Weekly Wrap-Up

Another week has gone by so fast....

Josh has been working and we still miss his presence in the home daily. He enjoyed the company's year end function on Friday despite the fact he has only been there a short while. They went to Cool Runnings and had a great time.

I haven't had to lift him every day this week, but on one occasion that I did, Zak came along for the ride and we popped in to China Town which is very near to Josh's work too. Zak enjoyed spending some of his money that I pay him for helping me pack orders. He got himself a watch and a cool hat. 

We finished off our reading of "Bold Believers in India" and Keren and Zak prepared a delicious Indian meal for us one evening.

We ate an Indian rice dish prepared with onions, cinnamon, coriander, raisins and almonds. Very tasty and certainly something to enjoy again. The spicy chicken was marinaded in yogurt with chili, coriander, ginger and garlic. Everyone enjoyed the meal.

Another evening Josh and hubby cooked dinner for the family. They made us tasty burgers and chips and a chocolate mousse for dessert. Its great to have a night off here and there and good for the boys to get used to preparing meals too. 

Keren has been very occupied with art exam practicals.

The above is an experimental landscape drawing. She had to draw lines on a page and then cut up the page and create a landscape using the piece of line drawing. 

The above line drawing was inspired by her exam practical work and was done mostly without her looking at the page. 

In this work, she experimented using natural elements (colored sand) to create a landscape. 

This quality drawing was also part of her practical exam and she could choose any landscape to copy.

We were thrilled when she received her theory marks from last week's exam, 92% and top of her class!

We also received her grade 10 year end exams this week and she wrote Life Orientation and a Maths paper. She plans to try and get as many done as possible over the next week. 

Zak has also produced copious amounts of drawings this week when he in not sitting with his nose in a book! The above was a copy of a figurine he bought himself. 

He went to basketball practice and was chosen to play in the team for Wednesday's game. 

I love this pic of him reaching for the ball! 

Finally they had a win and the team felt really good about it. 

Zak also enjoyed the monthly home school outing to the ice rink with friends and due to the fact that he has finished most of his work for the year, we skipped school on Friday morning and went to enjoy a movie together. 

Of course there was a treat for finishing up maths and Afrikaans, an ice cream of Zak's choice from the ice cream man that walks our street ringing his bell at least three times a week!

We also sent off our November book to the USA for the International Book Exchange. We know ours is on its way to us too! We look forward to the surprise.

On Friday night the older two enjoyed a concert at Kirstenbosch and Zak enjoyed youth group.

A full and fun week!

Weekly Wrap-Up

Another week rolled on by, so fast it seems....

Every morning Josh was up bright and early, dressed smartly and ready to set off to work. 

He seems to really be enjoying his work.

 Around here we miss him....we miss his loud music (believe it or not), we miss his wit and humor and his built in body clock that always tells us when it's lunch time. I miss his coffee making and I miss that he is not sitting over at the computer when I glance across the room.

  Keren misses him popping his head into her room animatedly to share a joke or a new song. 

But he is happy and glad of the weekend to rest.

I love the time we have alone each morning in the car on the way to dropping him at work. We get to chat, just the two of us and it's wonderful to connect with him. I love too that my favorite nursery is just around the corner from his work and I get to pop in there whenever I like. This week I popped in and got some leek , gem squash and red and yellow pepper seedlings at a rand a piece which is a real steal!

Keren spent much of the first part of the week prepping for her art exam on Wednesday and writing another art essay. Once over the hurdle of the exam, she was able to relax a bit. 

She brought her current piece she is working on home. 

I really love it and can't wait to see the finished work.

We had a lovely surprise this week when a parcel from China arrived. It is part of an International Book Exchange we are currently doing. As the sender could not find much written in English about China or a book suitable for the teens, she sent us a lovely package filled with interesting goodies and treats. 

There were stickers, a notebook, chopsticks, two packets of green tea from a reputable Chinese tea shop, 

   

peach gummies and crisped rice chocolate! 

We were also sent the link to a traditional Chinese story. 

The kids were thrilled with the lovely parcel.

We continued with our online cooking course with Yuppiechef and Zak and I made the best ever peanut butter cookies! They are made with oats and we added peanuts to the cookie dough.

 I love that they are not too sweet. 

The guys enjoyed them in lunch boxes!

 Definitely a recipe to make again! 

You can find the recipe on their website if you would like to try it.

Zak had basketball practice and an away match this week.The match took place at the American International School and was complete with cheerleaders cheering the home team on. I felt like I had been transported into Disney Channel! The match was sadly lost, but the kids still had fun. 

We didn't get to do a huge amount of reading together but Zak has discovered the joys of reading to himself this week and has been devouring a pile of books borrowed from a friend. It is wonderful to finally see him developing a real love of reading. He can be found with his nose buried in a book early morning, noon and night time before nodding off. 

Zak and I enjoyed a morning out in nature on Friday with his Science club.

 Our task was alien hacking, but more on that in another post. 

The week ended with the kids all going off in different directions. Josh to a friend, Zak to a go-carting party and his first night at TPC youth and Keren left early to prep for youth and help run the evening. 

Today the younger two have a fun day with a 12 hour long birthday party at Ratanga Junction!

Life is good and it's been a great week!