The Christmas Party...

Another day, another couple of blogs (hopefully I can get everything up-to-date today).

This weekend past was another madly busy one and I'm feeling pretty exhausted this week. Thankfully, work's not too busy, so I'm getting a chance to sort out a few other things (like my blog).

Friday night we spent at the outlaws for my father-in-law's (Hubert) 60th birthday celebrations. My mother-in-law (Karen) had planned a pasta evening for about 40 close friends and family members. I found it an emotional and pretty exhausting evening. The last big birthday was Hubert's 50th and Jacques' 21st, which the celebrated with a joint bash (Jacques' birthday was 10 November, Hubert's the 28th). The speeches on Friday night were especially emotional for us all. Josette (my sister-in-law) wrote a speech, which she intended for us (the kids) to read out, but, chicken that I am, I just couldn't face it and pulled out at the last minute, though I did stand with the rest of the family for the speeches. Every time Jacques' name was mentioned, Jake would look at me saying "that's my daddy" or "that's you and my daddy" - it was heartbreaking. I held him through most of the speeches and he was really so sweet. He showered me with kisses and did his best to distract me, sweet little thing. We did have a few funny moments in the kitchen during the evening, that provided us all with good distraction - First, Karen tipped over a pot with chilli sauce in it. It landed just about everywhere in their brand new kitchen. We all helped with the clean up and had a good laugh - it looked exactly like vomit. Next there was the bolegnaise sauce forgotten on the gas burner outside... Anyway, it was a successful evening and everyone had a great time! Plus, I didn't really drink much, so I felt good on Saturday morning. We got home at about 11:30.

Saturday was a crazy day. First, we had Jake's Christmas party at school. He's been doing a count down for weeks and was so excited about it when he got up. It was a fabulous morning and it's always fun to see how the kids interact with one another.

The school party was followed by a bit of clean up time at home. We've got mice that have moved into our garage. It's disgusting, I know, but we live with a large field/nature reserve behind our house and I guess it's one of the "perks". All my furniture is in storage in the garage, so it's a bit of a nightmare. We have to clean out everything, before we can do some proper fumigating. I've got boxes and boxes of things and it's another job that's been quite emotional. I've been finding things I'd completely forgotten about, it's like opening presents. There's also a lot of junk that I'll never use again, so I've been throwing out and passing on a lot too. I found a box of old cards and letters (still perfectly intact and not mouse eaten) that I'd sent Jacques and a couple of cards he'd written to me... I'm really glad to have these and they're in a safe place now.

Saturday afternoon, Jake had 2 parties (we just popped in at each) and then it was out to dinner with the family (more in my next post). Jake slept over at Karen & Hubert.

Anyway, here are the photos of the Christmas party. Sorry, there are a lot...

These are the biscuits Jake & I made for the party...

Jake decided that each tree needed some gifts underneath them. Some were decorated for naughty girls (the bottom one) and some for good kids. The one at the top left was for him (note how many presents he gets). He went on to tell me what was inside each gift. And when we got to the party, he was sure to grab this biscuit before anyone else could get their paws on it...

He also made himself a special biscuit. It's supposed to be a face, the white jobs are ears and the stripy bits are hair. Not sure about the jelly tots in the middle... The teachers went to a lot of effort for the kids too. They hired a jumping castle and baked a tree cake... The kids had some serious fun on the jumping castle. This is Jake with Dano and Nathan... Jake got kicked in the face by Dano just before this happened. He was mid-crying, when he heard a bell ringing and jumped up shouting "the ice-cream man's here". Needless to say, he got quite a surprise when he got to the fence only to find Father Christmas. This is Jake's "I'm so excited, I don't know what to do with myself" face... Then they all ran to the gate to let Father Christmas in. Poor guy must've been melting in that suit... There's that silly, over-excited face again. This time, complete with a shuffle... Somehow, as I get older, Father Christmas seems to get younger. Last year at Uncle Paul's party, he was actually quite hot... Shame, my poor boy has such a sad face in all these photos after the tears from the kicking incident. This is inside on the mat, listening to Father Christmas. When the big guy asked them who'd been good this year, only 2 kids put their hands up. Mine wasn't included in the 2. He put his hand up when asked who'd been naughty... Some inhouse entertainment for Father Christmas... Singing is serious stuff, especially Christmas songs. Here, they're singing 'Oh Christma Tree'... I can't remember what song this was, but just look at the concentration... This one was about the sleeping baby - I think it was 'Away in a Manger'... Jake's name gets called up to go get his gift from Father Christmas... Getting a cuddle. He's obviously growing up - last year he wouldn't hardly look at Father Christmas, let alone give the man a hug... A Batman DVD & Lucky Packet! Happiness is. The fat man is a hero... I found this hanging on the classroom wall. He wants a Ben 10 Watch (never mind that he's never seen Ben 10 in his life); he wants a venus fly trap and a big Christmas tree (we got a new one last year). I didn't tell you the story about the venus fly trap, did I?? I took Jake to Superplants (again) the other day and was showing him the V.F.T.s they had there. I told him how they work and he was really impressed. The next morning, he called my mom through to the bedroom, 'Nini, you know what they've got at Superplants? A PENIS fly trap. They catch the flies, then they eat them and burp them out!'. He's since been corrected, but still, I'm glad he didn't ask his teacher to put that up on his list... Jake & Dano... Check out the gorgeous day we had!! Absolutely stunning...

More to follow... xxx

Something pretty...

And to end off for today, just a few flower photos taken over last weekend...

And of course, the cutest kid I know. Well, one of them anyway. I put him to bed and then went to check on him 10 minutes later. He'd snuck into his santa cap. Very cute...

See you tomorrow xxx

My dad's birthday...

Last Saturday saw us getting the house and food ready for my dad's birthday on Sunday. My mom had done quite a lot of the preparations ahead of time, so it wasn't too rushed or stressful. My dad always likes a bit of a party and we generally have quite a few visitors for his birthday, so decided to do a light lunch this year. After helping with the cake, we visited Jake's great grandfather and tried to keep the afternoon a bit calm. Jo came through later in the day, so it was good to spend some time with our pregnant fairy (her belly is really growing now!!). On Saturday evening, we went out for dinner (back to Greek) to celebrate my dad's birthday. Jake was pretty tired after his late night at the tattoo, so we had an early meal and were home by 9ish. Unfortunately, Rosanne and Gareth had a wedding on, so they missed out on a delicious meal!!

Jake was in charge of decorating my dad's cake on Saturday...

The best part of being chief decorator is enjoying the left over caramel (used as a filling)...

Jo, my mom, Jake & I. By the way, some of these photos are my dad's...

The spread. I love the food at Greek, I could eat there every day. I need to go there again. Soon... Thankfully, the restaurant wasn't very full. Jake was exhausted and proceeded to blow out every single candle he could find... And then Sunday was the party...

Note the strawberry on top of the cake. It's from Jake's garden...

See? My dad just loves all the attention he gets...

These are random photos that Jake took on Saturday just before the party. His skills are improving...

Life has been busy...

...it's a serious under-statement. Life has been HECTIC!! Both socially and at work. I'm exhausted and the holiday season's only just starting. I can't wait for some time off between Christmas & New Year (our offices are closing). Anyway, I just haven't had any free time to do blogging, so I'm really sorry to all my regular readers. To make up for it, I've got hundreds of pictures and bits to share here - I think I'll split things up into a few different posts, instead of doing one long one. That way I can do them over a few days...

I'll start with the weekend. Last weekend. On Friday night, Jake & I went with my folks and some family friends to see the Cape Town Military Tattoo. We went last year as well and Jake had thoroughly enjoyed it then. It's held at the Castle of Good Hope, which was originally built as a fort in 1666, replacing a small clay & timber fort built by Jan van Riebeek after his 'discovery' of the Cape in 1952 (http://www.places.co.za/html/ct_castle.html - for those of you who'd like to check up further history of the place). It's always fun visiting there and I remember so vividly school outings to the castle's dungeons.

Less chatter, more pictures...

The castle moat around, with a view over part of the city...

This is the main entrance to the castle - it reminds me so much of Greece, for some reason...

The flags flying proudly on the castle wall in front of Table Mountain (gorgeous, isn't it?). Honestly, I don't know what all these flags represent. The first one (on the left) is the New South African Flag (adopted in April 1994). it's followed by the old South African Flag (I didn't know we were still allowed to fly that one) and then the Union Jack. The next one is red, white & blue striped, which, on the internet, is described as the Netherlands flag. I don't know what the next Union Jack-type flag is and the last one is orange, white and blue - this is the one I thought to be the Netherlands flag, but apparently isn't. Anyone else know?

I love this photo, with the British flag flying behind an old military vehicle as it leaves the castle...

The image was a bit spoiled when the driver whipped out his cell phone...

Jake wouldn't pose for the photo, so I did. Somehow (gladly), I don't really fit the part, do I??

This is inside the castle grounds. We were there really early...

A modestly naked man at the castle. Neptune - he looks like he's falling apart...

My dad took Jake on a little walk to check out all the machinery that I wasn't interested in...

And the trucks...

The music was great and it was a super, cultural experience for Jake. He's not wild about the canon fire and wanted to go home when they started that. Actually, at one point there was a little mock war scene with crackers going off and people pretending to get wounded. Jake was quite concerned and at one point yelled out at me "they're gonna get us killed here"... This piper is Tony. He works with my dad and is the lead piper (or whatever he's called). He played the pipes at my wedding...

Another one of my dad's photos (I got into trouble for using a picture of his on my blog without giving him credit a while back)...

We also had a visit from the Minstrels or Kaapse Klopse, which Jake thoroughly enjoyed. 2nd Jan is an unwritten holiday in Cape Town, the minstrels celebrate the arrival of the new year with a parade through the city streets every 2 Jan. I must try get there with Jake this year... The lone piper (Tony again)...

I'm sure that we'll be back in the stands again next year, it was really a great evening out. As shocking as it sounds, I just need make sure I learn the words to our "new" (1994) national anthem before then. It was quite embarrassing sitting in the front row, with various militants standing in front of me and not being able to sing the first part of the song. I know the Afrikaans & English parts, which are parts of our old anthem and we learnt these at school, but the Xhosa section is foreign to me. I keep saying I'll learn it when Jake goes to school, but I don't think I can wait that long. It's actually a very pretty song, a prayer - the words for those of you who don't know it, are: Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo, Yizwa imithandazo yethu, Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo. Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso, O fedise dintwa la matshwenyeho, O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso, Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika. Uit die blou van onse hemel, Uit die diepte van ons see, Oor ons ewige gebergtes, Waar die kranse antwoord gee, Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land. This translates to: Lord, bless Africa May her spirit rise high up Hear thou our prayers Lord bless us. Lord, bless Africa Banish wars and strife Lord, bless our nation Of South Africa. Ringing out from our blue heavens From our deep seas breaking round Over everlasting mountains Where the echoing crags resound ...

Go learn it... XXX