The girls and Jrock rushed outside when we had a fresh dump of snow last week – and look! They made a snow mommy.

It’s great to have such mild winters in the Okanagan – here the girls are on a camp out the other day on our back deck… their Calico Critters barely felt the frost for a good 45 minutes! until suppertime when they had to come in.

Today a huge shipment of sleep caps arrived!!!

 I know so many people have been waiting!!! for AfricaSleeps.com to have new stock. It will take me several days to take pictures of ALL the new styles and uplaod them, but for tonight, I listed all the “small kid” styles that I already have pictures for. Stay tuned for more “big kids” caps and brand new styles over the coming week!!

Sleep caps for children of Africa heritage – it’s our Lesotho travel fund!

To buy, go to www.africasleeps.com

It’s amazing how far Sugar’s drawing has come – she just finished another journal this past week and I photographed some of my favourites!

BTW, one of the best small parenting decisions I did was to skip the colouring books and give the girls journals with blank pages – this kind of creativity would never happen if they were always colouring in someone else’s lines. I remember the preschool teacher was worried, because the girls didn’t “respect the lines” – well! Look at them burn up the paper now!

Well, there goes another tooth. This one Sugar asked me to pull, which, honestly, was hard to get up my nerve to do! Both Jrock and I have not fond remembrances of our dads grubbing out our teeth before they were ready. But I used some floss and it popped right out and now she is front toothless.

We;ve decided that Sugar MUST have been born first, because she is a little taller and her teeth are growing in first. Makes sense to us! lol

In December, Sugar and Spice joined a local Sparks group, thanks to an invite from their friend M. These pictures are from their enrollment ceremony when they officially became Sparks!

For those of you that don’t know, Sparks are Kindergarten and Grade 1 aged Girl Guides… they wear pink shirts and promise to “share and be a friend.”

Our family actually has a long long history with Girl guides and Boy Scouts, which I have been careful to keep a secret from their leaders (I really don’t have any time to do more volunteering now!)

I was in Brownies/Guides/Pathfinders/Jr.Leaders for 11 years – yes, count them, 11 years. My sister and brother also spent some time. Both my parents were leaders… the kind that took 10 year old girls winter camping in the snow! The fun kind. But it doesn’t stop there. My dad was a Scout, and his mom was a Scout leader… in fact, my great grandmother was in the first Girl Guide group ever, back in England. It’s just a huge part of our family.

So when the girls were invited along, I was pleased. Of course what the group does and how fun it is depends on the leader, but overall, Guides is a pretty good use of a young girls time. I think there is a lot of value in learning to be comfortable outdoors, and in learning to serve your community.

So far, the girls are doing a lot of colouring and crafts… but in 2 weeks they have their first overnight camp and are pretty excited about it. Hopefully they’ll be spending some more time outside as the weather gets warmer as well.

Sugar cleaning up after our countless hairy animals.

Here are two pictures of my Sparks helping with supper… and then they get to tell their peeps about it at the meeting! Oh, and a side note that is important to them – the girls love that they are not the only kids with brown skin in Sparks (as opposed to school.) It is actually a real positive for them!

Spice making her famous chipotle mayo for yam fries.

I took the opportunity when the girls’ room was pretty tidy one day to take some pictures of it. They have been living under the gabled roof for a month now, but it still has that “new room” mystique.

So this room used to be our guest room. Even though our adoption has been delayed, we didn’t think it fair to the girls to delay their move upstairs. So in December we started shopping and constructing, and just before Christmas they moved in.

There are still a few things left to do – like Ena’s murals, a couple of pillows and peg boards, but you get the idea.

Some sourcing notes!! I really like using previously loved furniture, but there was a scarcity of decent bunkbeds in our area. So we bought the bunkbeds, desk and cubbies from IKEA. The chairs we ordered and received from Target last summer. Besides that, though, the rest of the furniture was repurposed or refinished. Jrock built the shelves (he’s good at shelving!) with a big lip on the side to hold animals and stuff. I refurbished and painted their dresser (not shown – it’s in the closet) as well as the desk chairs. These were antique highchairs that I sawed off and strengthened and refinished. The dolly beds I turned into bunks and stenciled the lot to match. The rug and curtains were from the old guest room.

I hope you enjoy the pictures – the girls certainly love it, and I’m so glad with the way it turned out! (The plans here.)

he he – Probably not something that our girls will remember when they grow up, but over the holidays their dad and I were there for their first brush with the law!

We went skateboarding in my office, which was closed for the holidays. We have this awesome smooth cement floor – perfect! for skateboarding. And there wasn’t anyone else in sight.

But after 1/2 hour or so of boarding and a bunch of awesome action shots, the security guard came in and gave us the boot.

We’ve been there before, and the other security guards never cared. But this one was adamant that there was a “no skateboarding” policy on the property.

As we exited the building, one of our juvenile deliquints looked up at me with wide eyes and said “was that a policeman??”

“Naw, honey,” I replied. “Just security. Police wouldn’t care.”

he he

It looks like my little turkeys are having a good time in Creston! According tot he daily reports, they went to watch a figure-skating competition, went swimming, played outside, did their homework (not really homework, just read the same book as they are missing in school,) and have done lots of colouring! I’m so glad we have such good grandparents to take such good care of my special treasures!!

We’ve had so many requests for this recipe, I hope my sister doesn’t mind me posting it. I do make a couple of small changes when I make it, so the version of the recipe below is with my slight modifications!

                Chicken pieces (flat of thighs)

                Juice of 1 lemon

                2 tsp salt

Mix in a bowl and let marinate for at least 30 minutes.

                 2 onions

                 3 cloves garlic

                 2 tbsp fresh ginger

Mix into a paste using a blender or food processor.

                  ¼ c niter kibbeh
                  (or ¼ c butter with ¼ tsp each fenugreek, basil & black pepper)

                   2 tbsp paprika

                   ¼- ½ c berbere paste or 1-2tbsp powder

                    ½-2 tsp cayenne

Heat the butter in a large saucepan. Add the paprika, stir, and cook for 1 minute on med. Add berbere and cayenne and stir to cook 2-3 minutes. Add onion/garlic/ginger puree and sauté on medium until onion loses it’s raw smell, about 5 minutes.

                   ¼- ½ c red wine

                   3/4c stock

 Add wine and stock to taste.

Place chicken pieces in a large crockpot. Cover with sauce and stir. Cook on high for 1 hour, low 4+ hours.

                     3 tbl flour

                     2 tbl tomato paste

15 minutes before serving, take bones out of crockpot and return the chicken meat. Add 3 tbl flour to tomato paste and a little cold stock to make a roux, then stir it into the pot to thicken the sauce and add colour. Season with salt and additional berbere to taste. Let the mixture sit with the heat off for 10 minutes to thicken and settle. If desired, add 4 hard boiled eggs (peeled but whole) 10 minutes before serving.