First, Tarrin came to visit:
My best friend Tarrin, who has not been back to SA since she relocated to Ireland with her husband Karl 16 months ago, sneakily decided to surprise everyone with a 3 week visit back home. As you can imagine, I was most excited to see her, and to finally introduce her to Zac. They hit it off immediately, and when Andel had to go away on business for the week, Tarrin happily stepped in and took over Andel's role: she helped get him ready for bed, and got him up and dressed and dropped off at school in the morning. By the time she had to leave, both Zac and I were very sad to see her go. Thankfully, she is attending a wedding in SA next year, so she and Karl will be back.
During that time, Ethan turned 1:
With Ethan's mommy and daddy very busy at work, Aunty Dom was appointed head party-planner, and did an awesome job. Everything at the party was thoughtfully selected, co-ordinated and babyproofed - even the weather!
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| The birthday cake, made by aunty Tarrin |
And what a baby-fest this was! There were at least 7 babies Ethan's age or under: all learning to sit or crawl or stand, and keeping the mommies on their toes. Thankfully the big brothers and sisters were old enough and happy to occupy themselves. Even Jorja was on her best behaviour - despite spending the afternoon climbing trees in her Princess dress!
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| Ethan shrieks in excitement - it is his day, after all! |
Then the boys celebrated their first Easter:
Ashleigh hosted Easter lunch at Papu and Yaya's house, and the whole family was invited. We enjoyed a scrumptious spread of roti and curry for starter, crumbed chicken, succulent lamb, rice, roast potatoes and fresh vegetables in cheese sauce for mains, and baked sago and custard for dessert. Sadly, the daddies had to be at work (month-end madness) so they missed lunch, but joined us (much later) for tea and left overs.
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| Grand-daddy Love |
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| Bat-boys - courtesy of the UK |
Despite our best attempts, we were not able to keep Ethan and Zac entirely chocolate free. Mind you, there was quite a bit of chocolate drama - the biggest being my faux pas in selecting Jorja a blue Easter bunny when I really should have known that she likes purple.
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| Who says I'm not old enough to eat Easter Eggs?! |
Still, we all enjoyed a very blessed time together, remembering the gift of eternal life that Jesus made possible when He took on the sins of the world and conquored death for us. And I'm so grateful that our children will grow up in this knowledge, and have their lives changed by it...
"train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it"
proverbs 22:6
they are too cute in their rain jackets!
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