So Movember is not even halfway through and I begged, intimidated and blackmailed Gerhard into shaving.   I am not used to having a husband with a moustache and it was an excruciating week.   So Movember no more.   Luka is such a girl.   I painted her toenails blue yesterday, pink was just way too girly and she loves it, she also developed a very contagious infectious giggle, and she strung together a first sentence, Liam is naughty.   Poor Liam, he really is anything but naughty. Liam is busy and very cute and making friends far and wide, when we get home in the evenings he heads straight across the road to play with his new bestie, Zac. I am feeling a tad blue and sorry for myself.   Gerhard has quite a few work commitments and I just spent a Sunday all by my lonesome self, and when you spend a morning grocery shopping with a one year old and a four year old…lets say it gets to you. Luka ate a banana and a slice of bread inside the trolle...

This is a general update on what we have been up to since April, has it really been that long?   How can I even call myself a blogger? Well, Luka is still Luka, a tad emotional, walks into school every morning like she owns the place, throw tantrums of extreme proportions, gets away with murder because she knows that she is cute, blond and blue eyed… Liam is a bit weird right now, if this is a four year old, heaven help us, I will not be able to cope with a fourteen year old…He is all attitude too, and things are either ‘awesome’ or they suck, really?   At four? Liam cannot wait to be five and he tells all and sundry that he is almost five.  A tad hasty, but hey, maybe he can start washing the dishes or making coffee at five, who knows.  I am a fan of child labour.  We also managed to find a house in the street with the most kids in all of Midlands, we need to start locking our doors soon, imagine my surprise when waking up from my traditional S...

It feels like yesterday when I was pregnant and now Luka is one, we had a pink polkadot birthday party and she went to school yesterday, how on earth did that happen.  She is only one and so much happened in that year! We moved to Australia, sold all our worldly goods, we moved house, Luka started school, twice, I started a new job after being jobless for two months, the list goes on. Yes, Luka started school, best of all, she started sleeping through the night, we still feel like we cannot take her grocery shopping, yet we jumped on a plane with her, twice.  It is simply unbelievable. She is a very clever little girl and the teachers at her school use words like 'spirited' and 'strong willed' to describe her, where she gets that from I simply do not know... Liam and Gerhard are in the Kruger Park this week and the girls are left home alone.  I am exhausted as I spent the night tossing and turning sleeping in the middle of the bed, then on my side, Ge...

Well, so much has happened in the last week, I am not entirely sure where to start.  The beginning is probably a great place.  We found a lovely house in Midlands and moved in as they finished building it.  We went shopping on grand scale and moved in one day one with brand new appliances, and beds, and basic crockery and cutlery, not much else.   We went shopping every single day thereafter and still the house remains empty.  Well, it started with a car...I finally managed to convince Gerhard that a mini is a very nice car, so nice in fact that he caved massively and ended up buying me a mini cabriolet.  A lovely car, unless it is the only car for a family of four, whilst your husband still looks for the bakkie of his dreams.  We literally peeled out of the car, us and a loaf of bread, because that is all we can fit in the boot of a mini.  Thank goodness the furniture stores deliver, because we would have still been sitting on our camping chairs.  So yes, the first four days in ...

In the last month in Sydney, I managed to learn a number of life lessons, some silly, some really valuable, I will try and share these with you today.  The more things change, the more things stays the same is very true and can be applied to almost any situation, so the traditional gender roles will apply regardless of the continent you find yourself on.  I will still be responsible for laundry, my husband with numerous degrees cannot operate a washing machine, tumble drier or iron.  We live with the creases and kids can wear a pair of pajamas at least three times before it needs a wash.   Anything that involves labour should be appreciated, you can buy a dress on sale in Australia for $5, and a cappuccino will set you back $4,50. Common sense tells you this is not possible, yet it is, you see the minute someone in Australia makes your cuppa, at a minimum wage of something totally ridiculous  like $40 000 per annum you pay, clothes are made in Chinese s...

Liam went to yet another new school yesterday, and he adapted beautifully, he really is such an easy child.  When we first moved to Sydney he kept on asking us where all the Afrikaans people were, and he insisted on speaking Afrikaans only, because we are Afrikaans, so I was a bit terrified of taking Liam to the Gumnut Kindy yesterday.  Well, I was mistaken, he fit right in and was a tad disappointed when I picked him up at the end of the day.  The teacher told me that they sang some songs from the Wiggles, we obviously have no idea, and Liam then proceeded to teach them all songs about South Africa.  He really is such a lovely child, he makes friends easily and just takes life in his stride.  I am so proud of him.  He also sadly invited all twenty five kids in the class to his birthday party in June, so there goes the idea of something small and intimate.  Kid knows how to make friends.   Luka and I had an enjoyable morning too, with Liam occupied and Gerhard still sick in bed, ...

Another year has come and gone, it is my thirty fifth birthday today and I vividly recall my last birthday.  I was pregnant with Luka, heavily so, Gerhard and I went out to diner with my sister and her then fiancee.  I knew in my heart of hearts that it would be my last birthday in South Africa for a bit and somehow was sad already, if that even makes sense.  Today was a sad day, I missed friends, family and all, and then I remembered that this is not my first birthday spent away from home.  After matric I lived in Belgium for a year, that was a sad birthday, and remember, this was before the internet, skype, emails, bbm and texts, yes, I know I am giving my age away, but hey, that also proves that this birthday, even though spent in the outbackis not as bad as that... Move on a couple of years and we relocated to Middelburg, Mpumalanga, even more rural than Sydney, and once again, just me and Gerhard, and worst of all, I wanted a couch as a gift, but sadly, Middelburg did not live...