Makes my Monday

Playing along with Cheryl every Monday.

Ugh, I am struggling to find something positive today - this weekend's been one tough one. C was a hand full - not happy about ANYTHING EVER! Nope! He is not sick, he is just cranky. (Although he is busy with those nasty back upper molars)

The other two kids were actually so great taking all into consideration, but I know that this too shall pass. Last night at 9pm, exhausted after just getting him to sleep, Hunter reminded me that at the beginning of 2006 we had two similar weekend with The Lil' Miss - and after that it was ok again. So, better weekends in view, makes my Monday. And only 4 more teeth to cut between the boys also makes my Monday. I swear I am going to have a huge party when teething is done.

I am also so frustrated - the freaking Lego set the Lil Miss wants for her birthday is completely sold out - I swear I have phone every toy shop in the country! Disaster!

Why I'm Thankful..

Playing along with Debi today.....

A picture tells a thousand words! My 5 babies.

I am so glad that we took the puppies along for the photo shoot - they were so good and patient.
Gorgeous photograph by Jeanette Verster Photography
Watch out next week for more of these stunning pictures.

Friday - 27 November

I am just loving Friday fragments- so tempting to be able to just wrap up the week in little tidbits. So here goes:
Conversation in the car this morning:
A: Mommy, why does Madelein have curly hair?
Me: Because Jesus made her with curly hair.
A: Mommy, why does L have an oval face?
Me: Jesus made him that way. And he is just perfect that way, just as we all are.(Thought I'd throw a bit of self esteem lesson in there)
A bit of silence...
A: Did Jesus read the instructions?
Me: Actually, Jesus does not need instructions, he knows exactly how every new human should look and be.
A: Oh, then He wrote the book!
Clever little one!

Conversation in the car this morning: ( Christmas Father is visiting the school today)
A: Is it Christmas today?
Me: No my Sweetie, - what happens before Christmas?
A: First it's mommy's birthday, then we are going to the sea, and then it is Christmas. (We count these off regularly).
Me: So is it Christmas today?
A:Noooo. Mommy, you must tell teacher Wendy that she is confused - it is not Christmas today.
Me: Well, you are having a special before Christmas visit with Father Christmas today.
A: Yes, and he is going to ware long sleeved red clothes and be all sweaty.
You can tell we live in the Southern hemisphere if you remember Father Christmas as sweaty. Temperatures are currently around 30 degrees Celsius (86 F)

To all of you that was so impressed with my Christmas shopping being done - keep in mind that we do not have to plan for Halloween or Thanksgiving, so it is much easier. Also, I have a holiday in between now and Christmas far from shops.

And speaking of summer and holidays - I have done THAT shopping! I have actually purchased a swimsuit - a tanktini (my favorite type) and it has underwires and support stuff and all those things that you saw in your mothers swimsuit as a teenager that made you cringe. Yeah, I actually need them with the boobs just short of the bellybutton, the extra 37 weeks preganancy twinskin around the belly and the ever increasing orange peel...ok moving along....

Somebody hacked into our network at the office on Tuesday morning and stole ( because simply, that is what it is) 18 gigs - filling our "cap" for the month. I am currently doing this on my 3G card.

I am having a terrible sinus attack. Yesterday, I did what Hunter normally does when he has this- I went to gym. No worries, I am not Gym Barbie yet, I just spent some time in the steam room and sauna. Wow - it made the world's difference. Is it just me, or why do I continuously find myself trying to avoid contact with any surface in a steam room ? In my overactive imagination I can just sea the germs crawling ( although you can smell the disinfectant a mile away). The sauna on the other hand - I love! Yeah, you now you know I am slightly weird.

Hosted by Cecily
Another perfect day dawned last Friday and off we went to Table Mountain, world famous mountain and world heritage site (go check my previous post on Cape town here if you want to see how it looks from "ground level"). We left little Madelein with her nanny and set off on our little adventure. The mountain is 1085m high (0,7 miles) so it gets windy and cold on top. But not for our perfect day!

I though A might be a but scared of the cable cars - they rotate while going up (very high), but not so my adrenaline junkie - she loved it! She stood right at the open section and laughed all the way.

At the bottom before going up.

Top of the cable way looking down over signal hill.

Trying to explain the geography. We are here....

Looking down over the city - the big oval is the Greenpoint stadium - one of the new stadiums being build for the 2010 Soccer world cup. Just to the right of the picture is the V&A waterfront and just to the left Robben Island.

The little Mermaid on top of the mountain.

On top of the world.....

Looking over towards Camps bay side.

With Winell, her godmother.

Muffins and hot drinks after our walk around the mountain.

Any chocolate lovers dream - chocolate muffin and hot chocolate.
After our adventure we had a nice nap and spent some time at home before a dip in the pool.

A "read" Madelein a story. (Check out the family resemblance around the eyes - their colours are identical hazel)

She made this necklace on her own accord - a hairband and some clips. I thought it was very creative. With a traditional braai, we said goodbye to a perfect day.

The Festive Season

The festive season is really right up on our doorstep. In only 2 and a half weeks time we will be on our long summer holidays and I will only return to work on the 6th of January. I have so much to do until then.

We have to decide what to do for The Lil' Miss' birthday next year as it is right when the schools open and invites should go out now. I still have no idea - keep it small at an expensive location or big at the school, which still cost us money (quite a bit) but you can invite as many kids as you would like to. I have left this a bit too late! I also need to get her birthday presents because leaving it until after Christmas means that it is sometimes sold out. She has chosen the Lego Belville horse stable - my girl child, we seem to buy blocks of some sort every year. She just loves to build. ( You wouldn't say her mommy is an architect)

We have checked all the camping gear two weekends ago, but need to buy some items. The packing is going to take a while so I better start early.

My Christmas shopping is almost done - I have already delivered the Cape Town bunch last week. The kid's main presents are bought, I have enough stocking filler presents from Santa for the girlchild, but I really have almost none for the boys. I seem to see a million things for girls, but little boys?? Any ideas?I am busy getting a calender and other photo presents together for the grandparents - got our stunning pictures yesterday - will do a post about that soon! I have got the teachers gifts, my secretary and my bookclub gift - all I need to put some thinking into is Hunter. We have a rule of a book, CD or DVD for each other, nothing bigger- it keeps the costs down and there is always one of those that you would enjoy over a holiday period.

I will be hosting Christmas (although slightly altered form our usual) at our house this year - looking forward to that.

And for all my American friends, may you have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving. This year, I am thankful for my friends in the computer - your love and support.

Cape Town - day 1 (and some Two for Tuesdays.)

Ok prepare yourself for picture overload!
And just because I know Debbi will not mind - for Two for Tuesday, find the many two-somes of me and my princess in this post.

We landed on Wednesday to the South Easter blowing like mad, but Thursday morning was a picture perfect hot and light breeze day - the best you can wish for in that part of the world. We decided to stick to our plans and go to the Two Oceans Aquarium and the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. The aquarium is world class and depicts the Atlantic and Indian Ocean's fish life that meet at the end point of South Africa.

But first, we spent some time playing at home until it was time to leave on our adventure.


Just look how cute my little niece is!


My SIL, A and Madelein at the entrance to the aquarium.

The four of us on the Aquarium website picture.

Me and my princess at the fishies.

Look mommy, I found Nemo!

The touch and feel area was a huge hit and kelp was so much more interesting afterwards.

In front of the kelp forest exhibit.

The Aquarium is currently running and excellent frog exhibit and every thing is huge, "shrinking" a human to frog size.

Feeling how to be the size of a frog.

This tap was way taller than we were.

After the Aquarium the plan was to have lunch somewhere at the waterfront - there are so many great choices, but after walking through the craft market we had two very tired little girls (A went to bed way later than she has ever been) and we decided to have a hotdog at a stand on the harbour and head home.

The essential Cape Town photograph - us with Table Mountain in the background. The boats to Robben Island leaves from here but we will do that when she is bigger and has some understanding about the Apartheid issues.

Looking in the other direction over the harbour.

The two of us at the monument to South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize winners - form left - Albert Lutuli (1960), Archbishop Desmund Tutu - 1984 (the Lil Miss was so excited to see "Oompie Des" again - read here where I blogged when she met him in real life), us two, President FW De Klerk (1993) and President Nelson Mandela (1993).

After heading home and a nice afternoon nap, we headed for Houtbaai beach - their local beach where the two girls had so much fun. The perfect day ended with milk shakes for the kids and ciders for the mommies at the beach cafe.

Just check the beauty of the beach to both sides.

She just loves to push mommy.

My Crocs had a major fascination, and so this bit of brick that she is balancing on.

My water baby.

Makes my Monday - a break from the usual routine.

Playing along with Cheryl every Monday.

It is pretty obvious what makes my Monday this week:

4 Days in what is arguably the most beautiful city in the world.
4 Days spending heaps of time with my first born
4 Days of reconnecting with family
4 Days of beautiful sunshine weather in one of the less than great weather locations in South Africa
4 Days of fun, fun , fun
4 Nights of 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep

This break has been all that it promised and it seems that the attachment issues by the Boys have also improved greatly.

And just a little teaser of where we were:

In the background, Hout Bay where we stayed.

Another great day.

We had another great weather day yesterday - almost windless and hot. Boy, are we lucky!

When we realized that the weather wa great once again we headed to Tabke Mountain and went up the cableway. It was absolutely spectacular and The Lil Miss loved every moment of it. I tell you, the girl has no fear.

After a nap we decided on the pool in stead of the beach (we had a tired little cousin Madleien) and the day ended with a great braai and ample red wine.

And boy, am I gettig good on this mobile phone -I am posting all this via mobile phonE.

We could not have hoped for a better day...

We are having a fantastic time here in Cape Town. We left bwhind am unseasonally cold and wet Pretoria to land in Cape Town's infamous South Easter wind. Bit when we woke up this morning the weather was picture perfect with just a slight breeze and hot and sunny weather.

We spent the day at the Two Oceans aquarium and the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, headed home for a lunch time nap and to the beach, just a 10 minute drive (and visible from their house). Now, off to bed.

A break..

So The Lil Miss and I are off to Cape Town for our mom and daughter trip. And not a day too soon. We are having freaky winter weather today (and for the rest of the week) and Cape Town, quite unexpectedly is promising hot sunshine days.

I thought I will have some posts pre-posted and lined up, but not! I don't. Blame my boys for last week's rough bed times.

So please excuse me if I do not read and comment, or post for that matter - we are taking a lekker (nice in South African) break. Maybe I will post some by mobile - just getting into that.

Light and love to you all!

Cat's bookclub - new review added

To read a review of "Handle with care" by Jodi Picoult, click on the image.

Two for Two-sday - concert two-somes.

And for two for Twos-day - have a look at our pictures - there are two great two-somes.

I have so many great two-somes from the concert, that I decided to do a bumper post today. So without further ado - The Lil Miss and:

Teacher Nomsa - her first teacher when she was 2.

Best friend at school Gabi.

Granny.

Teacher Kirstee - her teacher this year.

So guess what happened last night? Hunter was working late - we had the usual routine: dinner, bath , bible story, prayers and into bed. I said good night, turned off the light and walked out to read The Lil Miss a story. Sent them back twice, but that was the end of it! 10 minutes later - sweet silence. I am flabbergasted! Wow! And they slept right through until 6:15 this morning - a miracle, I tell you (being cloudy and cold helped)

Makes my Monday - yeah, daddy rules!

Playing along with Cheryl every Monday.

So the going to sleep saga continues....
We live on the highveld are in South Africa, famous for spectacular thunder storms (and scared kids). Friday night was a low point - after battling to get Little man L to sleep, he finally went down at about 9:45pm - way way too late. Just in time for me to catch the rugby (South Africa VS France) with the hubster, when a phenomenal thunderstorm hit us. Little man C was awake and hysterical - Little man L was so exhausted that he slept through it all. The result was me not seeing a minute of rugby and finally getting downstairs 10 minutes after the match ended - around 12:00 pm. Again, no time for mom and dad. At 3 am Little man C was awake again and at 5 am his brother was ready to go for the day. SO dear Hunter let me sleep and I woke up just in time to catch my lift to go riding at 8 am. A definite low point.

On Saturday night we got home late from visiting friends an it took the boys about half an hour to fall asleep - at last a bit of time for us.

But last night Hunter thought he'd give it a go with the Boys and I read to the Lil' Miss. I tell you, wonders never stop. 5 FREAKING MINUTES! He could actually put the to bed and leave the room and join us for storeys, like we always used to do. What is this? Is it ok to terrorize mom for hours but for dad, we'll do it in minutes! I was shocked. Let's hope this is the start to a better routine - and now I am convinced that my little trip is really the right decision. This really makes my Monday.

Friday Fragments and

I am just loving Friday fragments- so tempting to be able to just wrap up the week in little tidbits. So here goes:

Everybody that has ever given me an award knows I am terrible acknowledging these - so, I now make a point of doing it on Fridays. And this award just fits the bill nicely for some randomness on a Friday.
The always charming and delightful Debi over at Who says eight is enough? gave me this lovely award....
The Gorgeous Blogger Award

Here are the rules:
By accepting this award I am required to tell you six things about myself that you don't know and then award it to six other gorgeous bloggers.

1. I hate wearing the same pair of shoes for two days running - I never do. I will change my outfit if I have no other choice rather than wearing the same shoes.
2. I am currently addicted to health muffins sold by a Deli doing the rounds in our office park. This has to stop - it is costing me money and not being very kind to my spastic colon. At least they are jam-packed with healthy stuff.
3. When I get home in the afternoons, I immediately take of my shoes and jewellery. I can not stand to have them on any longer than that.
4. I love to drink a cup of tea in bed before going to sleep. Before bedtime downstairs is just not the same. I don't know why.
5. I am really not going to the gym as much as I wanted to - I really need to get on with this one!
6. I can literally not wait the week and a half until I get my images for the rest of our photo shoot. I am just so excited about them and can not wait to get going on Christmas presents for the grandparents. No Jeanette, I am not rushing you, take your time - I am just excited.

I started my blog reading when I was pregnant with the twins and subsequently my blogging friends are mostly moms of multiples in America and Canada.So I am currently trying to get to know more Africa bloggers, therefore I am nominating the following girls who most are brand new friends (except Candice and Momcat) - here's to new blogging friends : ( I also know some of my readers read my blog because I am from this little corner of the world, so explore a bit more in the Mother continent)

Candice @ Wolf's on safari - an American girl living temporary in South Africa
Cairo typO @ Wondering the world - a new friend who is just the most loyal commenter and who is at least currently living in Africa.
Jenty@Jenty's ramblings - a working mom and brilliant photographer
Lynette@A work in progress - what a gran - if I can only look like that when I am a gran.
Gillian@ A peak into our lives - a Scottish girl now happily South Africa
Momcat@Truth is stranger than fiction - mom of teenagers and loyal follower for a while
Girls, I don't even know if you "do" awards, but take it or leave it.


Hosted by Cecily
These black plastic motorbikes are a South African favorite. For the boys we got the "new improved" version, called a Y-bike, but the Lil Miss still has her old one and uses it. So how do you liven it up and more important, get it girly enough? So we did a bit of crafting:

You need:
One black plastic bike
Acrylic paints
Glue
Glitter

And the result:


She loved helping mommy with this and is so proud of her personalised bike.