Look what I found on my desktop!

Just a very quick check in. Mr. Mojo is still MIA, if you happen to find him, PLEEEASE send him home! While I was lying down on Sunday afternoon(at least that what I think happened) my son and granddaughter were playing around with my camera. She loves her uncle and would do anything to please him and he loves my camera and playing around on the computer. When I started my computer on Monday morning, I found this adorable fairy on my desktop.
She looks just like my beautiful little Hannah who is turning six today. Happy birthday angel child.
I am hoping to be back in creative mode soon, but my breathing is playing up again, (I am fine, I am fine, I am fine - power of positive thinking working here!) I am convinced its just the vast amount of pollen in the air and all will be well as soon as it starts raining.
I am off to see a parent now - wish me luck - its never nice to have to tell a parent their child is out of control.
Have a lovely day everybody, be back soon and lets all hope it starts raining soon.

Mini Hanna & the real Hannah - Who's cuter?

I recieved my Pixie Cottage stamps in the mail last week and just had to colour them immediately. They are so cute. She is called Hannah, just like my granddaughter and I think she is almost as cute as my Hannah!
The first card uses cardstock that was left over from the Convention, I think it is by American Crafts. The dp is Melissa Francis. The ribbon, flowers and butterfly are all from my stash. She was coloured with my Copics.
The next card is very unlike my style. Halloween is really not a very big thing in South Africa, but this little Hannah in her witch costume just cried out to be used. The dp is from my scrapbox. The ribbon is velvet with purple bling - really gorgeous IRL, the flowers are Prima and some very dark purple roses I found at the Chinese store. The butterfly is from my stash.

And now for the REAL Hannah! I could not believe it when I realised it was Monday morning. This weekend just went by in a blur. I had my two granddaughters for a sleepover and we had so much fun, I didn't even notice how the weekend flew past. We spent the whole day on Sunday making clothes for the fairies in my garden.
Step 1: You beed to find exactly the right leaf or flower for your creation. This takes a lot of concentration.

Here she is - My Hannah - told you she is cute!

Step 2: You now have to make sure that the flower or leaf that you chose will fit the fairies. This requires very precise cutting.

This is Tertia-Lee, cutting a flower that became a dress for some lucky fairy.

It takes a lot of concentration to cut a single leaf into a fairy coat.

Step 3: When you are done, you have to leave the clothes in the fairy house in ouma's garden. (If you don't believe there are fairies in my garden, ask any one of my four children. There is a magical place where the fairies live - they have all seen them when they were little!)

Have a great week everybody. Hopefully the week will be a little slower than the weekend.

I am drowning!

Remember I thought I had two more weeks to finish everything I wanted to do before school started and then I discovered it was actually ONE WEEK!!! ? Well, I tried, but I don't think everything will be done by Monday.
- Make posters for grade 8 orientation day on Monday - done!
- Help Daniela make all her posters for the first term - done!
- Do all my prep for term 1 - done!
- Finish the 14 birthday cards for the pre-school - NOT EVEN STARTED!!!!
I did manage to fit in some other fun things though. I made this diaper cake for Wilma's baby shower next Sunday. Its the first time I have tried anything like this and I quite like how it turned out.
I have seen them on so many blogs and always wanted to try making one.

DH and his friend is busy building kitchen cabinets for a friend's sister and went to demolish the old cabinets today so that they could fit the new ones. To their horror the found that the whole floor is infested with termites! Poor woman, now she has so much more expenses than she thought. Don't you just hate when that happens?

Had the following conversation with my granddaughter, Hannah(5) this morning.

"Ouma, do you see this book that Tersie has?"

'Yes Hannie, its a lovely book"

'I have this movie at home and do you know what its called?"

No, Hannie, I don't, what is it called my angel?"

Its called: The princess and the paw-paw, Ouma."

It took every ounce of self control I had not to burst out laughing. She has no idea what a pauper is, but a paw-paw, that she knows all about!

When she left the room, we all burst out laughing. Daniela laughed so hard she cried.
Have a lovely weekend, well whats left of it and spare a thought for me and everything I still have to do before school starts.

Christmas cards in full swing!

It seems like it is going to be a very pink Christmas around here! Those horrible pink Copics just keep jumping out at me. You've got to admit that she just would not be as cute as this in any other colour. The image is a free digi stamp. Papers are all Bazzil and some leftovers from my scrapbox. The ribbon is from my stash and the snowflakes were glitterified with some diamond Stickles.

The snowman charm is from my local bead shop. Sorry about the bad photo, but we have had rain for the last few days, so no nice sunlight to take it. Here's a close up so you can see just how cute she is and see the shine on the snowflakes.

The next one is another one of Dustin Pike's freebies. The patterned paper is Bo Bunny (I think!)

Another one of Dustin's images. I think I may be addicted to them, but they print so well and they are so much fun to colour! Papers are Bazzil and Bo Bunny

This is an image that I coloured last year (come on, don't pretend you don't have any coloured images that have been lying around for ages and haven't been used!! You do, don't you???) The paper is Basic grey and Bazzil.

And finally, another one of Dustin's little fellows. The wreath was done with Flowersoft and Stickles. All papers are Bazzil and Bo Bunny. Ribbon from my stash.

I am really enjoying making Christmas cards and they are flying out the door, so people must like them.

I am actually supposed to start setting exam papers, but my SIL is coming over tonight with a friend so that I can help the friend make wedding invitations for her daughter. Sounds like more fun than exams, so what can I do?

Hannah has Chicken Pox, poor thing. She is covered in spots. She had her birthday party yesterday and mom was worried about the spots. She took her to the Quick care at the hospital and the dr. there told her that the spots on her head and shoulders were just an allergic reaction and nothing to worry about! This morning it looked like mosquito bites, so off we went to school. Mom was phoned at about 9h30 and told that a girl in Hannah's class had Chicken Pox, so they think that was what was on her little body. Mom took her back to the dr. and it was confirmed. Hope all the children at the party is OK.

Family weddings are so much fun!

My niece got married on Saturday. What a fantastic day it was. It was a real 'boeretroue' (I don't know how to translate that. Literally it would be a farmers wedding, but that is not what it is at all - maybe old school? Somebody help, please!) The reception was in the church hall and all the food, flowers, cake, decorations were made by the bride's family. Her uncle baked the cake. Mom's sister did the flowers and her mom and stepdad made all the food. I think this photo says exactly what kind of day it was. A day filled with joy about two young people who still believe in marriage. So often today people are so busy trying to find the best venue, the best photographer, the best caterer that they forget what it is all about.
This is the bride and her father, my brother in law.

This was Hannah's first experience of a wedding. She has only been to a couple of funerals when close family members passed away. She did not know what to expect at all and when we got to the church, she asked her mom, in a very loud voice: "Mommy, do we HAVE to cry?" Needless to say, there were lots of smiles all round.
When she saw the bride, she was completely bowled over. She came to me at the reception and asked if people were allowed to speak to the lady. When I said yes, she wanted to know if it was allowed to touch her at all. I took her to Wilma and said that Hannah just wanted to say hallo. Bless her heart, Wilma bent down and gave her a big hug. That sealed it, Wilma had a shadow for the rest of the night.
When we said grace I happened to peek at Hannah to see what she was doing and could not help myself. I had to quickly snap this photo. I am sure God will forgive me for this one.

The next photo is of my two youngest with their cousin. Wilma is exactly a year younger than Ankie and her brothers are the same age as Juan and one between them, which meant that they were very close growing up. It is such a gift to have cousins.The last photo is just here because I am very proud of myself for managing to take it. I saw the snail in the church garden and just snapped it.

I finally finished a page!

I have been working on this page for a while. First it was floating around in my head and then it took about two weeks to get it done. Why? I don't know. I think mr. Mojo was on strike or visiting somewhere.
This photo of Hannah was one of those rare 'perfect shots'. The lighting was perfect and she was completely unaware of me and my camera. She had been following Juan's veggie garden with great interest and when he decided to pick the first pumpkin and cut and peel it for supper, she was absolutely riveted!
I am the world's luckiest grandma. I get to see my little angel every day of my life, because she attends the same school I teach at. Logic dictates that I take her to school and drop her off in the afternoon. It is during these journeys that I get to hear amazing things. I just had to scrap them, before I forget.
Papers are all Bazzil and an offcut from my waste paper basket, EK I think. Flowers, ribbon and charm are all from my stash.
Journaling reads:
i) Coming home from school one day, you wanted to know whether God made people. When I said yes, you double checked and asked if He made everybody. When I said yes again, you thought for a while and then asked: "What do the doctors do then? Do they just stir us?"
ii) You adore all the members of your family and love to give hugs and kisses.
iii) You have an imaginary friend - Katie. Katie lives with you and has a brother that you don't like.
iv) Your best friend at school is Shana and you look after her.
v) You prefer sweets and chocolate to food any day!
vi) Your favourite snack is a chocolate muffin.
vii) You love all animals and get really upset when you can't watch Animal Planet in TV. The big cats are your favourite.
viii)You are getting so big that you don't want to sit on oupa's lap all the time anymore. The other day when he asked you to come and sit on his lap for a while, you answered that you had 'no more sits left for the day'!
ix) 6 more random facts:
- You would like to have even more animals apart from the three dogs and four cats you already have.
- You are going to be a great mommy, because your friends and dolls are cared for so well. No child of yours will ever be cold or hungry.
- You love school. Your teacher is mrs. Krige and you adore her.
- You can't wait to go to Physio every Tuesday. You have to go for very low muscle tone and you have made great progress.
-You LOVE tea and will drink tea whenever you can.
-You eat Coco Pops for breakfast, but calll it Popo Cocs.

Lessons learned from and random conversations with a 4 year old

This is my other grand daughter, Hannah. I am the luckiest granny alive, because Hannah and I go to the same school, which means that I get to see her every day. I fetch her every morning before school and drop her off at home every afternoon. The times we spend together in the car are some of my most precious memories. This is where we have long conversations about the most random topics.
One Monday morning as we got school and we were walking to her classroom, she was holding my hand and skipping away. I was a little bit irritated (It was Monday after all, and we had a whole week of school ahead of us!) and asked her why she was skipping around so much that morning. Her answer stopped me dead in my tracks: "Ag ouma, my feet are just so happy to go to school!" A valuable lesson taught by a 4 year old - it doesn't help to drag youself to school, why not have 'happy feet' instead? I have tried really hard since that day to change the way I feel about getting up and going to work and you know what? Work suddenly became a lot more pleasant.

On another occasion as we were driving home from school, the following question came from the back seat: "Ouma, does God make people?' Then followed the most amazing conversation.
"Yes Hannah", a bit of silence, she was obviously thinking about that.
"Does He make everybody ouma?"
"Yes Hannah, God makes every single person"
"Oh" Alonger silence and then this gem.
"Ouma. What do the doctors do then, do they just stir us?"
Logical question don't you think?

A few weeks later, after she had time to digest all of that, came the following:
"Mommy, where does He start?"
"What are you talking about Hannah?"
"I want to know where He starts."
Mommy doesn't know what she is on about and takes the safe route. "I don't know Hannah. Where do you think He starts?"
"I think He starts with the toes first, then your legs and then your body."
By now I knew exactly what she was talking about and chipped in. "Hannah, I think He actually starts with your heart."
"No ouma, He can't do that, because then your body will be broken!" He first has to make the body BEFORE he puts the heart in!"
Who can argue with that much logic?
I hope that in the years to come we will have many more comversations like this and that she never stops wondering and thinking about such amazing things!