Colette - 6 Months

Dear Colette,

I can't believe it has been six months. I feel as if time as flown by with you. Maybe because you are ahead of your age. You have been starting your mobile journey a couple months ago and have not slowed down one bit. You get up on your knees and rock some times. It is like you are trying to build up momentum. You army crawl every where. You get a determined face when you see something you want and go for it. Your energetic, determined, on the go, and happy personality match you perfectly.

 You love it when we sit you up to play with your toys. You love food--especially bananas. You do make a bigger mess than I have every seen. I am beginning to see how opposite you are from Johnathan--except for your happy go lucky self. Your spitting up is starting to come to an end. We still get it from time to time, but I see an end in the future!!!

You enjoy being held and having the attention on you. You love your voice and have discovered that high-pitch screams get you attention.

You love biting everything that comes into reach. You especially love going after toes.

We love having you and the light you bring to our home!

Keep being you!!

Love,
Mommy

Month 4 - 72 Hour Kit

We are on month 4 of building out 72 hour kit in one year! How is your kit coming along? This is a fun month for the kit.

I love the quote "It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark." Howard Ruff 

So what is going in our pack this month:

• Wipes -- baby wipes are not just good for wiping little bums. They make clean ups of almost anything easier. We are throwing a pack into our kid's back backs along with one in mine. You and your spouse probably do not need one in each of your packs, so determine whose pack to put it in. 

• Cash --That's right! We are putting in another month of cash into or packs. Check out Month 2 all about why cash is so important to have on hand during an emergency. We are putting $10 cash (small bills) into each family member's pack. Remember: if $10 is a little steep for you this month, just put in $5 cash. The point is we are building up our little cash stash for that rainy day(s). 

• Pocket/Utility Knife -- Put a pocket or a utility knife into your and your spouses pack. You never know if or when this will be handy in an emergency. Do not put these into your children's pack. I found a couple pocket knives in our house we were not using, but if you are needing to buy one--I gave this one to my husband for Christmas (check the link).  http://a.co/fLhKlsG

• Stress Relievers -- You need something to take your mind of what is going on. Especially children. Put in each of your packs something that will do just that. Some ideas include--a book, magazine, activity books, coloring, crayons, playing cards, etc. 

Did you miss month 1, 2, and 3?? Check them out! 

MONTH 1

MONTH 2

MONTH 3

Culture Night: Comoros

We ended up drawing from our jar another African country! Y'all I am in love with Africa. I have been since my mission in Germany. HUH? Yes, Germany. While serving in Germany, I met and taught a lot of Africans. They were always so kind, loving, and welcoming. They even would make my mission companion and I yummy African food. Beans and plantains was what I always requested when they asked. Anyways, I could go on and on with stories I have with the many wonderful Africans I met. I am still friends with some of them too.

Let's focus on Comoros. Our culture nights right now consist of us making some kind of dish from that country and learning something about it. It always seems it creeps up on us, and I never get to do all that I want us to do for culture night (such as a game or activity that is common in that country). Maybe next time.

For our night out in Comoros we had:

Chicken in coconut milk (Akoho sy voanio) 

• 1 kg chicken breast meat 
• 2 medium onions
• 2 tomatoes 
• 2 cloves garlic (I just used powdered)
• 5 cm root ginger (I just used powdered) 
• 1 can coconut milk
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste 
• Sunflower oil 

Skin and chop fine onions and the garlic. Slice the tomatoes. Peel and grate the root ginger. Fry the chicken in a little sunflower oil until well browned all over. Add the onions and garlic and fry until turning brown. Add the ginger and tomatoes and fry briefly. Add the coconut milk, and adjust seasoning to taste. Simmer for 20-30 minutes. 

*This was a yummy dish. It is more on the sweeter side, and I would probably make this again. 

Ladu

*This dish is said to be more of a dessert. We used this as a side dish, and I did not shape them into bricks. Maybe next time I will. 

• 100 g coarsely-ground raw rice (I used brown rice)
• 100 g powdered sugar 
• 60 g ghee (I used butter) 
• 1/4 tsp powdered cardamom (I used nutmeg--It is also one of the common spices in Comoros) 
• 2 tsp coarsely-ground black pepper 

Mix the sugar and pepper and set aside. Meanwhile, melt the ghee in a cast iron pot, add the rice and cook on a low flame, stirring all the while, until the rice is fully cooked well. Add the cardamom powder and stir thoroughly to mix. Take off the heat and pour onto a plate. Allow to cool completely then mix together the rice mixture and the sugar and pepper blend. Divide into 7 equal portions and shape into laddus (bricks). Allow to cool completely and dry completely. Serve as a dessert. 

*I cooked the rice in the rice cooker and added the butter in at the same time. After it was cooked, I put it in a different bowl and mixed the remainder ingredients in. I served immediately as a side instead.of shaping into bricks.* It was a yummy dish. 

Fruit for dessert

It is common to have fruit as a dessert. Comoros has many locally produced ingredients like vanilla, coriander, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. So, for the fruit I mixed together oranges, bananas, and apples. I added some vanilla and cinnamon to the mixture. It was a yummy dessert. 

Comoros islands have been settled, conquered, and resettled and reconquered many times over the centuries. Influences in the country include African, Indonesian, Malagasy, Arabic, and Portuguese. 

A little more on the country: 

Colette is 5 Months!

Dear oh Dear Colette,

 Happy 5 months! You are way ahead of your age. You are already trying really hard to crawl. You get on your knees and rock trying to move. You do manage to maneuver your way around the room by going backwards or inch worming to something you want. You get up on your toes into a plank position and dive at things too. Slow down little girl. Though your determination and wiggly self reflects your personality perfectly.

 You get so excited when someone pays attention to you. You will also give out a high pitch scream when you want someone to pay attention to you. In the meantime, you spend your self-entertaining time figuring out how to move around the room and blowing bubbles with your mouth.

 You enjoy bath time. That is probably your most chill time.

You sleep all night now! No more night bottles. You are also officially sleep trained, and we said goodbye to that pacifier. We don’t miss it one bit. You found your fingers (just like your brother). We are more of the finger team than the pacifier one on any given day.

You love your brother Johnathan. The feeling is mutual. Johnathan has really warmed up to you and loves talking and playing with you. He will give you big hugs and tell you he loves you over and over again. He loves talking in a baby voice to you (which is pretty funny). You love tackling him too. As soon as he gets into arms reach you dive for him. Luckily he thinks it is pretty funny.

You rode the carousal for the first time at the zoo and loved it. 

You are a fun, happy, very active little girl. We love having you in the family and enjoy seeing how your personality continues to develop and grow. Keep your determination in life and you are going to move mountains.

Love, your mommy