1 part South African 2 parts Boy

Blake: "Mom, I think I need a new pair of tekkies (SA term for gym shoes)."

Me: "Ya think?"!

South African made, boy worn...shoes don't have a chance.

Tiny Tush Tuesday

...and in keeping with the African way, "If it is yellow let it mellow"... (I think you know the rest).

As Good as it Gets

I have to admit “dress-up” days at the kid’s school is not my favorite. I know they are supposed to be “fun” and I suppose they are for the kids but for the parents, I find they cause undue stress...especially with no Good Will or dollar store to run to.

Can you tell by my attitude that we have had a few? When Sky first started school I am sure I thought they were great.

Here we have weird hair and big glasses day during spirit week….

And of course the annual “Proudly South African”. I did enjoy this one last year…click here to see.



Tori was feeling a bit left out (just wait honey you have plenty dress-up days ahead) so I made it “ballerina day” at home. I know, I know how cool am I? Ha!



She of course had to change outfits periodically throughout the day...

Today Blake had to dress in “Circus Attire”. And when did I remember this little tid bit? Oh 45 minutes before leaving for school. Fortunately he is my easy going child and we just happened to have a clown nose lying around. (I like to dress up at home every now and again.)

Add a dash of face paint and some hair gel and whalla…..



Okay so he might not be winning any awards for the “best clown attire” but hey that is as good as it is going to get!

A Special Lion Sighting

No more posts about Tamiflu and T-shirts (I could tell by the comments it was a hit….not!). We’ll move on to a special lion sighting….

Living in Africa we get to see a lot of these…..

We recently had a sighting that ranks as the best ever….

Tori had her first big school play. Can you guess the theme?

And the part of Sarabi will be played by Tori Franzen (oops that was Lion King not Noah’s ark)

Our morning was filled with Lion King references (even though it was Noah's ark) and rehearsing her part.

Here she is giving her best roar….

Big brother stepped in to lend her some tips…..



Even the Franzenfam pooch, Keba was frightened….



The girls were a bit more tame…..


My favorite moment was when Tori asked why God told Noah to pick both a girl and boy animal. I did what every good mom does in that moment and told her to ask her Dad. (She’s 4, I figure we have some time before the birds and the bees).

Here she is with her teacher who also directed the play.....


We are grateful for “Granny” as many of the kids call her. Tori’s school is a public preschool and Granny is a strong, bold Christian that prays with the kids each morning and has no qualms about sharing her beliefs!

Show time……



Sarabi and Mufasa sharing the spotlight…. (there is that LK ref. again)



It definitely was the cutest lion sighting I’ve ever beheld….

Got a T-shirt Slogan?

The kids just finished a 2 week school break and began their last term of the year today. Typically, a post vacation blog would consist of photos and reports of all the fun things that took place during such a break. However due to all the Franzenfam sickness; ours was a bit different.

No visits to places like this…..

Too many visits to this place…..



Not a whole lot of this…..



A lot of this…….



Which got me back on the bandwagon of drinking more of this……

(I figure if I put my veggie juice in a nice glass it will taste better)

No “My mom went to ____(insert some exotic place) and all I got was this lousy t-shirt", t-shirts for the kids.

I did have an idea of a shirt though. How bout this....

Front-
“Got Swine Flu?”

Back-
I know a Great Physician

Could come in varying shades of pink…maybe even a big pig snout on the front.

Think it’ll sell?

If you were to encapsulate your last 2 weeks, what would your “t-shirt” slogan be?