Bet you didn’t expect to hear of a Carnival here in PNG, huh? Well, believe it or not we have one. :-) Carnival is put on by the high school students once a year and it is a big hit especially for the kids in the community.

Mikayla and Laurel were quite intrigued by the clown. She is actually a good friend of mine. I was surprised that neither of the girls were scared of her…though they weren’t really sure what to think. ;-)

Laurel even gave the clown a hug! Too cute!!

Is that a “Ferris Wheel”? Yep!! A man-powered “Ferris Wheel”. The senior boys get the privilege of controlling the speed at which community members go whirling around. It’s a pretty sweet ride! Both girls were very excited to try it out.

Laurel was just a teeny-bit hesitant about the idea before we got going… Yes, there are even seat belts.

Check out the sky…it was a gorgeous day! What a fun ride!!

Laurel is laughing with delight as she grips my arm on the descent. She and Mikayla both LOVED this ride and would have gladly done it again.

Mikayla proudly displaying the flower she had painted on her face – she had been looking forward to this since before we even got to Carnival.

Laurel did a great job holding still while her face was getting painted…she got a butterfly!

Both girls enjoyed the “bouncy castle”…here you can see Mikayla’s hair flying. :-)

And what would a Carnival be without Cotton Candy? Or “Fairy Floss” as it is known in some parts of the world. Laurel was quite pleased. Note that we waited until after the Ferris Wheel ride and the Bouncy Castle before giving them Cotton Candy. ;-)

Do you think Mikayla was happy to get her own “Fairy Floss”?

Timothy didn’t get any Cotton Candy, but he did get his first taste of ice cream! (Yea, he’s obviously a third born…getting ice cream before his first birthday!!).

On the way home we found a butterfly on the path and Laurel was delighted that it would sit on her hand. One butterfly on her face, one butterfly on her hand – cute.

Mikayla got a turn holding the butterfly too. She was also excited to be returning home with balloons from Carnival. There was also a balloon animal booth at Carnival, but we missed it…however, the people running the balloon booth came over for dinner that evening so the girls got loaded with balloon animals after dinner: a giraffe, a dog, two hats, and even a “Jonah in the Whale” balloon. Fun times!!

In an effort to reduce my stress level I have started trying to utilize a calendar and plan ahead and schedule things more. In some ways it has been very helpful, but in other ways, I still I have a real appreciation for doing things spur of the moment. You see…inviting company for dinner two weeks ahead of time should mean that on the night they are coming I’m “prepared”. However, sometimes it’s just easier to invite company spur of the moment because that way I know whether or not it’s a good day…dinner is well under way, the house is presentable (or at least “walk-in-able”), etc.

Well, tonight was one of those times where I had invited company for dinner and it had been on the calendar for well over a week. But throughout the course of my day I could see that “things” just weren’t “cooperating” with my plan inspite of my best efforts to be organized and well prepared ahead of time.

It started off with an absolutely “wild” morning with the kids full of energy and running around, playing happily, but the noise level was high. In the picture below you’ll see their “airplane” in which they were “flying to America” to visit family and friends. :-) I was able to make chocolate peanut butter cookies even with “help” from all three kiddos and we packaged up some to send to some friends who are out doing village living and saved the rest for dessert for company.

We made it through lunch time and I got the kids down for naps and set to work making dinner: Split Pea Soup and Garden Herb Bread. I made good progress on dinner but had a lot of straightening up to do in the living room but before I started cleaning up the living room I decided to take a peek into the kids room…Oh my!

I hadn’t heard a sound, but somehow they had managed to empty every article of clothing from their dresser AND take all the drawers out of the dresser and pile them up in the center of their room. And instead of napping they were trying on one outfit after another…layer upon layer. Mikayla ended up wearing three swimming suits one on top of the other.

I quickly decided that folding and putting away their clothes was not the thing to spend my time on just a couple hours before company would be arriving. So I put the drawers back in the dresser and made the girls get back into their beds. Oh, I can’t neglect to mention that they each gave themselves their own spanking for being so naughty as to ransack their bedroom. ;-) (I didn’t have the heart to spank them for it, but I sure didn’t mind making them have “timeout” in their beds for a very long time!) I took a quick picture of their room and emailed it to Daddy at work just so he’d know how my day was going. ☺ I honestly didn’t mean to communicate that I was losing it (and I really wasn’t)…so I was a bit surprised when he got home from work expecting to find me a nervous wreck.

Meanwhile Timothy woke up from his nap and wanted me to hold him so I put him in the Ergo carrier on my back and carried on with dinner preparations. I quickly realized that if I didn’t want to go bald I needed to not only have my hair up, but I needed something to cover it for protection from Timothy’s strong grip and even stronger yank (that really hurts! Especially when it’s those little hairs along the nape of your neck!). At this point I really don’t care if I do look like a dork…comfort before beauty in my book!

The girls got up for a short “interlude” in the middle of their nap because a neighbor stopped by with her little boy. They got to say “hi” and then while I was distracted on the porch talking with the friend Laurel got into the chocolate peanut butter cookies. There was a cooling rack on the counter with four cookies on it. When I came in to the kitchen she said, “Mommy, I not getting sick!” as she reached for the last of the four cookies. And then she had the nerve to argue with me over whether or not she could eat that fourth cookie when I went to take it away! Back to their beds went the girls and I refocused on dinner preparations again.

I had the bread dough made but still had the flour canister sitting on the counter for when I kneaded the bread and formed it. Well, I went to take the chocolate peanut butter cookies off the cooling rack (the other cooling rack that had a dozen and a half still there) and arrange them on a plate, but as I set the second cookie on the plate I heard the flour canister crash to the floor. From his “safe” place on my back, Timothy had managed to reach the canister and pull it off the counter. Flour spewed across the floor all the way to the other side of the kitchen. (God gave me the grace to laugh and I didn’t even think about crying…though on many days I might have). I was thankful James was home at this point and helped clean it up…but in cleaning it up “flour footprints” ended up all over the entryway and the porch.

When company arrived I was just taking the bread out of the oven, the kitchen and living room were presentable, the kids’ bedroom door was shut!, and we were “ready” to enjoy a fun evening with friends…laughing about the events of the day and marveling that we’d made it to this point in good spirits! Thank you God! I do remember just after lunchtime praying, “Lord, I need your grace to respond appropriately…please help me.” Little did I know He would allow me lots of opportunities to practice responding “appropriately”. ☺