12 years.

Today we celebrated our twelfth wedding anniversary! It was quite a busy day:

After church we left the girls with my parents and headed out to Paarl for lunch at Schoongezicht Restaurant. There are 2 of these lovely buffet restaurants, 1 in Brackenfell and 1 in Paarl. The Brackenfell branch was fully booked so we had drive a little further but it was a lovely day and that area is so beautiful so it didn't seem like a long drive (also there were no whining children in the backseat - I'm sure that contributed!!).

In true Hutton fashion the batteries in my camera were flat!! I seem to do that a lot, but you can check out the buffet at http://www.schoongezichtbuffet.co.za/ - really, really nice. There is so much food you can't possibly even try everything (Bev, we'll have to do a trip there when you're here!!), Grant took a "break" from his diet and had some meat and curry etc. and also pudding but tomorrow it's back to broccoli!

While we were there, my parents took Abigail, Niave and Willow to see Cinderella on Ice at the Artscape. Abigail has been dying to go and my mom very kindly bought them tickets. They enjoyed it very much, Abigail can't stop talking about it.

So, a good day was had by all, and we're ready for a new week - of FEBRUARY!!! Can you believe that January 2010 is over - never to return again??!!

Muizenberg Water Slide.

A few weeks ago a friend mentioned that they were taking their daughter to the Muizenberg Water Slide for her birthday. I was quite surprised and realised that I had never even had that in my mind as an option!! I can't really figure out why - it's not because they're too young - Abigail is more than old enough and Niave would cope with the small slide, I think it's because I had a pre-conceived idea that it would be rundown and icky!!

Anyway, it was one of the things that I had on my holiday list that I didn't get to do. But a couple of weeks ago Abigail received an invitation to a party that was held there today.

Well let me just say that she was sliding non-stop for a full two and a half hours!!! She didn't eat or drink a single thing at the party!

She (and her friends!) had a really good time.

It is definitely something that we will do much more often.

(And just for the record: it wasn't rundown and icky - it was fine:-))

Ballerina girl.

Today Niave had her first ever ballet lesson!

I arrived at school expecting to find her all neatly dressed in her pretty pink ballet clothes but instead found that every other ballet girl was dressed and in place but my daughter was nowhere to be found! I found her in the tree house!! So she was whisked off to get dressed but there was no time to neaten her hair which was in a state so she was a black-footed, whispy-haired ballerina!!! But her teacher didn't seem to mind. She is very relaxed and sweet with them.

It was quite funny to watch!! Niave just wanted to twirl and kept asking "when are we going to twirl around?"!!! - They did eventually!! The skipping was hilarious and the curtsy was so so funny: But I have it on very good authority that a talent for curtsying does not run in this family!!!

Anyway, she enjoyed herself and we'll do some hair equipment shopping before next week and have her a little more turned out!! (Poor second child, just gets the hand-me-down leotard and skirt shoved into a bag!! Oh well.)

Yuppiechef!

At the end of last year the wonderful families at my school clubbed together and gave me a generous voucher for Yuppiechef - an online kitchen store which happens to be owned by one of them!
During the holidays I've been browsing their site www.yuppiechef.co.za and a few days ago I finally made my choice!

I put in my order and was sent an email saying I could expect to receive my parcel from Thursday - today!

So this morning I took the girls to school and made my way back home to do a bit of housework, schoolwork and await the arrival of my parcel. However, when I arrived home at 8:45 it was already here waiting for me!!!

SOOOO exciting!!

Here's what I ordered:

A digital scale,

a garlic wheel - for Grant's fresh garlic,

a set of "poach pouches" - because the girls love poached eggs but I don't have a poacher

and a silicone mini muffin tray!

So now I am officially a Yuppiechef!!! And the best part is, I didn't spend all of my voucher so I can order again!!! Thanks to all at Yuppichef for wonderful service!

First day of school.

The first day of school 2010 can be described by one word: hot.

It was 38 degrees today, at one point the temperature gauge in my car read 44!!

But despite the heat they had a good day.

Abigail was a bit apprehensive about the new class she is going to be in but she seemed happier when I fetched her.

Niave settled in well too.

There was lots to do: and she got busy - inside,

and outside. Then her friend Anna arrived and they played until it was time for morning ring and for the mommy's and daddy's to go!

So everyone is happy and the new term has begun!

Last day of the summer holidays.

In honour of the last day of holidays we met up with the boys and Lisa and had a tadpole-catching-picnic at a beautiful shady stream. It was a lovely relaxed morning, a perfect end to the holidays!

I can't say the afternoon was as relaxed as the morning, but despite a rather chaotic late afternoon/evening, we're all tucked up in bed and tomorrow is another day ... at school!

More trains, more beach!

With the holidays drawing to a close I was aware that there were/are a number of outings we didn't get around to, the museum for instance and of course the annual train trip to Fish Hoek beach. So, we woke up bright and early this morning to do just that! Lisa, Bryce and Mitchell joined us and off we went. The point of the outing - for me, was the train ride and not so much the beach, so I took only what would fit in my back pack (last time we went we had a willing Oupa who drove all our beach paraphernalia down in a car, but this time it was just us and I wasn't going to be overladen!!!).

It was Bryce and Mitchells first time to ride in a real train. You can see the look of amusement on some of the other passengers faces as they realize that it is the first time these children are going on a train!! At Abigail's age I was travelling "alone" to school and back by train without a second thought! (my brother and sister were with me but they weren't really all that interested in looking after me!!)

We arrived at the beach to find it almost completely empty, 1 or 2 people walking a dog or whatever, but for the most part it was just us. It had obviously rained overnight as there were puddles on the roads and it was still pretty grey and overcast when we got there. That didn't deter my 2 amphibians - they were swimming while I sat in my fleece!!!

Some watched from a safe distance!

After a swim and a play we had an ice cream before heading back to the station for the return journey.Unfortunately we missed our train so ended up having 45+ minute wait on a stationary train with 4 wrigglers!!! Lisa kept them entertained with photo's: (Niave can be somewhat photo-phobic was not in the mood for having her picture taken at this point in time, the collage below shows you her avoidance tactics: run for it, glare at the photographer, hide and pretend you are not there!!)

and stories about the toe snoggler!!

We arrived home all in 1 piece, a bit more suntanned than I would have liked, just in time for lunch!

Willow turns 7.

Yesterday was Willow's 7th birthday. She celebrated by having a few friends/cousins around for a swim and a play, not to mention yummy cake!

"I will not ever never eat a tomato" -

- is the title of a children's book by Lauren Child.

It is also something I have regularly heard from my husband!! (I know you thought I was going to say "children", but no!). Grant has never been big on vegetables and looks suspiciously at anything green that ends up on his plate. He is/was particularly suspicious of tomatoes! He has been known to eat some salad items but only if drenched in mayonnaise!! So it is a great surprise that he has decided this week (Dottie, are you sitting down?!) to change to a vegetarian diet. And not just vegetarian mind you, vegan! Now you may or may not know what a "vegan" is so I will tell you, a vegan does not eat anything with a face or a mother, so that includes eggs, dairy, fish as well as the obvious things like meat and chicken etc.

(Dottie, you can climb back onto your chair now!!)

It has been quite revolutionary here this week as our eating "plan" (as if there was one!!) was turned on it's head! We have never had so many vegetables (quantity and type) in our house before!!

Another revolutionary moment was when Grant went grocery shopping! It's just not that practical for him to do it but we discovered that if we go half an hour before closing time the shop is relatively quiet and only gets emptier not fuller!! Anyway, we came home with all sorts of things I would never normally buy as nobody in this family would ever eat it! Like red cabbage for instance, can't say I've EVER had that in my trolley before!!

We also came home with one of these so we are going to be juicing up a storm:-)

I don't know if it will last forever or even until the end of the year - he's not doing it for "moral" or "poor defenseless chicken" reasons but rather health and weight reasons, his aim is to lose 40 kg's and hopefully he can reach that goal.

He heard on Friday that he has to have an operation to replace the battery in his pace-maker device which is flat (fortunately it's not connected to his heart!! but to his spine) and he has some other back ideas that he wants to explore and it will obviously be to his benefit if he loses weight.

So we now have a bulk-size bag of tomatoes as well as a punnet of mini tomatoes in our fridge which means I guess that he will eat a tomato after all!!

Back to school haircuts.

This week is back to school. The holidays seem to have flown by. Abigail has been asking (read nagging!) since the start of the holidays for a "boys haircut" and I promised her she could have short hair but it would be just before school starts, never-the-less, she asked every day if we could go to the hairdresser! So today we finally did.
She had moved away from the "boys haircut" to "something that will suit me" but she was adamant that she didn't want to have to tie it up for school. So in the end she had a sweet bob with a fringe which she has never had before.
Here are some before, during and after pictures - top left to bottom right:
I think she looks very cute! I've always steered away from a fringe because it's always such a mission to grow it out but it looks really sweet and makes her look quite different.

Niave also ended up having a cut, actually half a cut as she decided three-quarters of the way through that "that's enough"! But fortunately it looked fine!! It definitely beat her last visit when she screamed blue murder from beginning to end! This time she sat in the hair washing chair like a seasoned pro and co-operated pretty well till the last 5 minutes.
We weren't allowed to brush it afterwards so her "after" picture is a bit of a mess but it's clean and cut at least!!

All ready for a new school year!

What's the difference?

About 36 degrees!!

Basingstoke, England - January 2010

Cape Town, South Africa - January 2010

Farewell 2009 - Hello 2010

It's been quite quiet here for a couple of weeks - but not so in real life. One reason being that the next post should have been "Christmas" but I thought I left my camera at home on Christmas day and so have no pics! Only I found it in the car later after all the "memorable moments" were over! I did take a few on other peoples cameras but obviously I don't have those! So in the absence of photo's I was a little low on inspiration but it's the second day of 2010 and the blog must go on!!

So here's a little of catch-up:

On Christmas day we went to church and then had a quiet lunch with my parents and then tea at my aunt and uncles house where we got to see my cousin for our usual once-a-year visit!!

A tired girl on Christmas morning! She had to be woken up which is quite unusual.

The girls were given lovely gifts from lots of people but 1 very special gift they each received were these quilts, handmade by my mom.

She spent ages making each granddaughter (that is 3) a dolls house quilt! Each room is furnished appropriately and there is even a pool to swim in! The bedroom has a bed that the doll can actually get into - so sweet. Here are some pictures:

Kitchen

Bathroom

Bedroom

T.V. room

Lounge

Definitely a labour of love!

Another special gift that Niave got was "Beaky's mommy"! If you know Niave you will know how much she loved that!!!

In between Christmas and New Year we did a bit of this and a bit of that, visiting friends and family, watching movies etc. etc.

On Wednesday we went to a birthday party at Camps Bay beach. I have probably been to Camps Bay beach twice in my life - including this time. It's never been on my list of beaches to go to but it was really nice and the kids had a wonderful time. They both look a little glum in this picture but they were having a good time - I promise!!!
Niave collected so many muscle shells in her net that it began to bend!!!

Since before Christmas I had been battling with a sore throat and finally on Wednesday I went to the doctor after having a few horrible nights and tired days! He gave me an antibiotic but I was still feeling a bit mis on Thursday which was New Years Eve. My mom offered to have the girls sleep over there and let me have an undisturbed nights sleep so Grant and I were asleep before 10pm!! I woke momentarily at about 4 minutes past 12 to some crackers and voices in the distance and that was about it!! Happy New Year!!!

But on Friday morning I woke feeling a lot better thanks to a good nights sleep and a couple of doses of antibiotics:-)

On New Years day we went to a family potjie in Durbanville - it was HOT! The kids spent the whole day in the pool - my children do not need to be asked twice if they want to swim! If the sun is shining and there is a pool, they will swim - actually even if the sun is not shining!!

Which brings us to today. Did I say it was hot yesterday? Well I was wrong. It was hot today. Really, really hot. We went to the miniature trains in Parow for the afternoon and it was fun but mostly it was just hot.

This is really an outing that you need to do if you have small kids and live in Cape Town. It is great fun.You ride around the tracks on these miniature locomotives of which there are many. Rides cost R3 each or 10 rides for R25 so it's really affordable. They run on the 1st Saturday of every month from 1pm-4pm.

So now we are up to date! Yippee!