E - Vida

My brother in the snowed in States has a new business model this year. It's #happiness. As often as he can, he shares some more of the concept with us. Besides the fact that these images stir up smiles, and pleasured sighs, this entire outlook has highlighted the potential for happiness in many different situations in my own life. This famous bunch of friends may not be as smooth-skinned and fit as they were in their  hey day  - but they're around today and can share this with each other. And that's happiness.     A family getaway? Well, that's priceless. Maybe you're worried about how uncomfortably close you'll sit to one another as you travel, or who'll wake who with the snoring... or the age old question of who will do the dishes while everyone's trying to take a holiday... But think about it: It's precious time with loved ones. What else matters?  Underneath that blanket of snow, you may not see the rich green grass right now, ...

Jorja's first day was...quite an experience.  My new wake up time is 5am and I normally blink slowly until 5.30am, when my eyes have acclimatised to being open! At 6am I start rousing the children and normally I can never tell how well that's going to go down. Today, Jorja woke first and Ethan slept on. In fact, he slept through me blow drying my hair right next to his head! Jorja asked for toast and tea, then changed her mind on the toast and had Frostie Flakes. Then when her dad forbid her from taking his travel mug to school with the tea in it, she declined the tea too. After breakfast she got dressed and her Ma came to wish her well just before 7am. We left at 7.15am and hoped that we'd arrive at school by around 7.45am. In fact, we were going to try and drop Ethan first, but when we saw the non-moving traffic on Racecourse road, Jorja actually asked that we just drop her first because she didn't want to be late.  We found a parking place somewhere ...

I think I am in full-blown, disbelieving panic mode. Not too long ago I sat cradling my first born, wondering about her future. It seemed so far away... It was untouchable... And while I thought about it often, it wasn't on my To Do list* just yet. Ashleigh's To Do list is a dangerous thing: it feels no sentiment, it de-clutters, unnerves and rearranges with the swift sort and the tick of a pen . As many of you may know, our first thoughts about schooling was that I would hope to home-school Jorja. Not to try and protect her from bad influences in her early years, but to offer her a personalised approach to learning and growing up. Okay, and to try and protect her from bad influences . When Ethan was born, I wondered how I ever thought I'd be able to tackle home-schooling - My kids are boisterous social butterflies with a convincing love for their home and their Mom yet crave outside interaction (and intervention) more and more with every passing year. Fast forwa...

Jorja calls, "Ethan - come and bath right now!"  Ethan walks past the bathroom door, pauses for long enough to make the moment mean something and then moseys on down the passage muttering "No, no, no...". Jorja replies in a most demanding tone, "Ethan - come right now. I'm the Mommy so you must do what I say because I'm in charge!" I recently read an article by a Mom who realised just in time, how much her behaviour (both good, but mostly bad) was imprinted on her children's memories and quickly becoming their image of her. Not only was she becoming predictable  - a very bad place to be with sneaky toddlers around, but she was also creating a role model that these children would learn from - for better or for worse. It got me thinking about my own behaviour... Do my children realise that I'm proudly responsible for their well-being or do they assume that I'm simply the Logistics Manager of our family? Do my children know m...

...and it only really dawned on me now, when I threw out my 2013 diary!  The collective circumstances of a dud phone, too few hands to juggle everything and sometimes just being too hot to move, has resulted in a very quiet blog over the Festive Season. I'll try and recap just a few of our Summer-fun memories: Ferrier Family Reunion: Johnson Branch We attended a colour-coded, cousin-loaded Family Reunion just after Christmas and even though I couldn't find more than a stitch of orange to match our tribe, we had a good time meeting the extended family and braai-ing up a storm, despite the early morning rain.  Cooling off DIY Christmas Shopping Left to his own devices in the toy aisle, Ethan found the helicopters and proceeded to load our trolley (all by himself) with all of the stock he could find! Feel-good trip down music memory lane Kim, together with singing sensations Luqmaan Adams, Monox Adams and Keenan Arrison, presented 'The Wonder Ye...