Christmas is here!

Wishing everyone a Happy & Blessed Christmas.

School achievements & proud parents....

Lauren participated in her school play and she

sang a duet with another young girl. She was a

baker man and sang a fairly lengthy song about

that. She remembered all the words and sang

loudly, which made us very proud. Ofcourse

we bought the DVD and photo that went along

with it!

At an educational day at school, about Xhosa

people, the girls were requested to dress

accordingly. So much fun was had by most,

trying to dress-up in their African outfits!

A good break at Haga-Haga.....

Some of the Heath family got away for the

weekend to Haga-Haga. We collected shells

and made shell frames. We walked on the

beach and some climbed the hill. The weather

was great and we had a relaxing time.

Spring is here!

It doesn't happen every year, but the first day of

Spring in East London was sunny and warm.

The weather has actually felt like Spring the

whole week. Today we had a picnic with

family and friends at a friend's house

(Aunty Patsy) in Abbotsford, along the Nahoon

river. Just before sunset, we went for

a walk to the beach with our dear Floyd.

Lauren enjoyed flying her kite and playing

in the sand. What a peaceful, pleasant day.

Floyd is 1 year - 7 August 09

Floyd turned 1 on Friday and we gave him a

little party with a biscuit cake & biltong and

some other treats. I am sure he knew it was his

special day. His presents were a cow hoof and

new collar & lead. He is an obedient little dog

and fits in well with our family life.

Little girls and birthday parties.......

My triplet nieces celebrated their 8th birthday party

with a H*annah Montan*a theme. I sewed silver and

gold waist coats till midnight for my nieces and for my

daughter.

The party was enjoyed by all. All the girls

tried to act like a pop star for a while.

Lauren's New room....

The theme for Lauren's 'new' room is 'Daisy & Pink'.
I purchased two new items of furniture and
re-painted most of the old furniture white. I sewed
cushions, cloths and daisies. She is so happy to
finally have a pink room.[click on photos to enlarge]





BEFORE PICTURE:

The Birthday Tea Party.....

Lauren had some friends around for a Tea Party at home.
They enjoyed cupcakes made by Aunty Alli and had fun
making their own tea. 'Pass the parcel' party game was
played and a little Treasure hunt took place. Each girl
took home a little PVC bag in the shape of a Tea pot,
with some goodies and sweets inside.

Our little girl is 6 years old today!

Six years ago on the 21 May 2003 at 20h20 Lauren was

born at St Doms hospital. A bright bonny girl to Charlene

and Dean. She is now in Grade 0 and is really enjoying

'big' school. She likes playing with her dolls and toys.

She recently got her own dog and she loves him so much.

Lauren has also asked for her room to be all pink,

so mom has to do the room make-over(pics to follow)

from all Lemon & white to Pink & white. She spends

her afternoons playing in the garden with her dog and

on cool days, in her room upstairs. We love spending

time with her and she makes sure we do.

Weekend at the Sea......

We went away for the long weekend with some of Dean's

family to a holiday house at Haga-Haga. It was a lovely

weekend... really relaxing and the weather was great!

The children had a fun time fishing in the rock pools and

collecting shells.

Photographs: Rocky Heath

Capturing some moments.........

Easter time.......

Lauren enjoyed an Easter Hunt on the Monday and also
remembered the meaning of Easter by painting a picture
of the 'Cross'.

A farewell to my career at Mercedes-Benz S.A…..

I started working at Mercedes-Benz of S.A. at the age of

19 years old and left 19 years later. It was a wonderful

experience and I had the opportunity to learn many

things.
The Company strives towards a world-class approach in

the working environment. I traveled and visited plenty

of places in S.A. I got to meet lots of foreigners….

Germans, Austrians, Mexicans, French, Indian,

Americans and many more. I learnt mostly about

people and human relations. I was a loyal employee

and believe that a world-class quality car is

manufactured in our town. I worked in different

Divisions and for numerous managers. I developed

my leadership qualities in chairing the Secretaries

Forum for some years and in general made some

meaningful friendships that will last a lifetime.

Hello......I am Floyd!

Floyd - Miniature Doberman Pincher, joined the

Heath family a week ago. He arrived from Port Elizabeth

where his original owners realised they didn't want

such an active dog now that they have gone on pension.

He is 6 months old and was orginally called Vlooi (flea

in afrikaans), so we call him Floyd, not to confuse him

completely with a new name.

Lauren loves her little dog and she has been asking for

a dog for 2 years. So finally she has a companion and

playmate.

Our 10th Wedding Anniversary - 30 January 2009...

We celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary on the

30th January 2009.

We had a family weekend away at Morgan Bay Hotel.

It was really lovely and so relaxing.

Lauren had so much fun on the jungle gym, pool &

beach.

We had a sea facing flatlet and it was so wonderful

looking at the waves all weekend.

View from our room and veranda.

Lauren and I were running on the beach and rolling

around in the shallows & waves.

"Big" school

Lauren started 'big' school - Grade 0. The traffic was a

nightmare, but when we arrived at the school, she was

confident and comfortable. We had met her teacher

beforehand and she had been to her classroom before.

She met up with a friend from playschool. I kissed and

hugged her goodbye and she was quite happy when I left.

H o l i d a y time...........

East London weather was really good this December.
It was fairly hot most of the time, but there was also some
rain to cool everything down after a few days.

Lauren spent plenty of time in the swimming pool and
on the beach. She learnt how to dive/jump into the pool
and put her head under water. She improved her boogie
boarding too.

We had some friends from out of town/country visiting.
We socialized on the beach and at a few restaurants.
We also made dinner at home for other friends.
We had fun at the Wimpy and got take-aways from
McDonalds to get a Madagascar toy.

One evening, we attended the Robin Hood pantomime
at the Guild Theatre.

My sister-in-law, Allison, had her sister and family
visiting from France.
An afternoon trip around Mpongo park was planned,
but it rained and the park was closed. The touch-farm
was still open, so we took a walk around there, in the
mud.

My grand-mother (L’s great-granny) Rowan turned 85
on the 20th December.

On Christmas morning, when Lauren awoke she received
a doll’s cot with blankets which I had sewn, a Woody and
Jessie doll set and a dance mat. Barbie dresses which her
granny R had sewn for her. She was spoilt by her aunts,
uncles, grandparents and friends!
We had Christmas lunch with my family this year. My
mom catered and I decorated the table.

Old years eve we spent at home. Dean made a braai and
I made a mushroom potato bake with some salads.
We toasted the new year in at 20h00 with Appletiser, c
andles, balloons and streamers, much to L’s delight.
New Years day, Allison and Lance put on a great lunch for us.

L had a friend around to play while the moms had tea.

L’s cousins came around to play and all four had a
pleasant time together.
There was a bicycle outing to an empty parking lot .
Little cousin, Caleb, rode his bike around on the track too.
L & her girl cousins went to see Madagascar 2.
Her oldest cousin, Dale arrived back from USA & Mexico
with grandpa & granny Heath at the beginning of Jan.

Dean and I reminisced as we went for a walk along the
Orient beach and onto the pier. We tried to tell L a few
stories about when we were younger, swimming and
spending time with friends and family there.
We now spend time at Bonza Bay beach, Gonubie beach
and Nahoon beach.


One of the highlights of the holiday was the outing to
Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve to visit the elephants for
an elephant interaction. L really enjoyed it, especially
when the one elephant started spraying some water.
She was looking forward to that and it happened.

We took a walk around the neighborhood on a warm
evening and a blue duiker came running down the road
and into someone’s yard. We spent quite some time
trying to get this buck to run in the right direction, back
to the bush. Finally Dean caught it and carried it kicking
and bleating back to the bush at the bottom of Bonza Bay.
Lauren was fairly distraught and crying because the dogs
were keen to get hold of it and it was bleeding on one
hoof . It was a successful rescue and rehabilitation.
It ran quietly back into the coastal forest.

One disappointment of the holiday was that Lauren
decided to cut her hair. She chopped both sides and a
friend had to try and rescue it without chopping it all off.
She looks like she has an 80s hair cut now…. for a while,
until it grows out a bit.

The holidays were relaxing and fun with some spring
cleaning and housework in-between. It certainly could
have been longer.