Weekend fun...

 Our weekend was busy and full of fun.  Jake finished up school on Friday and on Friday night, he went to his cubs sleep over at their hall.  They are only allowed to go on official camps when they're 9 years old and most of our kids are 7 & 8, so this year they decided to have a camp inside their hall.  Just a one nighter, which suited most of the kids (and parents).  I went off to my wonderful friends, Veronica and Steven for a most scrumptious braai (thank you so much) and dropped in to see how things were going on my way home.  The kids were buzzing with excitement and it was after 10:30pm.  I arrived just in time to see them start to wind down with their hot chocolate and got to enjoy their carolling too.   There were about a dozen tents set up all over the hall and the leaders put so much effort into making the Christmas sleep over fun for the kids.  They did 2 badges and Father Christmas even popped in on Saturday morning with presents for them all...

 A tired, but very happy boy, who wasn't even tempted to ask me if he could come home with me when I left at bed time...

 On Saturday afternoon, I had the most delicious lunch with friends for a good friend's birthday, at de Grendel, which is literally up the road from home.  I had the most divine wild mushroom risotto with truffle oil for starters and kingklip for mains.  I skipped dessert and eventually rolled away from the lunch table around 5:30pm (after post lunch drinks on the balcony...

 On Sunday morning, we went to the V&A for the Redbull Flugtag.  It was the most gorgeous day and we all enjoyed being out and about.  Jake bumped into some school friends, who were also on our recent camping trip...

 And we had a quick look at some of the plane-ideas.  I'm not sure how people actually expect things like this Angry Bird to actually fly, but I guess it's worth a try...

 The world's first flying ostrich...

 The little house from Up having it's balloons blown up...

 We got to the waterfront really early and found a good spot to watch from.  The parents of the friends Jake had bumped into run one of the restaurants (Den Anker) and were kind enough to lend us an umbrella.  Den Anker is a Belgian Restaurant in the Waterfront and I'm dying to take Jake there for tappas on the balcony.  The main restaurant is a little too exclusive for children, but they have a wide array of excellent imported beers, for those who are interested.  We had McDonald's McMuffins for breakfast (the healthy option) and waited for the show to start...

 And thank goodness we got there early...

 Once the show started, it was all fun and laughter as we watched the first planes crash land...

 One after...

 The next...

 People were very creative - this one was a Springbok rugby ball, complete with goalposts...

 Another one bites the dust...

 The nearby restaurants were packed to capacity...

 The lobster team (see picture of Jake with his friends for their craft)...

 Eventually, the team we were waiting to see!  My uncle built their plane...

 The idea was that it'd leave the frame behind, get enough wind beneath it's wings and soar...

Unfortunately, it crashed and burned...

 It only got 12m, which is a real pity.  In fairness, my uncle was only given about a month to put this together.  He's also building a real 2-man plane, so I'm hoping that flies better than the Posm Predator...

 We were also entertained by a real acrobatic pilot who was nothing short of brilliant...

I have more pictures to share, some lovely ones of the kids, but I'm out of time today!  I promise to be back soon.  Hope you all had a good weekend!

Love Sue XXX

Whoo-hoo!!!

 

 Another school year is done and the Christmas/summer holidays are finally here!  School only goes back on 16 January 2013, so it's a lovely long break for everyone.  Oh how I love getting out of routine!!

 

Top picture was taken this time last year, the end of grade 1, below are pictures of Jake, taken this morning.  I cannot get over how much he has changed in such a short space of time.  Just a year on and his hair is longer, his teeth all in place, his face has lost some of that chubby baby-ness and he's gotten so much taller and more grown up...

He's still got beautiful blue eyes, but now they come with a Beiber fringe...

Corky was there this morning and wanted pictures of himself taken too...

Of course, silly faces were called for...

 Jake made biscuits for his class as a little gift.  He did most of the work, besides the icing, himself...

We did 34...

 And of course, he made a special one for himself, with extra presents under the tree...

Because Jake and Connor are such a handful together at the moment, I've made them each a naughty or nice sweetie jar for the duration of the holidays.  Jake filled them yesterday and they're being put into action as of today.  We'll see whether they manage to fight less in order to get a sweet each afternoon...

 And that's about it.  Jake's got a sleep over tonight with cubs and he is super excited about that.  I'm going to try get him to have an afternoon nap, because I'm pretty sure they won't be doing much sleeping tonight!!  I'm sure they're going to have a blast and he should come home 2 badges richer!

 

Oh, also, for those of you who've followed Jake's year with regards to the whole Ritalin debacle, he got his report today and did FANTASTICALLY!!!  His marks have gone up and he doesn't have a single weak result (in the first term he had 9!!), every thing has been marked good, very good and excellent!  He's managed to get 5s and 6s on his report (scored out of 7), so is doing really, really, really so well.

 

To my sweet Jake - Well done, my boy!!!  I am so, SO proud of you, you have worked so hard and it's paid off beautifully.  You are a star.  I hope that you will keep up the hard work as you go into Grade 3, but for now, I hope you have the most fabulous holiday!!  I love you sooooooo much XXX

Also, to my niece, Abigail, who's going into Grade 7 in the new year, congratulations on becoming a prefect!!!  AWESOME stuff!

 

Enjoy the weekend!

Love Sue XXX

 

PS.  It's 2 years today since we got home from Lapland!! 

Speedy...

 

Jake had his sports day on Friday past.  I managed to get the day off, to go and cheer him on.  I love being part of it with him and, for now, he loves having me there.  He loves acting silly for the camera too, but I do manage to get him to smile nicely sometimes!  I love the happy smile below...

Waiting with friends from his class for their turn to run... 

 When you think I'm not watching you, Jake, I'm always watching you...

As usual, Father Christmas was there to pull the trigger and hand out sweets to the kids...

Unfortunately, Jake was stung by a bee about an hour before his race.  Some of you will know that Jake has a fairly bad reaction to bee stings.  He doesn't suffer from Anaphylactic Shock, but he swells up badly.  With his last bee sting, his whole hand and arm swelled up and he had two blood poisoning lines running up his arm.  The doctor instructed us to keep his arm elevated for 24 hours and to get him in if the swelling increased, so that they could cut lines into his hand to alleviate the swelling. I didn't have antihistamines with me (live and learn) and Jake's race was coming up, so he had to run with his rapidly swelling hand.  He wasn't happy.  This pic, with his friend Michael, was taken about 10 minutes after his sting, brave boy...

 Jake & my dad...

 From the opposite side of the field, we had a good view of the cheering houses...

 Finally, it was Jake's turn...

 His hand was worrying him, but I'd told him that bee stings had magical powers and help you run really fast... 

 Turns out I was right and Jake won his heat!  (I made a video, so no pics)...

 He ran in the final too and was most put out at being grabbed for 4th place.  He is still convinced that he came in 3rd and was not happy...

 In other news, my mom is turning 60 on Boxing Day and my sister (and her family) had her gift delivered early - gorgeous garden furniture for their back yard.  We christened it with champagne and pizza for dinner on Saturday evening...

 Jake doing the manly job of cracking open the champagne...

 And pouring it... 

 Oh how he'd have loved a sip...

 But strictly pouring only for another 9 1/2 years (thank goodness)...

 Cheers!  Our pizza company ran a special for Movember and sent a spare moustache for Jake with our delivery.  He matches his t-shirt...

 Such a Wallie...

 But he loves it.  Last year, we dared him to take his moustache to school and to put it on quietly while nobody was watching, then wait to see how long it would take for his friends to notice.  He did it - anything for a laugh...

 Hilux has been spending a bit of time at my mom's house, while they do a little building at Rosanne and Gareth's.  I had to pick him up yesterday morning - look how big he's getting!!  He's very well behaved in the car too...

 A face that only a mother can love...  

And that's it.  Life is busy and I am really looking forward to school closing up on Friday.  The kids only go back on 16 Jan 2013, so it's a really nice long break for them all.  I just hope the wind gives us some break, so that we can get down to the beach.  I've also ordered my burglar bars, so hopefully we'll be able to get back into our house sometime soon.  It's a little old man who does them from home, so might take a while still.

 

Hope you're all well!

 

Love,

Sue XXX