Sea, Sun, Sand and Ice-cream

On a random Sunday afternoon in January we took a stroll at the beach to buy some Ice-cream... It's a "tradition" that we always wish we could do more often, instead it becomes a random occurrence too few, and far between.

It really is simplistically & peacefully beautiful.  The sea. The sun. Ice Cream. Happy Kids. Fresh Air. 

I love that Sophia literally screams for her ice-cream (especially if you try to help her eat it).... and I love how Christopher is mesmerised by the rolling of the waves.  Like I've said before over and over again: It's the littlest things :)

Almost FOUR!

My baby-boy can't understand why I'm giving him excessive hugs and kisses all week.  So precious are the minutes and seconds that we spend with our kids, it's out of pure disbelief of how quickly he's grown that I've gone into cuddling overload with him.

Today is his last day of being THREE, tomorrow he turns FOUR.  Whadda boytjie!

Just the other day he was 6 weeks old:

and then a few seconds later he was 3 months old:

and then I blinked my eyes and he was 5 weeks away from turning FOUR:

Monkey ONE and Monkey (me)TOO... Monkey-ing around!

Me and my Camera

So it's out there now.  In cyberspace, somewhere in the universe... my new photography business.

Holding my breathe to see what happens, wondering if it's good enough, if I could do more, if I could do better, if I've ticked all the boxes... waiting... and then... I got it!

Fan-mail.

 Seriously. I couldn't believe it, I'm awed and humbled by the amount of people that have taken time out of their day to actually write an email/comment/text about my renewed venture into the world of photography, just to say what they think of my website, my entrepreneurship, my courage and of course my photos.  Words of encouragement, praise and loads of luck.

And boy do I feel lucky...

...to have such awesome friends, family and random strangers in my life ;)

Thank you to everyone that's cheering for me and referring(!) my business.  I'll continue to blog in my personal capacity on this site, but for most of my photographic endeavours please see the new website (that has its own separate blog as well): 

www.joannejohansen.weebly.com

It's all still really a work in progress, so look out for updates!

Wishing everyone a happy weekend,

First of the Forest Walks

When we got to Germany, one of the first outings with the kids was to the forest, for a fresh and cool walk... unfortunately I couldn't go with.  It seems that Murphy travelled with me from South Africa, and surprised me the day after we landed. 

In an attempt to pick up a screaming Sophia in front of the shop around the corner from the house, I put out my back... a searing pain shot up my spine, and it went into a very painful spasm.  Walking home from there, up close to a million steps was not fun.  First week of my holiday spent on the couch. Yay. Not.

The reason for Sophia having a full-on tantrum was because she refused to put on her beanie... which was another unforeseen element to our holiday. She hates cold weather, and also hates getting dressed warmly to go out into winter.  So this lead to many hours of coaxing, reasoning, yelling, threatening and bribing just to get her to put on a pair of tights!

This would explain the sullen look on her face in many holiday pics, whereas Christopher is a completely different kid. Loves the cold, loves going outside in winter - in fact, since we've been back to some amazing sunshine weather, he's already asked me to go back to see some more snow... I asked if he doesn't preferred running through the sprinkler at home in the sunshine.  Apparently not.

I wish I could take credit for these amazing snapshots, but they're all Matty's doing ;)

Exciting times ahead, getting ready to launch my new Photography website... can't wait!

Watch this space,

First Christmas Lunch

Just before we jetted off to Germany for our December Holiday, we had a pre-"Christmas" lunch with Bradley's family here at home. 

A great afternoon, just relaxing chatting and catching up... minus the usual Christmas Lunch preparations stress!  We've seriously talked and discussed the possibility of moving "the Lunch" to an earlier date (when the shops are still stocked and haven't pushed their prices up yet!) and then just spending the actual Christmas day together, maybe even plan an outing!

Wonder if that idea will ever really take off (doubt it), guess we all really a suckers for traditions, so we'll just take pressure of all that cooking, just as it's always been!

Cheers! 

Starter crayfish and roasted peppers stuffed with anchovy, olive and herb paste... Yummy!

Mains with Gammon, Lamb, Couscous salad, Beetroot salad, Cucumber & pomegranate salad and roast baby potatoes with crème fraiche

Summer Fun = Just add Water

Taryn's Babyshower

Last November we hosted Taryn's Babyshower... what a great day it turned out to be!  Unlike the weather that created much frustration on Sophia's Birthday Party the previous weekend; Taryn's day turned out to be beautiful.

So much preparation and energy went into the creation of this little Soiree, especially by her mother Sally and cousin Janine.  Not knowing what she was expecting, they decided to go with a Green and Purple "about to POP" theme.  

With catered food and Janine's baked goodies, we couldn't wait to start tasting all the yummy treats... between that, the great Décor, and fun games, it was an all-round successful and happy day!

Seeing Taryn all excited about the gifts for little babba was so special, and admittedly, made me feel a bit nostalgic about my own pregnancies and all the feelings that went with it.

Since then, on 19 December she gave birth to a healthy, happy beautiful little girl: 

Sarah-Jane Harris

Spending time with her makes me go all sappy and sentimental about how quickly my kids are growing up!

Chris and the Chameleon

There's something really special about the way Christopher deals with animals. 

He genuinely get super-excited when he finds those tiny little shongologo's that come out when it starts to rain; this morning he was really disappointed when the moth he had discovered yesterday at the front door wasn't there any-more.  He loves the dear gecko that lives in his room, and with great enthusiasm will explain to you that Gerry hangs around to protect him from those pesky mosquito's.  I can't even count the amount of ants (!) he picks up and tries to take with him to school - that have subsequently gotten "lost" in the car.

Last week I had to jump out of the shower in a panicked rush to a high-pitched shriek from Chris: "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy... please come quickly!" thinking the worst, dripping wet footprints throughout the house, barely grabbing the towel off the rail, I high-tail it to the living room to find Christopher jumping up and down, pointing to the TV, barely able to contain himself: "Look Mommy, baby Llama, aren't they cute!"

Not one day passes, without him asking me when he can get a dog, cat, monkey, porcupine and sheep.  Just this morning we had a discussion about why we can't keep a Honey Badger in the back yard. Seriously.

So when Christopher found his Chameleon, it was love at first sight.  Not flinching one bit, he let the critter crawl all over him and just stood there beaming from ear to ear.  And then, with such resolve, he went over to the plants and put the Chameleon down, turning around he said: "Larry needs to go back to his mommy now and catch some flies to eat, he must be getting hungry".  Just like that the encounter was over, he didn't beg me to keep him.

There's something really special about the way Christopher deals with animals.

Wishing everyone a Happy Weekend!

Lessons in Courage

Like a overzealous mommy with a camera, I couldn't resist taking close to a million snapshots of my kids last Saturday, when Sophia went for her first Horse-riding lesson.

I must admit, I didn't have too much faith in her, and thought she'd sit on the horse for a few minutes before getting bored with the whole outing. Not so.

My baby-girl has been watching Christopher over the past year riding on the Horsies and patiently waited for the day that she'd finally be allowed to ride herself.  She was so determined and quietly confident it blew me away.

Christopher's horse-riding skills have excelled and my little man is now holding the reigns BY HIMSELF (no lead reign) and steering the horse all on his own!  

After his turn, Sophia got on without a word and sat in the saddle like a natural, I can foresee that in the future there will be many activities that she will take on with the same tenacity and courage.