The Bear's favorite things

Mr C's previous list was also back in October.

DVD:  Wizard of Oz
Meal:a Apparently mash - a total surprise to me.
Fruit: Banana and apple - he is my "ordinary " fruit kid
Vegetable: Carrots - raw or cooked
Breakfast: Pro Nutro or green Ice age Oaties
Drink: Water and juice
Drinking yogurt flavour: Strawberry
Sweets: Chomps and marshmallow fish
Chips/crisps: Cheese curls
Toy:  Airoplane that makes an aanoying airoplane sound - he took it to school today for show and tell
Colour: Green
I also asked him his sister's additional questions:
Animal: Zebra and giraffe (not the band, the actual animals - there is an SA band called Zebra and giraffe)
Sea animal: Sea horses.
Bird: Swan
iPad app: Make a scene - farmyard
Book: "There's no place like Space" a Dr Seuss book
Song: Juiliette - the Afrispaans (Spanish) version of the Steve Hofmeyer song.Although I do not like Steve this is a great version of a cool song
Extra mural activity: Mickey Maths and pottery
Current obsession:Space - he can tell you all about planets, black holes etc.

The Princess' favorite things

I thas been a while, well back in October last year, that I did a "favorite things" with the kids. Then I saw Jenty did it again so remembered about it. I took all the questions I did last time and then she added a few of her own.

DVD: Sound of music, Wizard of Oz , Mary Poppins, Annie and Never Ending Story  staying with the musicals
Meal: Braaivleis she is a meat baby and quiche a recent discovery at granny's
Fruit: Mango &  litchi
Vegetable: Red and yellow peppers, baby carrots, baby corn and coctail tomatoes. All eaten raw and preferred above fruit in her lunch box
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and toast and wheat bix flakes
Drink: Mango juice and hot chocolate
Drinking yogurt flavour: Ganadilla or strawberry
Sweets: Liquorice allsorts or those peanut sweets
Chips/crisps: Cheese naks
Toy:  Top Model books and Lego
Colour: Khaki green or so she says??.
Her additions:
Animal: Rhino - she is incredibly drawn to the fight for our rhinos. She is passionate about saving them
Sea animal: Dolphins, killer whales and great white sharks.
Bird: Penguins
iPad app: Angry birds
Leappad app: Pet Pad
Book: "Mia se ma " and National Geographic magazines - not the kiddies ones - old back issues of the original magazines
Song: Payphone by Maroon 5 and Rolling in the deep by Adele
Extra mural activity: Ballet, drama and hockey. Actually she says she also likes art and swimming annd netball- I see a busy life ahead
Current obsession: Egyptology


I love to do these with the kids - little reminders of how things change. So who is up to doing it too?

Have you seen today's Google doodle?

BTW - I love Google doodles - I sort of "collect" them - save the ones I love.

It would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday today. I had to smile and relive some beautiful moments in the lovely "Julie & Julia" movie - the glorious food, the wonderful outrageous way Julia Child talked, her courage and confidence, and the wonderful relationship between her and her hubby. It was such a great movie - I actually just want to see it again. (never mind the blogging was involved int he story line) And the food - glorious food. And so the mind drifted to other wonderful food movies that I loved.

I came out completely hungry and craving Chinese food after seeing "The Joy Luck Club". My, was it tasty - not only the food but the wonderful companionship between the women through the generations. Playing Mahjong over dishes fit for queens. Lovely food, great story. (Stunning book too if you ever want to read it)

In "Babettes feast" it was not only the wonderful feast that was such a pleasure on the eye but also the stunning scenery as two sisters make a feast for their village. I will never forget that festive table, literally overloaded with the best food ever.

Although "Fried green tomatoes at the Whistle stop cafe" was not technically a "food" movie I  loved the food in it. I have always wondered how friend green tomatoes actually taste - maybe it's time I tried. Lovely drama , great bit of mystery.

Hunter and I saw "Tortilla soup" one night - the story of a dad and his 3 daughters, and how relationships change as they grow up with the wonderful food and ritual around it as the stable point in the house. We came out craving Mexican, and anything else that looks tasty and spicy.

Possibly one of the most sensual movies I have ever seen has been "Like water for chocolate" - wow, South American passion also overflowing into the food. A feast for the eye and sense of taste. (The book is also a great read)

And then last, but certainly not least, the feast for every chocolate lover's eye - "Chocolat" - (forget that Johnny Depp is also there to feast the eyes on). Oh my word, those chocolates, pots of chocolate being stirred, fillings made. Plain wicked and very very tempting. Best seen with a Toblerone as companion. (btw - lovely lovely book)

There is nothing like a good food movie to bring the creative side to the front, and I do need some cooking inspiration right now.

So which of these movies did you like, or not. Any other good food movies out there to see?

Our life on Instagram - first week of August 2012

I had a glorious long weekend, so much so that I sort of feel a bit lost today at work and believe me, I can not afford it at the moment with all the work I have. But Hunter and I had a lovely date day on Thursday and Friday I was stay at home mom with and extra kid(a friend of A) - great to spend so much time with the kids but a bit sad to say that at times the day was tough. I did make chicken soup which came out divine and will also post you the recipe later. On Saturday Hunter had a work commitment and I took the kids to my mom (post to follow) - the weather was ok so we had fun outdoors and on Saturday night had friends over for rugby and a braai. I baked a honey cake which was also came out really great. Sunday was icy cold and we spent the day as a family - we went for a swim at the gym to counter the cabin fever and had a great afternoon nap all round.

So what was your weekend like?

Our week per Instagram last week:

Day 19/365 Monday 6 Aug - Olympic fever - she made a gymnast with pipe cleaners and feathers. Totally her own creative idea.

Day 21/365 Wednesday 8 Aug - We visited Decorex on the trade day - love dthis idea.

Day22/365 Thursday 9 Aug - Date day and our lovley meals at Cafeino

 As per usual I have a few others to share of the week and that I might not use in another post:

Snow flakes melted to perfect drops on our pansies

I got served a perfect cup of mud coffee on Friday.

The magic happens outside your comfort zone

Hunter and I did a deal with Lucy to work on Woman'sday and to then have today off. This gave the two of us the chance to spend a "date day" together very close to the anniversary of our engagement 12 years ago and her the chance to go home for a nice long weekend. The Princess was at a Technology course while the boys spend the day with Lucy.

The two of us had the most fantastic day- we started off by going to gym together- something we never get to do . I was planning to do a yoga class while he would go to a spinning class- both of us in our comfort zone types of exercise. Well, the roster was a bit upside down with the public holiday and after encouragement by H I made a split moment decision and went to
my very first spinning class. Spinning has always looked so totally intimidating to me, and gosh yes, it is tough going but I am super happy to say that I made it through the whole class and although I am really sore today I will do it again. Magic!

After that we ran some errands, did some shopping and then had a lovely lunch at a small Greek restaurant. I do love stepping out of the franchise, well known comfort zone eating places too and try somethibg new and Cafénio in Colbyn did not disappoint. It was one of the best meals I have had in a long time and we had such a lovely relaxing time chatting away and enjoying my free Womansday cuppacino . Magic!

A final rounding off is that we managed to get the boys to naps and we all had a gorgeous afternoon nap before I picked up the Princess at friends of ours.

A wonderful wonderful day I will cherish for a long time. Have you ever done a whole " date day"? I will certainly recommend it.

It never rains but it snows!

Seeing random grown ups yesterday, laughing, dancing and standing with their tongs stuck out to catch the snow was priceless. In the space of seconds we all became kids again. The novelty of snow turned us all into a younger, more carefree version of ourselves. Oh for a snow day, however light it was. My kids all could not contain their breathless enthusiasm describing how they played in the snow, ran around and had fun.

To explain to those not familiar with our normal weather patterns - Pretoria has one of the most moderate Winter climates with normal temperatures between 3 and 21 degrees C . It snows once in about 100 years ( more often in neighboring Johannesburg and surrounds) . The last time it snowed here was back in 1920. And although at my office it was not much, near our home and at the schools the grass had a good thin snow covering. I am so glad all 3 kids got to experience it!

Our life in 365 on Instagram - end June/first week of August

So, what was your weekend like? We had a rather good one apart from two boys that really had it in for each other late yesterday afternoon. But let me share the past week with you.

Day 13/365 Tuesday 31/7/12 Tour to the //HAPO building - full post here.

Day 14/365 Wednesday 1/8/12 I attended the opening of Pretoria's GAP store - full post here.

Day 15/365 Thursday 2/8/12 The string of orchids my mom gave me catches the morning sunlight at about 6:50am.

Day 18/365 Sunday 5/8/12 The school had a family picnic to raise funds for our pool at the Voortrekker monument. Full post to follow but love this picture.

I also have to share a few that made it onto Instagram but not as THE photo of the day.

Our beautiful first born girl - almost 11 years and still have the energy of a puppy , well almost.

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our day to day life. So how was your weekend?

National pride

South Africa is on a total high today after winning our third gold medal at the Olympics last night. It might not seem much for my overseas readers, but taking into account we won one silver in Beijing this is just fantastic. Add to that that only one of the wins (Cameron van den Burgh) was predicted and it makes it so much sweeter.

I just love the video of Chad le Clos' dad Bert - pure parenting proudness. But it is the commentators that really have me fascinated with all the mistakes they make in their excitement. Here in SA we generally hear the British commentators but I has a chance to hear the American commentary on the Le Clos race yesterday morning. Gosh, it was funny- as Chad won she said, "Oh and Michale Phelps makes a huge mistake"  And that's it - not someone else won very deservingly because he was the best on the day. To Phelps' credit after his very visible disappointment just after the race in the pool, he snapped back to be the perfect gentleman and looser (well, in my books a silver at the Olympics is anything but a looser). In an interview on the radio yesterday morning Bert le Clos told South Africa that Michael Phelps is the best mannered lad he has ever met and that his mom has raised him so well. Now that is the Olympic spirit.

Even more of a surprise was our coxless 4 rowers - somewhere along the line the commentator gets confused between South Africa (an outright surprise) and Australia (a possible winner) and commentates most of the way in the race accordingly .To his own surprise he realizes as the race completes that it is in fact South Africa that won and not Australia and you can hear the shock in his voice..

Steering on with the national pride idea, I think we have produced a building that deservedly needs it's place in the international Architectural scene.

On Tuesday morning I was privileged to be able to go on an architects only pre view of the new //HAPO exhibition space/museum being completed at Freedom park. It is a building that has sparked a lot of talk in South Africa and will only open to the public later this year. So I will share just a few pictures with you.

A very photogenic building and I would suggest a visit once it opens. From what we could see of some of the exhibits they were busy with it will be exciting and interactive with a children's garden and story tellers to lead you through. If you are in any way a photographer, do go - it is extremely photogenic.

I rubbed shoulders with some celebs last night

I attended the opening of Pretoria's GAP store last night in Brooklyn Mall- only the 3rd in the country. Fashionistas were already asking to be let in the morning, but at 4:30 last night the doors opened to feature Christina Storm, Loui Fish and several others, being filmed by Fashion TV no less. The store is absolutely beautiful and the clothes, well, just stunning. I love that the girl range goes from 4 to 15 in the same beautiful florals etc. The GAP baby stuff is just breathtaking and I am incredibly happy that I have no babies to buy for because it will be so hard to resist.

Photo supplied by GAP

Photo supplied by GAP

As we left the store we were met by waiters with wonderful trays of awesome sweetness - macaroons, baby red velvet cupcakes, mini brownies and fruit.

Ah, and then there was the goody bag and my very own GAP T shirt, fragrance samples and a 20% off voucher until end August so I guess I will have to go shopping some time.

A day at the Pretoria zoo

I have promised a picture post from mid July of our day at the zoo. It was truly a great way to spend the last day of the school holidays. It was a nice and warm (not hot) day and was just perfect. As we had the grandparents with us we opted to rent golf carts and my, was that fun for the kids. We also took the Princess' friend K along - a great decision as everyone had a friend for company. But without further ado, as always , better told in pictures:

We all loved the Kodiak bears and the boys both declared them their favorites.

One of the zoo's top attractions - the Koala bears and my personal favorite.

Checking out the Hippos

And just because you all loved the leopard in my original post, another one of him. Miss K's favorite of the day.

The flamingos are just fascinating and beautiful

The Princess' favorite - the Komodo dragons - one of only a few zoos in the world to host them.

It was just the perfect end to the holidays and to our time with Ouma and Oupa. So have you been to your local zoo lately? Did you know that the Pretoria zoo is one of the top 10 zoos in the world taking into account not only the environment etc but also research and breeding programs?

  and Parenting by Dummies for Wordful Wednesday