Tuesday 29 March 2016

Oh hallo!


Golden hour pretty at the koppie
After my full 10 days of my little holiday and silence from my part I was actually surprised to see how many bloggers took the same little break - or a part of it. It's been a good break - and we did not even go away. I loved a lot of things about it and am glad we stayed at home. It was just good solid time together - and we got some tasks done. I have to also mention that magically there has been very little fighting. The odd usual scrap but none of the "I am bored" fighting. The kids have been palying imaginary games, reading books and just doing crafts - I am so glad that they are big enough to do on on their own with this.

My dear Hunter, anchor and compass in my life, had his birthday on the 21st. Honestly I can not imagine my life without him, his love and his special ways. A and I baked him a chocolate cake - just the way he likes is. Dark, moist and no icing. For special effect we added his favorite chocolates , Whispers, inside the cake before we baked it and it turned out super tasty.


Incredible how Autumn arrived smack bang with the Easter weekend. It's cooler in the mornings and nice and warm - well hot , in the middle of the day. As much as I am no fan of Winter I do love Autumn. With it came babychinos and hot chocolate for the kids.

C made us chocolate drops on Saturday - out of the "Cook and enjoy for kids" . He did everything himself - I just stayed and checked that he went about it safely. I can really recommend this book if you want your kids to start cooking and baking on their own.

We spent this last Sunday resting - purely and simply resting. And the kids joined in with gusto. We just had time out - slept, read, watched some movies. We rested. It was magical.

We found the most wonderful mushrooms in our garden after a week of lots and lots of much needed rain. There were 3 different types that were all quire spectacular in size and count. We carefully removed them after the photos - I was scared that the puppies will eat them.

The boys started their holiday with 3 days of solid rugby in their first full on rugby Prestige week. They were exhausted by Wednesday but I think it played a good part in keeping them occupied and happy - and that they learned a lot - especially how to tackle.

Poor A had to have a tooth pulled - a permanent one. It transpires that her jaw is too small and the other 3 similar ones on the other sides will no doubt follow - as will braces later. I was much impressed with our dentist who handled her so well that she says she is not one bit scared to have him do the others when needed. And he is contracted in with the medical aid. Big win. This whole episode actually deserves a blogpost about dentists and medical aids.

I took her and her friend KR for a "little miss manicure" at Sorbet on Tuesday. It was something that I promised to her for the December holidays and that we did not get to with all the things that happened.  It is amazing how special R55 makes them feel.
A with the red and glitter - her friend with the sea colours

I de cluttered all but one of our bookshelves - I donated all the books to Hospice - apart from a few that friends wanted. I just kept 2 categories of fiction - those that I want to read (or read again) and those that I feel is essential reading matter for my kids in the future. It felt great and I had shelf space to store my Project life and photo albums where I want to.

We went to church on Good Friday and Eater Sunday. Although none of the kids believe in the Easter Bunny anymore I did get them a bunny, an egg, those small bantam candy covered eggs and a marshmallow egg or two. They then hid the eggs for each other in the most challenging palces and played "hot and cold" to find them. Great fun. I also did a night time hunt with those "loadshedding' Easter eggs - I love that one can refill them every year with whatever you want to.

We went for a hike up the Koppie - our usual spot and took some friends along. It was great to do it at a more leisurely pace this Sunday as Monday was a public holiday and there was no rush to get home.

Hunter took the kids to see "Kung fu Panda 3" while I went to see "My big fat Greek wedding 2". We all had fun and it was a huge treat for me to see a "non kiddie" movie in the theater. I love my hubby for this idea. Also if you live in Pretoria go have a look at the umbrella feature in The Grove mall - really something to see.


We also baked muffins, had a few braais at home and A baked Barbie cupcakes from one of those premix boxes - totally without me even seeing it.




Every single photo above was taken with my iPhone - why? Well my trusty Canon is refusing to power on - I feel a tad lost without it. It is still under warranty so I am hoping Canon can fix this soon.

That about sums up our last 10 days - so what were you up to?

10 comments:

  1. I love how the time to just take things that bit more slowly went so well for you guys, and so clearly add to your general pool of good family together memories. Your mentioning of decluttering your bookshelves has me wanting to do mine again, but I'll see. There are a few I think can go to the pile going to Se7en's library project.

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    1. If I were closer I would so have sent them to Se7en 's library. But Hospice is a cause close to my heart

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  2. sorry about your camera - do you ever get it serviced?

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    1. I do - but would not have done it while still under waranty and the frame count is also not at service level yet

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  3. Poor Zoe got braces last week Wednesday. Within 5 days her teeth looked different. I'm very glad that we decided to fork out the extra money for the white blocks - the braces are barely noticeable.

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    1. A's front teeth are actually fine but the trouble starts at the back - so this is yet to come for us.

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  4. Our Easter weekend was also very low-key - it was such a joy to just RELAX and spend some quality time together as a family for a change without having to rush anywhere. It. Was. Awesome!

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  5. It looks like you had a great time! So great when the kids start to do things on their own. I also had my 10 days of leave, and we saw very little of Little Miss as she was playing with her friends from morning to evening. (They made friends in the complex where we are staying)

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  6. This looks like a lovely time for family. We did not get ten days, just four. The four were spent in Durban. It was worth the traffic.

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  7. The kids are definitely growing!!!! So wonderful that they actually get along well and mommy has one less thing to worry about.

    Poor A! Glad the dentist did the a good job nothing worse than being scared of the dentist


    Those chocolate drops look so yummy

    And the umbrellas are they there all the time
    Or just for an exhibition. So stunning


    Happy belated birthday to your hubby. Wish him long life and good health

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