E - Vida

The kids are really, really enjoying themselves and have kind of forgotten that they have parents and limits and boundaries. This can be quite distressful at times. To deal with that, they get to watch Curious George and other cute programmes on TV. Right now though, they're watching too much TV and I hope to set that right soon. Today, the battle of my mind was Crazy Age  vs Optimal Travel Time . I had to remind myself that despite their current highly energetic and demanding ages of 2 and 5 years respectively, their age was one of the biggest reasons why taking this trip at this time fit so well. We visited the Snader's home church, Taftsville Chapel this morning and by sheer (great) coincidence, they were having a potluck lunch after the service. Let's just say that after they recruited P-J to braai all the meat, everyone was a winner! Just for the record: it turns out that the song "Indescribable" is in a high key all the world over... Jorja broke op...

P-J left early this morning to help offload the hay bales into storage and then came back to fetch us (giving me time to blog!). When we got to the farm, I realised that my Tomi Takkies were not designed for farm fashion... and that pretty much determined my day. I was on indoor duty - filling water bottles, changing nappies, supervising indoor play ... and enjoying the air-conditioning in the 34 degree heat. What a perfect day for a fashion faux pas! Before being labeled a City Snob, let me just say that I was part of the team that moved the sheep to their new pasture (although I did not help with separating the cows and the sheep, or erecting what P-J called Insta-fence in the blazing heat, prior to the migration). The new fence was opened up and the rest of us worked our way up from the bottom of the field saying "Come girls, move up. Come on" and hoped the flock would follow suit. We met Tutu (after Ethan insisted my sheep, my sheep ) and the boys showed Ethan ho...

Hi Everyone I've grouped this entry together for two reasons: 1. I have a lot of catching up to do, now that I can kind of work out what day it is and I've found a battery charger for my pc 2. The first couple of days (including 24 hours of travel) makes for quite a blur of memories and all I've got to go on are the notes that I jotted down on the piece of paper in my bag Day 1: The Departure We had a quick check in at the desk and then head to our family steak ranch for a super send off with the family. Ethan fell asleep as we arrived at the airport but woke up in time to greet everyone with one last goodbye before we went through the departure gate. As we boarded, he started whining and I went into a slight panic. The looks from the other passengers was unnerving - how much harder could a long haul flight be?? Oh, but our travelling troopers played their part well: all buckled up in their respective seats and watching Frozen (thanks Annie for the intro!) as we to...

Two weeks ago, I started a post about the kids having to be partners in sickness and in health... Our shelf was lined with cough syrup, nasal spray, pain and fever medication, eye drops, lip balm, menthol rub and tissues. They were down and out! I was going to write about the sometimes forced but special connection between siblings - close enough to get you sick and then stuck with you til you get better.  ...And before I knew it, we were approaching Father's Day and P-J was sacrificing his expectations (and his bed) to tend to his two sickly kids. I was in awe of his patience and care, even staying home from work with both of them one day to aid their recovery and keeping his cool while they moaned and nagged between sweaty naps, mixed appetites and the every day demands of a sick kid times two. But before I could celebrate having the focus off of Father's Day (and the gift ), P-J was down with the bug himself and needed much more than a prettily wrapped present to mak...

Due to the fact that we celebrated Jorja's birthday with the Weber and Wilcox families in the UK last year - over a few days and in various styles - we were a bit out of practice. In fact, if Jorja had not brought it to my attention with just two weeks to spare, I must confess that I would not have expected it to arrive for another few more weeks! But Moms could never let that seem to be the case, so we got cracking on 5th birthday celebration arrangements... On the night before, I set out every baking ingredient, apparatus and accessory that I could find and hoped that we would make it work! Aunty Robyn and Aunty Ilana arrived just in time to help us bake off the first round of vanilla cake pops and cookies with sprinkles. At this point, there was no turning back, our kitchen was already in a state of bake! The biscuit batch baked beautifully (and bountifully) and Jorja was well pleased with her assisted effort. As she head to bed on the eve of her birthday, I popped the...