29 July 2010 - Happy 4th Birthday Michael

Happy Birthday my spirited child.  You have brought a whole new dimension to my and your dad's life and I cannot imagine our family complete without you in it.  We love you lots and treasure every day we have with you.  Love mom and dad xx.

Those that know Michael will know that he was so excited to go to school in civvies today - cause he could then dress as a cow-boy :). Suppose that is a good/decent one - could have been dracula, a karate peson, batman, spiderman, ...........

Monday Funny - LOL

Courtesy of lamebook - gotta love it :)

July 2010 - Friends

I have known these special girlfriends for the last 6 years and they have really made an impression on my life.  Marinda and I met at ante-natal classes, Ronica's little girl and Andrew lay next to each other in NICU and I met Petra at a post-natal baby class.  Between the 4 of us we now have 9 children who are also all great mates.  It is such a special friendship and one I hold very dear.

P.S. Michael is not in the pic and the child in the front wearing the black is not one of our's :)

5 July 2010 - African Sunrise

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love African sunrises and sunsets. There is something magical about them and something so special. This (very) special one was taken this morning from my patio - ain't it gorgeous!!!

July 2010 - World Cup Dream Wall

Just before the World Cup kicked off in June Andrew's school got all the kids to draw a picture relating to the country or soccer.  The pictures were all put on display at a local shopping centre, Woodlands.  Here is Andrew's gorgeous contribution.

12 July 2010 - T-shirt words

Sometime ago I bought Andrew a t-shirt which in my mind sums him up to a tee ('scuse the pun).  I just love it (and so does he).

11 July 2010 - World Cup Final

Well done to Spain who won the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.  It was a fantastic month and a brilliant final game.

The Spanish players celebrate their World Cup victory against Holland. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

20-something June 2010 - Target shooting

We went out to Al on the farm for a day (I think it may have been father's day) and between Al, Ed and the kids a decision was made to let them shoot with the pellet gun (just to get a feel for it I suppose). Rules were laid down and the gun was loaded. I must say I am totally against guns and was not too keen on this whole lot, but the kids ended up having a great time shooting a target and they also ended up being quite good at this. Was was meant to be a shot each ended up being about 5-6 each - Andrew did it all on his own and grandpa helped Michael a bit as the gun weighs about as much as him :).

I took a few shots of Michael too - of him and his beloved "teddy", a comfort item that he has used since birth and can't go a day without (wonder how long the poor thing will still last). And then of him playing on the stoep infront of the house - he is so meticulous in his play and every item had to go into it's own block and get played with there. He normally lines everything up in some way or another and here the blocks just helped the process.

1 July 2010 - Zakumi by Andrew

Zakumi is the mascot for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.  Here is a bit about him:

Zakumi (born 16 June 1994 (1994-06-16) (age 16)) is the Official Mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He is a cheerful and sporty leopard with green hair, presented on 22 September 2008. His name comes from "ZA", the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for South Africa, and "kumi", a word that means ten in several African languages, referencing the year 2010.

Here is the "real" version.

This is him as drawn by (the very talented imo) Andrew.