Meg turns 12!

Megs celebrated her 12th birthday by having a sleep over. She invited 3 friends from school, and her cousin Jordynne. They arrived on Friday afternoon and kept themselves happily entertained with doing nails, hair, make up, dressing up and I'm not sure what else. They had pizza for dinner, and enjoyed a roaring fire while sprawled out on mattresses all over the floor watching Chick Flicks.

Saturday morning was her actual birthday, so we had our usual tradition of croissants for brekkie which seemed to go down pretty well with all the girls.
Meg got a table tennis table from us and they had fun testing it out in our garage.
Other than a disagreement between adults and kids re the use (or abuse?) of cell phones, which resulting in Carl confiscating said phones, I think the party went well and the girls all enjoyed themselves.

Megan's First Riding Show

This is a VERY belated entry, However, with all the chaos that has been my life the past few months, it kind of slipped me by. But, I do feel it deserves an entry, and with my official photographer having given me a copy of his pics (thanks Roland!), let me proceed.

Megs entered her first ever horse riding show in November. This is something that Carl and I have not actively encouraged because they always happen on a weekend, and we always have very busy weekends already. However, after 2 years of her riding and us avoiding shows, we finally gave in and she entered. She entered 2 categories, the 50cm and the 60cm jumps.

At the show, the kids all get shown the jumps and the order in which to jump them. Looked simple enough, especially the 50cm round. Ah ha, looks they are deceiving, and it turned out that Meg had somewhat more trouble with the course than she (or we) anticipated. All she needed was a clear round to get a rosette, and sadly, she didn't get it. She was very upset, but didn't have too much time before her 60cm round began.

She had really struggled with her first horse, and so swapped horses, and I'm not sure if it was the new horse, or she knew the course better (she had concentrated more for this one!), or it was the wise words of wisdom and encouragement from Caron, but she did so well and only just missed a clear round because her horse knocked off the top pole from a jump. The difference in her demeanor when she finished was remarkable and so she wanted to have another go on the 50cm round again (which they can do, but have to pay R80 for). I was not going to fork out the money, so Meg took her pocket money and re-entered. This time, SUCCESS! A clear round and a rosette to show for it. Probably the most expensive Rosette ever bought!

Well done to Megs for persevering! And a big thank you to Roland and Caron for coming along, and for the photos (Roland) and words of advice (Caron).

It was actually a fun morning, after all, so maybe we'll try it again in 2011.

20/20 internationals had nothing on this...

Alistair played in his first proper cricket match - U9B team - at Bryanston Primary last Thursday. Each side played 20 overs. Bryanston went in to bat first and scored an impressive 55 runs (OK, most of those were actually from wides, but we're not going to split hairs!). Then it was King's School's turn to bat. After a brief rainstorm, King's returned to the crease to continue their battle. Ali batted 7th and went in with about 6 or so overs remaining. By 4 overs left, they needed 14 runs to win (doesn't sound like much, but it is a big ask for U9's!! Fortunately, the opposition were helping us along nicely with wides, just as we had kindly done for them!!). By 3 overs left, 11 runs were required. All this time, Ali and his batting partner, Josh, were ticking along, but it was dubious as to whether they would make it! By the last over, they needed 5 more runs. With about 3 balls left (and 2 runs), Josh went out, and Gabriel came in. On the last ball, they STILL needed those 2 runs. Now, Ali may not be the top batsman of his grade, but I'm prepared to bet that he is the craftiest! He knew exactly what was needed, and what he needed to do to get them! As the bowler bowled the last ball, Ali started sneaking across the crease. A helpful misfield meant he was able to run and safely reach the other side. However, another minor misfield on their part meant that he could turn and complete another run (as fast as he could with those great pads on!), thereby taking his team to VICTORY!! We parents (and there were a lot of us because it was the first match, I have no doubt our enthusiasm will wane as the season progresses) were on our feet! I felt so proud, you have no idea!! Ali raised his arms and bat in victory, just as we see our heroes, Graham Smith and the like, do! His team mates tried to carry him in victory, which was not very successful, but it was the thought that counted! I think for that brief moment in Ali's life, he felt how it feels to be a hero! Well done Ali!!

We're gonna be rich!

Yip. Last week Megan went out to work and brought home the bacon.

OK, that's not really the whole truth! Here's what actually happened:

The Grade 4's at the kid's school held a 3 day Entrepreneur's Sale. They could work alone or in groups and it was entirely up to them as to what to sell, how much to sell it for, how to advertise etc. etc.!

Megan worked with her two friends Ryan and Marco. They decided to call their stall MMR Claus (for Megan, Marco and Ryan). They even made up a song for their stall to the tune of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town', which they then sang to the school to encourage them to come to their stall!!

Ryan's mom, Debby, runs a party business and as a result has many contacts in the Chinese Market world! Which means she was able to purchase a lot of stuff for very low prices! Then we all got together and the kids decided how much to sell each item for, they made a banner, and covered boxes in Xmas wrap for displaying the products. Interestingly enough, it was the cheaper items which enjoyed the bigger mark up. The biggest mark up was 208%, and the smallest was 29%. On average, they marked their products up by 96%.

Most of their stuff sold very well - takkie key rings were the first to go, followed shortly by syringe pens. The slowest items to move were the little rubic cubes. Luckily for this group, Debby bought back any unsold items at cost, so at least they didn't make a loss! Also, Debby let them sell some of her stock on consignment on the last day of the sale and they could keep the profit. I'm not sure real life is quite so accommodating!

The group managed to make a total profit of R531,30, which worked out to R177,10 for each of them. Which they get to keep and spend during the holidays!

It was fascinating to see some of the other stalls - one group raffled a MOUSE!! And apparently did very well! Other stalls sold fresh pancakes or pies; some had Xmas decorations, many had sweets, and toys; some sold jewellery and a couple were more action stalls - fishing or balloon popping for prizes.

All I know that it was a frenzy last week - with having Megan manning a stall, and Ali spending like a man with no tomorrow!

Megan's Contribution...

[newspaper article]
BREAKING NEWS!!!!
Hamster steals bombs!
Apparently, a hamster called Pip, in the grade 4T class, Kings College and Preparatory School, Gauteng, South Africa, is illegally hiding tiny bombs in his toilet roll. It appears he is sneaking out of his cage at night, and robbing the local explosives store. Nobody knows why he is doing it, but we have some suggestions, like he is an evil mastermind, his cage is too small, so he is trying to blow it up to give himself more space, and, he thinks dynamite will make class more fun. We are still trying to find out why he is doing it. The whole of grades 4 and 5, are not allowed to go to school, in case the bombs are set off. Pips very words were: 'squeak, squeak, squeak!' We think he pleads 'not guilty'. You will be informed if we find out any more about this case.

By Megan
This article was inspired by the grade 4T's new class hamster, Pip.

Meg's Birthday

As mentioned in the post before this, Meg turned 10 last week. So, Saturday was the great party. I am delighted to report that as they get older, the parties get better and better. As in, fewer and fewer kids and the ability to do more interesting things with them. Hooray, no more enormous parties where catering for the moms is more stressful than having forty 3 year olds trashing your house!!!

Megan chose Sci Bono as her party venue of choice this year, which, over and above being a great venue, is FREE on weekends! For those who don't know, Sci bono is a hand's on science museum in Newtown (central JHB). The drive there is pretty dodgy, but once there, what a place! My folks joined us, and there were 8 kids in total ( so a 2:1 ratio of kids:adults - not bad!).

There are so many displays involving magnetism, electricity, sound, brain teasers etc etc. Carl felt that the kids didn't exactly get the ultimate learning experience out of each display (and said on more than one occasion that he can see why they make these displays tough!) but the kids had a blast. I'm going to let the pictures do the talking:

The squonky mirror is always a hit!

Ryan and Louise trying to get the stick from one end to the other without setting off the alarm.

The kids load testing the suspension bridge!

This picture looks weird, but Ali and Louise are playing 'virtual soccer'.

Marco making a picture out of magnets and the other trying to guess what it is.

The ultimate highlight! A Murray and Roberts house to build out of foam bricks and cement. Much co-operation was required and it was fun to watch the kids sort themselves out! Not much intervention required (except to stop blood being drawn, of course!).

I think fun was had by all!!