My sister is in town this week and she started on the wall murals in our girls room. Each “doll” is from a different country (or tribe.) Can you guess which is which???

This kid TOTALLY cracks me up. She’s on the phone to her aunt and is having trouble coloring and chatting at the same time. So what does Spice do? She invents a new purpose for a sleep cap. Hands-free device!

Wanna buy a fab sleep cap? Visit AfricaSleeps.com , our super duper sleep caps website!

35! Yippee!

Ok, so I’ve heard that a woman’s 40s are the best, but I think ill enjoy my thirties while they last.

Funny, 35 isn’t a big one for me, but the upcoming 36 actually is a bit of a landmark. When I was 26 years old, I set some significant goals for myself for the decade to come. My goals?

1. First, to have completed my doctorate by 35. Well, that isn’t going to happen, but at least I got my Masters and have started doing more research.
2. The next is to have started a family -check box!
3. And the last is to be consulting or owning my own business (full time.) that one I should get close to! But it might be a year or two after planned.

For now, I’ll just enjoy this coming year. And enjoy the bonuses that have come along the way that I never expected, like the opportunity to run Vulnerable Children, grow my own garden, learn about wine, traveling in Africa and meet friends I never knew I would have.

This first week of spring a break Sugar and Spice have been going to horse camp. That’s right- morning of heavenly horsey bliss.

That’s one seriously fuzzy pony.

The girls are 2 of the 6 kids in the horsecamp. The funny thing is that 2 of the other kids’ moms have the same job as Jrock. Coincidence? I think not… Lol

They have learned about catching horses, brushing them, and of course… They are riding ponies to their hearts content. I’d you recognize the ponies, the camp is at the same place that the girls had their birthday party last year.

BTW the girls have picked their theme for next year’s birthday party. And yes, I am talking about the end of the summer! But you know you have to plan these things in advance.  The theme? Drumm rollllllllllllll….

Bollywood! We’re going to have Indian food, some Bollywood dancing, bindis, menhdi and colorful fun! Of, so much fun planning… And pint-sized saris to buy!

We spent a Saturday up at Big White, and took the girls skiing for the first time.

Little troupers! They did awesome. It was all smiles no matter how many times the bit the snow, and they both managed to cruise the entire bunny hill at the end, top to bottom, by themselves, and ski right in behind the magic carpet!

Enjoy the pictures form a lovely day!

Last night we had a wonderful time listening to my favourite African band! Sugar, Spice, and our young Ethiopian neighbor joined me listening to the amazing sounds of the accapela group from Ladysmith, South Africa. I was amazed to learn that the leader of the group has been guiding this wonderful group of men for 52 years. Wow. Four of his sons are also in the group, and the comradery and friendship was evident and added so much fun.

T, our 20 year old neighbor, had a blast too. He was astounded how incredibly different their culture is from his own – the dancing with high kicks, the singing and even the harmonic structures are totally differnt.

The girls were rapt with atention and enjoyment, even though it was SO past their bedtime! The leader kept shooting them smiles since we were sitting in the front row.

I was in heaven. I’m a total fan, and yet, in person, they were even better than on their CDs. Just amazing. I don’t think I stopped grinning the whole time – except when they sang “homeless”, when I have to admit I cried a bit. So beautiful.

I wish Jrock could have been there – he is away working this week. Ladysmith, where the group originated, is within a couple hours of Lesotho, so maybe we’ll get to cruise through this summer (I can always hold out hope!)

Sugar wanted something a little different for hair this week, since she’s had extensions in for a while. So we did veil braids going back to a pony tail, which I really like!

We have to wet and pick out her puff each morning, but it only takes a few minutes and looks fab.

I’ve done veil braids many times before (example 1 , 2 , 3) but what I did that’s a little different is that I make big boxes for the veil, and cornrowed through the box. You can see that if you click on the picture below. Kinda neat, and it should last a bit longer.

A few weeks ago the girls and I went off to our very first Sparks camp! It was organized by the local Pathfinder group, and themed all around Valentine’s Day.

The older girls did a great job of planning great crafts, although they somehow forgot to plan to take the kids outside (which I spontaneously suggested in the afternoon. But an overnight in the local Guide camp dorms, tons of crafts and food made a wonderful introduction to Girl Guide camping for the kids.

I got this really good question from a witing adoptive mom the other day, and thought I would post the answer.

“Why will my daughter need a sleep cap? What’s it for?”

Good question!!

Here’s why a sleep cap: You spend hours on braids to make them look good. The enemy of braids is rubbing! And if your daughter is rubbing her head on a pillow, or trampoline (I hate trampolines) or bike helmet, or whatever, it will make the braids fuzzy and not so nice in no time. The close-fitting sleep cap puts a protective (none rubbing) layer between the braids and the scratchy surface.

If she doesn’t have braids in, then she’ll have curly whirly hair. Now, Ethiopians have have loose to super tight curls… the tighter, the more easily matted and tangled they become. So if you send a kid to bed with super curly hair and no sleep cap – ouch! The tangles in the morning will be terrible. And it’s very painful to pick those tangles out. so it’s best to protect their locks of joy from tangling by #1, keeping them in braids, and #2, if not in braids, held in place and not rubbing with a sleep cap.

Get your sleep caps at: AfricaSleeps.com!

Spice has the same yarn hair extensions in since Christmas time – so they’ve actually been in for two months. This is a record for us! I think the key to them lasting so long is that I did flat braids ont he top of her head, and box braids just on the sides. But really – her hair has grown almost and inch and it’s time for them to come out.

Here sister, Sugar, has only had hers in a for a week or so, but they are already starting to look a bit worn. PArtly this is because I only did box braids (yes, I admit to laziness) and partly because she’s way harder on her hair than her sister. But I should still get a few more weeks out of them – and I have to admit I’m enjoying the hair break!

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!