Ninja Take Two

Halloween isn't a big deal to us (its not something we do in South Africa and J says its looked down upon in the Bahamas), but I love that our church does something so that the kids still have the opportunity to dress up in cute costumes and have fun. Cleveland had a bunch of different activities going on tonight but we decided to stop by two. Javan really only wanted to stay at one place though! And, thankfully our Little Ninja did a whole lot better today! We went out to Pathway bookstore for a trunk or treat that was sponsored by Westmore Church and it was packed! Javan isn't into candy so he spent his whole time playing on the inflatables! Here's a few pictures ... I think he looks so cute:)





Larry the Cucumber aka Nathan!

Steph was a cat!

Noah the mouse and Karen the Pink Dragon


We stopped by Centenary and then headed home. It was a fun, but tiring evening out and I'm glad Javan had a great time!
~V

Zonked

Wednesday was a ROUGH day for all of us, but more J and I. Our wonderful son decided that he would stay awake between the awesome hours of 3am-6:30am and make life miserable for mum and dad ... for no apparent reason. Needless to say his schedule was completely off on Wednesday. He fell asleep before we left for church - this is how we found him.


kinda hard to be mad at this sweet little thing!

~V

I'm a 'Inja'

We had a really tough time thinking of what costume Javan would wear this year - just about everything had a headpiece of some sort and well, head things and Javan just don't go together anymore. We looked at several different costumes. I really liked this cute little golfer outfit but J didn't. We narrowed it down to a doctor, but Jermaine changed his mind and wanted him to be a fireman. We couldn't find an outfit his size so we saw this Ninja outfit and it didn't necessarily need the headpiece, so we figured it would work. Javan was excited to be a 'inja' ... too bad that excitement didn't manifest this afternoon at our Fall Festival at church! He wore his costume for about 20mins at most and was DONE. Needless to say I didn't get any good pictures at all.

~V

Is it Better Now?

Earlier this week I pulled out this doctor kit that Javan got for his birthday - we still haven't given him all the gifts from his birthday! He loves it and as you can see he's making sure we're ok. He keeps asking 'Is it better now mummy/daddy?' and then he says 'ok is better'

even the pumpkin had to get checked!

The Fruit Ghost

Jermaine bought bananas last week and when I grabbed one of the bunch, I noticed it was a little mushy and the peel was broken. I was annoyed that he wasted money on a bad bunch so of cos I had to ask him about it. When I did he showed me something very interesting ... Can you tell what it is?
~V

Random Facts

I got my first tag thanks to Katie so here's SEVEN RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME...

1. I love to travel. I have a list of places that I really want to go to - Australia/New Zealand is right up there and I really want to see New York during the holiday season.

2. Speaking of holiday season, my fave time of year is Christmas. So many great memories - cooking with my parents (it was a family effort for sure - Dad makes the best stuffing and salads!), wrapping gifts, visiting family, carolling, parties, church on Christmas morning, etc. and Boxing Day (day after Christmas) we all hit the beach! I'm used to it being nice and sunny during our holidays. I love that the holiday season extends into the first week of January at home - that doesn't happen in the US. It's also nice to experience a cold Christmas - we get the best of both worlds! Oh, one Christmas we spent out in the middle of the Indian Ocean en route to Mauritius - it was a blast!

3. I love elephants - I think they're such beautiful animals. I want to do an elephant ride in Thailand some day.

4. I love planning stuff and though I'm not necessarily a crafty person, I love doing crafty things (like scrapbooking, etc)

5. I love running (not on a treadmill though). I ran my first 5km when I was 8 or 9 and I did a half marathon when I was 14 (my dad fudged my date of birth on the app! You had to be 16 but I was training with him and my mum so he let me do it). One crazy thing that barely anyone knows about me is that I used to run barefeet. I've run several races (5km, 10km) barefeet and never once got cut nor did I ever get blisters. My dad used to call me Zola Budd (she's a South African runner who always ran barefeet). I ran cross country when I was at Lee and at my first race, I decided to go barefeet. The entire course was on grass and it was raining and it felt awesome. People kept staring at me and it made me very self-conscious so that was the last time I ran barefeet.

6. I started cooking at a relatively young age, maybe 10, and I love it. I was always in the kitchen with my mum. I don't necessarily follow recipes. Its hard when someone asks me for a recipe for an Indian dish cos its basically a little bit of this and a little of that (maybe not exactly true but thats how I learnt from my mum, aunts and grandmothers). I cook all kinds of food though, not just Indian!

7. I could eat ice-cream for every meal if it were 'allowed' and if it didn't make me fat! Frozen yogurt with fresh mango and strawberry is a good compromise though.

I think I'm supposed to tag some people too so I tag:
Jamie
Tammie
Heather

Hope you'll share some random things about yourselves!
~Veryll

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday was the first cool day we've had since the start of autumn. Its actually the first time we were cold (anything below 70F is cold for us tropical people!). Javan and I spent most of the morning snuggling under a blanket on our sofa! In the afternoon we decided to experience what is definitely a very American thing. It was a first time for all 3 of us to visit a pumpkin patch and pick pumpkins. We headed of to Riceville (about 15mins from Cleveland) with Katie, Randy and baby Rody. Guthrie Farms has a corn maze, petting zoo, a pumpkin patch and all sorts of fun activities. We absolutely enjoyed ourselves!

We enjoyed a picnic first and then headed of on the tractor ride to the pumpkin patch. Javan loved the tractor. At the pumpkin patch, he kept following Randy around wanting to help him get the pumpkins. I didn't we'd come home with a pumpkin but Jermaine picked one for us and helped Javan get one too. After finding the perfect pumpkins, we headed to the petting zoo and were entertained by some silly goats! There were also pigs, donkeys, horses, cows, rabbits and ducks. We ended the night walking in circles in the maze. Geez that was frustrating! And no we never did find our way out. So the guys finally conceded to us gals and took the short cut we found to the exit. We ended a perfect evening with hot chocolate.



our first hayride





a rare pic of just us!


I think he found the perfect 'baby' pumpkin!

Taste test!

feeding the goats

Javan armed and ready to lead the way through the maze!

- Veryll

How Much Longer Before ....

Javan has to get into a toddler bed? We've put of converting his crib into a toddler bed but clearly those days are numbered. Today he kept calling me and so I went to his room and this is what I find:

Thankfully he's only climbed out once since he figured out how to do this. He usually calls us in the morning: "Mummy/Daddy. I'm ready come out." I just want to keep him confined as long as possible!
~Veryll

Pret-a-port

About a month ago we agreed to help our friend with an event he was hosting. And today was the day ... the event was called Namaste Chattanooga (Namaste means hello in Hindi) and this was the first year for it. There was a live band, a fashion show and I'm not sure what else since I was backstage. J was co-MC and I was in the adult fashion show and J carried Javan in the kids show.

Pre-show - hair and make-up. Yes I have a large blue feather sticking out on my head. You never know what you get yourself into when you help friends out!!!

Jennifer and I all decked out ... at least I wasn't alone in this!


the only family pic we got and its not even a great one - as you can see Javan is about to make an exit!

Show time! Jermaine doing his thing. I'm sure he did great but I couldn't tell you what went on since we were backstage the entire time!

The fashion show had three rounds to it: Indian clothing, a kids show and fusion (but really it wasnt fusion clothing - just regular party clothes). here's a few pics





and here's Javan on the runway with Jermaine! This was a last minute thing. He was the youngest kid there and actually not part of the show at all but since I had him dressed in a kurta the organizers thought it would be cute if I walked with him. But I couldn't find him when I got done with my round (he was playing with the childcare person) Jermaine found him in time for the kids show. He watched everyone walk up on the stage and copied what they were doing. But he freaked out when they put him up on the stage so J carried him and walked with him.


It was long day and our feet ached when we were done but it was a fun experience.
~Veryll