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.

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!

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

FINALLY...Some pics from CA!

We visited the Tidal pools early in the morning trying to get a peek at some creatures! it was freezing cold!
Tryin to snap a picture of Chloe was nearly impossible! She was always on the go!!

One of the awesome things about Oma and Opa's home is all the yummy fruit trees! Ethan learned how to pick lemons that were ready to be made into lemonade!
Oma teaching Ethan how to much lemonade!
Chillin with Opa.
Still in him jammies at the beach. We drove down very early that morning!
Aunt Mo and Carson enjoying a quick lunch break while Ethan and Daddy checked out the really cool steam engine. It was really really loud, which Ethan wasn't too sure about, but he was just so excited to see a real steam Engine!

I'm cool!!
Beautiful Redwoods!
Anything climbable is fair game!!

My New Hair cut!!

I decided it was time to lose my mane for the summer time and try out a short style. I was also told that I could never have short hair, because it was too thick and curly so I was a little weary.

My awesome stylist Paula assured me my hair was a perfect candidate for the haircut that I wanted so I went ahead and did it and guess what, I love it!!! It is so easy to maintain. If I don't feel like styling it, I just scrunch it and when I feel like being a little GLAMOROUS.... I style it!

One week already come and gone!!

Well we've been in Silicon Valley now for almost a full week and are having a complete blast. We've visited Fulton where they have an awesome steam train, the tidal pools in Half Moon Bay, and of course the beach! We went to some friends of ours sons Baseball game and shovelled down some yummy pizza! Peter and Ethan went to the A's vs. the Yankees last night with Mike, Maleki and Sienna Bergh after spending the day in Monterrey at the aquarium! So not much rest going on, just fun, fun, fun!! Peter's siblings are all finally here and so with 14 children running around things are getting pretty crazy!!! But it has been so wonderful to see everyone, and see how much everyone has grown! My oldest nephew, Andrew is already taller than me and Dylan isn't far behind.

Tyler and Jayden Michelles two oldest daughters have bloomed in to just the loveliest pre-teens and are a lifesaver to have around with all the young children! I finally got to meet little Cade, Shannon and Marks newest addition, he's 3 months younger than Chloe and he is just the cutest little boy! I promise to post pictures asap, but now that the kids are all older there is stiff competition for the three computers available at a time, so I shall sign off!

Have a great weekend and for those of you in Texas, hope you aren't melting!!