Really cheap fun!

   Each year about this time I get the uncontrollable urge to purge - to clear out cupboards and, in true "Messie Manual" style, pack away, give away, throw away. While I was sorting through one particularly messy corner cupboard, the little ones were becoming increasingly irritable and bored. I had just put aside two old phone books I was going to put in the trash later, but decided to have a little cheap fun with it first. The children were SHOCKED to see me tear out pages with gay abandon and merrily throw them in the air. But it only took them a second or two to recover, and they jumped right in and joined me!
Belly-giggles and jolly shrieks galore!!

I'm out of here!

A lunchtime to remember...

    On Wednesday last week my mom and I loaded the little ones in the car and drove off into the glorious spring day, winding our way through the Stellenbosch winelands, through strawberry fields and past pastures with grazing cows, to finally end up at Thelema, the wine farm where one of my younger sisters work. I actually had an appointment in a little town on the way, and called my sister earlier that morning to ask if we could pop in during her lunch time to say hi while we were in the area.

    The tasting room and cellar at Thelema is modern and sleek and I will admit that I always feel a little out of place there with my boisterous little ones around my ankles and a nappy bag over my shoulder (which is why we really don't go there very often). When I had visited her there previously, she had been on duty and we just had a quick, quiet visit on the small deck outside the tasting room. This time, however, she had an hour long lunch break during which a colleague would be relieving her of her duties, and she lead us around the imposing farm house and past some outbuildings and workshops to the pond that overlooks the breathtaking Simonsberg. And just like that what was going to be a quick, courteous little visit, turned into a time of refreshment for my soul in the middle of a crazy week!

In the woods beside the pond we found a beautiful peacock, and Sweetpea tiptoed through the woodpile for a closer look...

...and was rewarded with this:

My mom and I were drinking in the beauty and quiet.

ArrowBoy was fascinated by the peacock and I got super excited everytime this exquisite bird bristled its feathers!

He discovered pine cones with Ouma...

...while Aunt A took Sweetpea for a walk...

..and they discovered a little boat...

...in which Sweetpea rowed away.

A rowing lesson on the Sea of Emerald Grass...

...and my daughter deep in thought as she took in the beauty around her.

Another small person in awe of the big, beautiful world...

Still amazed at that peacock over there!!

Love.

Celebrating SPRING DAY Joyful Mama Style!

At around 17h30 yesterday afternoon I was busily preparing a hearty potato soup for supper. We had just returned from our afternoon walk-around-the-block and let me tell you, it was nippy, to say the least! As I was stirring the soup and dreamily thinking how I am looking forward to summer, it hit me that TODAY - Wednesday 1 September - IS SPRING DAY!!

I had listened to the weather forecast earlier and already knew that today was going to be even more miserable than yesterday, but oh, just the thought of Spring Day was so delicious that I knew I just had to do something to celebrate! The last time I had made a really special Celebration Breakfast for my dear ones, was on Resurrection Sunday in April  (you can click here to see how we celebrated that day, Joyful Mama style). That was in autumn, and now that winter is *theoretically if not visibly * on it's way out, it was high time I treated the Joyful Household to a merry little breakfast once again.

The thing was just that it was about an hour before supper, and by the time bathtime and bedtime was over, the shops would be closed. So I very casually asked The Dad if he minded watching the bambinos while I just dash off to the shop quickly. He agreed and I quietly and mysteriously slipped out to see what I could come up with in about 20 minutes!!

To make a long story short, here is what my family woke up to this morning:

Don't you just love love love that tissue paper pom-pom?! I whipped it up in about half an hour, thanks to instructions I found here. Will definitely be making more of these for future celebrations!

I bought the pretty vinyl table cloth from the plastics shop about 5 minutes before closing time!! I got two meters, so it is long enough to use on the picnic bench outside in summer, too!

Breakfast was our usual oats porridge, jazzed up with a kiwi and strawberry flower!

A little feathered friend was perched on the sugar bowl...

...and the children each got a special Spring Day drinking cup for their juice!

It was a hit!

Smiles all around!

"Bless all young mothers..."

This past weekend I hosted a delightfully successful Phonics and Early Maths workshop for 42 mothers and pre-school teachers. We had the joy of listening to two knowledgeable and passionate ladies share some wonderfully creative, practical ideas for playfully teaching our children, and my toes curled with utter delight as I watched the moms in the audience enjoy the whole thing! But I had put in many long hours to make the morning happen, and spent most of last week making up goodie bags, sewing bunting and a banner for my toy display, baking and frosting cupcakes for the ladies to enjoy at teatime, and sending out many, many e-mails in reply to queries about the event. Still, what a joy to see something like this come together and mothers being inspired to go home bubbling over with delicious ideas!

So when my husband suggested a daytrip up the West Coast on Sunday morning, I gratefully accepted! Earlier in the week I saw a quick and easy recipe for kebabs and couscous salsa salad over at Se7en, and I quickly put it all together to serve as a cold lunch later in the day. We packed the picnic basket, the small folding table, some soothing instrumental music, and a bag full of books to keep littlies entertained, and winded our way through glorious fields of spring flowers, and up the coast to a tiny fisherman's villiage called Velddrif. It was the perfect spot for us: a seemingly endless stretch of shelley beach,  little waves just big enough to cause a toddler tremendous excitement without any threat of knocking her over, and only two other people also quietly enjoying the mellow spring afternoon on the beach.

Sweetpea picked the Namaqualand daisies from a little patch of wildflowers next to where we were parked...

Lunch is served!

All I forgot was a cheery table cloth -will do better next time!!

After lunch the Dad dozed in the shade of the car, Arrowboy explored the succulents growing on the road next to the beach, and Sweetpea and I used some of our enamel picnic crockery as vessels for building sandcastles. And all around just the sweet quietness of swishing waves breaking over broken shells and pebbles, and the seagulls overhead...

And off he goes..

The view...

And then, after all that delicious tranquility, we headed back home with two exhausted children who nodded off before we even reached the tar road again... And it would have been the perfect end to the perfect day if only they had remained asleep for the rest of the two hour drive home. But, alas, Sweetpea woke up after just ten minutes, terribly groggy and complaining of an earcahe, until her wailing woke up ArrowBoy and he joined in the cacophony with wails of his own, and all this persisted for the rest of the drive home, and well into evening. I fell into bed bleary-eyed and drained later that eve, only to be woken shortly thereafter by Sweetpea's inconsolable sobs that the only way she could ever go to sleep, is if I let her sleep with us. By four in the morning the Dad and I could not stand the kicking anymore, and I carried her back to her own bed.

Suffice it to say that I don't do well on lack of sleep, and that today was hard, Monday being laundry day and then the oven stopped working and dinner was late and I found out we won't be moving to a house with a beautiful big yard after all...Oh my goodness, it is a sure recipe for horrible, selfish, utterly unattractive SELF-PITY!!!!

 But then..oh then... at the end of it all, I sat down at my computer to tie up some loose ends in the admin department of this household, and inbetween browsed a few blogs...and discovered this poem. And a little wall broke inside and released some weary tears and The Gentle Shepherd softly reminded me again that "He shall gently lead those that are with young." Isaiah 40:11.

" God,

bless all young mothers

at end of day,

kneeling wearily with each

small one

to hear them pray.

Too tired to rise when done...

and yet, they do,

longing simply to sleep

one whole night through.

Too tired to sleep,

too tired to pray...

God,

bless all young mothers

at close of day."

~ Ruth Bell Graham

A lovely little vacation!

To celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary, we took a lovely little vacation to Brenton-on-Sea.

We had five blissful days with nothing more pressing to do than soak up some winter sunshine and be with each other.

Here just a few pictures of our trip.

PS: We came home to some problems with our Internet connection, so I apologise for the long silence! Give me a day or two to sort out the piles of laundry, and then get ready for some exciting new posts!

Mama put a lot of preparation into ensuring that the 6 hour drive would go by smoothly...

At Knysna Elephant Park, where we fed and touched and talked to some gentle giant babies

ArrowBoy along for the ride in the African Baby Carrier - it came in so handy during this trip!

When we ran out of fruit, she offered them grass! I wish you could hear her talking to this little baby elephant, gently cooing and coaxing her to come take the grass...

At the entrance to the Knysna Waterfront. Soccer fever was running high everywhere we went!

Funny Daddy!

Making a new friend on the suspension bridge at Birds of Eden near Plettenberg Bay.

And we were on the beach EVERY DAY!!

One of my favourite things about motherhood is rediscovering the joys of childhood with my children!

He LOVED the sand!!

Bestest of friends...