28 September - Gonna be a bear

In this life I'm a woman. In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear. When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that, too.When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.If you're mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them, too. I could deal with that. If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat. Yup, gonna be a bear!

26 September - Teeth

Michael's 3rd tooth in 5 days erupted today! This little man has 11 teeth already! No wonder he has been so miserable and refuses to sleep....

22-24 September - Farm Weekend

It was a long weekend this past weekend with Monday being a public holiday (Heritage Day). Ed and I did not have plans for the weekend and decided to take the kids (and Grandma) to the farm for 2 nights as we would invariably end up infront of the TV all weekend if we were at home. Al was not "home", but we went anyway and had a fabulous weekend!! The kids loved the space, the animals and the pool and Ed, Sue and I relaxed - we even managed to all get a 2-hour nap in on Sunday afternoon!! Al came back from his weekend away Sunday evening and we left there late yesterday.

Big news over the weekend was that Michael started walking on Sunday!! He has been standing for about 2 weeks and has become more and more confident. Last week he took a step for me and then one for Ed, but on Sunday he took 5 steps!!!

It is so cute - we (and the school) praised Michael every time he stood on his own, he is so well conditioned now - when he stands up he claps hands!!

Getting up is hard work!

Standing!!

This is where Michael was most of the time - in a crate with bottles or in a crate with oranges....

The view from the stoep

Michael and Max

Farmer-Ed in the pool

Michael at the pool (he loved it)

Andrew in the clubhouse

Grandpa in the clubhouse

Andrew and Grandpa

21 September - Spiderman cupcakes

I went to Pick 'n Pay with the kids after work today and Andrew could choose one "sweet" - needless to say once he saw the Spiderman cupcake mix he was sold on that. No doughnut with smarties, ice-cream, biscuit or sweet could change his mind. Ed made the cupcakes with him when we got home and here is the result (not bad at all - and they tasted quite yummy).

19 September - Me and da boys

My mom took some photos of me and the kids last week and I finally managed to download them.

Andrew looking

Michael looking

Trying on Mom's glasses (his favourite toy)

Cool dude

15-16 September - Family weeekend

We had a real family weekend on Grandpa's plot near Bultfontein the weekend. Grandpa and Granny were there as well as Louise, Burnard & Vanessa (and the kids) and our family. What fun!! The kids had an absolute ball!

Grandpa has been working on a clubhouse for the grandchildren for a few weeks now and they eventually had the opportunity to play in it the weekend. Between that, the swimming pool and the pool-table, they were kept really busy indeed.

The cousins... Chad, Tyra, Andrew and Michael

Tyra and Andrew

Sunset on the farm

The clubhouse

Fun at the poolside!

Michael and Chad playing

Little Michael

My boys

Michael at his favourite spot

14 September - 5th wedding Anniversary

Ed and I have been married 5 years today! Where has the time gone? Congratulations Ed and hope you can handle me for at least a few dozen more years!!

Ed and I ended going out for a fabulous lunch at News Cafe this afternoon and look what I got....

it is a bunch of about 40 red roses!!! Absolutely stunning!!!

12 September - Geluk met Ouma se 85ste verjaarsdag!

It is my grandmother's 85th birthday today! Happy Birthday - may there me at least a few more years....

My grandmother has 5 great-grandchildren and I decided to give her photos of all of the children in a frame as a gift (because the kids grow up and change so quickly I will change the photos every few months for her). I can't wait to see her face.

We are going to her house tonight for a dinner party - should be lovely.

11 September - Suckered

My mom is visiting for my grandmother's 85th birthday tomorrow (12 September) and we met up with my godmother at Safari for tea. It was so nice to see my Aunty Gay again! I did a bit of plant shopping, including a beautiful pink Bouganvilla, which will be planted on Thursday when the gardener is here. On the way out the kids spotted suckers (actually Andrew did) and even though I don't like giving Michael suckers because he gets so sticky from them, I gave in. The results being...............

Oh well at least he had fun!! Needless to say I put him straight into the bath when we got home!!

7 September - "Normal" evening.....

The kids normally eat at 17h30 and bath at 18h00, making them ready for settling down by 19h00 at the latest. But then again that is a normal evening, not tonight at 20h00!!!

Friday joke

This is my favourite cartoon of all time!

6 September - Walkies

The weather is fabulous at the moment - it was a glorious 32 degrees today! When we got home the kids were a bit restless, so I took them for a walk in the complex. Andrew rides on his "bike" and Michael is in the Trike.

6 September - Feeding time

Michael tries to feed himself tonight and Andrew decided to help him.

5 September - Competition

I have entered Michael into a Purity competition where he can win R10 000. You had to send in a photograph of your child enjoying his/her food. I send in the photo below.....


Here are some more I took that day - he REALLY loves his food.

3 September - Video

Robert's digital camera has been fixed (at last) and I have a new toy to play with until he comes to claim the thing back in December - just need to find a charger somewhere!

I took some video of Michael tonight (warning the files are VERY). I have managed to change the settings since to make the files more manageable.

1 September - Birthday party

It was the cousins Tyra and Chad's combined birthday party today. Tyra celebrated her 3rd birthday and Chad his first. It was held at Forest Fun (with no forest in sight) and Andrew had a ball! It is a huge area and he made use of every space of it. Michael was a bit flabergasted by all the people and generally hung around Granny and Grandpa, but did enjoy the smaller jungle-gym type toys.

Tyra and Andrew played together a lot of the time. They are such great mates and I think they will miss each other when the other Cross's leave for Australia next year(Michael and Chad are still too young to know the difference).