What a weekend...

This weekend was an insane one. First off, it was Jake's 5th birthday on Saturday. I can't believe that my baby's already 5, where has the time gone? How can he possibly be so grown up already? I'm so lucky to have him in my life, he is the most wonderful child I could ever have wished for and I love him more then words can say! I'm such a lucky mommy...

The weather was forecast to be crap for Saturday - 80% chance of rain and 65 knot winds - so I opted to substitute the jumping castle for a magician on Thursday and it was the best thing I could've done, since it poured with rain and we were forced to stay indoors. I don't know what I would've done with all those kids (25 + some siblings) without the extra entertainment!

Jake was up early on Saturday morning - like 4:30, but I managed to get him to go back to sleep and we eventually got up at 6:15. He was just so excited and couldn't wait to open his presents. We hauled his duvet to the lounge and snuggled on the couch (just the 2 of us) while he opened his gifts from me. It was great to have a few quiet moments with him on my own, before the day began.

The party started at 2 and the kids had a ball. The magician was fantastic, even though he forgot who the birthday boy was and then when we pointed out that it was the kid with the crown on, he called Jake Jason. He eventually got the logistics sorted out, got down onto their level and put on a brilliant show for the boys and girls (and parents). They were mesmerized and Jake hasn't stopped talking about his birthday ever since!. After the party, the family and a few friends stayed for supper after the party and we eventually got to bed at about 10:30. It was quite a day for us!!

The fun continued on Sunday, it was my birthday. On Friday morning Jake had been so excited about turning 5, he wanted to know how old I was turning. I got him to guess and he guessed 60. 60!! I know I have crows feet, but surely I don't look that old. Anyway, just to set the record straight, I turned 32 yesterday. Jake woke up really early again, but I managed to convince him to close his eyes for a little while longer, which he did and then only woke up at 8:35 - what more could I have wished for? When he woke up, he looked at me and said, 'it's your birthday! Happy birthday Mommy!'. Then he rubbed my shoulders and tickled my back for all of 3 seconds, but still - I don't think there could've been any better start to my day! I had a few friends that popped in to wish me in the afternoon and they all spoilt me rotten!

So, before I overload you with photos, I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped make Jake and I feel so special and so loved on our birthday weekend, it was great!! We were showered with phone calls and sms's and visits - it was a really great weekend, especially for Jake...

Opening presents. Do you remember feeling this excited about your birthdays when you were a kid??

A frog for the veggie patch from a family friend... The party table... Waiting for friends to arrive...Josette (Jacques' sister) with little Connor. It was Connor's first birthday party, I think he was in shock...Cutting the cake...Waiting for the show to begin...Look how many kids there were...Jake was called up to help with a few things. He was very embarrassed at first...Pooping out an egg... It worked... The old trick of the breaking wand. Jake thought this was hysterical...A balloon poodle (don't ask me why not a sword) for his efforts...Abracadabra...Pass-the-parcel passed the rest of the time... A very happy little boy at the end of his day...I realized when I put Jake to bed last night (again in my bed - my treat for my birthday), I realized that I didn't have any photos of the two of us from the weekend, so took a few myself. It's one of the joys of being a single parent, there just wasn't time to think about what I was doing properly. I was sober when I took these shots, though I don't look it. I took about 100 photos, of which at least 87 are of me with my eyes closed. I had to take some without the flash, just to try catch us both with open eyes. In the rest of the pictures, we look like dorks, but they're happy memories, we laughed our heads off in the process...

One last thing, please spare a thought for Gareth, my future brother-in-law, who sprained and then broke his ankle (the sprain made him fall) getting out of his car on Friday night. He had to have surgery done yesterday to pop the joint back into place and they've put plates into his ankle to reinforce it. He'll probably be in hospital till Wednesday. Hope you feel better soon!!

Happy Mother's Day...

My gift this year...

It was a long, busy weekend and, despite having a sore throat from hell, I'm quite glad to be back at work again today!! So, as you can see, Jake's gone and broken his arm. It happened on Saturday, exactly a week before his 5th birthday party. He was at a party on Saturday afternoon and fell off the top of a jumping castle. I'd just warned him that he needed to be careful, but, as those of you with sons will know, boys just don't listen. He had one knee bent under his bum and the other alongside him. He then stretched across to pull a lemon off the tree next to the jumping castle, someone jumped onto the 'beam' he was balancing on and he fell off the other side, landing on his wrist. We spent the rest of Saturday afternoon at the hospital having X-Rays done and he's got a fracture in the bone on the inside of his left arm. So, he's got his arm in plaster. He's not amused and is already telling me that he wants the plaster off. He says he's getting angry with it. He's very itchy, so I can't blame him getting upset!! Anyway, he'll be like this for about 4 weeks - it's going to be a long month! He's enjoying the attention though...

Besides that, Rose and Gareth helped Jake spoil us with a fabulous breakfast yesterday, which was a real treat. Rose picked Jake up early and took him to Gareth's folk's house (they're house-sitting). We had a few glasses of bubbly and enjoyed the warm autumn morning together...

We also visited Jacques' family and I was spoilt with a candle holder & card that Jake made for me at school, plus another chocolate & beautiful cream scarf that my mom helped Jake buy for me. Jacques' grandfather bought me a box of chocolates too - so spoilt girl!

After all our running around visiting everyone, we decided to go up Table Mountain with my cousin, Taryn, who's here from Johannesburg. It was a absolutely beautiful day and the views were incredible...

For those that don't know the area, this is looking down over Camp's Bay and Clifton Beaches...

I couldn't get Jake to stop climbing everything with one hand. He was on a mission to catch a lizard...

Here's Jake sulking 'cos I had just moaned at him about climbing. Cape Point is out in the back ground...

The restaurant/shop...

The patient enjoying the view of the city...

Part of the city bowl. Note our burnt Devil's Peak and how close the blaze came to the properties. This is actually just a fraction of the burnt mountain.... Signal Hill and Robben Island. If you look carefully, you can see our new 2010 soccer stadium just in front of the end of Signal Hill, just before the water...

The lower cable station...

Looking down the cables. It's an intimidating thing if you don't like heights...

I promise to try catch up again soon...

XXX

A Day of Freedom...

Yesterday morning at about 1am, Mary passed away peacefully in her sleep. After her long, tough battle with Cancer, I think that this is a relief to all who knew her, especially Paul and TJ. Mary was wonderful lady, a devout Catholic and a loving mother. It was an honour to have known her.

The funeral will be held on Thursday afternoon at 3pm at the Catholic Church in Pinelands. Please keep the family, especially Paul and TJ, in your thoughts as they say their final farewell to their wonderful mother.

Much love, Susan XXX

Election results...

For those of you interested, here's a link to the official election results. The ANC (Jacob Zuma) came through with a 65.9% victory, which was just marginally less then their required 2/3rds majority, which would've entitled them to make uncontested changes to our constitution (thank goodness for free & fair elections!!). While they only reached about 16% nationally, within the Western Cape (our part of the country), the DA came out tops, with just over 50% of the total provincial vote. Well done to Helen Zille and her team!!

I hope that you are all enjoying your weekend, it's rainy and cold in Cape Town and my bed is calling me in a huge way! I've just had soup and bread, followed by braai'ed (BBQ) chicken & salad for dinner with my in-laws. Oh, it was followed by braai'ed marshmallows - delicious, I'm so full I could burst! My child is exhausted, it's nearly 9:30, but there has been so much good wine flowing - it's like a mini wine competition here!! I'll deal with a grumpy child tomorrow!

Catch up again next week with photos! XXX

PS. Also to take this opportunity to let you all know that Mary is really not in good shape. Paul spent the night with her last night and is there again tonight. Her breathing is very irregular and she's not really conscious at the moment. My thoughts are with them non-stop, this is a very emotional time for them all...

Update...

I know I have a few readers out there who check my blog from time to time and just want to ask for you all to hold Mary, Paul and Joanne close in your thoughts this morning. Mary is really not doing well, she hasn't been eating or drinking for a few days now and Paul was called to be with her at 4:30 this morning. Jo and Connor have gone through now too, to be with Paul and his brother at their mother's home in Pinelands. Things like this are never easy and the next few days are going to be tough ones, but I know that as Mary spends her last moments surrounded by her family, she is a very proud and happy woman.

Sue x

Tomorrow...

I will be getting up early, to go and cast my vote at our nearby school. I hope that you will all (local readers, of course) be doing the same. I believe that, if you don't say your say when it counts, shut up when things don't go the way you want them to!!

Besides the voting and trying to explain to Jake what exactly it means to vote, the concept of politics; what a government does and who a president is (seriously, I can't answer all these questions!! Political ostrich, remember??!), I'm hoping to have a very lazy day tomorrow. Jake & I are going to watch a movie and take it easy with friends. These days it seems we're more on holiday then at work and I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with working a full week again next month. For those who don't live here, besides the Easter Weekend (giving us two 4 day weeks), tomorrow's a holiday, the 27th's Freedom Day and the 1st is Worker's Day, which means next week I'll only be at work for 3 days! It makes work quite busy and I have so much to do in the next couple of days. Quite a month...

Hope you all have a good day tomorrow and enjoy the extra time with your families. I have been terrible with my blog - I have lots of new photos and need to update Delicious Divas soon too (dinner was last Tuesday). I'll catch up on every one's news on Thurs.

Lots of love XXX

The Easter Weekend...

So, our count-down to Easter has come and gone and now we're counting the days until Jake's 5th birthday! Jake had a ball this weekend. He was spoilt and has enough chocolate stashed away (hidden) in the draw in his bedroom to feed a small army. And I seriously don't think he's going to want to eat anything else for the next 2 months. At least. Still, Easter morning was tons of fun and it was fab sharing it with Jake. He really understood what was going on and the build up to Easter has been great! Jake spent Saturday night in my bed and the bunny was a little late with his deliveries, so Jake and I actually lay in until 7:30 on Sunday morning. He was awake at 6:30, but I had to keep checking and the bunny didn't come until 7:30 (lazy boy!). Jake wasn't too stressed about getting up and we read stories and cuddled and chatted for nearly an hour before we finally decided that the bunny had to have finished the job and got out of bed. When Jake looked out the window and saw the garden littered with eggs, he was shaking with excitement.

Jo, Paul, Connor & Paul's brother, TJ, came around for breakfast (it was nearly lunch time by the time they got there and we ate) and it was good to catch up with them all again. Jake is really sweet with Connor; he loves holding him and it's going to be fun for him to see Connor grow and learn. I'm also sure that he'll remember Connor as a baby, which makes this such a special time. I can remember back to when I was about 5 (not too well, but snippets), so fingers crossed...

Jake trying to get Connor to hold a little plastic football... Connor was much happier gripping the champagne cork that I gave him...

Jacques' family were away camping for the long weekend and we went through on Monday to spend some time with them. My dad came with us and we dropped him off at the slip to go cray fishing with Jacques' dad. He had a good time and it did him good to get out the house. He came home with 4 crayfish for us, so we were all happy!! Since it was the last day of the cray fishing season, we'll have to wait until November before we can have more! The girls stayed at the camp site with the kids, who rode their bikes, swung in the hammock and looked for feathers. We took them down to the beach for a while too, which is always great. The tide was out and they had so much fun looking through the rock pools together.

And with that, here are some photos from Kommetjie...

Jake waiting at the slip for his grandpa's boat to come in and fetch his Pa (my dad)...

The water was really busy on Saturday, but the conditions were great (bit bumpy further out). With it being the end of the season, everyone wanted to have one last fish...Jake got bored of waiting and decided to chase the birds on the beach instead. Sorry about the sun spot...Down at the beach with the girls...These two are thick as thieves. And almost as much trouble together. They fight like cat and dog, but get on so well at the same time... The water was crystal clear, made me wish I'd brought my cozzie with. Until I put my feet in...The tide was out, so the kids were able to explore the rock pools that are normally well underwater...We tried really hard to get the kids to pose for a photo together. It's impossible. Abigail's 8, Rebecca's 6 and Jake's 4 - no chance. First we had Abi behaving like a monkey, while the other two posed...Then Jake & Becky got bored, but Abi carried on her act...And then Jake & Becky decided to join in the fun...I think I might just disown them all... Granny came to the rescue and we managed to get at least one nice photo of them all looking at the camera at the same time...

This is the view back down Kommetjie Beach, towards Hout Bay. Again, sorry about the sun spots. I quite like them though...

And that's about it. The rest of the weekend was pretty busy too. I had book club on Thursday night and it ended up getting a bit rough. We landed up at Guzzlers in Milnerton of all places (it's SO dodge) and then at the Edgemead Soccer Club. I got home at 3am and had lost the back of my cell phone, so I'm using an elastic band to keep it all together now (classy). I also left my car in Royal Ascot, so had to collect that on Friday morning. I wasn't feeling hot on Friday morning and was so tired (Jake was up at 7!). My folks gave me a good break and took Jake to the beach so I could sleep a little bit more. We took it easy on both Friday and Saturday, hiring DVDs, slobbing on the couch and catching up on sleep. Just what I needed after Book Club. After the egg hunt and breakfast on Sunday, we had a few visitors and I had dinner later with my friend Jacki & her boyfriend.

Hope you all had a good Easter weekend too!!

Love Sue xxx