Sugar and Spice...

Yesterday was all about the boys, today is for Princess Bi.  What a little treasure she is.  Now that my other two nieces are almost all grown up, it's been such a pleasure to be able to see Bi every day.  She's too cute at the moment and babbles away incessantly.  She has lots of words in her vocabulary too, but still chucks in heaps of gurgles and baby nattering. 

 

Despite getting just about all her remaining teeth at the same time and being a little grumpier than usual, she's just about always all smiles.  She's happiest outdoors, digging in the dirt and making a mess.  Despite Joanne's best attempts, she likes being dirty.  The weather's been really nice just lately and yesterday was beautiful.  When I arrived after work, Bi was running around the garden in just her nappy, happy as ever...

 Check all that drool.  Hurry up little toothy-pegs, hurry up!! 

 Singing and attempting to jump as she walks.  It's all fun and games for this little girl...

 Bi is also an adventurous little thing.  I think even more than Jake was.  She's playing on our old swing here.  She's just climbed from one seat to the other and managed to move her hands without touching the bottom...

 Little fairy with a dirty face and snotty nose...

 Aaaw Auntie Sue!  You're so funny...

Bi will be 18 months old tomorrow. Happy half birthday princess!!  I can't even remember our lives without you.  You are gorgeous and sparkling and so super special.  We love you to pieces x

 

OK, so I lied, here's one picture of Jake.  I can't believe how big my boy is, it feels like yesterday that he was 18 months old.  Today, he's officially 8 and a half.  Happy birthday to you too, my sweet angel-faced boy.  I hope the second half of being 8 is as much fun for you as the first :o)

A highlight for Jake this week, was spotting this snake crossing the road my parents live in.  For those of you who don't know, my parent's have a little nature reserve behind their house.  We've had about a dozen snakes in our garden over the years (including numerous cape cobras) and this is always our "nervous" time of year, when the snakes get active for breeding.  Anyway, I thought I ran this little guy over, but thankfully didn't.  He did a quick U turn though to get back to the pavement and we reversed to get a better look.  I think it's a young mole snake...

And that's it.  Jake and I are going off camping in Robertson for the weekend with a whole bunch of school/cubs families.  I think there are about 8 families going.  The weather is set to be good and Jake is amped to be going fishing for the whole weekend.  I had to get him some new lures, he is sure that this time he is going to catch a carp and I hope the new food and bait and lures are going to do the trick for him.  Otherwise he has goodies to catch bass too.  Hopefully I'll have pictures for you next week.  We're staying at a campsite called Skurwekop. It's right on the Breede River, so Jake is in fishing heaven.  As many of you know, I'm not the world's greatest camper, so I'm doing this for entirely for Jake.  I just don't like ablution blocks and I always feel like sleeping in a house with walls and windows to keep me safe is more comfortable than staying in a tent.  Plus, I HATE spiders.  Especially Rain Spiders! Google them if you don't know them.  They're harmless, but BIG as your hand!  Eeek!  Is it wrong to take doom camping with me??  And did you read the note above about the active snakes this time of the year?  Double eek! Think of me...

 

Enjoy the weekend, whatever you get up to and stay safe!  Hope the weather's good wherever you are.

 

Love

Sue XXX

Exhausted...

Last weekend Paul was away for some cycling thing, which meant Jo was left to parent two little hooligans on her own.  On Saturday morning they came through early to spend the day with the family.  We all had plans to do Christmas shopping too.  I met up with friends visiting from Mauritius (yes, they really live there and I've only been to visit them once!!) for an early breakfast and met up with my folks and the kids after.  Jake and I headed off on our own for a bit, but Christmas shopping with Jake around was highly impractical, so we headed home, not getting much done.  The picture above was taken late in the afternoon.  We were busy braai'ing and Jake and Corky were watching a movie.  Corky just couldn't keep his eyes open.

 

Do your kids fight?  Jake has no siblings, so it's hard to imagine what his life should've been like with 2 or 3 siblings.  And I must be totally honest here, I am so glad that I am a single parent to just 1 child...

 

Jake and Corks are very funny together.  On one hand, Jake is fiercely protective and would step in to protect his little cousin if anyone were to say or do anything nasty and Corky only recently stopped begging Jake for a goodbye kiss on his forehead before Jake went off to school, literally crying if Jake ran out the door forgetting about his kiss.  They can play beautifully together, with with the right toys (usually building something) when they're both in the right mood.  The flip side is that these two are like oil and water a lot of the time.

 

Corky is a creature of habit.  He likes his little routines and habits and sticks to them.  Jo always says that if he goes to a party wearing a jacket, he won't leave it behind.  Sometimes it's a bit difficult for Jake to understand this about his cousin and Jake definitely uses it, amongst other things, to tease Corky.  Take for example the chair Corky likes to sit in to watch TV.  Jake will deliberately sit in Corky's spot the moment Corky gets up.  Or play with the toy Corky's left unattended for a moment.  Then it's a battle to reason with Jake to get him to understand that somethings are not worth fighting about; that sometimes it's easier to give in to keep the other person happy.  To give in is not easy when you're 8, but hopefully with some perserverence, he'll learn.

 

That said, I think they both like to see one another getting into trouble from time to time.  Take another example - this morning, Corky grabbed his leg and yelled, "Ow, Jake kicked me".  He was sitting about 2m away from Jake, who was eating breakfast, on a separate couch, with my dad in between them.  Then it's a shouting match that "Connor's lying" and "I didn't kick you" and "it's not fair".  Corky was adamant that Jake had kicked him.

 

And that, dear friends, is why God invented wine for us to indulge in (just a glass) once our kids have gone to bed!!

 

Love,

Sue XXX

Puppies everywhere...

 

 We've been able to spend a bit more time with Hilux just lately.  He's such a sweet boy and, besides jumping up, he's really a very gentle, well-behaved puppy.  Jake is crazy about him and Hilux follows him around like a shadow.  Now that they've had him a few weeks, I think Rose & Gareth are keen to take him for proper training.  Because they're not at home during the day, it's quite difficult to be consistent with discipline and training on their own.  Hilux is always very excited when Jake pops in for a play after school.  Just look how big he's gotten.  Yes, yes, Jake as well, but look at the dog.

Hilux is fast and he loves chasing Jake around the garden...

 And he loves the camera.  When I can get him to stop chasing the strap, that is...

 And while he still loves licking, his tongue is no where near as long as his mamma's...

 Closer to home, the little Rottie pups are growing by the second.  We've had them for 2 weeks today and, at 5 weeks, they are due to start solids.  I think we're a little late in starting, but maybe it's different with bottle fed pups.  The pups are getting very active and it's too funny to watch them playing with each other.  They're SO fat, they just fall over.  It's quite funny to think that we got Amber when she was just 5 weeks old.  She was tiny!!  Our Jack Russell at the time was 7 weeks old and they were the same size!  Duracell is like a mother hen with the tiny pups, although he didn't take too kindly to Hilux over the weekend.  The puppies are licked from top to toe and it's really sweet to see that Duracell can be fairly gentle.  I wonder if he remembers Amber's puppies.  Here, Jake's bringing one of the puppies out to do his toilets and Duracell can barely wait for him to touch the ground.  His tongue's already out... 

Let the licking begin...

 When both puppies are out, Duracell doesn't know which one to start with...

The weekend saw me finally start my Christmas shopping.  The local mall wasn't too busy and I'm glad that I've finally made a dent.  Shopping for the kids is fun, but I always end up going over budget.  I must still get a few adult presents and we have quite a few family birthdays coming up too.  It's that crazy time of year.

 

We don't have much on this week and school exams have started, so school sport has finished for the term.  Jake's still playing club cricket and doing his squad swimming, as well as going to cubs, so life is still busy.  I've finally managed to get up-to-date with work from my time off.

 

Hope that you  have a super week ahead!

Sue XXX

For the birds...

Jake had a school outing on Wednesday morning and for the first time this year, I was lucky enough to be able to help with lifts.  I always wish I could be a fly on the wall, to see how he interacts with his friends and to see how well he partakes/listens.  I am very pleased to say that, compared to some, my child borders on angelic...

We headed off for Intaka Island at Century City early on Wednesday morning. The weather was gorgeous, perfect for being outside and enjoying nature.  We were there not too long ago with my mom and dad too.  The island is basically an area of preserved wetlands, about 5 minutes away from us.  The word "Intaka" means bird in Xhosa and so this natural wetland attracts over 140 different species of birds.  Its an inexpensive trip and one can pack a picnic to enjoy along the way.  That said, doing it with 60 eight-year olds is definitely far from relaxing.

 

Thankfully, the kids were split up into 3 groups of 20 and had 3 different stations to visit.  This is Jake's class.  His teacher in navy on the left is blowing her whistle to get the kids into their lines.  Jake's ahead of the girl in pink and black, he's got a blue cap on and is looking back...

 For school groups, Intaka has a lecture room, where they do a short presentation on the wetlands and about the purpose of preserving these grounds.  Jake's at the back,s till in his cap...

 Our group headed out to do a little walk around the island, to try and see which birds we could spot.  As you all know, Jake loves this kind of thing and he loved being able to show off his knowledge of birds...

Our guide was very informative, sometimes a little too much so...

And the binoculars were far too distracting...

As part of the walk, we stopped off at a hide to watch the birds building nests, fishing, etc.  That's Jake with his friend Michael.  Jake's going to Michael's birthday party tomorrow afternoon...

After our walk, the kids stopped to have their snacks.  Because of his meds, Jake's never hungry at this time of the day, so was irritated at having to wait for everyone else to finish up... 

 

Next up was our boat cruise through the canals...

 More exciting bird-spotting was done... 

 And I embarrassed Jake by taking photos of him.  I can't help myself though...

The last part of our outing saw our group heading back into the lecture hall, where 6 kids, including Jake, went out with the guide to collect 3 different water samples.  Jake also caught a fish and tadpole.  By the time the 6 kids got back, the remaining children were beyond bored and we ended up playing games with them.  The kids were all ready to go home and weren't interested in the water samples at all.

 

Jake was able to choose the kids that rode through to Intaka with us.  He chose the 3 naughtiest boys in the class to be our company, which left me feeling like a lunch time glass of wine by the time I dropped them all back off at school.

 

It was Jake's last outing for the year and needless to say, I loved every moment!

 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Sue XXX

SUCH a proud mamma...

Last night was Jake's Prize Giving at cubs.  He has worked so hard on his badges and has done so well with it all through the year.  He's had a bit of a bumpy at school (although 3 little girls told me on the school outing yesterday, that he's the cleverest person in their class!), so it was wonderful to see him rewarded for his hard work at cubs last night.  Jake has earned himself a whopping 16 interest badges this year and has learnt so much in doing these.  I have had to help him along the way, but he has pretty much put them together on his own, showing initiative into which badges he wants to tackle and then getting them done.  Above, he is getting his certificate from his Akela (in Blue) and the District Commissioner.

 

Jake had suspected that he was going to be rewarded for earning the most badges, but he had no idea that, in addition to that, he would also be getting the award of cub of the year! This award is given in recognition of "proudly living his cub promise, attendance, improved behaviour, leadership and responsibility".  Jake has loyally attended all but one cub event this year and has really grown so much since he joined cubs.  A serious moment as he tries to absorb all the good things Akela was saying about him...

Proud as punch!  Jake is thrilled and he is so proud of himself for all that he has done and all that he has accomplished.  This has done so much for his confidence and it's been so special to see him be so enthusiastic about cubs...

Well done, my sweet boy!  You really have done well and you really do deserve these awards.  I am SOOOO proud of you for so many reasons, my darling boy, but today, I am especially proud of you for these achievements!  You are beautiful and I love you more than you could ever begin to imagine XXX

 

Love,

Sue XXX

Never a dull moment...

 Last week saw Jake finishing off his OT lessons.  He is thrilled to have an extra slot free in his life and I'm so grateful to have one less event to worry about rushing between.  When Jake started OT, I thought that it was going to be the beginning of a very long road for us.  He's worked so hard on his OT homework and has come on beautifully, so I'm super proud of him for reaching his goals so quickly (he only began at the end of term 2).  His core muscles and mid line crossing are where they need to be and, while he still needs to work at holding his pencil correctly, his handwriting's come along so well.  The picture above is of Jake with Charne, his wonderful OT, who's done so much to help with his confidence within the classroom.

 

Other events from the last week or so, included Halloween.  It's not a huge event in South Africa, but hey, kids will do just about anything for free sweets.  My mom bought Jake a pumpkin and a carving set; I printed him a stencil and left him to it.  He had tons of fun and his Jack 'o lantern came out beautifully...

 Getting stuck in to get the pulp out...

 Because we're staying with my parents for a bit, we're getting to spend a lot of extra time with Corky and Bi.  Corks had a Halloween day at school and dressed up as a pirate.  He wasn't too keen on sharing with his big cousin (it works both ways) and this is his angry pirate face... 

Jake loved the Batman mask and it fitted his face so well.  Must keep my eyes open for cool goodies next year.  Oh and please note that he's been made class captain again!  After not being Class Captain at all for the first half of the year, he's now been it three times!  Go Jake!!

 Little Bi has the prettiest jammies ever.  She's always game for a laugh...

 2 "bad" boys ready for school...

Posing for pictures...

 For his first attempt, I think Jake really did a great job carving his pumpkin.  Jack went to school for the day too...

 And he had dinner with us after cubs.  Jake wasn't too happy that he had to miss out on trick or treatin'...

 The little puppies we're fostering are growing fast.  They've got their little teeth coming through and are starting to play with each other.  They're super fat though and fall over all the time, it's too funny... 

The bottle feeding wasn't easy to start with and we still battle from time to time, but generally we're feeding them 6-hourly and they're mostly happy to suckle...

 Jake loves helping out too, but is usually only around to help with the 5pm feed.  Bottle feeding puppies?  It's right up his street...

 On Friday night, Jake and I went with my mom and dad to the Cape Town Military Tattoo.  It's held at the Castle of Good Hope, in the city.  You can read more about the castle here.  The picture below is of our town hall though.  And apologies for the pole in the middle - I was too lazy to walk down to the palm trees to get the perfect shot...

 The entrance to the castle is guarded by these two lions.  Not very fierce and a bit Eastern looking, I think.  Definitely not very African...

 The moat is full of great big fish and Jake even asked if he was allowed to bring his fishing rod with him next time.  Unfortunately, one of the military policemen told him no...

 Jake with one of the canon to be fired during the playing of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, which was written to include live canon fire.  It's quite something to hear, even if you're not a musical boff, like Jake and I...

 A scenic snap, looking forward towards the mountain...

 Turning to my right is the city centre and Jake still looking at the fish in the moat...

Everyone was decked out in full uniform.  That's my mother trying to get her to crack a smile, which she did in the end... 

 Unfortunately, I'm no good at low light photography, so this is the only picture from within the castle walls that I'm prepared to share.  I remember school outings to the castle when we were kids so clearly.  There's a dungeon down there and Jake's convinced the whole place is haunted and he NEVER wants to go there on an outing and he is NEVER going inside the dungeon.  Might have to take him on my own during the December holidays...

 Saturday night saw us going on a little trick or treatin' outing with the kids.  My aunt lives in Tokai and they have a small stretch of road that they cordon off, so the kids can ride bikes and run around fairly freely.  The neighbour's all bring braai's over and we have a little street party.  The kids get dressed up and go knocking on doors to collect the sweets that my aunt has dropped off earlier.  check out Jo and Corky.  Jo even had black lippy and nail polish on.  Corks had already lost the pirate gear... 

Each year the group grows and I'm sure the neighbours are shocked when they open their doors.  That's my aunt (mum's sister) at the back, with the witches hat and blue top...

And lastly, because I'm just about ready to take one of these little guys home with me until they poop everywhere and I remember that they're Rottweiler crosses and will end up ginormous.  This is Missy...

And Mo.  Or Fatty.  Or Pooh Bear, depending on his mood...

Armfuls of puppies are just the best...

 Duracell's starting to get used to them too.  He loves licking them and gets super excited when he's allowed anywhere near them.  Jake loves being on puppy duty...

 Precious boy...

 And that's our news for now.  I'm off to take photos for my bestie's clothing company, so a busy afternoon ahead.

 

Lots of love,

Sue XXX