What a lovely day

We spent the day with my cousin and his wife. We had a huge, big family and friends get together as they had a few things to celebrate- his birthday, moving into a new house and her babyshower -baby is due end Jan. There was a lamb on the spit, wine and lots of fun.From my cousins side I was the only family member, but his wife is one of 7 children-6 daughters and one son. Every second guy we spoke to was a brother in law- lol. And her sister just had a baby 8 weeks ago- too sweet the little thing man!
Here is some pics.

The spit


Kids playing in the water


Babyshower pressies

Checking my list twice

Found this on Jenty's blog

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper- the gifts have to travel this year

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial.

3. When do you put up the tree? Normally 16 December - dont like to have Christmas forever

4. When do you take the tree down? Before New Years- I hate going into New Years with a tree

5. Do you like eggnog? Blegh-no

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My Ballet Barbie- I still have it

7. Hardest person to buy for? My Dad

8. Easiest person to buy for? DH

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Nope

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I dont like Christmas cards- I worry about all those forests

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A Basket with smelly's- it was really cheap stuf-given as a Corporate present

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Dont really have one

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? When I know what everyone needs

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope

15.Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I keep on trying to convince my family that a fancy Fish braai will be nice- it's so hot here on Christmas.

16. Lights on the tree? Yes.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Jingle bells- and all its variations!LOL

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? We alternate between my parents and in laws- so this year we are travelling

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? No

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The prices of food and the toys

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? We have a few handmade ones from my MIL- they are very special

Tag yourself if you feel like doing it, and leave me a comment!

Sandpit

The sandpit is eventually finished- it took us two years of talking about it,planning it and drawing it- finally it's done. Here's some pics



Proud "owners" of the sandpit

Some snippets of the kids

I was sitting and "painting" nails with Catmen- more like "schmeering"- lol and I told her I loved her- very clearly she asked me- If you love me mom- why do you leave me with Ouma? Wow!
First she said it so clearly - I was quite amazed at her reasoning - for 3 I think it's very good.Of course she put me on a gulit trip - until I remembered that me and Pierre also have a right to spend some alone time together.
Poor pumkin fell asleep while sitting ast the coffetable on her arms. Shame- I just per straight into bed like that.

Beauty and the beast

We went to go see beauty and the beast - It was awesome! The costumes were very good!!
My favourite scene was were the beast had to learn to be a gentelmmn and tried to say please to Belle- he had never used the word before and couldn't get past the first P. It reminded me so much of how I batlle daily with the kids to their pleases and thank you's. LOL

Peace in our time

I've been thinking about this for a while. As a mom I have special powers- the most special power I have is my NEGOTIATION SKILLS. Honestly ask any mom of preschoolers and they will tell you that they can negotiate their way out of a paperbag..because we can ....honestly.
What do we mom's use as tactics...easy.
Bribery - if you eat your veggies you can have pudding
Threats- if you dont stop fighting I'll take that toy away
and of course
Corruption - If you rub mom's feet you can have sweets for breakfast.
So I reckon I can negotiate peace between Israel and Palestyn- or whatever warring countries take your fancy.
Bribery- If you stop shooting at each other you can have interest free loans from the IMF
Threats- If you dont stop fighting you cant have any more aid from some aid agency
Corruption- If you are nice to each other you can serve on the UN council.

So I think I'm going to sign up for the next UN Presidency. Maybe we will still see peace in our time- at the very least my name is as unpronouncable as all the previous presidents.

Real moms

I saw this meme on Jeanette's blog - cool hey!!

“Proponents of memes suggest that memes evolve via natural selection — in a way very similar to Charles Darwin’s ideas concerning biological evolution — on the premise that variation, mutation, competition, and “inheritance” influence their replicative success. For example, while one idea may become extinct, other ideas will survive, spread and mutate — for better or for worse — through modification.”


So we’re all about mutation and propagation here, people. As we’ve all already subdivided and had kids, let’s mutate! Add yours to the list.

1. Real Moms don’t flinch when they talk about boobs. They do make you laugh your brains out.

2. Real moms go on vacation. Real moms go on vacation and learn to play traffic cop.

3. Real moms brag about their kids

3. Real moms do not mince words when they present the truth.

4. Real moms juggle

5. Real moms “resist the guilt and embrace the journey”

6. Real moms don’t give a damn to media generated Mommy Wars

7. Real moms have kids with potty mouths.

8. Real moms sometimes forget about toddler-proofing

and mine...

Real moms kids resist all attempts at finding their own solutions
The rules:

Copy the above text to your blog, leaving all links in tact, and add in who tagged you.
Add your ‘real mom’ contribution to the list.
Tag as many moms as you can.
And meme-ify!

I'm not tagging anyone- just let me know if you have done it!!

More of what I got

up to last week.

Getting to know you

Love these things!!

* Do you have any pets? No- only a stray cat in the complex that's trying to become our pet* What was the last book you read? Russian Concubine
* Do you like to cook? Not at the moment- I'm all cooked out
* What's your favorite food? Cheese
* Do you have brothers and sisters? jip- One sister
* Which sport do you like? The armchair kind- lol
* Do you live alone? nope
* Do you live in a house or an apartment? House -IMO
* Have you ever lived in another country? nope
* Have you ever met a famous person? Ja- bumped into a few
* How do you spend your free time? Free time- you're joking right?
* Tell me about a favorite event of your adulthood. meeting my babies
* Tell me about a favorite event of your childhood. swimming in summer
* What are your hobbies? This is as funny as the free time one-lol
* What countries have you visited? Germany,Brittain,Namibia,Botswana,Zimbabwe,Bapetikosweti
* Which country are you from? SA
* What do you do on Sundays? Visit with family and friends mostly
* What do you do? What's your job? I do life- lol
* What is your motto in life? Be wise
* What kind of food do you like? lekker food
* What kind of people do you like? good people
* Which languages do you speak? English, Afrikaans- can swear in German,can say "Wena"* What are you best at? Sleeping!!
* Who do you respect the most? My Dad
* Who has had the most influence in your life? My mommie
* Would you like to be famous? Nope
* What do you think you will be doing five years from now? Work eat and sleep
* Are you a 'morning' or 'night' person? Morning
* When do you feel best? In the morning, afternoon, or evening? Morning
* How many times did you move as a child? 2 times
* What kind of woman/man would you like to marry? Am married to my best friend
* What cartoon character best describes you? Garfield
* If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, where would it be? America
* If you knew could you try anything and not fail, what dream would you attempt? Being a full time millionare
* What super-power would you most like to have, and why? Eyes in the back of my head and supersonic hearing- I'm a mom DUH
* Would you live with someone without marrying them? Depends on the circumstances
* Would you rather take pictures or be in pictures? Take
* Are you a beach, country or city person? Combination- all depends on my mood
* Where do you spend most of your money? Sad fact of life- Food and school fees

Off sick

I was off sick last week- I get sick every November- I should just learn my lesson already- LOL. So this is what I got up to while at home

The kids bedroom

We moved them in togeteher and it seems to be working fine. Some before and after pics.

Graduation

Andrew had his graduation ceremony at school today- too sweet man!! The kids were asked what they want to be when they grow up- and all the boys wanted the be rockstars!! LOL. The girls were a bit more ambitious and we had doctors vets and princesses.

It was great

We had a wonderfull break. Just what the doctor ordered.This was the first time that I have been to the bushveld in early summer and I can really recommend it. The bush is nice and green, most animals have babies (ag ma) and you get to see some spectacular ligthning and thundershowers in the bush. We had our own personal "fireworks" display every night. We were even so lucky as to see a shooting star!!
Here is a few pics and link to the place.



The view from our chalet



We took a drive through Cullinan- the kids in a big mining equipment thingie