Christmas Celebrations

I love Christmas for all the special time we can enjoy together with our families and the fun we have with our kids, seeing Christmas through their eyes. I must admit, for the first time in many years, I felt ill-prepared for Christmas this year, especially as I took ill with tonsilitis just a few days before Christmas, and I never managed to bake anything in preparation, not to mention that I only wrapped most of my gifts on the 24th. Despite that, I must say that I didn't feel I’d seriously over-indulged and as it often happens we buy too much for Christmas, but this year, it was a case of doing things in moderation (for once). In some respects, Christmas this year was 'low-key', but it was a very happy one, especially since the main focus is on the kids, watching them open their gifts and delight in the many surprises and gifts, and seeing the magic of it all just as they do. That for us is Christmas - not the mad rush to get shopping done or fretting over the food, worrying if there'll be enough... that's somehow inconsequential, but for some it is important, and so be it. It's also not about buying fancy toys, but finding something the kids will enjoy. Having said that, I must admit Jordy got spoilt with many lovely gifts for Christmas this year, and what’s even better is we play with the toys with him and it’s nice to have new things to use and play with!

We spent Christmas eve with my folks at their place, in Westville, which was lovely. We enjoyed a more ‘traditional’ Christmas meal in the way of roast fillet and lamb with veggies, and of course followed by Christmas pudding which was delish. On Christmas day, we went to the morning Christmas service, and then back to my folks to open our gifts, before heading up to Kirsty and Jason’s place for lunch - spending time with Jason’s family too, so it was a festive gathering. We’ve had Mark’s mom with us this Christmas which she has really enjoyed - especially having time with Jordy. It’s been lovely having Anna with us too - with it being her first Christmas which she seems to have really enjoyed... and with a birthday party to look forward to over the weekend, where we’ll be going to celebrate with her.

Needless to say we are making the most of this week to kick back and relax and wherever necessary, we dabble in a bit of housework to keep our home in some semblance of order, but the ironing is never top of the list of things to get done. I might be more inclined to want to iron when we have inclement weather. Lately we’ve had such lovely warm and sunny weather, it makes for lots of fun in the sun and splashing around in the pool with little regard for the ‘duties’.

Today was a good one... visiting with family we didn’t get to see yesterday, and spending some much needed time in the garden - weeding and pulling out ‘alien’ plants and generally doing a tidy-up. Now that we’ve made space we need to visit the nursery for plants to fill the spaces and hopefully get closer to achieving our ‘dream garden’ this summer.

Tomorrow is Mark’s mom’s birthday, so we are taking her out for lunch to Robyndale nursery, and giving her the chance to do what she enjoys. Later this evening, we’re all getting together as a family at the Shreibers for a braai which will be festive and fun.

Saturday will be Anna’s party so I’ll need to help Flea a bit with the preparation, but all in the name of fun. I can’t believe Anna’s going to be one already... where has the year gone?

Before we know it, it will be 2008 and back to work for most on the 7th, but not before enjoying a little bit of a break, which I will most certainly do. May you all enjoy a few days of R&R too before the slog begins again. More than that, we wish you a year filled with all good things - all you wish for and more.

Take Care

x Robs, Mark and Jordy

Festive Fun

Well, here we are again... with just over a week to go until Christmas and feeling somewhat ill prepared for it all this year, as we've only just put our tree up, and have yet to decorate the rest of our home, but with work being so frantically busy, I've not touched sides... and let's face it, women are always more enthusiastic about decorating one's home and making things look nice, so I'm hoping that I will catch up a bit and be on top of things again soon. At least I will have my wedding stationery orders all finished by the 21st and can get properly into the Christmas spirit thereafter, though I hope to do some baking tomorrow while Jordy’s sleeping - cross fingers. I think next year I will close mid-december because working so late into December, doesn’t allow time for anything else and what’s worse is clients think I must always be available and they even phone me over weekends to ask questions. It’s like a red rag to a bull especially over a long weekend when one’s clients or anybody enquiring are the furtherest thought from my mind.

I took Jordy to his friends 2nd Birthday party yesterday, and when I got chatting to the other mom’s we all said that we’d been to more kid’s birthday or Christmas parties than adult get-togethers, but I guess that’s the way it goes when one has kids. I’m hoping that the week over Christmas/New Year, will be festive and allow for us to see friends and enjoy more ‘adult’ company. Fortunately we have the Celtic Rock show at the barnyard theatre next friday night with friends, and then a braai with Brad and co. next saturday, since Brad’s down for Joburg to see his family, so that’s something to look forward to. Christmas should be festive too and a nice treat too - going to my folks for Christmas eve dinner and then the Springetts on Christmas day. I don’t think I’ll totally be able to escape having a get-together at our place over this festive season, but somehow the new year seems a long way off yet. I’m also looking forward to seeing friends who have come ‘home’ for Christmas - from the Emirates, Oz and also from Joburg. So yes, I think there should be plenty of opportunity to open a bottle of vino (or a few more), kick back and relax. We can only live in hope that we don’t have this crappy weather for the next 2 weeks! Enough rain already! I’m not one to let the weather effect me, but this damp grey climate is not good!

I’m sure I’ll be posting an entry again in the next week, but in the meantime I am adding some pics taken at Jordy and Anna’s toptots party, held 2 weeks ago, which again was dampened by the rain, and a bit chaotic with so many people “and all”, but a good excuse to get together with friends and their kids. Jordy certainly enjoyed it, but was a bit dubious of Santa, while Anna was a bit bored by the whole thing. Check the facial expression!

With this, I will love and leave you, but not before I wish you all the excitement and magic of Christmas! Enjoy and go safely!

Lots of love
x Robs

Photos from our weekend away - my Mom's 60th

Celebrating a special occasion - my Mom's 60th!

Well, here we are again, with only 41 days to go until Christmas. I say it again... where does the time go?! I'm sure I'm not the only one who's feeling demotivated and tired - it's to be expected I guess?!

I have to say, it came at just the right time... our weekend away this past weekend, to celebrate my Mom's 60th Birthday. She seemed to have a lovely day on friday and enjoyed the weekend away. It was great to all be together as family - I think my folks really enjoyed spending time with Anna and Jordy and on occasions, they distracted the kids with activities to give us a break.

We actually went to San Lameer for the weekend (all 8 of us) and we had a wonderful time. We took a slightly extended weekend, arriving there on friday afternoon and only leaving on monday morning to come home which was great as that extra day/night made a nice change from the norm. We stayed in a 3-bedroom villa with kitchen, dining room and lounge all part of the set-up, and of course, our verandah/deck was right on the little lake which was beautiful, but a bit of a concern because Jordy thought it was a swimming pool and a few times tried to climb over the little wall on the verandah. We opted for the self-catering route, as it works out to be more cost-effective, as much as we'd have all liked to be in the hotel part (wishful thinking). We had a lazy (spelt a-c-t-i-v-e) weekend, given that Jordy in his toddler stage can't keep still for 5 minutes (unless he is sleeping) but we all had a good time and despite it having been windy on saturday, we had wonderful weather so we were able to catch some rays and change the purple hue of skin, to a more healthy looking tan, which was good. Mark played a round of golf, and Jason took his mountain bike to explore the place, but the rest of us just chilled out, doing as little as possible when we weren't running around Jordy. The beach was beautiful and there was a lovely rock pool which Jordy enjoyed. He seemed not to like the waves too much, which surprised us because he loved playing in the waves the first time we took him to the beach?! Anyway, he made up for it when we took him to the pool near the hotel, as he frollicked about for hours in the pool - with our assistance and his arm bands on, but he was so happy so splash about and is gaining confidence all the time. Needless to say I noticed a huge improvement when I took Jordy for swimming safety lessons yesterday, which is a bonus! He really is growing up so quickly and has learnt to say 'no' which is amusing at times, but also spells the challenging time ahead. None-the-less we will get through it and enjoy this time since the time goes quickly and before we know it, Jordy will be starting school.

Of course, as with all good things, they must come to an end, which found us all reluctantly making our way home on monday, to face another week - all the while keen to stay on a few more days at San Lameer. Ce la vie. At least we have the Christmas break to look forward to - albeit that we are going to be home and aren't going anywhere, but at least we don't have any hectic agendas - other than cathing up with friends and family over the festive season. Mark's mom arrives from the UK in 2 weeks' time so we'll no doubt spend some time with her too. She's out in SA for 6 weeks, but staying at her place at le domaine.

Other than that, no too much news to tell but I will post an entry again in 2 weeks with any news and pics we have. Oh... just a small snippet of news... we've decided not to do building extensions on our house, but rather to improve the areas that need work and thereby spending our money more wisely. We had our house valued recently, and while we were surprised that the value exceeded our expectations, we don't want to over-capitalise. I have to say, I am relieved, as I was not looking forward to all the mess, but Mark had all these ideas so he's a bit disappointed, though we've agreed on the plan forward so now it's all go for what we want to do... and the list is long.

Phew, it's almost past my bedtime, so I will sign off now, but I will keep you posted with any other news we have.

Take Care and drive carefully - this is a bad time for speed traps and road blocks!

x Robs

A quick hello

Where does the time go?!?! It's been 3 weeks since our last blog entry and I don't seem to be getting any better at keeping in touch via email, or keeping a regular blog going, but I'm not going to make excuses except to say that as it is for everybody else, this time of the year is once again busy... and it will be until Christmas I'm sure.

Just thought I'd share some pics with you taken these last 2 weeks, of Jordy and also Anna - posing as always. There's not much news to report - work continues to keep me busy (yawn!) but we're also trying to complete a project on the house every week... although the days run into weeks sometimes, and it's hard to do anything constructive with a toddler running around, being destructive, so I don't know how much we'll get done by Christmas which is our goal, but we'll persist.

Jordy is well, though he was sick with Tonsilitis this week, so I was so glad to be home with him, though it does impact on one's work with the result I've had a rather busy week but we'll get there in the end. Family comes first!

Kirsty and Anna have spent the weekend with us, since Jason is away for a week, and Kirsty was feeling so ill on friday, she couldnt even lift her head or get out of bed, so we fetched them both and packed bags for them to spend time here and allow Flea to recuperate. It just so happens she's run down and has tonsilitis in a bad way, so she has felt rather rotten, but hopefully she's on the mend now. Today was a rather busy day, looking after 2 lil ones while Kirsty did work to catch up, but it was all in the name of fun. Anna's at that age now where she's battling a bit with separation anxiety, and Jordy is running around like an energiser bunny, so I've definitely got my exercise for the day - or week rather! Phew, I am not sure we are ready for baby number 2 just yet... we thought we were, but 3 years is a nice gap... think we'll stick to that!

Well, without further ado, we'll leave you to look at the pics and we will be in touch again when we have more news!

Take Care

x Robs

Our animal farm excursion...

It's been a while since our last blog entry, but unfortunately it's been a busy two weeks and there've not been too many photos to share until today, when we took Jordy to the animal farm, and which he thoroughly enjoyed. Our first visit to the animal farm, some 6 months ago, was somewhat uneventful and was a rather fleeting visit since Jordy wasn't overly impressed with the noises and smells the first time around, but today he was very enchanted by all the sights and sounds and we had quite a job keeping up with him. He especially liked the sheep, which although it gave him one hell of a fright the first time it bellowed "Maaaa", he kept going back for more, walking around the pen where the sheep was kept, and pretending to give it food, which he eventually did, but he figured the sheep had to earn it. It was actually quite funny watching Jordy jump when the Maa sounded, only to laugh at it and so it went on. He wasn't impressed with the pigs who were sleeping... we got the 'bored' look but he really liked the roosters. The goats weren't particularly special for Jordy... but he did love the ducks and swans. He went on his first pony ride which he really enjoyed which surprised us because we thought he may be too young to appreciate the experience, but he was really keen on the ponies. So, I guess it will be back to the animal farm again soon - hopefully next time we will have better weather as it started drizzling while we were walking around the farmyard, but it was none-the-less a great time, had by Jordy and I guess you could say Mom & Dad enjoyed it too. We visited the Springetts for tea afterwards which is always nice - they really have a lovely home at Clifton Hill and have done so much to it already to make it a home.

Well, here we are, another weekend behind us and another week looming. Fortunately I can look forward to an easier week, though still busy. I've had wedding orders and freelance work all happening at once these last 2 weeks, so my evenings and to some degree, weekends have been spent working, sometimes until 2am, but that's hopefully not going to happen again anytime soon. It was just bad timing that it all came through at once. I've managed to enjoy some quality time with Jordy, despite the chaos, so that's been good. Anyway, at least tomorrow night we have the next episode of greys anatomy to look forward to... it's been a long week waiting to see what will happen... for those who follow it.

It's now way past my bedtime and since there's not much else to report for now I will head for bed and sign off for the week, but will post another entry soon, so watch this space for more!

Have a good week all of you!

Oh, and please hold thumbs for the bokke! Jordy was shouting for them today in their match against Fuji but he was shouting "Go Bokkie". It must have worked!

Take Care

x Robs

Rain, rain go away....

Well, here we are... 5 days later, still only being able to see grey skies and having lots of rain but we need the rain and hopefully we'll have a better weekend coming up. Sadly this past weekend was not conducive to getting down to the beach which would have been nice since Wendy and Indigo stayed with us, having come down from Jhb for the long weekend to visit. Alas, we went shopping at the pav (with all the other holiday-makers) but Wendy did some shopping so that was good. We also went to see the show "Magnificent 7 - II" at the Sneddon which was brilliant. For those of you who don't know what it's about... have a look at the brief description on the computicket site. It was fantastic!

Of course it's back to the grindstone today with Wendy having gone back today, but it's not all bad... it's nearly friday but I have lots of work to get done before then. Eeek! I'm in need of an early night tonight... even though the weekend was relaxing, the last few weeks have been rather crazy so I'm hoping it gets a little easier hereon. With Jordy sick too it was somewhat of a concern, but he's fortunately much better.

I must dash, but there are some pics of Jordy and Indi, as well as a classic pic of Jordy, reading none other than... the FHM mag which he found at Kirsty & Jason's place when we went to visit on sunday. Fortunately Jordy didn't get past the contents page... but we figured it was a kodak moment. Have a laugh!

I trust you all had a good long weekend... as always, it goes by far too quickly!

Enjoy the pics!

x Robs

Time with friends is always good....

Well, it's been a while since I last "blogged" but it's been a rather busy time until now - work-wise especially, but with a bit of luck, things will quieten down and I will have a chance to catch my breath?! Mmmmm.... wishful thinking.

I thought it an opportune time to post an entry, since I have a few photos to share with you all - taken on Sunday with our good friend Hayley Bruton, and today, with Kate and her baby boy Luke. Hayley is out from the UK for 3 weeks visiting family and friends, and Kate is out in SA for a month, from Oz visiting family and friends, so it's been a bumper week which has been fantastic. Next week Wendy and Indigo will be coming to spend some time with us, to have a break from the Joburg frenzy, which I am also really looking forward to. I hope the weather continues to be so good too!

News from the Biddles... both my boys have a cold so are feeling slightly miz, but I am dosing them with viral choice as often as is prescribed so hope it starts working and they are soon 100%. We're otherwise well... starting to make a dent in getting the garden done, albeit a slog over weekends, but it will hopefully be worth it in the end. Fortunately it's not too hot yet, but that will soon change. Summer is on the way, and it will no doubt be another sweltering few months. At least the days are a bit longer now which is great! Work continues on our house... it's going to be a work-in-progress for a loooooong time yet. We're now considering the option of extending our house, building on a few rooms, but we need to meet with our architect friend Stuart to see what can/can't be done. The aim is to have the plans drawn in the next 2 months, which will hopefully enable us to build in April/May next year. I'm actually dreading the thought of all the dust and mess everywhere, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. We'll wait to see what the building cost-estimate will be first.....?!

Well, without much further ado, I'm going to head to bed now, as I'm exhausted and have early start tomorrow with us needing to take Mark's car to be "sorted" and then rushing around to buy materials for my orders before meeting with a client at 12. And then of course, we're off to toptots in the afternoon. I could never get bored.... there is always so much to do, but it's great to be alive and well, so I can't complain.

I hope you are all well and enjoying the warmer weather country-wide?! For those of you in the UK... hopefully you will still have some good weather yet, before autumn arrives!

I will definitely blog more often from hereon.. forgive me for being so scarce. But by all means, please send us your news!

Take Care and keep well!

x Robs
Robs, Jordy, Hayley & Anna (Springett)
Cute little Luke Shirley

Proud mom - Kate

Oh for a laugh...

Such a cool dude...

"Don't you just love the shades...?"
"The hat's s'pose to be on this way...."
Jordy & Anna having a tender moment....