Mom's Little Helpers

Busy making brownies! Going to be a fun Bakah Bakah Day for Sofia!

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.

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.

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.

Happy May Day! Or Workers (Labor) Day!

A popular activity on May Day is to decorate a pole with brightly colored ribbon or paper streamers. Some also add flowers and balloons. The pole is usually carried in a parade and then placed in the ground at a designated area. People then dance around the May pole, holding the ends of the streamers or ribbon in their hands.

In London, May Day is celebrated with the children going from house to house. They bring flowers and get pennies in return. The pennies are then thrown into a wishing well. The pennies are then donated to charity.

In South Africa, today is Worker's Day (or Labor Day). The first time it was declared a holiday was in 1994.

The girls playing in Holly's garden (yard).



Holly blows out her 5 candles with all her friends around.

YUM! Love cupcakes and birthday parties!!!!