The week gone by, the weekend to come & a trip down memory lane...

This week has been mad and I'm so sorry for not updating my blog any sooner (for those who've been checking). It's the end of the month though and I've had a small mountain of work to get through. With working half days, the last week of each month is always mayhem. All I can say is, thank goodness it's Friday today...

That said, it's not going to be a much of a lazy weekend either. Jake's going home with a friend from school today, Michael. After work, I'm joining them at Michael's house to have tea with Michael's mom. Tonight, I'm going out to dinner with a friend, which we've been planning for ages. We're going to Maestro's in Milnerton (http://www.maestrosgroup.co.za/). Despite having a manager with a realtively bad reputation, it's always been one of my favourite spots. The views from the restaurant are just breathtaking. It looks out over Table Bay, across to our beautiful city at the foot of Table Mountain. While it's not the most exclusive restaurant in town, the food's always reliable and yummy. My very good friend, Wes, used to be the manager there, so I have plenty of good memories of drunken evenings spent at the bar. I am looking forward to revisiting it and spending some time there with my special friend.

Tomorrow we have no plans for during the day. Jake's got so many seedlings to plant in his garden and we're dying to get stuck into it, but the weather's just been so rubbish this week. It seems that the powers that be were just teasing us with spring last week (wasn't the weather just perfect??). I've got a wedding in 2 weeks time and I just hope that the weather clears up a bit by then or I'm going to freeze in my little red number. Added to that, I need to wear my new red shoes in and it's just too cold to even think of putting sandals on...

Where was I? Tomorrow night I have a "kitchen tea", or hen night, for one of the girls in my slightly less-then-tame book club. Sam's getting married in Mauritius next month, so not many of us can make it to the big event. I'm sure tomorrow's party's going to be quite a raucous event to make up for most of us missing the wedding. It's at a house in Camp's Bay and I'm sure there'll be plenty of half naked men serving snacks and drinks to all of us. Oh, and I'm pretty sure there'll be a stripper or two as well. They always make me blush. They're planning on going out clubbing after the festivities at the house, although I'm not sure that I'll get that far. Also, I'm driving, so definitely won't be drinking. Besides, somehow, I just feel really old when I'm in a night club with a bunch of 17 year olds. I'm almost twice their age now; almost old enough to be mother most of them! And, truth be told, I hate the thought of them calling me an old lady behind my back.

As for the rest of our weekend, I'm sure I'll be needing to recover from Saturday night's shinanigans on Sunday - when you've got a kid, no matter what you did the night before, they're always up at 7. It doesn't matter how rotten you feel, or how tired. I'm going to see Mamma Mia on Sunday with my parents and can't wait. I saw it while I was in Scotland and really loved every second. I guess it was a combination of it being my last night in Scotland and I was out with Sharon, with the fact that it was filmed on Skiathos and Skopelos, two of the islands we spent quite a bit of time on while in Greece last year. Actually, speaking of that, it was exactly a year ago that we were there. Bugger, bugger I want to go back!! Definitely going to have to start thinking about another Mediterranean holiday again soon. And now I've gone and looked at the photos from my holiday there and want to go back even more now. Sorry to bore you, but here are a few of Skiathos and Skopelos (they are scanned photos I took with a film camera, so 'scuze the quality)

Koukounaries beach, Skiathos. This beach is hugely popular - it's a really gorgeous beach and the water is just unbelievable...

The view from our yacht in Skiathos...

Skiathos again. We spent a night at Hotel San Remo...

view down ally-way at Hotel San Remo...

View looking back at Skiathos from our yacht...

Skopelos town as seen from the harbour wall early in the morning...

Inside Skopelos Town...

My dad and Jake taking in the sights...

View of Skopelos from the ruins at the top of the city... One of the many churches - the tiny town of Skopelos has more then 300 churches, cathedrals & monestaries! Our yacht was moored in the little group of 3 near the middle of the pier. That's Jake & my mom waving infront of the church...

Ahh - what a life and what an experience. Maybe I shoud start saving up to go on the sailing trip to Crete with my aunt and uncle next year. Very tempting...

Back to me. Besides the busy week and weekend ahead, I have a seriously sore throat and a head cold of note. I slept really fitfully last night, so I'm actually just exhausted. Hopefully it'll pass quickly, I don't have time to be sick!

Ending off, as usual, with photos of our week. Hope you've all had a good one and wishing you a happy weekend!

Lots of love,

Sue xxx

Jake & his new Batman duvet cover. I bought it about 4 days before he got it and it was a fabulous bargaining tool...

All ready for bed...

OK, so I think I have an almost unnatural obsession with Batman myself. But seriously, check out his muscles!! Here's Jake practicing his bike riding. The weather hasn't been all that great lately (read: damned freezing/rainy/windy), so we haven't been out riding much lately. He's coming along really well and is very steady on his bike now. We're working on getting him to push himself off the curb to get going and to use his brakes to stop. Then I'll move on to rules of the road. I really need to get myself a bike soon too, so we can get out when he's a bit more confident. Oh, and he does have a helmet that he'll also have to wear when things get a bit more serious. Bad parent... Look how excited he is... Getting confident - standing and pedalling...Catching his breath. This is the face I got when I asked for a smile... And then this... And this is what happens when you won't smile nicely for the camera. Don't worry, he wasn't hurt. Actually, he found the experience really amusing... Turning around for another go... Check out Jake's "hot" new pyjamas! He went shopping with Jacques' mom and picked these out for himself. No offence to anyone, but they're really not the prettiest pyjamas I've seen. Jake absolutely loves them though! He even insisted on wearing them to bed last night in this freezing weather. And, yes, he's still wearing his t-shirt from the day underneath. He told me he was using it as a vest. Anyway, these pyjamas are proof enough that I'll need to continue doing his clothes shopping for him until he's 94, or finds a wife to take over the job...

Just some photos to share...

Just a few random shots of flowers and things that I've taken this week. As per usual, I'm probably posting way too many, but this is my blog so I can pretty much do what I like!!! There would actually have been more, but for some reason, blogger's not uploading my pictures this morning. Worked OK yesterday. Anyway, all these photos were taken on Wednesday afternoon...

Flower in our living room...

Jake & his princess (Amber). She was Jacques' princess too, followed him every where he went, even to work...

Snowdrops in the garden...

A new nasturtium...

You all know what feathers mean to me already...

New life! Spring is coming!!!

Jake checking his veggie seeds to see if any new ones are sprouting yet. He had 5 new seedlings when we went out to check this morning...

So, eyes are the windows to the soul. They're the first part of a person I notice and I really do think you can tell alot about a person (especially men!) by their eyes. Anyway, I know he's my kid and all, but he really has got gorgeous eyes! And, while I did edit the flower photos slightly (I'm not smart enough on Photoshop to be able to edit them too much), these pictures of Jake are straight out of the camera. Ahhh - I do love my macro lens...

Congratulations to Caroline & Craig on Amy's first birthday! I can't beleive it's been a year since she was born already. She's a gorgeous little girl and I'm sure she's going to be a wonderful big sister!! We're looking forward to sharing in on her special day with you all on Sunday!

This really is a weekend for birthday's. We're visiting another friend for her son's first birthday this afternoon; tomorrow Jake's got 2 parties one from 10 - 12 and the other from 12 - 2 (it's going to be a long day!) and then we've got Amy's party on Sunday. Lots of celebrating and I'm sure I'm going to be exhausted by Sunday evening! Hope you all have a good one too!

Lots of love,

Sue xxx

Gareth asked...

And Rose said YES! (Eventually)...

There! Secret number 2 is out!! Isn't it gorgeous?? I'm so excited. With a baby and now a wedding, 2009's going to be a heck of an exciting year for our family and I can't wait! It's about time that good things started to happen around here!

So, how it did it all happen? Well, it's Rosanne's birthday today, so we had dinner for the family (her now future in laws included). Gareth spoke to my dad while I was still on holiday and my mom had seen the ring already. Rosanne had given Gareth some guidance (i.e. told him) on which ring she liked, so they'd obviously discussed it all quite thoroughly. Still, she had no idea that it was all going to happen last night. I had a vague inkling, when Gareth phoned me on Monday evening to check that we had enough champagne glasses, but only really knew for sure when he showed me the ring in the bathroom. Boy, oh, boy - I could hardly keep a straight face as he poured the sparkling wine before dinner...

We got the cake ready, sang to Rosie and then while she was holding the cake, Gareth slipped the ring into her glass...

Gareth then proceeded to make a speech - he was SO nervous and I think that he was so brave to do it in front of us all. It was so special for us to be there when they got engaged - I was 8 when Rosanne was born and it's been wonderful watching her grow up. Anyway, Gareth started by wishing her a happy birthday, then told her how much he loved her, but said that he was sick of being her boyfriend and would she rather be his wife...

Rosanne's reaction was to laugh at him. Nice one, Rose. I mean, I've always joked that I'd say 'no' when a guy asked (I said yes before I even thought with Jacque), just to see his reaction - meanie that I am, but I'm not sure that laughing was any better. Poor guy...

Anyway, the more she laughed, the more she laughed...

And she drank. I mean, that's the champagne with the ring in it...

And still, she laughed...

And then she laughed some more...

And, eventually after some prompting, she looked into her glass... And look what she found... So she laughed some more and gave the obvious answer. Gareth put the ring on her finger... They laughed some more... and then kissed... After all that, we had dinner and then we drank. I have a terrible headache this morning - it's the price I knew I'd have to pay for mixing my drinks. Red wine and sweet sparking wine are just not good together. This is a fact I already knew 'cos I've tested it before. Anyway, I got past the point of caring, so I just didn't care... Me and the camera had some fun and made Rose and Gareth pose for some engagement photos. They're not good at all, a sure sign of how much wine I'd had to drink. Come on, though, he had to get down on one knee... Nice shoes, Rose. Really. This one's the nicest...

And then, cos I was a bit tipsy, I cashed in on a cuddle with my future brother-in-law. I mean, seriously, besides Jake, I don't get many men-cuddles these days. I need to work on that and get myself sorted, as someone reminded me this morning...

I was so tipsy, I couldn't even keep my eyes open for the flash... But they're cute pictures of Rosanne and Gareth. And they're happy memories and it was my camera. And yes, I agree, they should've been of just Rosanne and Gareth, but I wasn't thinking rationally at that point... Just one last thing on the subject of the engagement - Rose, do you realise that this man's going to be the father of your children??? Good luck!

So, ending off with some messages to my family (and these come in no particular order)...

Firstly... to the ones this post is dedia huge congratulations to Gareth & Rosanne on their engagement. Enjoy this special time in your lives together, it's going to fly by. Have fun with all the planning and preparations (even though I've already been nominated as the wedding planner). You guys are so well suited and deserve all the happiness in the world together!

Secondly... Still on the subject of the above - Happy 23rd birthday Rose!! You're a fab little sister and it's been really wonderful having you in our lives. It's been amazing watching you grow into the gorgeous woman (umm...lady?) you are today. I wish you an exciting love-filled year ahead!

Thirdly... (and definitely not last) Paul, congratulations on passing your exams!!! You're a super star and i knew you could do it. Paul is mybrother-in-law and he's just qualified as a chartered financial analyst (in other words, he's a genius). I also promise not to call you 'One Ball Paul' any more. He's not, by the way, it was just something I heard on the radio when Jo started mentioning Paul's name from time to time in the early days. And my sister confirmed that he's not the guy they were talking about on the radio anyway. Paul's also a superstud, as he frequently reminds us. Congrats again, brother, you did us proud!

And that's it. Oh, just this last photo of the sunrise this morning...

Pretty hey? This was taken through the window in Jake's room at 7:30 this morning.

Hope everyone's well and happy!

Love,

Sue

xxx