Let's be honest

The last few weeks have been some of the most difficult in my life. It's been hard and stressful and tough to make so many business decision on  my own. To try and take over from someone that had so much more experience in life than me. To believe that I can do this. But things seem to be slowly falling into place and there is hope on the horizon.

We have not bee away the holidays or any of the long weekends - honestly with all that was going on there simply was no scope to do that. But we had fun and some wonderful days in the mix.

Easter weekend was filled with great food , good company and lots of fun.

 We made candles and used up some of our old ordinary white candles and some of those millions of crayons every household has hanging around. It was great fun and came our really pretty

 We went to a very special little girls' 5th birthday celebration and had wonderful My little Pony cake to fill the rest of the weekend.

 I read two great Afrikaans whodunnits (with my birthday cake) - watch out for some book chat next week.

 My mom cooked us oxtail with samp and beans and peaches. She has not been able to cook us a meal in over 3 years with all the operations she had. It was a huge celebration that she was able to do this. She finished the meal off with her fantastic malva poeding.

 As per tradition in our church we took flowers to decorate the empty cross on Easter Sunday. It was a colourful celebration of our risen Saviour.

 Easter Sunday also saw the traditional Easter egg hunt - with oir great family friends. It was a day of fun, swimming and relaxation.

 While the kids devoured chocolate and spaghetti blognaise the adults ate:

 Chocolate too of course! (those ladybirds are the best)

 Lovely Dahl

 Beef curry

Great Cape Classique

And desert too (well we all had)

And we had another little celebration with the 5 year old.

It was such a great weekend!

Things to do this weekend

Yes I know I have been very very quiet but life has been rushing along at a HUGE pace. My MIL has been visiting which is always so lovely. She left yesterday with my freezer full and our hearts empty.

This weekend seem to be one that holds many events We are celebrating two very special birthdays on Sunday with a party on Saturday. But there are so many other things happening

On Sunday Market at the Sheds are having their special Spring and Heritage day celebrations(see more about market at the sheds here) - there is a lot going on in the CBD of Pretoria around the market to celebrate Heritage day - see here for Spring in the City

Hazel food market is on every Saturday morning with selected night markets. There are so much to eat and enjoy and the little side market with crafts also has enough to offer.

A's favorite - oysters

Stunning schwarma

Belgian waffles

You can show your support for children with Cancer by visiting the Wall of generosity at Brooklyn Mall. This is a fantastic cause and runs with Cupcakes for Cancer. Go get your cupcake and honour your cancer hero. To find the early warning signs for Childhood cancer - see here.

Not in Pretoria but close enough, the coolest place to be this weekend is the Nerf Bootcamp. Best of all - it's free!

For a rest and a bit...

So how has everybody been? I took a nice 4 day long weekend with the kids and it was really great - well mostly. But don't you agree with me - school should have closed down on Wednesday - now we have this loos week in between and honestly no one is feeling like school. All 3 kids had quite a bit of homework today so it is not like the academics has slowed down on bit. Our weekend in a nutshell:

• The boys both had friends over on Friday after both the friend's moms helped me out for a few hours the morning while I took A to the doctor. The boys had huge fun - all 4 or the two sets apart. The lounge was turned into a Lego den for most of the day and the next and wonderful creations were build.

• After participating in a hockey course on Thursday A had to pay a visit to the doctor on Friday morning with a swollen and sore foot. Turns out a stress fracture has been forming over a period of time and that the hockey was just the last straw. 4 Weeks of rest, strapping and some anti inflammatories and she should be good for the go. Apparently a rather common event for growing kids especially dancers, gymnasts, long jumpers and long distance runners.
• C yesterday had a huge fall while walking with the dogs - so he has grazed knees, an ankle and an elbow. The poor kid is walking with greater difficulty than A at the moment.
• We saw the Angry birds movie - the kids loved it - I should have taken a podcast or something along... Honestly most kids movies give something adults can enjoy - this one - nothing! Or am I the odd on out here? Please give me some feedback.

•  A had two parties - a Disco dance one on Wednesday night which was a huge hit with all the boys and girls. It was for a boy /girl twin pair that are leaving for the USA this week - so a farewell too. She also had a very relaxed picnic under the trees at the Botanical garden on Saturday where they all just chilled.
• I also managed to get all the kids mostly sorted with winter clothes - yes I know, it's halfway through but I just did not get the chance up to now. I have to take them all along and can really not buy for them without them with me any more. 
• We tried to make yesterday a great Fathersday for our Hunter - he is such  a brilliant dad and deserves every minute of the day. We took him breakfast in bed and had lunch at my moms. (Which he helped to cook but was happy to do so)

•  And we realized once again on Saturday night that the kids will push boundaries - even at 11 and 8 and that you have to lay down the lines. Hence there are two kids in our house with no access to their tablets and no TV until we decide that they have done their dues.

It was a really good weekend - all things considered the downs were really less than the greats. Now onwards to the holidays.

A good long weekend at home consist of....

Sweet, good and thoughtful kids that buys you an early Mothersday gift and stay sweet for a whole weekend. Kids that let their parents have extended Sunday afternoon naps and help to tidy up the house.

Some beauty and sweet fragrances - and a good visit to my mom.

 Saturday night out and Chinese and sushi with my 3 men (A had a sleepover with a friend)

A good book or two to read - and actually finishing one and almost another. 

A good hike up our favorite trail with the puppies and some good friends - followed by a lovely braai after.

Little gifts of love from one of the kids, nature finds and laughs

 Chocolate muffins for breakfast at 9 - all in our pj's on a Sunday morning.

 Great food - Hunters chicken curry, a leisurely afternoon with wine and an autumn swim with friends (their pool is heated) .

Perfection - absolutely!

So how did you enjoy your long weekend?

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?

There are good weekends, and there are great weekends.

This weekend fell into the great category. Why? Maybe because Ouma was still here? Or because we did some fun things? All that yes, but mainly because we had a weekend without tests, tasks and orals to prepare. And no 8-12 ballet practice or any other school and sports commitments. Yes, we had our early morning horse riding and church , but it still left the whole Saturday and Sunday open to enjoy without thinking of all the things that still had to be done for the week's school. Honestly treasure weekends before grade 4 folks - for 6 solid weekends it was test preparation and way more every single weekend.

So we had a blissful weekend of family visits and quality time together. The cooler weather was a great change and I got to wear my favorite sneakers.

Among the visits and meals we:

Planted a Stapela grandiflora or carrion flower that promptly opened it's flower the next day. It was amazing to see the flies gather in the middle for pollination. I can attest that it does indeed smell like carrion (it's common name is the carrion flower) but only if you smell up close.

We planted a little succulent garden with a sprinkling of salad greens close to the front door. I can not wait to see the succulents grow and the kids love to have a hand in it. They also helped to plant a small veggie patch elsewhere.

Although  A spent most of her weekend catching up on reading she did make us old fashioned lemon and custard tart - it was so yummy.   Always a great fast treat.

We had a lovely family church service where the kids made these little crosses and the story of the muddy heart turned into a white heart with the blood of Jesus was once again told. The crosses came in a gift bag with an Easter egg and the bits of coloured paper to remind them that Easter and Jesus and the empty grave is actually the greatest gift of all.

Ocean admiring the view

 After dropping off Ouma at the airport we hiked up the Faerie Glen koppie - it was lovely and green after the rain. We all had a great time and had a white Easter egg picnic on top.

Miss Ocean and Gabby met the zebras in the reserve and was really well behaved.

It was truly just a great one and I am so looking forward to the next two long weekends of rest and no school work. Roll on holidays.