More birthday pics...

The JHB Birthday Party

Well, we thought the JHB party would be less work... not at all!


We were so blessed by our friends and church family up here and tons of helpers, tons of food and just over 40 people. Our plan was to have it outside in our garden and asked everyone to bring blankets and picnic chairs and to park off wherever they wanted to. The weather was awesome and having it in the late afternoon meant that the heat of the day had pretty much passed by the time everyone arrived.

We setup toys, playpens, a gazebo, swimming pool, ball pool, a pinata and a mini-tent so there was plenty to keep the kids and parents occupied.








Friends of ours made the cake, several others brought plates of snacks and a few others brought some extra outside toys for the kids. Our garden looked awesome! It was like a kid's paradise, it really turned out better than we could have hoped for! Eli and Grace were the real stars that they always are and let everyone and anyone play with them, pick them up and guzzle all over them!

El, once again, put in a ton of work and coordinated everything like a pro. I have suggested to her (as have several others) that she organise children's parties fulltime!

Preschool Christmas Tea

On Friday Nov 19 we were invited to Grace & Eli's school Christmas tea. It was really well done and it was awesome to see all the kids playing together and meet some of the other parents. As fate would have it, we were sitting next to a couple who are very involved in Celtic music, the husband is a piper and plays in a traditional Scottish band, so that was quite rocking.

We had been instructed to bring presents that were handed out by 'mother' Christmas so Eli and Gracie received their first Christmas pressies! Even though mother C was one of their carers, the Santa costume completely threw them and they weren't to chuffed to sit on her lap...

November 16, 2010

Finally! The pics from the big day arrive... there are so many pics, so I tried hard to choose the best of the best.

We began the morning off a little earlier than normal so that we could wake them with our family tradition of 'Happy Birthday' and pressies in bed. They were adorable, rubbing their eyes whilst trying to smile and look wide awake. One of the gifts was a large plastic shell with balls, so we packed all the other gifts into the shell so that they could 'climb into' their presents. They were so excited and wanted to rip everything open, it was quite hard to keep them interested in one present long enough to actually finish opening it...

We then continued with our normal morning routine, I took them up to school to hand out their cupcakes and chips to their friends and teachers and spent a few hours at work whilst El got everything ready for our trip to the bird gardens at Monte Casino. I left work super early and took the twins home and then we all headed out for our morning tea and bird show. Eli & Grace loved the bird gardens, it was such a treat to watch them learn and marvel at the stunning creatures. We had morning tea together in the gardens before heading home for a kip (for the twins...)

Heather, Owen, Catherine and their kids joined us in the afternoon for tea and cake, which was a lovely end to our day.

We received so many cards, sms' and emails - thank for all remembering!

Love to you all!

GREATgrandparents...

Our first day back and we jumped straight back into socialising! My grandparents were in JHB so we had them around for afternoon tea. They just adored their time with Grace & Eli and after all the new people in CT, the twins performed like pros and were quite happy to cuddle and show off their baby-ninja skills!

Betty's Bay

The end of our holiday was spent at the Strachan's stunning holiday home in Betty's Bay. It was such a blessing to just relax and not have anyone to visit or phone! Kid's, as we are reminded everyday, are a lot of work, especially when on 'holiday'. We had an amazing time and Grace & Eli loved the opportunity to hone their crawling skills. The upstairs portion of the house was turbo child friendly and there was a gate at the stairs, so we were able let them do their thing.

We took a drive out to Hermanus one afternoon, browsed the sea-side shops and craft stalls and watched the whales for a bit. Eli & Grace were so well behaved and it was a treasure to now be able to share so many new things with them!

The Wedding (Marcelle & Richard)

On Saturday the 3oth, our day started out in Grabouw with George & Lettie Strachan at her exhibition, which turned out to be 3km's down the road from the wedding venue, so it was well situated! We had a very encouraging time with them and then went to settle in at our accommodation. When we arrived, there was no-one at reception so we had to wait a bit, which would've been fine had Grace & Eli not decided that that would be the perfect time to fill their nappies with the most unsavoury smelling stuff. Plus, it was hot and we were anxious to get them settled, changed and ourselves ready for the wedding.

Amanda and Dion came out with us to babysit during the reception so that we could take the twins to the ceremony to meet Marcelle. It was a mad rush when we finally found the key (which was hidden under the mat!!) our overnight dwelling but we managed to arrive at the venue about 48seconds before the bride...

The venue was South Hill in Elgin and it was absolutely stunning! After a ceremony of trying to keep Eli & Grace occupied and moderately quiet, we shot back to Oupa & Ouma and then back again to the reception. We had an awesome time - thanks Marcelle & Richard!

The Cape Town Party

On Friday, Oct 29, we converged on the Horner household to prepare and celebrate Grace and Eli's first birthday with our family in Cape Town. The day started early with us fetching candyfloss, the cake and Ouma and then headed off to Pinelands.

Lee met us there with a car full of helium balloons, Cameron was studying but still put in a good show and Tarryn joined us shortly after her exam finished. Mike, Ian and Uncle Drew all eventually joined the team too and within a few hours we had the house ready for guests. Grace & Eli were so good and loved playing with the 'new' people and had a little snooze just before their party guests arrived.

The fun started at about 16h00 and, although busy, we all had a turbo time and felt so blessed to have all our Cape Town family together to share in the beautiful occasion with us. El had planned several games and there was more than enough food and sweets to keep everyone busy and happy!




All the food was marked according to the Hundred Acre theme, so we had Kanga's Fruit Kebabs, Tigger's Treats, Christopher Robin's Carrot Cake, Rabbit's (salad) garden, Hephalump Hunger Busters, Hundred Acre Honeycomb, Eeyore's Rainclouds (candyfloss) Roo's Raisin Muffins & Piglet's in a Blanket (boerie rolls). We played group pictionary, which was a real hit - it's amazing how competitive some people get... pin the tail on Eeyore and the kids all went on a little treasure hunt. All in all it was amazing and filled with great memories!

Thank you to everyone for all their love and support!

Two weeks of leave ahead :)

El and I are so excited that I am finally on leave! Yeehah!! I am off till next next Monday (except for a Saturday Leadership meeting...) and am really amped for this time out of the office. On Thursday we are heading down to Cape Town for a week of family, friends, Grace & Eli's first birthday party, R&R at a beach house and a wedding! Everything is pretty neatly planned out, so we pray that GOD will guide us and provide for us every step of the way.

Last weekend we celebrated Ethan Smith's first birthday, his dad, Gavin, grew up with Ella, and their folks have been close friends ever since. Eli had the most hair out of the three, so we called them the 'baldy brigade' and had much fun appreciating just how cute they were together. This shot of Gracie going in for a tackle ended with Ethan on his tummy and Grace kneeling on his back. We all saw the funny side of it, but poor Ethan wasn't so sure. The party was awesome and it was so nice to be surrounded by so many young families - virtually everyone there had kids under the age of 5, so we felt right at home.

Grace ventured out onto the grass, but after a few seconds she just lifted her one leg into the air and sat like that! In some way it was her managing to be on the grass without actually being on the grass, if that makes sense.

After the party we had a spot of shopping to do and hired a car-trolley since we didn't have the pram with us. Eli and Grace loved it! They were squealing and steering all at the same time.

We spent the morning at Gardenworld a few weekends back and managed to capture this family protrait. Gracie even waved for the camera and Eli smiled on cue...

On another occasion, recently, after unpacking all of their toys from their toy basket, Eli tried to climb in... so we helped him in and packed the toys back in on top of him. We followed suit with Gracie and they both totally loved it! It is the quietest Grace has been since she discovered her voice.

So, our plans for these next two weeks are to totally zone out from life up here and retreat to the coast for some time to ourselves. The twins first party will be a small and cosy affair with the theme... wait for it... Winnie-the-Pooh. El has done a sterling job in preparing a totally awesome programme for the afternoon/evening and we can't wait to share this moment with our family! On Saturday we are driving out to Grabouw for Marcel's wedding and will be hooking up with some old friends out that way. We are really hoping to hit Llududno on Sunday and then will wind down the lazy stretch of the East Coast to Betty's Bay where we'll spend the rest of our week out of JHB. Just the idea of having an absolute break from everything is wonderful, we can't wait to actually be there!

That's all for now - we miss and love you all! May GOD keep us all safe and ever-aware of His loving presence.

Grace & Eli peeka boo in their cot

Eli & Grace enjoying their spa!

Eli & Grace reading their magazine

Grace & Eli chilling in their cot

We have just emerged from a really tiring weekend with both Eli & Grace suffering from high temps, loss of appetite and just a general sicky feeling, which left them really uncomfortable and restless almost constantly! By the grace of GOD, and a few choice-word moments, El and I have come out the other side ridiculously exhausted but so relieved that our babies are feeling way better. We will be looking out for a rash in a few days, we think they may have had infant measles. Gracie's temp maxed at about 39.9 and Eli's was only a little lower at 39.4, so we are turbo stoked to have that behind us!! They were both at creche today and seem to be 100% again. Thank you LORD!!

Three weeks ago we had the wonderful opportunity to spend the morning with Uncle Mike and Aunty Hilda from NZ! We met them (almost) half-way at the Primi at Lifestyle centre and had a really good time touching base and finding out about our distant relatives. Grace & Eli were more than happy to play with them and Aunty H took them for a little walk around the restaurant, freeing us up to eat our breakies. They have been in our country on a 6 month furlough and have been involved in teaching and outreach programmes in CT and Durbs, which was an enlightening and growing time for them. It was amazing to hear some of their stories and learn, through them, so much more about our own country. Ironically, infant measles featured in the conversation. Forewarned...



Gracie loves being able to crawl around and pull herself up on things. She is quite a handful, thank goodness Eli is still staying relatively in one place!! Gracie can now climb up the little steps in our passage, but hasn't yet mastered the downward route, so there really is nowhere in the house that she can't get to, unless the doors are closed and the gates are pulled shut, thank goodness for that.



Eli is sticking to his rolling routes, so pretty much finds contentment in what's going on around him. He's pretty determined and although Gracie has the illusion of ruling the roost, that will no-doubt change when he finds his feet. Today, in fact, he started his first crawling antics, which we managed to video and will post on youtube soon.



A few weeks back, as many of you may know, we purchased an ozone spa, which, apart from it's many other benefits, has a mat that you put in the bath and it bubbles ozone through the water. We have started using this with the twins every night and it has taken bathtime to a new level in fun-ness...




Some friends at church have given us a collection of their kids' old ride-on toys and we hooked the one up with a set of fresh batteries about two weeks ago. It's a "Little Mermaid" themed toy and when you press the hooter or the little characters it plays tunes from the movie. Both Eli & Grace absolutely love it and have figured out that they can push the buttons themselves. We loved it too, for the first two days or so. It's amazing how long batteries last when you'd rather they ran flat...

It's also cool because they're small enough to fit on it together, so we take them zooting around the lounge, but they seem more intent on pushing the hooter, well, Eli's main button is the hooter. A good sign I think.


Last weekend, with the onslaught of summer, we went hunting for a shell-pool for the kids but found a rocking inflatable Winnie-the-Pooh option that was half the price and far better suited to our needs. So, we outfitted the kids in their new cozzies that mommy bought for their CT trip and pumped up the pool. After adding some warm water to take off the chill, they were in and loving it. These last few pictures were just too cute not to include!!

Spring update

Things are going well in the Slatter JHB household! With the weather warming up, we've had some awesome days and spent more time just chilling as a family.

Last Saturday our church had their first men's breakfast in the entire time that I've been here, and it was completely organised by our men, and not by Paul and I, which was rocking! We had it a the Rusty Hook, which is a German restaurant just around the corner from our church that is built on a trout lake. Renee came and spent the morning with El to help with Eli & Grace whilst Andrew and I joined all the other men for an absolutely divine breakies! One of the newer guys in our church (in his late 50's) gave a really inspiring talk and started the ball rolling for a FATHERS ministry - which is really exciting!

We had a special service on Sunday where we thanked and celebrated the gifts in our church and had a huge party in the 'still busy' new church sanctuary. It was a wonderful service but it was just too busy with too many people so unfortunately El and the twins left and went home early. The cry-room was packed, the church foyer was packed and we spent half the service standing outside, which, with the twins, was just silly. Everyone else, who didn't have children under a year, had an awesome time. Ant and Nadia invited us around to their new place for lunch afterwards and we had a rocking afternoon with them!

As you can see from the pic above, Gracie is really pushing her boundaries... and buttons... that she can get to. She stands up in her cot and has started standing up against our coffee table and the couches, so she's making sure that she checks up on everything that's going on around her. Eli started pulling himself up in his cot this morning, for the first time, but only got to knee height.... but that was enough for him and he was laughing so much at his achievement! Everyday we are so blessed to have them in our lives!

That's all for now! Miss and love you all, GOD bless

xxx