Our race to finish this term well has also begun in earnest - only 7 weeks remain. 
Please forgive us if our posts become less frequent (or even disappear behind the banana trees for a few moments) over the next few weeks.
With 2 different swim competitions, three different schools finishing up their programs for the 2008-09 school year, Nadia's exam preparations, 12 teacher perrformance reviews, moving out of our house, more intense Sheep Tales work and winding up all of our responsiblities, blogging will be a luxury I, unfortunately, won't be able to afford... at least not nearly so often. 
I hope to be back to more frequent and regular posting in just a few weeks. If you check back and there isn't a new post - please take that as an indicator to remember how crazy things are for us right now... and remember to pray for our family. 
I love this outfit - it is so Anna. It is also one of her favorites. Her dad finds it an unlikely and interesting combo, but even he will have to admit that it fits. She is reticent and shy... until she feels comfortable with you. Then she turns into an overly affectionate and silly clown - giving hugs and kisses one minute... sneaking up behind you to scare you the next. When you look at her, she can appear almost delicate... then you try and play keep away with her in the pool... she's vicious!
We've also been remarking of recent just how much she resembles her cousin. I actually had another photo of her standing in the exact same position, squinting into the sun, but deleted it from the camera on accident. (Grrrrrrrr, but that is totally beside the point.) If I was really going to point out the similarities, I could even have her wearing the exact same purple outfit, as it has been handed down and is another "Anna-fave." What do you think? Can you see the similarity?
One of the blogs I read frequently is My Charming Kids, and
I was sitting at the computer, typing furiously away and working on an imminent deadline. The children were out playing on the porch. Before it begins to get uncomfortably hot each day, that is usually where you'll find them. I'd actually poked my head out the door a few minutes earlier to check on what they were up to.
Rebekah was working on homework; Jonathan and Elsie Mae had their Fisher Price characters lined up and were marching around the castle, looking very much like a re-enactment of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. So several minutes later, when I heard the front door open and Jonathan and Elsie chattering, I didn't think too much of it.
I screamed and jumped, almost knocking the chair over. Mary, sleeping at my feet in her bouncer seat, jumped and screamed… and screamed… and screamed. I guess my reaction scared her. Jonathan and Elsie grinned from ear to ear and and start laughing hysterically. They were quite proud of themselves. When my heart was back down out of throat and into its regular position, I asked those two little "sweeties" to take their toads back outside, before they decided to take a bathroom break in our living room. My children complied and I went about the business of calming the little peanut.
I also sent Rebekah out to snap a few photos to commemorate the occasion, and the seed idea for this blog began to germinate...
I had been startled… and briefly terrified to have two large reptiles shoved in my face. But I wasn't surprised that my kiddos were playing with them. That is a pretty run-of-the-mill occurrence around our house. Be it chameleons, lizards, spiders, ants, jerboas, shrews, geckos, skinks, scarabs, termites, earwigs, water scorpions… yes, even cockroaches… this gang is fascinated by all things creepy, crawly, wiggly, squiggly…
I gave up fighting the trend a long time ago. I remember when Brendan was just a little guy, about Elsie Mae's age. We were at his Grandpa Gene's and Grandma Betty's house visiting. It was there that he discovered frogs for the first time. All I could think was "SALMONELLA."
We were at Gammie's and Gampy's when Rebekah decided she wanted to make friends with a yellow jacket. She cried because she was stung – and because she was broken-hearted that her new friend hurt her (we've since discovered she's allergic to those critters – and she carries an epi-pen when she remembers it, just in case). She's also the one that took off, Crocodile Hunter style, after the monitor lizard we saw in a park in Ougadougou. That lizard was as big as she was at the time. Sometimes I worry that they'll pick up a scorpion and get stung… or turn over a rock to find a cobra (you know, the spitting kind, with lots of venom) or other nasty snake… so far we've had no seriously dangerous encounters.
So... Jonathan and Elsie Mae are convinced that I need to arrange a play date. They are begging to have MckNugget come hang out for the day!
So, not only does she manage to army crawl, she's now doing sit-ups. Early military training, I guess! I kid you not; if she is laying with her head on only one pillow, she pulls herself up to a sit using that fat little belly of hers. I think she likes to study her belly button.
And then she proceeds to grab whatever she can get ahold of and pull it towards her - usually to take a taste. As you can tell, this activity requires i.n.t.e.n.s.e. concentration. This time, it happened to be the pillows we leave laying all around for when she tips over, as tile floors hurt little heads. We know that all too well - Anna was at this stage when we first moved to Niger.
After awhile, she'll fall to one side or the other and she usually ends up on her tummy. Tummy time isn't her most favorite thing, but as she gets stronger she enjoys it more. She scrunches (thankfully not too far...yet) and spins. She rolls from her back to her tummy more often than the other way around, but she's not really rolling consistently... unless it is on the waterbed.
I wish I knew what Elsie Mae was telling her... looks like a pretty deep conversation from the expression on Elsie Mae's face. And, Mary Michelle is totally engrossed.
I find it delightful to watch the bigger ones love on and play with their little siblings... all the way down the line.
After 30-45 minutes of this, however, our not-so-little-any-longer M&M is exhausted... and ready for a morning nap!
She really is growing like a weed. We measured all of the children (height and weight... then I figured out BMIs... just to make sure they are within healthy limits... a twice a year or so activity) the beginning of April, while Brendan was on Easter vacation. M&M weighed 13 pounds. We weighed her again on Mother's Day because she seemed like she was getting significantly heavier, and she definitely had/has the cutest "thunder thighs" and dimples and rolls everywhere.
Zeina and Nadia have been great friends since they started going to school together in the "Moyenne section" (i.e. K4) class of École Alliance. And now, almost 6 years later, they are still best buddies. 
We always enjoy having Zeina come visit us - and we usually drag her along to the pool. But our girls prefer a visit to her home, her family's concession at the hippodrome or to their gardens outside of town. Zeina's parents spoil our girls rotten, and being typical little girls, they love the lavish attention they receive. 
This time, when we went to pick the girls up, we all went and spent a bit of time just sitting around watching the kids play, visiting, and... as you can see... taking lots of photos. They were all fascinated with the gazelle and the process of making Tuareg tea (featured in yesterday's Wordless Wednesday), scarfed down some yummy brochettes and frites, engaged in lots of "bavardage" (or visiting and telling stories), chasing the goats and the birds and just having an all around great time. It ended up being a pretty late night.
When we finally decided it was time to call it a night, we wanted to get a photo of the whole group. When we walked out of the concession to where the vehicles were parked along the road. A shepherd was bringing a rather large herd of sheep and goats by at the time. 
What was really incredible was how much dust was kicked up into the air. You can only barely see the animals in this photo... look for their eyes! 
Zeina's parents are on the back right of this photo. Our girls all think "Madame Zeinabou ngya" is one of the most beautiful ladies they've ever met.
And here's a photo of all the kiddos. 
They've been driving us crazy to go back ever since... I especially love this photo: our gentle, never-met-a-stranger-friendly Nadia, sandwiched between her two best friends, Zeina and Anna. Don't they look like best buddies loving' their time together?
And, just curious... Nadia and Anna want to know how many of you know what a "hippodrome" is? Hippodrome is about the only word they'll use... even though they all now know the English translation.
