A new day, a new dog

What a fun day we've had!  First off, we got a call from the doctor and Henry's arm isn't broken after all!  There is not a single radiologist in all of Louis Trichardt (population 270,000) and the one in the nearest city was on vacation and only looked at the x-ray today.  The doctor and the x-ray tech had thought they had seen a fracture but were waiting on the official report before putting on a real cast.  As soon as we took off the temporary cast Henry was swinging from the jungle gym.

We had 6 young men over for bible studies all morning  and James took the opportunity afterward to fire up the braai.  We had a fun afternoon grilling and hanging out.  The guys started singing at some point and it was so nice to hear.

In the afternoon the girls and I went out on a secret mission.  After Butterscotch died we promised the kids we'd get another dog...after we moved.  While searching for a kitten to surprise Charlotte for Christmas I saw this sweet thing:

The girls named her Fern and she is SOOOOO sweet.  Have you ever seen such a cute puppy?!  

The kids gave Fern a stuffed dog to play with and she's been playing with it and sleeping on it all day.  I can't get over how tiny and cute she is!  Cute overload!  The shop said that her mother is a jack russell terrier and her father is unknown.  A pure cuteness dog is what I suspect.   

In the meantime, we're still working on settling in.  I almost have the living room put together how it is going to be for now (all of the factories are closed and so I can't get furniture until mid January...same for a dining room table).  I'm hoping to get our bedroom entirely put away tomorrow (this includes our giant closet that is storage for the whole family, too).  It's fun, but tiring work and I look forward to doing it.

Happy Birthday, Rosie!

Crazy busy.  That's the only way to describe what this last week was like.  Every morning (for me and the children) was filled with travelling to Dzanani for their youth bible lectureship and every afternoon had some weird random "emergency" that wan't too bad but just increased the stress and chaos level.  One day Liam threw a shovel at Rosie and caused a head wound...lots of blood, but not too bad of a cut once we were able to see it properly.  The next day Liam locked one of the bedroom doors...for which we have no key...when all of the windows were closed and no one was in the room.  Adam Kendall-Ball (who is visiting) was able to get it open for us eventually.  Thursday James and the guys ran into a fork lift that was parked on the side of the road with the forks raised and sticking into the road...mixed in trees so it couldn't be seen.  Who parks a forklift like that?!  It opened the Condor like a tin can and smashed the windscreen and front and back passenger windows.  God was really watching out for those guys because no one was hurt- not even the guys right next to the windows.  The day after that one Henry broke his arm while playing on the kids' new swing set.  I still have no idea how that one happened.  He says he was climbing and "then it happened" and he adamantly insists he didn't fall.  

But today was Rosie's 8th birthday and we ended this weird week with some fun.  We had a pool party and braai (cook out) to celebrate.  How strange to have a pool party for a December birthday!  

Playing in their pjs early on Rosie's birthday.  

I found pirate costume making kits on clearance the other day
 so we've had some fierce pirates hanging around.  

Pool party at our house!  The thatched area behind the pool is called a lapa.
You can see James working on the braai (grill).
Rosie requested steak for her birthday dinner.

Poor Henry was so upset about not being able to play in the pool,
but Mama planned ahead and got a little fishing game for
him to play with...in a bucket.  

The pool seen from inside the lapa.  The room behind the glass doors is James' study.
You can see my washer machine in the dark space to the right.  It's outside, but so
far that hasn't been too big of an issue.  It's kind of nice to have a
rainy day as an excuse to not do laundry.

Henry decorating Rosie's cake.
He insisted on the chef hat because he could not find an apron.
 I guess you have to get in character.  

Sampling the wares.  And I thought you'd like to see more of the kitchen.
Yes, Tammy, those are the pots they decorated at Macy's birthday party!  

Birthday girl fresh out of the pool...in December!  

LOVED seeing the look on her face when she saw one of her presents.
It was a book on the flags of the world.  And Henry, photo bombing as usual.  

The container arrives!!!!!

The container has arrived!  The container has arrived! 

Last week we finally found a house to rent and it is more than we ever expected.  It has 4 bedrooms, a giant study, 3 bathrooms, a pool, a lapa, and even a sewing room for me!  We had a bit of fear yesterday when the shipping company told us that a roof had leaked and some of our things had gotten wet, but it turns out it was only 2 or 3 boxes and my glider.  They are going to try to clean/repair the glider and will replace it if they can't.  All of the other things that were wet/mouldy were not important or overly special and will be replaced by the shipping company.  Not a single dish was broken and everything was present and accounted for.  Big sigh of relief!  

The truck arrives!

One of the boxes that got wet was my shopping bags, but after an hour in the sun they were dry and smelled fine.  LOVE the clothes line at the new house! 

Movers unpacking the kitchen.  They unpacked and checked the contents of every single box and hauled the rubbish away.

The kids rediscovering their play kitchen

"New" toys in the driveway.  

The movers unpacked all of the boxes, but there is still much to be done.  They stacked everything on counters and shelves and now we have the task of sorting it all out.  We spent the day going through things and oohing and ahing over everything.  The kids were SO happy to see their things...and so was I!  I'll post pictures of the house once we are more settled in.  :)  

Thanksgiving

It is one of the ironies of life that when life gets interesting enough to blog about you don't have time to blog about it.  Such has been the last two weeks for us.  We had quite a crowd here for Thanksgiving- The Baizes, Maydells, Williams', and Loeto.  But that wasn't the only thing happening...the kids' school year was finishing up and on Thanksgiving morning the boys had their end of year program.  The weather was amazing and *almost* felt like fall...even though it was late spring.  It was rainy and the kids' school was in the clouds.  The boys were SO cute, especially Henry.  He kept dropping his dickie birds during the recitation.  

Grade R kids on the way to the stage in the clouds

Henry dropping his dickie birds...again

Liam and his dickie birds

My boys loving on each other

Then there was cooking, cooking, and more cooking!

Dough for dinner rolls

Basting the bacon-wrapped turkey with the "turkey baster".  

Antics

Then there was food with friends

All gathered

Young men's table

Kids' table

Mkhulu and Auntie Helen break the wishbone

When we weren't cooking and eating we were playing.

Playing the South African edition of Monopoly late into the night

We've all learned to take Rosie seriously at chess.  When you let your guard down and think you are playing a 7 year old she sneaks up on you and...checkmate!  

Wanna run with me?

Lately my favorite running route is Leeu Street (Lion in Afrikaans)...and it is a beast of a run.  It's only 4.5 kilometers but it feels like 10.  We sit at the foot of the Soutpansburg Mountains and sometimes Leeu feels like it goes all of the way up.  Why don't you come with me?  I like to run from the house down to the bottom of Leeu.  That's the easy part, though there is one little hill (that little hill turns into a nice little break on the way back).  At the bottom you turn around and are rewarded with this:

See the top of the hill in the picture?  That's just half way, but I try not to think about that.  In the meantime, there is a slight uphill and we pass Ridgeway College.  This is the high school our children will go to if we still live here.

Just past Ridgeway on our left is a neighborhood and on the right is the velt (the "v" is pronounced "f").  

 And then, out of breath, you reach the top of that first hill and see this.  Do you see that house right in the middle with the orangey-red roof?  That's where we're heading.  

But first, turn around and see how far you've come!

First that little break (remember the uphill on the way down?), then a slow uphill the rest of the way.  This part is mostly in shade and there isn't much of a view because of all of the houses and trees.  And I have to confess that the end of the route is not so triumphant as the beginning.  You stop here at the stop sign.  They're still building in this area so there are workers all around that cheer you on and chat when you stop.  Some mornings that's a lot better than the view.  Remember the orangey-red roof?  There it is behind the half-finished house.  

This was a bright, sunny day, but the best are the ones that are cloudy because the clouds come down on the mountains and you run in a mist.  Feet on the ground, head in the clouds.  

Summer fun

Summer is starting to heat up around here and what better way to enjoy it than with an ice cream cone?  

 

While at the store buying the ice cream cones (well, we went to buy eggs and accidentally came away with ice cream) a woman came by selling these tractors.  The wheels are made of wood and the tires are scraps from real tires.

One of my favorite things here is tea with friends.  I just love the cute tea trays everyone puts together.  

I got these green dishes the other day and the girls and I just had to try them.  Want to come over for tea?  

Moth v. Mantis

A couple of weeks ago the kids found a large moth outside.  A happy hour was spent examining it and picking it up.  They thought it might be dying, but every time they made plans to bury it, it would flutter its wings.  Then we spotted this guy nearby:

And the kids *might* have been encouraged to see what would happen if the moth should meet the preying mantis...and the moth *might* have been put on top of the preying mantis.  We got to see both the moth and the preying mantis fly.  The moth escaped its own funeral and flew up into a palm tree.

In knitting news...there's this:

Ok, ok, it's not an oversized hat.  It's a poof, footstool, large ball to throw at your brother...and perch for Perry the platypus.  I've been seeing stools like this in stores here selling for about $200.  Craziness!  Total cost was about $29, but I think I can do it for less next time.  The stuffing I used was too squishy, but it works for the boys.  I want to try one in red with firmer stuffing.