Becoming pink – I know I shared these on twitter as they happened but thought to put them here too

Roots growing out – time for a top up

bleach on

2-tone

Dye on, time for coffee and to read my book for an hour

All done

Yesterday the kids were getting a bit of cabin fever so I took them down to a lake and park nearby, they had a really good time

Before we left Pta I found these name boards for the kids to make along with the stuff I was packing, I thought that the letters had more of a chance not getting lost if they were actually attached to the boards so we painted and had fun.

- The obvious one is the jacarandas, there is nothing like the visual overture of purple blossoms that announce that spring is here. I have lived in the Europe and the UK where cherry blossoms signal spring with their tiny pink flowers but there is something about that familiar purple that I miss when I am not at home.

- The familiar: I have lived in Pretoria for so long that I know where everything is, I know the back roads I know which shop sells what and exactly where to go for everything. If you know me you know how easily get lost, so just the thought of venturing out when i do not know an area can make me feel quite anxious. I know that over time I will learn, but i am going to miss just knowing where stuff is. Thanks for Cat for the jacaranda picture. ( a quick aside, as i was googling for jacaranda pics i found this one on Cat’s blog and it was so weird as we both lived in Pta we comment on each others blogs but we have never actually met, then I saw another picture on a blog that turned out to be someone I grew up with who now lives in America and I did not even know she blogged – Gypsy Mom (Lisa-Jo)

- My family: without my parents there is just no way that I would have survived this last year, their unwavering support and help got me through some very dark days. They opened their home to being invaded by sticky hands and plenty of toys at a time when they were used to tidy and quiet. They helped me with the kids and went above and beyond to care for us, look after us financially and lavish us with love at a time hen we were all feeling very fragile and a bit emotionally battered. They provided a safe place for the kids to recover from their parents separating. We will miss them so much, but as my mom works in CT often i hope e will still see them a lot and perhaps us being here will be the pull they need to return to the Cape to retire in a few years as they have talked about for a few years. I know they do not fully understand my decision to move down to CT now, they know I have been talking about it since I got back to SA but this happened rather fast, yet they have offered their support both emotional and practical and been nothing but amazing at a time that i know their hearts are sore having lost having the kids around all the time.

My friend Sharon took these pics of the kids and their grandparents on your last weekend there and it was enough to bring tears to my eyes when I saw them. Thank you Sharon. the kids were being difficult and were tired so Sharon is a amazing to have gotten these two that really pull on my heart strings.

- My little house, the kids and I stayed next to my parents in a little ( well not really so little) house on the same property. I miss my house, I really loved it, especially the balcony. I even blogged about my balcony here and here and while i never did get to fix it up. Yme and i do have this little braai area in our new house which is becoming like my balcony to me. We spend time in the morning and evening there, our time to connect as the day starts and as it ends again. My wonderful friend Barbara, (who deserves a whole post all of her own and one is in the pipelines) got her husband to make me wood cut outs of those angels I mentioned in the balcony blog so maybe it is time to finish them and put them up in our new space. Most of all about my house i miss the cupboard space. We have so much stuff. I don’t think Yme believes that i threw more than half away. Time to thin out more I think.

- my friends, Sharon, Laura, Heather and Esther I miss you guys, please come visit.

- Tuks FM the only good radio station in South Africa in my humble opinion, I can listen to it all day and most of the time like all the music which is really not the case with most of the other stations. I am a rock chick at heart and while i know I can stream it at home, what am i supposed to listen to in the car???

- There is just something about Pta that you would not understand unless you have lived there. It is not a tourist attraction and I supposes not terribly pretty expect when the jacarandas bloom, but it is calmer than Jhb and has an appeal for those of us who have called it home.

I am sure there are things that I have forgotten and will add with time, but as much as I miss it, I am very ready for this new adventure in my life. I am ready to share it with someone who understands me, challenges me, loves me and wants to be part of my and the kids little family.

- My mom took him to the toilet and he said to her : “This penis is not working, I need to jiggle it”

- I often ask Rachel if she will do me a favour and help me get stuff or do something for me, Caleb now asks just about everyone ‘Mommy/Granny/Bumpa/Christina/Rachel/Marc ( insert required name) can you do me a favour?’ and then he says nothing after that.

- me: Caleb what are you doing Caleb: singing to my penis

- “Rachel is annoying me”

- if you close your eyes and pretend to sleep he says cock-a-doodle-do until you wake up, he also pretends to snore

- ‘MOM can I zerbit your tummy?’ he loves to stroke and make big noisy zerbits on my tummy, then he kills himself laughing.

- he says B for V so movies = mobies, TV = TB DVD = DBD heavy = heaby etc it is cute

- He can count to 12, green is his favourite colour and he loves to eat olibes (olives)

- If anything breaks he tells you he will get his screwdriber (driver) and fix it

- but he also tells me I am beautiful and he hugs me and says ” Mommy I luff you” and I melt

I had a wonderful time away, I am so very grateful to my parents who looked after the kids for a week. Seems like they all had a good time. Think my parents might have forgotten how full-on kids can be. But they are always calm and focused, and they lavish a lot of time and attention on the kids which I know they really liked. It was so lovely to see their little faces again, they just lit up when they saw me and came running full tilt. I loved being told of all the things they had been doing. The majority of Caleb’s sentences stared with ‘give me your hand Mommy’ and then he would lead me around showing me things and telling me what he had been doing. I had to watch him jump on the trampoline, which he really loves and in the pool. They each wanted to show me the new things they have been doing and learning.

And then of course 6am wake up calls resumed again when exuberant kids come running in asking if it is time to wake up yet. They jump on you, pile the bed full of toys, crawl under the blankets and put cold feet on you – and you know what? I would not change one moment of it, for anything in the world!

And then I get a love letter like this and my heart melts.

It is a tradition that I now do with my kids, first Rachel and now this year Caleb is old enough to have his own advent calender which I made for him yesterday all ready for 1 December. I had fun shopping for the tiny gifts that will fill each tiny sock as we count down to Christmas together. This has been a big year of change for the 3 of us and while being a single mom is not easy and I know there are things they need in the future I might not be able to provide, for now we have survived and we are stronger and we are happy.

The calendars on my bed with example’s of the stuff that will go into them

On the cupboard with today’s gift – they woke at 5am to get it!!

Then we put up the Christmas Tree

My mom got the kids each one of these from Canada, they are now no more they kids took them off the tree when playing tody and they got smashed

view from the house

the house

Meelah and Caleb playing cars

rope swing

river fun

Mama Love

around the house

Caleb in the bath with 3 girls – could you get a naughtier face?

So I have decided that my lovely balcony needs a bit of a face lift to make it a bit more aesthetically on par with the emotional awesomeness it already has.

This is my balcony from the street, and the fat dog Stanley and my car newly named Fred by Rachel ( Freddy actually and she like this because she has a friend Freddy in England who she misses a lot)

There are a few little things on it like this wire sun which needs some candels

these little dragonflies which Rachel likes

but for the rest it is pretty bare

This pot could do with a proper non-weed variety plant

My sister made these angels for my mom, they are not very big as you can see by the size comparison to my hand, but I love the idea and think I will cut bigger ones and mosaic them for the walls.

So my shopping list for my balcony is:
candels
plant
wooden wind chimes
wood for angels
mosaic tiles and grout
chair and small table

These are just some random pics I took of me and the kids while we were out on the balcony

Only got one of Caleb as he was running away most of the time, I have quite a few of the back of his head

Rachel

Our family – momma love

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This afternoon Rachel asked if we could play with some of her plasticine modeling clay. It was actually quite fun. And I was totally amazed at what she made. There was a picture on the paper of a very boring butterfly, I think Rachel’s own creation was a million times better.

The Alien I made for Caleb

Rachel’s butterfly

Rachel making a snake for Caleb

Caleb

And then I did the pink in my hair again yesterday for my TV appearance on Tuesday, excuse the no make and no mascara, hate having such light eyelashes you can hardly see them, oh well you are supposed to be looking at my hair! But seriously not the best pics of me ever, hard to take a decent pic of yourself.