Holiday Fun: Baking Pancakes!

Wow, can't believe how time is flying!  We over the hump of April and hurtling towards May! I'm in serious denial that half this year is almost over. 

I've been really scarce lately setting up my Photography Business AND am still putting the pieces of my To-Do list back together after entertaining the kids for a two week Easter Holiday.

Amongst other things, such as: tent-building in the lounge, shopping excursions, arts 'n crafts, gardening fun and a visit to the ice-rink... we made Pancakes!

We also made Cheese Muffins on a different day, but they got eaten before we could take any Pictures!

More holiday pics to follow soon.

Kids with real paint

We decided to get the kids involved in their own room makeover as part of our a-room-a-month mission.

So this past public holiday we dressed them in old clothes and braved two kiddies with "real" paint and paintbrushes... they had so much fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully we'll be able to make our deadline for the end of the month... so much to do still!

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,

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!

Sophia's Birthday

Some pics of the kids unwrapping presents on Sophia's Birthday last year:


(the phone was actually's Christopher's gift, but it ended up being the best present of the lot... even trumping the trampoline!?!?) 

Next I'll post some pics of her actual Birthday Party!