Thailie Turns Four

Well, my baby turned four today! Although she already seems like she has been four for a year, it is crazy to think that it was four years ago that I had her!

We celebrated by having the girls on the team over for a tea party. We had African chai and a chocolate cake that Mat and I baked over the fire. I really don't think we could have made a better cake in the States!

Of course, Thailie and Nia dressed up for the occasion. Kim and Dawn got her a little flower picture holder, some stickers and two erasers. Jared and Megan made her a card and put some stickers inside. Thailie was really excited and loved everything she got. It was cute.

Kim asked me if I was patting myself on the back because I had successfully pulled off a birthday party in Africa. I had to admit that I was trying to think of what we did have for her birthday because the things that usually defined a great party for me weren't available today; things like family, lots of friends, games and decorations. It was fine but I really didn't feel satisfied that she had a great birthday party.

For the rest of the day we hung out and I painted the girls' toenails. Then we had our one-on-one meetings with Peter. We borrowed Jared and Megan's phone and texted our families in hopes they could call to wish Thailie Happy Birthday.

Just before dinner Mat said His parents were trying to call. It never worked and the signal kept fading. Finally Mat decided to just call them. When we called we found out that Mat's whole family was together! It was quite a sight because we were all gathered around our water tank trying to get the best signal.

Later we were eating dinner and the phone rang! We jumped up and answered it to find it was my family! My Dad, Mom, Grammy, the Lillemos, even Brit on FaceTime! Kristin had brought over party hats for everyone to celebrate! It was so awesome to hear everyone. Thailie was so excited to talk to them and hear from them. It really made her birthday feel complete for me that she got to hear from all of her relatives back in America!
(Below you can't see the phone but it is sitting on the shelf to get signal!)

Mat and I just laughed as we sat down to finish dinner; we were in Africa eating beans and ugali with our hands when we got a phone call from our family in America! It's so crazy!

We finished the night by having a special movie night! It was a fun treat for Thailie even though we all were too tired to finish it at 9:30pm!