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).

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.

24 June 2010 - Happy 6th Birthday Andrew

Six years ago today I became a mom (unexpectedly as I was only 33 weeks pregnant) for the first time to the most beautiful boy.  Andrew you are my heart and my soul and your dad and I love you to bits.  Thank you for being such a special child and bringing us so much joy.

Love mom and dad xx

10 June 2010 - Dress-up day

I actually can't believe how far behind I am with my posts.

On 10 June (way back when) the kids had dress-up day at school.  In keeping with the whole soccer theme (sort of) there was a theme of children of the world.  I threw around some ideas with Andrew and Michael but they were not having any of it.  Andrew decided that he wanted to wear his knight costume, so he ended up being an English knight (from England) and Michael insisted (suprise suprise) on his army outfit so he was just back from war :).

Sir Andrew my brave (and very fetching) knight.

Andrew with his friends, H the Mexican, R the cowboy, N as Zorro and Andrew.

Here is Michael with his buddies.  H the Springbok supporter, T and Michael.

Cute pic!

12 June 2010 - Andrew's 6th Birthday Party

My mom and I were chatting last night and saying how happy we are that Andrew did not get chicken pox from Michael and I said that I am excited for the party happening today. I had spent the evening sorting everything out in anticipation of the 20 kids coming to the party and had baked and iced an enormous soccer-field birthday cake for my big boy's big day.

Andrew went to bed at around 8pm and at about 9pm started with a cough. Ed checked on him and told me that he had a fever of 39 degrees - not good news. I gave him some meds for the fever and then went to finish up some stuff. When I got into bed about 30 minutes later something told me to check his back and there it was - a damn spot! I could honestly not believe it! Chicken pox has hit my house again and at the MOST inappropriate time too.

This morning I had to phone 20 mommies (and daddies) and let them know that I have a little contagious boy in the house and that they need to make a decision as to if they still wanted to come to the party. We ended up with 7 kids and my two, so less than half and the biggest cake ever to eat :).

So the party still happened, just on a far smaller scale, and it seems that Andrew had a blast anyway - he did miss his friends though, I think I need to arrange a play-date or two so that he can see them a bit.

My brother, Robert, was also still around (he is visiting for just over a week) and he went full-out with the soccer theme setting up a mini soccer field on my lawn with goals and all. I honestly don't know who had more fun playing soccer, him or the kids! Thanks Robs - that was so lovely of you to do.

Bigger boy Andrew

Here is Andrew's school pic for 2010 - such a serious face he has going there (he probably burst out laughing just after that if I know him). I still can't get over how big he is getting......

The farm 20-22 March 2010

21 March was a public holiday (Human Rights Day) and here in SA if the public holiday falls on a Sunday the Monday is also a public holiday, making it a nice long weekend. We decided to go to the farm for the weekend and yet once again the kids had a ball. Grampy (my FIL) is the hero and he spent a lot of time with the kids playing ball, driving on the quad-bike and of course fishing (for both fish and frogs).