Friday, October 31, 2008

Wonder

Sometimes the interest and "wonderment" that children have about the world, especially little things, amazes me.
The smallest creature from a ladybird to a snail and even an ant get their undivided attention.
Today I was shopping between Baby City and Fruit and Veg when on the way back to the car Abigail gasped and declared "Mommy, there's a little bird!" (with quite a lot of expression and surprise in her voice) I looked up thinking I would see some kind of interesting or unusual bird-life when all it was was a scraggly Starling scavenging up some scraps on the ground!

It didn't matter to her that it was a lice-breeding vermin of the bird world, it was just a sweet little bird!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Owls

Remember this picture?

Well, during the holidays Lisa took Abs and Bryce to the Clay Cafe in Hout Bay where they painted these owls.

Last week Lisa very diligently travelled back to Hout Bay to collect the finished products.

Wow! They look totally different all finished and glazed and fired (or whatever else they had done to them!)

2 very proud painters!

Let's go fly a kite!

Today we went to the Kite Festival at Zandvlei.
It was a hot, windy day and there were stacks of people!
I left my sunglasses at home so I have very sore eyes from squinting into the sun.
However, my sore eyes aside, we had a good time.

There were some amazing kites. I bought some teeny tiny ones, made out of tissue paper, for R5 that were being sold in aid of Cape Mental Health and the kids loved them (especially as I had told Abigail that we were going to SEE kites not BUY one, thinking they would only have big, expensive ones for sale!). They were quite sweet and held up remarkably well against the strong wind.

There were also lots of other stalls (food and toys etc.) and activities like jumping castles and trampolines and tractor rides.

Here are some pictures of the day:

Some of the activities for the kids.

Some of the more impressive kites.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Cousins having fun in the sun!

Today was another sunny day, and although Grant and I both didn't feel all that great, the children were full of bounce!

Cousins Willow and Marley came to visit Ouma and Oupa and so we joined up with them for some lunch and a play in the pool.














Marley had his first official swim, the girls also got in on the action although the water was rather cold.



Afterwards it was time for watermelon (Niaves favourite!)
How are these faces?




Yum, yum!

Niave's first swimming lesson

Yesterday Niave had her first swimming lesson.
She was VERY excited - for a couple of reasons:
1:because she LOVES water
2:because she often has to wait for Abigail to finish swimming at school and wants to get in too
3:because she got to wear a blue "swimming hat" just like her big sister

At first I wasn't too sure she would be keen on the "hat", so on Thursday night I did a trial run to see if she would keep it on - she wanted to sleep in it!



So off we went on Friday afternoon to swim with "uncle Net" (that's aunty Jeanette!).

We arrived a little early just so she could get a feel for the place and not have to rush straight into the pool, but she was super keen and it was quite a task to keep her out of the water until her turn.



"When's my turn Mommy?"

At last it was 4:15 and Niaves turn! She loved every minute and took to all the games and activities that they use to get the little ones comfortable in the water.

Picking up rings and putting them over a beacon.



Holding onto a noodle and "exploring" the pool.


Swimming on her back.


"Monkey walks"

All in all it was great and she can't wait to go back.


They also have great "entertainment" for waiting siblings!


Friday, October 24, 2008

Just when I thought it was safe...

I'm sure many disastrous missions have begun with this phrase.
My disastrous mission ended like this: "Just when I thought it was safe to give Niave a milky bottle"!

After not having vomited the whole day, I decided to give Niave her bedtime bottle which she really "needs" to get to sleep.

Well, until last night I could safely say that neither of my kids had ever had projectile vomit. You know, the kind that shoots out with such a force it hits the other wall.

However, since last night I can no longer lay claim to that statement!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Vomit!

Haven't had much to post about this week, not unless you wanted to see pictures of vomit, that is! I'm pretty sure you don't.
But that's what we've been dealing with most of the week, oh and there was that day with the shooting pooh -and I do mean shooting!
It was, thankfully, not "middle-of-the-night-vomit" which happens 9 times out of 10 -in this house (why is it that kids seem to get sick or have a raging temperature or some other life threatening event in the middle of the night? Can't they just do it at a decent hour?? - {I'm kidding!})

Anyway between watching Shrek and watching Shrek and um, watching Shrek we've mopped up and done LOADS of washing (actually loads of loads of washing) and also we've watched Shrek!

So now that 1 child is back to her normal not-puking-self, the other one has started to complain of a sore tummy.
I think we may be in for some "middle-of-the-night-vomit" after all!
Aaah, the joys of being a parent:-)

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Abigail's eye: part 3

For those of you who haven't seen us for a while, here is the "then and now" version of Abigail's eye.

She has recovered very well and there is just a faint bruise left.

These 2 pictures were taken 2 weeks apart (the picture on the left was taken the morning after the crash and the 1 on the right on Wednesday) and what I find really amazing is that, to me, they don't even look like the same child!

She has very little scarring from the grazed area and probably won't even need tissue oil, but we'll put some on just in case!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

A Summers Day! (In Spring!)

Today was a scorcher! Although it is not going to last, according to the weather bureau, it was well into the 30's (Celsius) today!
Abigail spent the morning playing at her friend, Bryce's house while Niave was at a party (the 1st of 2 this week-end!).
Afterwards we headed to Ouma and Oupa's house to swim!
They have a fold up pool that is quite a nice size when up and filled with water which beats our clam shell which is just up to your ankles!
Abigail has recently learnt to knit and started another knitting project just before lunch.

Niave just couldn't wait for the pool to go up and decided to climb into the dogs water bowl instead!

She was very happy when she could finally jump in!

Oh the hours of endless fun you can have with water and a colander!!

Abigail made a brief appearance in the pool but spent the rest of the day knitting...


...and knitting...


...and knitting!

We ended off the day with a braai, a good end to a good day!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Grandparents Day.

Today was Grandparents Day at Abigail's school. My parents went along for the morning.
First off the Grannies and Grandpa's were entertained in the hall by the various choirs and the school band as well as some of the classes. The grade 1's did a poem and each child had to say what their Granny or Grandpa was like or what they liked to do! Abigail's line was "my Oupa likes to tell jokes"!

Then it was time for tea and they got to browse through the displays of artwork that were done specially for the day. The grade 1's had done portraits of one of their grandparents.
Abigail did hers of my Mom "Ouma", as you will see below it bears a striking resemblance!!!

It was a beautiful day here in Cape Town today, so they got to spend some time out in the gardens which are also very beautiful. All in all it seems everyone had a good time - the first of many, many Grandparents Days. I wonder how many of these portraits will be adorning our walls by the time Niave gets to grade 7!!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Haircuts

Today we went to the hairdresser, or "the haircutter" as Niave calls it!

I was in desperate need of a haircut and Abigail has been begging to have "short hair" and Niave was one big tangled mess! So today was the day.

I have trimmed Abigail's hair from time to time, as it is long and straight it's quite easy, but Niave's hair goes beyond my expertise, she has about 5 crowns so I'm not even going to attempt cutting her hair - ever!

It turned out to be quite an expensive outing to have 3 haircuts but everyone was happy with the results so I've decided it was worth it.

Niave went first, so we could avoid the wriggle factor! She was fairly wriggly anyway and a bit whiny but once she realised that it wasn't sore or anything to worry about, she sat very nicely and watched the T.V.!

Abigail wanted hers so that she wouldn't have to tie it up for school. I was a bit sad but I am also fed up with all the moans about brushing and knots etc. etc. so, consoling myself with the knowledge that it will grow back, we went for it!

Then it was my turn. Whenever I've waited this long between haircuts I always say "never again" but somehow it always happens that way. Maybe now that Niave can sit still for about 5 minutes I will consider going more often!!

These pictures got a bit muddled (I'm still trying to figure out how to position them how I want them and this time it went very wrong!!) but basically it's "at the hairdresser" and "at home neatly brushed after baths"!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Spring!

Spring seems to have finally arrived giving us more sunny days than rainy ones in a week.
A pleasant change from the rain, rain and more rain.
We spent most of the week-end at Ouma and Oupa's house and today the girls got out into the sunshine to play with water, bubbles and dogs!

3 of their favourite things!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Abigail's eye cont.


This week has seen more improvement in the eye healing process. The bruise seemed to move down her cheek and when she woke up on Monday morning I thought her face was dirty, but it ended up being the bruise!

Swimming has helped the scabs to come off completely and the bruise is a whole lot better.

There just seems to be a small purple patch that won't go away, there hasn't been much change since Thursday.
She still gets a lot of questions but it's MUCH better.

Hopefully by this time next week there won't be any sign of it!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Abigail's eye.


6 days on this how the eye looks now.
It is starting to turn all the colours of the rainbow but it is MUCH better and the grazes on her cheek are also starting to heal nicely now.
Maybe in another 6 days she will be back to normal!
She still gets a lot of gasps and questions of "what happened to you?" and on Saturday the lady behind us in the queue at Spar bought her a Kinder Joy because she said she must have been very brave!

The rest of the week.

Well we had another birthday this week, poor Ouma's birthday gets slightly overshadowed by Abigail's each year. Sometimes she is so busy baking and helping with preparations that she quite forgets her own birthday is 2 days later!
So on Wednesday evening after the x-rays and injection and all we headed to Ouma's house for supper. We surprised her with a cake and "a few" candles. The kids just have to have candles to blow out on someones birthday!

So that was Wednesday.

On Thursday Abiagil went out and Niave and I did some errands and visiting and that was about all!

Friday was supposed to be sunny but was actually very cloudy and very cold - no surprises there, anyway, Abs went to see a show at the Baxter and then went with Bryce to the Clay Cafe in Hout Bay. They painted owls and got to play with a friendly Golden Retriever!

While they were busy there, Mitchell - Bryce's brother stayed with Niave and I at home.

They had a great old time unpacking and packing - and unpacking again, all the toys in the basket in the kitchen! Mitchell is a real sweetie and Niave obviously thinks so too because at one point she looked at him crawling down the passage and said "Mom, Mitchell is gorgeous"! That has to be Niave's quote of the week! And she's right, he really is!


Saturday brought the usual trip to the library and an unusual trip to the fabric shop. I must say every time I go there I vow to make it something that I do more often but it still remains a rare occasion. Ouma bought some fabric to make Niave some dresses. There are particular styles that suit her shape and she is fast outgrowing the only ones we have! The clothes they have in the shops for girls often leave a lot to be desired - but THAT is a whole other post!! So needless to say the trip to the fabric shop came about. (I can see that the purchasing of a sewing machine is also going to have to come about soon!)

So today, Sunday, Ouma made a very sweet dress which was worn straight off the sewing machine! I didn't have my camera with me but I just have to say that it was done on a Singer hand machine that is about 90 years old!! It still goes brilliantly and even though my Mom has an electric machine she always seems to go back to the good old Singer.

As the saying goes "They don't make 'em like they used to"!!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

The week thus far...

On Wednesday morning I decided to take Abigail to the doctor just to be on the safe side.
He sent us for x-rays to check that there was no crack in her zygoma which is the bone next to your eye socket.
Fortunately there wasn't a crack and her skull was entirely intact:-)

We did however need a Tetanus shot as I have not been very good at keeping up to date with my kids vaccinations and the last Tetanus injection she had was in January 2002!! Oh dear.





Well, the down side of not vaccinating your children regularly/properly is that they don't get used to injections.
Abigail gave an Oscar winning performance prior to the needle even touching her and then, when it was all over stated "that wasn't actually sore"!
The good news is she doesn't have to have one of those again until she is 12!





On Wednesday I was keen to get her back on the bike to make sure she wasn't going to be too frightened but since we spent most of the day either in waiting rooms or in the car, we didn't get a chance.
So, I was very pleased when she came home this afternoon after an outing with her aunt and said "I wanna ride my bike"!
All worry of fears allayed.



Here she is happily pedaling down the road!





And here, of course, is the item that probably would have lessened the blow had we put it on:-the helmet, which will now be worn at all times.

Unfortunately the ride was cut short by a sudden shower of rain but at least we've been back on the bike and had an incident free experience!

And all this time look how the mielies have grown!!!