FIVETRIBE

A bit of news from the last few days: We have welcomed Sweety to our home. Lulu has waited many years to become a hamster owner again. Sweety is even more special because it turns out she has no back right foot. That is weird. And it kinda shook the home for a while - there were tears and all kinds of drama. I think Lulu felt she may have damaged Sweety. Turns out that Sweety survived the night so we have decided she was born less-abled and therefore is somewhat of an anomaly. She is our 'No Limits' hamster and has been renamed Super Sweety. Honey went on SOS Camp out in Villiersdorp. She had an absolutely incredible time and has come home exhausted and filthy. :-) She conquered the 6m climbing wall, did night hikes, built fires and cooked her own food. Hooli is loving the sport part of his life. He simply wishes there was more of it. Cricket on Monday and Wednesday and athletics on Tuesday is just not enough. For him. He is now considering squash....which starts ...

I took this telltale snap as the two of them walked off to athletics together. I can scarcely believe that my baby boy (ssshhhh, dont let him hear me say that!) is catching up to his  big sister! They wear the same size shoe and I am guessing he may well be taller than her with the next couple of years! I am loving their new bond. When Honey is not around they have a very special love/hate relationship. :-)  I have even spotted them high-fiving each other during athletics - very very cool to witness moments like that. Sent from my HTC

Happy Valentines 2012! Valentines Day came and went without too much pomp and ceremony. I made little lollipop gifts to tuck into the kids lunchboxes and sent The Man off with sliced biltong and a note. :-) I came downstairs first thing in the morning to find a lovely note tacked onto the fridge door. This kind of works for me - I am not a Valentines Day kind of girl. Sure, we will give it a passing nod but its not a calendar date for us. Later in the day I decided to do something special as I saw the kids were keen to celebrate ... my kids are all about 'pomp and ceremony and celebrations'!  We decided to eat 'al fresco' - sushi for the adults and pizza for the kids. They decorated the table and each of them had to write  note to each other about why they love them.  Hooli had to draw a picture of each of us. All in all it turned into a pretty special evening without feeling contrived.  A beautiful evening to celebrate outside Pizza for the s...

"Sometimes I wish I was invisible. Even at school. And sometimes at home, I just feel different Mom, like I dont fit anywhere." *omiword, take a deep breath Mel, this is a doozy* This confession came on the heels of my middlest's hasty exit upstairs to my bedroom. I had been watching her at home for the last few minutes and I could tell she was stuggling. I could tell the tears were just *there* but I had no idea what the problem was. Overtired? Moody? Who knows with girls eh? I gave her a few moments and then quietly exited the family shenanigans and went into my bedroom and shut the door. There sat my fiery fairy girl who has morphed into this angelic softhearted guileless little person. I sat next to her on the bed and she told me about a song that had come to her while she had been sitting on our garden wall outside. It was so poignant -SO POIGNANT - I could scarcely stop the tears from welling up in my eyes. But I did. This is the song - she ...

(from time to time The Man will post directly to this blog from his cellphone....very nifty. this is one of those posts...and I added the 'background') So cool to have Hooli chilling with me (posted from my iPhone) It has long been a tradition that the girls each get turns to go to work with The Man in the school holidays. They take books, drawing stuff, dvds and all sorts of bit to keep themselves busy. Generally little *homes* are made under the desk where many hours are spent while Dad works. Today Hooli got his turn. The Man had to go into the office, just for a couple of hours, so it made sense for Hooli's office debut to happen! Special times!

On Thursay afternoon Hooli asked to be baptised. He has been asking lots of interesting questions lately so I wasnt completely thrown by the request. He has always loved the JESUS movie, used to watch it over and over as a toddler so we eventually put it away as I felt the crucifixion scene was a bit gory for a lightie. Fast forward 2.5yrs and he is watching it again. He has been asking many questions around the story of Christ. Some have been tough - it is not easy to explain the mysteries of our journey. He asked me to explain what baptism meant and so I told him. I then asked The Man to explain it to him aswell. He was so beautifully receptive and insisted that he was ready to take the 'plunge' . The timing could not have been more perfect. The girls were at my sister. The Man was working from home so therefore available to do the dip. It was a casual yet utterly remarkable moment in our lives. I know some would probably frown upon the baptism of a youngster - I ch...

I grew up in a cricket-loving family. It did nothing for me. I had cricket-captain boyfriends. Not even they could persuade me to show up to a game. I have always HATED AND LOATHED it with a passion. Enter Hooli. That my boy in the white cap, loving his 'houding'! My son played his first match today. After 1 practise. I have been so fortunate in that the local mini cricket for the Gr 1 to Gr 3's has said that he can join their squad. This is soooo cool for him - I am really impressed that he has the courage to join in despite the fact that he is so much younger and obviously less experienced. He handles 'comments of (ahem) encouragement' from the older boys with grace and tries his best. Today he faced a spin bowler of note. At least 3yrs older than himself. He didnt get near the ball. Not once out of the 6 balls he faced. And yet - HE GLOWED. He truly loved being out there - he was nervous, mildly anxious but abundantly excited to be part of the action....

Lulu's Grade 2 class have been reading an amazing book . They have been actively working through the principles in this book and recently they presented the concept/analogy to the school during assembly. "The concept of bucket filling is an effective metaphor for encouraging kind and considerate behavior and for teaching the benefits of psoitive relationships.  Words hurt. That's the simple truth. And bullies abound no matter what the age. If we can teach young children the power of words and teach them to use those words carefully, we can stop bullying in its tracks." The kids in Grade 2 each have buckets on their desks. They are taught why we should fill each others buckets, why some kids are bucket 'dippers' ie bullies. How can they effectively deal with bucket dippers? ....and how to 'put a lid on your bucket' so that you do not allow others to dip! (very important!) The dynamic in the class has changed 180 degrees. Last year there was so ...

Hi guys, Family consensus is that I blog again ... the idea was that this would become a family blog but it appears I am the only one who *really* wants to contribute at the moment! The blog is getting behind, stuff is happening in our lives that I want captured so I have decided to write again. Please dont talk about the blog on facebook as I am selecting very few readers to continue the journey with us. I have chatted to the girls particularly and they are comfortable with me inviting some of my closer friends to read about their highs/lows/inbetweens! :-) Gotta dash, good to have you all back.