =)

Also, TERRIFIC news...we were just informed that our LOVING and WONDERFUL family want to bring us home for Christmas!!!! =) SO...we're coming home for Christmas! We are still working on tickets, schedules, money, etc., but plan to be int eh states for three weeks. We will most likely fly into Dallas, spend a few days there, and then be in AR for the rest of the time (except for a week in Branson with the Nipper clan). We will come in around the 19th or 20th. SO, hopefully we will get to see everyone. Just keep that in mind and plan all of your family activities around us. =) Just kidding!!!!

Okay, that's enough for a first blog update. WE love you all and get in touch when you can.