The last two weeks

I've been bad about blogging the happenings in our family... sorry.  It gets busy, I take tooooooooooooo many pictures and then just can't face editing them for putting up on the blog....not that it takes long when I do do it, it's just a mental thing!  Soooooooooooo today I've bitten the bullet, edited the pics and now will show you what we've been doing.

On the 27th of November, Aaron and I went through to Boksburg to go to my folks' church's "Follow the Star" festival.

The start of the festival showed the journey that Joseph and Mary took to Bethlehem, plus the shepherds and wise men pointing to the star that showed the way.  Before you could go too far you had to register in the census manned by the "Roman" ... fortunately we didn't need our ID book and no sms's or e-filing were allowed either!

Once past all that, we entered the main hall and where shown over 60 different nativities... from those made by nursery schools, to fancy shop-bought ones.

These are some of the ones my mom made

Here are some of the others that I took photos of.

After all this, we then followed the stars through to the craft hall where there were some goodies for sale and the children could make Christmas decorations.... Aaron made three which I've misplaced at home but one I do will photograph and show you.

Then it was on to the tea garden and low and behold even Santa made an appearance.  Aaron got to write a letter and post it (okay he actually did about THREE!!!)

The whole afternoon was lots of fun and just an enjoyable way to welcome in the Christmas season.

On Sunday the 29th Aaron had his Sunday School concert.  It was a story from the angel's perspective of what happened and how they stage managed everything.  Aaron was Joseph and also provided a few sound effects (hic! and moo!)

The first week of December was:
a. the last week of school... Aaron past Grade 2 and we said a sad goodbye to his teacher who was leaving the school too... retiring.  This year disappeared soooooooo fast!
b. I had my last bookclub for the year... we went out to supper (in the pouring rain!).. no photos though.
c. Keith and I also went to my work's end of year dinner at Moyo at Zoo Lake.

I'm sorry to say but my experience of this restaurant was not the greatest!  I will not rush back there in a hurry.  We had a buffet for supper... firstly the queue was horrid, none of the food was labelled so you weren't sure what you were eating, and the choice of dishes wasn't very nice either.  The main course meat was over done and tough.  Oh and the cherry on the top for me was.... okay it's a LACK of cherry!!!... by the time we went for dessert, there wasn't any!  It had all gotten eaten and not replaced.  There managed to find a plate of brownies and eventually about 7 creme brulees (which are not my favourite!).... so that was pudding... not nice!  This was all I saw of the pud.... before dinner!

One of the things Aaron was asking for for his birthday was a remote control car.  Well he actually received one two years ago but at that stage he was a bit young for it so I had put it away.  On the 3rd of December I got it out and he has spent hours ever since playing happily driving the car around the house.

On Saturday the 5th of December we had our piano concert.  I must admit I was pretty nervous and yes I did make a few mistakes but no-one really noticed.  It all went off without a hitch.

Aaron played his solo

Then he, Angie (our teacher) and I played "The Donkey" as a round

I played my solo

Angie and I played a duet of "When the Saints go rocking in"

I also baked this cake for afterwards... it was very well received and gobbled up!

And since all of this has happened, Aaron has been at my parent so I'm having "mommy-holiday".  I have though not been home at all!!  I've spent most afternoon in the shops getting my Christmas shopping down... just one more thing to buy and one to sew and I'm done!!!

In the last week...

it's been sooooooooooooo hectic that I have (truthfully!) been avoiding my blog.  I've got soooooooooooo much to post about but couldn't really face posting... okay couldn't really face editing photos to post.  Oh and it's not only my blog that I've had to update but Aaron's school blog too.... now that most of that one is done I thought I'd tackle this one with a quick update.  So here is some of what we did over the past week....

Last Friday was my birthday... sorry no photos to show!  The whole family was sick last week and with the constant rain we all felt yuck!  Hubby had a work lunch at Monte Casino so after I helped to set up for our Ladies Tea during the afternoon Aaron & I went there to fetch Keith and stay for supper... ended up with just me eating as Aaron was really under the weather with an awful temperature.  Aaron had mentioned though to our waiter that it was my birthday so I ended up getting a free icecream with sparkler and all the singing that went with it... the only words I made out were "someone's mommy is getting older"!!! hehehe.

Saturday was our Ladies Tea at church... what a great morning.  Our speaker was Agnes who is the principal of Barnato High School in Hillbrow... they do the most amazing work with kids who otherwise wouldn't have a safe place to stay, education and for some even a meal.  Four of the boys came and played for us... a marimba band... wow!

After the week of soaking rain I did lots of praying for good weather and on Sunday morning we woke to the most glorious sunny day... perfect for a pirate birthday party.

Aaron and six friends all had fun... made hats, telescopes, parrots, swords and did a treasure hunt, played musical islands and pass the booty... lots and lots of laughs.  Then just before they were all scheduled to go home they walked the plank (down the slip 'n slide).

On Monday, Aaron's actual 8th birthday he got his presents from Mommy & Daddy... some paints, lego and a new bike.

We all went to KFC for birthday supper...mmmm finger licking good!

Tuesday Aaron tried out his bike...

Thursday was Aaron's school's prizegiving.  Each learner gets to go up on stage, shake the principal's hand and get a certificate.  Aaron's one was for excellence in literacy and musical ability (ie he reads lots and plays the piano!)... well done my boy, you make me very proud.

Phew... I'm exhausted just typing all this.  Now we still have more busyness ahead of us.... This weekend Keith is in Cape Town visiting his sister, so it's just Mommy & Son together.

I'm taking Aaron to Boksburg this afternoon to go to Papa & Granny's church to see their "Follow the Star" nativity display... if you're in the area, please visit them.... Boksburg Methodist Church... from 3 to 8pm today and tomorrow.

Saturday Aaron has rehearsal and then on Sunday it is his Sunday School concert... he is playing Joseph.  We are both very excited for this.

Oh and in between everything we are both still practising for our piano concert next Saturday... I think I need a holiday now!

Piano Concert

A prodcutive weekend

I love weekends when I have LOTS to show for it.... and this weekend was one of those.... okay so maybe I can't show you everything just yet... but here is most of it...

On Thursday, our brand new (okay new to us!) piano was delivered while we were at Ally's funeral.... so at least it put a smile on our face after all the sadness.... and within 5 minutes of walking in the door, Aaron was tinkling....

On Friday, Aaron had civvies day at school because he got 40 merits.... well done! He had decided a week ago already what he was going to wear... cool dude!

And then I spent most of the weekend doing what I love best.... SCRAPPING!!!!  On Friday night I tackled my November Nuts About Sketches layouts... got them all done... sorry you will have to wait to see them!

On Saturday afternoon I went to my friend Theresa and we scrapped... I did these two pages:

And then of course I went home and spent the evening scrapping too as there was nothing worth watching on tv...

And that was that for the weekend... really a very productive one if I say so myself.  Hope you all get inspired to go and do a bit of scrapping yourself.

Our little maestro

Friday night last week was Aaron's first ever piano concert... he was sooooooooooooo excited. And looking at him play you would think he was a pro at this... he made me VERY proud.

Aaron was only one of six performers and the only boy! He was also the newest player, having only played for eight weeks... well done my boy!

The songs that Aaron played were: My Clever Pup, Sailing & Skating and a duet of Old MacDonald with Angie his teacher.

And then as an added extra note: Aaron loves tinkling the ivories at home on the keyboard that we borrowed from a friend.... BUT he is not content with just playing in "paino".... no he has to try out ALL the different instruments (about 100) and also the different tempos... wow it can get rather noisy.... and it sure is funny to hear Old MacDonald played in synthesizer, harp or some other wierd space noise... hehehe.... never a dull (or quiet!) moment.

I'm searching....

for a CHEAP piano or keyboard..... mmmm, not so easy. Anyone out there have one hanging around that they don't want anymore?????

Aaron's piano lessons are progressing very well.... and now he is getting to learn to play on more than just the 36 or so keys of his small keyboard that I am seriously looking for something bigger. BUT the decision as to WHICH one to get is a big decision.

I've scoured the internet and found some online stores that will deliver for free... a huge plus. And I've started looking in the junkmail... some possibilities. And now comes the time to start seriously deciding which ones we are going to go see to decide on buying or not.... HELP I can't decide.

This one is really really nice and I think would be perfect... just toooooooooooooooo costly for me at the moment:
It's a CASIO CDP200 Advanced features 88 Key Portable Digital Piano

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated... or even a loan one if you have it!!!

JUST AN UPDATE: we managed to borrow a keyboard from a friend from church... thanks Clancy & Megan. Aaron is loving the new keyboard and trying out ALL the different sounds.