Last Day of THREE

In a few hours we will no longer have a three year old in our house .... its pretty bittersweet. I just can't believe how the years have flown by. Ria on the other hand is super duper excited. I mean we all are but its kind of emotional for J and I. Our baby is no longer a baby. She told me earlier today I could come to her birthday if I wanted to. Silly girl!!!

We spent her last day as a 3yr old getting her hair cut, eating and playing with friends at Chick Fil A in the morning

we stopped at Target cos she really wanted to go shoe shopping! We didn't find any shoes but she did get a tiara:)  After naps and getting Javan from school, we got groceries and came home to do her birthday cake. She requested the following for her birthday menu: strawberries, blueberries. some pretzels, bananas, a cookie, mangoes and maybe some pancakes. For her cake she wants a pink chocolate cake that has strawberries.

 and she wanted to help make it

 Javan did too.

He wrote her the sweetest birthday card ... my fave part 'you smell like beautiful roses' :)

Tomorrow our only plan is make our big girl feel super special. We're so excited to celebrate her all day long.

~V

Sunday Fun: Visiting Friends

It rained ALL day Sunday. and it was cold:( I told Jermaine every time I wash up our winter stuff to put away, it gets cold again.

 After church we went to TC Thompson to visit Nathan. The kids made him a birthday sign and Javan couldn't wait to see his buddy. I have some sweet pics of them together but will share at another time. Javan high fived him and hugged him and then climbed up on the bed and sat next to Nathan. It was such a sweet moment.

We visited for a little while and then headed back to church.
~V

Another Soccer Season Comes To An End

Saturday was Freedom Day in South Africa and since we couldn't be home to celebrate, the next best thing to do was enjoy what most South African love .... FOOTBALL! It was the last day for Javan's 4v4 league at Lee. He was excited about the game and awards but really disappointed that it was the last day. It was raining terribly all morning so they moved everything indoors.

We really loved his coach Shovy. It was nice for J and I to just be parents/supporters this time instead of coaching as well. Shovy wrote him a sweet little note on the back of his team picture. It says: Javan, my man, do not stop playing. You have great potential. Love you a lot, Coach Shovy.
After the awards ceremony, Shovy came up to me and said you guys really need to keep encouraging him to practice and play more cos he is really good. He said he was one of the best kids out there during the season. Makes this mama proud!

Grandma Flora came to support Javan too. She loved listening to Shovy talk about Javan's potential. She said I know thats going to make your dad proud!

Now we look forward to our summer soccer season:)
~V

Nathan's Birthday Party ... A Party We Will Never Forget

Friday evening couldn't come quick enough for Javan ... he was so excited about celebrating Nathan's birthday with him. It was really an all boy party but our little miss thinks Nathan is HER friend only and refused to leave so my plans of a girl night with her was thwarted. The boys had a really great time

Two hours into the party, Nathan hurt himself which made the rest of the evening really crazy. Let's just say this is one birthday party we will never forget.
~V

Snapshots ...

What a week this has been. It's been LONG and extremely exhausting. The only escape and downtime I have had is at the gym each morning. I know Jermaine is glad this week is almost over. He is getting to see the light at the end of the tunnel .... slowly but he's getting there. We've barely seen him this week and that's really no exaggeration. We pretty much saw him at breakfast each morning and we were in bed before most nights before he even got home. He taught all day, had soccer practice and games after school, kids church, classes at Lee, presentations at Lee and research papers to write (one more big research paper to go and he will be done with graduate stuff for this semester on May 9 - start back up in Aug) ... needless to say he is ready for a break and we are ready to have some much needed time together.

Monday we just busied ourselves playing games and reading

 Ria was trying to blow Javan's link of monkeys

 didn't quite work

J made it home just before bath time and in all their excitement running to him, Ria bust her lip. She got some ice

 and love from big bro

Tuesday is 'Ria and Mummy Day' - we spend pretty much the whole morning out until nap time. Our day starts of with our trip to the gym, then its home to get a quick shower and pack some snacks/lunch (all in about 30mins) and head to the library. Our library has story time every Tuesday morning and Ria LOVES it. We get to sing, dance around, listen to stories (each week has a theme - this week was all about picnics) and then we do crafts related to the story. This week even had snacks and a movie. After the library I asked Ria what she wanted to do. She replied, 'Lets go buy some shoes!' We had lunch at Panera, just the two of us. It was so much fun sitting outside chatting with her. Of cos I spent most of the time laughing at her silly stories. Once we were done, she reminded me that we needed to go get some shoes. I asked her which shoe store she wanted to go to. She says 'you know the one you turn left first, then right, then you drive some more and park the car and we go inside!' We just went to the mall and walked around for a while and then got home to nap. She was exhausted and fell asleep in no time

After naps we got Javan from school and did a little baking before soccer practice

 Javan took these pics ... he's getting a little creative!

soccer practice was fun

the princesses kept me company

while this butterfly fluttered and cartwheeled around the field

Thursday we played outside with chalk and rode bikes

Ria drew an armadillo

Friday deserves a post all on its own!
~V