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…
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 loves to dance and sing. Our neighbours threw a party yesterday and had a live band. He was jiving in our garden, and eventually found a spade to use as a guitar
- Bradley has got a guitar and drum kit on his Christmas list… not sure about that!
- The live band, which was phenomenal, made me think that I want to do something similar for my birthday… except my birthday is in the middle of winter and it’s not conducive to evenings out in the garden listening to music!
- I need to get wellies for me and the boys to go to Walkhaven… I’m tired of squelching in the mud with my slip slops while the dogs ramble through the marsh land!
- I went to buy the kids new slip slops on Saturday and to my surprise Bradley has gone up another shoe size… he now wears a size 4!! Holy moly that’s large for an 8 year old… or is it? Connor’s feet haven’t grown in ages… still a size 13.
- Bradley’s Christmas list is much shorter than last year… but oh so much more expensive – and Connor changes his mind about his list every day!
- Every time I read a blog post or FB update about someone’s holiday that’s coming up, I get jealous… I also want to go away this year… we never go away at the end of the year. I’d love to get to Cape Town to see my cousin, who is visiting from the US.
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.
I found this YouTube clip posted on my sister-in-law’s (Nicole) Facebook wall, and then my mom noticed that one of my images had been included, so I had to share it.
My image was taken at Connor’s birthday party(link to the party), not sure if you remember… Fiona’s son Ethan had got injured in the pool, and thankfully Carl and Nicole were there and called ER24 or else we would have really damaged him. Wow that video brought back lots of memories from that eventful day.
ER24 asked me a few days later if they could use images from the day, which is why they had it (and Fiona agreed).
It’s quite a video actually… the guys in emergency services in South Africa all deserve medals
I arrived home after Saturday’s photoshoot to be greeted by the kids all dressed up and ready to go to Madelein’s house for a halloween evening. I was seriously impressed with their attempts which were completely their own ideas because I forgot (bad mom) to buy extra dressup things like I’d promised, and because I wasn’t at home they didn’t have any help sourcing their outfits from their cupboards and toy boxes.
Connor went at the Ultimate Darth Vader. Ultimate because he was carrying guns as well as swords. And how clever is this outfit? He wore a batman cape (from an old batman dressup outfit), skateboarding knee and elbow pads, 2 Star Wars swords and 2 water pistols
Bradley dressed up as a Were-warrior. He wore an old knights outfit (which is actually too small for him, hence the need for me to go find new dressup stuff), and a werewolf mask with 2 swords!
And if you’re reading this from the US and thinking that my kids are deprived because they don’t have proper costumes… bear in mind that Halloween hasn’t really caught on in South Africa
I LOVE that they used their imaginations for this!
I took the day off today, the main reason was so that I could go and watch Connor’s school concert. It was so very sweet! And we are so very proud of him!! His little skit was Jack and Jill, and he sang and did all the moves beautifully!
I really liked how the whole concert was done actually. It was so nice that the kids were all in small skits with about 6 of them in each… so they all got their moment in the spotlight. And the rest of the time they sat on the stands and sang along to the music.
Bradley and his best friend Angelique managed to sneak in the beginning, and were watching from the entrance until their break was over and they had to go back to class.
If you’re wondering how I did the photos, I didn’t use a flash and my ISO was 1600… so had to adjust the colours quite a bit because the spotlights on their faces were red and purple.
I saw this on Cat’s blog, and decided to do it too. It’s always a good idea to remember what the boys like at various points in time.
TV programme: Star Wars iPhone App: Pet Zoo, he’s obsessed with checking to see whether he has to pick up rubbish in the animal enclosures and whether there’s enough money to buy more animals Meal: Spaghetti bolognese Fruit: grapes and strawberries. Vegetable: broccoli Breakfast: Squillos if I let him Drink: At the moment vanilla flavoured milk Drinking yogurt flavour: Granadilla Sweets: Anything with sugar Chips/crisps: Tomato fritos or those prawn chips from Woolies Toy: Anything that looks like the Star Wars weapons, and Lego men Colour: blue Something that happened yesterday: Last night, he got hold of my phone to check on his zoo, and hid under the diningroom table to play. It was bath time and he wasn’t listening, so I shouted at him to get in the bath. I heard him run and assumed he had gone to the bathroom, but soon realised it was too quiet. So I went looking for him. Neither Lance nor I could find him anywhere. We checked in all the usual places, under the beds, in the cupboards, behind the curtains and in the other shower. Nothing. As I was walking back through my bedroom for the 3rd time, I noticed the laundry basket move ever so slightly. He was inside!! As quiet as a mouse! It’s amazing how long he’ll stay in a dark cramped space just to hide from everyone! There was no way I could shout at him after that… I was too impressed.
There’s a car guard at the local Spar who knows me quite well now, and when I come out the shop with a trolley, he takes it from me and makes a beeline for my car without me having to direct him. Tonight, we struck up a bit of a conversation after I noticed him smiling at Connor and shaking his head.
As Connor got out the car when we first arrived, he did something he doesn’t normally do. He waited for me to get my bag out the boot, and then just walked across the parking lot to the door. He didn’t even look!! He knows he’s not allowed to walk across a road without me holding his hand. And there was a car coming out of a parking… thank God the car was going slowly and stopped. I gave him a mouthful and he thankfully realised then what he did… and was sheepish for all of 30 seconds. My oath it was close!!
Anyhoo, when we got back to the car, I had to shout speak to him again because he was standing in the middle of an empty bay instead of right next to the car, and he was trying to play fight with Bradley. That’s when I noticed the car guard smiling at Connor.
So I said “He’s not listening. Did you see what he did earlier?”
He replied with words similar to this “Yes. What you are doing cannot be paid for. Being a mom is the most important thing to him, and he won’t be able to pay you. But they will remember forever.”
That shut me up. And I wondered what the story was behind what he said. I wonder where his mom is?
