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!