Update

I can't believe the last time I posted was Halloween! When I get some time I'll post some video of the kids Christmas concert.

However, I wanted to let you all in on another blog that I have been keeping for over a year...but have not let anyone know about it - but now it's time to reveal.

Of course this had to do with our latest news! We are very excited to tell you about Mekonnen and Tenaye's new SISTERS!! Yes that means 2!

We recently received a referral for 2 beautiful little girls.

Miheret - almost 4 years old - born Dec. 23, 2003
and
Mitike - just 4 months old - born Aug. 4, 2007

Everyone here is very excited and can't wait until they are able to join our family! It will be 4-6 months until all the legal paperwork is completed and we can travel back to Ethiopia to meet them and bring them home.

I won't be posting pictures of the girls on the blog as they are not legally ours yet - so if you want to see their beautiful faces please email me.

Mekonnen and Tenaye are also very excited for their new sisters..here is a bit about their reactions (written a week ago after receiving the referral):

Mekonnen has been super excited from the start - and on Friday when we showed him the referral of his new sisters - he screamed with delight! I thought he might be a little disappointed that there wasn't a boy - but when we asked him this he said No..and replied that he was just sooo happy there was a baby! He is great with kids and babies and I know he will be a great big brother to his 3 sisters! (Funny thing, is Bill has 4 sisters and he is the only boy..so like father - like son )

I wasn't too sure about how much Tenaye was understanding all along - but earlier in the day before we showed her the referral pics of her new sisters - I had asked her if she wanted a sister - she said "Mommy I want 2 sisters"... WHen we showed her the pics and introduced her to her new sisters - she sat starting at the pics for the longest time then looked at me and asked "Mommy, they sleep at my house?" She has not put the pictures since recieving them and loves to tell people about her new sisters. Then last night dug one of her old soothers out and wanted to take it to bed...she has not had one since she was 18 months old! She took it to bed..but just held it ..didn't put in her mouth.

This morning I found her with it at the breakfast table...I started to take it and put it away and she said "No Mommy, I need it". When I asked her why she needed it she said "It's for TK (Mitike) - she is just a baby!" So apparently she is holding onto it to give it to Mitike when she comes home.

Here is the link to our other blog - you can see what we've been up to for the past year.. :)

http://ehiopiatake2.blogspot.com/

Shelley

Happy Halloween!

We had another fun and busy Halloween this year!

Mekonnen dressed up as....guess what...yes...Spiderman!
And Tenaye was a very cute Giraffe.

Tenaye, unfortunately is sick with Strep Throat - so didn't really go out "Trick or Treating" But instead dressed up and spent the night handing candy out at Gradma's house (Grandma did take her to her friends house and neighbours, which she enjoyed doing but it was enough for her).

Mekonnen and Dad went out Trick or Treating for about 45 mins - then the three of headed out to participate in the "Better Together Food Drive" collecting food for the Food Bank. We do this every year on Halloween. In 2 hours every house in Moose Jaw is canvased - last year sooo much food was collected that the food bank had to get 2 semi-trucks donated to store the food in! This one night supplies them with 1/2 year supply of food. Mekonnen was more excited for the food drive than he was for trick or treating.

Roughriders Game Half time Show

In October Mekonnen participated in the 1/2 time show at the Roughriders game. Here are a few pictures. You might have to search in a few of them to find Mekonnen!

Some Bella

Yep - tonight we took Tenaye to see the classic play Some Bella (aka Cinderella). All dressed up, just like 'some bella' she had a grand time at the play! She was totally captivated for the whole time! She was very cute to watch, laughing, bopping to the music, and giving a running commentary of the play...Just incase I missed something I guess...(Mommy he's sad now...He's laughing, their dancing!) The best was when she wanted to go join the dancing at the ball! (This was after she realized it was a dance and not a 'ball game' )

Anyway - failed to get a picture of her all dressed up - but she was cute!

Here is a video from her birthday party..a bit over due but I had some technical difficulties

Some More Pictures

Here are some more random pictures for you to enjoy!


Mekonnen has started hockey! Here he is in his hockey gear.



Mekonnen being goofy!


Funny story for this picture. Mekonnen and I went to visit a friend of mine who just had a baby boy. Before we left I put Tenaye to bed..but could not find her pink sleep hat anywhere. While we were visiting with my friend, they opened the baby gift we took for them...Blue jeans, blue shirt, blue socks and.... a Pink sleep hat???? Somehow when wrapping their gift, I picked up Tenaye's sleep hat and included it in the gift as well! Mekonnen then felt the need to model the hat so they could see what it was for :)


Hangin' with Daddy.

Tenaye's Third Birthday

Happy Birthday Tenaye! It's hard to believe she is 3 years old already! Here are some pictures from her birthday.


Tenaye being goofy!


Tenaye trying to show she is three.



With her pink Bunny Cake...oh the things mothers do!

Ethiopian Millennium

Hi Family!

Thought you might like to join in on the fun! I have created and am selling an Ethiopian Calendar. All the proceeds go to help the children in Ethiopia.

If you don't know, Ethiopia runs on a different calendar than we do - and this year our Sept. 12 was their New Year's Day - but is was New Years day of the year 2000!!

We had a great time at a New Year's party on the night of the 11th...Sorry forgot to take my camera...so no pictures.

Anyway - all the proceeds of these calendars will be donated to an organization called CHOIR (Canadian Humanitarian Organization for International Relief)http://www.canadianhumanitarian.com

To date I have sold 92 calendars!! Way beyond anything I ever thought!! But it has been very exciting! Sooo if you are interested in getting in on the fun - you can read more about the calendar on my website at http://shuruba.sasktelwebsite.net and order them from there as well!

Off to Grade 3 - sniff sniff...

Can you believe it - my little Mekonnon is at his first day of Grade 3! He was soo excited to go this morning...I tried to convince him to let me go with him...but he was not having any of that!! I am glad that he is soo excited for school...but am sad as I will miss him during the day! He is growing up too fast!



(Ok 3 posts in one day..that is a record for me!)

Just like my Big Brother

Tenaye always wants to do whatever Mekonnen is doing and always repeats what ever he says....she wants to be just like him. Most times it is humorous but Mekonnen is learning to handle it when it is more annoying :)

Anyway here is a cute picture - Mekonnen was playing ball with Dad in the backyard...Tenaye decided to join in!

Behanu Medaya

I would like to introduce to you Benhanu Medaya - this is the boy in Ethiopia that Mekonnen is sponsoring for a year.

For Mekonnen's 8th birthday he decided to ask for donations to help kids in Ethiopia, instead of presents. He collected donations from his friends and family and raised $360 - enough to sponsor a child in Ethiopia for one year.

This is Behanu Medaya - an 8 year old boy in Ethiopia. We received a little information about Behanu. He is very personable who will be attending Kindergarten this fall. He lives with his Mother, a single parent, and one brother.


The Money Mekonnen donated will provide Berhanu with a safe place for him and his family to live, a daily meal, enrollment in school with Tuition, uniforms, shoes and school supplies. After school he attends the Youth Centre where he will recieve a meal, remedial Education, life skills training, counseling and medical attention. In addition they also have the opportunity to explore their talents and abilities through membership in one of the child run clubs at the Kid's Hope Center such as the Music club, child's rights club, or the gymnastics club.

Mekonnen will be able to correspond with Berhanu.

Upon getting the information Mekonnen first realized that Berhanu was the same age as he is. Then he realized that it said the he was going into Kindergarten (Mekonnen is going into grade 3). Because of Mekonnen's sponsorship Berhanu will get to go to school for the first time ever! Mekonnen quickly realized this and said - "Mom, I am going to do this for my birthday next year too, so he can go to grade 1 and grade 2 etc."

What a hudge difference Mekonnen is making in the life of one boy in Ethiopia - all for the small sacrifice of no birthday presents! We are very blessed and fortunate here in Canada. If you feel that you could give $30.00 a month to sponsor a child in Ethiopia (or elsewhere) it is amazing the difference that we can make in their lives. If you want more information - Mekonnen's is sponsoring Berhanu through an organization called CHOIR (Canadian Humanitarian Organization for International Relief) http://www.canadianhumanitarian.com

There are others like Compassion, World Vision - but this particualr Organization is near and dear to our hearts because it is a sister organization to Cafac - the agency that helped us bring Mekonnen and Tenaye home.

If you are moved by Mekonnen's efforts to sponsor a child, and decide to sponsor a child yourself - please leave me a comment here to let him know - it would be great for him to see how his individual efforts can effect positive change!

HP Photosmart printer to be won

Yes - they are giving one away..check it out here
http://www.5minutesformom.com/2203/photosmart/

I know...way too long since my last post!

Its been a bit of a crazy zoo around here...leave for camping, come home for 2 days unpack, do laundry, repack and off we go again..that is what the whole summer felt like...but it was all good!

Anyway here are a few pics from the summer and around the house here for your enjoyment!

A Close Up!



Tenaye's hair is growing!! Tenaye with BIG hair!



Tenaye Sporting Mekonnen's skateboarding gear.





The Boys working in the Garage!



Mekonnen doing his favorite thing...anything sports related!



Tenaye in her new BIG Big Girl Bed...with her trusted Pal Bandit! (There's a story here I'll tell it after the picture).

So when it was really hot here, for a few days, we all slept in the basement - Tenaye on this extra single bed that was down there. Bandit slept with her the whole time - I think because he realized he got more room with her than with anyone else! Anyway, now for the rest of the summer Tenaye would ONLY sleep 'downdairs' for her naps and at night. So the other night we decided to bring the bigger bed up to her room in hopes of getting her to actually sleep in her own room. Bandit was all out of sorts and just sort of sat in the middle of her room...wondering 'where am I going to sleep now". So the first night - off to bed she goes...and we are back to her getting up every 30 seconds! This, fortunately only lasted about 10 minutes before she gave in and fell asleep. So the next night (last night) she asked if she could keep her bedroom door open - we have always closed it - so we did. Bandit was happy he could now sleep with her, and she was happy and never got up once!! GO figure!

This is what happens when I let Bill dress Tenaye!


This is what happens when Bill tries to FIX what Tenaye is wearing!


Face Painting at the Cafac BBQ...Tenaye watched kids for over an hour - before she decided what she wanted.


Tenaye watching and wondering...hmmm what will Mekonnen get???


SPIDERMAN!! Was there ever any doubt! (In case you forgot that is what he got last year, and every single time he has ever gotten his face painted!)


The Spiderman Boys! Mekonnen with his friend Dawite


Playing together nicely ....(sometimes this happens..although about 5 mins after this pic was taken ....it wasn't so nicely :) )


Hopefully ALL these pics make up for the lack of posts over the summer!

Extensions

Well, I tried to do extensions on Tenaye myself, but was unsuccessful as her hair is just so short in some areas yet. So enlisted the help of a lady from Liberia - took most of the day yesterday to do it- but Tenaye did really well with all the sitting.

Here are some photos. Tenaye loves her new hair....and loves to check herself out in the mirror!

The places we find Tenaye....sleeping!

Yes she is still getting up out of bed...even more so now that she is able to open the door..

For a few days in a row - this is how we would find her in the morning.


Here is where I found her tonight.


What are we gonna do......the little turkey!

Mekonnen's 7 + 1 Birthday

I told Mekonnen I didn't want him to be 8 - so we have decided he is 7 +1 this year :)

For his birthday he really wanted a Mohawk hair cut - so he got one...For his birthday only!! We cut it last night, he gets to wear it to school today, to his kids party tonight, to his family party on Saturday, and probably to Church on Sunday am..then Sunday afternoon...it goes :)

Here are some pics:

Before (A few days ago with Ted Jaleta, Ethiopian runner, at Mosaic)



During - Daddy cutting his hair



After - the Mohawk boy!


Posing...

"I wake up" An update :)

Well what to say about Tenaye - she is still growing like a weed...way too fast for me and for her clothes -it seems she grows out of them daily! I am now buying her size 4/5 tops and 3/4 bottoms....Hoping that they will fit her for more than a week!

An update on her big girl bed...well last time I posted we had discovered that closing her bedroom door - kept her in her bed in the morning YEAH! For about 3 weeks...then she realized that she can open doors....So we had a few very early mornings, 5:30 am and 4:00 am!! I would have a little voice beside me saying "I wake up" and there would be no getting her back to sleep! Oddly enough the day care was quite thrilled with the great naps she was having...hmmm I wonder why!

A few early mornigs and Mommy got smart...or so I thought...I put one of those child proof (yeah right) door knob thingys on her bedroom door..so in theory when she tried she wouldn't be able to open her door. Well that detered her for a whole 30 seconds the first morning...yep that's all it took her to figure it out...30 secs and out she came...so much for that idea..

We had a few early mornings where we persistently kept putting her back in bed...and that seemed to resovle it.....for awhile...now she is getting up to go pee about 3-5 times a night..I am not too worried about this - as this looks like a step toward no pulls ups at night. She gets up, stands at her door and yells "Mom, Caca" -Goes pee while still half asleep (which is very cute) and then goes back to bed.

It was cute last night at 11 pm - she got up to go pee...sitting there half asleep she says "It's too hot"...meaning it was too bright..so we turned the lights down for her then it was "Just right"

Ok there's an update on the bed situation. Her other new phrase when she gets up in the middle of the night is "I nap with Mommy" meaning she wants to come sleep in our bed...but we have quickly learned that no sleeping goes on for anyone if she does this...so unless it's almost time to get up - back to bed she goes.

I am hoping eventually she will catch on :)

Our Boy!

We are soooo proud of Mekonnen - he is just doing so well! Today he came home with a little certificate from school - he is now reading at level 21 with 98% accuracy - (when tested in March he was at level 14, and expected to be at level 18 by the end of the year!) So here we are with 1 month to go and he is at level 21! Level 20 is where they like them to be at the end of grade 2!

He just continues to amaze me - in just over a year, learning a new language with a completely different alphabet - he has not only caught up to grade level but surpassed it! And to top that off...last week they moved Mekonnen up to the advanced spelling group in his class....there were 3 groups given color names but they were really below average, average and advanced. Mekonnen started the year in the below average group -and is now in the advanced group!!

Way to go Mekonnen!!!

Our little shinning start turns 8 soon...I have told him that he will only be 7 + 1 as I am not ready for him to be 8 :) His 'kids' party is this Friday - Mini golf, hot dogs/hamburger/cake and then soccer! It should be lots of fun! And instead of gifts he has asked for donations to help needy children in Ethiopia (His idea..not mine )..not much more to say...we love you Mekonnen!!

Oh Yeah....stay tuned for a picture of Mekonnens Birthday hair cut...almost literally - he is getting it cut Thursday night for his birthday - and then re-cut again on Saturday after his party! (This was our comprimise :) )

Big Girl Bed update

Well early morning problem solved! Keep her door closed...who would have thought it would be that simple. Keep her door closed and she sleeps until 7:30 -8:00 am instead of 5:30 -6:00 am. She doesn't get out of her bed and just calls for us when she is ready to get up!

I have to say Tenaye has transitioned very easily with everything we have been told can be an issue - like getting rid of a soother, changing from Bottle to cup, Potty training, and now the move to the big girl bed. We have been very fortunate she is so easy going in these areas :)

Mekonnen's first board break

We had a great time in Edmonton visiting with Uncle Adam, Auntie Bev, Amelia and Rachel. Tenaye wanted despertly to play with their new puppy Rider -but he is very much a puppy and quite nippy - so that scared her away each time she tried to play with him.

Uncle Adam has his black stripe belt in Tae Kwon Do - so Mekonnen and him spent some time on that.

Here is a video of Mekonnen breaking his first board with Uncle Adam. This is a rebreakable board that Adam has - it is equivalent to breaking a 1/2 inch pine board.

Big Girl Bed

Last night we moved Tenaye from her crib into a big girl bed. (Her crib converted to a Toddler Bed). I had been waiting to move her to a bed until she attempted to climb out of her crib, but I realized that she would be 10 and still in the crib - as she won't even stand up in the morning until Bill or I go in and uncover her.

She was very excited when she saw her big girl bed for the first time, climb into it -had me cover her up and asked for the blinds to be shut, the lights to be turned off and the door to be closed. That only lasted for a minute then she wanted up and wanted supper :)

So, I was prepared for a long night of putting her back to bed multiple times - I even started bedtime earlier because of this. So here is how it went. I put her in bed, sang our usual songs, and said good night. Walked out of the room. She started crying - I thought uh oh..here we go - I checked on her and all that was wrong was that she hadn't put in her order for breakfast..."Cereal in Blue bowl" ( This is a nightly ritual with her - planning her breakfast) Once that was settled off to sleep she went. Not one attempt was made to climb out of the bed...she did ask once when we put her in -but I told her no it was bedtime and she had to stay in her bed. I guess that was good enough :)

We were very surprised and happy the transition to the big girl bed was so easy. However, bright and early at 6 am this morning - we could hear little feet plodding around the main level and a little voice singing out "I wake up, I wake up" over and over and over again! There was no convincing her to go back to bed.

New tactic tonight - I told her that she is not allowed to get up until Mommy or Daddy come and get her...we will see how that goes over :)

Here are some pics of her checking out her new big girl bed.