Busy weekend!

We were so busy out & about this weekend, that today was the first time I have switched my lap top on.We were invited to a Prince & Princess party on Saturday & I was pleasantly surprised by the sweet, little miniature 'royals' that were milling around in their finery. Princess Erin Russel was in her social element & delegated tasks to all within earshot, who happily obliged. Of the couple of boys there...Max was by far the loudest, busiest & wildest on the coin operated arcade rides, which were a unanimous hit, with the weather outside being chilly & totally unsuitable for sparkly dresses. It ended up being a fun, fabulous birthday party. Princess Erin looking adorable....

Castle cake looking scrumptious (made & iced by her Dad, Rodney)

Present time.

The littlest Princess, Callan, looking gorgeous in here fushia tutu.

Today after we dropped Cas off with her Mom, we took Max to Kid's Planet to play. It is a new play center in Muizenberg with a great Space theme, fabulous educational activities & awesome play apparatus. The kiddies & parents, alike had a blast.
Enjoy your day guys!
XXX

The x3 B's!

{I need to warn you....there are Gremlin's in the fonts again.....look @ all the sizes hahahaha!}

My weekend went in installments of "B's".....sort of like this but in no particular order!

* Brats *Baking *Bikes

I nearly went off my head with the kids this weekend....yes it was raining most of the time & that probably compounded the problem. I dunno if it just me but I sometimes wanted to hit my head against the wall in frustration at their inability to do anything without an adult lurking in the vicinity to cheer them on. We had Cas too which meant we had a menagerie of neighborhood girls under the age of 9yrs through our front door in a continuous stream, adding to the already ridiculous stress levels. Especially as Max was completely hyper @ having his sister for the weekend & Cas & the friend of the moment insisted on swimming....yes in the rain....& yes it was freezing! {Please note round about here that Tersh is a one-thing-@-a-time kinda guy.....I will say no more}. Now not only did we have 2 rug-rats to 'baby-sit' but 3 & sometimes 4 with Cas doubling up on any friend who was prepared to share her company with another. I vowed that if I heard the word, I would do something discouraged by most Parental self help magazines...you know the ones...with the lovely unstressed mommy gazing into the doe eyes of her beautifully passive toddler. HA! I say...we underestimate the limitations of a photograph in the hands of a Photoshop fundi!

That word being:

Mama
Mommy
Mum
Mummy
Cas's-Mom
Hey you!

I actually thought I was going to lose my marbles....PLEEEZZZ can someone put me out of my misery & re-assure me that they will actually get to the point sometime in the very near future when we can all actually do our own thing alongside each other & get from start to finish in an afternoon?????


To drown my woes & keep me distracted I baked....& baked.....& baked.

....................... Muffins, Scones, Bread & Bread rolls.

Evidence:

The problem I have now is what the heck do I do with a kitchen full of baked goods??? Because my thighs seriously won't be needing any of it any time soon!

The next "B" so to speak was Max & his new bike. It is weekend which means the ever present parents had to make a plan so Poepie could ride his Blue bomber. The challenge being that our house rule is "No bikes inside".....OK I got worked! I caved!
Mum & Dad.....I can hear that hysterical laughter! but what was I supposed to do Hmmmmmm?

Rain....bored....frazzled parents..... :o(

We moved the dining room table to the side of the room & let him ride inside. Thankfully there was no lasting damage, except for black tyre skid marks on the floor. He was ecstatic & we got the reprieve we so badly needed.

Blissful Bike rider in full biker regalia:

This photo is one of max after he informed me......I will not
look @ your camera anymore Mama!!!

No need to worry about my mental state folks.....there is silence in the halls which means things are definitely looking up. Cas went home & Max was fast asleep by 6.45pm...so normality returns. I have a renewed respect for all those parents of more than one child, consider yourselves Mexican waved!!!


Anyhow, I am about to plonk my backside on my comfie leather couch, arm myself with a plate of home baked goods,chuck back a large mug of vanilla coffee & hopefully watch some "one-eye'd-monster".

Heavenly!!!

XXX

Living up to the mark!

Sorry for the silence guys! I have been man down with some weird viral thing.....and have been coughing & spluttering for days. x3 days of little or no sleep makes for a very grumpy Mama & rest of family too I might add. So much so that this morning after a rough night & then to be woken up @ 5.40am by an energetic little boy, I was not my best. Maxi decided he must pray for me {in our home we pray often out loud for various things through out the day, so he is used to 'talking' to Jesus}

The prayer went like this:

Dear Jesus Please can you take my Mamas sickness away. Make her all better. Cos then she won't be grumpy in the morning & she can play cars with me .......& that would be very good!!!! Amen

It really tickled me but made me feel guilty for my yuk! attitude, so I played cars with him & felt forgiven. At least until the next time I am woken up at some silly hour again & faced with some more of my yuk! attitude for being dog tired. Flip, I wish sometimes I could be like those amazing women who's blogs you read from time to time. Where their lives seem ridiculously perfect, every hair seems in place, the photographs of her children look as if they had just scrubbed clean moments before. Where the dog never gets sick, the garage door never gets stuck & PTA meeting are fun, fun, fun. Maybe it's just me but if thats the measure of great motherhood & wife is all about, I'm getting about a 2 out of 10 this week.

**FREEDOM**

As I say this I am reminded tho' that we live purely by the phenomenon of GRACE, for which I am so, so grateful. An unfathomable gift given to us for free, by a God so Big, He cannot be measured or contained......yet He chose to live inside little, insignificant us. All I can do is try to remember that I wasn't made perfect but I serve a God who is and He walks beside me waiting for me to ask for His help each and every day. {Especially when I am feeling dog tired and grumpy as all heck!!!}
Life with our Saviour isn't half bad, is it??? We must keep reminding ourselves constantly that our home lies elsewhere & we are only visitors here on this planet. So 'vas-buit' as they say {the english translation means 'hang in there'.}

Have a super & hopefully encouraged day.
XXX

We are going!!!

This will be us in a month or two!!

I confirmed the tickets today....YIPEE!!!! I am still pinching myself that it is real. Wow! I can't wait to see my family again......I get so lonely for them, now all we need is a bit of snow for Maxi's first white Christmas. Please can you pray people that if this is indeed what God wants for Tersh & our family, that He will open the right doors for him to find the job of his dreams.

Best I get onto the internet & do a bit of stash shopping........'cos postage to Toronto is certainly cheaper than Cape Town.

Before I go I must tell you about a nugget that is definitely amo' for my next scrap page. To set the scene.....were driving home from church on Sunday along the coast. The road we took overlooks the ocean, so one can see for miles around False Bay....when a voice pipes up from the back:

Max: Oh look there guys {Max's new word}.
{Suitably distracted not to take much notice}Mama: ...oh WOW! babes.
Max: Mama, you are not looking!
{so much for that trick} Mama: Oh sorry, Moeks, what must I look at??
Max: The oil rig, over there.
Mama: Huh? oil rig???
Max: Yes mama, it is sucking oil out the ground.
{Double huh??????}Mama: Wow! thats amazing boy!!! Do you know what we need oil for???
{Matter of factly}Max: Of course mama, cars need oil & fuel to go!
{Now speechless} Mama: You are right about that honey, where did you learn that love?
Max: You told me Mama!!
Mama: Oh! did I....I forgot?

The moral of this story is that they are ALWAYS listening, learning, absorbing, sponging, so don't underestimate the effect your constant chatter has on their developing minds. They HEAR everything......GOOD & BAD, so be ever careful about what leaves your mouth, less you want to hear it coming out of theirs.

Have a fab. day....chat soon.
Luv
KJ
XXXXX X