Friday, 22 October 2010
Veggies
Our home-grown vegetables have definitely reached their end. They were by no means a total success but it was an educational and fun experience for the kids and me. The snails ate the basil and the carrots came up but didn't really grow. The beans stalks, which grew ferociously, eventually yielded some tasty beans. Just when we were about to give up on the tomatoes they started appearing but it was already quite cold by then. Nicholas happily chomped the few that turned red right off the vines. Last week we decided to pick the green ones and made some delicious fried green tomatoes. Oh and I almost forgot about the lettuce that we enjoyed for about a month in the summer. The courgettes were the biggest success - we got a total of 13 in the end - big healthy delicious monsters. We'll definitely do it again next year!
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Emma Grace Mullin
The latest addition to Mullin Family has arrived!
(and then suddenly there were SEVEN grandchildren)
Welcome to the World
EMMA GRACE MULLIN
(and then suddenly there were SEVEN grandchildren)
Welcome to the World
EMMA GRACE MULLIN
Born on the 11th of October at 9.30am
In Bloemfontein, South Africa
Weight: 2.91kg
Height: 48.5cm
Weight: 2.91kg
Height: 48.5cm
Friday, 15 October 2010
Activities
I love the fact that I am a full time mom. One of the reasons is that it gives me the opportunity to take my kids to different activities. There is so much on offer it's hard not to get carried away and do too much. I've tried to pick a variety of activities not only that I think are worthwhile but also that the boys enjoy. At the end of last term all the activities had some sort of show session and presented the kids with medals, badges and/or certificates. It created a lot of excitement indeed!
Swimming is a must in our family. Nicholas does his lessons at Putney Leisure Centre and Daniel goes to Water Babies. Nicholas is a real swimming super star. The swimming teacher called him fish one day and he proudly told her that he is actually a shark. He is not the best in his class but he is by far the youngest (the others are at least 1 if not 2 years older than him). To me it's amazing to see him do 'real' swimming especially when he succeeds to do 10m unassisted. Daniel loves the water as much as Nicholas does. He is totally fearless and very happy to fling himself off the side and go under water. I'm so happy I have two little sharks!
The Little Gym is absolutely awesome. It ticks all the boxes when it comes to physical development and it is so good for their social skills too. It's amazing how Nicholas' confidence and skills have developed over the last year and a half. Daniel recently started just after his first birthday and already enthusiastically tries everything on offer. Both boys really benefit, in many ways, from The Little Gym!
Playball is also fantastic. It covers the basics of all ball sports and teaches things like balance, focus, perseverance, team work etc. Nicholas has improved so much since he started and he got a glowing report not to mention the floating trophy a few times. Unfortunately Danny has to wait until he is 2 years old before he can start but for now he is happy playing around on the sideline. Being South African this kind of exposure to sport is very important to us!
Last term we did football. It was a bit of a mixed bag. Some days Nicholas loved it and some days he hated it. It might have something to do with the fact that most of the boys were bigger, better and rougher than him but I'm not exactly sure what the problem was. We've decided to try Rugby Tots this term instead. Maybe since dad likes to watch it on tv so much he'll be more enthusiastic about it. It's only been a few weeks and so far so good. As usual Daniel is happy playing around on the sideline but I find that even that is good for him. This is something special for Dad to do with the boys!
Rhyme Time is my favourite choice for music. It is a cheerful and relaxed class where the kids get to learn rhymes and songs, play with instruments and even do some dancing. It's great because I can take both boys at the same time. Nicholas is starting to get a bit old for it now though so we did a few trials of other music classes and in the end Nicholas said he liked Rhyme Time best of all. Danny is at the perfect age and gets a lot out of the classes so it is definitely the best option for him. Music makes us smile!
I composed this post in August so most of the photos are from 2 or 3 months ago. It's not always easy and often not allowed to take photos in the actual activities. I stumbled across this cute video clip that I sneaked of Nicholas at Rhyme Time singing one of his all time favourite songs (taken in December 2009).
Swimming is a must in our family. Nicholas does his lessons at Putney Leisure Centre and Daniel goes to Water Babies. Nicholas is a real swimming super star. The swimming teacher called him fish one day and he proudly told her that he is actually a shark. He is not the best in his class but he is by far the youngest (the others are at least 1 if not 2 years older than him). To me it's amazing to see him do 'real' swimming especially when he succeeds to do 10m unassisted. Daniel loves the water as much as Nicholas does. He is totally fearless and very happy to fling himself off the side and go under water. I'm so happy I have two little sharks!
The Little Gym is absolutely awesome. It ticks all the boxes when it comes to physical development and it is so good for their social skills too. It's amazing how Nicholas' confidence and skills have developed over the last year and a half. Daniel recently started just after his first birthday and already enthusiastically tries everything on offer. Both boys really benefit, in many ways, from The Little Gym!
Playball is also fantastic. It covers the basics of all ball sports and teaches things like balance, focus, perseverance, team work etc. Nicholas has improved so much since he started and he got a glowing report not to mention the floating trophy a few times. Unfortunately Danny has to wait until he is 2 years old before he can start but for now he is happy playing around on the sideline. Being South African this kind of exposure to sport is very important to us!
Last term we did football. It was a bit of a mixed bag. Some days Nicholas loved it and some days he hated it. It might have something to do with the fact that most of the boys were bigger, better and rougher than him but I'm not exactly sure what the problem was. We've decided to try Rugby Tots this term instead. Maybe since dad likes to watch it on tv so much he'll be more enthusiastic about it. It's only been a few weeks and so far so good. As usual Daniel is happy playing around on the sideline but I find that even that is good for him. This is something special for Dad to do with the boys!
Rhyme Time is my favourite choice for music. It is a cheerful and relaxed class where the kids get to learn rhymes and songs, play with instruments and even do some dancing. It's great because I can take both boys at the same time. Nicholas is starting to get a bit old for it now though so we did a few trials of other music classes and in the end Nicholas said he liked Rhyme Time best of all. Danny is at the perfect age and gets a lot out of the classes so it is definitely the best option for him. Music makes us smile!
I composed this post in August so most of the photos are from 2 or 3 months ago. It's not always easy and often not allowed to take photos in the actual activities. I stumbled across this cute video clip that I sneaked of Nicholas at Rhyme Time singing one of his all time favourite songs (taken in December 2009).Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Autumn
There is definitely more than one sign that autumn has arrived: the colourful leaves, puddles, shorter days and of course a chill in the air. Nicholas is very interested and aware of the seasons at the moment and both boys are enjoying all the things that come along with autumn. One of the things that I like about living in the northern hemisphere is the difference between the different seasons. In South Africa it is not half as dramatic. I do, however, prefer the length of summer there vs the length of winter here. We can't have it all now can we!
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
House
I've been working on this post for a while now. These are some photos of us doing things in and around our new house to give you an idea of what it's like. We're still surrounded by boxes and don't have much furniture or even curtains but we're comfortable and happy. It's great to finally have a place that we can call our own. The other day Nicholas asked me where we will go to when this house is old - interesting question when that will be - either when we can afford to buy a bigger house or when we move back to SA I guess. But for now this is home-sweet-home.
Front: Our house is located on a little green and it's a semi detached house. You can see it in the far back corner behind the boys on the right. We are lucky to have off street parking but as a result our front garden is not very pretty. I have some plans though.
Back: Our back garden is a bit uncared for at the moment but it has a lot of potential. We're waiting for Gogo to come and work her magic on it. There's a nice sized lawn sandwiched between a wooden deck and a paved area with a little shed. The boys love their new 'weather house', as they have named it, and spend ages playing up there.
Lounge: The lounge is long and consists of two sections. We use the one side as the tv room and the other end is a playroom and study. At the tv room end there's a big sliding door that can open up completely onto the deck and at the other end there's a bay window so it is nice and airy. We had some some built in bookshelves put it and I must say I think they look great.
Kitchen: The kitchen also kind of consists of two sections, the kitchen part and the dining part, there's a central island that divides it up. The kitchen part has a window looking out towards the front of the house and the dining part has a window looking into the back garden and a sliding door opening up onto the deck. It's also got alot of potential but needs a lot of work.
Upstairs and downstairs. The added bonus is a downstairs guest toilet and window halfway up the stairs that lets in extra light. We could do with some extra space for storage, coats and shoes though.
Main Bedroom: It's a nice size and we have super new built in cupboards and an alcove bookshelf. We still only have a mattress on the floor though so hopefully we'll make up our mind about a bed soon. The view out of the window across the green, towards the east, is great. At the moment the sun rises at just the right time for us to enjoy it.
Nicholas' Bedroom: It's a good size and has a lovely view over our garden towards the west. Like sunrise, sunset is just at the right time for us to enjoy it at bedtime, but not for long unfortunately. We've gone with a dinosaur theme which we will alternate with the old aeroplane theme. It'll get more character as we settle in and decorate it to Nicholas' taste.
Daniel's Bedroom: It's small but perfect for the little guy. He is very happy to have his own proper cot for the first time (first he had a crib then he had a camp cot in SA and believe it or not a camp cot at our old house too). He has a similar view to us across the little green to the east.
Bathroom: It is not really to my taste and it's small but it serves its purpose. The boys have an absolute ball at bath time. It's a lovely way to end to our day as we prepare for bedtime. It doesn't always feel like winding down the way these two carry on.
Now if only we could convert the loft
so that we can have a spare bedroom!
But don't worry if you visit we'll make a plan!
Front: Our house is located on a little green and it's a semi detached house. You can see it in the far back corner behind the boys on the right. We are lucky to have off street parking but as a result our front garden is not very pretty. I have some plans though.
Back: Our back garden is a bit uncared for at the moment but it has a lot of potential. We're waiting for Gogo to come and work her magic on it. There's a nice sized lawn sandwiched between a wooden deck and a paved area with a little shed. The boys love their new 'weather house', as they have named it, and spend ages playing up there.
Lounge: The lounge is long and consists of two sections. We use the one side as the tv room and the other end is a playroom and study. At the tv room end there's a big sliding door that can open up completely onto the deck and at the other end there's a bay window so it is nice and airy. We had some some built in bookshelves put it and I must say I think they look great.
Kitchen: The kitchen also kind of consists of two sections, the kitchen part and the dining part, there's a central island that divides it up. The kitchen part has a window looking out towards the front of the house and the dining part has a window looking into the back garden and a sliding door opening up onto the deck. It's also got alot of potential but needs a lot of work.
Upstairs and downstairs. The added bonus is a downstairs guest toilet and window halfway up the stairs that lets in extra light. We could do with some extra space for storage, coats and shoes though.
Main Bedroom: It's a nice size and we have super new built in cupboards and an alcove bookshelf. We still only have a mattress on the floor though so hopefully we'll make up our mind about a bed soon. The view out of the window across the green, towards the east, is great. At the moment the sun rises at just the right time for us to enjoy it.
Nicholas' Bedroom: It's a good size and has a lovely view over our garden towards the west. Like sunrise, sunset is just at the right time for us to enjoy it at bedtime, but not for long unfortunately. We've gone with a dinosaur theme which we will alternate with the old aeroplane theme. It'll get more character as we settle in and decorate it to Nicholas' taste.
Daniel's Bedroom: It's small but perfect for the little guy. He is very happy to have his own proper cot for the first time (first he had a crib then he had a camp cot in SA and believe it or not a camp cot at our old house too). He has a similar view to us across the little green to the east.
Bathroom: It is not really to my taste and it's small but it serves its purpose. The boys have an absolute ball at bath time. It's a lovely way to end to our day as we prepare for bedtime. It doesn't always feel like winding down the way these two carry on.
Now if only we could convert the loftso that we can have a spare bedroom!
But don't worry if you visit we'll make a plan!
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