Sketch Tuesday

On Sunday afternoon, T, K and I decided to spend some time doing wild flowers for Sketch Tuesday on Barb-Harmony Art Mom's site. We paged through "A Fynbos Year" by L. McMahon and "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" by E.Holden for inspiration.

K was not feeling particularly inspired but she did paint this sweet Mayweed flower and was not too impressed when she discovered she had painted a "weed"!

I thoroughly enjoyed doing a pencil crayon sketch of the Common Red Poppy.

T did this beautiful sketch of a Watsonia.

The birthday boy

On Sunday J celebrated his 15th birthday. He had fun opening his gifts and there were endless calls and wishes for him on his special day.

Later family came for coffee, scones and jam and cream and a share of the cake K had made. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed being outdoors in the sunshine together.

J decided to use his birthday money to buy himself an i pod and spent the afternoon enjoying his new toy .Later that evening he spent time showing us what it can do.. I was amazed at what this little gadget can do besides play music!

As usual, on our children's birthdays, I reminisce about the day they were born and I can scarcely believe that 15 years have passed so quickly. He is growing into a fine young adult and I love to see the person he is becoming. He makes me laugh and always has something funny to say. He is a blessing to us.

The best cake ever!

On Friday night J celebrated his 15th birthday with a few friends. They had a great time chatting, listening to LOUD music and eating pizza and the best cake ever!

We decorated the cake with sparklers too and I wish you could have seen J's face when he saw the cake!

I was so proud of K for designing and making this delicious lemon, coconut cake. All the decorations were hand made and painted by her. She spent many hours under the guidance of Aunty T, creating this masterpiece for her brother.

Snippets from our week

The week has been a busy, different kind of week. I still have my client here and so there have been many trips up and down to the hospital. I am pleased to say the patient is doing well after his surgery on Tuesday. In between, we have kept up with school work even though the hours may have been a bit odd. Z is still battling with some pain at night and so his days have been slower than usual.

J and I had a good time doing some science experiments this week and he enjoyed one in particular. He had to make "plastic rock" from cornflour and water. It is solid when you pick it up and becomes liquid as you release it. I wish I could find the photo of him at about age 3 covered in the very same mixture that I made for him then.This time he did not cover himself in the mixture but never the less he enjoyed the experiment!

Today we decided to join some fellow home school families on the monthly ice skating outing.We have not been in over a year and I felt the need to take some time out with the children and enjoy the outing. Z even managed the outing and had a great time!

K has spent the better part of the last 3 days with Aunty T who kindly agreed to oversee her making of a cake for J's 15th birthday. K designed the cake herself and did most of the work too. Tonight she came home covered in icing after they had fun having a "food fight" with the left over mixtures! The whole house smelled like a cake!

I will post the finished cake as soon as I can. I know it will be good!

67 Minutes

Today is Nelson Mandela's 92nd birthday. In honour of his 67 years of service to his country and his people, the Mandela Foundation asked people around the world to give 67 minutes of their time to volunteer work - one minute for every year that he spent in the struggle for equality.

We joined another home educating family who had made a steaming hot pot of soup and some rolls for the homeless. Our older two children had made some sandwiches and we took a bag of oranges along.

As we parked just around the corner from our home, the homeless in the neighbourhood flocked around us to receive the food. They were truly grateful. It was a humbling experience. One lady did not come near to get food and J and I went to offer her some. She held out her hands and I said she should help herself. Her reply was that she is blind....I was so saddened that she is living her life on the streets and cannot even see.

The children too were saddened by what they saw today. It is so different to interact with these street people rather than just drive by and comment on them. It has been so bitterly cold recently and I shudder to think what it must feel like out there on these cold winter nights. I think we will be making more sandwiches very soon....

My knitting projects

In the last couple of weeks, I have been in and out of a nearby hospital as I have had a client that I am caring for from Cameroon.

I have made new friends there, and one in particular has tugged at my heart strings. A brave and tiny 3 year old little girl undergoing brain surgery. She sits in her cot and blows kisses to me. Today she underwent an operation of about five hours. This little girl had to have her hair shaved off and so I dropped of a cute beanie for her to wear once her bandages are removed.

The mittens were for my own patient from Cameroon. Also a brave young man of 16 who has had brain surgery and is due for further surgery next week. He has been complaining of the cold and I saw him eyeing a pair of gloves in the shop the other day. He was really chuffed with his fingerless mittens.

Besides these two knitting projects, I have churned out another 3 and half pairs of mittens. 3 of these need to be sewn up (this weekend) and posted to my dear sister who has been waiting patiently for them to arrive.

Back to school

Well, today was officially the start of our third term. J had diligently got into his books yesterday. This morning we started a little later than usual and I made the children a hearty breakfast of eggs with ham and cheese. We sat together to discuss our routines and how to face the new term with its various challenges. It was a happy time and I think the children enjoy the routines of being back to school work.

I am just so thankful that our littlest member of the family seems to be getting some much needed sleep on his new medication. It was not much of a school holiday for any of us so school will be very gentle for now.

J got stuck into some Algebra after our bible time together, and the younger two and I settled in on my bed where the sun streamed in through the sliding doors. What a pleasure to be able to learn anywhere in our home. Z enjoyed a maze game while K coloured in and I read them our history read aloud. They enjoyed a snack of popcorn too as they listened, captivated by the story. What a blessing to be learning at home together.

Bottling Olives

I had great fun in the kitchen over the weekend as I bottled my olives. I used as many different herbs etc as I could so that we will have a great variety of flavours to enjoy when they are ready to eat. Rosemary and lemon, garlic and thyme, coriander, chillies from the garden....mmm cant wait to enjoy them!

A trip down memory lane...

This afternoon I hauled out a box of old photos and the kids and I had great fun looking at how cute they were when they were just little things. They have grown so much and as my eldest approaches his fifteenth birthday, I realise just how fast the time has passed....I wonder where it went!

This was taken on 4th July 1998. Cousin P was 2 and 10months, Baby K 9 months old and J was almost 3. It was a family reunion of sorts and we hadn't planned to dress then all in red, that was just the way it turned out.

Here they are in December 2009 in Lady brand. K 12 and 3 months, J 14 and a half and Cousin P 14 and 3 months.....how they have grown!

Fan Walk

Thought I would share these pictures of K on the fan walk with some kind friends who took her along to enjoy the festivities. She had a great time!

Am shocked at how much I think she looks like me in this profile pic!

Going Dutch

Yesterday, I had a call from my dad regarding a competition on on 567 Cape Talk. I called my hubby and asked him to enter....what a treat to hear later in the day that we had won! (Thank you dad!)

In the run up to the semi final match between the Netherlands and Uruguay, Breakfast Show Host, Aden Thomas treated us and other Dutch supporters to a Breakfast at the One and Only Hotel. The kids were bundled off to their Oma very early as we had to be there at 7 a.m. They were listening in on the radio and were really excited to hear their dad talking on the radio.

We had a fantastic time and lots of fun! We had to help pick a winner from callers who had to state in 20 seconds why they should win tickets to the match this evening.

The One and Only is truly a beautiful hotel and the breakfast was delicious: salmon, croissants, pastries, fresh fruits, yogurt, bacon, eggs....you name it, it was there! Never mind the excellent coffee!

Later in the day K had the opportunity to go on the fan walk again with some of our friends. I was really happy for her as she really wanted to go again. This time she took her vuvuzela and blew it to her hearts content. She said it was far more exciting to be there in the evening and there was a sea of orange supporters. We are over the moon that the Netherlands will be playing in the finals!

My Gift Book

From this.....

Today K and I spent some time making my "gift book". It was a task set out for the Early Bird Christmas Crafts and one I have been meaning to get to, but with Z's illness and all the soccer hype, I just did not get there!

To that!

It was so much fun to transform a boring looking book into something pretty. I will use it to record my list of people I need to give gifts to, and ideas of what to give them. K came up with the idea of the ribbon to tie it closed. I really liked her idea and we enjoyed the time together.

Among 300 000

On Saturday we joined some friends and 299 990 other people to do the 2,6km fan walk from Cape Town station to the soccer stadium. Sadly Z could not join us.

The children have not been on a train in many years as it is not considered a safe mode of transport but Saturday was different. K particularly enjoyed the ride and was impressed that her dad knew the name of every station from ours all the way to town. The vibe was amazing as fans climbed aboard the train at every stop, all making our way to the same destination!

Along the way, the streets were decorated with flags from the participating countries and festive music was played. Stalls selling all sorts of delicious items were plentiful. Flags, vuvuzelas, scarves and beanies were sold like hot cakes! The Cape Minstrels were entertaining the crowds and the German and Argentinian supporters were out in full force, dressed appropriately. It certainly was a feast for the eyes! Vuvuzelas were blown by old and young. Grannies in wheel chairs as well as babes in prams with flags flying high were seen on the fan walk.

Our city has done itself proud and it was great to part of the amazing vibe! We couldn't believe how many people were streaming into the city as we left to get home in time to watch the match. Every station was packed to capacity with supporters making their way to town.

I was pleased to find my Dutch hubby a Netherlands jacket and we found a hoody for K too! She also added a streak of orange to her hair. Other Dutch supporters high fived him as he walked through the the crowds and there were shouts of "Hup Holland" as they passed us. It was great fun!

Update

This week seems to have flown by. The little patient is doing OK...OK I say, not great. He has been having trouble sleeping due to pain and itching. The other night is was 4 a.m. before the two of us got to sleep. I was at a loss and called the paediatrician today after a second night with little sleep. He informed me that this is not unusual and the pain needs to be well managed. So even though the swelling and temperatures are gone, medication needs to be given at regular 4 to 6 hourly intervals and the night time dose needs to be doubled. Well, its now about an hour since he went to sleep and he has not come out of bed, crying to complain about pain so hopefully the night time dose is doing the trick and we will all have a better night tonight.

He had a wonderful surprise this week when the pharmacy delivery man delivered a special package just for him! It was a beautiful, warm, soft and cuddly blanket! He and his blanket have not spent much time apart this week! It was given to him by a sweet, kind lady who works in the pharmacy office. What a kind thing to do for a little boy! He just loves his blanket!

K also had a lovely surprise when her beanie arrived in the post today! It was made by my kind sister. She just loves it too!