The girls started ballet lessons a few months ago, and boy o boy, have they ever enjoyed it.

There dance show is in two weeks, but I captured a bit of their dress rehearsal today – too cute! They don’t practice at home or anything – yet they still obviously have picked up a thing or two in 5 months.

You can also watch some cute footage from their dance lessons when they first started back in January:

In response to the Hansen case, EMK Press and a number of other adoption professionals put together a 50 page guide for new adoptive parents. It’s called Realistic Expectations and can be downloaded at
our website by following this link: http://www.emkpress.com/realisticexpectations.html

A number of the articles have been reprinted from the Adoption Parenting book, while there are others that were specifically created for this guide. It has already helped a number of families who are
currently on their adoption trips.

The guide contains the following articles will be helpful to new adoptive families.

• A Different Perspective by Cynthia Hockman-Chupp
• Strategies for Building Attachment by Karleen Gribble, BRurSc, PhD
• Top Ten Tips for Successful First Year Parenting by Deborah Gray, MSW, MPA
• Why Grandma Can’t Pick Up the Baby by Sheena Macrae and Karleen Gribble
• What is This Thing You Call Sleep? by Dr Julian Davies, MD
• Transitional Feeding Difficulties by Dr Julian Davies, MD
• Alone No More…Recognizing Post Adoption Depression by Heatherly Bucher
• Adding The Oldest by Terra Trevor
• Creating a Fit by Carrie Kitze
• “When Do You Tell a Child He was Adopted?” And Other Secrets We Shouldn’t Keep by Adam Pertman
• Unexpected Special Needs by Nancy Hemenway
• Positive Outcome: How Can You Combat the Effects of an Orphanage By Mary Beth Williams, PhD, LCSW, CTS
• The Impact of Trauma on the Adopted Child by B. Bryan Post
• Ten Keys to Healing Trauma in the Adopted Child by B. Bryan Post
• How to Find a Therapist Experienced in Attachment and/or Trauma tips from the Attachment & Trauma Network
• Sensory Integration And the Internationally Adopted Child By Barbara Elleman, MHS, OTR/L, BCP
• Facts About Parenting a Child with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder By Teressa Kellerman
• How to Avoid the Syndrome of Parent Burn-Out by Harriet McCarthy
• Being an Ally to Families Raising Children with Challenges by Ellin Frank
• Help Your Child Ward Off a Mad Attack by Lynne Namke, EdD
• Being with Your Child in Public Places by Patty Wipfler
• Strategies to Deal with Anger and Power Struggles by Christopher J. Alexander, PhD
• When Adoptions Fail by Kim Phagan-Hansel

My poor old camera got knocked off my desk by an errant cat foot about a month ago, and the lense was scratched.  At first, I just put up with it, but then everytime I took a picture or video in daylight, there was this white blur on the top lefthand corner. 

So, I emptied my allowance account (and borrowed a bit, as Jorck would insist I point out) to buy a new camera.  Nothing fancy! Just a $199 8x optical zoom with some video. But it’s tiny and it’s sure fun to have a new toy.  I took some pics this morning ont he way to preschool, but had to adjust the colouring quite a bit after, so we’ll see if I can fix the camera.  One awesome new feature is that it has a wide angle lense – cool!

Jrock and Great-grandad chatting last night after he arrived fromt he airport.  Look how wide the screen is!

Spice and Sugar with flowers for their teacher, on the way to preschool. the clarity is really good – that said, I had the image size turned way to high up!

The old homestead… looking quite summery.

Haatim – non-plussed (or should I say non-pussed?) at the new camera being shoved in his face.

The girls really love going out gardening with us – which is good, because it’s like their father and I’s favourite summer hobby.

For example, I took a nap this afternoon and told them not to interupt me unless they were hurt. When I woke up an hour later, I found them outside – happy as clams making mud pies and watering each lavender bush in the yard by hand .

Tonight I was planting a bunch of squash, cucs, eggplant and tomatoes, and the girls expresssed that they really wanted to plant one “just myself.” Well, ok. 

I gave them each a tomato plant called “early girl,” and gave them the hottest location in the backyard for their plants. The herb bed. Usually that’s where my basil grows, but oh well. I’ll put it somewhere else. Ithought it best that they get a headstart over the other plants. In the meanwhile, I told them they have to water their plants every day, just like they feed Maggie and Laughlin every day. So they’re stoked. After showing them how to till the soil, dig the hole, cover the plants shoulders and give it a little hug with their hands, I told them I wouldn’t interfere anymore… they could take care of their tomatoes “by myself.”

I’ve been setting aside clothes and collecting items to be sent to Ethiopia in a container over the next couple of months. The girls know I’ve been doing this but have’t paid much attention. But last night we were talking about how lucky we are as a family, and how lucky they are to have so many babies, when Spice, out of the blue, asked if she could give some of her babies to “kids in Ethiopia don’t have babies.” She remembered that when she was in Ethiopia, she didn’t have any dolls or stuffies and she really wanted “udder kids ober dare” there to have some. Well said, my dear.

So this morning, Spice selected a doll and a small teddy to send over to “other kids have no babies.” Sugar jumped on board as well. What impressed me is that they actually picked (I told them something small, that was all) some of their favorite babies – not ones they rarely play with. J (who gave them these dolls) – I hope you aren’t annoyed – actually, I bet you’d like to know that after our girls have enjoyed them a lot, they are passing them onto even more appreciative kidlets.

On a side note, if any Western Canadian families are travelling to Ethiopia in the next couple of months please contact me by leavng a comment and I would love to arrange to send a rubbermaid container of orphanage donations with you. My friends and family network can get containers to you if you are in BC, Calgary or Saskatoon quite easily! Please let me know!

Back in February, the girls found a small radio in a geocache.  For a month or so, whenever they would travel, they would split the earbuds and listen to the radio. But the old little thing broke. So I suggested to the girls that they try to earn some money and buy a new one.

They have three money jars, and whenever they get some money, they split it between the three jars: the fun jar, the learning jar (for trips and higher ed) and the helping jar (to give to charity.) They already had $5 in their fun jars each… so they decided to collect bottles to add to it.

Well, after diligently collecting bottles for two months, I decided I would help them see the return on their invested time and energy. We took in the bottles, emptied their fun jars, and Mommy took them to buy a new MP3 player. I topped up the amount, of course, but the lesson was absolutely there. They got a splitter, two sets of kid headphones that actually ft and stay on, AND a panda-shaped speaker for their room. I have to admit, the speaker was really for me. They’ve been having a blast – they only listen to the headphones on trips, (like the 1 hour to Vernon!) but the panda speaker in the ir room has been used a lot. They were dancing to Puntomayo Islands and Tchaikovsky today. So cute!

Funny thing – I was looking for another blog (I found some old pics of some kids and was looking to pass them on..) and I stumbled on this review of Canadian Ethiopian Adoption blogs by Angela Krueger. Thanks for the glowing review, Angela!

Rowan Family Tree Adoption Blog – Helpful Ethiopian Adoption Resources

The Rowan Family Tree Blog is a popular on-line community for Canadian families adopting from Ethiopia. Since 2007, the British Columbia couple have described the adoption process, their wait and finally, their trip to Ethiopia to bring their 3-year-old twin girls home. They were also one of the families involved with the Ontario adoption agency Imagine, during the company’s business issues in summer 2009.

Other features of this blog include an active group of commenting readers and an extensive list of Canadians adopting from Ethiopia including their blog links. The Rowan Family Tree Blog also highlights some of the adoption and African cultural events they have attended over the past years, as well as valuable tips on hair and skin care of African born children.

Also recommended were the Turgeon’s and the Housden’s blogs.

My girls and I took a long road trip together – that’s why you havn’t heard from us for a while.

We drove just over 3000km up north to see my parents and back again.  Now, lots of people do this type of driving all the time (and I used to be one of them) but it was my first really long road trip with the girls – and by myself, to boot. 3000km and just one little 15 minute cry – that was it. Other than that, they were remarkably well behaved, jovial and enjoyed the heck out of it. Jrock flew up on the fourth day to join us, and stayed 2 nights. Then he and the dogs flew back to the Okanagan.

Through the week we visited my aunt and uncle en route, camped out twice with S in Prince George (Sugar is her namesake) and waited to see if her twins would appear. Up in Fort St. John, we had hotdog roasts at my parent’s cabin and with S’s parents, road quads, went for walks, made food, watched wild animals and celebrated my dad’s 61st birthday. this was all a surprise for my mom, who didn’t even know we were coming…

Enjoy the pictures!

We’d been looking at the calendar, and here just a few days into May, the summer seems all booked up already – crazy!! The warm months always go by in a whirl.

Soon the traveling will start, but for a few days – calm. Dad is in town visiting/at a conference, we celebrated Mother’s Day at preschool and the girls are busy playing outside and helping us in the garden. We really should have our veggies in already, but we’re a bit slow, thanks to the side-yard mud-patch.

Enjoy the pictures. Click once, then again, to embiggen.

The world of adoption is fraught with peril – your hearts are often at stake.  Our friends A and D had a referral for a boy from Florida for months (this is after they got caught in the Imagine Adoption bankruptcy and had to leave the Ethiopia program…) when, shortly after he was born, his mom decided to keep him. Which is great for the baby, but terrible, as you can imagine, for them. To lose a child, or the possibility of one… twice.

But today via email we found out – three time’s a charm! They have a new lovely baby boy awaiting them in Florida. Signed, sealed and delivered.

Our best to them – and we can’t wait to see him in person. As Spice said when she saw the pictures, ”his is so very very CUTE!”

Sincce we had the trainer come and work with Laughlin, the girls have decided that they sometimes need to “work” with Laughlin or Maggie too.  I personally think its good for them to learn to politely haul the dogs around… and good for the dogs too!

Spice

Sugar

Our girls were pretty stoked when they learned Auntie Ena and Uncle M were going to China… after all, that’s where their friend Tigger is from! So it must be a really cool place…

Their gifts arrived via Grandpa-mail yesterday, and boy, were they excited. They will use the little brushes on their “babies”, but for now, the vanity sets occupy a place of honour on their book shelves. Not to be moved by Mommy! dare she suffer the haneous consequences.

PS: thanks for the earings, they are beautiful! And Jrock was stamping every piece of recycling paper in the house with his “Chinese name” stamp.

 Celebrate the mother(s) in your life by making a difference in the lives of orphans, grandmothers and women in sub-Saharan Africa. Donate to the Stephen Lewis Foundation online now and send a personalized e-card.

With your support, the Stephen Lewis Foundation funds community-based organizations working in 15 countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa. These grassroots groups are the lifeline for their communities: they provide counselling and education about HIV prevention, care and treatment; distribute food, medication and other necessities; reach the sick and vulnerable through home-based health care; help orphans and vulnerable children access education and receive grief counselling; and support grandmothers caring for their orphaned grandchildren.

It’s an amazing charity, and an amazing way to recognize your own mother.

Well, ok, in all honesty, I gave them their blog names before I met them.

But Sugar and Spice actually seem to fit. Sugar is honest and forthright… and very genuinely affectionate. She’s also as stuborn as her mother, hard on herself, academically strong and vulnerable to rejection. (Ok, so that’s all like me too.)

Spice is a sweetheart too, but she’s much feistier. She’s always pulling faces and cracking jokes, and there is a teasing to her affection. She is incredibly nurturing and loves to make believe. Her imagination is always on fire. When upset, she cries righteous indignation! but she is just as liberal with her kisses.

Its funny that one daughter should be so much like me – and the other one is a lot like my sister in some ways. Right now, its much easier to relate to Sugar, but that wasn’t the case in the beginning. and my mother advises me that I’ll probably find it easier to get along with Spice as they get to be teens, since Sugar is too much like her mom.

Well, time wil tell. In the meanwhile – even in their jammies! – they aren’t babies at all anymore, are they? Just little girls…