Some fun with photofunia

I found these cute photo's that are created at photofunia at a blog of my friend Wyndee here, so I got totally crazy and created all these fun images below. Another blogging friend of mine Emily also made a few here.


Huge wall painting of JJ

Grafiti painting of Jezz

JJ on Times Square... it is about time ;-) it really suits her!

And Jezz the next Asian hip kid in Taipei

Me, myself and Mireille

Even Victoria Beckham is a fan!

Dirk adored by girls....

Little Dirkie in a children's museum

Our glamour girls on a billboard

Warholed in a modern art museum

Gap girls in a boutique

And last but not least, Paris Hilton finds them 'hot' as well!

Check out the photofunia site and create some fun for yourself!
Have a great weekend!
Mireille

Fabulous Friday

I haven't been blogging much, and I haven't forgotten you guys... but my Internet connection is not working with me this week. Rain makes the connection very slow, inconsistent or not working at all. So it has been frustrating to sit behind the computer this week. I hope it will be better next week, I have a lot of catching up to do!!

Yesterday I had an Indian cooking class at my friend's house Anita with 3 other moms from AISJ, so much fun and so de-lish!! Thank you Anita!! I will do a separate posting about that later.

So whenever I have a cooking class I am totally in the mood for MORE of that same country! And I totally emerge myself into all kinds of things from that culture. So this week is no difference and look what I found, some great pictures of Henna painting and a gorgeous lady dancing with painted henna hands. I must ask Anita what hat means, I believe it is that she is getting married??

Today on Fabulous Friday I am going to make a wholesome vegetarian Indian dish, which I of course found on my fabulous website 101cookbooks.



So this recipe for today Garam Masala Tofu scramble, and I know a lot of you think... TOFU, I don't like that. But really even if you think you aren't a tofu fan, this one might win you over, and I encourage you to give it a go.



The links for the website and recipe are all in here, so enjoy if you are eating vegetarian today or this weekend, go and check it out. There are so many fabulous recipes from Heidi Swanson, she is really the best!!

Have a Fabulous Friday and even a better weekend!
Mireille

Wacky Wednesday #2

Last summer the girls had a 'Crazy Hair Day' at school. So we bought these little blond hair pieces and this is how the girls went to school. Fun, fun, fun!

(By the way: this was at our old house in Ridgefield, CT right on the water's edge of Fox Hill lake. I can see in the background the water... and I miss it, such a lovely place)

Have a Wacky Wednesday :-)
Mireille

I ♥ Faces ~ Week 7 Theme - “B&W”

This week the theme at I ♥ Faces is Black and White. I have many B&W pictures of the girls, since I LOVE B&W. But I wanted to show you one that you haven't seen yet. And this is an older photograph of Jasmine, when she was 3 years old. (Click on image to see a larger version)



Her expression is so cute and precious, and I just love the lighting on her hair, you see even the individual strands....

Look at the I ♥ Faces for more great shots of all the other participants, you will be amazed by them!

And if you have a great photograph of your child add it to the list and see what happens :-) There is a kid and adult entry.

Monday and the beginning of the week, let's have a good one!
Mireille

The Wide Eyed World of Blythe...

That will be the new theme I have in mind for a photo shoot of the girls. I love themes and was thinking of another one now for a while after the 'Polka Dot Doll having a Ball!' And then I saw some pictures on the net of the Blythe dolls, and thought this is it! They are such a cute dolls, a bit vintage looking which I lOVE! And with the ever changing hairstyles and eye colors you can do so much in a photo shoot. I am really looking forward to it. Now I just have to find the time...

Do you know the Blythe dolls? Here a short history and some pictures.

Blythe is a doll created in 1972 by designer Allison Katzman with the now-defunct U.S. toy company Kenner. Reportedly, she was modelled after drawings by Margaret Keane, similarly to many other dolls of the '60s and '70s. Her most distinctive and notable feature were eyes that changed color with the pull of a string attached to the back of her head. Due to a lack of interest, Blythe dolls were only sold for one year in the U.S. (produced in Hong Kong). The doll would only become popular some 30 years later. And it is bigger than ever! And very expensive, they are sold on Ebay but mostly Honk Kong.



In 1997, New York TV and video producer Gina Garan was given a 1972 Kenner Blythe by a friend and began using it to practice her photographic skills. She began taking her Blythe everywhere with her and took hundreds of photos. In 1999, she was introduced to CWC's Junko Wong by artist and illustrator, Jeffrey Fulvimari which brought Blythe to the attention of Parco and toy executives. In 2002, Gina published her first book of Blythe photography with Chronicle Books, This is Blythe. Later that year, Hasbro (the Trademark and License owner) gave Takara of Japan a license to produce the New Edition of Blythe (NEO Blythe). Blythe was used in a television advertising campaign by the Parco department store in Japan and was an instant hit. Success in Japan led Hasbro to issue a license to Ashton Drake Galleries (ADG)to produce Blythe exclusively in the U.S., where the doll become a niche product in a marginal market, selling largely to adults.

In 2003 Blythe was the subject in a segment on the popular VH1 special, I Love the 70s, where she was said to look like either "Barbie with elephantiasis" or "Christina Ricci" among other things.

In 2004, the Ashton-Drake Galleries began to produce their own Blythe replica dolls in the United States.

A vibrant Blythe subculture flourishes on the Internet, predominantly in forums and user groups. There is a large network of hobbyists who customise the doll for resale, people who create unique clothing and shoes, as well as accessories specifically for Blythe.



There are many websites dedicated to Blythe, but this is the biggest. So with this background information, I am going to dress the girls like Blythe dolls and doing a photo shoot with them.

Watch out for the pics pretty soon ;-)
Have a great weekend!
Mireille

Nurse for a day.... or 2

Yesterday was Hero Day at school. The children were alowed to come dress up as your real life hero. The girls decided that they wanted to go as a Nurse. Since they help people to get better. I asked them: "why don't you go like your daddy?" Eeww.. not like a boy!! OK, how could I have suggested it...no they had to go like a girl, a nurse was the perfect outfit... so that's what the plan was.

The only thing that came in between was a croup cough for Jezz, so she ended up staying at home... being real sick! For JJ that was the perfect opportunity to use her 'skills' on her sister, and she checked her pulse and heartbeat. Luckily that part of the body was still working ;-) But her cough sounded like a sick dog... according to Nurse JJ. So me and Jezz went to the real doctor while JJ was at school getting other patients better ;-)

Hopefully JJ won't get sick also, since they are sleeping in one bed again. With twins it always goes like that. One is sick and by the time she is almost better, the other one gets it. So by Monday Jezz is probably feeling better and then it starts all over again...


Nurse JJ, eager to help some patients at school ;-)


Checking her pulse and heartbeat, Jezz pretending to look real sick ;-)


However, she doesn't realize she LOOKS real sick anyway, even without pretending ;-)

When the girls have a soar throat I always wrap a cold kitchen towel around their neck...seems to help.

That was yesterday, this is today! Jezz is feeling better with the help of some medication, and wants to be a nurse herself. Since we have no other sick children in the house, they are nurse to all their stuffed animals ;-)


So they are pretending to be in the bush, that explains the walkie-talkie... and guess who is Jezz (the one with the sexy pose of course... so funny!


And the glasses are to protect their eyes, so the animals don't cough in their eyes... I see! JJ very seriously in her role, Jezz thinks it's all funny ;-)

Have a good weekend, I hope all your kiddos are not feeling sick... otherwise give us a call. We have 2 very skilled nurses in the house!
Mireille

Fabulous Friday

I am going to get some structure and continuity in my blog, on Mondays I am going to post a picture to the I ♥ Faces website, and some Mondays I will also do a regular post. It all depends if I have a lot to tell you guys ;-) On Wednesday I will do the Wacky Wednesdays pictures and on Fridays I am going to give you a fabulous recipe, so I called it Fabulous Friday. A good way to start the weekend! The rest of the week are the regular postings, the adventures of Jasmine and Juliet here in South Africa, our trips, things that happen around the house. Things that catch my eye, other websites or blogs that I stumble upon etc..etc..



On Fridays the girls are out of school at 2:15pm and they are allowed to watch some TV. The other days in the week they have no time for TV since they want to play or swim after school, do their homework, shower, eat and go to bed. So for them it is also a Fabulous Friday!!

I like to start and eat a bit more wholesome, vegetarian, so when I was browsing the web I found this magnificent, beautiful and de-lish website 101 cookbooks from Heidi Swanson and I signed up immediately to get all these wonderful recipes in my inbox. Just print it out, go to the supermarket, prepare and EAT. No more thinking of what I shall make, because for me that is the hardest part of cooking....to come up with something different every day. I mean I have a lot of sites that send me these daily recipes, but most of them aren't what I want to make, but this site is exactly what I was waiting for. I am so glad I found it! And of course I like to share the good things with you all...my cyber and blogging friends :-)

So each Friday I am posting this wholesome vegetarian dish that I will be eating THAT day. So at least on Friday we will eat vegetarian, but I am hoping to add more vegetarian days into my week. Not easy, since the girls and Dirk are meat lovers, I could easily live without it, so maybe we do a vegetarian main dish and some days I just add some small portions of meat to theirs....

Today I am making Ten Minute Tasty Asparagus and Brown Rice Recipe.


I like the 10-minute part of it ;-) Since Dirk is still in Lichtenstein till Monday I am cooking easy and fast recipes for the 3 of us.

Have a Fabulous Friday y'all!
Mireille

Elephant Sanctuary

So we went to the Elephant Sanctuary in Hartbeespoort Dam, about an hour from our house. The girls had a day off and so we wanted to do something fun. At the sanctuary they take care of elephants that can't live for whatever reason in the wild anymore. It is really a caring team who love and take care of the elephants. They will introduce you to a unique experience of touching, feeding, walking and riding with these magnificent and gentle creatures.


Here the caretaker lets Jasmine and Juliet touch all different parts of the elephant. The skin is quite tough, but behind the ears it is soft and velvety. The elbows are very rough and the feet are surprisingly kinda soft again. The hairs on the tail are so bushy... This is needed to kill the flies. This is Temba, a baby one, only 9 years old, so cute ;-)


He was a very handsome boy with the longest eye-lashes! (scroll down to the other close-up in my previous post and you'll see that the older elephant didn't have such long lashes) Oh, and he is the best kisser!! The most gentle one, but the girls didn't dare to let him give a kiss. You would have had slobber all over your face, the girls and me didn't find that appealing. But many other visitors were kissed by him ;-)


This boy was 11 years old, and he showed us some tricks he could do. Like sitting down.


Here JJ walks with the elephant. All elephants walk in groups behind each other, holding each other's tail. So Juliet had to pretend her arm was her tail, the elephant takes her hand in his trunk... a bit snotty, but fun! Jasmine wasn't interested in doing this. She loves little creepy crawlers, but if the animal is a bit (a lot) bigger then she bails out. Which is fine, we just walked next to JJ.


The feeding part is so much fun. You get a whole bucket of dry pallets and you can dump a handful in their trunks. The girls couldn't get enough of this ;-)


Here is Jasmine with 2 hands full of food giving to one of the elephants. They made sure that each elephant got an equal amount... so cute!!


More, more, the elephants couldn't get enough, and Jezz is going back to the bucket to get more.

We had a fun day at the sanctuary. It is a beautiful surrounding in between the Magaliesberg mountains. The elephants go each day out for 2 hours to feed and walk around in the nature. Did you know that elephants only sleep 3 hours a day, in intervals of 30 minutes, not more. The rest of the 21 hours they eat!
The people who come and visit the elephants are a nice way of not getting bored, so we are THEIR entertainment ;-)

Living in Africa is fun, you can see so many wild animals so close by home!
Have a great day!
Mireille

Wacky Wednesday #1

From now on I like to add a Wacky Wednesday photo, I like to start a little tradition in my blog.... just for fun! Sometimes it will be on top of a posting, so I will do 2 a day, or other times I will do just the wacky picture. We will see how it goes...



ciao, Mireille

Cry or laugh about it in 1 year??

Since Dirk was not here for Valentine's day, we decided to go out for dinner with friends on Friday. Khetho, our maid was babysitting the girls. There was a leak in the estate, so they closed off the water to fix it. When Dirk came home he wanted to freshen up, so he opened the faucet to get a bit of water out...but he forgot to close it...

We came back from our dinner at about 11:15 pm. We noticed some water dripping through the wall above the front door and were wondering if the sprinkler system from the neighbors was hitting our house?? Hmm...weird!
Khetho was sitting in the kitchen reading a magazine. So I asked her why she wasn't watching TV? The electricity fell out (again, that is also very common here).. I also asked her if everything went fine with the girls. Yes she said, but upstairs is a lot of water! Then she left to her room (she lives in with us). Curious as I was I went upstairs and to my shock I saw that the master bathroom AND bedroom was flooded with water. Dirk had left the tap open and when the water turned back on it came gushing down. So maybe after an hour or so Khetho heard a noise... went upstairs and closed the tap. But didn't do anything else... she didn't call us... she didn't mop up the water, she just went downstairs and continued reading her magazine. I was livid!! Could not understand her reaction... I mean COME ON I know this is not in your job description, but what would she have done if the house would be on fire.... read her magazine?? .. actually my magazine! I just couldn't believe that she just left the water standing in my bathroom and it just run into the bedroom, the whole carpet was soaking, the bath mats were floating in the bathroom and the cabinets under the sinks were just filled with water.
Everything... and I mean everything was soaking wet. At least 2 inches of water... so at 11:30 pm after a de-lish meal at the Fish & Wine co. we were on our knees mopping the water with huge towels.

Khetho left for the weekend to go to her family in Joburg, so I didn't see her all weekend. But I was so mad at her, disappointed and she deeply hurt my feelings... didn't she care?? That was my question, what went on in her mind that she didn't even take a few minutes to at least put some towels on the floor so the water could be soaked up?? The more I thought about it, the more I thought I don't want her to work for me anymore!! I gave this girl so much and helped her out whenever she needed, and then she just doesn't care for me to help me with this?

So I lined up already 2 other ladies for an interview but I was dreading Monday morning to tell her the bad news. How will she react, will she make a scene, I didn't think so, but you never know. The girls had a day off from school, so I told them to stay upstairs while I was talking to Khetho. Then she comes in and apologised immediately, she said that she felt she did wrong and felt terrible about it, but she felt ill on Friday and was too scared to tell me, and just couldn't get herself to clean up the water.

Here I go again, feel bad for her and give her a second chance... cancelled the 2 other ladies and life goes on as normal. But I had a good talk with her, and told her something like this can NEVER happen again! And she promised with tears in her eyes... we will see! You can look at a face but not into her mind, so I just hope that next time she will have a better judgement if something occurs that needs some extra reaction...

So now I know where that water came from that was dripping on our heads at the front door!! I just hope we won't get any problems with mold. We just have to wait and see. Because you don't think that in Africa they will repair or fix things that are not visible yet, just in case.... no way! That doesn't work like that over here... Living in Africa reminds me a lot of living in Thailand. In the moment these 'adventures' are very annoying, but later it is most the time a hilarious moment in life which we talk about at parties ;-) And this is my approach to most of these impromptus.... how do we feel about this in 6 months or in 1 year? Will I cry or laugh about it??

Well, that was my Valentines weekend! Being deeply dissapointed, hurt and angry when thinking about it. But my hubby made a huge breakfast with mimosas, just baked bread rolls, fresh fruit salad, yogurt, soft boiled eggs, chocolates, red roses... the whole romantic approach for his 3 girls, so cute!! He is the best hubby in the world... off to Lichtenstein a few hours later for 9 long days :-(

So since on Monday the girls had a day off and life with Khetho goes on, I decided to get away from it all and we went to the Elephant sanctuary where we could touch, sniff, walk and being kissed by an elephant was the matter of the day. More about this adventure tomorrow ;-)

Have a good Wednesday!
Mireille

I ♥ Faces; Wonder...

I stumbled upon this fun website: and thought it was cool to enter their weekly contest.

The purpose of this blog is to provide a photography sharing forum that focuses on the art of capturing faces and their various emotions. Each week, people from across the world will have the opportunity to enter their favorite face photos into two different categories ~ kids and adults. A judge will pick a winning photo from each category that will then be displayed on our home page.

This week the theme at I ♥ Faces is 'wonder' and I submitted this photo of Juliet who is being asked a few questions while we are photographing her, and in this photo she is wondering what to answer, but you can see on her face that she is having a funny answer in her mind ;-)... even her hands are making the gesture of wonder!


Do you have a good picture of the theme 'wonder', go to this website and submit your photo. A fun way to share your blog with the rest of the world!

By the way: I am number 111 on the I ♥ Faces list...

Have a great day,
Mireille

Happy Valentine's Day!!

love, Mireille

Valentine party at school

OK, it is Valentine's Day this weekend and my projects for school have kept me busy for the last week. We made 34 cards (JJ and Jezz have each 17 kids in their class).

What we did was we cut out a little fish that is completely made out of hearts, the body is in a heart shape, the lips, the fins. Then we put it on red cardboard paper and cut it out with zigzag scissors. This was my part...then the girls decorated it with glitter glue and little embellishments and wrote their names and the recipient name on it. Pfeww...a project that took us 3 days after school! But it is finished and the girls are as proud as can be ;-)



The girls also have a Valentine party at school today, and the kids will do some Valentine projects. One of the projects I volunteered to help with is to make a tissue paper flower. We made these last year in Ridgefield as a Valentine for every child and it was a huge success. So we are using this again this year...thanks to Martha Stewart, she has the greatest projects all year round!



Me and another mom Susanne prepared some crafts, did the ground work, so the kids only need to assemble them later on at the party. So we cut out the tissue paper, you need about 10 sheets per flower, and we cut out the paper leaves. The kids only need to glue 2 leaves on top of each other with the stem (pipe cleaner) in the middle. Then slide the tissue paper on the top and twist the stem and you have a pretty flower to give to your mom, dad or your sweet valentine!

I love to do these crafts with the girls, so much fun!
What are you up to for Valentines?? Bake a cake, make some crafts or go somewhere romantic with your sweetie pie??

I decorated the contemporary Xmas trees we had into Valentine trees, no more ornaments, but little red hearts, glass ornaments with a red feather inside and some red crystals. It looks very festive. I wanted to host a Valentine's dinner but Dirk is traveling to Lichtenstein (Europe) for 2 weekends, so I am alone with the girls for 9 days. But that doesn't keep us from doing fun stuff ;-)

PS: More pictures of the party at school later...
Mireille

Disgrace to Miley!

Everybody has seen this picture of Miley Cyrus making fun of Asian people. It saddens me that teens, kids and adults still think this behaviour is OK. As a mother of 2 beautiful Asian girls I know that the racism between other races is not over in the world... I believe it is better than say 20 years ago, but this picture proves that it is not over yet! And that saddens me. (Although is it really better, or are people more subtle about it, and are afraid to be frowned upon if saying something nasty in public... a thought that keeps me busy some days).

So far Jasmine and Juliet had only a few incidents in their lives that confronted them with ignorant remarks and people who are not open to all ethnicity's. I hope they will be spared from people you see in this picture below!

I mean she is only 16 and teens do stupid things, but at least what she could have done is turn it around by making a public apology! This is what she says on her official website...to this day NO apology..... that is shocking to me and totally a bad choice for her career!!

Miley Cyrus is responding to criticism that she mocked Asians in a photograph of the tween star stretching the corners of her eyes.
"In NO way was I making fun of any ethnicity!" Cyrus wrote Thursday in a posting on her official website. "I was simply making a goofy face. When did that become newsworthy? It seems someone is trying to make something out of nothing to me."

BOOOHHH!!

Korean American comedian Margaret Cho is not happy with Miley Cyrus and her ignorant ways! The troublesome Disney star inspired the funny lady to pen a song, just for her!

Here’s what Miz Cho thinks about Cyrus' ‘making a funny face’ incident:

Miley Cyrus made some chinky eyes

Standing behind an Asian guy
I don’t know if this should fly
As if there wasn’t enough to despise

I wasn’t necessarily a fan of
Her, her dad, or Hannah Montana
I tend to prefer the songs of Rihanna
Racism against Asians is simply bananas!

Oh Miley!
Chinky eyes make you look wily

prejudice isn’t thought of so highly
it doesn’t make us all smiley

Why is there nothing that Asians can do?

To make fun of other races as easily as you
Why isn’t racism against Asians taboo?

Why are we always so racially screwed!

All you have to do is pull at your face

To make your eyelids resemble our race

This kind of joke has no proper place

Miley Cyrus is a disgrace!

Miley you are a bad example to the youngsters who look up at you and you should come out and make your wrong doings right by making a public apology!!

And I hope that we don't need to write another blog posting about such a bad behaviour against human kind!! We shouldn't need to answer the question anymore what race you are? Maybe this mocking would be over and in the past!

We are all HUMAN RACE!!

Have a lovely day!
Mireille

Valentine's day trivia and treats

Saturday is Valentine's day, and I was wondering...
No one knows the real story behind Saint Valentine (at least three different saints named Valentine are recognized by the Roman Catholic church), but one legend claims that he secretly married young couples against the orders of an emperor who had banned marriage because he believed single men made better soldiers.

Today's tradition of trading love notes on February 14 became popular in England in the 17th century. Here's a little trivia:

- The first box of chocolates was introduced by Richard Cadbury in 1868.
- The oldest known valentine card dates back to the 1400s. Charles, duke of Orleans, sent it to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
- So-called vinegar valentines, which carried insults like "Ugly, Fat, and Forty," were popular in the 19th century. They were sent anonymously on the 14th.
- "Be Mine," one of the original messages on Necco's Sweethearts candies when they debuted, still appears every year. Recent additions? "IM Me" and "Go Girl."

Side note: 'ugly, fat and forty'?????? since when is forty an insult??? these days it's the NEW twenties!!


Enough trivia, now we know about the history I want to go to the good stuff...the treats!! Since Dirk is leaving his 3 girls on Valentine's day for 9 days to Lichtenstein we have the kingdom to ourselves. Me and the girls will be making some of these goodies below...well not the Japanese crochet cupcake, but I just thought that was the cutest thing ;-)


These cookies look easy enough to handle for two 6-years old and a mom who isn't that much into baking. Recipe here.


Cute, cute, cute.... but no way I am going to make this!


Source: Flickr - no recipe available :-(


Beautiful and so sweet looking with the red and pink sprinkles.. source here.


Lip smackers gelatin kisses, Whoopie pies, Meringue kisses, Healthy heart sweet tarts, Love bites and Cupid cake. Source from one of my favorite blogs about entertaining: hostess with the mostess!

I haven't made my mind up which de-lish treat we will make, but I am sure we will have some fun this Valentine weekend!

What about you? Are you making, getting or giving something fun, sweet, de-lish, or... (I haven't used my favorite sentence in a loooong time...) unique, groovy, sassy, swanky, hip, bright, bold & funky stuff that gives you the wiggles & giggles!

Drop me a line, or show me what you are up to for Valentine's day, I am always in to see something new ;-) Inspiration for next year!!

Sweet love,
Mireille