Well Mikey is finally 6 years old and he is so chuffed!! He says that now he and Jamie are really twins as they are both 6 years old today!!! We were up at 5:20am of course (who can sleep late on their birthday??) and Mikey was absolutely delighted with his presents.

He got a Manchester United T-shirt with Ronaldo on the back (can you believe his dad actually allowed us to buy it for him!!!) but the look on his face when he saw it was all worth it…. And we got him a small fuusball which just made his day! Jamie was also so excited that he ran up to me and gave me a huge hug and said: “Thank you, thank you mommy!” It was so precious….

Florence made Mikey a beautiful birthday cake which he decided to keep for this afternoon because Demi was still sleeping and he wanted her to see him blow the candles out again (I think he just likes all the attention he gets when he is blowing out the candles…) But Demi just loves parties so she will enjoy all the fuss later on…..

The boys have just left for school now – Mikey has karate this afternoon and Jamie has chess but after that, we will be going to Spur for our usual birthday celebration dinner of course! The boys are so excited!!!

Mikey’s party was on Saturday afternoon at the Action Soccer Arena in Meyersdal and they had a fantastic time!! All his school friends and family friends were there and they managed to play 2 serious games of soccer while the little ones (and some of the girls) played on the field next door….. Mikey and Jamie both scored a few goals and had a wonderful time. Mikey was given a trophy for being the birthday boy which was just the cherry on top!

The thing about having a photography business is that we always have a professional photographer on hand to take professional photos at all our events and birthday parties! Thank you Riani for taking such lovely pics for us – a birthday party is so special and they make memories which you will treasure forever so the photos really mean a lot to me… But then again, I really am passionate about photographs and about capturing life’s memories…. Now all I need is to make a personalised dvd of all the photos as the kids just love to see themselves on the TV (and that way we can post it on the net for Granny and Grandad to see)

Back to the party: Even though it was a soccer party, we had to have a Ben 10 cake and Ben 10 party packs which Mikey planned very diligently before the time…. It was a wonderful party and the kids had lots and lots of fun! Even Demi had a ball (no pun intended) – she really does think she is 6 years old and wants to do exactly what the boys do! She of course discovered the sweet table and like her brother had way too many sweets for a little one…. oh well, your brother only turns 6 once I suppose!!!

Thank you to all our friends and family for making it a special party! It means a lot to us to have all of you there! We missed Granny and Grandad but we will make up for it when we see you guys in a few weeks time….

To my special birthday boy Mikey, mommy loves you more than you can imagine! You fill our home with so much joy and we are so grateful to have you as part of our family…. I hope that your year as a 6 year old is filled with health and growth and learning and fun!!! May all your 6 year old dreams come true!!! Happy Birthday Mikey!!! Mwah!!!

The fourth woman at work ladies networking event was held at The Boma Barnyard Theatre in Alberton.  The theme for the evening was Diamonds & Pearls and everyone wore white.  It looked magnificent from up there, like a gathering of angels…

There is just this amazing energy when having such a big group of women come together for such a lovely evening, almost like a sisterhood vibe which no man may ever understand (not even a gay one).   I’ve heard a wise saying:’ A man shouldn’t try to understand a woman, he only needs to love her with all his heart’ 

The chosen charity for the evening was St Mary’s Childrens home.  They are based in Rosettenville and look after kids who have no parents or family.  Their aim is to place these kids with a foster family who will love and support them, and raise them to be motivated individuals.

The Boma is known for its Barnyard theatre where many great singers and entertainers like Coenie de Villiers, Laurika Rauch and Barry Hilton have been entertaining guests for more than 6 years.  The Boma also has their own fully licensed reastaurant with buffet lunches on Sundays.  Both the Boma in Alberton and Boksburg have lovely wedding chapels and wedding facilities.  They also have a big conferencing hall so this makes The Boma the ideal wedding and conferencing venue.

Renate Landman was the guest speaker for the evening.  She is a trained Dr. Demartini facilitator trained by no one other than Dr John Demartini himself.  Her company is called The Learning Curve and what they basically teach is ways to improve your life based on science.  Basically for every negative action there is a positive action. Let me explain..  For instance if you have been in a car accident and is now paralysed from the waist up (negative event)  Now your kids need to learn to become more independent in organising lifts and so on.  You realize how many people care for you from the big support group you suddenly have.  You may start doing something youv’e always wanted to do like start piano lessons as you have realized how short life is and how important it is to live life to the fullest.  And so the positive and negative events create a balance.  See your life like this and you will become much more content and live a balanced life.

Included in last night’s woman@work event was the show Diamonds and Pearls – a tribute to Neil Diamond and Celine Dion hosted by The Boma Alberton.  I was so jealous of every person in that band…  All of them has got such amazing voices and instrumental talent.  It made me decide to go for proper vocal training.

The cast, musicians and singers of Diamonds and Pearl soon had all the ladies on their feet singing and dancing.  The way I see it is – any person who has the vocal ability to sing Celine Dion’s hits and make it sound good is a great artist.  I’ve never seen a pregnant lady singing and rocking like that.  Truly amazing I tell you.  Her little one will probably want to be a rockstar

Did you know that Celine Dion has had a show running in Las Vegas for five consecutive years and the tickets has been sold out for each and every performance?!  Now that’s what I call making a success of yourself!  It has been said that Celine Dion is the one artist who akes sure each and every note coming out of her mouth is pure perfection…

To the cast of Diamonds and Pearls you brought a true tribute to Neil Diamond and Celine Dion to the stage last night and for that I congratulate you.  I enjoyed your show so much that I’ll be bringing my father to see it

Toni and Tanya, once again congratulations on a very successful, fun and entertaining event!  I wish you all the best for the future!! 

PS- Good luck with the big move of Sinzinani Day Spa to Thaba Ya Batswana, I know you’ll make a great success of it!

Riani

The best thing about having a studio at home and a photographer that just loves taking photos (in fact I think obsessed is more like it – Riani might even have OCD when it comes to photography (lol)) but the best thing is that she takes soooo many photographs of my children.

I just had to post a few of these pics that Riani took of my baby girl – these are the first official photographs of Demi-Leigh as a 1 year old! Can’t believe she is so big already (how time flies when you’re having fun!!!) And yes, as you can see from the pics, she is walking – I am so proud of her.

Okay, I am proud of my baby boys too (my babies even though they are 5 and 6 years old already – haha). They went to tennis clinic today as it is school holidays and Mikey won man of the match! and Jamie won the game: “jail” – must be the south side of him coming out there (lol)

They are so beautiful, especially now that they are sleeping (lol) the tennis and swimming really takes it out of them. Tomorrow we are going on a teaching course (can’t wait- will write all about it next week) so they are going to sleep at granny and grandad’s house and boy are they excited! It is such a big thing for them – it’s really special!

I actually can’t believe it – Demi-Leigh turned 1 yesterday!! Our baby girl is already one year old!! I can’t believe how time flies…. Well, of course, we had a huge party for Demi’s first birthday (we were going to have a small little party but I couldn’t help myself….)

I photographed a party in Bedfordview the other day for a 4 year old little girl and her mom had a company called Crazy Chameleon do all the decorations and it was so beautiful – I came straight home after the party and told Ryan we were getting them to do our decorations!

You must understand that I have organised so many spiderman, superman, power rangers, pirates, cars, ben 10 and all the super hero parties for my boys in the last 6 years, that I was so excited to do butterflies and flowers in pink and pink and pink!!! Yes, I will admit it – the decorations were more for me than Demi but that is the joy of having a little girl to spoil (I get to be a little girl all over again too…) I think I was more excited about Demi’s beautiful presents and gifts than she was….

So we had a butterfly theme and it was so special! We had so many friends and family come and visit and Demi just loved all the attention – she really loves children and had so much fun with all her friends and cousins!! Her brothers had even more fun -we hired a 10m slippy slide and so they were either on the slide or in the pool the entire day! It was fantastic! It was so nice to have a summer party for a change ( Mikey and Jamie are both winter babies – they have always wanted a slippy slide for their party but it’s not feasible in the middle of winter – so I got it for them now and it was great fun!) We even had Uncle Duncan and Uncle Ben and Dad go on the slide a few times!!!

Riani came to visit and so between the two of us, we took over 600 photos!! But it’s so special to have – our daughter’s first birthday party only ever happens once and we want as many photos as we have memories of this special day! It is definitely worth getting someone to take photos at your birthday party as often you are so bust you don’t get to capture all those special moments!

All in all, it was a beautidul day and everyone had a wonderful time! I will treasure the memories forever and hope that every birthday is that special for Demi-Leigh! We love you baby girl! Thank you for filling our lives with so much joy – your brothers have always filled our lives with love and laughter but you bring a different, softer energy to our family and we are so grateful to have you! Mwah! Mom, dad, Jamie and Mikey D!!

I can’t believe that Jamie is actually 6 years old! Time just flies when we’re having fun (okay having 3 kids and running 2 businesses is not always fun – but for the most part it is) We had such a wonderful party for Jamie – we had a pirate and princess party at a venue called Pita Pan and fun was had by all.

It is the first birthday party that I have had at a venue (we have always had all the birthday parties at home – and having just done Mikey’s party at home 6 weeks earlier, we decided to do something different) and it was such a pleasure that I can’t imagine ever having a party at home again. The venue supplied everything – food, drinks, entertainment – even the birthday cake – pirates and all!! The best part was that I had time to just enjoy and take photographs….. Usually, I am so busy orgainising everything at the party that I don’t get time to take any photographs – so this was perfect for me.

So, if I can give you any advice, it would be to have your birthday parties at a venue which organises everything for you (they even did the party packs) or alternatively, get a friend or a professional photographer (if your budget allows) to capture those moments for you. After all, you put a lot of time and effort into oprganising your child a birthday party to remember and at the end of it all, the only thing you have left are memories and hopefully beautiful photographs!!!