Today the kids and I headed over to Leslie’s to try our hand at cooking Ethiopian food again. I’ve been bad mommy and haven’t even tried since Tariku’s been home (we have eaten at ET restaurants, but nothing homemade). Since Leslie is kind of my food guru, I knew she’d be an easy target to help me and that she was. She is just great, there is not much more I can say but that.

There were many times I got close to tears during the morning. Nostalgia has that effect on me. The smells in her kitchen made me miss Ethiopia more intensely than I have since we returned. Looking around her house and seeing Tariku run around with just a slight trace of an accent, losing the few bits and pieces of his “Ethiopianness”…it’s enough to make a girl emotional.

And then realizing all of my blessings, specifically that of a sister-in-law who has quickly morphed into a best friend. One who had free trade Ethiopian organic coffee on hand as we stewed and mashed and tore through her kitchen. Truly, I am one lucky girl.

Oh, and did I mention that we’re kind of amazing? Our second shot was much better than our first though I didn’t get any great pictures of it, you’ll have to take my word for it. I was also pleasantly surprised to see how naturally Tariku took to the food again. It was old hat and he gave compliments to the chefs, which Leslie and I took to be the best indicator for how great we really are. Ahem.

This was just too cute not to include, thank you for indulging me.

My Ethiopian and his food. I’d kinda do anything for this one.

He wanted to be like Simon of “Alvin and the Chipmunks” fame. Ummm. not so much.

Leslie mashing and stirring.

The kids entertaining themselves.

Sorry for no dance postings, we are having technical difficulties with one of the dances we are posting in celebration of the wells being built. More to come, have no fear!

Top 10 things heard from hotflawedmama today:

1) Get your coat on now or your fingers will fall off.

2) Something stinks. Who farted? Why did I not hear an “excuse me”?

3) Don’t wipe your nose on your coat, wipe it on your pants, I can wash those easier.

4) You shouldn’t see your elbows in your periphery. That’s not entirely true, but I just like saying the word periphery. (Said during one of my Bodypump classes)

5) I love you so much my nose hurts.

6) Stop talking and just poop.

7) So you wiped her butt, threw the paper in the toilet and then went on your way?

8) Are you crying? Do you need to go to the doctor? If you don’t need to go to the doctor, then stop crying.

9) (I mutter something uncomprehensible)..Tariku, do you understand? Tariku says. “Mom, do YOU understand?”

10) Those don’t go in your nose, they go in your mouth so eat it.

So my mom, dad and sister babysat the kids while we were in Mexico (they had various rotating schedules, quite impressive). I’ve just been thinking about how lucky I am to have them.

Not only did they take on the task of 3 kids under 5 (which, is big enough!) but they also managed to make my house look better after they left than when they came. Laundry was done so the kids had nice smelling pajamas and clothes. Took out trash, organized our storage room. Built shelves, organized, cleaned and just loved the kids a lot.

But perhaps most importantly to me? My mom cooked. My mom is a great cook, I have a lot to live up to in that department. She worked full time and we still ate family meals every night together. So imagine my delight when I saw all the leftovers in the fridge when we got home. The good kind too. Turkey, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy. Spagetti and something else that looks gross but probably tastes incredible. Mmmmm, I love food. I love my mommy’s food. Do you think my kids will ever blog about my food? Not holding my breath.

In other news, on Saturday we went to the Polar Express at the IMAX with my parents-in-law and the kids. Bonus, it was in 3D so I got these awesome pictures of the kids. Whenever Dailah walked by someone with her glasses on they would all do the “ahh” bit. It would’ve gotten a bit old if it wasn’t so true.

I mean, when do these glasses stop becoming cute and just start looking ridiculous?

He looked awesome too, but he wanted to do the peace sign more.

She loved it and it was cute.

She also loved the starburst that came in the kids pack that grandpa thought she needed. Clearly.

Say it with me now…AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

We are brothers and sisters. We are not eloquent writers by any means, but we do know how to enjoy life. We enjoy our lives that are filled with all of the basic necessities—things we take for granted. We shower, shave, brush our teeth, wash our clothes, use the toilet, and give our dog a nice brimming bowl of clean water every morning and every evening. Our dog has it better off than many people around the world. He has access to clean, disease-free water without limit.

Why wouldn’t we choose to give of our time and resources to grant everyone in the world basic human necessity like clean water?

Why wouldn’t you?

Abaye, Emaye, Sparky, Tater, and Noodle

This was posted on the dancing blog as well but didn’t want you to miss it. It’s perfect!

I’ve always been one of those mommies who loves being a part of my kids’ firsts. With Tariku it’s especially exciting because his firsts are when he’s old enough to really react and enjoy (thus making it more fun for mommy). Today it was snow.

My day to wake up and I hear on Dailah’s monitor (she’s taken a liking since we left to just walk right into the boys’ room when she wakes up) Tariku screaming “It’s snowing! It’s a snow day!”

So I go downstairs, excited to see his reaction to the flakes and it was worth it. He burst out of his room when he heard me making coffee (hey, I have priorities) and yelled, “Mom come see this, you need to, you need to see this RIGHT NOW!”. So we looked out the boys’ room and watched it for awhile. It was just awesome.

When we were getting into the car, Tariku said, “Mom, I decided, I love snow.”

So after naps we had him really check it out. And this is what we got with all three of them.

So rare that we capture this kid’s loving personality, I think Zach got it here.

Tariku and his best friend, Abe.

How much do you love this picture and this kid? He said, “Mom, there was no snow in Ethiopia!” As he came in and was derobing all his snow equipment, he said, “Mom I never knew snow was so cold!”

And how I like playing in the snow.

Doozie was out for approximately 2 minutes, but it was a really cute 2 minutes.

Trysten dedicated his time to snowman making, it ended up perfect. With a head, carrot and arms.

Is there anything more infections than kids’ laughter? Me thinks no.

Came across this article today. It describes Ethiopian food in one of my favorite ways I’ve read. I envy those of you who live in Louisville, Kentucky. Make sure you check out this restaurant! And for those who don’t, read it anyway and tell me your mouth doesn’t water.

I told you I had good news about Water for Christmas, right?

Well I do. We have a total as of Wednesday. You ready? Drumroll please.

$10,000.

Did you read that?

$10,000. Or, 2 wells. Or 2 villages in Liberia. Or hundreds of people, kids, brothers, sisters moms and dads.

You’ve saved them, and you should be very proud of yourselves.

I am so thankful, so, so thankful for you all.

Good work so far, we still have work to do. Just one more month and I think we’re only scratching the surface, you in?

Gracias, mucho, mucho, gracias.

I am a child of the ’80s. I came of age when U2’s Bono was waiving his white flag onstage at Live Aid, the 1985 worldwide effort for famine relief in Ethiopia. That effort and others throughout the ’80s were so big that people eventually tuned out. Instinctively, Bono knew that, and his efforts grew quieter and even more effective.

I was lucky enough to ask Bono himself about this change in the tone of his activism when I interviewed him in 2002 at Davenport Central High School in Davenport, Iowa. He told me that people get tired of listening when you scream at them. And that’s what is so wonderful about this grassroots effort to bring clean drinking water to people who have no access to this most basic of human needs. I think Bono would approve of the goofy hook of dancing. It gets people excited about a huge problem without screaming at them.

With my intense love of U2’s music, you’d think that I would have picked one of their songs to dance to. But, being a child of the ’80s, I chose one of my favorite one-hit wonders, Men Without Hats’ “The Safety Dance.” Anything by U2 would have required actual dance moves, but “The Safety Dance” was, well, safe. But I still did it because I believe this effort is important and needed.

“You are more powerful than you think, and we can be even more powerful together,” Bono said during his Davenport visit. He is right, so I will dance.

Editor’s note: Janet is awesome. I’ve known her for over a year now and she, like a fine wine, just gets better with age. 🙂 We originally posted this on the dancing blog but I didn’t get a chance to on my own but she’s definitely worth it. I think you can see her awesomeness through this dance. If not, just take my word for it.