FIVETRIBE

(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!

It would seem we have reached yet another milestone in our family.   All our children can now ride bicycles.   Albeit with varying degrees of skill. Practice, I believe, will bring more enthusiasm and alacrity. Today we surprised them all with their new bikes. (well, 1 was new, 2 were pre-owned). Honey chose her bike and chipped in ALL her birthday money (R600)  to get it! I was very surprised as she hasnt always been the most enthusiastic rider. I figured if she was that committed to it she deserves a chance to prove her enthusiasm. (besides, its black, so eventually Hooli will get it and he really couldnt be any MORE enthusiastic!) Honey asked me why they are getting bikes now. They have had their birthdays already and it is too soon to be Christmas presents. I told her the bikes are Lets Get Active presents. She had a good chuckle at that but seriously? I think every kid should ride a bike for as long as possible and it just panned out that *now* is the right...

I have come to a somewhat blinding realisation. My kids are growing up and doing less *insane and mind-numbingly annoying* things for me to blog about....ho hum. I have been reading through my original blog from 2007 and have been blown away by the fodder with which I was provided by my then 1,3 and 6 year old. Gosh, my days were like a reality show - full of amusing chaos, carnage and craziness. Nowadays it is not uncommon for me to have my charming lad set the table for dinner.... and find these two playing for hours together with all kinds of new games being created daily. Now let me hasten to add that I am not angling for any chaos, carnage or craziness. I will settle quite happily for Walton-style normality. Friday night we took them sprogs off to see HOP, they thoroughly enjoyed it and I enjoyed the soundtrack. I dont really *do* kids movies (was scarred for life recently by Rango and before that by The Bee Movie) but this one was doable. Discovery offers free movies for kids be...

Weekend sped by as usual. Didnt quite make the departure time for the school hike so we went and did our own thing. The hike turned out to be a good 2hrs and unfortunately the riverbed that we hiked to was dry....but it all turned out okay in the end. The kids had such a blast - we had to drag the girls back but Hooli (aka Dash) RAN almost all the way back - I honestly cannot believe his stamina sometimes. The girls were gobsmacked that their 4yr old little boet put them to shame! these two are getting along so well lately I think what will always remain with me about this hike is the conversation between the kids whilst walking. They each were posed the question (by Honey) as to whether they would like another sibling. They then, in turn, chatted through the pros and cons and unanimously decided that they thought we were good and done and complete. Later, as it got hotter, Hooli commented that he was getting sweaty and Honey chirps: "Thats good Hooli, it will show off your manly ...