June 2011 - Book 14

Recipe for Life by Nicky Pellegrino

In the magical Villa Rosa, under the striking blue Italian skies, 3 woman form a bond that will last may many years.Through the language of good food and great cooking, Alice and Babetta strike a friendship that bonds, despite the barriers of real language and age. And despite the rocky road that charming local boy Lucio's affections create, Alice and Leila's sisterhood spans decades.

The recipes and food had me drooling at times - so wonderfully described, like the many colourful characters that populate the books. A little bonus is a few of the recipes cooked in the book added as an annexure.

Written in colourful language and showing the local charm of rural Italy and it's villas, this little book is a joyful and great girl's and bookclub read. Easy and gripping I can really recommend it for the holidays too.

Cat's opinion: a charming 7 and a half/10

WIWT edition 4

This is what I wore yesterday - I really felt good in it. I just love Big Blue - a lot of their stuff turns into conversation pieces, as did this skirt yesterday. I have been looking at these short skirts ever since the season started and they had them in different colour combinations. Only last week did I actually take the step and bought this one that had, what I felt was just the right colours for me.

Necklace: Miglio (many years back), Turquise long sleeve T shirt - Mr Price, Black T shirt Cardi (Pick 'n Pay last season), Skirt - Big Blue, Black Tights- Woolworths, Long black boots - Solomons. For outside I had my trusty black leather jacket form Woolworths on (forgot to take a pic with it on).

So what are you wearing today? Putting it out there as a "dare" - show us as Gina did yesterday.

June 2011- Book 13

Afrikaans book review/ boek resensie:
Meetsnoer deur Chanette Paul

Wanneer Raine Quinn se lewe omver gegooi word deur 'n kerk wat haar as 'n satanis beskryf, koop sy 'n pragtige plaas met 'n natuurlike woud en fabelagtige huis om haar nuwe lewe in te begin. Maar sy is totaal onbewus daarvan dat twee ander mense, elk om hulle eie redes, dieslefde plaas wil he en tot die uiterste sal gaan om dit in die hande te kry. Sy is ook totaal onbewus dat sy meer as ooit tecore te doen gaan kry met godsdienstige fanatisisme.

Wat volg is 'n heerlike speurstorie en riller in die tradisie van die skrywer se vorige 3 "Kruisbaai" of "Gys en Gertjie" boeke. Die boek lyk goed nagevors te wees en die oorsprong en funksionering van sekte kerke met dominante leiers is 'n fasinerende agtergrond.

Ek het die boek baie geniet maar twee goed pla tog - Gys en Gertjie kan nie vir ewig rondpleoter in onsekerheid nie. Die hele sotrielyn is nou oud.En die name van karakters - o aarde! Flint Fletcher en Raine Quinn vir twee redelik gewopne Afrikaanse mense? Dit beklemtoon miskien die effense kitch gevoel rondom die boek en die reeks wat al meer vir my na vore kom.

Tog 'n lekker lees en deel van 'n lekker lees reeks.
Cat se opinie: net-net 8/10/

So it all went well

yesterday. Or shall we say, the operation itself went very well, but the anaesthetic, not so much.

After checking into the paediatric ward and getting her little theatre gown on, she was in full on colouring in mode right into the theatre waiting area. She was really so funny  - high as a kite on the pre-meds, giggling about everything and thank goodness, went down calmly and smiling. The anaesthesiologist was really so good with her, talking calmly and making little jokes. It is always tough, that moment when they go down. So much easier if they do not go down fighting. I gave her a kiss, left her and her trusty Snoopy dog with the doctors and waited the time away with Hunter.

After about and hour and 45 minutes the doctor came to tell us that all went well and after another 10 minutes she was out and on her way to the ward - sleeping tightly. She came to calmly and Hunter said goodbye to her and she slept for about an hour. She woke up wanting water and sore, and saying she was hungry. The sister and I were both delighted and she was given some drops for the pain and told to drink a bit more water before we proceed to food. The next moment it was all out! And she continued vomiting and sleeping on and off until the anaesthesiologist was called to prescribe more for the vomiting as she was by now really not doing well. So after more meds and a nap, she got some pain medicine first and managed to eat a little bit before we were eventually discharged at 4:30 - we should have been out there by 12:00 if all went to plan.

I will admit that there were moments yesterday afternoon where I actually very briefly regretted doing this - it was so tough to see her so sick, knowing that she was 100% fine the morning we brought her in. But after she stopped vomiting, and when we got home, I was just relieved it was done and over with, and once again rested in our decision. It was the right thing to do. It was her very first operation, so now we know that she is one of the low percentage of people that have a violent reaction to it and will know to warn ahead of time in future. Apparently there is something they can give them in theatre to relieve this.

Thanks again for all your support my friends in the computer.

Tomorrow

A while ago I said to a friend that it feels really weird to say that " I am taking my 6 year old daughter to see a plastic surgeon tomorrow." Well tomorrow, she is scheduled for plastic surgery - more precisely Otoplasty - correction and re-shaping of the ears.

Although I have no doubt that we are doing the right thing for the right reasons, I have the usual mom's stress of a fluttering tummy, anxiety at my child's safety and worry for her comfort after. I know that it is a rather long procedure (one and a half hours) and rather painful after, but I also know that we will be saving her a heap om emotional pain later in life. We are also spending a small fortune on it (in cash - no medical aid will pay for it) but know that we will possibly save a small fortune is psychologists fees later.

The simple truth is that kids are cruel - and will find something to single a child out and tease her. With girls, this very often is ears. I am no Botox mom, I just want my child to grow up being as "normal" looking as possible. We are not doing this so that she can participate in beauty pageants or anything like that - it is not what our family is about.

So please, if I can ask your prayers for us all tomorrow. I am not a lover of anaesthetic at all, so my first stress is always about that. I know we will be fine, but support is always welcome. Most of all because we seem to have lost my mom's support over the issue. But that is a story for another day. At least my MIL is flying up from PE on Thursday to visit and support our little Princess.

More about day 2 in the Berg.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Due to that super slow 2G connection, I did not show you much about our little holiday in the Drakensberg's second day apart from this bit, although day 1 was well covered here. So for today's Photo Story Fiday, I offer you day 2 in the Drakensberg.

I woke up quite early (first in the house) and took this picture through the window of the  lounge of the mountains bathed in the rising sun.

After a bask in the morning sun, we stocked up on supplies at the resort shop. The girls did a little skip down the road.

 Then we took a drive to the Central Berg - around Cathkin Peak and stopped at the Monk's Cowl hiking area for a milkshake.

The little Sunbird was having his fill of sweetness in the alloe flowers.

 On our way back I saw this composition - two very graphic winter trees, a quite attractive gate and the mountains, and took a few composition pictures. My favorite is the third one with the tree and the gate leading outside the picture frame.

Back at out cottage we saw that the little chapel was open- so we went to have a look. Really stunning setting for a wedding.

 

Then we went for a swim in the indoor heated pool.

And while I (and my cousin-friend) napped, there was lots of Candyland games happening.

We ended the day with a trip to the trampolines and playground before dinner and a relaxing evening chatting.

It was such a perfect day.

Eish, sjoe!

Thank goodness.

Little man L had his follow up appointment with the eye specialist today. If you do not have the background about his eye problems, go have a look here. 

At our last appointment we were warned that an operation is more possible than not and that his eye, due to the blind spot, is turning inwards which will effect the spectrum of his vision. Therefore we had to go back today, after 3 months, and not after 6 months as per usual. Although there was a slight change in his lens prescription I was very anxious and almost sure that we would get the go ahead for the operation today. It turns out that from a 20 degree fall out has corrected to 12 degrees - a huge improvement, but not quite enough. It has to be 10 and below to be in the "no operation needed" spectrum. So we have drops to add now to the "good eye" once again - rending it useless for 48 hours, in order to stimulate the "bad" eye to work harder in order to correct the angle.

So we are seeing him again in 2 months time to assess the progress. Here's praying for that extra 2%. We have come so far, from not using this eye at all to making the most of it.

The glue that binds.

All families have this - something that just keeps the family together. That makes it all work. In our family it is homour - laughing and having fun. When the times get tough, the tough goes laughing. Mostly instigated by Hunter who is brilliant at relieving the most tense situation with tickles and teasing.

This is just one of the things that makes him the father he is - I can name so many. But through the many sleep deprived, survival reduced times of our lives, he has been the rock that I rely on. A father every child would like to have.  Fun, fair and dedicated to us as a family.

A late, but heartfelt "Happy Fathers day" to my sweet Hunter. We all love you to  the moon and back.

I love how the kid's schools, although they were all sick and could never complete their little projects in time, completed it for them so that they had something special for dad.

From the Princess - with a poem and drawing

From the Boys.

Feeling on top of the world....

Playing along with Cheryl.

 ...really makes my Monday. I am so happy today, not even a rather frustrating project can dampen the mood. As you all know, I had a truly wonderful weekend thanks mainly to Hunter who organized the accommodation and initiated the whole trip. But who also did the really tough part - looking after the 2 sick boys back home. What added to my enjoyment is that they had a good weekend too, after all the sickness of the past weekends. The boys are better, they slept better than in ages and Hunter thus got some good sleep too. We did manage to give him his Fathersday goodies, but we need to make another day to properly honour him.

I really need to do a good run of every day as really there were so many great moments. What we thought would be a cold mostly indoor holiday turned into a warm and mostly outdoor one. And making the holiday great was:

Quality time with my Princess

Fun and adrenaline with a favorite cousin and friend

Seeing my mom having laughs with one of her best friends and showing her the Berg for the first time ever.

And two little girls enjoying each other for the full period - not a moment of unhappiness.

The real magic was in the perfect combination - 3 generations of fun.

and the mountains, not to forget the 270 degree view of mountains (fromt he road just outside the resort)

Another beautiful day in the Berg...

was mostly spent getting the adrenaline pumping,as well as a a great swim and much ,much more. At the moment we are busy with a great game or 2 of Rummikub (and that is how long uploading these pictures took)

Day 2 in the Berg....

was warm and beautiful. But due to a super slow 2G connection and the idea to get into bed with a book before 9, I am leaving you with one image for the day.

The hills are alive with the sound of music...

but not exactly me singing and helicopetering on a pretty mountain like Julie Andrews as I have no voice whatsoever at the moment. All this whispering is rather exhausting.

At the moment I am in the Drakensberg - or just known as "The Berg" in South Africa. It is beautiful and our little slice of Switzerland in Africa. I am on a rather unique girls weekend - me, my friend (and cousin) Ananda,the Princess, my mom, her friend Antoinette with her granddaughter, the same age as the Princess.

It is off course, being the middle of the winter, rather nippy and the wind was hectic along the pass today- and as you can see, if you look closely, yes, a sprinkling of snow on the mountains.
We are planning on some rest and relaxation, and just general, well, resting. Bo also doing a few outings etc.

Today, we took quite a while to get here - let's just say that a problem on the usual route's pass caused a rather longer route than envisaged. At Harrismit after a nice meal at the Spur, we spotted a pack of Harleys which the girls (and a big girl) loved.

After arrival at the resort we went for a quick walk and in just a few minutes, as the sun disappeared behind the mountains the temperature plummeted from a comfy but cold, to a rather cold. So tonight, we are cosy and warm in the house - just had soup as a starter and the lasagna is warming nicely in the oven.


 I am bargaining on a great night's sleep and holding thumbs Hunter has a better night with the Boys than the previous few - and that they are a lot healthier.

Eish, it's been a week for us....

I am waiting for an email to come in to respond on and then to go home, do a bit of shopping and pack to leave on a rather unique girls trip tomorrow. After the past week I need a bit of rest - my poor hubby too, but this has been long in planning for me for a weekend away.

We have managed to pay our GP's kid's study loans in the last week, or Dis.covery actually .In  the past 8 days we have been at our GP practice 4 times - of which 1 was to see both A and C and this morning to see both me and L. She also checked on C again. So we have 2 that had German measles and bronchitis as a complication (A and C) and it would just not be our normal if C did not get a nice little asthma trigger from all this. The one kid that managed to escape this and I have now succumbed to the dreaded strep throat - he in his tonsils and me in the vocal cords and throat. Hence I sound super sexy but inaudible at the moment.

I am so looking forward to the rest and relaxation this weekend and while I may not be able to go on  the hike I was hoping to (anti boiotics you see), I am planning to sleep a lot, read and just relax. I am sure a gentle ride might be ok. And there's my mail now - so hope you have a great long weekend. If I get the time and inclination I might tease you with some pretty pictures during the weekend. If not, enjoy yours! Cheers!

The lovely Julia thinks this blog is lovely

The lovely Julia gave me a blog award over the weekend. Now Julia, I really get. When she thinks she rambles, I follow the whole reasoning well. I love her honest posts. She straight forward and one of the girls I would love to meet one day. Thanks girl.


And the rules are..
1. Choose five (or more) other people who deserve this award and pass it on.
2. Tell 7 facts about yourself.
3. Let the people you gave the award to know.
4. Thank the person who gave you the award.

1. So here goes with the task at hand: Chosen as they came to me purely randomly:
1. Shayne at TimeOut - and yes, her blog is private, but I love her. I love her gorgeous pictures, I love her fashion posts, I love her very beautiful life on the farm - but most of all I love her honesty.
2. Pam at An Ordinary life - I love blogs about, well, just life. And the lives we live.
3. Hayley at Everything in between - some more just life, and the most beautiful pictures.
4. Margot at Jou ma se blerrie blog - She tells it like it is and is stuggling through Motherhood with more than a few challenges.
5. Mel- at Super mom - I love her honesty too and her blogpost today just spoke to me.

2. 7 facts - gosh, and you do know quite a lot about me already:
1. My favorite snack with tea in the evenings is a marshmallow easter egg melted between two marie biscuits.
2. I often take my lunch break from the office on my own, with a book for just a coffee somewhere. Or sometimes I just sit under the tree in our garden. I love my own company now and again. The people at the office think this is weird - I can not think why it is.
3. I love classical music - it is my favorite. My car radio is mostly on  Classic FM.
4. My big toe is shorter than my second toe - with a lot! None of the kids seem to have inherited this weirdness.
5. I am really good with remembering faces - I might have seen you once, years ago and I will remember your face. Names, not so much. Really uncomfortable to always admit that someone looks familiar, but you have not idea who they are.

3. Will leave you all comments now.
4. Done in the intro.

Lucy is back!

Playing along with Cheryl.

This is a total Makes my Monday post because, after 8 weeks of sick leave, Lucy is back! Oh my word, life will return to what we know as normal. This morning, the 2 sick kids could stay at home and there was no stress involved as to who will look after them, and if I will get to my 9 o clock meeting in time.(Both Little man C and the Princess had German Measles - she now has bronchitis as a secondary infection and, no surprises, his asthma has flared up). Little man L is still standing strong - I wonder how long? Although Lucy is clearly not 100% life will continue to the usual.

But I have learned a lot in the time that we were without her:

• We can actually make it on our own without a full time domestic/nanny.
• The biggest challenge is to deal with sick kids and who will look after them.
• The second biggest challenge is the mountains and mountains of washing. And the ironing thereof.
• Even to just iron your most essential washing at the laundromat does become rather expensive
• Our kids will wreck a perfectly clean home in about 3,5 minutes
• If you try hard enough you can get them to do little tasks at home - even at 3 and a half years old.
• Cooking meals ahead over the weekends is a total winner.
• We have a lot of free time in the evenings - I never realized this, but with the household chores to be done in the evenings it ate all that time.
• The kids missed her terribly, and she us. This morning she and the Princess was in tears of happiness.

So what makes your Monday?

May 2011 - Book 10

Consolation by Anna Gavalda

I have to admit that sometimes, the cover of a book is the first draw card for me. This was certainly the case with this book with such a lovely cover.

Charles is a life-tired architect, frustrated in his work and life at home. In fact, his only bit of positive feedback and the light of his life is a teenager that is not even his own child. Charles also has a colourful past, dominated by his down to the rules parents , a unique neighbour , her son and a rather unconventional nanny. And although in secret, Charles loved that neighbour, Anouk, not like a son but like the man he was yet to become.

When he receives the news that she has died, his life all of a sudden goes into an out of control spin until, inevitably, he sets out to find her son. There life hands him the best consolation prize ever - Kate, a woman Anouk touched with her unique light. And a woman that will heal his heart.

I found the first half of the book a rather tough read - maybe due to the translation from the original French. But once you reach the last half it turns into pure magic.

A wonderful positive read and well worth a 9/10

Book reviews

No post here today, but I have added two book reviews, one yesterday and one today, with another scheduled for tomorrow. So if you are looking for a new read, head over to Cat's Bookclub

May 2011 - Book 11

Wolf Hall - Hillary Mantel

Tom Cromwell starts life as the abused son of a blacksmith and rise to unknown power for a commoner, up to now, as the right hand man of Henry the VIII. As the story of the rise of Tom unfolds, the history of the time paints the rich tapestry that forms the background of the story. Many famous, or shall we say imfamous names become the people that fill the story of Henry's challenge to the church and related history to the reformation, all for the passion to marry Anne Boleyn.

Although a well researched historical novel, the characters become very real people to the reader and the emotions and character of most players gets displayed on a very personal rahter than historical level.

I did find the book rather brutal at times, but I guess that is the level of the horrors that took place in society in the name of religion at the time. I also have to admit that it took me ages to read this book and that I did loose interest at times. I think that it is mainly the use of language (in an almost old, very simple form) that is the reason for this. I does however suit the book and the period very well.

Well researched and written, it is an interesting, but long read.

Cat's opinion: 8/10

May 2011 - Book 12

Gone - Mo Hayder

When a car is hi-jacked with an 11 year old girl still in the back seat, DI Jack Caffery quickly realizes that he is dealing with way more than an accidental disappearance. When the hi-jacker starts to send letters to the victims and police, Jack knows that this was not the last child to be grabbed by this monster. He also realizes that he is dealing with the most intelligent criminal he has ever encountered.

Full of unexpected twists and turns and filled with a colourful range of characters, this book will keep you wanting for more and reading into the wee hours of the morning.

A thriller second to none, this will be only the first of many books by Mo Hayder that I will read.

Cat's mark: a well deserved 9/10

A day (or two) on the farm

It's Friday and time to catch up on some unblogged holiday moments - this time once again from our December holiday. While driving down to Port Elizabeth we stayed over on a farm on the other side of Bethulie than our usual haunt and it turned out to be the time of our lives. We arrived the afternoon and spent some time walking around the homestead . I met the couple who owns the farm (Hunter has been there before with friends) and their little girl and had a nice braai together.

What's a farm without a windpump.

Moya making a spash in the farm dam.

Snake skin the Princess found.Luckily we did not see the actual snake.

The two little girls "mothered" the two Jack Russel puppies. They (the puppies) were exhausted and kept crawling into the sleeping boy's bed to get away from the still awake girls.

The next morning the family came over just after breakfast with the little girl's pony and a quad bike. I can not try to explain the fun that followed.

And before we even knew it she was riding on her own. Later the pony was on her back feet and she stayed on top and did

The boys both got a ride or two - C's first ever on a pony.

 The puppies chaced bugs, went for a run and another swim and just relaxed.

 I think the boys had at least 20 trips up and down the farm road and into the veld.

 They had the best time ever.

We only left the farm at 3pm to complete our journey to PE with 3 (make that 5 and include the pups) very tired kids that slept a very very long time into the last bit of our journey.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

It's all in the network. The support network.

Or lack thereof as is more often than not the case with us. We have only my mom and my cousin in Pretoria as family that we can count on to help out with the kids. And no friends that have the capacity to handle our 3 on top of their own.We count on hired help, in the form of Lucy after hours. But with her on sick leave for the last 8 weeks, we have pretty much been on our own.

My mom's help is limited to the Princess mainly as she moves with difficulty and the Boys are just way too intense for her to handle. I guess she can handle them in our house for the maximum of an hour on her own. My cousin can handle the crowd, but she has a life of her own and a full time job, so we count on her on the odd occasion. As we will this Sunday when the two of us will be attending a special lunch with friends.We can not even remember when last the two of us were out alone - I guess it is about 10 weeks or so. I am hugely thankful that she so readily agreed to help.

Yesterday and today I have a sick little girl who need to stay at home out of this freezing cold and get better form some arb viral infection (possibly German Measles) and although I can work from home, it is not always practical with meetings arranged and interaction required with staff. If it was one of the boys, I would have had to make it work at home. So my mom stepped in to help, for which I am very grateful, but she can not be there early. So I only get to the office at about 9:30.

I wonder if a lot of young couples with kids and a great support network with grandparents, sisters and brothers etc around them really appreciate what this network means to them. How great it is to have grandparents to leave your kids with for one night's good sleep. How wonderful to be able to slip away for a weekend. For us, this is often not possible, or only with a huge amount of organization etc.

So here's to a support network, however small it might be as in our case.Or however large it might be in your case. Without it, we are truly stuck.

Joining Thanksgiving Thursday at Twice the love....half the sleep.

Weather inspired WIWT

I guess every single blogger in South Africa is talking about the weather today. For my overseas friends, we live in a summer rainfall area - today we have flooding - mid winter. It is weird, cold and rather extreme.There is talk of ice rain in Joburg and snow all over the country. I also had to get my mom to come over early this morning to stay with a sick little Miss. Hope she gets better soon.

So , as prompted by Shayne - WIWT in extreme weather:
Left for outside, right for inside.
Short gray coat - Woolworths (a couple of seasons back - a classic great buy), Brown boots - Woolworths (last season), purple long T - Woolworths, Brown sleeveless knit - Mr Price (last season), black skinny jeans - Woolworths, Multi coloured scarf - Ruby's harberdashery.

On reunions and growing older.

So this year is 25 years since I wrote matric(yes, I am that old) - for the international readers, that is our last year of high school at about age 18. I have not been good at keeping in touch with old friends from school - in fact I have only contacted 5 of the girls that I was friends with through the last 4 years or so. First contact has typically been via Facebook.I have met up with 3 of them - the other two live overseas. But I am intending on meeting up with two more soon. And still living in the same city, I do bump into some of them - sometimes in unexpected places like on holiday recently. But I digress.

A few enthusiastic people have started to organize a reunion, also mainly finding people (actively) through Facebook and we have started a Facebook group - we already have 83 members, including a few teachers that taught us. A further few were found by other memebers via phone, email etc and have managed to find 75% of our class mates.I have been asked to assist with some graphic stuff which I will gladly do and yes, I will go to the reunion. My problem is this - how the hec will I firstly remember all these people (I get friend requests and then see they were in class with me and just accept - no idea who they actually were)? I will take out my year book and page through, but I suspect I will have big gaps. In any event, I will go and enjoy.

What really triggered this little post (apart from Marcia's this morning), is how different people grow older. Remember - it has been 25 year since I saw some of them. Some of them, even after all this time, is still just the same. They look the same (a bit of lines added and maybe less hair) and sound and am just the same they were. Some of the woman have grown beautiful - no truly. There are at least 4 of the girls who look amazing - way prettier than when they were at school. One was rather over weight and is now an absolute beauty.In totality, most of the girls look a lot like they used to and I should recognize most of them in the street.But the big shocker is how a lot of the guys (and really not all - some are just like they used to be, or even fitter) are "ooms". Now if you are not South African you may not understand this -what I mean is that they look like older men - overweight with tummies, no hair, bears no resemblance than when they were at school. Gee, makes me wonder about the mindset of the Afrikaans man.I was truly shocked when 3 of the guys became Facebook friends with me and regardless of how many pictures I saw of them, I could not find the boy I knew in any way on the pictures.I would not recognize them even with a name tag attached.

But I do feel I need to share some of the observations I have made by getting into with so many of them after so many years.

1. South African have really colonized the world - to name just a few my classmates live in : Australia, New Zeeland, Canada, USA, Britian, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dabi, Dubai, Taiwan, Spain, Botswana and Germany.
2. 4 girls are gay - 2 I would have suspected. The other two - not a chance.Would have never guessed. Only one of the guys (whom we all knew about) is openly gay. 
3. We have had 4 of our school mates that have passed away - one committed suicide after he finished his national service (we are the last generation of that era), another also about two years after we finished school.  One of our friends was shot in his house last year - I wrote about it here. The other one, nobody knows how or when.
4. One's perception of yourself when you were at school can be seriously warped. I remember myself as being rather awkward and part of the arty crowd - not the "in" crowd.Always feeling as not really belonging anywhere. Now I have to hear from so many that I was a popular girl and remembered by many whom I can not vaguely remember at all. I am really puzzled by this.
5. A lot of the people are divorced and in their second marriages. And a few have never been married (not counting the ones in item 2). 
6. Some have kids that have already finished school and one of the girls just had a little boy.
7. At least 4 of us have twins of which only one pair is the result of fertility treatment.
8. Most people remember me for always taking photos and painting (now that sounds like me) and dating the older boys .For how one of our class mates threw a compass into my bum in class because I dated his older brother. For being friends with my group - no surprise there. And also for being sick for a big part of my High school career - I only now found out most people had the misconception I had cancer while I only lost my hair due to an auto Immune disease. (Another post for another day.)

So in October I will see what the reunion hold. And you? Have you gone to your reunions? What is your observations?

The weekend that was...

was a good one - relaxing, not too much planned and quite a lot done amongst it working in the garden and getting a water leak sorted. What made my heart very happy this weekend was:

• Our first night with both boys sleeping through in a while.
• Attending the baby shower of a friend who has waited 7 years, 2 miscarriages, IVF attempts and a tube pregnancy for her little man
• The Princess' first play date with a school friend from her new school. Up until now she did not seem to have made a specific bond with one girl.
  
• Making vetkoek for the family ( a first for the boys) and everybody enjoying it so much. A definite future idea.
• Making my first lamb and lentil stew ever -  dinner for tonight and tastes and looks wonderful.

• The boys really taking part in family church on Sunday morning - singing, going to the front to dance with the bigger kids and going to the front on their own when the pastor was calling for 3 year olds to come to the front. I am so proud of the confidence they both showed - maybe it is confidence in numbers?
  
• The kids playing so nicely all together on Sunday - first with Little man L's new roller paint and then making tents and camping in the garden.

This artwork is going on the passage wall.

When I went to break down her tent late afternoon while she was napping, I found her 3 little friends patiently waiting inside. I just love these little snippets of their childhood that I can capture.

And even though a Monday turns out super hectic like mine - a weekend like this, just Makes my Monday.

Playing along with Cheryl.

Friday already!

Gosh, this week has flown by like nothing. I have a nice little photo post for Friday entertainment, but before that, a little summary of what's happening in our little corner of the world:

• Lucy is still on sick leave - I am so so so over this but it's not her fault.
• We now have a little red boy chicken (see how I fluke the search engines!) that have joined our driveway crowd - hence we get that nostalgic crowing in the mornings. Luckily he seem to be a late sleeper. I am loving this chicken thing. I think we might have some nesting soon.

• Little man L had his first OT session last week where he did not need to do integration before starting with concentration work. He enjoyed the roller ball paint so much that he got some as a reward from his OT this week. This week however, she did integration again. She did explain that it all helps in a hand in hand way. BTW - this paint is fantastic and she says you can get it at Pick n Pay.

Onto a Friday Photo story (still catching up on our last two holidays):

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

My FIL is  a cabinet maker by trade and a retired woodwork teacher. In December when we had our quick visit to Port Elizabeth he had a huge surprise for the Boys - they made their own trucks in his workshop.

Oupa had everything prepared beforehand and they just assembled it all:

The trucks made great toys and are still a favorite. I could not believe how quiet and interested they were -up until then they have never sat so quiet for such a long time.

What a  great Oupa!

Then Magic within.

The Princess believes that if you dress like a faerie, it will be much easier to see one in the garden - almost a bit like camouflage. As I saw her dancing through the leaves and looking into the flower beds, I thought back to a conversation Hunter and I had driving back from the South Coast after our Easter holiday. We talked about the Easter Bunny, Father Christmas and Tooth faerie and when it is appropriate to tell your kids that these guys do not actually exist. Do you tell them or do you wait for them to hear it somewhere else and then confirm? I myself, would prefer to keep that magic alive for a long long time.

You see, when my dad passed away just after I turned 7, all magic stopped in our house. He was the keeper of the magic, the creator of the paw prints, the builder and decorator of the Christmas tree. My mom was never really the one that was excited about these things and I think that for her, all the magic stopped when he passed away and that she felt the magic had to stop for all. I clearly remember the first Christmas - there was no tree, actually, up and till today my mom never has a Christmas tree. Sadly so, I think - a granny should have one. There was a few presents, but she decided not to cook a Christmas meal. My one gran was with her other kids and the other one was with us and my mom stated (and I remember it to today) that it was not worth cooking a Christmas meal for just us 3. So we drove around on Christmas day, looking for somewhere to have lunch - and of course, everywhere was either closed or fully booked. I remember us stopping at a road house and buying toasted samies and hamburgers. It is the first day that I remember the dark wolf visiting me - how totally sad and depressed I felt in the back of the car - thinking that the magic was gone.

For a few years after we always spent the day with family, but never had anything festive up at home. At age 12 I had enough - so for my Christmas present I asked for a tree. My mom took me that very day to buy a small fold up plastic tree that we used until I moved out of the house. Then my mom chucked it away.

So I fully intend to keep the magic alive in our house for as long as possible - those are such wonderful times to remember. Such joy and anticipation. I also believe that stirring and supporting the imagination of children makes them more creative thinkers and in any branch of business creative thinking is always an asset. I know the day will come when (I suspect it will be Father Christmas) gets dismissed by the Princess, but I will certainly try to get her to become a contributor to the magic until the Boys are big enough to say goodbye to it themselves.

As to Faeries - well, I am sure I saw one on Sunday. Flying past the Princess just before she saw her.

 

Playing along today with Angie