It seems as though the warmer weather of summer has finally arrived.  It's set to be a whopping 34 degrees today!!  I just love the longer days and the gorgeous evenings we're blessed with at this time of year.

On Sunday night, Corky and Bianca came to stay for the night.  Jake and Corky are really difficult together at the moment, but they were both in great moods after their Macaroni Cheese supper.  It was actually pleasant to have them together for a change!  And of course, Little Bi wouldn't miss out on any of the action...

 Jake being silly for the camera...

 So, while Jake's pulling silly faces, Corky's decided to do the same.  Closed eyes for the camera...

 Bi really loves getting dirty and she really, really enjoyed getting both her ice-cream and herself filthy dirty...

 But she was happy and that's all that counts when you're 1 1/2...

 Home girl.  Her mommy puts pretty brookies on her, to hide the ugly nappy...

 When there's something else to look at, you just put your ice lolly on the ground and check it out...

 

 Then you can pick your lolly up again...

 And carry on eating it...  Tastes nice with a bit of dirt on it, you should try it sometime...

 Meanwhile Nini managed to get half a cuddle from Corks...

 Mmmm... I wonder where I left my lolly...

Ahh - here it is! I'll just pick it up again...

 But uh-oh... this time Bi notices that it's a little grubby and she's not very happy about it...

 Nini made it better by giving up her own lolly...

 Connor's very into Spiderman at the moment, much to my sister's disgust.  He's super cool in his Spidey Specs though...

 Duracell's quite happy when the kids are eating ice-creams.  There are always blobs all over for him to lick up.  Duracell was NOT popular this weekend.  He caught a tiny kitten (it has been confirmed as a stray) in the garden and killed it on Saturday morning.  I'd heard the kitty and checked to see if it was in the garden, but he must've been hiding really well from me, because I couldn't find it anywhere.  There's a big open nature reserve-type field behind my parent's house, so I guessed that the cats were there.  Anyway, I saw the whole thing happen and I was devastated that I couldn't do anything to stop it happening.  It was so fast and I am still revolted by it.  All that said, it is in Duracell's blood to hunt and if it had been a snake or a rat, I'd have been really pleased with him.  He didn't know better...

 Bi, ready for her bath...

 In amongst the kids, these flowers were too pretty not to photograph...

 There are dark purple ones in between too.  I don't know what these flowers are called - anyone else know??

 Pretty with the new paving...

 Hoping to climb the pomegranate tree with Jake...

 Jake in his jammies the tree.  He used to climb this tree all the time, from when he was about Bi's age.  He's getting too big for the tree now and really has to squash his way into the branches...

 Sometimes Jake does let me take one or two nice photos of him, but I really have to beg these days.  I've even resorted to paying him with sweets...

 Hi handsome man, I love you...

And that's it.  All up-to-date!  Need to take more photos, so that I can post again soon!

Love,

Sue XXX

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!!