Renovations update

Yes. We're 3 weeks into the process!

So far, we're taking the whole thing pretty well. At least the house still feels liveable and all that. But the chaos has already started. Here are the things that have gone wrong already:

1. We started a week late, because the builder was late in supplying some documents that the bank needed.
2. We've discovered that the roof of one section of the house needs to be redone. That's expensive. Sigh. But I've seen the roof trusses, and oh my word. It needs fixing.
3. In addition, we have to change the layout of the existing sewer system, essentially reroute about 30 metres of sewage line that we weren't planning to do.
4. The electrician did not follow our instructions on where to place the electrical points, so those have to be redone.
5. A window was bricked up against our instructions, and had to be redone.
6. We've discovered that our electrical system is not up to code so the main DB board has to be mostly redone.
7. The removal of trees around the addition site was more expensive than expected.

This is 3 weeks in. Another 15 or so to go. This might end up being an expensive exercise.

I need to download an app that allows me to get pics from my iPad online without plugging it into a PC - then I can show you the chaos.

Knowledge (the 5yo version)

So my 5 year old told my husband that she knows a LOT - more than he does, in fact. He asked her what she knows, and here is the comprehensive list:

1. Dragons are not real.
2. The husband can have a ring or not.
3. We don't have to bath every day.
4. We must always wear sunscreen.
5. Fruit and vegetables are healthy.
6. Sweets are unhealthy.
7. Children should not drink beer.
8. We must not give mommy a hard time.
9. We must not touch fire.
10. We should not always play with the same toy.
11. We must wash our hands.
12. When we swim, we should close our eyes.
13. We must have a patio.
14. When it is cold we must wear a scarf and jacket.
15. Water is important.

There you have it!

Plants vs zombies - the birthday

So the theme for my youngest's second birthday was based on the coolest PC game ever. Not that she plays it, obviously, but if I'm in front of the PC, she generally demands "I want zombies! I want zombies!" until I play a level while she sits on my lap. And since I try to reflect their preferences in the theme for the birthdays, she got a plants vs zombies birthday.

The cupcake-cake:

The birthday girl:

And her friend eating a zombie (she'll obviously be a major defense factor in the zombie apocalypse):

My girls

As I write this, the most wonderful girls in the whole world are playing next to me, pretending to be dogs. They're conversing entirely in versions of "woof woof". Except that the baby adds a "braaaaaaains" in between every now and then. She's a plants vs zombies fan.

(Watch this space for her birthday cupcakes).

Anyway, I haven't showed you any pictures of them, so let me just show off for a moment:

Starting off with some old pics, but we had them done professionally so I really like them. The baby was about 2 weeks old here, the older had turned 3 less than 2 months earlier.

That's me and the little one (H), and obviously this one too:

Big sister J, very much a girly girl. She loves pretty dresses and flowers and so on. Look at the Justin Bieber hairstyle! (Yeah. It works on 3 year old girls).

The family. At the back left is my father in law, then the best husband in the world, and then his brother. In front is J on my mother in law's lap, and then me with H. See how tired I am?

Fast forward about 7 months and we have these:

Amazing how quickly they grow up - J almost more than H. 

And then in April of this year (so again about 8 months later):

The two sisters just love each other. I mean, they fight and everything, but they really love each other.

Yes. I am the most blessed mommy in the world.

Home renovations

Hanno and I have been planning a new kitchen since we first moved into our house, 2.5 years ago. We had plans drawn up by an architect – worth every cent, by the way. Hanno told me all along that we should get an architect and I resisted because I didn’t want to spend more than we had to, but she came up with such incredible ideas for the house that I can’t imagine doing this without her. So here it is in writing: Hanno was right! Of course our original plan would have been significantly cheaper, but much less awesome and I suppose the trade-off between awesome and cheap is a pretty easy one to make.

Plans were approved a week ago, so now we’re applying for loans and getting kitchen designs and building quotes and deciding on tiles etc. At times I want to postpone the whole thing for a year just so we can breathe for a while, I really dislike it when my life feels this hectic. But on the other hand, the kitchen is going to be FANTASTIC. Now if only we can fast-forward through the next 4 months...