March Moments.

Today is the last day of March, the first quarter of 2009 is behind us.

And with that some March Moments captured on camera.

Usually we have a gradual change from summer pyjamas to winter ones with one day winter and the next day summer until the seasons can decide what they are up to, but this year there was "a day" that the weather changed and since that day we have been in winter pyjamas! So no more summery swimming days, it's time to get stuck into autumn, not that I'm complaining, I've had enough of 35 deg. days but just give me a few weeks and I'll be bemoaning the cold!

Dancing Day.

Today was "watching day" at dancing, being the last class of the term.

I was surprised to see how much more confident Abigail was this time. They are probably going to have to do an exam this year, but only in August, thank goodness!

We watched them do some of their exercises and barre work. Most of the actual dances are for exams or productions later in the year and are "Top Secret" at this stage!!

They don't make 'em like they used to.

This toy tortoise is 40 years old.

It belonged to this little boy's Daddy when he was a little boy.

It comes from a different century, a different millennium!! (As does it's original owner!!)

It has been played with by 2 little boys and 7 little girls in it's life span and still going strong.

It never fails to entertain and delight.

Any guesses who it was made by?

Post your answers in the comment box below. All you need is a gmail account - it's free!!

(N.B. if you are one of the "2 little boys or 7 little girls" or their parents - you are barred from voting!!) -just kidding:-)

It will be interesting to see how many of the toys we've bought for our children will still be around for their children...

Sleepover.

On Saturday night, my parents had all 4 grandchildren to sleep over! Hey, they offered - and who am I to decline such an offer?! Grant and I could have and should have gone out for our belated anniversary dinner but instead we stayed at home and watched Mama Mia!

Here they are: "Koch" kidlets x4!

Saturday afternoon was a buzz of activity:

With playing blocks,

"shop-shop"

and Niave's version of Hide and Seek- it goes like this: "Ouma, I'm going to hide behind the tree and then you find me"! It's basically all hide and no seek!!

Niave also likes to play this game:

It's called Ring-a-ring-a-rosies, some of you may know it but Niaves version goes like this: "Ring a ring a rosies, a pocket full of posies, atishoo, atishoo, I throw you on the ground"!

Well, after supper and baths it was time for bed, Marley and Niave slept in the spare room and Abigail and Willow got to "camp" in the lounge.

They all arrived for Sunday School this morning washed, fed, dressed and brushed! Niave was so tired she crashed at 5:15 p.m.!! I think my parents might also have been napping at that time!!

Rock pools.

Earlier this week when I walked into the foyer at school I noticed that the grade 2's had a display of a writing exercise they had done about their outing to the rock pools. I looked at all of them to find Abigail's but I could not see it. They also drew beautiful pastel drawings about the outing which were on display outside the classroom, there too I looked for Abigail's but couldn't find it! A couple of days later I asked Abigail where her picture and write-up were and she took me to the board in the main foyer where I found her picture placed in the middle of all the write-ups! And her piece of writing right beside it!

It says:

19 March Abigail

In the rock pool.

I live in a rock pool.

I am a little fish. I eat seaweed. I love to bath in the rock pools.

I don't like it when the tide goes out, because I can't breathe because I need water.

She looked very chuffed that her picture had been chosen and it is just one of the small ways in which her teacher is trying to encourage her and help boost her confidence.

Swimming.

Today was "watching-day" for Abigail's swimming group after school.
She really has become quite the swimmer!! If I think back to a year ago and then look at her today the difference is amazing.
She clearly loves being in the water and enjoyed every minute of it.

kickboards

and on backs


backstroke! (I love the expressions - so leisurely!)

and then it's the marathon, dive in and swim a length!

And did you ever see a girl so in awe of her big sister?!

Frankly, I've never seen a girl sit so still next to a swimming pool!! (still clutching 3 Barney's of course!)

What-a-lot-I-got!

What makes you think Niave likes Barney?!

Poor old Beaky (Niaves favourite bedtime duck) got shelved (literally!) tonight to make space for 3 Barney's!

Guaranteed these are not all the Barney's we have in our house - oh no, we have at least 2 more but that's being conservative.

Student of the week.

Last Thursday Abigail's class visited the rock pools in Hout Bay, I have been on this outing a few times when I taught in Hout Bay so I know it's a really good one. Abigail came home with stories about starfish and anemones and a crab that pinched her toe etc. etc. She really enjoyed the outing.

Then on Monday morning at assembly she was presented with the "student of the week" award for grade 2.

She was very excited to show me her certificate which reads: "...awarded to Abigail Hutton, grade 2 for being an eager, excited, interested participant on our outing to the rock pools in Hout Bay"

She was was also given a badge which she got to wear for the week.

She really needed something to boost her confidence as she's been battling a bit especially with the maths. She sat down to have breakfast this morning and said with a sigh "I wish I didn't have to struggle at school"!

News Flash!

Breaking News...

Today it rained!
The midday high was 17 deg celsius.
I never thought I'd see the day!
It was wonderful.

Time for a new watch.

My husband has an obsession with watches! I, on the other hand, do not!

I wear a watch purely for practical purposes i.e. telling the time!!

Grant would happily have a different watch for every day of the week!

Now about a year and a half ago my watch broke, first the strap, which was replaced and then the battery - or so I thought. After replacing it a few times in a very short space of time I finally gave up and resorted to using my phone to tell the time. It got to the point where I thought I may never need a watch again - why buy 2 items when you can buy 1 that does 2 functions?!!

Well, obviously that was not the right attitude for the wife of a watch-obsessed husband to have!

So, yesterday Grant had a day out with his friend Alan, they go off to the Blue Route Mall and whizz up and down in their chairs popping into coffee shops and to watch a movie etc. etc. This time a watch-hunting expedition was also on the cards!! (Unbeknown to me!!)

When he got home I was presented with a belated anniversary gift, a beautiful Fossil watch! Grant is good at watch-shopping, but finding the right watch for me is quite a feat. You see I do not wear watches without numbers! I cannot tell the time on them, I simply cannot and nowadays it's quite hard to find one with a full face of numbers, but he did a pretty good job:

Thank you, kind husband, for a beautiful gift.

Splish, Splash!

This morning Abigail went to a(nother!) party. This time it was for her friend, Jody who lives in Table View - which explains the view from their back garden:

- beautiful.

Anyway, Jody's grandparents are our neighbours and the girls have become good friends and enjoy riding bikes together when she visits over the weekends. Kelsey, our other neighbourhood friend also went along - actually we went along in their car!!

It was a beautiful day and there was swimming and sliding galore!

Jody had triple-layered-chocolate-mousse-cake!! It was enormous!!

Happy Birthday Jody, and thank you for a fun morning.

The case of the missing disc: (The kindness of strangers.)

Grant has a disabled disc so that he is legally allowed to park in a disabled bay.
In the past these discs would be stuck to the windscreen like a license disc but nowadays they make them "portable" with a hook to hang it over the review mirror so that the disabled person is not limited to one vehicle.
That makes sense, but we live in Cape Town i.e. gale force South Easter wind a lot of the time!

So the story goes like this: the disc was there one day and not the next! We turned the car upside down (not literally!!) and searched in amongst the toddler debris and came up with: 4 plastic fish, 2 plastic horses, 2 coke bottles, at least 1 pair of shoes, 1 blue matchbox car, a lot of papers and a number of other things but - no disc!

So, we were destined to visit the traffic department to acquire a replacement. Now a visit to the traffic department does not conjure up positive emotions for me! It has invariably been a place of intense frustration, complete disbelief at the level of incompetence and/or inefficiency and finally utter despair! I realize I am painting all employees with the same brush and that is probably unfair and inaccurate but I have never had a positive or even remotely pleasant experience at the traffic department!

Anyway, they only replace/issue discs on a Wednesday and we had to have 2 items in our possession before we could pluck up the courage to go: 1) a letter from the doctor to verify that Grant is disabled and 2) ID (passport) photo's.
Now I just have to say that this is a replacement and considering that a large percentage of people applying for /in possession of these discs are paralysed it seems strange to me that we have to present a letter from the doctor saying that he is (still) disabled.
The traffic department must know of some secret procedure that can reverse paralysis because surely if you are coming to replace an already existing disc it must have already been proven that you are disabled. Anyway, that's just my little rant!!

So, last Wednesday came and went without the letter or the photo's and it's only when you need something and don't have it that you realize how much you depend/ed on it so parking became a bit of an issue and we decided that today was going to have to be the day.

So by this morning I still did not have the letter (although it had been written) nor the photo's (which were on my computer and had to get to the printer at the pharmacy!) and I was running very late to fetch Grant and head off armed with all the necessary items to the traffic department!

When I finally got all my ducks in a row and headed out the door to the car I found a letter in the letterbox addressed to Grant with an unfamiliar name and address on the back of the envelope. I decided not to open it because it was not addressed to me and tossed it into the passenger seat and went on my way.

When I finally got to Grant an hour later, he found the envelope and opened it while I was packing the wheelchair into the boot.

What was inside? Our missing disabled disc!!!

Some kind soul had found it and taken the trouble to find out our address and send it back to us.

You cannot imagine my relief!!

I actually felt lighter!!

So, Thank you S. Kruse, whoever and wherever you are, for your honesty and for taking the time to mail it back to us. It's probably more than most people would have done.

Pancakes for supper

Last night we decided to have pancakes for supper!! Primarily because all the food groups are covered!!! First we worked up an appetite by walking to the shop to buy lemon juice - not that any appetite is needed for pancakes - not in this house!!!

Mmmmmm!

Gotta love that cinnamon chin!

Now the best part about pancakes is the flipping! Abigail tried to take some pictures of me flipping the pancakes, she did pretty well seeing as they were action shots and we had to time it quite carefully.

Then Grant got in on the action

Up she goes!!

and before we knew it we were all having a turn,


they didn't always land in the pan!!!
(Oops!)

even Niave who has a blister on her hand as proof, poor thing.

All in all, a successful supper, just enough excitement and far too much sugar before bed!!

Greenfield's Family Fun Day.

This morning we set off bright and early for a fun sports day at Abigail's school.

We were first to arrive, even before some of the teachers!! Talk about keen beans!
Fortunately the weather was kind to us and the temperature stayed under 32! It was a little overcast at first which was wonderful.

The children took part in all sorts of fun races on a completely voluntary basis, the morning was about having fun not about winning.

There were straight races,

sibling races - you had to hold your siblings hand the whole way, some were dragged more than held!!

3 legged races - tied to a parent,

sack races,

potato and spoon,

"long distance" - twice around the field,

water balloon throwing - they had to line up in pairs facing each other and throw a balloon full of water to each other, if your balloon dropped or burst you were out,

parent, grandparent and teacher races

(here the teachers are in action)

and a tug of war.

It was a relaxed and fun morning, one which will hopefully become an annual event.

Niave got up to all sorts as usual!

Heat Wave!

This past week we've had some soaring temperatures in Cape Town but Friday was by far the worst. 42 degrees Celsius - need I say more??? Well, Abigail was fortunate enough to have a swim at school and Niave had a swimming lesson scheduled but our saving grace was our friends Lisa, Bryce and Mitchell who invited us to swim at Lisa's mom's house.

It was great, as you can see the kids had a ball.

Thank you to Aunty Wendy for having us and to Lisa for these stunning photo's.

Last night was really hot, at 7pm the temperature was 32 which is usually a pretty good midday temp but try sleeping in that. Not pleasant, Niave only fell asleep at 9:30 and Abigail at 10pm because it was just so uncomfortable.

Fortunately today was MUCH more bearable thanks to a lovely breeze.