Bradley’s school has a Valentine’s dance every year, and all the kids from Grade 3  upwards have to attend.  So this year it’s his first dance experience.

Hectic!!

I thought that it was just a little dance.  It doesn’t last very long, and I think it ends really early (from what I can remember, and no I haven’t studied the newsletters yet).

Well, clearly not!! Bradley’s best friend Angelique has been asked to “go” by one of the other boys.

I did ask him how he felt about Angelique going with another boy… his answer “well, I can’t ask my best friend to go with me, that would be weird” LOL!

Call me strange, but aren’t 8/9 year olds a little young for this?  He’s stressing now.  He’s so nervous to ask another girl to this thing, and I actually don’t think he should be.  I don’t see anything wrong with him going with his friends… in a group.

Am I strange?

Anyhoo, this evening I was a little more relaxed about the whole thing when he told me that some of his boy friends had asked other boy friends to go with them. Clearly it’s not “that” important.

Connor, on the other hand, thinks it’s hilarious that Bradley’s going to a dance, and he’s going to “shake his booty” LOL!! There was a lot of wrestling going on this evening after the teasing.

I’m not ready for this… I’m not ready for this angst.  I’m not sure I’m equipped to help him deal with girls saying “no” to him asking them out.

Bloody hell he’s too young for this!! I’m too young for this!!

The kids’ toys have been bugging me for ages, so I got a bee into my bonnet this afternoon and I’ve just finished cleaning them up and doing a major chuck out.

I was amazed at how much they let me throw out… and in a way it made me sad.

What I did was have 3 piles… one with broken toys to throw in the dustbin… one for toys to donate… and the other the toys to keep.

I then asked the kids to go through the donation pile and move the ones that they still played with to the “keep” pile.  And they went through the “keep” pile and donate the toys that they didn’t play with anymore.  I didn’t get much wrong, although I started being more ruthless when Connor shouted that something needed to go to the donate pile… when it was “too baby-ish… yuk”.

It made me feel really sad to get rid of the last of the Fisher Price toys (the ones for age 2+), and all the brightly coloured cars with chunky tyres.  The only toys Connor wanted to keep were the guns and swords and Bakugans and the Hot Wheels and the meaner looking toys.

My baby is gone

But it’s crazy keeping the toys.  In the end I threw out 2 rubbish bags of broken toys, and then I went to the carwash and gave the ladies a rubbish bag of old toys… and I’m going to give Beauty (my domestic helper) the last bag of old toys for her grandson.

…. and now we’re going to watch a movie.

We had an early Christmas present opening session last night at my parent’s house, with my brother and his family.  They weren’t going to be with us on Christmas day, so we had a Christmas Eve celebration too… and the kids opened a few of their presents.

Erin had asked Father Christmas for a Ken doll, and we heard about this and knew that Santa wasn’t bringing her one, so that was one of the gifts that we bought her.

And then, Pavya, and ex-colleague of mine, who lives in India, sent the kids gifts too.  She’d spent last Christmas with us, and decided to send them Christmas pressies… so unexpected!! And so very special!! So anyhoo, she sent Erin the most gorgeous Barbie in Indian dress… the most gorgeous sari.

Isn’t she gorgeous?

Erin was so so funny, with the 2 dolls.  Within 5 minutes of them getting untangled from their boxes… she had them kissing!!!

… Much to the disgust of my boys…

LOL!! Carl, my brother, was at a complete loss for words!

Connor has until now, been swimming with armbands and he’s swimming quite well.  Then he spent some time swimming at my parent’s house last week while I was at a photoshoot, and when I got home he very proudly told me that he swam without any armbands!!

He’s not quite comfy to do it at home yet, but yesterday afternoon the kids were swimming at my parent’s house when I went to pick them up, and Connor had to show off his newfound skill

I’m so proud of him… and he’s so very proud of himself…

Then he started practicing kicking…

Big excitement in the house tonight!! The boys have just received their personalised video from Father Christmas via the Portable North Pole site.

I must say that Connor was rather nervous that the naughty/nice machine’s light would be on red, because that apparently happened to a friend of theirs… and Santa is giving him  a piece of coal!!

Connor’s video is here

Bradley’s video is here

I love the magic of Christmas!

And now… I’m taking them to the Spur and then we’ll drive around the suburbs and find those 2 houses close to us that are covered in lights.

Not sure what the point of this blog post is going to be, just needed to jot a few things down about Christmas and the kids this year.

Firstly, let me explain the title… that my friends, is my favourite part of this Michael Buble song  .  I bought the album and the first time the kids heard it, Connor piped us “Mommy, he’s being really rude about Father Christmas”… now he shouts that part really loudly every time we hear the song

There’s nothing like music to get you into the Christmas mood… so this year I’m making a concerted effort to play Christmas music as much as possible.  I’ve even got my iPhone blaring music in the kitchen while I’m cooking (which reminds me, if you haven’t bought me a gift yet, a iPod/iPhone music system for my kitchen would be appreciated).  And I dance to the music and for the last 2 nights, the kids have come to join me, and we spend an hour in the kitchen cooking and dancing and singing it’s a little chaotic!

It’s all about making memories.

As far as gifts is concerned, I’m a little concerned. I haven’t done much shopping, and now all my ideas I had seem to be unavailable.  I’m a little stressed about it, considering the 7 shoots I have to edit as well in the evenings.

And then Bradley’s list is also concerning. He’s asked for a drum set or an electric guitar.  Seriously?! I chatted to him about this in the car the other day, because I think it’s a bad idea and I know Father Christmas won’t give gifts that are a bad idea.  Not because of the noise, but that kind of thing is fine if you’re learning to play the instrument, KWIM?  He’s not phased though, because apparently there’s some TV program on Disney XD that teaches him how to play the chords on an electric guitar.

I think I’m going to have to get hold of my cousin in Canada to find out the best way to start drumming.  My mom seems to remember that he learnt on an african drum.  I like that idea a little more… and get him drumming lessons for next year. Or he can go to guitar lessons at school… and then maybe revisit this idea for his birthday.

And it’s not like he’s got staying power when it comes to extra murals anyway… he didn’t stick to horse riding or karate for very long.

Oh well… we’ll just have to see what the big fat man with the long white beard pitches up with…

I was testing the video capabilities of the Nikon V1 today (I’m reviewing it for Girl Guides), and just have to show you what happens at my house when I try take photos of anything… or actually, whenever I go into the garden.

Just a note if you’re wondering why Kimo and Kitara look a little mangy… they’re shedding their fur at the moment so you can imagine what the floors in my house look like every day.

While we were driving in the car this weekend on our way somewhere (can’t remember where to), Connor piped up from the back…

“Mommy, why doesn’t God answer all my wishes?”

** oh my, slight panic sets in.

“Well, God only grants wishes when he thinks they’ll be good for you.  And he doesn’t do them right away, he answers prayers in his own time”

**trying to bring in the right wording to teach him the difference between a prayer and a wish.

There’s a quiet moment before he pipes up again “Dear God, I wish that we never run out of food in our house”

Awwww!! I love this child to bits!!

I left a notebook in my car a few days ago, because I’d had an external meeting.  Bradley got hold of it and my pink pen while I was taking them home.  When we got home, he told me that I needed to open the notebook at work the next day and look for pages that he’s numbered L1 and L2… he’d left me something to read.

And then he reminded me again in the morning, thankfully because he knows how forgetful I am

Aren’t they sweet

The dodo note made me smile.  I love the arrow with the word “feathers” just in case I couldn’t work it out

And as for the other one, I may have had a tear in my eye when I read it.

Being a working mom is not easy.  Seriously, it’s not.  You have to juggle time, and find ways of leaving work at odd times to just be there for your kids.

That’s what happened this morning to me.

If you have chatted to me offline recently you would know that there’s a few changes pending at work.  And I’ve been waiting for a meeting with someone that was hopefully going to resolve part of the obstacle.  That meeting was set for this morning.

However, Connor’s Playball demo was scheduled for a hour before my big meeting was supposed to start and it takes at least 40 minutes to get from the school to Sandton, and I was determined to be there too.  You may think that this is trivial, but it’s the only extra mural he does, and this demo is the only time I could see what he’s been doing.

So, I tried to do both

Thankfully the Playball started in time, and I watched 20 minutes of his thing… and then had to leave just before the medal ceremony… and then I zooted to Sandton to get to my meeting… which ended up being postponed to tomorrow!!

Connor, of course, was very sad to see me go  He really loved that I was there, and kept looking for me and smiling and then ran up to me a few times to give me a hug

I’m glad I went, but sad that I had to go before the medal ceremony.  I really don’t feel as guilty as I would have done if I’d not gone at all.

And shame, the one little girl, looked around the room after a few minutes, and said “But my mommy’s not here to watch me”… the teacher tried to save the day by saying that all the other mommies will be watching her instead.  I’m sure that didn’t make her feel better though.