Grade 7 Farewell...

Friday night was Jake's grade 7 farewell dance - I'm not sure how he reached this stage so quickly, or where the years have gone, but we're nearly done with primary school!

This was Jake on his first day of primary school - look how little he was against how big he is now...

 So the dace was a good opportunity for us to take some photos, which Jake doesn't let me do very often these days.  You can see how tall he's getting - just about to pass me...

 Whoops, I think I might be kidding myself!  I think he might be taller than me already...  And he still doesn't mind the odd kiss...

 After making sure that Jake was dressed, I was allowed to pop down to the school to see the decor.  The teachers really outdid themselves and I think they might have been as excited as the kids were.  The theme was cowboys and this was the welcome at the entrance...

 Each class had name tags waiting for them (Jake's teacher is co-incidentally, Mr Kruger)...

 It was very exciting to see everything before the kids got there...

The hall looked magic and I had quite a lump in my throat knowing how much fun the kids were going to have there later...

There were hay bails converted into couches - it looked awesome...

 The stage was decorated for the teachers, who were there to keep a close eye on our little monsters...

 The photos don't do it justice...

 After I'd been to check out the hall, it was a race to get home and take some more family photos before getting Jake back to school for some photos with his buddies.  Here's Jake and Abi...

 And Becky...

 Jake and Becky both have braces...

Rylee was there too, but not too keen on having photos taken...

 Jake loves his cousins and is so proud of how well they're doing with their swimming - both these lovely ladies are SPRINGBOKS...

 And they love him!

 The Moelans family, excluding me, but including a little photo bomber in the tree (oh how this photo has made us laugh)...

 Jake and my parents...

 And there's me again...

 There was time for some photos at school too.  This is Jake and his best friend, Liam - what an amazing kid...

 A group of the boys - it's quite funny to see them all at this stage, they're all growing at different rates and some are tiny and some are huge.  Lots of them took the chance to dress up extra smart...

 It's so much fun seeing these boys growing up.  I've known most of them since they were really little.  Next year they're all off to high school.  Most of them are going to our local (Jake included), but some are heading off on completely new adventures, so their group is going to split and change in the next little while.

Jake came home full of energy and so excited about the beautiful evening they'd had.  They really enjoyed the dance and made some awesome memories to carry with them into the next chapter.

I felt Jacques around us often this weekend.  He is never far from my thoughts, especially when I face Jake's milestones without him by my side.  Jacques would be so proud of our beautiful son, who is growing in confidence and talent by the day.  Jake is missing having his dad around at the moment - there are just some things that moms don't get.  That said, I think we have a very tight bond and I adore the adventures we share!

Till next time!

Sue

Brace Face...

Jake got his braces fitted on last week Friday. He was so excited to get them!  They've started with just the top ones for now.  Once they've moved Jake's top teeth forward, they'll fit the bottom ones.  That'll probably be in about 4 months time.

Jake's been very brave and hasn't moaned too much about being sore.  I have to keep reminding myself that I'm no longer allowed to squeeze his cheeks (it hurts) and there are certain foods that are now banned from our house.  I guess it would be unfair for me to sit and eat a lunch bar in front of him!

I was quite surprised by how much is wrong with Jake's teeth.  He has to have an op done in about 9 months time to fix up a problem with a permanent tooth that doesn't want to move down.  At the moment, they're making space for the bigger tooth, then when they operate, they're going to extract the baby tooth and cut in to the permanent tooth, attach a chain between the tooth and the braces and then pull it into place.  Sounds simple enough, right??  At the same time, they're going to cut the little piece of skin between his top lip and his gum, which is pushing his 2 front teeth apart and remove his lower wisdom teeth.  No doubt he'll be fairly miserable when that happens.

This is the X-ray of Jake's mouth,  You can see that pesky incisor lying skew in his gum...

Aside from that, Jake has been a brave boy this last week.  He's indulged in too much milk tart, custard and jelly.  He hasn't had to take too many painkillers and did manage to eat a burger on Tuesday evening.  He's learning a few tricks with regards to eating and most importantly, he's brushing and flossing like a champ.  I think the orthodontist has him terrified by what can happen if he doesn't clean his teeth properly.

And that's about all our news.  Exams start in about 3 1/2 weeks time and so Jake's already had to start preparing.  I like that he tries to get a little ahead while he can.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

Sue XXX

Much ado about nothing...

It should be the other way around.  I have little to share and so that's why I've been a bit missing-in-action... To be honest, my camera hasn't even been charged since we got home from the Kruger, which is disgusting for me, who usually has it pretty much strapped to my face all of the time...

 Today marks the start of the 4th school term.  It's Jake's last term of primary school and I can't believe that this journey's nearly completed.  I know it sounds cliche, but seriously - where did the years go???  I know we live from holiday to holiday and the shops are ridiculous about it too - no sooner is Christmas over, when they start selling Easter Eggs!  In our house, we love school holidays.  It's just the lack of responsibility and structure - going to bed later and sleeping in a bit in the mornings.  Not rushing!!  This last holiday was really just a long weekend, I mean, how can you even unwind in a week?  Be that as it may, it was still a nice long weekend.  Jake did really well last term, although it was a manic one and this term is going to fly by even faster.  He's got his grade 7 formal and there's only 5 weeks until exams start!  2 weeks of exams, 1 week for marking and sports day and then the 6-weeks December holiday!  Heee-ha - I can't wait!

Jake has been for his high school uniform fitting and is getting quite excited about it now.  We've decided that our local high school is the best option for him.  It's within easy walking distance from home, so no travelling and the majority of his friends will be going there too.  I'm very comfortable with our decision.

So what else have we been up to?  Jo and Paul and the kids have been to Mauritius for 10 days (we hate them too).  Stinky landed up in hospital for a day, having X-rays, CT scans, sonars, blood tests, only to be sent home with trapped gas...  Despite that, they had a really good holiday.  We met them at the airport and they all looked happy and rested. Gareth's been working away from home during the week and we're all missing him, but it has meant that Rosie and Rylee have been around a bit more, especially in the evenings.

Did I tell you that we're going to Kruger again in July??  Rosie & her family are joining us, as are Corky & Stinky.  My mom and dad are going too, so there's a total of 9 of us.  We're super excited and Jake can't wait to share the bush with his cousins. 

Oh, besides Jake's great report, he's also been told that one of his photos that I entered into a competition on his behalf is going to be featured on one of our local TV shows (50/50).  The presenter has phoned us, which was very exciting.  It'll probably be on in another 2 or 3 weeks and Jake is super excited.  There are some really nice prizes, which he is holding thumbs for too!  It's one of his baboon shots that I shared in my last post (not sure which one, but here's one of them anyway)...

Abi and Becky are doing amazingly too.  Becky's been to the Bahamas to compete in the Junior Commonwealth Games, as well as Indianapolis for the Junior World Competition.  Abi's just returned from Italy, where she took part in a 5 & 10km swim.  They are both doing so well and making us so very super proud!

The drought in Cape Town has started to make us all very nervous.  Bathing is a thing of the past and we are allowed 2 minute showers only.  You have to lather up and rinse.  And you skip a night here or there and we try stretch washing our hair with dry shampoo.  We try catch as much water as we can to use for flushing toilets and watering the odd plant.  Our gardens are dying fast and there's no way that we'll be swimming this summer - we're not allowed to top our pools up.  The municipality has plans to reduce water pressure and to have intermittent outages.  The next phase is for drinking water to be made available for collection at certain drop off points - there just isn't water and it's starting to get quite frightening...

Jake and I had an awesome catch up on Saturday morning with Michael and Cameron and their mom - turns out their dad did hook up with the woman I suspected, so I'm learning to trust my instinct a bit better for future!!

And on that note, time for me to run.  Lunch is calling.  Today is the start of a new go at a healthier lifestyle, let's see how long it lasts!

Love,

Sue XXX