Afternoon Tea

Just a quick little story. Today its just Ayana, Moses, and me at home all afternoon and evening. It's Josh's 10th Birthday Party, and my parents have taken him and his friends to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3.. which I really wanted to see by the way. But I got stuck at home. I was kind of upset, and bored, and not looking forward to being at home all day, when Ayana said to me, "Rara? Ayana, Rara, DoyDoy have party?" So we did.

There was some left over candy from Josh's goody bags, so we got out Ayana's tea set, cut up a Snickers bar, unwrapped some Hershey's kisses, got the twizzlers and lemonade out, and sat down to our lovely afternoon tea party. Of course, a tea party just wouldn't be a tea party without some wonderful entertainment, so on came the Wiggles, "Racing for the Rainbow!" Their singing and dancing routines, along with the chocolate, was the highlight of the party!It was a really cute party, and they really enjoyed it. They got all dressed up too, with Moses wearing a black cape, and Ayana a white woolen shawl. They had to have nice party clothes of course!

Then, afterwards, Ayana and I did a craft, while Moses finished watching the Wiggles. So we actually had quite a nice afternoon. Now I just have to figure out what to do with them for the next 3 1/2 hours until my parents get home. Of course, they have to go to bed at 7:30, so just 2 1/2 more hours till that! (That grimace on Moses's face in the last picture is what he does when you tell him to "smile for the camera"! He's hilarious!) Oh, and by the way.. my parents have promised to take me to see Pirates next weekend! Looking forward to that! :D

A New Friend from "Opia"

Whenever Ayana sees another black person, she points, and says, "Opia", meaning they are from Ethiopia. She gets very excited to see a new friend from her country.. whether they really are from Ethiopia or not! But the other day, she got to meet a new friend, who really was from her homeland.
There is an ESL student at our school, from Ethiopia. Her name is Bethlehem, and she's in the ESL grade 9/10 program in the highschool. She came in September, and when I found out where she is from, I was so excited, and so was my mom. She wanted to arrange a time to meet her, and get to know her. Unfortunately, it never worked out, until this last weekend. She's really sweet, and when she first saw Ayana and Moses at school one day, she was so excited. She said that when Ayana gets older, she's going to give her braiding, and Amharic lessons, because she said, "You can never lose your culture. That's a very important thing, ok Ayana?" She also said she'd love to come and help us with Ayana's hair some time. So, of course when my mom found that out, she jumped on the opportunity! :D

Bethlehem came over last weekend, from 2:3o, to 4:30, and braided Ayana's hair, and spoke Amharic with her (a little bit.. Ayana wasn't responding too much.. she was doing her hyper/shy mood.. a strange combination, but Ayana seems to pull it off well! :D) and talked to us about Ethiopia. It turns out that when we were in Addis Ababa, she was there too! And we arrived in Vancouver on roughly the same day...that was pretty cool to find out! She laughed at that, and said, "We probably saw each other walking around, but just didn't know it!" My mom thought we could have even been on the same plane.. but I doubt it!
Anyway, she did Ayana's hair beautifully, and said she had a lot of fun, and would love to do it again, anytime we need her to! She also offered to do our hair too, just for fun.. I'm thinking we should get Josh's hair done in cornrows! :P
She really loved playing with Ayana and Moses, and when she met them, she kissed them on the hand, just like they did everywhere in Ethiopia. I love that greeting for babies! Its so cute. When we go to an Ethiopian restaurant again, my mom said we should invite her.. she's only been to one in the 8/9 months that she's been here! :( So hopefully we'll get to know her really well.. Ayana and Moses really loved being with her too.. and so did I! Hopefully we all have a new friend from Opia!


Of course, I'm not sure my dad was having as much fun as we were on Saturday. While we were inside listening to stories of Ethiopia, and watching Ayana's hair getting braided, my dad was outside (for seven hours!!) renevating our back yard. He tore down a whole bunch of bushes and trees, and moved our big bunny cage to the side of the house, and got rid of part of the garden. My mom was looking at our back yard one day, and suddenly realised that the way it was landscaped, was a really big waste of space.. at least it was for a family of 7! At least one third of the yard was taken up with bushes, and garden, and our bunny cage. So now, with all the trees and stuff out of the way, our yard is huge! It doesn't look very good at the moment; my dad still has to tear out the stumps, and we have to turf the yard (when I say 'we', I mean it.. my dad has told us that we were helping him next time, or else!) and build a nicer deck, but you can already tell its going to be a really nice, big area to play in. So in the end it will all be worth it.. but on that particular Saturday, I'm not so sure my dad would have agreed!


Another funny story; the other day, I was sitting at school, with Ayana and Moses.. we were just about to walk home, when this guy in grade 9 walked past. I think he may be from Ghana, but I'm not sure at all. Anyway, he walked past, and saw Ayana and Moses, and pumped his fist in the air, and said, "All right, some of my little brothers and sisters from Africa!" It was so cute. Then he came over, and asked where they were from, and their names, and how old they are... he was really interested, and yet he was trying to be a 'cool guy' at the same time. It was really funny! But sweet at the same time.


So, we had a great Saturday, and Ayana's hair looks beautiful.. thanks Bethlehem! :D

A New Trampoline

We used to have an awesome trampoline; one of the Sundance ones, the square ones. They were really good trampolines, and really bouncy. Unfortunately, last summer, it split in two, and no one could use it anymore. Everyone was disappointed at first, but after a while we all forgot about it, and didn't even notice it any more. Then, since summer is coming, and several of our friends have them (and their little kids love them), my parents decided we could get a new one. So, last Saturday, we went to Walmart, and bought a new one, with a big net around it. The net was half for safety measures, and half so that Ayana and Moses can be zipped up in there, and have fun without 24/7 supervision. Its one of the normal, round ones, not quite as bouncy, but still fun.


We set it up last Saturday, and since then, Ayana and Moses have LOVED going on it. The setting up took two days actually. We set the trampoline part up on Saturday (with everyone helping, it took a while.. but then when we tried to move it into place, it didn't fit! We ended up having to cut down two of our bushes so that we could fit it in! :D) and then the net part on Sunday. That was not so fun. The bottom of the net had to be woven together with the springs, with this long string. However, it had about 150 little holes, and each one had to be threaded through the springs. I ended up just skipping every other one.. it was faster, and the trampoline is still completely secure!


Both the trampoline, and the net came in two big boxes, which of course are very exciting! So while we set up the trampoline (and my mom appointed herself "head photographer" :S) Ayana and Moses played in the boxes. They had more fun than we did, I can say that for sure. I think they were more excited about those boxes, than the finished trampoline. (We still haven't thrown the boxes away.. they love them so much! :D)

The trampoline has been a big success this last week! Moses thinks going on it is hilarious, and runs around as fast as he can, swaying, and tripping, and staggering around like he's drunk, trying to stay on his feet on the bouncy surface. Its hilarious! Ayana loves going on the "bouncy bouncy" with us, even though its a little scary when other people are bouncing. So since she is, of course, the queen of the house, if we are bouncing, and she would like to go on, she comes over, and tells us to "Wait jus' a minute guys! Ayana bouncy bouncy! Gosh!" :D Their favourite thing to do, is sit in someone's lap, and have the other person on bounce up and down. They sit there, holding on as tight as they can, laughing their heads off. Megan took a hilarious picture of this happening, on the first day we got it. (this is before the net was set up).


Here is a picture of Ayana, the queen of the bouncy bouncy! :D

Happy Mother's Day!

I'd just like to say Happy Mother's Day to everyone who is, or will be a mom! We had a really good mother's day (Ayana did think it was my mom's birthday at first though!:D) I think my mom had a good day, and we went to see my Oma too, and took her some cards, and a big bunch of flowers. So I hope that everyone had a great Mother's Day. See you later!

Take me out to the ball game...

On Friday we went to a base ball game for my dad's work. It lasted from 5:30, to about 8:30. It wasn't the most exciting to hang out with people from my dad's work that I didn't know, but it was fun watching him play base ball, and Ayana and Moses loved hanging out with all the new people, and the kids, and the huge field to play on. Moses was all ready for the game too, with his track suit, and side ways baseball cap.. he was very cool! And with his amazing throwing arm.. wow! He should be signed up for the big leagues already! :P

Ayana was very cute and friendly with everyone.. and even got bossy with a lady from my dad's work who had been dying to meet them since we brought them home. She was playing with them for some time, so Ayana got all hyper (she does that with big groups, and new people) and began to boss this lady around. They were playing catch, and sometimes the ball would roll to the side, and out of reach. Instead of running over and getting it herself, Ayana would point at the ball, point at the lady, and shout, "Get it!" We were all laughing, so she of course got even bossier. Then, another lady starting handing out those little noise makers to all the kids. Ayana was so excited, ran over, and got a green one. She blew it several times, studied it carefully, then shoved it back in the bag, grabbed a gold one, and said to the lady, "Ayana, nother one, now!" The lady laughed and said, "Oh, all right then miss!" It was actually really funny. But my mom told us to stop laughing at her, because she would start taking it too far if she kept on getting so much encouragment from everyone. Oh, and by the way, she was wearing the shirt I bought her from Roots, when I was on the Whistler Music Festival Trip! It was really cute on her (you can't see it in the picture; its under the sweater), and she loves it. If you ask her where it's from, she says, "Rara!" That's what she calls me; She calls me Rara, Megan Meme, Joshua Jofua, my mom and dad Mama, and Ababa (but she sometimes says daddy), and Moses Doya Doya, and even sometimes Ermias, which is his Ethiopian name (now his middle name). She knows our real names, but she likes calling us by those nicknames.. Moses even calls me Rara now! Its so cute! And he can say Mama, Baba, Doya, Rara, Jaja, but he can not, no matter how many times we try to teach him, say Megan, or Meme! Its so funny!

Anyway, all in all, the baseball game was actually fun. My dad's work team lost (quite badly, actually!) but they had some good runs, and cheered a ton, which kind of made up for it. :P I ran around playing catch with Ayana and Moses for a good part of it, and we got hotdogs, pop, chips, and ice cream (for $5! pretty good :D) which was yummy! Moses loved to throw the ball around, and chase after all the big kids, playing catch and "football". He especially loved playing with the dogs that were there.

There were 3 dogs there all together, and Moses loved the biggest, loudest, (friendliest!) one, of course! He followed after him, as fast as he could possibly run, laughing and squealing, and trying to get the ball before the dog did. He couldn't, of course, but he had a lot of fun trying to! The dog was so sweet, and patient, and would actually bring the ball to Moses when he got it! It was really cute; they were playing catch together! Kind of.. lol!

Ayana was terrified of the dogs, of course, but she actually went with my mom and touched one.. for about one second before running away again. But she's getting a bit better. There was the cutest little chocolate lab puppy there too. He was adorable! I would love to have a puppy, but I have the feeling it might be a little too much work for my parents at the moment!

So we had a fun Friday evening.. even though my dad's team did lose! :(

Back from Whistler

This weekend I got the opportunity to go on a trip to Whistler with my school. Whistler is a place up the in mountains of BC; a big skiing location, with great snow, and actually a popular place for bikers during the summer, when the snow has melted. I've been many times with my family, but its always lots of fun with your friends! I'm in Jr. choir (grade 9 and 10), and each year, both the Sr. music groups, and the Jr. music groups get to go on a trip to participate in a music festival. Last year we got to go to Edmonton, which was really fun.. a whole afternoon in Edmonton Mall!! :D :D That is the nicest mall I've ever seen. Its amazing!

Anyway, this year we went to Whistler with the choir, the band, the jazz band, and the vocal jazz to take part in the Whistler music festival. I stayed in a room with 5 of my friends, although one of them had to leave on Friday night for a volleyball competition the next day. But I was in the room with one of my best friends, K, and some other really good friends, C, J, N, and E (my mom told me not to use names.. so I'm using letters. :P) It was actually a lot of fun (although listening to the mandatory concerts, performances, and adjudications wasn't all that fun... especially when the concert on Saturday night went for 2 hours.. with the last song being about 45 minutes long. Just one song. Ugh.) But for the most part it was a great trip. Whenever we didn't have to listen to, or perform at any concerts, we went shopping, walking around, hanging out, and having a ton of fun. It rained from Thursday when we got there, until late Friday night (we had to walk everywhere, because we had no vehicles.. in skirts, dress shirts, and tights-the choir uniform-walking in the rain is not fun!!) but it was really nice and sunny all of Saturday, and Sunday too, so that was really good. I bought presents for everyone in my family (my parents gave me a lot of money for food and stuff, and I wanted to bring them something back in return). I got the cutest little shirt from Roots for Ayana (pink, with a sparkly flower), and a little 101 Dalmations book, and a "Whistler, Canada" baseball hat for Moses (to match with his "Canada Team" outfit he already has) and a Tigger book. They were both soo excited to get them! I was gone from Thursday afternoon, to Sunday evening, and when I got home, Ayana and Moses were so happy! I also got Megan some body butter, and a little Playmobile horse and kid (she's starting a collection of Playmobile :P) and Josh some sunglasses, and some wierd science/prank type stuff. Its powder that changes any liquid into gel. It's actually quite disgusting. I brought back tons of candy for everyone too, from the best candy store, the Great Glass Elevator. I love that store!! They have everything! Its awesome.

Since I was gone on Friday, and my parents, Megan, and Josh were going out, they needed a babysitter for Ayana and Moses. So I recommended my friend to babysit. (by the way, we were born on the exact same day... 2 minutes apart-I'm older lol- which is pretty cool! We always used to call each other twins.. we actually fooled one of the new kids! :P) Anyway, Ayana was excited about it all day, and kept on asking when "Rissa" was coming. They all really enjoyed it, and when I saw my friend at school on Monday, she told me to pump my fist in the air at Ayana when I got home, and say, "Who's your best buddy?" and see what Ayana did. So I got home, pumped my fist in the air, and shouted, "Who's your best buddy?" Ayana looked at me, laughed, pumped her fist and shouted, "Yaaaaaay, Rissa!!" It was hilarious! Ayana was brainwashed by my friend! lol.. it was so funny that I called her, and had Ayana say it to her on the phone. She laughed for ages. Anyway, the game is starting, so I'd best be off... Go Canucks!!! (by the way, Ayana is at Science World in the picture.. it might look really strange if you didn't know the context!)

GO CANUCKS!!

I have no stories, or pictures to post, but I'd just like to say....

GO CANUCKS!!!!!!!!!

We just watched them score their first goal tonight (7th game- Monday night) and let me tell you, I'm almost deaf from all the screaming going on around here (including me!) I'm not usually a huge hockey fan.. I mean, I'd love for them to win, but this time... I actually care!!! :D :D Go Canucks!!

Dressing Up

Ayana and Moses both love dressing up. We never used to have many costumes, but since Ayana and Moses have come home, we've gotten a little collection. It's not much, but we have a few cute things, and its enought for them to have fun playing dress up with. Of course, they aren't the only ones! Me and Megan used to love dressing up too, and there are countless pictures of us dressed up (mostly as Jo and Amy from Little Women, or Laura and Mary from Little House on the Prairie- the only things we had were old skirts, an apron, and a couple shawls, so the options were a bit limited!) And Joshua still does love dressing up. His newest costume is this wonderful Jack Sparrow costume he's showing off here. He had just bought the compass, head band, sword, eye stickers, and rings, and I had helped him with his makeup (that was fun! :P) and the rest of it. He was really excited about it, but when he came downstairs, Ayana shouted at him, "Ayana no like it! Naughty Joshua!" He couldn't stay downstairs for long, because she actually started to get quite scared, but he couldn't resist posing a bit, and chasing people around with his sword! But for the most part, Ayana and Moses really enjoy their costume times, and as you can see, they look adorable as kittens and cows!

Playing with the bunnies

Today me, Megan, Ayana, and Moses went outside to play with our bunnies. In reality they're more middle aged rabbits or even seniors than bunnies, but we always call them "the bunnies", so they'll be babies in our minds forever! This wasn't the first time that Ayana and Moses have seen them, but we haven't gone out there to play with them for a while, during the winter. Ayana is still afraid of them, and Moses still adores them. Mine, called Calico is probably the gentlest of all of them (we have three, mine, Megan's, and Josh's) so she's the one we get out for visitors, or younger kids to play with. Little Brown, Megan's, used to be quite fierce, and would bite if you picked her up, but she's calmed down a lot, and is actually getting to be quite sweet. So Calico, and Little Brown were the ones out on the lawn, getting pampered (and pulled- Moses still likes to grab their ears and whiskers and try to pick them up). Ayana, however backs up, and runs away when they get near. What was funny was that she half screamed, ran away from them, up the stair, and into the house, grabbed onto my mom, and said to her, "Ayana see bunnies. Ayana like bunnies. Funny bunnies!" I'm not quite sure where that came from! But by the end, we got her to sit beside Calico, and pet her gently. She was so proud of herself, that she didn't want to go inside to dinner, and just wanted to keep on petting Calico. And Moses stood up in his high chair, turned around, and pointed out the window, saying, "Buh, buh".. we're assuming he meant bunny. :) So all in all, it was a fun time, and we almost cured Ayana of her fear of rabbits. Maybe we'll work on our friend's terrifying tiny baby puppy next. :D

Hair and Hats

A few days ago, we caught Moses in the kitchen with a very lovely look. Balanced on top of his tricicle, tying to ride it under the table, he had somehow managed to grab Ayana's hat out of the closet, and balance that on his head. He was very proud of himself for this daring feat. I think it was on Easter Sunday, so the colour of the hat matched perfectly with those nice painted eggs on the counter!

Well, apparently this wasn't enough to satisfy his love of hats, because yesterday he came up to me holding the hood of his jacket- not the jacket, just the hood- and patting his head. I asked if he wanted it on, and he looked at me very seriously, patted his head again, and said "Ow" (yes in Amharic). So I strapped it on him, and he trotted off grinning, to show everyone else his beautiful "ha" (hat). What made it hilarious was that his entire outfit was a diaper, and a bright blue hood.

A couple of weeks ago, Ayana also had a very cool "decoration" on her head. Her hair had been in little twists for a few days, and they were starting to get a little fuzzy, with hair falling out. So, when they were getting ready for their bath, my mom quickly took them out. The result was adorably funny! My mom showed Ayana in the mirror, and she grinned and laughed, and said to her, "Wow! Ayana funny!"

Our (belated) Easter Egg Hunt

While most people probably do Easter Egg hunts on Easter Sunday, we decided to do something different. (in other words, we forgot!) So on Easter Monday, my dad took our basket of beautifully coloured eggs, and hid them around the living and dining room, with about 50% of them in plain sight, for Ayana and Moses to find. Ayana was a bit confused at first, but Moses got it straight away, and began picking up those eggs, and putting them back in the basket. With each egg he found, his grin grew wider, and in the end, he was shrieking with delight at each new discovery. Ayana finally got it, and loved it too, although in her excitement, she would find two eggs, take one in each hand, and bang them together, shouting, "Ayana found it! Ayana found it!" We quickly discouraged her from doing that too much, as about 2 out of every 5 eggs are now beautifully decorated with cracks and chips. :)

In the end, everyone grew tired of it, except for Ayana and Moses, so my dad and I hid them, while they both tried to find them. Moses kept on coming over to me, patting my leg (hard) which is his way of getting people's attention, and doing the sign (baby sign language.. he only knows one word!) for "more". So then we would have to show him an egg, put it down, and let him go and find it again! He never grew tired of it, and was a bit grumpy when we told him that it was "all done". Here are a couple of pictures of Ayana and Moses having fun finding those eggs!

Happy Easter

I'd just like to say Happy Easter to everyone!

We've had a great Easter so far, and it was so cool remembering that it was exactly a year ago that we first laid eyes on Ayana Kalkidan and Moses Ermias Wiebe. They were only 17 and 3 months old then.. they've grown so much since those first pictures. Especially Ayana. Looking at those referal pictures, and then watching her at church this morning, dancing with her new friends, or "helping" us on our treasure hunt, or eating a little hollow chocolate rabbit.. there's such a difference! And Moses was, and still is, just a baby, but you can still definitely see a difference from those first pictures.

We had a great breakfast this morning, and then headed off to church. Ayana wore the most adorable little summer/spring dress, and she just looked so perfect for Easter morning. Her and Moses love dancing around to the music at church, especially with their friends, and with the flags they provide for kids. Then this afternoon, after delicious french toast with strawberries, we all went upstairs to wait in my bedroom while my dad prepared some incredibly hard clues for our treasure hunt. Ayana and Moses got to help us, and loved the little jelly beans along the way with each new clue we found. When we finally reached the end, we each got some treats, and a new cd (Ayana and Moses got a few jelly beans, a card, and a little chocolate bunny). I got a Switchfoot cd, and I'm going to listen to it, as soon as I post this! :)
We just decorated our eggs yesterday, and we gave Moses one to hold while we took a picture. Well, he had just been eating his chocolate, so as soon as the egg touched his hand, he jammed it into his mouth, and began sucking on it! We took it away quickly, and left him with a strange look on his face as he peered at the eggs in the basket. Once he found his chocolate bunny again though, he was fine!

Ayana and Moses had to go down for a nap, and Ayana was heartbroken to have to leave her precious chocolate, and would only go upstairs after she had been promised that there would be more chocolate after sleepy time. They're just getting up now, so I think I'd better go and make sure all my candy is out of the way for now!

A Close Call.. Looking back

I just wanted to say a word of thanks to everyone who might have been praying for Moses last week. Moses and Ayana had to have a few TB tests and x-rays, to make sure that they did not have active TB. They had a skin test, and if they reacted to it, they had to have some x-rays. Whether it was active or not, they had to take meds, as children under 5 are more at risk that adults, once they have reacted to the skin test. Well, they did end up reacting to it, so my mom took them to a TB clinic to get the x-rays. We didn't expect them to have active TB, and were not surprized when the doctor said that they had latent TB, which means that they just have to take some meds, and will be fine. We also didn't expect the doctor to freak out about Moses' x-ray. We had a huge scare when the TB doctor told my mom that Moses' heart was "So abnormal" and he had "never seen anything like it before." I was so scared when my mom came home and told us that. I looked at Moses, dancing and running around, and didn't really believe that anything could be wrong with him, but when a doctor says something like that.. you usually listen! Thankfully, he went to a cardaeologist at Children's Hospital, who ran a bunch of tests, and told us he is completely fine. There had been some confusion because of a certain gland by the heart which is larger in children than in adults. But we were quite scared for a while. It was my mom's birthday, and she didn't really get to spend it all that nicely, as her and my dad were rushing around to Children's to get all the tests done. But there was a nice ending. So I'd just like to say again, thank-you to anyone who is reading this that was praying for Moses. It really helped! He's 100% fine.. which is quite easy to tell just by watching him for a few minutes... or for that matter, babysitting him for several hours. That can be interesting. :)

Back from Pender Island

We were on Pender Island, in the Gulf Islands for the past week, and we just got back yesterday. It was a really great time. We had a whole week to just do whatever we wanted, and it was such an awesome holiday! The cabin we rented (I say "cabin".... it was more like a house!) was beautiful... and it had a hot tub! We went in it at least twice a day.. although by the end of the week, it wasn't such a big attraction.. I think we actually got sick of it! :) But it was so nice to have! We went in it almost every morning, every night, and several afternoons too! Ayana and Moses loved it too. Ayana called it the "big bubble water", and Moses loved to sit and splash whoever he could reach!

The house has 2 bedrooms, plus a loft, so Megan, Josh, and I slept in the loft, and Ayana and Moses shared the second bedroom. The only thing was, we only had one play pen for Moses, and Ayana had to sleep in the bed.... she was terrified! She's never slept in a bed (except for the first week back home, before we got her crib) and she hates them, unless she's with somebody. It would take her hours to fall asleep... she would sometimes still be awake at 11! She finally got over it,and got used to the bed, but it was so sad at first when she was crying at telling us to come back... my mom had to stay with her for a good 20 minutes before she would settle down.

Apart from that though, it was a great experience. We went to the frisbee golf course (soo much fun! We went twice, and the holes 19-27 were killer!! Up and down huge hills.... we almost died by the end!) We also spent a lot of time on the beach.. the views were gorgeous! It really is a beautiful place! We had picnicks all the time... just a great holiday for everyone.. and Moses and Ayana loved going to our favourite beach. It had pebbles, instead of sand, but there were actually really cool rocks.. I came home with quite a few in my pocket! All different colours and sizes.. I found the smoothest one.. it feels like glass! Ayana and Moses LOVED throwing rocks in the water.. and at us too! But my parents quickly put an end to that!

The island had a little shopping center, called the Driftwood Center, and it had a grocery store, a bakery, a book store, an eye clinic, a souvenir store, and a gas station. We loved going there, and we got movies from the gas station almost every night. The book store was really cool, because the front half had new books, and the whole back half had used books... shelves and shelves of them. We made quite a haul there! :)

They also had these really cool craft angels at the book store, called African AIDS Angels. They're $5 each, and all the money goes towards four different orphanages and/or organizations in Africa, working with adults and children who have AIDS. The angels are each given a traditional African name, in memory of a child who died from AIDS. They're so sweet. Me and my mom both bought one, and mine is called Selema, which means peace. They're all handmade, and they're actually really beautiful. I think you can find out more about them on this website: www.wolfweb.ca/angels ... I hope that works! It's really cool, because it was started by these seven people who went to Africa, and wanted to make a difference, and in the last 4 years they've raised over $100,000, just by selling these little angels! You should check it out. :) It's a really cool project!

Anyway, we just got home last night, and we're sad to be home, but happy that we still have another whole week of spring break ahead of us! I love having a two week spring break! :D

Half a Year has gone by!

It's so hard to believe that its been half a year (tomorrow) since we came back with Ayana and Moses! Half a year has passed already since we walked through the airport, into the cheering crowds of people, welcoming Ayana and Moses to their new home. So much has happened...

~Ayana moved from a bed to a crib... its a little reversed, but it worked! :)

~Moses took his first little wobbly steps

~Our first special events as a family:

> Thanksgiving

> Halloween (Ayana was a fairy princess, and Moses was a little cowboy... they liked the dressing up and the candy, but not all the neigborhood decorations so much. The skeletons were a bit scary, but the scariest of all for Ayana.. our neigbor's tiny new puppy! Terrifying!)

> Megan's Birthday

> Christmas Eve

> Christmas (So much fun... Ayana was amazed by all the presents... "AGAIN??" And why was there a tree in the house??)

> New Year's Eve

> Ayana's 2nd Birthday (Ayana spent the whole day dressed up as a fairy princess with red sunglasses! Very cool!)

> Moses's 1st Birthday (One of his presents was in a bag bigger than him.. we have a picture of him on tip toe trying to reach into the bag.. very cute! :) )

~Ayana and Moses's first snow (Ayana looking out the window, "Oh Wow! Uh Oh! Who did vat? Ayana no did vat! Mama did vat?")

~Getting to know new friends and family (Oma and Opa, Gran-Gran, Aunties and Uncles, Molly and Kohl Peters- Ayana's new best friends and role models- baby Jamie, also known as "Baby Jesus" by Ayana! :) and lots more)

~Meeting Gran-Gran (my mom's mom) from England for real, instead of on the computer on webcam..she doesn't actually live in the computer screen like Ayana used to think! :)

~Learning more and more English.. even Moses is starting to understand simply words, and even has his own (coh=cold, booh=book, dow=down, Mama, Baba=Daddy, cack=catch, ba=ball)

~My friends have all fallen in love with them.. especially Ayana... one of my good friends, Kristie, just adores her! Once she asked if she could come over.. to play with Ayana! :S

~Ayana and Moses were dedicated at church.. it was a really cool service, and everybody was crying at the end!

~We've all bonded so well... we actually feel like a real family now, instead of just trying to make it through!

Its been an amazing half year, and I can't believe how much has happened. I'm looking forward to what will happen next. For spring break we're going to spend a week in a cabin on one of the Gulf Islands. It'll be really nice to have a whole week all to ourselves to just relax and be together, without having to worry about being anywhere, or doing anything particular. And the best part... a hot tub on the deck!! I'm so excited about it! :) :)
In the summer we're planning to go on vacation with our friends for 1 or 2 weeks and rent a trailer, which will be a lot of fun too. Plus... I'm turning 16 while we're there!! Sweet Sixteen! I can't wait until I can drive, and I'll take Megan and Ayana places, once she's a little older, and we can have sisters outings! That'll be really fun.

Just a quick little story from today: I was giving Ayana an "airplane" ride on my legs (while I'm lying on the ground, she balances on my feet, I hold her hands, and then lift my legs up in the air) She kept on coming off, running around, then coming back and saying "Aypane again!!" Then on the seventh or eighth one, she let go, and kind of slipped off my legs. She pretended she was fine, tried to laugh, got up, ran around, came back and said "Umm... aypane all done! Careful Rara! Gosh!" It was so cute!

Well, I should probably go now.. this is a pretty long post, and my mom needs to use the computer. Bye for now!

~Erin~

Sisters

Today I made this cool slidshow on onetruemedia.com, about my sisters (Megan and Ayana) and me. It's really cute.. and it was really easy to make! Just click on the link below, and hopefully it will work..
~Erin ~
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=240b8b34689f8c6626cc00&skin_id=0&&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Ayana and Moses' Dedication

Here's a picture of Ayana and Moses in their traditional Ethiopian clothes. They're sitting in front of an Ethiopian flag, right before we left for church for their dedication.

Moses' 1st Birthday, and their Dedication.

Moses turned one on January 12th. We didn't do anything fancy, but when he got his presents, he was soo excited. He got 3 extremely loud toys
and a trike. He had no clue what was going on, but it was pretty funny to watch him get all excited over the tissue paper! :) His new obsession is reading books, and watching an Australian group of dancers/singers called the Wiggles. It's on right now, and I can probably say I know every song on those four episodes off by heart. They're on constantly.. 24/7. It's pretty cute.. Jeff is really annoying, but the rest is.... cute. Here are some pictures of Moses getting his new toys on his birthday. We did go out for dinner (Ethiopian food.. what else?) but that was about a week later.

Last week (Sunday) Ayana and Moses got dedicated at church. They were in traditional Ethiopian clothes, and it was really sweet. We made a slide show about the whole adoption journey, and I'd say about 99.9% of the church was crying by the end. It was really nice. I'll put a picture of them in their outfits in another post, because it won't let me do more than 4 pictures at a time.