Adam got to enjoy some time on the merry go round with his siblings – his first real time on it on his own….and he did enjoy it.

Just look at his happy face

Family tree climbing

After what has been a crazy year, it’s time for some JBay down time, so we packed our trunk and said goodbye to the circus.

Adam was a champ on the trip. No crying, no accidents, and generally just chill.

The other two settle down to watch some movies on the tablets while we drive, so they switch off for most of the trip.

Which gave Donné and I some much needed quiet time to just be together and chat, and connected again after a long period of being ships in the night passing by each other.

And when we get to the Jbay wind turbines, we know out journey is coming to an end. It was a safe and peaceful trip, and we’re all looking forward to some downtime.

Grace decided on a sleep over party this year, and what do parties mean? Cake, friends and dancing….

After starting with pizza the cake requests were coming in thick and fast, so soon it was time to sing and eat cake.

We have made you little cakes! Or made you into little cakes…..so that you can eat yourself

Adam is saying, “Hot, hot.”

After cake it was time to make some rice stuffed socks which can be warmed up in the microwave and used like a hot water bottle. Glow in the dark fabric paint makes an exciting decorating option.

Mix glow in the dark sticks, glow in the dark socks, music and a night time party and you get a Glow in the Dance party

After dancing, sweets, water, more dancing and more sweets it was time for musical nail polish

Only Anna and Nyasha slept over with most of them heading off home at about 21h00. Being the bookworms that they are, nearly everything was being read before bed time.

The three of them (and the rest of us) were sleeping by about 22h30, with no disruptions until 06h00 – so a surprisingly good night’s rest for everyone. In the morning we had the Monametsi’s, van der Zee’s and Fredricks over for a breakfast, brunch, lunch and overall lovely time.

On Thursday we woke up to an eight year old…a very excited eight year old. One who now had a ballet barre installed in the playroom. 

This is the first time Grace has had her birthday on a school day, so she got to enjoy the first part of it with her classmates, and then we collected her and went to Vergelegen for some time at her favourite place. After that it was home for her favourite meal. She seemed to have a very happy and peaceful day. 

Practicing at her new ballet barre. We made a ballet barre in the playroom for Grace which she was super excited about – I’m sure it will get some good use over the years. 

Enjoying a slice of milk tart and a milkshake at Vergelegen. She was very chuffed when the milk tart came with “Happy birthday” written on the plate with chocolate sauce. 

My sushi loving girls – it’s always a big spoil, but is definitely Grace’s favourite meal. 

Grace had her birthday circle on Thursday – their special celebration in the class where they get to show photos of themselves from each year of their life, tell a story and choose some other children to say something about them. And there is some food…

They have all the birthday’s for the month on the same day, so Grace and Devon had theirs together.

Lighting the birthday candle

Handing out the snacks

Adam spent some time exploring the bead frame (and Andrea somehow managed to get him to do it calmly)

They also get to choose a song – Grace chose a meteorite song.