It is a strange week, the week between Christmas and New Year… A kind of “must get my house in order” and my name on the “author page” of my new moleskin diary… And also a time to recover from a crazy, busy Christmastime… only ours wasn’t crazy or busy – peaceful and fun. Somehow we managed to avoid all that was crazy.
I do still have a couple of tasks to do before I am ready to face 2013 most of them are things like getting to the beach at low tide and try and make a fine chocolate crunch with the kids…
Otherwise we have had day after day of perfect weather… And perfect evening after perfect evening…
And we have been really busy keeping cool…
More than one of us can not get enough of the beach…
And eating watermelon… as one does in the summertime!!!
Oh and berries…
We have been feasting…
We have been eating out… outdoors…
And vaguely thinking about next year…
We had a wild week of science… with inventions…
And smoking concoctions…
You would not believe it but a trip to the Readers Warehouse and our kids met The Real Where’s Wally…
And the Gruffalo…
There is no going back… book characters have just become real characters and there is no such thing as pretend anymore!!!
Otherwise the hoods have become masters of marble running!!!
And they have two things that they really want to do at Christmas time… traditions that leap out and say Christmas… Christmas cookies and the gathering of a tree…
We managed the Christmas Cookies…
And finding a tree… well lets just say we left the whole tree thing just a little late – you cannot find a tree in Cape Town on the 24. Needless to say, Granny arrived for her Christmas Eve dinner and there was no tree… horrors!!! By the time she sat down at the table the kids had made a plan!!! It isn’t green and it doesn’t smell of pine – severe fail – but it is dripping with decorations… and slightly satisfied the need for a tree!!!
The artwork of the week has to be this gals gifting project…
The Book of the Week: It occurred to me that my younger children have missed out on this story because they were too small when I read it to the older kids… so we are visiting Narnia again and of course every one is loving it!!!
And this is what the hoods have been up to:
Hood #1: Has been doing bed repairs… don’t even ask how an entire bed can collapse and stay like that for about the longest time!!!
Hood #2: Discovered the whole Harry Potter Series in the library last time we were there… and grabbed them all and has read and reread them for the ten millionth time… he was horrified to discover that I have never read them and has challenged me to get reading… I keep putting it off… the first step is always the hardest. I know I should have read these by now… but until now I have always escaped them!!!
Hood #3: Has been dress designing and the sewing machine is out on the kitchen table…
Hood #4: Racing and recovering!!!
Hood #5: Conquering Harry and the blueberry pancakes…
Hood #6: Beaching…
Hood #7: Discovered egg-mayo sandwiches!!! And power-tools!!!
Hood #8: Has a love of all things “cake…” and discovered while we were munching on carrot cake for breakfast… that this cake has carrots in them… Shock, horror!!! And then even he had to laugh and continued with his munching!!!
And that’s us… loving the summertime… and hoping you have all had a wonderful holiday time…
So, I’m dying to know what the yellow berries are; and more about the “windmill?” contraption!
Hay Christine… How are you doing!!! Yellow berries are gooseberries and used to grow in the garden but kids ate the berries and the bush one year!!! And the windmill is just that – if you blow it head on then the crane turns and lifts the load – in this case the button, but it could grind your flour or turn your water wheel… it could, with a blustery day to help!!! I found half a bag of “snow” from you the other day and may well surprise my kids one of these days – half a bag all at once could be quite substantial!!! Hope you have had a break over the holidays!!! Lots of love…
LOL…I had my comment prepared and then I got down to the comments and Christine had the same questions I had…what are those yellow berries? I don’t think we have them here in the states since I don’t think I have ever seen them before. And the inventions…was that from a book or did he come up with that himself? Tell us more! 🙂 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hay Phyllis… So good to hear from you… Okay… here’s a link to gooseberries!!! and I am planning to have monthly themes next year – so happens in January I am blogging all about school and I will be posting our science week details… who doesn’t like a fine invention!!! check out my reply to her – to see how it works!!! Lots of love and hope you have a had a fabulous holiday season with your family!!!
I wanted to know about the yellow berries too. They don’t look like the gooseberries I know (which are slightly hairy, and normally green or sometimes reddish) – but they look great!
Hi Zoe, Because folk were asking, I had to do a little research: Our gooseberries are Cape Gooseberries… they grow inside a little leafy skin, like an little sack… when they ripen that skin pops open to reveal a shiny golden berry… They pop in your mouth like blueberries but their taste has a bt of a “bite” to it… and they make a fabulous tasting jam!!! Thanks for stopping by and lots of love from a hot, hot Cape Town!!!