Africa, hats & mittens....

Does that go in one sentence and make sense??

I guess!!

Because it is COLD here in Africa!! REALLY!!

People don't believe me when I posted it yesterday on my FB, but it is so true!!

People from Europe or the USA are commenting that I am exaggerating... but I give you the numbers and then you decide for yourself!!

Mind you, we are NOT living in a country where the houses are insulated, we don't have hats and mittens here for sale everywhere, most of the houses don't even have HEATING!!

So when you look at these figures... it feels TEN TIMES COLDER!!

OK, in Johannesburg it is today: 36F in the mornings and 57F later in the afternoon, for maybe an hour before it starts cooling down again. 36F = FREAKING COLD!! When you have NO mittens and HAT, no heating in the house and the wind blows right through your window sills!!!

OK for the Europeans.... it is 2C at the coldest in the mornings and 14C in the afternoon, but ONLY when you stay in the sun!!

Don't give me comments, that I don't know what cold is.... just come here and experience it for yourself!! I rather have deeply in the MINUS and live in Europe or the USA where the houses are build for this cold, then here in Africa where the cold goes through your bones.

I am and I am not kidding... ask my husband, walking around in my house with the thickest socks you can find on this planet and have constantly a huge blanket wrapped around me, one with TWO layers. 1 side fleece and 1 side fake fur!! Honestly it is so cold!! So I am comfy wrapped in my blanky.... but then I have to go to the toilet and my pee is freezing, I have chicken skin on my whole body and run back to my blanky because it is SO COLD!! So going to the toilet or doing any other chores in the house is not fun, if I can't have my blanky around me...

The girls asked me for a hat and mittens this morning before they went to school... but the only thing I could find where the ones they were wearing when we still lived in Connecticut 3 years ago.... and unfortunately they didn't fit anymore. So I could only give them a nice warm shawl.... and the suggestion to keep your hands in your pockets.....

These hats didn't cut it anymore... here they were 2 years old. LOL, Jezz doesn't look too happy in this picture.
By the way; these hats are recycled sweaters... cute or what?? From Flobberdewotsky, a Dutch online store. So cute!

POOR KIDDOS!! It is almost to the freezing point and they go to school with no warm protection.... I am so glad we are coming your way soon where it is so much warmer!! And go hunting for some gloves.... but I don't think they even sell it here??
I better check because there is a real cold front here in JOBURG!!

And don't laugh or snicker at me, it is TRUE. You should know me by now that I don't exaggerate!!

Enjoy your sun and warm weather, you deserve it after this long and snowy winters you got!!

Have a Fantastic Friday!!
Mireille xx

From 2002 to 2009, JJ & Jezz over the years

I made a huge photo album on Facebook featuring Juliet & Jasmine from 2002 to 2009, but it has 200 pictures in it. So I can't do that here, but what I can do is take a picture from each year, so you can see how the girls developed from itsy bitsy babies to cute toddlers to small little ladies :-)

Below are the girls in all their cuteness from the year they were born in 2002 to today. As you can see I sometimes call the girls by their nickname and sometimes in their full names. Since we got the girls before the adoption was finalised and I didn't want to jinx anything we started calling them by their nicknames... everybody in Thailand has one, so the girls needed one too. Juliet Janelle became JJ and Jasmine Isabel became Jezz. We only used the nicknames till the adoption was finalised 13 months later! Nobody knew their full names yet, till the paperwork was done.

July 2002, the week JJ & Jezz arrived at home! They were 3 months old. They couldn't sit up yet, so I had to push them against each other, but they were tipping over the whole time. This photo took me a while.. :-)
Little did I know that photographing twins is REALLY hard, but at that point I had no clue whatsoever about raising twins or the road ahead of us. Oblivious is bliss! Jasmine left, Juliet right.



December 2003. After the adoption was done, we moved to the USA. Dirk was already living there and we went from a hot country to Connecticut where a lot of snow falls. So we needed some warm hats. I found this cool Dutch website who makes recycle design, re-creates pieces of other pieces of clothing. These hats used to be sweaters. The girls didn't smile a lot those early years it looks like. JJ left, Jezz right.



November 2004. Here some other hats from Flobberdewotsky, these are made of scraps of fabric, cool or what? We had a lot of remarks on those hats and the girls just look adorable in them. Jasmine on the left, Juliet on the right.



February 2005. I just cut the girls bangs/fringes. We are trying to grow the hair and get a nice model in it, till now it was just growing in all directions. In 2 months the girls turn 3 years. JJ left, Jezz right.



December 2006. As you can see I love hats, the one JJ is wearing (right) is from Oilily. I just love that shop and we had an outlet close by because I am not paying $70 for a hat! That was indeed the retail price... I bought it for $12.



July 2007. The girls are 5 now and really into fashion, hairdo's and all the accessoires that go along with it. Here I had to braid their hair when it was wet and they slept one night with the braids... and voila the result. So proud they were, they want curls all the time!



September 2008. We just moved to SA. And the girls are having International day at school. Proudly wearing their Thai dresses. Juliet left, Jasmine right.



March 2009. The girls are almost 7 and we are out for lunch. Juliet left, Jasmine right.



Jasmine and Juliet are the biggest blessing in our life! We enjoy these 2 little princesses so much. And when they were young I always thought this is the cutest and best stage... but then they grow older and I think that THAT is the nicest age. But you know what, each phase is their life is exciting, fun, adventurous and a gift to us! We truly are thrilled to be their parents!

If you like to see my photo album on Facebook, just make a friend request (but tell me that you read my blog, because I don't let anybody become my friend on Facebook) otherwise I will ignore the request.

Have a Terrific Tuesday!
Mireille