Rachel's 13th!

Oh what fun... a birthday party, with a "Medieval" dress up theme. JohnD used his duiker skin from the duiker he shot - and made a quiver for his bow & arrow. Carol was AMAZING with making his "Little John" outfit. ;) Micaela went as the "milk maid" - and she won the prize! The anticipation of the party went on for weeks, so by the time Saturday moring rolled in - they were just fit to be tied!I also was very amused to see the dressing up of our little Maddie! Who says that only cats and dogs can be dressed up as princesses? You can't see it here, but Mommy is firmly tied up for all of this. After my incident with her, the kids have a healthy respect for that Mommy!

Weekend hunters...

Ivan came to visit over the weekend, and for the first time ever, the two boys went off hunting on their own! They got a few guineafowl, and a duiker!!! It took them most of the morning to skin the duiker out, and clean it all up! Needless to say, Ivan's family had guinea for dinner Sunday night!
The kids also figured out that the horses are way more cooperative in the cart than the donkeys!!! Talk about a mean speed... Somehow I think the donkey's cart days are now over.

Maddie's arrival!

YES!!! Little Maddie was born. Micaela, Matt and I all got kisses and hugs from her this morning. She is just too cute for words!

Big Mistake!!!

I went to donate blood on Monday, so chuffed with myself for "doing my good deed" and made the terrible mistake of going to the Post Office afterwards to collect a parcel for Mom. Well, unbeknowns to me... standing still (in a queue) right after donating blood is a guaranteed way to get a blackout! 100% :( YUP - you guess it. I went down like a ton of bricks, and whacked my head something cronic. Talk about painful way to learn what not to do. The nausea, dizzyness, congestion, bruising, sore neck, and massive egg are not typical side effects of donating blood - oh golly I long to feel normal again! The staff there were so very sweet, helpful and caring. A friend drove us home. Don't make my mistake!!!

This and that...

How is it that time just seeps away from me, every day... and no matter how good my intentions are to record all of the important little things; they simply are not enough? Just a few pics to share with you all...
Ziggy (a young mare) is still great friends with Jasmine & Chloe. She is in the background.

Ken's been really busy building a crawl for the cattle. We now have 5 BEAUTIFUL Nguni Calves, and the "nursery" is at Dad and Mom's (Silverbank).

Matt Fulmer is here with us from SC, and he has joined us for a month. It's been great having him here, and he was fortunate to experience first hand the capture that was on the go the full first week he was here! He has had some close encounters with the buffalo too!!!

Micaela and Kyra riding.

Can you believe this ICE!!! Yes... waterholes frozen. None of us were particularly excited... we just shivered and stayed inside!

We got some painting done on my stoep and passage! We have also started the major job of re-painting the lodge. Oh boy is that a big job.

The kids thoroughly enjoyed Derek, Jen, Karin, Michael & Kyra's visit last month!

Guess who made friends with the pilot? The cold spell really dried out the veldt overnight!

How low CAN you go? !

Stripes (a young stallion) who is blind, has adopted the Nguni heard, and stays pretty close to the crawl. He paces in circles, if he senses anyone approaching... we guess a snake got him last year.

Phat Tire is doing well, and LOVES all of the children's attention. The donkeys are doing well, Zoe still has not had her foal. She seriously looks like she is going to pop any day now. Poor little thing!

P.T.L. Another "ALL CLEAR"!!!

Oh God is Good!  God is Faithful!  We are celebrating yet another "ALL CLEAR" report from JohnD's Oncologist.  The two of us drove through to Pretoria yesterday for his second checkup.

It was good to hear those words... and healing too!

My heart is happy. Our boy is OKAY!

Micaela's sense of humor...

I keep forgetting to share this with you... Micaela really has a quick and dry sense of humor!

When it comes to our lunch table - we usually only have one vinegarette salad dressing on the table - not five different choices.... like the folks from the States are used to.

When one of our new guests asked if 'the salad dressing was a vinegarette dressing' - she chirped - yes, we only serve female salad dressings here.