The Adventures of the Garden Sprites

My sister-in-law and my niece and nephew were visiting this afternoon and they arrived as a thunderstorm hit. It wasn't long and we had blue skies and sun again so we decided to sit outside with the children. The three girls started playing in the very muddy puddles and Kirsty and I just watched as they got dirtier and dirtier. As you can imagine though, it was great fun and kept them busy for almost an hour! Us mothers know how it feels to have to try and get those clothes clean and mine are soaking as I write but when it comes to "educational toys", you cannot get better than mud and water. So moms, let your children play in that muddy puddle, it is far cheaper than anything you buy in the shops and I can assure you, the kids enjoyed it more... Abigail, Mackenzie and Reagan

Since I last posted, two things have come to pass. Easter and the arrival of a cold wet winter. We had Easter at my parents house in the Free State and the Easter Bunny had to hide the eggs inside this year as it was raining outside. Not sure how he made it inside but well, when Mackenzie woke up she came running back to the bedroom shouting "he came, the Easter bunny came"! Peter has gone back to an equally cold and wet Pretoria and myself and the kids are staying here enjoying a well deserved rest. This morning I was so upset with Mackenzie as she has lost a piece of her magnetic dolls set and she cannot "memember" where she put it. I asked her for the tenth time where she had put it and she spun me some story about it being on top of the chest of drawers. When I asked her how could it then not be there anymore, she said, "Magic made it disappear Mommy"! How could I still be cross with that and the lesson I learnt today was that even though we have to ...