Five for Friday #term2

Back to school for term 2! yay!

1. I picked up my Voortrekker team t-shirts this week. I am SO happy with how they came out.
I cant wait to give them to the kids and take a photo with all the kids in their t-shirts. I honestly didnt know that I would enjoy Voortrekkers this much. Any excuse to behave like a kid yourself, right? I am amazed by how different boys and girls are. I mean, I know they are different but when I plan my activities I can immediately tell you what the boys are going to enjoy and what they wont enjoy and the same with the girls. Eventually the team will have to split and I am leaning towards going with the boys because Mr W is in that team and ultimately I am doing this for him.

2. Last weekend was Easter weekend. It already feels like a lifetime ago. We attended my favourite church service of the year called "Road to the Cross." It is such a special day reflecting about the days leading up to Jesus's crucifixion. We were served communion halfway through the service and I remember thinking why on earth are these little glasses only filled halfway... little did I know they were filled with vinegar. O my goodness... you can just imagine kids choking and spitting after taking a sip of vinegar. It was so funny but neither of my kids will ever forget that Jesus had to drink vinegar on the cross.

3. School started this week. Roll on term 2 - we are ready for you! The kids are excited about the Netball and Rugby season ahead. All I can think about is that I hope we play at schools with good coffee because those early morning Rugby games are FREEZING!

4. My uncle passed away this week. I have been thinking about my dad's last days/hours all week. I miss him like crazy...

5.  I "invented" a new chicken dish with pasta, tomato and basil. DELICIOUS... I am sure everyone feels like this but food has gotten SO expensive. I really need some new ideas for supper and lunch.

How has your week been? Any great recipes that you can share with me?

Ramblings of a confused mama...

Parenting is HARD. Wait, let me rephrase... parenting is F^$*#(@king hard. I have blogged about Miss M's chess career obsession (for lack of a better word) before. She has been invited to play in the SA  junior championship and have been practising with her coach since December for this event in April. One night last week she asked to speak to us and after a whole long story and drama she says she wants to quit. Say what? Yes, she quit. She wants nothing to do with anything chess related. The school is begging her to play, I have had numerous phone calls from teachers and the school coach to try and convince her otherwise but she refuses. She has been called in FOUR times in the last week to discuss this matter. She has a serious stubborn gene that she (might) have gotten from me. The more everyone is pushing, the less inclined she is to play.

I have NO idea what to do.

Do we push? Force her to play?

Ignore all this drama and just carry on like nothing happened and hope she comes to her senses.

Run away and hide under my bed with a glass of grown up cool drink?

Both coaches says she has a natural talent that she cannot just give up on. My thinking is that one does not "lose" your talent... it will still be there when she decides to play again.

By saying its okay to quit, are we saying that its okay to give up?

She wants to explore other things as chess takes up a lot of her time. I am ALL for this because chess takes up a lot of MY time but stopping completely sounds a bit insane. She has worked so hard to be where she is today, would it be like throwing all that effort into the bin? On the other hand.. art classes sounds like so much fun.

F..ck this shit. I am hanging up my grown up shoes.

xxx

Melmoth Wedding

How on earth did a whole month pass since my last post? Its INSANE how quickly time is flying by! I can hardly believe that I already received Mr W's rapport card yesterday signalling the end of yet another term.

We went to Melmoth in KZN where I grew up for a wedding the beginning of the month. O my.. the memories and the sheer beauty of the area. It was amazing... I also realised that my kids are definitely city kids. Is this not just so beautiful? I can remember playing on that dirt road as a child with all my cousins. Kind of made me think how differently my kids are being raised...

My mom is a master baker and she always baked and catered for weddings and functions. She owned her own restaurant when I was at Varsity but my dad hated the long hours so she gave it up. My cousin asked her to help with the dessert table.. Isnt this just amazing? She baked and baked for a week. I contributed the donut tower and was in charge of the taste tests which had to be conducted frequently :) I had the same thing for my wedding many moons ago 

The venue on the farm :)

5 for friday - week 4/2017

1. Vaping. Who knew that a non smoker like me would become a fan of vaping. The boss man swopped over December and it was a rough 2 weeks before his body adjusted. I never had an issue vir Mr K's smoking but now that he has stopped everything just smells better.

2. Suits is back!!! This is by far one of my favourite tv shows. I have missed Harvey and Mike... Who takes a 2 month long production break in the middle of season?

3. A certain brother and sister Afrikaans singers recently started their own tv show on VIA. This week the sister went home with her domestic worker for a night. What a shock to hear that her 92 year old mother has never had a bath and that they have NEVER had running water. We are truly living our lives with blinders on.

4. Childhood cancer suck. A boy in Mr W's year group was diagnosed with cancer in 2014. It breaks my heart to see him struggle and have to fight so hard to just do normal things like going to school. Here is the article...

http://maroelamedia.co.za/nuus/sa-nuus/terminale-6-jarige-begin-gr-1-jy-is-so-braaf-ek-vergeet-hoe-jy-ly/

5. Miss M is back at ice skating academy and Mr W played his first Bev cricket game this week. Its rough because both activities are on Wednesdays but both are the kids SO happy. Definite firm favourites on the activity list.

Counting the hours till the weekend...
Have a GOOD one.
xxxx

5 for Friday - week 2/2017

School and activities are back to the usual craziness. So much so that I wondered if I really just had a 3 week holiday.

• Its proving to be a challenge scheduling after school activities in such a way that I only have to drive home once a day. Last year Mr W's activities were mostly during school hours but in Grade 1 everything moves to after school. Its a different ball game with 2 kids taking part in various activities especially because I know neither would be happy sitting around at school waiting for the other to finish.

• Voortrekkers... end of the year last year I offered to help with admin for Mr W's Voortrekker group as I am total admin queen. It turns out the dad in charge of their group doesn't really want to do it after all and I was asked to be their "officer." (That sounds SO strange!) I accepted ... then I doubted my decision (Where am I going to find time in between all the craziness!!) but I am slowly getting more and more excited.

• Miss M is rocking at grade 4 and so far we have not had one homework disagreement. Mr W is another story though... His standard answer is "I don't really feel like it right now... " I tried cooking dinner while helping him at the dining room table but every time I turned around he was missing! Little sh@t snuck out the door the minute I turned my back! Wish me luck, I still have 12 more years of this ahead of me!

• Mum seems to be doing okay. Lots of people ask me how she is doing and my standard answer is that she seems to be okay. She has "moments" and of course her life is going through a period of adjustment but I think that is normal. I often want to call Daddy to have a chat which makes me incredibly sad and I think Mum have the same kind of "moments" of overwhelming sadness.

• Have you tried the new Crunchie ice cream? It is covered with delicious Cadbury's chocolate and popping candy! This is definitely an ADULT treat as they are quite expensive. Mr K and I enjoy rewarding ourselves after getting the kids into bed at night for making it through the day. Kind of like a "high five" you made it!

Have a good weekend! 

xxx

5 for Friday - week 1/2017

Its FRIDAY!!! YAY!!! Some weeks I am SO happy that I made it to Friday that I want to give myself a high five. I loved reading everyone's "5 for Friday" posts last year and I am determined to do a weekly one this year!! Haha... I will probably skip one or two but I'm going to try my very best!

1. School started and my kids are HAPPY. That is a huge one for me. No drama, no tears... just smiles and excitement.

2. Friday morning coffee club - We are 3 friends who meet up for coffee on Fridays after drop off and before work starts. Its easy and there is no pressure if you can't make it. This morning we had a nice brekkie with our lattes!

3.  I am back in the office since Monday and to be honest I love to work. I love my job... I enjoy designing, meeting clients and hanging out with the crazy girls in my office.

4. Last year one of our reps in the office gave me the most fabulous facecloth. It works SO much better than any face cloth for wiping your face. It gets ALL the makeup right off with just a few wipes. I started using it it last week and I am hooked. 

5. I cannot ever have enough notebooks. Look at all these stunning notebooks (and diary) I received for my birthday.

Grade 1 AND 4 here we come....

School started yesterday for us (like for most of SA) and it was a big day, as our little man started grade 1! He is normally a shy, reserve boy but he totally rocked his first day. Confident and sure of himself, he showed us where his classroom is and where he should leave his school bag. The attitude was very much one of "Please can you just LEAVE?" and "Enough photos already... so not cool, Mom!" I told everyone I that I was probably going to sob my heart out but my boy didn't even give me a chance. He had ME out the door before I could even have a "moment"!

Miss M started grade 4 yesterday. A big year in terms of starting exams and having different teachers for each subject. She has been eagerly awaiting this year and was very excited to go to school yesterday. I am so grateful for moms at school with older kids who are willing to share some wisdom in making this transition as easy as possible. I think being super organised is going to be very important this year.

I fetch the kids yesterday afternoon and they were all still smiles and super happy about school, their teachers and of course, seeing all their friends again. We are ready for 2017!
How was your kiddo's first day back?

xxx