IF ....

... I said this week has been manic I think that would be an understatement ...

Can't believe it's Thursday already and I haven't had a minute to blog !!!

Where to start ... well the party was a roaring success !!! We ended up with all the friends and family, Lawrence, Penny & the kids, June, Irena, Cyndi & Robyn& Jason, Juno, Steven & Kids as well as about 25 kids from school .... phew the nightmare did not come true !!!

Kelsey ... ready to P.A.R.T.Y ...

Matthew ...also ready to P.A.R.t.y ...

Seems the boys are having a good time !!!

Even the older generation party-ied ... in fact I think the oldies enjoyed it more than the youngies !!! Of course we missed Paul... and we even played a 'special song' for Uncle Ben ... A good night was had by all...

Sunday we were up early and out to rugby ... again... bummer our match started at 10am so we had to be there by 9 for warm up ... day started out lovely and within 20 minutes we had gale force winds blowing ... very strange weather patterns !!! But that didn't stop both our A & B teams from winning their matches ... both teams are top of their leagues at the moment ... after having eaten a fair bit of the pitch I called it a day by 3pm ... had to drop Matthew off at home then we went home to catch so ZZZZZ's

Monday was just a flash by ... with stuff to return, calls to make, e-mails to do ... 1000 odd photos to sort from the rugby, letters to cut for the class on Tuesday ... and before I knew it it was pick-up time, homework, food and bed !!! I'm sure there are no longer 24 hrs in my day !!!

Tuesday another flash past ... school run, mum, shops, bank, school scrapbooking,(had another 6 kids join us today !!! that now makes us 12 ... so they had to catch up with the others !!!) collect Kelsey after rehearsals, extra lesson with Mandy, homework, dinner ... bed .... !!!

Wednesday ... aqua (exercise good but the bloody rash has come back again with a vengeance... apparently the lady has now changed the pool chemicals ... reduced the amount ... but it's not making any difference ... really p'd off cos this scratching is driving me mad soooo I may just have to give the aqua up ... I don''t get itches when I'm not at aqua !!!) Then the rest of Wednesday I was running around collecting prizes etc. for our Golf Day and the Grade 7 Spring Tea ... got home in time for a sarnie, and it was back out to school to drop off prizes etc... Kelsey got some Mr Price sports vouchers for his Birthday so I promised him a visit there ... he didn't find anything he liked ... told him to wait till we go the bigger store at Pav. Home ... homework and off to rugby practise ... the boys looked like they really enjoyed themselves tonight ... think the lovely 'balmy' evening had something to do with it !!!

And then onto today ... for my sins I have agreed to give a Scrapbooking demonstration and talk on Saturday for one of the local Ladies Groups ... like I don't have enough on ... (stressing over this damned Spring Tea the kids are supposed to be doing ... and in fact I'm doing it all ... but then again ... if I wasn't so bloody fussy I'm sure Heinrich's mum would help ... but I would only find fault with it so ... moan moan moan ... I have to do it myself !!!!) SO it meant today I HAD to get some scrappy stuff sorted out ... T.G it was much cooler today ... (in fact it's bloody cold !!! windy and thick black clouds in the sky... temps dropped to 13c ... after yesterdays 29c!!!)

Some 'BREAKING NEWS' ... get a panic stricken phone call from Louise (one of the mum's) this afternoon (Kelsey was supposed to be doing rehearsals so I wasn't collecting him until 4pm) there's rioting and toy-toying outside the school ... the teachers union (again not our teachers but the 'indigenous teachers) are on strike for better wages etc. etc. etc. all the usual bumf and gum pf ... and cos our kids are at school 'they' (the locals ... LOL ) decide 'they' are going to demonstrate outside our school ... but true to African nature ... it always ends up with violence and aggression !!! Everywhere else in the world unions can go on strike -peacefully- NEVER in Africa !!! 'They' are apparently throwing stones, banging sticks jumping about like ... ("quote" a bunch of monkeys "unquote" acting just like savages !!!) scaring our kids, intimidating our teachers and threatening the parents that are there to collect their kids ...W.T.F ... riot squad are there, police ... the whole lot ...

Oh the joys of living in Africa !!! ;-)

(But there was 1 good thing came out of this ... No Homework today ... hooray !!) and that's why I've got a few minutes to blog !!!

And yes our kids will be back at school again tomorrow ... well the school will be open and it is at the parent's discretion ... I reckon only half the school will be there ... !!! Does this mean if our kids don't get pass marks cos they haven't had enough time at school and learnt all that they are supposed to learn that they will all pass no matter what ??? I bet NOT!!!!