What Makes Me Happy

Leigh Ann this post is just for you my friend! I was tagged and am happy to comply (not like Just Mom) albeit a difficult task choosing just 6 things that make me happy…there are so many!

In compliance with the meme listed are 6 things that make me happy....

Waking up to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee

When my children sleep past 7:00 a.m.

(btw, this never happens but it would make me very happy if it did)

Warm weather

Singing at the top of my lungs and not caring one iota what anyone thinks

Knowing my hope is in the Lord

AND the top thing making me happy right now…..

Is the fact that my brother, his wife and 4 children will be with the Franzenfam 24/7 for 2 weeks starting TOMORROW!!! Whoo-hoo!

My Party Shoes

My google friend, Heidi was correct. Flip flops are called slip slops or slops here. I guess because your feet slop around in them or they are sloppy apparel....not really sure.

What I did not expect with my purchase was a built in bottle opener. Yep, see for yourself.




Guess my taste in footwear leans towards the party shoes. Bet you didn't know I was such a party animal. We had a cherry limeade fiesta and used my slops to open the bottles....I know we are hard core over here.




There you have it sandals with a bottle opener in the sole...has to be American made. :-)

A Little SA Quiz

I purchased some slops the other day. My slops came with a bottle opener.

What did I purchase?

BTW, if you did not receive a SMILE from Africa click here to see how you can!

Proudly South African

It was Arts and Culture Week at Sky’s school. One of the days they were supposed to come dressed, “Proudly South African”. Of course I learned about the need for this SA attire at 3:30 p.m. the day prior when Skyler mentioned it on our way home from ballet. Now you must understand that we don’t have Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby or stores that stay open 24 hours here. Most everything closes by 6:oo p.m. So we are left to creativity which at its best is pretty scary for me most days.

Somewhere between the car ride home and my afternoon cuppa coffee the idea struck. I wish I could claim I am as creative and talented as my friend Gayla (if you haven’t seen her Olympics b-day post you must…so creative!) but every once in a while when put to the test, the creative juices start flowing and I come up with something good. Now the artistic flare to carry out the creative ideas is another story.

We decided to construct a cup of tea costume since SA is such a tea drinking country. Here is the final product……


Roobios tea is indigenous to and proudly South African. She even had tea bag earrings.

Overall it was a hit; she was declared as having the most unique costume.

So can you guess what Blake’s costume will be next year during Arts and Culture Week......yeah this type of creativity doesn't strike very often so we need to make the most of it.

A Post for the Grandparents

We had another big day with Skyler and Blake. Friday morning Blake’s school hosted a Grandparent’s tea, where all the Grandparents of the pre-primary & Kindergarten students are invited.

It seems every pre-primary does this activity and it is repeated every year. Where it is a special time and a wonderful thought this was Blake’s 3rd grandparent's tea and when the grandparents live in the USA finding a substitute can be daunting. Typically it is frowned upon for a parent to come as a substitute but we’ve used up all our favors with our friends so we grayed Rich up a bit and he anwsered to Gramps Rich....that to say he was the guest of honor. And if you can’t have the real Grandma or Grandpa who better as a substitute…Blake could not have been more pleased!

Rich is looking mighty good for his old age I might add...hee!

I was there as a "helping mom" so was able to view the program and it was quite cute. I think it is safe to say my children definitely enjoy performing and have a flare for the dramatic. Blake hammed it up!

Not to be upstaged, Skyler performed in at a ballet dance festival this weekend. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time you may recall my “ballet-stress” posts. Well this was no different although I must say I now chuckle while reading the 3 pages of RULES that end with “Any violation of the above recital rules will result in the participant being disqualified.” Yea, no joke…umm, hello is this the Olympics? Thankfully my perfectionist daughter performs well under stress (def. did not get that from me).

The dance was absolutely beautiful as were the dancers. Here are a few pics…
She loved the costume...especially the matching sequin ballet shoes….

We actually had to attend a “make-up” class with the girls to learn how to apply their make-up for the dance. The eye make-up was ridiculous in my opinion but we went with it so not to be disqualified. Here is a before make-up shot….



And with make-up.....


Sky with the other girls that make up the trio dance....



Blowing off steam shot....



The girls received full marks, as they would say here, and were each awarded metals. Look at that smile...


Skyler wanted to know if they received full marks why was the metal bronze? Isn't bronze 3rd place? Evidently she thought she was performing in the Olympics too.

Oh Happy Day

So many things to be thankful for yet 3 stand out today…

First, at 5:35 a.m. CST my new niece Ella Ingrid Kjellstrom was born. She weighed in at 8lbs 2.5 oz. We are elated. Congrats Kent and Jenn! The only sad part is not knowing when we will get to meet this little bundle (hope she’ll still be a little bundle when we do).

Secondly, I went on a date with my husband this evening. We saw a movie that to my recollection (I know that sounds funny as how could I not recollect when it was just hours ago but I think it is more out of shock) there was not 1 cuss word, no sex scenes or sexual innuendos…not one trashy thing in the whole movie and it was so well done! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I purposely did not tell you the name of the movie as I made a vow not to recommend movies esp. in mass but I will tell you it is a independent film (romantic drama) that won the People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival in 2006 (I think that is the correct year) so you can Google it if you really want to know.

And third…I am thankful that Chris Tomlin’s new album, Hello Love will be playing in my car, in my house, at the gym on my ipod as it was released today! I am so excited! Woo-hoo!

It has been a happy day; in fact as the 4th comes to a close here in the southern hemisphere I am feeling the weariness set in from all the excitement.

Hope you had a happy day as well!

Savoring September

Sept 1 can you believe it…..it hardly seems possible. Where has the year gone?

As you celebrate Labor Day and a day of rest, we are observing the first day of Spring in the southern hemisphere….albeit the nice warm temps we had a week ago have turned to biting wind and chilly temps again…so sad!

September is a month met with forthcoming anticipation! For it holds many joyous events. We will welcome a new niece into the Franzen and Kjellstrom family…hopefully very soon. One of my dearest South African friends will bear twins the latter part of the month. Rich inches one year closer to 40 and in a mere 20 days my brother, sis in-law and 4 kids will be on African soil with the Franzenfam for a 2 week visit! YEAH!!!

So many things to look forward to that I am sure will be here and gone before we know it. Makes me want to slow down and take them all in and enjoy every moment….I want to savor September!

How about you…anything you want to savor this month?