Saturday, August 30, 2008

Belated Happy B-Day!!



This week was my baby sister, Sarah-Jane's birthday so I wanted to wish her very happy but belated Birthday wishes!!! Last year we got to celebrate with her in South Africa for her very memorable 21st party at the Hilton in Durbs! Hope you had a great time this year and got to celebrate London style!!!


Ethans first week of Pre-K!

Ethan's first week at South Bosque has been a huge hit! He absolutely loves it and was mad that today was Saturday and there is no school!!!

We were out having dinner last night and of course asked Ethan about his day at school. He gave us the low down on everything he did and also mentioned that they start the day off by saying the pledge of allegiance. I was most intrigued about how much he knew. He mentioned that they did that at his last school. So I asked him how it goes and....Peter and I were blown away that he could recite it word for word from the beginning, right to the end. Lets just say we are very proud parents and I guess I better learn it asap huh!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Pre-K Prep...

It's absolutely amazing to me how quickly time flies by.  Just yesterday we were preparing for the summer, planning fun summer activities like gymnastics and vacations to California to visit and celebrate with family and friends. 


Wtih summer drawing to a close Ethan will be starting Pre-K next week and like many young children(can't say the same for teenagers!!) he is extremely excited.  So excited that I had to come up with a way for him to keep track of how many more days or as he says "sleeps" until school starts on his own. 

So yesterday we got out some poster board and made a pre-k countdown caterpillar.  When I was a kid if there was anything major that I was excited for I would make a caterpillar and attach it to the bed above me so every morning when I woke up, the first thing I would do is take away a segment.

So Ethan and I created his own countdown caterpillar and this morning he was so excited to wake up and colour in another segment.  I was really impressed with a little trick he showed me. I don't know where he learnt it, but to help him stay in the lines he puts his free hand on the line and lets the crayon bump into it.  I was quiet impressed!

Not only does the caterpillar help visually remind him, but he has been able to apply some math skills by counting how many days left and after two more are colored in he will only have three days left.  Something so simple, has proven to be so much fun! 

I would love to have posted a picture, but my camera is broken.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

What a resemblance!

I like many am a Facebooker and a Skype user and love them both as I am able to communicate with my friends and relatives in South Africa, Australia, and all over Europe. Some I haven't seen or spoken to in years, so it has been fantastic catching up.



My aunt who resides down under recently posted some pretty funny pictures from my childhood and there was one of my sister, Sarah-Jane who is 7 years younger than I.



I just can't get over how much my baby girl resembles my baby sister. It's actually just incredible how similar they look. So I thought I would post the picture of my sis, and eventually take a recent picture of Chloe just so to compare. My camera broke, so hopefully this week I will get my hands on a new one and get snapping!

So I finally got round to adding a recent pic of Chloe!

Basketball star!


Ethan has finally reached the age where he can join teams and play different sports with different organizations. So for his first time experience we signed him up with the YMCA for a season of basketball.


He had an absolute blast and it was so neat to see his improvement from week to week. He had pretty much no clue about the game, and well his dribbling and shooting skills were very basic. He ended off the season today and you wouldn't believe it was the same kid. He can now shoot and actually get the ball up and into the hoop and his dribbling has come along way.


He was very proud as he received his medal today and a huge Hi 5 from his coach!


Now we're looking forward to soccer season coming up. I know he's going to love it. If you know anything about Ethan you know that running is his thing!

Saturday, August 2, 2008

African Finance!

'Hey Sipho! I have a cow for you for just R500!''

E yoh, Bongani! I'll take it - you can bring it to me tomorrow!

'The next day:'Sorry Sipho, but the cow died last night.

''Hauw.. So, ok then. Just give me my money back.

''Sorry Sipho, I did already spend that money..

''Eish! So, ok then. Just bring me the dead cow.'

So, Bongani brought the dead cow to Sipho the next morning.

A few weeks later, Bongani bumped into Sipho and asked him what he did with the dead cow:

'You won't believe, Bongani! I made a raffle for the cow, and I sold 251 tickets for R5 each! I made a profit of R850! But, I didn't tell anyone the cow was dead..

''Yoh! And the people didn't complain?

''Eish! Only the guy which won! So, I gave him back his R5 and he was happy!

'Sipho is now Minister of Finance