An Analytical Mind

You won't have to be around me too long to discover that I think very analytically. I get that from my daddy, I think. For Christmas I got this large foam puzzle that I can put on the floor. It makes for a nice soft cushion and as an added bonus it has the alphabet and some numbers. So, when we put it down in my bedroom we put it in order: A, B, C, etc...

Well, the other day I decided to take it up and re-do it. When daddy walked by he noticed that I had grouped everything together by colors. However, daddy didn't notice the logic in how I put it together, so I had to explain it to him. The colors were arranged in the order they appear in a rainbow - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple.

Mommy and daddy were very impressed at what I did, so they took a picture. Here it is!

Easter!

I hope you had a wonderful and very celebratory Easter Day! What a awesome day to celebrate. I am enjoying learning more and more about why we celebrate it. We started off our Easter by having breakfast at our friends' house. Daddy made somewhere around 90 pancakes. Mommy made sausage patties and our friends supplied the eggs.

Following breakfast we had our time of worship. In our lesson daddy taught us about Good Friday and Easter day. We then opened up some Easter eggs that each contained an item from the Easter story. These are called Resurrection eggs and they were lots of fun. I had the eggs that had the silver coins and the stone.

After our "linner", that is the meal you have between lunch and dinner times, we went back to our friends house for an Easter Egg Hunt. It was lots of fun. We got lots of candy and even a couple of toys! Here are some pictures from my day.

Here are the Easter eggs I made. You can see Foofa, Broobee, Blue, Tyrone, Uniqua and Pablo -- all are characters on NickJr. There is also Dora, Diego and Boots; but you can see them. Thanks NickJr.com!!!


Don't I look cute in my Easter outfit?


Alright, lets find some Easter eggs!!!


Some of the eggs were hidden really high


I see another egg!

Exotic Dining

I have never written about the fine dining we have here in West Africa. We live in a third world country, but we do have some exotic dining. The people here eat whatever they can get their hands on. This means me, mommy and daddy have eaten some interesting things. Included in our list are: antelope, every part imaginable on a cow and sheep, large iguanas, bush rat, barracuda, and porcupine.

There are others things they eat here, but I do not know whether or not our family has eaten them. It could have been served to us and we just didn't know it. This list includes: monkey, hippopotamus and snake.

So, if you come over and visit me I will try and set you up with some good 'ole West African home cooking!

Dance Dance Dance

The other day daddy and I were watching a movie. At the end of the movie there is a song that is real fun to sing and dance to. So, I pulled daddy up from the futon and he and I started dancing and singing. Didn't take long for mommy to show up with the camera. So, here is the video.

Of course, since I am a "ham" I eventually pushed daddy out of the show and took center stage -- that is where I like to be. :) I did not realize that mommy was videotaping my dance, so I kept telling her to take a picture.

Well, I hope you enjoy the video. Also, daddy wants me to share the following link. Steven Curtis Chapman has wrote a song called "Cinderella" which is a very beautiful song about the privilege a daddy has to dance with his daughter. If you haven't heard the song, you can hear it on the website, plus there is a video of Steven Curtis Chapman explaining the story behind the song.
http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/cinderella.htm




Here is a picture of me taking my "encore" at the end of my dance.

Too Many Toys

While I would disagree, mommy and daddy would say that the size of my toy box is a clear sign I have too many toys. I don't get what the big deal is about, just because by toy box is big enough for me to climb inside and play with my toys in it -- that does not mean I have too many toys! It certainly does not stop me from asking my grandparents for more toys every time I talk to them. And you know what? I think all my asking just might work ;) I may need a second toy box soon! Yeah!

One Day, Two Haircuts

The other day, following my bath, my mommy gave me a haircut. She has to cut my hair every so often because it gets tangled lots! I have my mommy's fine hair and my daddy's curly hair. While cute, it is a tough combination. Anyway, so mommy cut my hair. Later that night, having watched mommy cut my hair and figuring it seemed simple enough, I decided to get a second haircut. I grabbed my ladybug scissors my grandma had given me and took a snip of hair. I then graciously carried the hair clipping plus the scissors to daddy. While a little shocked, daddy was thankful to discover the clipping was from a fairly inconspicuous location. Daddy explained to me that I should not cut my hair. So, next time I will leave the job to mommy...maybe! :)

Brrrrrrrr, Baby!

It may be hard to believe, but yes it actually gets cold here in West Africa. Mommy and daddy would say it is "cool," but to me and the West Africans here it is "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr Cold!!!!" Okay, I will give you a little geography lesson:

We live in Sub-Sahara Africa, which means we are not in the desert, but on the fringe of it. Therefore, where we live is not like it is in the desert where it gets really really cold at night. We have trees that help contain some (most) of the heat from the day so it does not cool down significantly at night. However, there are a couple of factors that help it become "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Cold!!!!" at this time of year. First, it is our "winter" season, so the temperatures drop during this time of year. Second, because it is the end of harvest lots of people are burning off their fields, so there is a haze in the sky from that which blocks some of the sun. And finally, this time of year is what they call Harmattan. This is the annual event where the eastern winds blow in sand from the Sahara. In addition to the sandy grit we get in our teeth, we also have a brown haze in the sky that helps block the sun.

Sooooooo, all of these things lead to a "Brrrrrrrrrrrrr Cold!!!!" time of year. There is your lesson for today :)

Anyway, so when I wake up in the morning I am very cold. Usually some of the first words out of my mouth are, "I'm cold. I need a coke (coat)." Then I bundle up in pants and either a jacket or sweatshirt and begin my day.

Here are some pictures of me bundled up in sweats and a sweatshirt complete with hood. In case you are wondering, I have two spoons in my hand because often when I have cereal for breakfast I have two types of cereal. Therefore, I obviously need two spoons; one for each hand, one for each type of cereal. It helps I am ambidextrous.

Sand Castles

Last week our family went on a short vacation. Since we were on the coast I got to go to the beach. Mommy bought me some stuff so I could make sand castles while we were there. Every day I was ready to go to the beach and make sand castles. Finally on Wednesday we made it!!!! I had lots of fun building sand castles and making animals like elephants, bunnies and giraffes. My favorite part of making the sand castles was when I got to step on them and destroy them after making them :)

Sorry, there are no pics...mommy and daddy forgot to bring the camera.

More Singing

A friend of ours sent us the full video of me singing at VBS back in July. As you will recall from the entry below, I got up and sang with the 3 year olds. However, I was not done. So when the 4 year olds got up to sing, I ran up on stage to sing with them. If you watch, you will see my head pass in front of the camera on my way to the stage.
Enjoy!

Preschool

A couple of days each week I have preschool here in our home. I am working through the alphabet learning how to write the letters. Also, I have been learning words that begin with the letters I learn. Below are some of the crafts I have done during my preschool time.

A is for Aquarium














B is for Baker



















D is for Dinosaurs














D is for Duck and Donkey

Hide & Go Seek

One of my favorite games right now is Hide & Go Seek, it trails only "Chase the chickens in my backyard" and any game involving Dora. There are lots of good hiding places in our house, but I have my favorites. The picture below is me hiding in one of my favorite places, my toy basket.

When I play Hide & Go Seek I like for everyone to be successful. So when I am hiding I call out, "Here I am!" to make sure whoever is looking for me can find me. Plus, the quicker they find me, the less time I have to spend sitting in obscure places like my toy basket!

VBS Music

Last week our family was at a meeting. While mommy and daddy were in meetings I got to go to VBS. At the end of the week we got to get up in front of everyone and sing songs that we learned. First up were the 3 year olds. We sang a song and had lots of fun. I was not at all afraid of being up on stage in front of everyone.
After we finished singing our song I went back to sit with mommy and daddy. But I decided that since it was so much fun singing I would run back up on stage and join the 4 and 5 year olds. Once I took care of my hat and sunglasses I stole the show, again! Enjoy the video!

Princess Abigail

Today in our worship time I learned about Queen Esther. It was an exciting story to hear and learn about "for such a time as this". After the story time I colored a picture of Queen Esther and then I made a crown just like queens wear. Here are some pictures of me modeling my crown, complete with stickers of hearts, stars and Dora!

Up, Up and Away

Hope you had a great 4^th of July. Did you know that the 4^th of July is my half-birthday! That’s right; on the 4^th of July I turned 3 ½ years old. So I thought I would give you an update on where I am at. Mommy and daddy think I am entering a growth spurt because I am eating lots more. Like today for lunch I had a bowl of macaroni and cheese and followed that up with a cheese quesadilla! Good stuff. Here is the update as of my 3 ½ year birthday:

Height: 40 inches
Weight: 29 lbs

My New Favorite Room

Well, I recently made the decision to make the bathroom my new favorite room in my house. It is a fun room where I get to take showers and baths, unless the water is coffee brown. I also get to brush my teeth using my Dora toothbrush. I decided that I like the bathroom so much that the other day I locked myself in it. After going potty, I pushed daddy out the door. A few minutes later mommy and daddy came to the bathroom in response to my cries for help as I had locked the door and was now stuck in the bathroom!

For about 20 minutes, mommy and daddy tried to talk me through unlocking the door, but the lock was too hard to turn for me to unlock it. (It was much easier to lock). There are no locksmiths where we live, so it was going to be up to mommy and daddy to get me out. They tried a few different things, but none of them worked. Finally, since the door is metal, daddy chiseled away at one of the parts that was welded on the door. It created enough of an opening so mommy could get her arm through and unlock the door from the inside. I was free at last!!!!

Daddy has now taken the lock out of the door; therefore, if you look closely at the picture you can maybe see toilet paper where the lock used to be. Also, I have decided to begin a search for a new favorite room!

Not Much To Report

Hi! Thanks for checking out my blog. Here is a new picture of me being cute. I continue to grow and people often comment on how tall I am for my age. :)

Mommy, daddy and I just got back from a short trip. We had fun spending time away as a family. While on our trip I got to go swimming in a big pool that a restaurant had. The restaurant also had some little machines you can ride on, like you see outside of stores in the States. I really liked the one which was teeter-tottering with Mickey Mouse. It was lots of fun and once I was done, I went over and gave Mickey a big hug and kiss. Then I told him, "Mickey, I love you so much. You so sweet!"

While on our trip I also got a special treat. Mommy and daddy bought my some Fruit Roll-ups Fruit by the foot. They are very good! On the trip back home mommy gave me one. The next time mommy and daddy looked back at me it was gone! They couldn't believe I at an entire foot of fruit roll-up that fast...but what can I say, I liked it!

A Happy Birthday Wish

My daddy's birthday was a few weeks ago. So for his birthday, I made him a video. He was so proud of it and enjoyed it so much that he asked me to put it on my blog. So, here is my birthday wish to my daddy!

Flashback

Here is a little flashback video from almost 4 years ago! Hard to believe I used to be so small. Hope you enjoy it!

Sliding in West Africa

So from our time in the States, mommy and daddy discovered how much I enjoy sliding. When we got back to West Africa we went shopping for a slide for me. We found one in the capital for the low low price of $360. It was just a plastic one about four feet long. Mommy and daddy decided that was too expensive. Instead, daddy made me a slide using plywood and linoleum. It works well other than it gets really hot sitting in the West African sun. But we keep it covered when I am not using it.
Enjoy the video!

Worship

Each Sunday our family has our day of worship. It is definitely one of my favorite times of the week. We sing songs, daddy reads a story teaching about God, I get to color, and we often do crafts. Since today is Easter, a very special day of worship, I thought I would put a picture on my blog of some of my recent colorings and crafts. The crafts are sitting on the floor, while the pictures are hung on the wall in my bedroom.