Date with Maxi!

I took Maxi out for lunch today! We hit Bizzy Bodyz...ate toasted sarmi's & drank Pepsi & cream soda....then Maxi went wild with the other kiddies, while I pulled out my April CK & read it from cover to cover. Incredibly civilized I might add.....well for a total bill of R70, I was determined to get my $'s worth. Max had a ball....& an hour & a half I strapped him into the car exhausted, sweaty & mighty happy. He was in fact singing as loudly as he could with his head out the window.....this is evidence if any of his state of mind......10/10!!

It is Maxi's birthday on the 1st May & he already chose his birthday present....don't you love Chinese cheapies...it flashes, jiggles & the people inside, dance. Shame, Max was so sweet,he saw this plane in the toy shop the other day & fell in love with it. He said that if I bought it for him, that is could be his birthday present. I agreed of course but I just don't have the heart, not to give him something to open on his actual birthday, so I might get him some thing else too. I'll have to put my thinking cap on :o)If you are wondering what happened to my child's hair.....I attacked it with water & a brush....he woke up with a dandelion head. I couldn't let him go out like that could I? Hahahahaha! poor kid!

This pic is for my Mum & Pops....see I do let him eat chocolate. The novelty of being able to eat a whole chocolate bar, lasted about 2 minutes. He handed it back to me melted, sticky & hardly nibbled, saying: "This is too messy mum, I need a cloth! I'll swap you for dry sweets, OK!".

Another parental duty ticked off the list....Tried a whole chocolate bar X (doesn't dig it...yay!)
Sleep tight, I'm off to bed...I need sleep!
(scrappin' too late the last couple of nights...had a project)

XXX

No where to go!

We all had a pretty laid back, 'non' sort of Sunday. The weather was iffy & we had no idea what to do with Max. There is just no where to go, with a energy charged 3.5yr old, in this city. We decided to give Houtbay try & ended up at Dunes. We got there, unloaded ourselves, found a table in their great kiddy-friendly, outside play area with tables. Max took about 2 seconds to find himself a play mate while we had a look at the menu.......it was horrid! There was no variety & the prices ridiculously high, so we unceremoniously packed our selves up again & went in search of something else. After another 2 false starts, we gave up & headed home...got a DVD, ordered pizza in & spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch. We will not try that again in a hurry!!!

Dunes Restaurant~

Max was shouting over to his new friend that: 'We are going to find another restaurant!!'
So much for creeping out quietly.....the whole of Houtbay knew our plans after he let rip LOL!

An afternoon spent noshing delish, Hawaiian pizza (I thought of you Joscie :o)

Penance for making Max sit in the car for so long while we went in search of a

kiddy-friendly restaurant, was to sit with him through the whole of Jimmy Neutron.
It wasn't too bad I suppose....at least it wasn't Micky Mouse or something similar.
Those have to be my worst!!!

Well guys I am about to retouch a whole lot of pic's for printing.....at Fuji. I can't believe I am actually doing it because since I started scrapping 3 years ago, I have printed all my pic's on my own printer. Today is a big day!! I now enter the realm of scrapping 6"x4" jumbo's. Watch this space hahaha!

XXX

Profoundly Max!

The other day we went to the mall....not my most favourite of chores, especially as Max was with me....not his most favourite past-time either. As a reward for good behaviour he could choose a toy from the Crazy store (bearing in mind it is the equivilant of the $ store & anything purchase there has a very limited lifespan). He chose a fishing rod, complete with magnetic hook & 5 colourful fishies to catch.



He was in-love......the wrappings came off as soon as we were in the car. He fiddled, reeled & had loads of fun 'catching' his fishies all the way home. We pulled up in the drive & Max was getting seriously worked up in back, trying to get himself unbuckled from his car seat. He was desperate to get out of the car. I, sensing impending drama, hastened the process & bundled him inside the house, expecting an urgent toilet trip or something. I was wrong.......Maxi bolted past me into the kitchen, straight to the drawers where I keep the tupperware. I by this time had realised he was on a mission & asked:

Me: Baba, what's going on?
Max: I am very busy Mama!
Me: With what honey, can I help you?
Max: I need to find a bowl Mama. My fishies need a bowl!
Me: Oh, sure but why babes?
Max: They need to be in the water, cos they can't breathe!
Me: Oh, yes you are so right...silly me!

Once the fishies were safely deposited in their new home {one of Max's juice bottles}, only then did he relax & proceeded to spend the whole afternoon, gazing into his 'fish tank'.


I never knew, he knew, about fish needing to be in water to be able to breathe. Once again I underestimate the power of learning via verbal 'osmosis'.

XXX

New school!

It was open day @ Maxi's new school he will be attending next year! He is SO excited, especially as x2 of his favourite friends from his current school are joining him there too.

We arrive......Maxi is anxious to get inside.....

Rows of keyboards...right up Maxi's alley
{not that he is in anyway computer literate...yet!}

Max & Josh getting down to some serious playing......right up until
Max decided the room was too messy & tidied up. His new teacher is
going to take full advantage of this newly discovered skill of his
...it was the glint in her eye that did it!

His new teacher Aunty Sue.

Beautiful big yard with enormous trees, to play in, with a myriad of play apparatus.....just what an energy charged boy needs to blow off steam before coming home to the weary mama.

I know he is going to love it there. They have a "play ball" teacher & a drama teacher come once a week too. The Lord really intervened for me here because as of a little while ago I had no idea where we were going to send him.

Our God is indeed GOOD!!

All about Art!

Hi guys.....I am so busy this morning that I don't have time for much of a post but wanted to post a few pic's while I have 2 minutes. I am trying to track down Maxi's passport through our government department, "Home Affairs" . 18 phone calls later I have only managed to speak to 3 people of which one of them ended up being from the Immigration department......I am now on hold...AGAIN! So while I wait I will blog.

I had tea with my FAB!! friends ,Mel & Jo, on Friday. We yakked for ages about all manner of things, scrapping featuring strongly...I wonder why that could be hahahaha? This was a highlight of my week. When I got home, my week got even better.....the mail man had been, he had delivered my long awaited "Life Artist" book by Ali Edwards. I was so excited I did my customary little *Happy dance* in the hall way & felt incredibly GOOD!!! I do admit tho' that my excitement was being further fueled by the fact I was clutching to my chest, some of the most, "to-die-for", dye cut printed papers & felt trims I had ever seen. Now to get my life organised to allow for some SERIOUS scrap time!



I haven't read this little darlin' yet but did flick through it looked @ the pictures over the weekend. I had it lying on my scrap table waiting for the gap to get to it. But having it lie there calling me was too much for me to bear, so with out opening it, I decided to tinker using the cover as inspiration. I took every 2 minute gap to do a bit here & there & had such fun trying things a bit more "Arty" than I usually would. The L.O isn't finished yet but here are some pic's of the work in progress.

Now for all those in the know.......please look @ that BEAUTIFUL dye cut felt trim, in the right bottom corner of the right hand photo. Is that amazing or what????

Who's you ask........AUTUMN LEAVES....of course? Is there any other? :O)



Now talking about art......I thought I'd share a little about what my son considers to be his ART. To put you in the picture, I have friends with kiddies the same age as Max.....you visit them and are shown beautiful pieces of craft & art......Maxi on the other hand is an abstract man. He hasn't quite taken to the crafty side of life yet. If he does produce something {mostly a school project}, he is able to give me a detailed description of whatever mish-mash of colour he is showing me.

To the average untrained, non-kiddie sensitive eye, it is just that....blobs of colour but to him it is ART.

These are some of the ....totally cute descriptions he has given me of his art:

*Tadpoles changing into frogs {seriously}
*Dolphins diving under the waves
* Leaves blowing in a storm
*Lots of birds flapping
*Space with stars & planet Saturn & Venus & Jupiter & the green and blue one is planet earth where we live {seriously!}

This is Maxi's latest CREATION......he has taken to colouring in over the pictures of his wipe-able books. Who knows why but at least he is wielding a pen, I suppose. Maybe it is all in the name of fun??? Oh ya, that is why we create isn't it???

It is so easy sometimes to look at a child's artistic efforts and pass criticism for not being 'right'. We have camera's to take photographs, so why is it that we expect art to be perfect? Art is supposed to be an impression of whatever we see, in whatever form we choose. So like our children, I think it is time to be brave girls.....we need to try something creatively new this week. Then we can post it on our blogs for everyone to drool over. What to you think??

Anyway girls, I am tired of being on hold on the phone, it is time to try another number.
Enjoy getting paint on your hands, I look forward to seeing your creations.
Bye!

XXX

Trifle anyone????

I don't know about you but we only ever eat trifle at Christmas time with our Christmas meal. Well yesterday we decided to do it differently.......Trifle in September. I decided to risk the state of the kitchen and let Maxi help me. {I was nervous} . I am please to say he was a STAR!!! He spooned ingredients into the bowl like he'd done it a million times before......flattened.........smoothed...........sprinkled.......& VOILA! a beautiful dessert.

I also thought we'd be cleaning up carnage for hour afterwards but not a drop was spilt......he didn't even demand to lick the spoon but opted to wait until after supper. {I was shocked but I didn't push the issue...I mean that's the rule right??? No dessert until supper is eaten??} It did, at that point cross my mind that we might be a tad strict with that rule, hence the lack of nagging. I now feeling hectically guilty offered and offered him block of dark chocolate from the sprinkles on top. I am relieved to say he didn't hesitate in taking it and before I could change my mind, it was in his beak & gone forever. If my memory serves me right, that was the first block of chocolate Max has ever eaten and swallowed...... we have been reluctant to give him chocolate but knew it couldn't be avoided forever so caved @ Easter. It turned out to be an interesting day......each chocolate egg consumed, was promptly spat out into the waiting hand of the grossed out Mama, with a loud exclaimation: "YUK!".......the things we will do for our offspring, hey?


Success!!!! and delicious too.....bad for the hips of all over 10 but life is short I say. You have to be able to eat "bad" food sometimes??? All green & crunchy, all the time, makes for very boring eating wouldn't you agree????

What you need>>>>
Stale cake
Jelly
Cold custard
Fruit...fresh or stewed
Whipped cream
Chocolate shavings or dessert nuts
Cherries for the top {we had run out}


The following pic is for my parents>>>>

Guys remember that ratty Yukka plant that grew on my balcony in Sea Point...that stood forgotten in the yard....unloved, dry and sick while we renovated?????

Well look at him now>>>>>>

It is almost as high as the roof of the house and at least 3m wide....we are going to have to tame him soon otherwise we won't be able to get into our front door soon without getting impaled on one of those deadly spikes. Amazing what the right soil, sunlight and enough h20 will do for one of these baby's.

Well chaps, I am off to watch an episode or ten of Lost, on our freebie web site. For all those TV series's fan who over the years missed something unmissable, your life will be forever changed by this link : TV-link ......happy viewing XXX

Nite-nite, chat again soon.

KJ
XX

The joys of childhood!

Oh to be able to live life with wild abandon. Experiencing everything as it comes along.....without inhibitions. Exploring, learning, laughing and just being 3 I suppose!


Maxi is one of those types of little people~

{Swinging backwards because it makes you the dizziest!}

{Going to school with sunnies on!}~Cheers Mate!

{Having a birthday for your toy Monkey, Sidekick, @ least once a month,
then getting blow out candles and eat chocolate cake straight after breakfast!!}

{Having a trampoline in your back yard and being allowed to jump on it
come sun, rain, hail or sub-zero temperatures!!!}

We need to take some tips from these little ones and try and live a little free'er, wilder, less cautious & stop worrying so much about what people think.......it plagues even the best of us.

So have a 'livin' loose' sort of day & enjoy where you find yourself.

XOXOXO

Go-figure?

I am sitting in front of my laptop and FREEZING my buns off! When is Summer coming? Supposed to be Spring in 2 weeks......MY EYE!!! at this rate we are going to be in fluffy sweaters until Christmas........aaaarh! I need the sun!

I am struggling to get motivated to do anything useful today....maybe I will just sloth with Maxi and potter around the house. He had us up early this morning....announcing at the top of his voice about 2 inches from my nose, that:

"IV'E HAD ENOUGH SLEEP NOW MAMA, GET OUT OF THE BED & COME PLAY CARS WIFF ME!!!!"

for some bazaar reason I had no inclination to oblige or budge out of the bed at 6 this morning. He just didn't get it...that I needed sleep, even after saying :
" I need sleep Maxi.....shhhhhh!" about 200 times.

Funny how life works....when you have the opportunity and freedom to sleep whenever you want for however long you want...you don't and when you aren't allowed to sleep or just don't have the time to sleep....all you want to do is sleep.

Oh! pespi bottle where are you???????????

Haha! now I am really rambling....I'll go now.
Have a super day everyone.

KJ
XX