Here is a link to pictures from today. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Riding horses!
Here is are pictures of Sienna and Sofia riding horses (not ponies). They are absolutely not afraid. They sit right up there like they have been riding for years! Sofia was riding Lady Jane and Sienna rode Desperado.
This was at the Hillcrest School Fun Day. There were rides, games, food, etc. Sorta like a fair. We went with Jane and Chris Akob and their daughter, Elma. They are from Cameroon but living here in SA. And another friend, Tiba and her son, Victor. We spent most of the day there. The girls had a great time as usual. They rode rides, rode horses, danced, ate and played, played, played.
New babies
Here is a picture of our new babies. The girls still haven't settled on names. Today, it was Peanut and Popcorn.....
Friday, May 7, 2010
Kittens
I finally got the girls the kittens they have been begging for since we arrived in South Africa. I had wanted to get them kittens for Christmas but at the time we were still staying at the bed and breakfast.
So, today, I found two from an online classified ad. I haven't been able to take pictures of them yet as things were just too chaotic with the girls and the kittens.
They are sweet- only 7 weeks old. They were born March 15th. Their mother and her little of 6 kittens (who were 3 weeks old) were found abandoned.
They are both females. Sofia's is white with a few grey spots. Sienna's is black with white markings. I completely surprised the girls after school. I had gone to get them and brought them home. I put them in the guest quarters of the house that is empty so that they would be easy to find when we got home.
The girls couldn't believe their eyes. They asked if they were real and if they could keep them for a while. Then they started chasing them around. That didn't go over too well. The kittens immediately run under couches, behind stoves and anywhere they could fine. One got behind the stove and I found her licking the ant poison. I just pray she doesn't get sick. So, for a couple of hours, we went through that. Then finally, we put them in the spare bedroom and I told the girls just to sit and watch. And sure enough the kittens started playing like crazy. The girls laughed and laughed as the kittens chased each other, ran through the litter box and wreaked havoc! They are litter box trained, thank goodness. And have been eating dry cat food. They look pretty healthy.
So, what are their names? Well, I think we have yet to settle on a name. Sofia is sticking with Sarafina or Betsy. She has been saying all along that if she got a cat she wanted to name it Sarafina. Sienna, on the other hand, has gone through an array of names- Saragina, Bella, Skittle, Aurora, to name a few. Before going to bed she was calling it Jelly Bean. So, we will see.
I will post pictures tomorrow.
Baker Baker day seemed to be a success- except for the fact that all the kids were digging into the Gorp trail mix bowl and it caused Sofia to dump it on the floor. But they all loved the brownies.
Both girls told me they had to sit in the "thinking chair" twice each today because they were naughty. Sienna was scratched up because she said she was riding the bicycle too fast at school.
Let's hope the weekend is a bit calmer. I am going to take the girls to see the Nanny McPhee movie at the cinema near our house this weekend. And we will continue to get the kitties used to the house and the girls. I keep trying to tell them not to run towards them so excitedly. The kittens get scared and hide.
So, today, I found two from an online classified ad. I haven't been able to take pictures of them yet as things were just too chaotic with the girls and the kittens.
They are sweet- only 7 weeks old. They were born March 15th. Their mother and her little of 6 kittens (who were 3 weeks old) were found abandoned.
They are both females. Sofia's is white with a few grey spots. Sienna's is black with white markings. I completely surprised the girls after school. I had gone to get them and brought them home. I put them in the guest quarters of the house that is empty so that they would be easy to find when we got home.
The girls couldn't believe their eyes. They asked if they were real and if they could keep them for a while. Then they started chasing them around. That didn't go over too well. The kittens immediately run under couches, behind stoves and anywhere they could fine. One got behind the stove and I found her licking the ant poison. I just pray she doesn't get sick. So, for a couple of hours, we went through that. Then finally, we put them in the spare bedroom and I told the girls just to sit and watch. And sure enough the kittens started playing like crazy. The girls laughed and laughed as the kittens chased each other, ran through the litter box and wreaked havoc! They are litter box trained, thank goodness. And have been eating dry cat food. They look pretty healthy.
So, what are their names? Well, I think we have yet to settle on a name. Sofia is sticking with Sarafina or Betsy. She has been saying all along that if she got a cat she wanted to name it Sarafina. Sienna, on the other hand, has gone through an array of names- Saragina, Bella, Skittle, Aurora, to name a few. Before going to bed she was calling it Jelly Bean. So, we will see.
I will post pictures tomorrow.
Baker Baker day seemed to be a success- except for the fact that all the kids were digging into the Gorp trail mix bowl and it caused Sofia to dump it on the floor. But they all loved the brownies.
Both girls told me they had to sit in the "thinking chair" twice each today because they were naughty. Sienna was scratched up because she said she was riding the bicycle too fast at school.
Let's hope the weekend is a bit calmer. I am going to take the girls to see the Nanny McPhee movie at the cinema near our house this weekend. And we will continue to get the kitties used to the house and the girls. I keep trying to tell them not to run towards them so excitedly. The kittens get scared and hide.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Shucking Corn
For the past three nights, the girls have been eating corn on the cob (with other things of course). I can hardly buy enough of it because they eat two big ears of it each at a time. I am even sending it in their lunches! Here they are shucking some corn for dinner!!!!
On another note, this morning Mom's were invited to join their children at school for an hour or so in the morning and watch as they did their normal activities. The girls were delighted. They painted zebras, played with little cars on a race track and proudly showed me all of their pictures they have been working in on lately in class. Some really cute stuff. And they are getting so good at drawing and painting! Then we shared a cupcake. They gave me their mother's day gifts- a nice big bottle of lotion (cream) with a hand drawn picture of me. It was very sweet. But Sofia didn't want to give hers up so she kept it.
Baker Baker
The girls making brownies for Sofia's Baker Baker Day. Note the colored face- when I picked them up from school they told me they had colored on each other's face....great!
Tomorrow Sofia is Baker Baker in her class. Every Friday, one of the kids gets to be the Baker and tomorrow is Sofia's (and Sienna's) turn. Luckily, we had brought a brownie mix and a few other baking items over from the US. The girls really wanted to make brownies and put the mini M&Ms on top. And I also wanted to throw together of White Chocolate Gorp (chex mix, cheerios, nuts, M&Ms and pretzels with melted white chocolate).
Well, everything didn't turn out as good as I had wanted. First of all, the oven in this house is awful. It burns everything on the right side of the oven, so I was constantly having to turn the brownies. You can't find a 9x13 cake pan but I did find what I would descripe as a cookie sheet that had about an inch side on it. The cooking spray was really strange and I think more ended up floating in the air than on the pan. I kept spraying it on the pan but never could really tell there was anything on there. In the end, the brownies did turn out okay. I just cut off about 1/4 inch of all the sides which was a little more well done and the rest looked great.
You can't really find brownie mixes here. If you do find something like that in a store, it is imported and costs about 8 dollars a box! And no bags of M&Ms. But Sal had sent some over this last time that we had a suitcase come.
Onto the gorp....no chex mix but there is cheerios. So, I used cheerios, some sort of pocket like cereal, cashews, more M&Ms that Sal had sent and pretzel sticks. The girls and I had gone to 3 different stores after I picked them up looking for white chocolate bars. You just can't really find chocolate chips in large quantities here. You will find a small little box but it doesn't go far. So, I was just going to find the regular bars of chocolate. No one had white chocolate. I did have a bag that I brought over from the US. Let me tell you....don't microwave Nestle White Premier Chips. It turns into a big glob. I was imagining a very smooth and velvety melted chocolate to coat my mix (I have made this many times in the US). Not happening. It just kept getting more and more dense. Finally, I did manage to get it mixed into the gorp- it was pretty crumbly but I am guessing the kids will still eat it. Sofia and Sienna didn't see to mind!!!! Yes, cooking can be quite the challenge here. You definitely will not find the convenience that one does in the US.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Sal becomes a US Citizen on May 21
Sal finally got his notice for his Ceremony of Oath to become a US citizen on May 21st. After almost 18 years in the US, he will become a citizen. We will all still have our Italian citizenship as well. He is very proud, as am I. Way to go!!!
The girls are gearing up for Mother's Day. They have been very busy at school making a present. Sienna told me all about it yesterday- though she wasn't supposed to. And tomorrow, there is a morning tea at their school for the mothers that I will attend. They are very excited. They said they want to make me cookies on Sunday. And they said I have to help them.
Tomorrow night, we have to bake something to take to school because it is Sofia's turn to be Bakah Bakah (or Baker Baker as Americans would pronounce it). Every one in the class has a turn to be Bakah Bakah and wear an apron and serve thier classmates something sweet. The school is very strict on having sweets or unhealthy snacks. Only on Fridays can they have a sweet. During the week, their lunches have to be very healthy. No chips, no candy, no cakes. Only veggies, fruits and healthy sandwiches or other healthy food. At first, it was a little hard but we have finally gotten into the groove of things and the girls come home every day with empty lunch boxes. A typical lunch would be yogurt, a ham or PB&J sandwich, pretzels/nuts and some sort of fresh fruit. Along with juice- but the juice has to be in a thermos. No juice boxes are allowed. So, it takes a little longer to prepare their lunches but they are much healthier because of it. And anyway, there are no Oscar Meyer Lunchables or Little Debbie Cakes here even if I were able to put it in their lunch boxes.
On to a cultural lesson of words-
Differences in SA English and American English words
The first is SA English, second word is Am. English- both mean the same thing and the girls love learning how to say things here in SA English
1. hoot, honk
2. robot, traffic light
3. bakkie, pick up truck
4. boot, trunk
5. bonnet, hood
6. rubbish, trash
7. wee, pee
8. poo, poo poo
9. just now, in a minute (for example, I am coming just now instead of I'm coming in a minute).
10. kokis, markers (to color with)
11. indicator lights, blinkers
12. serviettes, napkins
13. bum, behind (body part)
14. dust ruffle, bed slip
15. lounge, living room
16. is it? really?
There are so many language intricacies even if it is English. But we are learning. And then there are the words that are the same but have different pronunciations like tomato and schedule. Schedule is pronounced with the C silent like shedule.
The girls are gearing up for Mother's Day. They have been very busy at school making a present. Sienna told me all about it yesterday- though she wasn't supposed to. And tomorrow, there is a morning tea at their school for the mothers that I will attend. They are very excited. They said they want to make me cookies on Sunday. And they said I have to help them.
Tomorrow night, we have to bake something to take to school because it is Sofia's turn to be Bakah Bakah (or Baker Baker as Americans would pronounce it). Every one in the class has a turn to be Bakah Bakah and wear an apron and serve thier classmates something sweet. The school is very strict on having sweets or unhealthy snacks. Only on Fridays can they have a sweet. During the week, their lunches have to be very healthy. No chips, no candy, no cakes. Only veggies, fruits and healthy sandwiches or other healthy food. At first, it was a little hard but we have finally gotten into the groove of things and the girls come home every day with empty lunch boxes. A typical lunch would be yogurt, a ham or PB&J sandwich, pretzels/nuts and some sort of fresh fruit. Along with juice- but the juice has to be in a thermos. No juice boxes are allowed. So, it takes a little longer to prepare their lunches but they are much healthier because of it. And anyway, there are no Oscar Meyer Lunchables or Little Debbie Cakes here even if I were able to put it in their lunch boxes.
On to a cultural lesson of words-
Differences in SA English and American English words
The first is SA English, second word is Am. English- both mean the same thing and the girls love learning how to say things here in SA English
1. hoot, honk
2. robot, traffic light
3. bakkie, pick up truck
4. boot, trunk
5. bonnet, hood
6. rubbish, trash
7. wee, pee
8. poo, poo poo
9. just now, in a minute (for example, I am coming just now instead of I'm coming in a minute).
10. kokis, markers (to color with)
11. indicator lights, blinkers
12. serviettes, napkins
13. bum, behind (body part)
14. dust ruffle, bed slip
15. lounge, living room
16. is it? really?
There are so many language intricacies even if it is English. But we are learning. And then there are the words that are the same but have different pronunciations like tomato and schedule. Schedule is pronounced with the C silent like shedule.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Frog Scientist and Lion Dental Hygenist
Sienna reported yesterday that she is going to be a Frog Scientist when she gets big. She drew a picture of a frog and a pond with tadpoles and wrote "frog scientist". She had to ask how to write scientist. She knows how to write frog. She is now carrying the paper around saying it is her "list". Sofia, not to be outdone, has declared she is going to clean lion's teeth when she gets big. And she drew a picture of a lion. They definitely have good imaginations.
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