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.