For a while Eli and I (this is Grace by the way), wanted to sell pancakes to raise money for the Santa Shoebox Project. We started with making a flyer, but the first draft was very confusing. The second draft was better, but still not quite right. By the third draft we had finally got it right. Then we distributed our flyer around our street (in postboxes), to our friends as well as on the street WhatsApp group. By the day of the fundraiser we had to make 102 pancakes!!! It was very fun and we raised R550. We sponsored 2 shoeboxes (one for a 8 year old boy and one for a 2 year old girl).

It was lots of fun, and we really enjoyed it :)!

We’ve been enjoying some family walks in the nature reserve, heading out early(ish) in the morning and starting the day with some fresh air and beautiful surroundings.

Grace has embarked on a bookmark making project. Not sure how many books she wants to read at the same time

It’s Donné versus Bunson in the war of the coriander….who will win?

I made one of my silly jokes, so Grace turns to me and says (with a little gleam in her eye), “Dad, your sense of humour is so bad it is a joke.” Ah, she is getting to witty.

Each day I ask Adam what he wants to do and he chose to work on drawing some patterns today. We did the curly c pattern and after a few attempts he turns to me and says he wants to write a letter. So I demonstrated the cursive a (because they learn cursive first in their Montessori school) and he blew me away

Eli worked so hard on his project all about bees and I must admit they are amazing little insects. I have learnt all about how they make honey, how they are able to fly and a million other little things. I love learning alongside my kids.

Over the weekend I have the playroom / classroom a bit of a reorganise. This space is working so well for all of us. So grateful for it

Grace put together this video on how to make Chagga banana stew as part of a cultural project. Other than some help setting up the tripod she did this entirely on her own.

Today was just a chill day. We went for a walk in the rain during the exercise power hour, drank coffee, ate pancakes, watched a movie, rode around the pool on our bikes and planted some seeds in our newly dug veggie bed.

It is good to just be together. It doesn’t have to be super special or meaningful time – sometimes it is just the time together that matters.

In other news Adam wants his email address to be BFG at sausagetown….I’m not sure that is a good email address for anything on the Internet.

Workers Day…or as we now know it, Slightly More Free than Yesterday Day. We took to the streets with the hordes of people for a bike ride.

It was a stunning morning and the joggers, walkers, cyclists, dog walkers, and skateboarders ruled the road. We literally had to avoid people just to ride down the road.

There was a joyous buzz in the streets as people greeted each other and just enjoyed being out for a bit. I don’t think the irony was lost of anyone.

Eli was inspired by the book they’re reading to start carving. He got out his pocket knife and some of the few blocks of wood we have and began on his mission to make everyone a carved Christmas gift.

This also included a good cleaning of his work bench and a phone call to Gogo to ask her all about the wood carving she used to do

At the end of the day Adam says, sadly, “It was a bad day, Eli didn’t play with me enough today.” So Eli says,”Don’t worry Adam, tomorrow I’ll pay with you whenever you want to.”