painted sugar cubes

Sometimes kid craft ideas hit me while I am at the grocery store.  Yesterday I happened upon a box of local sugar cubes for $1.50 and immediately had visions of them glued together as mini igloos for PlayMobil people.  Even better; painted and stacked as colorful sculptures.

Now that Adelaide is at school most of the day (7AM-4:30PM it's breaking my heart every time she comes home and is confused at why I am serving her dinner), Arabella and I have lots of one on one time.  She's great at playing by herself but I can tell she misses her big sister. I am trying help occupy her on the day she doesn't have preschool.  Bella's attention span for crafts is very small so I thought painting the sugar cubes might be a perfect easy craft for her.

Maybe you have a child that has a short attention span for art work too.  This might just be the thing for them.

Stuff you need"
Sugar cubes-the cheaper the better
watercolor set
paint brushes, bowl, towels
piece of cardboard (to paint and build on-paper works too but my kids tend to use too much water)

This is truly the simplest craft for kids.  They can do anything with the cubes.  It's important to remind them to use more paint than water when soaking the cubes.  We had a few cubes disintegrate when Bella soaked them with lots of water.

It was fun letting the paint drip onto the top of a cube and watching it slowly absorb into the sugar.  Bella had a lot of fun doing this for about 20 minutes.  Then she was off flitting about doing something else.  When Addie came home from school she sat and painted and stacked cubes for a better part of an hour.  I have the urge to sit and create a sugar cube rainbow.  Wouldn't that be pretty?  Once the cubes dry you could get out the glue and really start building.

Selam's Children's Village

Selam's Children's Village has a wonderful background story.  In the early 1970's a Swedish family living in Ethiopia adopted six Ethiopian children before eventually moving back to Switzerland.  One of the adopted children, when grown, returned to Ethiopia and was so moved by the effects of the famine, started a small orphanage for children who had lost their family to natural disasters.

In 1986, Selam's Children's Village broke ground for a larger orphanage which now houses and takes care of more than 350 children from the ages of 3 months to 18 years.  Most of these children have graduated or will graduate from (when of the appropriate age to attend)  vocational training or education centers provided at Selam's.  The Village not only houses and cares for the children, but when they are old enough, gives them the skills they will need in life to earn a living and help support their families.  It's such an amazing mission, don't you think?

I've been excited to visit and the sun was shining Saturday morning so we used the opportunity to drive to Selam's Children's Village.  We headed straight to the flower nursery on the compound.  It was much more expansive than I had thought.  The rain clouds rolled in as we picked out gorgeous succulents, tiny flower buds, poppies, and more.   The first indoor greenhouse was home to the potted succulents and other plants.  I'm not a garden person so I can't tell one from another. I wish I could.  All I know is everything was green and beautiful.

We were led by two Ethiopian women through the small dirt paths from one green house to another.  The girls were in awe when they saw the large outdoor area with row and rows of flowers.

we brought his purple flower home by Addie's request

one of the sweet women who led us through the nursery and helped us carry our flowers

Addie and Bella were allowed to choose whatever they wanted to plant at home.  All the sales help support the Children's Village.  We got a large flat of flowers, some already potted, and it cost us less than $10.

The grounds were lush and green with a mysterious quality to them as if something magical could happen any moment.  The girls were like little fairies flitting about. It was raining but it made it all the more exciting to explore.

The other wonderful treat at Selam's is the restaurant that serves lunch every day from 12-1:30 PM.  It's a set 5 course meal that changes daily based on fresh ingredients.  We enjoyed fried zucchini, vegetable barley soup, bread, salad, beef with potatoes and vegetables, and finally, coffee ice cream that was frothy and perfect.  The food was wholesome and tasty.  The dining atmosphere was extremely family friendly.

When asked what their favorite part of the trip to Selam's Children's Village was, the girls quickly shouted "the coffee ice cream!" which is to be expected.  I personally liked darting the rain drops running from one green house to the next and capturing all the beauty on camera.  We will be back to Selam's for plants and lunch again! Especially if we get to meet friendly boys like these ones.  We promised them a ball next time we come so we WILL be back.

field journal

The girls and I were feeding the birds in our garden yesterday and a fun kid project popped in my head.  There are so many interesting birds, animals and plants in Ethiopia for us to learn about.  I helped Addie make a field journal to start recording some of the wildlife.

We used a school journal, the kind with space to draw a picture on top with lines below to write about it.  We could have just used the notebook as it was for a field journal but we only need a very mild excuse to make something prettier and get crafty.  We covered the notebook with pretty paper, added a thick layer of cardboard for a writing surface and personalized it with stickers.

Addie filled apron pockets with pencils, colored pencils, erasers, and a sharpener for her field work.  We went outside and started searching for things to draw and write about.  Of course the moment we go looking, the interesting birds disappear and we are left with little ordinary brown sparrows.  She did draw a pretty great rose bud though.

We plan on taking the journal with us when we travel so we can record the interesting species that we see all over Ethiopia.

hand dyed noodle beads

I catch Eneye cringing when she sees me using food for other purposes than eating.  It must be the most absurd thing she's ever seen.  Almost as ridiculous as the girls and I jumping out of our car to gaga over a baby lamb on the side of the road.  Crazy Westerners!

There was a lot of cringing going on today because I dyed some pasta for crafty beading fun.  It was so easy Adelaide helped and the bright colors that we ended up with made me smile.

Stuff you will need:
Stelline (a small star shaped pasta) or any pasta with holes will do
food coloring-we like the fun neon colors
white vinegar or an alcohol based product like rubbing alcohol, astringent, finger nail polish remover
small bowls or cups
paper towels


We placed small handfuls of the stelline in ramekins and filled each one with the liquid until it covered the pasta (we used nail polish remover for two cups, rubbing alcohol for one and my old facial astringent for another-not to be tricky but because I didn't have enough of any one thing! All of them worked just fine.  I really would have preferred to use vinegar, I just didn't have any and once I get an idea in my head there is no stopping me.)

Add a few drops of food coloring (more drops for deeper colors) to each bowl and stir to coat the pasta.  Let it sit for 30 minutes or so.

Pour the colored pasta onto a paper towel lined dish and let it air dry.

It's really as simple as that.  When the pasta is dry you have lovely colored "beads" for threading into necklaces.  The stelline has such tiny holes that Addie will be allowed to use one of my sewing needles to thread them.  Bella will probably get a bowl of glue and a paint brush to paint onto paper and then sprinkle the colored pasta as art.

Either way this was a blast!  

when life gives you limes, make limeade

There are no lemons in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Only limes.  We're making lots of limeade in our house right now.  The rainy season in Ethiopia is kind of kicking my butt.  The cold dark dreary mornings beg me to pull the covers up under my chin and ignore the brand new week ahead of me.  The heavy rain that pours down every day is sucking the life out of me a little more with each passing day.  It's taking a lot of effort to not let this consume me.

So I'm making limeade.  Friday I had the rare afternoon at the beauty salon getting my hair a much needed trim and the bonus of a pedicure!  That lifted my spirits immensely.  I came home just in time to put the baby to sleep. That giant smile on her face as if she hadn't seen me for a week melted my heart.  Bedtime that night for all three girls was sweet, as I imagine it feels for my working husband every night.  The stories, kisses, songs are all sweeter when you have been missing your children all day.  I'm the sap that experiences this after 3 hours at the beauty salon.  I really savored those bedtime kisses that night.

Saturday we met a new family with two little boys and a brand new puppy they adopted just a few days ago.  It's so nice talking to other parents about life in Ethiopia.  I always start the conversation off with "I really like it here" and finish with "there is lots of quality family time here", which is a pleasant reminder to myself that I do actually truly feel this way about Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!  I really do.

Sunday we hosted our own brunch, because if I've learned anything about surviving in this country it's that hosting friends for food has a heartwarming and spirit lifting effect.  I think I just like to feed people.  I like to eat too.

It was a lovely long drawn out brunch with my new favorite scones (bacon, cheddar, rosemary), quiche, grilled tomatoes with cheese, roasted potatoes, German pancakes and lots of coffee.  The sun peaked through the clouds and our girls and the two visiting girls all put on a little song and dance show for us in costumes.

How's that for limeade?  

treasure hunt

The girls spent yesterday afternoon hunting for treasure, scavenger hunt style. It was so fun and easy!

We had two little Pringles cups with lids that were begging to be transformed into something pretty so Addie and I made little treasure boxes out of them.

These little single serving Pringles cups are perfect for this.  All you need is pretty paper, scissors, glue or tape, and stickers.

I helped with the hot glue portion of the craft.  Other than that, Addie did most of it herself.

Pony tail holders are the perfect rubber band to hold the glued paper in place for drying.

The final product ready for something sweet inside.

I spent a few moments drawing clues for the girls and hiding them around the house.  Tiny mailboxes housed a few of the clues.

Each new clue led them to a different location for the next clue and ultimately to their little treasure boxes with a lolly pop hidden inside.  I gave them the green light to eat the treat before dinner.  Lucky girls!  

They both declared that treasure hunting was fun and that we should to it again.  It was a perfect rainy day activity.  I had as much fun drawing clues as they did running around finding them.  

coat hanger puppets

If your kids are anything like mine, there is some serious make-believe play going on in your house.  Addie and Bella dive into elaborate make-believe worlds for hours on end sometimes!  Arabella is especially good at character play.  She can turn two olives into a Mommy and Daddy and they both have different voices and adventures together for the entire time she is sitting for dinner.  It's amazing to listen to them.

Yesterday, we turned two of their stuffed animals (a kitty and a monkey) into marionette style puppets.  The idea came to me when they were both bending over making their animals walk and talk and I thought there must be a better way for them to allow their stuffed friends to interact.

It was so simple!  You will need a coat hanger, string, tape, scissors and a stuffed animal of your child's choosing.

Tie strings to your animals limbs and around the neck.  Tie the strings to different sides of the hanger and tape the string in place so it can't slide around.

Play with the lengths of the stings and the positioning of the stuffed animal.  We wanted the kitty's head to stay upright so we tied the string around its neck a bit shorter than the rest.

You could do this with Popsicle sticks or other household objects but the coat hanger makes a nice puppet handle.  Is that what you call it?  Anyhow, it was a hit with the girls.

The monkey and kitty had all sorts of adventures walking around together and dancing.

Ashlynn liked it too.