Happy 2010!!!

We would love to wish everyone out there a very Happy New Year!! 2009 was an amazing experience and can't wait to see what 2010 brings!!

Gingerbread Houses

Well this was our attempt at gingerbread houses... With the boys, I wanted to do them the easy way.. you know when we glue graham crackers onto milk cartons and just smear icing on and decorate. Since they don't have graham crackers here I made my own, and now milk cartons so I had to use another box. It was really all about the decorating and the boys had a great time.. I think Evan ate more than he put onto his house. Just another American Christmas tradition we are trying to continue.. maybe one day we will graduate to the Real gingerbread houses! Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season!!



Aiden's Masterpiece


Evan's .. He only got to the roof, I think he was too busy eating.

Update

Well we have been busy... the holiday season is upon us and is coming fast. The boys are out of school tomorrow and Scott will be done with work on Friday. So the last couple of weeks have been filled with holiday parties and "year end" events. The boys have finished up all their sports and classes for the end of the year. They have both graduated to the next class.. Evan will now be a Zebra and Aiden will now be a Lion. They are very excited to move to a new class. I have been busy with lots of things... I hosted a cookie exchange this past weekend and it went very well. Most here had never heard of anything like it so it was fun. The problem is that now we have tons of yummy cookies.. and all I do is eat them! We have decked our halls and are ready for christmas. Scott's parents will be here on Friday and then we are off traveling to show them the sites and be back right before Christmas. So this week will be about the last minute preparations and we are making gingerbread houses this week.. so look for more exciting posts to come. Hope everyone out there has a wonderful holiday season!

Sad Farewell

This post is a little late but...Recently we said a sad good bye to two of the American families that have been here with us. It was a great night of food, drinks and good memories. They are greatly missed and we can't wait to see them again state side. I know they are happy to be back home! Good Luck and Keep in Touch!

Troy & Kimberly Comiskey..


Joel & Candice Wolf....

We are Thankful

We celebrated our feast on Saturday with the two other GM American families and the newest GM family from Mexico celebrated with us for their first Thanksgiving. I had a great time cooking for days and I think everything turned out pretty well and everyone had a good time.
The Feast...

The kids table

Our Thankful Tree... we have so much to be thankful for!

Hope everyone had a great and blessed Thanksgiving. Get ready here come the holidays!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Bafana Bafana

So you are probably wondering what the title means... That is the name of our national soccer team. The played a game here in PE against Japan a couple of weeks ago and we had to go check it out and the new stadium that was built for the 2010 world cup. We got to the game in the traditional taxis (that we wouldn't normally ride in). Our friends Clayton and Paula arranged two taxis for us and it was great door to door service. The boys had a blast. Evan fell asleep during the game, which I can't believe because it is very loud in the stadium with all the horns. Great fun! BAFANA BAFANA!!!



All the boys in the taxi


On our way...


Evan Napping.

Evan & Aiden Kindermusik Concert

The boys take Kindermusik at school once a week. Over the last two weeks they have each had a year end concert. It was great to see them singing, playing the instruments and acting out the motions to songs...well at least it was great to see the other kids.. Evan being his shy self just stood there most of the time. Aiden as always was enjoying himself with his friends.

Evan's Fun.....




Aiden's fun....

Weekend in Kleinmonde

We spent the last weekend with some wonderful friends, the Whitaker Family, at their holiday house in Kleinmonde. It was a great relaxing weekend and the boys had a blast. They live close to the river and the beach. The boys built sandcastles, went fishing, played beach cricket and sand boarded down the dunes.

Sandboarding.....


Out on the boat, on the Kowie River....


More fun in the sun & sand... sandcastles, Evan being buried, Beach Cricket


Fishing

Aiden's Year End Concert

Last week Aiden had his year end concert. The school has a graduation ceremony for the kids going into grade 1 and have a concert with all the kids. It was very cute. The story of Joseph and Mary having baby jesus.. but with some twists and alot of humor. Aiden was Frankincense or a gift. He sang a couple of songs and did a wonderful job!





SOOOOOOO CUTE!!

Happy Halloween!!

It was a busy day! I spent the day scrapbooking, Aiden had a birthday party to go to, then we had a Halloween tea to attend with friends and then a big halloween party in the evening... whewwwww. But it was great! The last party of the evening was hosted by Megan and Kim. They had lots of games set up for the kids to play, lots of yummy food to eat and towards the end of the evening we had them trick or treating around the yard (since most people here don't celebrate Halloween). It was great fun and the kids were worn out!


Aiden was Tony Stewart, Evan was a Cowboy, Scott was Austin Powers, andd I was a gypsy. In the bottom left corner are the hosts.. Megan & Kim. You can see the games.. bobbing for apples, mummy wrap, trying to eat donuts off the string - what fun!! My pumpkin cake was gorgeous.. except I left it sitting too close to the window and the icing melted in the sun. But was yummy anyway. And as you can see in the upper right corner are the casualties of the fun!
 

Halloween part 2...

Well after the fun the kids had playing games and trick or treating... the adults stayed and had a few halloween brews...ok maybe a few too many!

The Drinking...

The Singing....

The Dancing....

Misty Gardens

Evan ended this week with a fun school outing. All of the Junior school... 2-5 yr olds went to a garden place that has a play area, parrot sanctuary and plenty of space to roam and play. The best part (according to the children) was the rid on the bus to the garden. I was one of the moms asked to go along.. I have to say we are blessed with the teachers we have! I know I couldn't do that full time!!! Anyway.. all the kids had a great time playing and just having a fun day. Enjoy the photos....
Evan on the bus

Play area

This is Ethan and Rejoice. Ethan is Evan's best friend and Rejoice is another very good friend.

One of the parrots on the kids shoulders

The smiley girls... Nicole, Rejoice and Aphilla. For some reason they were attached to me that day. They are fun!

Playing under the huge shade tree

Evan pointing to the dragonfly around the pond.

What a great day!

Tiger Jr.

Aiden had his first golf tournament on Saturday. He played with Scott at a local 9 hole golf course. They played 5 holes and alternated shots.. Aiden would tee off and then Scott would shoot, so on.. He had a blast. At the end they gave out some prizes and the certificates for the golfers.


Aiden Teeing off....


Aiden with his medal and certificate. He is doing much better at golf and still loves it!

Last Fundraiser of the Year

We had our last fundraiser of the year for the boys school. It was a game night and dinner. The highlight was the auction for the famed tablecloths. Each year each class paints a tablecloth. Aiden's class did giraffes and birds and Evan's did sunflowers and bees. All of them were so beautiful! So of course, I bid on the boys and won!! I just had to keep reminding Scott that all the money went to support the school!! It was a great night of socializing, eating and fun. Here are the tablecloths...They are gorgeous and look great on my table :)!

Aiden's cloth...


Evan's cloth

Aiden

Since it seems that Evan has dominated the posts lately, I thought I would do one for Aiden. He is a very bright and funny kid. This age is really fun (5 1/2 as he would say)... you never know what he will say next and he really picks things up. He loves music and lately loves the High School Musical movies. I have recorded them on our dvr and he watches them constantly. He can sing some of the songs by heart and has now become a big basketball fan. He is still a huge sports guy and loves to watch and play all sports with Scott. I think he understands Rugby much more than I do. The boys in the older class have taken him in and they play some sport everyday.. soccer, rugby, cricket and sometimes try to play baseball. He is in heaven.

Funny Story -
All the parents out there call their children by the wrong name occasionally.. I guess we do it more than our fair share because the other day Aiden told Scott he was going to start wearing a name tag. Where does he come up with these things???

Next weekend he is playing in his first golf event. It is thru the organization he takes lessons.... they are doing a father - son golf day at a local golf course. He is very excited!!

Evan is a party animal...

Well as if it hasn't been enough... Evan had his birthday party at school on Friday. We took in sugar cookies and treat bags for all the kids in the class. For birthdays they wear a crown that the teacher has made for them and all the kids draw a picture for them and it is put together in a very cute book. They say songs for me and then sang happy birthday and Evan handed out his cookies. There was another little girl who was celebrating a birthday as well. It was great fun.
The adorable book that was put together for Evan.

Evan handing out his cookies.

The Class singing songs...