It's Today!

Finally, the day has arrived - the last day of school as we know it!

From here forward I will be officially homeschooling my two daughters. What an exciting privillege. We are all looking forward to this adventure before us. The road will be long, at times will seem tiring but all good things are worth it in the end.

We have done the end of year concerts and the school Christmas Parties (the last was this morning for Jaina). Caitlyn, has been off school for 2 days due to sun stroke and a bad case of sunburn - due to the survival day they had on Wednesday. She just went in this morning to say goodbye to friends - one is moving back to Sudan - then came home with a big smile and Christmas presents under her arm from them.

Next on the list is getting out the Christmas music and decorating the tree. What fun!!

It's Concert Time

Hooray, we had counted down all the sleepies and finally it was here.

Jaina's end of year concert went off very well! The theme was "We are the World" and the girls of Jaina's class represented the country of France. Yes, they did the Can Can.

We also had a good chuckle at boys doing USA, throwing their arms up in the air, one boy hit another in the face, who turned around with a punch on the offending boy's shoulder - it turned into a full on war! All this during "Wish they all could be Californian Girls".

They finished off the concert with a class doing South Africa and got the whole crowd going with "Hier kom die Bokke" and "Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika". They all then sang "Don't Kill the World". Needless to say, there was not a dry eye in the house.

When we went to fetch her from the waiting room, Jaina announced to her father that a group of boys in another class had told her that she was the most beautiful in her class. WELL, I must say, my husband kept his composure very well because this is his little girl that we are talking about!

Finally, here we are - 2 exams to go for Caitlyn and 5 days left of school!

YIPPEE!!

Silly Sunday Afternoon

What a silly afternoon we have had!

Jaina started telling us a story about Goldilocks and the three bears. After Goldilocks had gone through the whole porridge (she called it pudding), chair and bed routine - the three bears morphed into the three little pigs that ran wee, wee, wee all the way home to check on their cooled down pudding. Only to find to their suprise, Goldilocks sleeping in the little pigs bed - they started to sing to her - PEPPER PIG, PEPPER PIG (a story she has been watching on TV lately). Well, by this stage we are all in stiches, but true to form she had to finish off the story with the seven dorfs coming over for supper with all of them!

The Kids club went off well on Friday. The kids watched the new Tinkerbell movie and made fairy wings with glitter, feathers and stickers. They had great fun.

I mixed up a batch of Flapjack batter and Caitlyn is busy flipping them downstairs. What a wonderful daughter I have. So it's Flapjacks for supper tonight, all that needs to be added is a delicious cup of tea!

One Week Down

... and one and a half still to go!

Exams are half way through and the weekend is finally here. So far so good, Caitlyn has said she has coped with everything asked in the papers she has written this week. The proof will be in the much waited for report, lets keep our fingers crossed.

Next week we have Arts and Culture, History, Geography, Bible Education and Technology. Let's not be hasty and wish life away, but it would be nice to breathe easy knowing that the exams are over.

Today I have given her a break from learning as this afternoon they have Kids Club at Clearwater Mall and the theme is Tinkerbell - sounds like it should be fun.

As I am typing, the smell of scrambled eggs is wafting up to me, Caitlyn is making lunch for her sister and herself. She has become independant so quickly, learning how to cook e.t.c. She even wanted to iron her own shirt the other day for school and was so proud to wear it.

Well, here is to the weekend, may we have a bit of sunshine.

SO Stupid, SO embarrassed!

This morning, was one of THOSE mornings!

It started off well, leaving for school on time, getting to school on time, despite the traffic as a result of the rain.

After taking my girls to their classrooms, I went back to my car. Now, let me just set the scene - I am parked outside the windows of the main hall, outside which there are huge signs saying, "SILENCE!" because the matric students are writing their final exams.

I start the car, wave to one of the dad's we know and let out the clutch ... the car was not in reverse ... it launches forward, I slam the brake and my elbow hit the hooter ... PAAAAARP!!! Well, needless to say, the dad looked somewhat embarrassed and quickly got into his car and drove away!

My only hope was, as I hit myself repeatedly on the head with my fist, is that the rain covered windscreen was hiding my red, shiny face as I drove away with windows quickly misting up!

Those darn Hornets!!

I don't know if it is all the rain that is making them crazy, but we have just discovered another nest of hornets in our garden! I found one last year in our mulberry tree when one stung me on the neck while picking leaves for our silk worms.

Jaina was playing with the baby guinea pigs the other day. I was inside folding washing when I heard a very painful scream coming from her. The whole family rushed outside to discover her lying on the ground holding her leg tight. Within seconds a huge welt appeared with a dark red circle in the middle. I gave her antihistamine syrup and covered it with Anthisan cream. She lay on the couch for a long time with the family checking on her every few minutes, bringing blankets and warm cups of sweet tea. Her leg is much better now but the bite mark has left a small hole in her skin, very strange.

Now I was tying up a tree branch in the morning after the rain had stopped for a brief time, only to feel that terribly painful pinch on my fore arm. Arrgh, out with the antihistamine and Anthisan! Instantly, I got goosebumps down my arm to my fingers, it really is painful and with shaky hands consoled myself with a cup of warm tea.

Warm tea, my friend, what would I do without you!

Zoo Snooze

This morning at 08h45 I was standing with anticipation in front of the entrance gates at the Johannesburg Zoo, just waiting to get a glimpse of Caitlyn.

I had already got many anxious calls last night from her, so all I wanted was to see that my little girl was really ok. She had many exciting stories about the animals (including one about how the polar bear bit someones finger off, that's why they had a yellow line there that you had to stand behind), but they had walked round the entire zoo in the rain. She had got back to the education centre exhausted and wet, changed her clothes and had to get ready for the evening tour of the nocturnal animals, some of which she said didn't know they were nocturnal because they were sleeping when they got to them (ha ha, so cute). They got back at about 10h00 and were supposed to go to the bonfire. Caitlyn was too tired, so she brushed her teeth, got into her sleeping bag and phoned me to say goodnight. How strange it was for me not to be able to kiss the sleep into her eyes.

Well, all in all, she seemed to have a good time with her friends but it was into bed early tonight as tommorow she has to study science for her first exam on Tuesday.

It is so good to have my little girl home again and to be able to hold her in my arms and kiss the sleep into her eyes again before she went to sleep!

GRADUATION!!

CONGRATULATIONS JAINA!!

I can't believe that time has gone by so quickly, my baby has graduated from Grade 0 to Grade 1. Where has the time gone?

My oldest daughter Caitlyn starts writing exams on Tuesday and has been studying very hard. The teachers did a mock test last week and she got 10/12, the last 2 questions being trick questions. Tonight she is having her first sleep over with a school group - they are sleeping at the Johannesburg zoo - so exciting!!! She put up notes all over her room last night to remind herself first thing this morning when she opened her eyes that tonight is the night for the Zoo Snooze. I hope the rain calms just a little so that the night tour goes well. I can't wait to see her in the morning to hear all the wonderful stories.

Well, got to get downstairs as hubby is asking (I think 5 times now) when supper will be finished - until next time...