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!!

My friend P invited the girls and I up to Silver Star last weekend for a sleepover.

Her daughter T was born in Swaziland and is a year younger than our girls. It was Sugar and Spice’s first sleepover – complete with pjs and a movie!

We drove up Saturday and the snow started to fall down and down – that night there were 22cms of soft new powder! First, we went sledding with P’s eldest boy, ad the girls just had a hoot. Then after a warm supper complete with “kid wine” (sparkling juice) we did the jammies and a movie thing while I super quickly braided Sugar’s hair.

We cozied up in their warm cabin for stories and then P and I got some lovely chat time in over some “adult wine” while the kids drifted off to Neverneverland.

The next day we all bundled up again to go skating. T is actually a really good skiier, but since our girls haven’t skiied before, she bravely threw on some skates and joined them out on the rink. I don’t skate, but I plowed (still snowing!) a track around the rink and the girls hoofed it around.

It was a wonderful break and a chance to relax. thanks for a great time!

“My baby!” That’s all I could exclaim over and over when Sugar lost her FIRST TOOTH yesterday. My little girl is growing up way too fast!

She was interrupting me in conversation, and I kept saying “just a minute, honey. Just a minute!” but she persisted, and showed me her tooth – and I was dumbstruck. It was so tiny… she had been complaining of a sore tooth for the last couple of days, but we thought she was too young to lose it. Wrongo.

Last night, we had a big debate  about if we should throw the tooth on the roof, like they do in Ethiopia, or to put it under Sugar’s pillow. I would have salvaged that tooth, let me tell you, somehow. But the easier solution ended up being the pillow, and she was tickled pink by a toonie under the pillow this morning. Spice, on the other hand, was green with envy. 

Spice was watching out like a maniac today – and when I declared that one of her bottom teeth is loose – oh, she was so delighted.

On the way home from work today, I picked up one of our teenage Ethiopian neighbor/friends and peppered her with questions about the bird song (you sing it when you throw the tooth on the roof.) She was delighted to hear about the Canadian tooth fairy (big smiles) but is going to try to write out the words and remember the tune for us so we can sing the bird song next time!

PS: the funniest. There were so many tooth fairy questions today – Sugar asked Daddy: “Daddy, what does the tooth fairy DO with all the teeth? Can we look it up on the internet?”

Sure enough, the internet provided. Apparently the tooth fairy gives them to babies who don’t have teeth yet.  Learn something new every day!

We ended up having three days of celebration for Ethiopian Christmas. The day after our own party we went to a friend’s house and eat and visited with our Ethiopian friends. Then on Monday we had an Ethiopian day in kindergarten, complete with stories, food and music.

Sugar and two of her older friends… she has just blossomed and now feels much more comfortable with attention from Ethiopian women. She still squirms when she gets kissed and hugged, but doesn’t hide behind my dress anymore!

A bit of a funny story… we were on our way out to the party, and the girls were decked out in some traditional Ethiopian clothes. Spice looks up at me and says “why do you get to go to the party, Mommy? You’re pink!” Notice the “you are pink” instead of “you have pink skin.” I think they are starting to develop racial contructs. Anyway, I just replied “well, because I’m with you, honey!” She sort of squished up her nose at me and then decided to take me at face value.

 The girls’ classroom event was pretty fun. I read the story of “Kaldi and the Dancing Goat” which we bought when in Ethiopia. It tells a fictional story of the discovery of coffee, and then to solve the mystery we looked at and smelled raw coffee beans and roasted coffee grounds.

We played Ethiopian music and instruments, and then the brave kids (most of them!) tried some lentils and injera. Finally, we finished with colouring sheets photocopied out of the “A is for Addis Ababa” book that my mom bought for the girls in Ethiopia. Props to the girls’ teacher, who just let us come and do our thing. We even demonstrated haggling (after a question about where we bought our clothes,) much to the delight of her students.

The girls were so proud! And it was so nice to see them showing off their culture – with positive attention form the other kids. A great experience!

We’re all getting in the Christmas mood – enjoy the holiday pictures from the last few weeks!

Daddy started helping out with the girls’ new room too – he’s very good at hanging shelves! So I still have a few things left to do, like sewing lining into the drapes, building posterboards, sewing a few cushions, etc. but soon the girls should be able to move in.

We noticed how many toys they have accummulated. Much of it is second hand, so it’s not that we’ve invested a lot of money or anything! But all those little trinkets and Sally Ann stuffies sure do add up.

So we made a deal – he girls would donate five stuffies to the Sally Ann, and then they could pick out a new one. Sounds crazy – but now we’re down a net 12 stuffies.

When they move upstairs, Sugar and spice are prepared, in theory, to do some more weeding. Then again, we’ll have to see when we move if they actually will put anything in the donation or “for little brother” piles! lol

When the girls helped me put the shelves together, I impressed upon them that they should never rely on a man to help them – that girls can do anthing boys can. I figure you are never too young to learn how an alland wrench works. And never too young to be empowered to use your own power tools. The power drill lessons continued upstairs.