Uncle Willie's

On Monday night we went to "Uncle Willie's" Christmas Party.

We used to go to "Uncle Paul's" when we were kids but it was known in our family as "The Hayride"!! I have no idea why! Anyway, we never really got it together to go with our kids until this year when "Aunty Lisa" invited us along.

It brought back memories because basically, if you've been to either Uncle Willie's or Uncle Paul's anytime in the last 30 years it's exactly the same!

"now" and "then"
As you can see, not much has changed apart from the fashions (Cool socks Bev!!)

Back to Monday night, we started out with a tractor ride which was very bumpy and very exciting all at the same time!!!

Then we arrived at the castle and the hay fight started!!

Not everyone thought it was fun!

The kids were entertained by Uncle Willie, The Band and Noddy. The children were allowed to try out the instruments and some of the parents "volunteered" to play Jingle Bells!! Then the band took us for a march around the field.

After some carol singing, ice creams, snacks and cool drinks it was time for Father Christmas to arrive! The children have to "blow out" all the lights and wait for the sleigh bells and then he appears on the roof of the castle. There is also a fairy who comes and hands out sweets.

Abigail was very tired by the time the presents were being handed out and was getting a bit impatient! Finally her name was called and she went up to receive her gift.

The rules of the party are that only children aged between 3 and 8 may receive gifts, that meant that Niave wouldn't be allowed to receive her own gift from Father Christmas. So I wrapped up 2 separate gifts inside 1 gift (if that makes sense!). When Abigail took the first layer of paper off there were 2 presents inside, 1 for her and 1 for Niave. They both got crayons, koki's and pencil crayons because during the last week or so we discovered that almost every koki pen in the house is dry and there was a serious shortage of drawing equipment in general. (Father Christmas must have been flying over when we had that conversation because they are now very well stocked and have been drawing at every spare moment of the day!!)

We got home at 10:30pm!! Niave had slept in the afternoon so she was remarkably fine but Abigail, who does not deal well with being tired and refuses to admit to being tired(!) was very ready for bed. Both were out like a light as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

When they woke up the next morning there was much retelling of all that had happened and of course the drawing frenzy began!!

Slippy Slide

Remember the Slippy Slide? We used to have one when I was little. It was great fun.

My Dad bought one for the grandchildren and seeing as it was pretty hot today they got to try it out.

Abigail went right in like a pro!

Willow took a while to get started but then she had a good time!

Niave didn't really get the hang of it but she liked the water anyway!

Goodbye Mrs. Speed

The end of the school year is always a bitter sweet occasion.
There is the long Summer holiday to look forward to but there's also the farewell to teachers and friends.

Abigail's teacher is leaving to go to another school so she was extra sad that she won't be seeing her again.


I can't believe grade 1 is over. In a blink she's going to be in grade 7!

Abigail with Mrs Speed and Mrs van Zyl (assistant)

This evening we got some of her stationary sorted out and books covered etc. While inspecting her new Space Case with all it's contents she announced "I can't wait for next year"!! - Hey, it's the first day of the holidays!!

Knock, knock.

Yes, this is a photo of my back door! So why is it on my blog?

Look closely at the bottom left corner...this is how our 11 year old cat "Bonny" tells us when she wants to come in. She is dangling by her paw tips!!

She actually pulls the door handle down but not far enough to open the door.

She could just come through the open window a metre away but hey that's cats for you, they are funny creatures!!

Dear Father Christmas...

...please bring me some toys because all I have to play with is these milk bottles!!

I'm kidding!! Niave decided to unpack the (overfull) recycling cupboard while I packed the dishwasher this afternoon!

Isn't it amazing how sometimes the simplest things can keep children entertained for ages - just not when you're on the telephone, then there is simply nothing to do other than create such chaos that Mom just has to end the conversation and sort it all out!!!

Drawing.

Last night Niave and Abigail spent some time drawing.

Abigail drew a sweet picture of a girl watering flowers and a duck in the pond etc. etc.

Niave, who wants to be like Abigail and do all that Abigail does, "copied" her picture.

Quite an interesting result.

Busy, busy, busy!

Okay, so it's been a while! We've been busy! Despite the busy-ness I have very few photo's of the past week or so. This time of year is always hectic but this year it seems to have gotten worse - I'm sure I say that every year!

Anyway, here's some of what we've been doing.

Last Friday Abigail had her first cake sale and so we were destined to spend Thursday night baking! Thursday day was a really busy one and add to that car trouble and there was no way the baking was going to get done before supper time. (bearing in mind that I was stranded at Renault until 5:30!)
I wanted to make "window biscuits" which I saw on another blog (they are little gingerbread man shaped biscuits with a hole in the tummy and a boiled sweet in the hole to make a stained glass window) and "spiral biscuits". Basically it was a disaster!! Lesson 1: never bake something for the first time that needs to be sold or consumed by anyone other than immediate family.


So we mixed a batch of dough that ended up being too crumbly and frustrating to work with. The idea was for Abigail to be part of the making and baking. The cherry on the cake (biscuit!) was when I added brandy essence instead of red colouring to the dough for the spiral biscuits!!! It was REALLY potent!! SO, that was when we abandoned ship and opted for Chocolate Squares which were quick and easy - if a little difficult to cut into squares the next morning!!

Here she is creaming the butter and sugar of the first attempt.

And here she is mixing the chocolatey mixture of the second attempt!

It all turned out well in the end but it wasn't my most enjoyable baking experience.

This week (and last) has been 1 thing after the other for Abigail. Fun gala, sports day, beach outing, end of year parties for all sorts of extra murals, concert... and the week is not over yet!

Tonight was the Foundation phase (grades 1-3) Christmas Concert.

It was very sweet and the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves. Unfortunately (but not unusually!) my camera's batteries went flat during the first song so all I've got is the pre-concert pics!!

Here are the Jingle Bell Rock girls!

The concert was followed by a picnic in the gardens. It was bit windy but not too bad, we had quite a sheltered spot. Niave ran around and played so much that she hardly ate anything except for the obligatory melon - a firm favourite with her. On the drive home (when I thought she'd be asleep before we got to the first corner) she was asking "what we having for supper?"! We still managed to get a second bath in because they were so sweaty and itchy, and she had a whole bowl of noodles - another firm favourite. She only got into bed at 8:45pm! For not having slept today that was pretty good going. Needless to say when her head hit the pillow she was a goner!