Busy Busy!

Well what a busy week-end we have had. It all started on Friday when I had a lunch in Rivonia as my company wanted to treat us all to a great lunch out for winning the 4th best small company to work for in the Deloitte survey. Well we started at 12:30 and when I left at 6:30pm the party was still rocking very strong. I would hate to know what our one director paid just for the bar bill alone must have been a hefty sum. Our company is merging with another company and we will now be called Britehouse SSD and so there was plenty to celebrate as not only being the 4th best small company to work for we were now also getting a new name so we had to show how to do it under the old name of One Arch. I think there were many very saw heads on Saturday morning! Well my evening did not end there as I had some family around at home and I eventually crawled into bed after 12:00pm. I found Heath curled up in bed with Reece as he had "just gone to check on the kids" - but had actually sneaked off as he was also bushed. Bryce had been put to bed around 9:30pm and Reece at around 11:00pm, so of course we were hoping for them to sleep LATE! No such chance they were up and bouncing around at 6:30am the next morning!

Then Saturday was no better as we rushed off in the morning to meet Reece's school teacher for next year. At least she looks much livelier than the one he has at the nursery school, so I am sure he is going to love it. Then we dashed off to Reece's swimming lesson. He had a blast like he normally does at swimming lessons. We then got home to relax but somehow or another we did not do much relaxing. Later in the afternoon we went through to friends of ours Louise and Bart for a bit of rugby and birthday celebration. Go Sharks!!! Oh- yes they did win, sorry just a bit behind the times. We had a really great evening with friends and my goodness we just did not stop eating. Thanks Louise for everything! My children once again only went to bed well after 10:30pm but at least they gave us a little lie in as they were only bouncing around at 7:30 this time. I think we are close to tiring them out for the week-end! :)

Sunday was a little more relaxing but we were still out and about as we had been invited to lunch at Natalie's house i.e. Heaths sister. We had a great relaxing afternoon chilling and chatting. Thanks Nats!

Earlier in the morning Reece and Bryce had been bugging me to eat ice cream from around 8am in the morning until around 11am I decided I had been bugged enough and was looking for a bit of peace and quite - actually a little me time to read a bit of my scrapping magazine. So below is a little evidence of them (note still in there pj's & me :)) munching on ice creams.

Just look at that face

Too cute

The moment Reece has been waiting for!

Then after cleaning them up and getting then ready for lunch I could not resist and do a little photo shoot with Bryce. He was in the cutest mood this morning and the cute curls in his hair are just irresistible so I marched him off to our bedroom and snapped away happily. He was only to happy to pose - for a change :)

Just too cute for words!

This week is hopefully a little better and not so hectic. Hopefully I should hear more about the job offer in Australia and then tomorrow I am off for an interview in Midrand at another consulting company in SA. So hold thumbs!

Chat again soon

Cheers

N

My boys are growing up too fast!

Missing in action again and once again I have absolutely no idea where the time has gone. Well last week was a little sad for me as my little baby Bryce is now in a big bed as he calls it. He has been ready to go into a bed for many months but I am the one who kept on holding him back as I thought if we put him into a bed we are doomed. He is a very early riser and we thought as he can get in and out of his bed he will be waking us up VERY EARLY in the morning. Plus then going to bed as he is a little monster who gets up to lots of mischief he would be bugging his brother. Well last week Wednesday we decided to brave the reality that out little boy is growing up and we put him into bed. Well he was so well behaved that he even surprised us. He did not get out of the bed once and slept through the night and did not wake up once. Then the funniest is that in the morning he sat in his bed calling us to come and fetch him as he had not worked out that he is able to get out himself. Well one week later and he loves sleeping in his big big bed and anyone who comes to visit he has to show them his big bed. He is just the cutest.

My other baby is also growing up too fast for my liking as we are going to his school Tom Newby to meet his teacher on Saturday morning. I also cannot believe that he is going to grade 0.

Last weekend we went off to a 21st for one of Heaths cousins. We have not been to a party in ages and it was great fun to get out again and dance out little hearts out. Then on Sunday we had my mom and dad around to celebrate my dads birthday. So happy birthday dad and hope that the next year is a great one! I have been really bad lately and have not taken any photos so sorry dad I do not even have a little pic of you celebrating your birthday! Next time we will have to make an effort.

Well on the good news front - It looks like Heath is much closer to getting a job. He has been for two interviews with Hi-Fi corporation and been through quite a few psychometric tests. In fact he is spending the whole day today doing tests. So please all hold thumbs that all goes well. Hopefully we should know very soon.

Wow - I did not realise I had so much to say today but it is amazing once you start you then start remembering everything. I suppose I should start writing a little more often, but hey to find the time. Okay alot has happened in my life in the last week as well. To start with I have not been to a scrapping class for ages so I decided Saturday morning was the day. Well I got to class to find that I was to get undivided attention as I was the only one in the class. Jackie had created a really beautiful page that I decided I was to complete with pics of my gran. I finished the layout but I have still not put any pics on the page. Once complete I will post a pic of the page as it has really turned out very nicely. Thanks Jackie!

Now on Monday morning Heath woke up to tell me he had dreamt that I was pregnant with triplets. Well I was not very impressed and told him this is not very funny! Well that morning I had a call from a company in Australia for a position in Perth, then on Tuesday I got an email from a recruiter in UK to mention they have some positions available and then lastly on Wednesday I got a call from a company in SA for a really good position in Midrand. So after all of this I told Heath - these must have been my triplets. So I am pursuing all of the options as I need a change in my job. So Monday I have an interview for the position in Midrand. I am still waiting for feedback on the rates in Australia and more about the positions in UK. So I will keep you all updated on the Bedingfield happenings shortly.......as after all of this things could just remain as normal......

Okay I think I have rattled on for long enough. Hope that you are all well.
Chat again soon.

Cheers
N

Pilansberg

Heath has visited Pilansberg 3 times in about 1 week. The first time he went he went with John (brother-in-law) & Richard(John's son) for 4 days. They went camping and had some great sightings i.e. banded mongoose, lion, elephant, zebra, rhino, impala, springbok, hippo, red haartebees, black backed jackal, tortoise, snakes. They saw the lion when they went out for a game drive on one of the evenings. There have been quite a few veld fires in the park and some of them will still going.

From Pilansberg in October

From Pilansberg in October

Heath then came back to Jo'burg on Saturday afternoon to then shoot off again on Sunday morning. A friend of ours who works for BHP Billiton asked Heath if he would mind taking a guy who was landing from Australia around for the day. So Heath did his duty and took Ben around the park. Once again he got to see alot but he was unable to show Ben lion. They only got to the park around 10:00am after Heath had fetched Ben from the airport and the temperature reached 38 degrees so the chance of seeing lion in that heat was slim.


Then on Tuesday night we went to Deanne and Johns house for a braai and not sure how it all started but before we knew it we were planning to go back there on Thursday. So everything planned I put in my leave on Wednesday morning and we were on our way on Thursday morning to Pilansberg. We were only camping and for one night so did not really have to plan too much. Deanne and John pitched their tent which has two little rooms on either side of the main tent - so all was sorted. Their tent comes form the UK and I have never seen so many guide ropes on a tent in my life - believe me this tent was going nowhere!


After arriving just after noon. We had a bit of lunch at the main area at Manyane. We had to build up a little energy before we started pitching the tent of course! It only took us about a hour to get all organised with the tent.

From Pilansberg in October

Just in time to go out for a game drive. As the park has burnt quite alot the animals are mainly concentrated around the Mankwe dam so luckily we did not have to travel too far. When we got to main dam in the afternoon we were just in time to see a herd of elephant come down to the waterhole for a bath and drink. What a great sighting - we could have sat there for hours. The baby elephants are just too cute for words, they seem to fall over there own feet but have loads of fun.

From Pilansberg in October

From Pilansberg in October

We also saw hippo, plenty plenty giraffe, lots of rhino and most of them with babies, zebra, wildebeest, red haartebees, impala, spingbok, slender mongoose, black backed jackal, waterbuck.

From Pilansberg in October

From Pilansberg in October

From Pilansberg in October

From Pilansberg in October

On Friday morning we were up and already in the park by 6:30am! But it was all worth it in the end as we got to see two lioness walking across the veld over the road and then into the distance. We found out later that the lioness that we saw (her name escapes me at the moment) is the largest female in the park. The one park ranger told us that he is sure that her skull is bigger than some of the males. Believe me she is huge!!!

From Pilansberg in October

Then to top it all off we got to see cheetah - one of my favourite :) She was not close enough for pictures and as she was on a kill she was not walking around too much. Plus, we had been told by one of the game guards that they had waited 45 minutes to see the cheetah get up. We had luck on our side and came around the corner saw the cheetah immediately and then sat and watched her for a while before she settled down again.

So all in all we had a great two days and by lunchtime we were back on the road home, but I felt like I had been away for at least three days so I was well relaxed by the time I got home and only to start the week-end.

From Pilansberg in October

Good one!
Cheers
N

Kids say the cutest things!

From Home pics

Today I was working from home and normally when I work from home I have to hide away in the study otherwise if I am spotted by Reece and Bryce I have had it ...... and do not get ANY work done. So today was one of the luck days where I was locked in the study for the day and I was able to escape them well until around 5:15pm when Reece came barging in and says "Ta da..... Mom may I introduce you to Bryce! Okay mom have a fun time...... bye.." Well I had a little giggle and thought I must start recording his little sayings as they are so cute lately.

Yesterday we had another show house and so we had to sweep, polish and polish again everything in the house. I am so tired of show houses and most of the time people are just nosing about so I hope we do not have anymore..... So of course we had to get out the house from 2-5pm. We went to my mom and dad. Dad made us a great lunch of Beef Strogonaff (not sure if spelt correctly but who cares.. :) ) rice, carrots & broccoli. It was great as we did not need to cook when we got home. Who would want to make a mess in the house that has just taken you all weekend to polish up? Well after lunch the kids went swimming again and again. Each time they thought they were cold they would get out for about 10 minutes and forgot all about how cold it was and were back in the pool. Reece is swimming really well but we told him to keep his arm bands on in case. Well at one stage I was chatting away to my mom when Reece came up to me and said "Mom, I could have drowned you know.......", so I looked at him oddly to find that he had removed his arm bands and jumped into the deep end and had swum across the entire length of the pool. Well my little heart skipped a couple of beats when I realised that we had been sitting RIGHT THERE and had not noticed...... Thanks goodness for swimming lessons..... Reece thought this was all a fat joke :)

On Saturday I took Reece to his first swimming lesson after the winter months. Well he had a blast and when I eventually dragged him out of the pool after a bit of play time. He jumped up and down saying "Mom, I had GREAT fun!!!!" His teacher was around and was so glad the hear him say that as they had a couple of kiddies who were not at all happy that swimming had started again.

In the afternoon we got together a picnic for the two of them and they sat in the front garden on the picnic mat eating chips, a strawberry sucker, some biscuits and a mug of Milo each. Well they had a ball so decided to try my luck again with some pictures. Well Reece was in his element he just kept on running around the garden telling me to "Please picture me.......". So I got a couple more cute shots of the two of them. I then put the sprinkler on to water the plants in the front and of course this is an invitation to the two of them to take off all of their clothes except their shoes (crocs)..... and run around like mad kids..... What a sight but I did not get any pics of them as my battery had died. Oh what fun it is to be innocent and have no cares in the world (sigh!).

From Home pics

From Home pics

From Home pics

I had a bit of a quieter week - work wise last week and so at the last minute we i.e. Heath and I decided to go to Pilansberg for a night camping so I took Thursday and Friday off. I cannot remember the last time I took a bit of leave so it was great. I will do a separate post on Pilansberg shortly to get you all up to speed.

Well have a great week.
Chat soon.
Cheers
Nix

Lazy days!

Okay I know I have been lazy as I have not updated the blog for a while. We have not been up to much other than taking kids to school, Heath searching for a job and then I am just plodding away at work! I have a big deadline to meet tomorrow so I will be up late tonight getting everything completed for my project.

My little monsters have actually been two little angels lately so I have enjoyed having fun with them for a change instead of screaming like a old nag bag. I need to savour this moment as I am sure the monster will come out again soon! I had a very rare moment yesterday when they were playing in the garden, so I decided to take some pics. Well they actually sat together for a little while to have a couple of pics taken TOGETHER. They are normally fighting about something when we want to take pictures.
Then Reece got hold of the camera and started clicking away and took a couple of cute pics. He has such fun when he takes the pictures and gets so excited when he see what he has taken.

Bryce is normally such a little rascal at night and does not sleep through yet, even though most of the time I think he wakes up at night and is actually just checking that we are still around, but is a right royal pain as you still need to get up to him to assure him you are still around. Well last night he slept through for the first time in a long time! yipppeeeee - not sure if it was because I made him have a rest earlier than normal. So I have tried my theory again - so we will see tonight :)

Heath went away from Wednesday to Saturday to Pilansberg with his brother-in-law John and John's son. They seemed to have a great time having a boys time out! The went camping and seemed to see quite alot in the park. I will post some pics of his trip during the week as I am waiting for him to download all of them. As Heath is away Murphy's law is that my kids will wake up super early in the morning. Just because they know that their mother is not a morning person they still have to give it a try....... so below is a pic of then playing with magnets in the kitchen at 6 o'clock in the morning on a Saturday!!!!!!!
Today Heath is back in Pilansberg taking a guy from Aus who is out here doing some work for Billiton. A friend of ours Elaine normally takes anybody who comes out to SA to Pilansberg for the day but as she is not around at the moment she has asked Heath to take the guy around. He is getting paid for it so at least it is not all for nothing.

Well my mom and dad have done the deed and booked their tickets to the UK. One-way so there is no returning now. They have booked for 3rd Dec 2008 departure. So we have just under two months until they leave. They will more than likely stay with us in the last week before they leave. Hopefully my project is not too hectic and I will try and take some leave to spend with them before they go.

We are in the process of selling our house and have had quite a few people going through it but I think as there is so much on the market at the moment everyone has a great choice about. So we have had two show houses so far with around 12 couple coming through and then we have also had the odd couple coming through during the week. We had one couple through yesterday at 4:00pm and then again today. It is great to have the interest but it is such a PAIN to try and keep the house tidy at all times. So my poor children are forever being moaned at......

Well on that happy note - cheers and have a great week!

Cheers
Nicky