Happy Halloween!

Today is my favourite holiday! Halloween! Have to say, I am a bit gutted that South Africa does not embrace this holiday as it should with trick or treating and dress up! So, to try and bring a bit of the Halloween magic I decided that today would be arts and crafts with the kids! We made spiders out of old toilet roll holders, and pipe cleaners for the legs! It was hard work getting them all done but they look great! And I think the kids enjoyed making them as well, they all wanted to know if they could take them home. So, all in all, successful, even if they didnt understand what Halloween was, and even if I thought I was gonna have a stroke by the end of the day. Man they are hard work! Thankfully I seem to have them vaguely under control, although I think they have sussed by now that I can never punish them too much. I feel too bad! But I am getting better haha!

Me, looking like I want to kill myself at the end of the day haha

Today started off well, no Baby in bed so I slept soundly! And thanks to an early night I arose bright eyed and bushy tailed! I even slept through the storm that Ali said she feared would take a roof off. I swear, when I sleep, NOTHING can wake me. Once, I slept in till around 2pm at home and my Mum tidied my room, hoovered, and moved the bed around. I did not stir once, I woke up thinking I had been robbed, until I realised robbers would not have tidied. But you never know, they might have felt guilty and spruised the place up a bit haha.

So, it was my first morning back bottle feeding in the morning. Chloe still wont drink from me. I cant get her to even be interested when she realises I am not Donna. Anyone who says that animals dont think and feel like humans have clearly never met a bottle fed goat before, because she misses Donna and no one else will do! I will keep on persevering, but man, she is making it hard!

All the horses had to be dipped today because the ticks are out in force. Nibbling away at them like no bodies business. We were dipping Annie when she landed the most awful bite on Alis arm. It drew blood and everything ! She is turning into a right little madam! Hopefully she doesnt go all Marula on us.

Today in school we finished off the colouring from yesterday and started on the spiders, as I have said, they are hard work! I am excited for the new volunteer Edith to arrive on Thursday next week, because it is just a lot more relaxed and fun when you have two people there. And no one can have eyes in the back of their head, and damn, those kids know it! Haha. But tomorrow should be fine. I am going to take them to the river and the picnic site after break which is always a fun half day out for them. They love it down there.

One of the creations!

Today is town day, so straight after the kids we wizzed off to Lydenburg. I am sad to report that I bottled it and did not go into town in fancy dress. I think Ali was relieved, and when I got there, I think i was too. I think everyone would have thought I was absolutely mad. But still, it would have been fun. Little Marcus came with us as well as he has a school trip on Saturday and needed to get some new shoes, trousers and food for it. The boy now has a nice watch than me, and new converse shoes! Which are DEFINITELY nicer than mine! But, he works ever so hard so I am glad he is getting a day out. The poor boy has no parents and works every day of the holidays to support himself. He is really a sweet guy.

The wind is blowing terribly tonight, doors are banging, and it certainly feels like the Halloween ghosts are out! I am going to sit in and watch scary films tonight in celebration. And my god, tomorrow is November! We are tearing through this year. Where did 2O13 go again! Anyway, Happy Halloween everyone! Lekker Slaap! xxxxxx

Blah

I dont know what it is, but I am feeling distinctly flat today. Maybe it is because Donna is gone. I dont know. But I am having one of those days where I just dont know what to do with myself and I cant seem to find the motivation to do anything!

This morning I stayed in bed until 5 4Oam but I tossed and turned from around 4am. Donna and Ali left really early so that Donna could catch the Bushveld taxi. The morning was uneventful and I was all ready for school in record time.

The kids were really good today, although of course, despite telling them that Donna was leaving, they all asked where she was and why she had left. It was quite sad actually. We did colouring, and then opened up a lot of the new puzzles that were donated. It was a very chilled day.

After, Ali, Simon, and I all went to collect shavings. Have to say, I do love manual labor. Something soothing about it. Although, this is coming from the girl who was complaining about having callouses on her hands the other day......And of course. Since I did not run today, there was no storms! In fact, barely a cloud in the sky. It was beautiful!

Chloe refused to drink off me tonight. As Donna is now gone, I am resuming bottle feeding duties, but I didnt anticipate one of the participants not playing ball. I cuddled her on my lap, I talked to her, but nope, she wasnt drinking! So, no bottle for Chloe tonight, hopefully she is hungry enough tomorrow to take it.

Tonight I am just getting my arts and crafts spiders finished off for the kids to make tomorrow as it is Halloween. They will have no idea what Halloween is, and I think I am going to have a hard job trying to explain it to them, but hey ho, I will give it a go!

Anyway, I am really tired, and I think it is clear from the writing quality that today is just not my day! Lekker Slaap everyone, I think a good nights sleep will fix me up right xxxxx

Lightening and Last days.

This morning, Baby took the biscuit well and truly. She bit my nose at 4am to be let out. Not a great start!

Today was our guests Bev and Natasha’s last day, and this is also the last day for our volunteer Donna, after her three week stay here. So it is a day of lasts I am afraid, it is always sad to see people go. It always makes me think of how I will feel when it is my last day. Knowing that that morning is the last time I will bring the horses in, or see the kids, go to town, or any of the activities during the day that make this place home.

The escape artist!

It started off beautiful and sunny and slowly got worse as the day went on. I hear from BBC news, that England had been bracing itself for the St Jude storm and they predicted 40mm of rain....well, we got 40mm of rain in one hour here! I was on my afternoon run, running towards blue sky and sun, when I turned round and I just heard the loudest clap of thunder ever, and was greeted with the blackest clouds and fork lightening! Needless to say, at that point I started sprinting up the hill in an attempt to get home faster. Thankfully Aly came and rescued me in the Bakkie and I have decided that I am not running in the midday any more because CLEARLY the weather is interpreting it as a rain dance....god dammit.

 The ugly sky!

Me, watching the rain!

Anyway, the day started off as normal, except for the fact I have a sore nose now.....and we found Houdini Booboo on the loose once more. That pony goes to such lenghts to escape and doesnt even go any where. I think she just does it to prove a point haha. So, after stabling her, I was just tending to Manama when Aly called for help. Justin the sausage dog had been brutally attacking three chickens, so we spent a good twenty minutes being outsmarted by these ridiculous chickens who would just NOT be shepherded out of the garden and through the gate. I cant tell who the dumb ones were, us, for taking so long, or them for quite clearly not seeing the exit!

Sophie, the maid, showing her son pictures. Sweetest woman in the whole world! <3

After we all went to school where we set up the dolls in the classroom so that it would be a surprise for the kids, and oh my gosh, they were deliriously happy about them! They spent hours changing them, dressing them, feeding etc. Have to say, I was right, Chris and percy were just as estatic with their babies as the girls. I couldnt help but laugh when Chris got his baby on his hip and packed a little bag for it and walked round. So cute! Bev and Natasha also came with and the kids were in for yet another treat when Bev returned at break time with freshly made banana muffins with cream icing for the kids to munch on. They have definitely been spoilt rotten these past couple of days for sure!

Chris with his precious baby! Look at that face!

 Proud Mum Charlotte

 Natasha and percy, cooking up breakfast!

Oupa....the modern father....with his baby upside down bahaha.

We also had our colouring competition today. Grace was the winner with an outstanding picture of owls that was literally perfect! Followed by Sara and Thando who really did try very hard. I only felt bad when Liesbeth got upset. She spent SO long on her multi coloured walrus but she never finished....I did feel bad though. Hopefully Bevs banana muffins made it a little better!

Almost all of the kids were SO careful and gentle with their dolls!

 Bev! The bringer of cakes!

 NOM NOM NOM!

 New lipstick their Natasha?

 Liesbeth, enjoying her treat!

"HMMMMMMM\"

As it is Donnas last day, we were explaining to the kids that she would be going “Kia” now. Which is the zulu word for home. I could see them working it out in their head when all of a sudden, Grace looked at me and said “Why you no Kia Rosie?”. I replied with “this is my Kia now” and she went “nooooo, THIS Madam Botha kia!” haha. As Ali was saying, I have been here longer than any other volunteer now, so it must be just expected that everyone goes home at this point. I hope that me being here for so long has given them a sense of continuity and attachment. I do hope so anyway.

Donna with her class <3 She will be sorely missed!

In the afternoon after school I went on my run as I mentioned, and when I did get rescued by Ali, the rain and lightening was so bad that she and I had to hide in the shed with Salan until it passed over! Now THAT is bad weather for you! When we were finally liberated I set about the afternoon chores and found the CUTEST mouse in my feed bucket! Salan and the guys would kill me if they knew I had set it free while crying “be free mousey, run wild and free” because we have a terrible mouse problem! They are eating everything. But as I kept mice and rats as a kid, I just couldnt hand over Mr Mouse to the guillotine! No, he can run free!

Donna

Funny picture of Grace who did not close her window going through a big puddle! haha

I took my braid out today. It was starting to resemble a birds nest, so I thought it as for the best. My hair is SO fluffy now, I look like a sheep ! Kind of cute haha. But anyway, we are all just waiting for dinner and Donna and I are going to watch Grease tonight <3 It has been a good day. I am just sad that we have to lose people! Lekker Slaap everyone. Tomorrow will be hard!

Spur Day Out!

Hello All!

So, today was our special day out for the kids. All of them turned up mega early with their uniforms on, except Chris and Percy, who let the team down by showing up with regular clothes. It would be those two!

Anyway, we woke up and first thing we did was go out and take some pictures of Donna with her favourite animals Chloe, Cade, and Charlie. Tomorrow is her last day, as she leaves mega early on the Wednesday morning to catch her flight. So documentation of the memories were completed! Thankfully it didnt rain, but the sun could have shown up for an hour or too, we arent asking for a lot here weather! I cant believe the three weeks in which Donna has been here is almost over already! I feel the same as when Uli was leaving! Where has the time gone! It is just crazy how it is flying by !

After the chores I was sitting with Grace, Siyabonga, and Oupa on the mounting block, and they totally knew something was up. I heard Grace say something in Zulu about a “trip” and I asked what she was saying. She said “mam, we, we go, on trip, yes”. It was so cute, their faces were so expectant and eager. I just shrugged, smiled and said “well, I dont know, maybe”. As we gathered everyone together we set off for our Corporasie kids and finally shared the news with them that we would have no school today, and we were actually going to town. The looks on their faces is something I will never forget. They were just so excited. I have never seen kids so excited to go to town before haha. Charlotte especially was deliriously happy as she has been begging to come with us on our town trips for groceries for ages!

On the way in, we stopped by Johnnie and Lindies business so we could sing to them. We went through “Hey, Hello, Bonjour, Guten Tag”, “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star”, “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”. I think everyone was impressed with how well they sang. Lindie was so sweet with the kids as well, asking them all their names, haha, it is amazing how shy they got! Lindie and Johnnie are really special friends of the school and to us, they already have actual presents to bring to the kids for Christmas all ready. These are not donations, these are new presents for the kids. I dont know if I have said it before on this blog, but if I have it deserves being said again, that the Welgemoeds are honestly the sweetest, most wonderful family I have ever met. They are so giving, caring, and kind, I really didnt believe people like them existed any more, and when I grow up, I want to be like them!

As we left, we went to Otees, the bulk buying shop in town. The lady who owns the store has shown a great deal of interest in the school and always asks about the kids when Ali goes in. We did another rendition of the songs for her, and all the customers. Although, our song “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” was a lot to be desired for as during the song, she brought out chocolate, so that was it, the kids concentration was out the window and running for Mexico haha. While we were at Otees, we also had the pleasure of bumping into Sara’s Grandfather. He never gets to see his grand daughter, and it was so sweet to see him so happy at seeing how big she had gotten. He gave her twenty rand, and it was nice to see that no matter where you are in the world, Grandparents are always at hand to spoil and indulge you!

After all the singing, it was time for the main event ! Spur! As we stopped and got the kids out, I couldnt help but notice that everyone all day had been doing little double takes at us. It seems like a novelty that white people were out with black kids! So strange that this is true, but we were definitely a spectacle! We were seated downstairs at the play area and oh my goodness, the kids went mad! They couldnt believe that they were there and all you could hear was screams of laughter as they went up and down the slides, discovered what a bouncey castle was, and climbed the climbing wall! Donna, Ali, and I were just smiling and laughing ourselves at how happy they were! It was truly a wonderful moment! The kids were all served with drinks, and later they got ice cream, which unfortunately gave many of them brain freeze! They were in absolute heaven!

One of the funniest moments of the day was taking the older girls, Sara, Maggi, Grace, and Charlotte to the swanky Spur toilets. They had never seen a hand dryer before, and when I showed them, they immediately left the mirror which they were dancing in front of, to begin repeatedly washing their hands and drying them. They seemed to get as much joy from the hand dryer as they did from the playground. It just goes to show how completely separate worlds can be!

It was such a wonderful day, and as we were driving back, most of them were konked out in the back fast asleep. Except for Grace who was clearly hyper and singing at the top of her lungs all the way home haha. I think we can definitely count this as a successful school trip outing, and I think the kids had the time of their lives. Really special day <3

This evening, the rain is coming down and a storm is coming in! Donna is currently trying to get her pumpkin soup cooked before the power inevitably goes out, and we are plunged into darkness! I am on the veranda with Natasha drinking champagne and eating carrot cake. This is the life. It really doesnt get much better than this. Good night everyone, Lekker Slaap xxxx

Catch up

Well, I am a day behind on my blog at the minute so I am writing this Sunday post on Monday night. I am gonna be honest, yesterday could have been a hundred years ago at this rate because I can remember zero of anything haha. Give me a minute and I will try and rack my brain for what the heck happened. I know I must have gotten up...... and ermmmm. Christ, I have a terrible memory, you need to eat carrots to see in the dark, so what vegetable do I need to eat to remember what I did five minutes ago?

Well, I got up and headed out to do chores, beemering Manama etc. Then I took Duncan out on a ride and listened to music on the hills, I like to think that the surrounding farm animals really appreciated my rendition of “I want to break free”. Thankfully they cant disagree, so I am going to say they did haha. After the ride I had my shadow returned to me in the form of Natasha. She kept me company all day as I started the gargantuan task of cleaning out school. I am very proud. Not only is it completely swept out, spick and span, I have organised all the cupboards, puzzles, and papers. I almost dont want to let the kids in. They will ruin the beautiful organisation.....But, I am mega excited for Tuesday. As I mentioned yesterday, we have had loads of baby dolls donated to us, all with matching clothes for them to be dressed, and I just cant wait to see their faces when they see them. At the minute they have had to make do with really tiny dolls and Barbies, but now they have life sized baby dolls to look after, they even have a changing table for them. While, I was never a doll loving girl growing up, I was always a lot more into toy horses and Action Man, I am still excited to see their faces. So, school is all ready for Tuesday !

In the afternoon we had a relatively lazy afternoon, I went on my run, and thanks to this braid I have managed to fry my head. My scalp is burned to smithereens.... It hurts to touch, but alas, this is the price you pay for having a braid too bulky to wear a cap..... at least the braid is still in! Anyway, as I was saying, we had a lazy afternoon, either that or I just cant remember what we did.....this is the last time I let my blog fall behind! I DO remember Bev cooking us all the most amazing sausage sandwiches and lamb chops, and then some amazing carrot cakes. Carrot cake is my absolute favourite cake, but so often they disappoint me, it is a bit like cheesecake. They look amazing, but generally they are a bit rubbish. But! These were amaazzzzzzzing! If I could swim in these cakes I would. So, food wise, we were all very happy bunnies!

And, you know what? That is all folks! If anything else happened, it has gone into the oblivion, disappearing into the black abyss of my mind forever more. Now I need to write TODAYS blog.....what day is it again?

The English Muffin.

This morning the sun was out and I was woken by Baby biting my thumb and licking my face as the usual morning routine goes, until I finally snap and throw her out of the room. She was not happy, but then again, that cat never is. And today she would NOT shut up, I was literally ready to boil her. Or remove her voice box.

Cricket, in his favourite place.....under the wheel of our school bus!

I took Duncan out for an early ride this morning, all was going well, until we turned into the field leading to the burned forest. And both of us saw the grey stallion at the same time. He came HURTLING towards us at break neck speed, and no matter how much I tried, the donkey I was riding would not move. The grey is a viscous little bugger! He kept spinning round to kick at us, one kick landed on my foot, and Duncan took the other. I almost came off twice. If it wasnt for George coming out of his house to shoo the horse away, I am worried about what would have happened. Thank god for riding boots and their sturdy make, or I would have had a broken foot, that would have made the rest of my time here interesting haha.

After the drama with the stallion, it was untacking and straight into a riding lesson for Natasha, one of the guests daughters, on Mandla in the ring. Mandla is ridiculously lazy so I have to walk and trot beside him to keep him going or he just goes on strike and starts eating grass. Seabiscuit he is not.... Natasha did really well considering she hasn't been riding for months, but unfortunately owes Ali a lot of money as we decided early on that it was 5Ocents for every time Ali said she had to keep her heels down haha.

Natasha riding Ramon <3

After this Natasha invited me to go watch Easy Virtue with her at her house, while her Mum went to town. I slouched out and watched until we had to head over to the main house because Dean and Claire from Johanesburg had arrived with all the new Christmas donations again! I cant believe it is only 8 weeks until Christmas. It is crazy how fast this year has gone by. I need Bernard s Watch so I can slow down time! So, after unloading all the donations from various supporters around the world, we set to work sorting through everything, organizing into Christmas boxes for the kids, and stuff that could go straight into school. There was some absolutely beautiful things. Wonderful toys, puzzles, games, crafts, clothes, and some beautiful dolls donated by Alis sister pat. She rang us, insisting we release the dolls from their coffins immediately and let them breathe! Haha, she also donated a ton of beautiful baby doll clothes. I cant wait for the kids to see the dolls. They wont be able to believe their eyes. Although, I have a sneaky suspicion, that a lot of the boys are going to be more excited than the girls about them haha.

 All the donations! 

 Thank you!

 Lots of new shiny toys!

Thank you Nichole!

During the unpacking, Natasha asked how old I was. She went "Rosie, hooooow old are yoooou"
Me "23"
Natasha "whaaaaaaat. You look like 11!".
Well, it is good to know that I most definitely look young haha. She has also decided that my new nickname is The English Muffin. I have no idea, but it is rather unusual to get such an affectionate nickname from a seven year old. Kind of like me calling them a munchkin. Only I am 23 haha.

After lunch, we had our photoshoot from the couple who are making wedding invitation photos of them posing in 9 different locations and themes. Today was the 6Os, with them in hippie clothing hanging out with the horses. It was cool to see the shoot, but if you read my blog, my view on romance is that of a stoic war veteran. Essentially, got yourself a dog.
But, they seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. Tomorrow they are doing the 5Os down by the dam in swimsuits, I do believe to copy a scene from the Notebook. Fingers crossed the weather holds out and it doesn't rain, or they will be recreating the scene from Titanic.

 The photographer getting checked out by Maverick....

Hippies on the move!

In the evening, Bev, Natasha's Mum made Donna and I a beautiful dinner of burgers, salad, veggies, and garlic bread. It was soooooo good, and after living off scrambled eggs on toast it was heaven. I am having serious sweet cravings at this moment. I desperately want a massive pizza and a tub of ice cream. Sadly, if I want ice cream, i will have to go find a cow and milk it myself for that haha. And I haven't QUITE reached that level of desperation yet, but I will keep you posted.....

My delicate lady hands are growing callous over working at a farm.... need to toughen up

Lekker Slaap everyone!

Strays, braids, tears, and trails.

The sun is FINALLY out! The sun has returned to us!.....and it is off again. We are getting thunderstorms tomorrow and showers forever more according to Bing Weather. But at least it was lovely today! Not intensely hot, but after the cold we have had, I am grateful for anything at this point!

Socke, happy about the sun!

I have decided I must get back to my horse riding! With all the rain and drama I have barely done any in the last two weeks, so this morning after beemering Manama, I saddled up Duncan and went across the mountains and up through the dying forest. You can tell no one has ridden in forever because Duncan was putting in bucks and springs at every moment he could! It was so nice to be out again! I love morning rides, so peaceful and calm!

One of Alis returning guests is here this weekend, Bev, with her daughter Natasha who is seven. She is such a sweet girl and Bev is wonderful. Natasha came to school and hung out with our kids for the morning. She paid more attention than they did! The kids, especially Percy, loved having her there. They seemed to try more and it seemed to foster some good competition. Natasha is such a sweet girl! We continued our colouring from yesterday for our colour competition, and they are all taking it SOOO seriously! Charlotte is literally colouring every individual petal on her flowers in different colours, it actually looks better than my picture, but then again, I am artistically stunted haha. In the afternoon we took the kids to the river, and Natasha and Bev joined us with their little fluffy puppy called Dominoe. It was really chilled and lovely down there, except, despite the repeated conversations I have had with the kids about not getting their clothes wet, they all took their clothes off, and then subsequently decided to soak them and pretend to wash them......man their mums are gonna be maaaad!

Mr peacock, flirting with Mrs peacock. Mrs peacock does not give a hoot....

After school I had my hair appointment at Corporasie, where half of our kids are from. Magdaline and Thandos mums set to work on my hair. I was worried I was going to look like a bald man, but I think it looks awesome! In my mind, it is the African Princess Leia version haha! But yeah, it was so quick and I love it! I am just sad that it will only last a couple of days!

In the process of greatness

"It better look good guys"

Me and my new braid. With Chris, percy, Thando, Magdaline, patience, Natasha, and Charlotte <3

In the afternoon, we were sorting out the animals, when a dog appeared. I don't know if any of you remember when I posted about the fire we had a few weeks ago, and the dog we rescued from being burnt alive. He was tied to a tree, covered in ticks, and awfully skinny. But he turned up! And he definitely remembered me. I brought him out some milk and biscuits, and from that moment on he was my best friend. It actually broke my heart. He wouldn't leave my side. And when Sophie, Ali's maid, whom the dog belongs to tried to take him home, he wouldn't go. I tried walking with her for a while to get him to come, but as soon as I turned round he just bolted after me. In the end, when i took Natasha for her pony ride up in the hills, walking beside her, the dog came with me and I was able to do a loop and drop by Sophie's house to return him. It really did break my heart. As soon as I turned to leave he ran after me again, so I had to get Sophie to hold him as I left. I couldnt even turn round to see him. He is soooo thin. I just wanted to bring him home, but oh well, there is nothing we can do. We just have to hope for the best.

My new friend <3

In the evening, Natasha wanted me to come round to the guest house and watch a film with her, so I took the film "Two bits and pepper" with me. She is such a sweetie, when the pony "Two bits" got shot she started crying into my jacket, and I had to assure her that he would be OK. She is so lovely, and even said I was a really good teacher. As a child, i am going to take that as a compliment, as she is probably around teachers all the time haha. She also asked me what grade in school I am. This is like the fourth time this has happened.I aint complaining!

But yes, it has been a really lovely day, and hopefully, as long as the rain holds out, it will be an even better weekend! Lekker Slaap everyone xxxxxxx

RIP to the Mum of Rosie of Uli

We have had a death at Lydenrust. The baby goats, Rosie and Ulis Mum was found dead. She was lying in the goat house in a strange position, just gone! It was so sad, Rosie and Uli were still snuggled round her. The babies are only three weeks old still. We were all so confused as to how she could possibly of died so suddenly and so young. But the mystery was solved when we spoke to Marcus who said that yesterday she had broken into the food room and had subsequently eaten herself to death. It is so sad, such a preventable death. So very sad. But now, we have two orphan baby goats to look after. Rosie is taking relatively well for the situation, but Uli is refusing food left, right, and centre. It is going to be a struggle to get them to take to the bottle. Thankfully we have our resident experienced goat carer Donna here. She is really fantastic with them and I am relieved she is here for another week, because she seems to have a magic touch with the goats. If anyone can get those goats to drink, it is her!

But yes, really sad news on the farm, it is always distressing when an animal dies. I was on the verge of tears when I saw the mum in the box. It was horrible!
In other news, not as sad, but definitely not great news, Manama's growth is really causing her a lot of pain at the minute. I am beemering every morning and evening, but the thing is just not coming off. This is 3 months she had not been ridden because of it. I hope it comes off soon. I just want it to come off!

Today, the kids were all playing at being daredevils. We have paving going down and the compost is down at the minute, so the ground is really soft. So, they were all tearing towards it on the motorbikes and throwing themselves off in different gymnastic poses. Percy literally threw the motorbike over his head and I thought he had broke something but he just got up laughing his head off. He is now known as Mad Max Percy to his friends.

I have a hair appointment tomorrow at Magdelenes house for her Mum, prisca, to braid my hair. I am verrry excited. Although I have told one of my friends back home, he just told me it was going to look awful. I respectfully disagree. It is going to look awesome....I hope ......God I hope. Or I am just gonna look like a weird ass white girl.....

All in all, today has been a good, but sad day. Hopefully the babies will be OK. And tomorrow will be brighter! Lekker Slaap everyone xxxx

"Act your age! You are a teacher!"

Last night we got a skype call from Uli, who is at her new farm, travelling round South Africa. It was sooooo good to hear her. I really do miss her and her being on the farm. I have never met someone so optimistic and beautiful in my whole life, she just lights up the room. Anyway, she was telling me and Ali all about her new farm and the animals. Now, Uli is German, so gets some words mixed up, such as, she calls "scratching" "crawling". And when she was running through the animals she said "and we have soooo many toti, they are almost 6Ocm long!". She MEANT tortoises, but at this point it important to say that toti is a South African slang word that means "penis". So, Ali roared with laughter. So, Uli has 6Ocm totis running around the whole place...no wonder she is having fun! haha But yeah, it was so good  to hear from her!

Cold time fun!

Today we had picture day at school, where we gave all the kids a big bit of paper and they had to follow instructions of what to draw, in order or place they wanted. It was really good for them to independently think about the picture they were drawing. They are so used to colouring books, that when it comes to them figuring out what to do themselves, they struggle. But they did really well! All part of a kids imagination! Charlotte has some awesome hair at the minute. The girls always come in with crazy new hair does done by their mama. But I want to get Charlotte's mum to do mine like hers, it is friggen cool!

 Charlotte's awesome hair!

 Thando is so cute!

Strike a pose ladies!

Today was town day and we headed in, but not before stopping at Spur, the Lydenburg steak house for a drink and to see if we could talk to the manager. We really want to bring the kids here for lunch and so they can play in their awesome play area! These kids would never ever ever go to a place like Spur! So, we arrived, and wanted to be seated in the smoking area, but the waiter told us I could not go in, as they don't allow under 18s in there. At this point my South African Mum had to tell the manager that I was 23. The manager is 21...... But, I take it as a compliment! If I look under 18, then that is A OK with me! haha I have also been asked what grade I am in at school while I have been here, and that I look about ten years old by one of the four year old guests haha. Anyway! So, we talked to the 21 year old manager, Archie, and we organised with him that we are going to bring the kids into Spur on Monday for their treat! I am literally so excited about this! I cant wait to see their faces when they realise what is happening. So, mucho excited for Monday! Hopefully it does not rain.

Wearing odd socks. I am always so prepared....

While we were checking out the play area I decided to act my age, under 18 haha, and decided I must test all the play things. I had a great time on the slides and the climbing wall! I think it is very important that when the kids come here, I ensure it is all safe by repeatedly also going on the slides too, you know, for quality safety purposes of course......haha, in the words of Ali "Act your age, you're a teacher!" hahaha

In the evenings Donna and I watched the Hangover and I got myself a rotisserie chicken at pick and pay to have a meat feast tonight. So all in all, it has been a great day ! Lekker slaap everyone. Happy Rosie xx

Lydenrust is Gods chosen place!!!!!