Fancy a Cuppa?

I couldn't resist another photo shoot of the kittens - we gave these teacups to my daughter's teachers' assistants at the end of the school year, but not before I popped a kitten in one for a picture! And, because they're now four weeks old, it's time for a weight-update...
Clockwise, from top left; Tilly - 520g, Toby - 630g, Stripy - 600g and Tigger - 550g.
We've introduced some kitten food now, they had their first taste on Friday, with Tigger and Tilly being the only ones keen. On Saturday Stripy and Toby joined in, and this morning, they needed no encouragement and tucked in. Check them out...oh, and look at Toby's legs!

Naartjie Girl

South Africa has a wonderful children's clothing range called Naartjie (also available in the States) and on a recent visit out there I found this cute little surfer girl costume for my daughter. Then I fell in love with a set of scrapbook papers my mom had (and after severe hinting she gave me her set - thanks Mom!) Of course, the two go together so perfectly, so now that I've taken these photos, I'll have to get my scrapbook page done. I love how carefree she looks in these pictures, she loved posing for me.

Look who's three weeks old now!

The kittens are now officially too big for the kitchen scales. They fit, they just walk off the edge! So we did weigh them, but we just wrote down their weights and I took some cutie patootie shots of them instead. I love how playful they're getting. They pounce and attack, and Tigger did that sideways jumpy thing that kittens do, it was too sweet for words!

Little Toby-roo, weighs in at a whopping 500g!

Miss Tilly, a dainty 445g.

We should re-name Stripy Tubby, because he weighs 520g!

Tigger brings in the rear at 440g.

Some no-claws-bared action.

Butter wouldn't melt!

Have you ever seen...

...a mushroom this big? We were driving back home after a day at the beach, and I spotted this mushroom growing on the side of the road. Everyone else missed it, so I turned the car around to show them - it looked big enough to be worth the effort. It is seriously the biggest mushroom I have ever seen growing naturally, and hopefully you get the idea from these pictures. I know nothing about them, does anyone know if this one is edible or poisonous? We didn't touch it, just in case!

Little Green Grasshopper

This little guy spent two days on our budding sunflower, which is right outside the front door. Every time I went outside, I'd see him and think "I must get my camera" so I did, eventually. The wind was blowing, he kept moving around, and I was using my 28-70mm, which is not technically a macro lens, but I was quite chuffed to get these two in-focus shots! Click on them to see them bigger.

More Kitties

That Toby is creeping into our hearts! I know we said we want to keep a female, and then it turned out that Tilly is the only girl, but little Toby is just too cute. He is the most adventurous of the bunch, and instantly crawls out of the basket when any of us come to say hi. My daughter thinks that maybe if we keep one to be her brother's cat (seeing as Rosie is hers) maybe it should be a boy? Tilly is pretty, I guess we'll wait and see - but we're not keeping two of them!

Two Weeks old!

Tigger, 330g
Toby, 380g
Stripy, 370g
Tilly, 320g

So the kittens are now two weeks old, their eyes are properly open and they are getting cuter and cuter! They are starting to walk, as opposed to crawl, and keep plopping out of the basket and then they can't get themselves back in! We're going to have to put up some kind of barrier, I think! I think we're in for some major developments this week...

Hello, Blog visitors!

Okay, so I was inspired to leave my blog visitors a message specially for them by Jordan, a fellow Pea and photographer. She also had a little Feddjit counter (see to the right) that tells us who's visited our blogs from around the world.
I love that there are so many visitors from so many different countries, but I'd love to know who you are! Did you stumble across my blog by accident, or do you come here on purpose? I have a visitor from Parow, South Africa...who are you? I used to live in Cape Town, so I'd love to know who's visiting from there?! There's someone from Winterthur, Zurich that comes often, hello! Of course, you can also see how often I come to my own blog (Guildford, UK!) to see if anyone's left me some love!
So, a la Jordan, leave me a question, leave me a comment, or just say hi, I'd love to know who you are and maybe visit your blog if you have one? I'll leave you a comment....

Apple Tree Farm

I have had this little cardboard cut-out farm for years. I must have bought it around 1995 or so, I fell in love with it on so many levels. It was made of paper. It was by Usborne, by my favourite illustrator, Stephen Cartwright. It required fiddly sticking and folding. It came in a book of press-out shapes. So, I bought it, and I have stored it carefully wherever I have been living, moving it from Cape Town to Jo'burg and back down to Cape Town with me. Stored in Cape Town for two years, and finally, brought to my current address in England.

So what's different now? Why, after all these years of careful storage, have I popped out the pieces and constructed the farm?
Look who's playing with it! My very own mini-me, my daughter! She loves it, and sat patiently with me, helping me find the right roof for the right building, the right tree in the right spot, the animals in their sheds and fields, and the people, all busy with their chores and duties around the farm.

I realise that in a week or so it's probably going to end up in the recycling box, buckled and bent and not quite so pretty anymore, but, it will have been played with! And of couse, I took these pictures so that we will always remember Apple Tree Farm.

Ballet Recital

My daughter has been doing ballet for about two years now, starting off at preschool just having fun pretending to be fairies and butterflies. Now she's almost at grade one level, and still loving every moment. She had her dance recital today, it was a long day for them with two performances back to back, but they all enjoyed it. It was called "Around the World in 80 Days". My daughter was a tulip in Holland. Here are a couple of snapshots!

Arriving at the theatre.

The Gardener, an Ice-Skater, and my Tulip!

Waiting to go backstage...

The babies (Snowflakes in Austria) with the big girls...

I could just eat them up!

Finale!

One Week Old!

How cute is this little guy? We've named him Toby, until he goes to his new home in August, where he'll probably get a new name too. He loves lying on his back with his belly in the air!

The two tabbies can often be found cuddling each other. Stripy's eyes are almost completely open now, so he's looking quite sweet. We're calling the other one Tigger, for now.

And our little Tilly. My daughter named her in the end, and I couldn't like the name more if I'd thought of it myself!

Master Tigger, 260g
Master Toby, 240g
Master Stripy, 250g
Miss Tilly, 240g

The Furbabies

Three posts in one day! Just a quick update on the kittens. It looks like three boys and one girl, the tortoiseshell being the girl. She's the one we want to keep, so now we're trying to think of a name for her. The mum was almost going to be called Flicker, until my daughter asked if we could call her Rosie, instead. Being her cat, I let her change the name, so now I am leaning towards calling her kitten Flicker. My husband likes Fudge. Their umbilical cords have dropped off, their eyes aren't open yet, but it should be any day now. They are getting quite vocal, and they are becoming quite the little fighters, when it comes to getting in each others way of their milk! In the top picture, they are actually lying in their birth order. Closer inspection of the photos I took shows tabby-white-socks was first, then the black-and-white, then all-tabby, then the tortoise-shell. Oh they are sweet things!

I Love Knicknacks!

In my very first post on this blog, I mentioned how my husband nearly killed himself putting this shelf up. We had decided that a floating shelf above the telly would be perfect to display the wedding invitation art from our friends in Cape Town, along with a few of my knicknacks.

Well, he started drilling the first hole, but the wall is super tough, and even with the hammer drill he was really battling. He'd gotten it about 1cm, then stopped, and suddenly asked me "Do you think the electric cables run up from this power socket?" In a straight line down from where he was drilling, were all the telly and phone and internet plugs.

So of course, we couldn't exactly continue and just hope for the best, so we threw the kids in the car and headed down to Homebase, to get one of those detector devices. Came back home, raided the Spider-man walkie talkies for the batteries, switched it on and Oh my Goodness! It squealed with the highest pitch alarm right over the hole my husband had been drilling. He felt quite giddy after that. A few inches to the right, and the coast was clear, we did finally get a floating shelf up above the telly!

I love how it looks, with the birds, my Willow Tree children, an old college etch that I recently found the perfect frame for, my wooden family, and a bunch of sweetpeas from my garden in a gorgeous vintage milk jug I found on Sunday!

Teddy Bear Festival

Our local parish community have a wonderful festival every year, inviting schools, preschools, groups and individuals to enter a Teddy Bear or sometimes Scarecrow in a competition. The Bears/Scarecrows are arranged around the church and grounds, and the community all gather to vote, try their luck on the tombolas, have burgers and Pimm's under the trees, and generally have a lovely family day out. This year, my son's preschool (known for their wonderfully creative entries) entered their Pearly King and Queen Bears. We had been asked to donate as many buttons as possible earlier in the term, but I never would have guessed what they were doing with them! The Mother and Toddler group I take my son to also entered a bear, we named ours Percy the Gardener, and we all thought he looked rather sweet. Of course, Pearly Pete and Peg took the prize by a huge majority, and ours came second!