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Hubby went off to the rugby tonight, a much-needed and well deserved night out for him. As most of you know, I cannot pick up kids for the next few weeks due to undergoing pesky hernia surgery recently.

So, my Mom came over to help during supper and bath-time. Supper went well, Daniel ate like a dream and I managed to smile away all the unsolicited (and well meant) parental advice.

Then it was bath time. First we couldn’t get Daniel in the bath. Then we couldn’t get him out. Or dress him. Or put cream on him. Or get him to choose something to watch.

I finally managed to herd the girls into the bathroom and Granny undressed them and put them in the bath. We hadn’t even washed them when Isabel fell and bumped her head really hard. (and I’m talking one of those bumps where the blue mark and egg pop out within seconds). As we were dealing with this Mignon decided to make a big fat poo in the bath. I managed to scoop out the first bits, but it just kept on coming.

It was like I was having an outer-body experience. My first instinct was to remove them from the bath, which, of course, I couldn’t. Then we had to figure out how to get them out of the bath and into the bedroom when only one of us can carry. We were literally hopping around whilst trying to figure it out!

My Mom also doesn’t do nappies, so I had to deal with Daniel suddenly being on the verge of dehydration and in desperate need of juice whilst trying to dress Isabel with her crying her little heart out and then dashing to put Mignon’s nappy on and finish dressing her.

Then, of course, the girls didn’t want to sleep and I could hear my Mom trying to quiet them whilst reading Snow White and the 7 dwarfs (after an extended debate about what to read). This whilst the cat was throwing himself against a bedroom door and the dog was moaning to come in from the cold.  I was just praying that one of them doesn’t vomit, which, thank goodness, they didn’t. Bless them. And Daniel fell asleep in my arms. Sweet little man.

 

I love Grey’s Anatomy, it is by far my favourite TV show.  It is my Monday night off-load and I mostly manage to shed a tear or two.  I have however unfortunately missed most of the current series due to getting 3 kids to bed at night, so have only been able to watch the odd last 30 minutes or so.

Imagine my horror tonight when I was watching a scene where George and Dr Torres and the red haired guy were discussing amputating a patient’s (healthy) leg.  Halfway through the scene I was looking at George and thought huh, his hair is a really fake colour.  Really don’t like that colour.  Fast forward to scene where George and Dr Torres was at some counter and said patient came out on crutches and he was saying blah blah blah and all I could think was Oh. My.  Goodness.  How trite.  What a load of bollocks.  What bad acting.  And I was horrified.  Grey’s is ruined.  Forever.

I did however manage to get a little misty eyed at the end of the episode when Issy was kissing Alex after a long monologue about not being on a ventilator and how much she loved him and wanted to come back to him after the very risky brain surgery to remove a terrible tumour and how she wanted to live.  Ok.  I’m going to stop now, think you get the message…

We had such a wonderful weekend with the children, I was looking at them yesterday afternoon and I thought to myself that I love them so much it actually hurts!

On Saturday morning we had a meeting at Daniel’s school and they are in deep dwang financially and have asked to up the school fees.  They made such a compelling emotional appeal that I was ready to give them my last R50 and coins in my purse, but hubby wasn’t too impressed.

On Saturday afternoon we had friends over for the rugby and decided to go for a walk to the park afterwards just to get the kids out of the house (they also have a 3 year old).  I took some really nice pictures, will try to post tonight!

We then had both sets of Grandparents (and my crazy sister) over for lunch yesterday, which was chaos as usual, but actually not too bad.  My Mom then took Daniel for the afternoon, which was bliss, as we ended up having a really nice nap and some quiet time.  Hubby got a pair of sheepskin slippers for Father’s Day and the Granddads got the lunch and some choccies for Father’s Day

What did you buy your Dads??
 

As we were walking down the passage I smelt this wonderful smell and asked what it was.

Apparently every One and Only has its own signature fragrance…

We had a breakfast at the One and Only on the Waterfront this morning.

Oh.  My.  God.  I am lucky enough to know some of the folk that work there, so also got shown some of the rooms.

What a fabulous venue!  If you ever have a spare hour or so, do yourself the favour and take yourself for a cup of tea or a drink. It’s worth it! 

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone…
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.  Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words. In five years, will this matter?
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

I finally sat down and did the actual price comparison (on an Excel spreadsheet nogal) between Daniel’s current school and another school close to us, both Montessori, both lovely, the one is just on a farm and the other not.

For full day, for the 3 children, for a year, Daniel’s current school would be R75 000 and the other school R55 000.  Actually a no-brainer.

So, sorry kids, we can visit plenty of farms, but Mommy and Daddy need to keep food on the table.

Below more attempts at getting them all in one place, looking at the camera. Mmmm

Looking at TV.

Only Daniel looking at camera

I’ll just keep trying..

At the table tonight when his sisters were playing and giggling at the couch:

“Oh my word” 

He ate some meat tonight, thank goodness.  We gave him his reward though.

On a totally different note, I had such a childhood flashback recently.  I was at my Mom’s house and she had pomegranates on the counter.  I remember, as a child, my grandparents used to farm in the Northern Cape (a little town called Campbell) and their farm was called Voelfontein.  My Granddad used to always pick the pomegranates and break them open for us and they were so juicy and red.  Those visits were always very special.

Daniel has decided to go on a hunger strike.

Generally we don’t freak out if he misses the odd meal, but over the last 4 days it has been really bad.

Once again he didn’t eat supper tonight, even though we knew he had to be starving, so we reminded him that there is no TV and no cookies (rice cakes) after dinner.  Normally this threat works, but not tonight (or last night for that matter).

We then went off to bath the girls and were discussing how quiet things were in the kitchen, but weren’t worried as Daniel generally drags chairs around to get to the cupboards.  We forgot that he is now able to open the fridge.

Imagine my horror when I ventured into the kitchen, slipped on some paw-paw pips and juice and found Mister standing there with the block of cheese in his hand.  We then went through to the lounge and found a very sharp knife, the rest of the paw-paw on and in the rug (uurgghh) as well as a pear stalk.

Ykes.

Fellow sprogbloggers, how to deal with this??