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!!

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"!

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!

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!

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"!!

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!!!