Wednesday 30th June 2010

Phillip was chosen to represent his school in Long Jump again this year at the District Sports meet.

A lovely afternoon spent on the large sports field at Megan's school where 8 teams competed for the coverted District Trophy.

Sadly Phil overshot the white board on his first jump which really threw his confidence for the remaining two jumps and he didn't place this year....better luck next time boy!


His school however came 3rd overall and it was so lovely to see the kids all enjoying themselves with some good healthy competition.

Tuesday 29th June 2010

One snip and the baby was gone......after school this afternoon I took Phil down to the barber to have his locks thinned out a bit for this heat and decided that it was TIME....Nick Nick followed his big brother into the chair and those gorgeous (but sadly matted) baby curls where gone in a flash, and with them my baby boy, suddenly the two year old toddler had emerged and we now have a small boy in our house rather than a squidgy baby - man how time flies!

Showing off the do....

And from the back.....

Weekend 26-27th June 2010

Summer showed it's beautiful face in England this past week and temps averaged about 28 degrees all weekend. We started the weekend off with a celebratory dinner for Megs at Pizza hut and then Saturday morning started for me with a lovely 30 minute drive north through the country side to the little village of South Godstone for a photoshoot.

The family where gorgeous, their home stunning and I must say I had a very happy hour photographing them - with my new camera a lot of the pressure of the shoots is off as I now know I can guarantee results and I was able to totally relax and just enjoy myself doing what I love most.


While I worked, Si was at home preparing the family for an outing to the beach and as soon as I arrived home we set off for our 1hr20min drive to West Wittering. It is amazing how no one ever complains about the distance we have to travel to get there, the beach is just so beautiful and we were still down sunning ourselves at 7pm that evening.....an icecream on the way home followed by Macdonalds completed a very relaxed and special family day.

Sunday Phil had a birthday party and then afterwards we spent the afternoon cooling off in the lido at the Triangle in Burgess Hill. Nick Nick is getting used to the idea of swimming and it was very difficult to convince him it was time to go home at 6pm....the sun was still shining brightly and it was hot so telling him it was nearly time for bed met with stony resistance :0)

A very content family settled down to dinner on our terrace before an early night for all. Weekends like this make it all worthwhile!

Friday 25th June 2010

I am just so unbelievably, incredibly and overwhelmingly proud of my daughter! This afternoon we received a letter from the "Young Writer's" guild and this is just a small excerpt of what it said.....

"Recently Megan's school submitted some of their pupil's work for the Young Writers' Past Poet-Future Voices competition. For this exciting competition, children were given the challenge of writing a personal and individual poem, using themes and styles that inspire them.

Past Poets - Future Voices is Young Writers' twenty first annual poetry writing competition and we have received thousands of poems from all over the UK and overseas. Work has been selected for publication based on imagination, perception and expression. Therefore I am delighted to let you know that Megan's poem, Good Friend, has been chosen for publication in Past Poets-Future Voices The Eastern and Southern Counties. A copy of the book will be kept at the British Library and further libraries across the UK and Republic of Ireland, providing a lasting record of your child's achievement."

For obvious reasons we are just so so happy for Megan and as she is such a keen song writer I hope that this gives her the confidence to really go on and pursue her passion.

GOOD FRIEND
A good friend is the best friend
A good friend always thinks you're cool
A good friend is a truthful friend
A good friend always tells you right and wrong
A good friend is an accepting friend
A good friend never thinks you're weird
A good friend is a kind friend
A good friend always cares
A good friend is a funny friend
A good friend always laughs at your jokes
A good friend is a playful friend
A goof friends thinks you are fun
A good friend is a loyal friend
A good friend never leaves your side
A good friend is a happy friend
A good friend never lets you die
A good friend is a trusting friend
A good friend never thinks you lie
A good friend is an amazing friend
And I don't know how I found such a good friend.

Subject to copyright

Wednesday 23rd June 2010

There was much excitement in the house this morning as Phil prepared for Sports day at school. We are lucky in our little area of England, healthy competition is still encouraged between children and the houses compete for points in exactly the same way as they did at HPS....Phil is in Yellow house as he was in South Africa and it is something he takes a great measure of pride in.

Phil and his mate mucking with the team mascot - always up to some kind of mischief :0)

Phil's best friend Kelby cheering his team on - love how involved he is

Phil completed in both the mixed medley relay and Wellie race - not being the strongest runner in the world he tends towards the "fun" races as opposed to the flat races which are run amongst the strong runners at the beginning of the event. He came second in the Wellie race (yay!) and his team was first in the mixed medley relay so as far as he was concerned it was a good day all round.

Although Yellow house won the field events yesterday, Green house won today's track events and as Red house was second on both days they managed to pip both teams to the post as the overall winners - much to Phillip's disgust lol.

I loved the expression on these children's faces as they ran their victory lap

Tuesday 22nd June 2010

Summer was definitely in the air this morning and, as it always does with me, it instantly lifted my spirits and I just knew an outing for Nick and I was in order. Kerry recommended Washbrook Farm to us which is in the village of Hurstpierpoint, approximately 20 mins or so from home and as we had never been there before I was keen to go and explore.

What a lovely lovely morning.....Washbrook farm is home to a large number of farm animals including a big barn housing all the new arrivals - although a bit hesitant at first, Nick soon got into the swing of things and was running around making animal noises and pointing to all his favourites.

He could only just see over the edges on the enclosures

As well as the "farmyard" they also have the most AMAZING playground I have ever seen and we literally spent 2.5 hours playing in the sand, climbing on all the different jungle gyms and enjoying a tractor ride.....one exhausted little boy was finally carried to the car, but we will returning before long I am sure.

What kid wouldn't LOVE a sandpit like this one

Would love to know what he is thinking.....although maybe not, probably evil thoughts about his mother and the damn camera lol

Nick played in this little house for ages, it was up a little hill and he kept running down, collecting sticks and taking them back to stash away....so sweet to watch

Lunch time like a big boy, no more baby cups for me :0)

Sunday 20th June 2010

After a bit of bad news this week (sadly our trip to Spain in August is off due to Visa complications) it was good to spend the day together regrouping and enjoying Father's day.

Unfortunately as the London to Brighton bike race goes almost past our door we were a bit limited as to where we could go so ended up in the park in Lindfield after lunch and the children really got to enjoy time playing with their dad.


Watching Si in the park with his kids today reminded me of what an AWESOME father he is, he is patient, kind, encouraging and most of all his kids are ALWAYS right and I just love love love that about him.


Thanks for being such an AMAZING dad Si....you are most certainly 1 in a million xxx

Saturday 19th June 2010

This year Megs decided that rather than a party she would like to go up to London and see one of the big West End shows with a friend. Thanks to some help from my Dad I was able to oblige her and The Lion King seemed the logical choice.....truly the most magical phenomenal spectacle I have ever seen.

The woman who played Rafiki embodied everything beautiful and colourful about Africa and she had tears rolling down my cheeks literally EVERY time she came out on stage - I have NEVER heard a voice like hers and with its strong South African accent she pulled the part off as if it had been written for her.

The costumes / puppets were out of this world and the lighting was so reminiscent of the African savanna that it took our breath away. Megan sat absolutely still and totally entranced for the entire 2 hours, the fact that we were sharing a huge bag of biltong only adding to the experience

As we sat waiting for the curtain to go up I must confess to feeling slightly surreal, there I was sitting with my daughter and her friend in a my fav city about to watch a show I couldn't afford to take her to in South Africa, let alone with a friend, and now it is our life......such a wonderful experience and a memory we will both treasure.

Thursday 17th June 2010

Today Megan celebrated her 12th birthday......I know it is a cliche' but the years have simply flown and I can't believe, when I look at the beautiful young girl before me, that I only have so very few more years with her in our home before she will really spread her wings and soar out into the world. I convinced Megs and her best friend Lydia to do a photoshoot this afternoon in honour of her birthday and I have decided to give you the "Alphabet of Megan" in celebration of who she is.

Affectionate; Beautiful; Clever

Demonstrative; Emotional

Funny; Gentle; Happy

Incorrigible; Joyful

Kind; Loveable

Musical; Natural; Open

Positive; Quirky

Romantic; Sensitive

Talkative; Understanding

Vivacious

Wise; 'Xcelent

Young at Heart

Zany

What a girl!