Merry Christmas Everyone!

We wish you all every blessing in this coming year!
God Bless!

My new Peruvian Lily

Isn't this just a GORGEOUS bloom!?!
I noticed this stunning plant as we ambled around at the Wild Oats Farmers Market in Sedgefield on saturday. I was absolutley enraptured with it's beauty and desperately wanted one for myself! So yes, I indulged and bought it. :)

Problem solved!

There you go, problem solved. Bye Bye InfoLinks!

Yucky Info Links :(

I've just seen some Yucky adverts on my blog, but am not sure what to do about that so in the mean time, I apologise for my mistake. The Google ads seem fime, it's just the Infolinks, that pop up as you move your cursor over them.

Sorry again :(

Happy without a Nappy!

This is one of those things of which Zacky will one day die of embarrassment, but it's also a big milestone in his life, and considering that we are so far from family, I'm happy to share these moments with you.

Zack is doing very well with his potty training! He is 2 1/2 and is dry during the day, but still sleeps with a nappy at night and during his naps. We've been training him since the beginning of the year, but have been ever so slow with it, as no-one benefits by rushing them. He has recently surprised us by remaining dry for so long, without any accidents.


Here's our special boy, on his special throne! Well done Zack! I'm so proud of you.

Triple Smiles!!!

This morning Danica asked for pig-tails...then Lila asked for pig-tails...then Zachary asked for pig-tails! I couldn't give Zack pig-tails so consoled him with 2nd place, gel!


Here are my 3 very precious and very special babies.

Circles in a Forest!

Today is our weekly Family Day so we decided to go for a lovely forest hike. We packed an assortment of snacks and water into our backpacks, and headed out to Rheenendaal again to see what we could see.

We found the Circles in a Forest Memorial, where the Author of "Circles in a Forest" or "Kringe in 'n Bos", Dalene Matthee rests.


This is the "Big Tree" next to it. It is estimated to be 800 years old!


The Memorial and the Big Tree mark the beginning of a 3km and longer 9km hike. We obviously chose the shorter! We had to look out for these signs as we went.


The girls did remarkably well, not complaining at all. Infact, I was surprised to see the opposite! They would take turns in being the "Leader" infront and keep us trotting at a steady pace, encouraging us all the way!


Zacky was escourted on Daddy's back. At first he was not too thrilled and asked to be put down, but once Malcolm had told him that he should fly his Aeroplane from up there, he immidiately took on the character of a "eli-op-ta"!


Here he sits in his eliopta while we sip water.


To think that Elephants used to freely roam in these forests. What a shame there are only 5 left.


Our little troopers (with Jube-Jubes in their cheecks!)


We managed the 3Kms and we're a little relieved to find the car park! We stopped at the picnic spot and enjoyed what was left of our snacks.


We had such a special day together, with our precious children, beloved spouse, Awesome Creator! and beautiful Creation. Days like these keep us together, with each other and our Lord!

As we drove home, we passed this sign on the road. It made us smile, and I think it made Grandmum smile too!

Tea and Cake on Leisure Island

This afternoon we decided that a great ending to our chilly day would be to head out to the Island with a picnic basket full of... CAKE!


This time we took an immediate right, leading us to the Boat Club area.




We haven't changed much, have we?



The kids had a wonderful time running around on the grass, waiting for the monster to catch them!


Gotcha!


Mind the Plovers! ;)

Zacky's Buddy, Ben!

Some of you have asked after our kids, and have wanted to know if they have been blessed with friends yet. Well here is a picture of Zachary with his one and only Buddy, Ben. Ben has just turned one and is such a cute and very clever little boy. We don't see him often, but when we do I can see how he has grown and developed!


Here Zack is taking Ben for a little ride, it didn't last long though! (Just long enough to whip out the camera!)

P.S. At night when we say prayers and sing a song, Zacky sings "He's got Zacky and Ben, in His hands...He's got the whole world in His hands!"

Peek-a-Boo!

Guess who?



Boo!!!

A walk on Leisure Isle

This afternoon we decided to end our day with a leisurely walk on leisure Isle. It is really such a blessing to live so close to such unmatched beauty! (and safety)


The kids took their bikes along.




and look who we saw!


This pony lives on the Island. It's about the size of an Alsatian.



So Cute!

Butterflies - God's little Miracles!

A couple of months ago, I was teaching the girls about the life cycle of a butterfly. They had read about it and drawn it and learnt it, but I secretly wished they could really SEE it for themselves!

Well one morning while waiting for the girls to complete their homeschooling for the morning, I noticed that my brand new little Lemon tree was completely bare of all it's leaves! On closer inspection, I discovered 3 fat lazy caterpillars!
Here was our chance!

We ran inside and found an empty peanut butter jar, poked lots of breathing holes in the lid, and filled it with juicy leaves. Then we added 2 of the green caterpillars, still on the twigs they were on.
Well within days they were hanging upside down, and were eventually pupa's!
What follows is really gross! The leaves and poo and water started to rot and smell really bad!

After many weeks of no activity, I was close to giving up, and ready to throw all that rot away...

...when one evening Zacky started shouting "Butta-tie! Butta-tie!" pointing to the jar! And there it was!


A BEAUTIFUL CITRUS SWALLOWTAIL!
In the picture you can see his empty brown pupa shell, as well as his brother's (or sister's) green pupa.

It had just emerged from it's pupa and was trying to open it's brand new, wet wings. We were all so excited, and thrilled to be able to see something like this with our very own eyes!

I felt that we should set him free, so we took him outside and with one shake of the jar he flew to the window sill, and that's where he stayed all night.




The next morning we were thrilled to find him still perched by the window, although I was worried that he had froze to death overnight.


I decided to gently nudge him, to fly away and find food, when he politely opened up his wings (probably a sign of warning) for us to see.


Unfortunately our lovely fairy tale has a bad ending...

... as we ran after him while he flew this way and that,
higher and higher...

SWOOSH! A bird got him!

Danica burst into tears and I just stood their in utter disbelief!

Sudoku

Well those of you who know me well know that I love solving a SUDOKU puzzle, although I don't often get the time. It was Belinda who first got me hooked, now my Mom is crazy about it, although she definately preferes Killer Sudoku and Kakuro.

Well, walking past a book shop at woodmill Lane, I spotted "SUDOKU for Kids"!
It's great! It only has 6 blocks per square, so it's 6x6.
Danica could not wait to get started as she knew that if Oma loves solving these puzzles then they must be really fun! It didn't take long for her catch on and now she wont stop!


And here's Lila, watching Danica and cheering her on!

Aeroplane!

My heart leapt for joy just watching my precious boy playing at the homeschool table! He had made an Aeroplane and was preparing for lift off!


"Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts!"

"How can you tell, Mommy?"

Many of you know that we potty train our children rewarding them with smarties or astro's every time they use the toilet. They get 1 sweet for a #1 and 2 sweets for a #2!

So after hearing a lot of commotion coming from the bathroom, ending in a big FLUSH, Zacky came to me in the study holding his sweetie jar. He asked me "1 teet mom? (translate: May I have 1 sweet Mom?)

But when I saw his face I had to laugh!



I had to confront him with his sin, and asked him if he should get a sweet? He replied "yes!"

Then I asked him more directly "Did you help yourself to a sweet?"
To which he proudly replied "YES!"

I'm so glad he was honest with me! Else there would have been consequences...

Just some random pics!

Today I just felt like playing with my camera, so I wandered about in the garden looking for interesting things to take photo's of, here are my findings...









And these are the Unicorns that roam our garden!