Yes! for 2016

Here we come!

Of course this holiday has raced to an end, and I did not do everything I wanted to do the last week of 2015!

2016, you are starting us off with a to-do list!

I uses this blog as a way to look back on a year. That makes me realize each time that I have more to be thankful for than a few disappointments and low budgets! We have family and we have good times together!

I have found my new word of the year 2016! 

It will be YES!

YES to new opportunities!

Saying YES to everything coming my way!

I don't have specific plans for 2016! Yet! 

But I will say YES to Life!

What is your word for 2016?


Related post:

Joy for 2014

2015 best 9 photos on Instagram

karentoittoit #2015bestnine

True to my cloud and sunset obsession, my *best nine photos on Instagram were true to form!

Little Miss makes her appearance twice in the best 9!



*The best 9 are compiled from the most liked photos on Instagram!

Happy holidays!

This is the Season of opposites! 

This is the time that highlights the opposites in our lives!

The season of merry, but also of sadness. 

The season of belonging, but also being alone.

The season of children, but also of loss and the longing for a child.

Happy holidays to those that are taking a bit of time off!
Thinking of you who are still working!
(I am taking time off between Christmas and the New Year)

Merry Christmas to you who are celebrating Christmas!
My thoughts are with you who are not with your families and you who do not have something to be merry about!
My thoughts are with you who are sad this year!
My thoughts are with you who have lost someone close to you!
My thoughts are with you who are longing for a child!

We will be with family on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day!
I realize that it is something very special, and something to be extremely grateful for!

What will you be doing this time of the year?


Hope there are blessings to all during this time!

iJump gets a thumbs up!

It was Little Miss' birthday yesterday, and we took her to iJUMP as a special treat. We have been driving past the place and saying we should give it a try!

You pay per hour, and it seems that you can't do more than an hour of jumping around on the trampolines. Little Miss had a ball, but she was beat after the hour!

There is an iKidz area for the smaller kids, but Little Miss already qualified for the bigger area. Which she thoroughly enjoyed!

You can book parties for the kids with different party options, as well.

Photo from upstairs at the Sliders Restaurant

We had great hamburgers at the Sliders restaurant where you can make a choice of 3 between 12 burger options. The portions are smaller, but The Student and I could not finish all 3. We shared that with Little Miss who had more than enough!

Resting on the sidelines!

This place gets a thumbs up!
We will be back!


Address:


Clearwater Crossing
Corner Hendrik Potgieter and Christiaan de Wet
(Behind Makro)
Strubens Valley


Disclaimer: I was not asked to write this post, and we paid for ourselves!

Questions to the 7 year old

Today is her birthday! 

We had a low-key celebration with the family over the weekend. This year we skipped the big party! Little Miss was totally okay with it, as long as her family was there and she could have a birthday cake!

We love the girl that she is! With all her opinionated and strong-willed ideas!
She makes our lives very interesting! And we love it!

We got her report card over the weekend, and she did great!
We are very proud of her, as well!

I asked her a few questions last night:

What was the best of being 6?

That I have a mother and father and a sister. And that I have a grandmother and a grandfather.

What was the best about school?

Sport: Gymnastics, tennis and ballet

What are you going to become when you grow up?

A veterinarian

Who was your best friend this year?

I don’t know, Mom! I haven’t made a choice yet!

What do you want to do next year that is going to be enjoyable?

Roller-skates

What was the best this weekend with your birthday?

My presents, and my birthday cake!

What are your best presents?

LEGO, jewellery making set and money

Why do you want to give money to your uncle? (Her grandmother received coins in a plastic bag which she got instructions to give to Little Miss' uncle.)

Because he always gives me money

What sports are you going to do?

Roller-skates

What are your plans for Gr 2?

I don’t know, Mother. Enough with the questions!

We love you, Little Miss!!

Burial of Squishy, the silkworm moth

Little Miss was highly upset when we got back from our Bushveld break and the silkworm moth (that she had named Squishy when it was still a silkworm) was dead. It unfortunately had no fellow moths, and there are no eggs.
(Shew! Wiping tears of relief because we do not have another batch of silkworms in our future! And we don't have to raid other people's trees in the future! )

Little Miss cried, and we had to tell her that the moth had only a very short lifespan, and that it has ended.
We promised that we would bury it in the garden.

She made a tombstone for Squishy!

Rest in peace, Squishy!

This small ritual reminded me of how important it is to not hide death and dying from children, but to confront it in a respectful manner! We could have hid the shoe box with the dead moth, but it does helps her to learn to deal with loss! She made up her own ritual and decided on her own "tombstone"!

Rituals are very important!

How do you help your children understand death and dying?


Related post

- One more mouth to feed: a silk worm

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - I am a fan!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is worth the wait! 

Hubby and I saw it yesterday. We bought tickets for The Student and Little Miss as well, but they were very strict with the 13V age restriction. When we booked it, there was a 13PG on the website!

The Student volunteered to see The Little Prince with Little Miss, who saw it for a second time! (Luckily Nu Metro exchanged the tickets for us!)

We owe The Student BIG TIME!

The favourite characters are back, but also with great new heroes, and Rey is my favourite heroine of all! 

I am not going to give away any of the plot, or shockers! 

Suffice to say that you won't be disappointed!

I am using all of the Star Wars Bitmojis here! They are just so much fun, and it seems they had inside info about the characters and plot!


What do you think of Star Wars?
Have you seen it already?

A magical Christmas at Toy Kingdom! #giveaway

Sylvanian families

Disclaimer: A Toy Kingdom R 1500.00 gift card to spend, and the choice also available to a lucky winner through Rafflecopter!

Little Miss wrote her list to Father Christmas two weeks back, and based on that we could guide her through the difficult task of picking a Christmas present at Toy Kingdom. 

The variety is overwhelming! Even as a parent I am lost when confronted with all the options.

Luckily Little Miss has a doll's house (point 4) on her list.

Star Wars is launching on 16 December and it's exciting (to the parents, not the child - it seems ;-)) to see all the Star Wars goodies in store. We showed her the Star Wars goodies, as well as all the LEGO building sets, but Sylvanian Families won easily!

Star Wars treats!

The Sylvanian Families that got chosen:

Sylvanian Families Country Tree School R899.95
with the Chocolate Rabbit Family and the Chocolate Rabbit Baby R89.95

Plus the Rabbit Baby with Crib.

Little Miss can't wait to start playing with it! 

One reader of this blog can also win the same Sylvanian Families listed above OR the LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle Tydirium (R 1 399.00).

Enter through Rafflecopter. The winner will be announced on 4 January! (Unfortunately not in time for Christmas, but great for a New year present! Now it's a thing!)

Only open to South African readers.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have fun with Barni this week at The Zone in Rosebank - FREE

A great fun activity for children 3 - 7 years of age: Barni's Great Big Learning Adventure.
It will be open at The Zone for the rest of the week until the 18th of December. It's near the outdoor area where The Zone has put up a plastic bottle Christmas tree . It is open from 10 am - 4 pm daily.

Did I mention it is for free?

The little one's love the colouring and making finger Barnis. They are stepping into a giant storybook being helped along by friendly Barni helpers. Barni and friends also sings and dance and "picnic" (eating Barni sponge cakes) every hour on the hour.

If you haven't seen the Barni Chocolate cakes in shops already, your child will definitely have seen at in school lunchboxes. Little Miss convinced me about two months back to buy her a box of five for school, and she loves absolutely loves it! It does help that the Barni sponge cakesdoes not have colourants, preservatives or trans fats.

We were invited to the activation on Saturday, and Little Miss did not want to leave!

Photo op with Barni
(Big Sis had to pose alongside!)

Making Barni finger puppets

Part of the entertainment area

Barni adventure story being told
- each child gets a chance to pull on the kite string

What does Barni eat?
Barni chocolate sponge cakes!
Off course! ;-)

We have a problem! - how do we get her to leave ? #BarniBear pic.twitter.com/lOdxlji5aX

— Karen du Toit (@karentoittoit) December 12, 2015

A break in the Bushveld

Taking the mad rush to a screeching halt!

This is what happened this year...

It's been great taking a breather for a week!

We have been in the bush for a few days.

Little Miss has been swimming and riding her bike and we are watching sunsets.

We hired bikes and did a trail today. Little Miss did super for the first part, and all went well until she got very tired and we had to make a detour. Hubby and I continued with the bush trail, but his bike got punctures and we had to walk back until we found a ranger who gave us a lift back! 

We will call it an adventure, because it ended with a cold beer!

Next week we will be back at work, but luckily it will be slowing down! 

I love this time of year!

Are you going away for the holidays?

It's his birthday!

This time of the year always hits us with a bang!

And before we realize it is Hubby's birthday again!

I hope it will be your best year and day today!

You are much loved and appreciated in our lives!

It was difficult to find something special for him. But I found Bain's Cape Mountain Whiskey (as suggested on Rattle and Mum) with an extra power bank included at Makro yesterday. (Totally worth it!) 

Coldplay released today, but I could send the iTunes gift today. And Mark Haze's latest could also only be found on iTunes. 

What do you buy for your special man?

Snoopy and Charlie Brown fans - the movie has all the Peanuts!

 #snoopying at the premier of Snoopy & Charlie Brown : the Peanuts Movie
@sterkinekor #peanutsMovie #peanutsatMcD's #McDonalds

The most loved neurosis and second-guessing of Charlie Brown are still here in Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie when he tries to impress the Little Red-Haired Girl. Snoopy is off on a fantasy as a Flying Ace against his arch nemesis, The Red Baron, while trying to save Fifi, his love interest and pilot!

The plot/s are great and the characters are true to form! 

It is a must-see for all Peanuts fans!

We were fortunate enough to attend the Premiere at Ster-Kinekor in Rosebank this past weekend. Little Miss knows about Snoopy because I have all the characters in my office, but she loved the movie just as much as the adults did!

Photo-op with Snoopy

Snoopy tattoo

McDonald's added to the fun of the day!

Go see it!

Thanks to 20th Century Fox, Ster-Kinekor, Bokomo Otees and McDonald's for the invite!

List to Father Christmas

Little Miss made a list to Father Christmas tonight.
It is her first written list to him that she has done herself!

1. Kisses

2. Hugs

3. Ball

4. Doll's House

5. Cushion

6. Book

7. Mask

8.. Doll's coach

9. TV

10. Love

11. Rollerblades

Do you know where I can email the list to? (Our postal services will definitely not deliver it to the North Pole.)

The Little Prince movie - an all-times classic must see!

We were invited to the Premiere of The Little Prince movie.

It is a blend of the classic tale Le Petit Prince by by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, with an add-on story about a young girl who befriends her neighbour and also the elderly aviator of Le Petit Prince. The Avaitor is the narrator of the original story as the young girl tries to deal with her overbearing mother!

We really enjoyed the movie, the characters and the story line! They have done a stunning job with a classic tale, adapting it into a new classic tale that will be cherished by many!
Of course I shed a few tears as well.
Little Miss was enthralled, and even most of the younger kids stayed glued to their seats for the entire movie!

We read the Afrikaans version of the book, Die Klein Prinsie, to Little Miss last week. She knew part of the story, but she confidently told me in the car that the book is never the same as the movie! (It was not, but it kept to the original tale that was narrated by the Aviator.)

I give this movie a 10! 
(You can confidently put this movie on your list of holiday activities to do this December.)

A kitty balloon creation at the Premiere

*Toy Kingdom SA characters were there as well.

* I received the invite from Toy Kingdom SA

A genius little app creating your own emoticons and avatars: Bitmoji

Bitmoji is your own very personal Emoji and Avatar that you can create for free on your smartphone!
I hope she looks like me? I could even add in the brow lines.

The Daring Librarian, Gwyneth Jones, alerted me to it: Got Bitmoji? (It is well worth the click over to her blog.)

It is very easy to set up, and you can change every day!
It is fun! You can change the fashion accordingly.

Warning! It will drain your battery if you play with it like I did yesterday!

Do you have your own Avatar or emoji?
Share with me on Twitter or FB when you get one?

Happy weekend!

Wordless Wednesday #289 -Run