HE'S NO DRAGON! HE'S OUR BROTHER!

Sorry Rhys!
We really do love you!

In our last letter we said a lot about our brother, Rhys. Some of the things were not very nice. We feel sorry now because we do love him a lot. He’s our eldest brother and he does so much for us. He’s like the Dad we don’t have. We know that he gets frustrated with life. But we do feel so happy that we don’t have to do the pump anymore. That was the only thing that made us sad about Rhys because he doesn’t listen to our point of view. He just shouts. And we got upset that he shouted at us when we didn’t want to do the pump.

I think when you get old like him I think you forget what it’s like to be a little boy and to be scared. It’s a long way to the pump and sometimes it’s very dark. Then the devil brings scary thoughts like … somebody’s going to jump out of the bushes and grab you. I know it’s silly, but when you have to go past the Garden of Remembrance where all the dead babies are, it sends shivers down my back! And I am also scared of the snakes that they are going to come and bite us. After that snake story the other time I became even more terrified.

I don’t like going to the pump at night because when I get very scared I get pains in my chest and feel like I am going to die because I can’t breathe. That’s because I have a problem with my heart. I was born like that. I get very scared because of Macson too. He was murdered right there near the pump. I remember that his teeth were on the floor and there was a lot of blood. B-r-r-r-r. What if those murderers are still lurking and waiting for somebody to kill! I just keep thinking ‘THANK YOU GOD! THANK YOU GOD! THANK YOU THAT WE DON’T HAVE TO GO TO THE PUMP ANYMORE.

Now our little bit bigger, brother, Carlton is going down to the pump. He’s much more brave than us. Maybe he doesn’t have so much imagination! Anyway, somebody donated a small TV and he asked Mom if he could have it for his room. And Mom said SURE … but then you have to do the pump. And Carlton said SURE MOM. NO PROBLEM! THANK YOU GOD! THANK YOU CARLTON! THANK YOU MOM.

Bongani Khumalo

The day before yesterday we were all sitting in the barn and watching Bafana Bafana. All of a sudden, Khumalo scored a goal. We were all screaming and shouting we were so happy! Pippa said – Fetch Mommy, fetch Mommy quick and tell her we scored a goal. So Mom came running from the office. Then we were all watching and shouting for Bafana Bafana and blowing our vuvuzela’s and wishing that Bafana could get 5 goals so that we could go through.

Kutlego Mphela

After a while, suddenly there was another goal from Kutlego Mphela Wow! We were sure we were going to go all the way. But it was very sad because not too long after that France scored a goal too and at the end it was 2 – 1. That means we can't go through.

But after the game Rhys and all the big guys said that we should be proud of Bafana Bafana. They did very well, even though they could not go through. And we ARE proud of them because they are our own special South African Team and we will always stand by them. We love them. And we will always praise them for what they did for our nation.

Yesterday we rented some movies to watch in the barn because we were all so bored and Pippa said that we had been behaving so nicely. So we rented The Mummy and Spiderman 3. The movies were really cool. Some of the parts made me shake and jump up. And Pippa gave us suckers and cold drinks. We love Pippa so much. She works so hard for all of us and she takes such good care of us. She is like our second Mom. Three of my brothers, Reuel, Joshua and Brett are going to see the Italy and Slovakia match with some Chinese people this afternoon at Ellis Park. They are so lucky! But we are looking forward to going to Lynette now now. She will be coming around at lunch time to pick us up. It’s going to be fun and a change from being at home.

Reuel putting snake in Pippa's bag!

Reuel played a horrible trick on Pippa yesterday! He was playing with his snake and then he let the snake go into Pippa’s bag. When she got back to the room she picked it up and said : “Why is my bag so heavy? And when she looked inside she saw the snake and we all thought she was going to faint. She was very cross with Reuel. But he thought it was hilarious. I didn’t think it was funny either. I am scared of snakes. But they call me a sissy. Most of my brothers love the snakes. Even little Jerome loves to play with the snake. B-r-r-r-r! It gives me the shivers and I always run away when they are playing with the snakes. My Mom also says I’m silly because it’s not a poisoness snake. I don’t care. I just can’t like it!

Even Jerome's not scared of the snake!

One day when my Mom is free I am going to buy JAWS. NO! I have not forgotten about JAWS. I still want it and I will get it one of these days. When I went shopping with my Mom a few days ago with 6 of my brothers, I actually saw it in the shop. But my Mom said No, it is ‘13 Violence’ and so she doesn’t want to buy it. But people lie, because so many things that say ‘13 Violence’ are not even as violent as The Three Little Pigs!

Anyway, my Mom was not interested in buying it because she gets hassled when there are so many of us with her at the shop and everybody wants her to buy stuff. It’s better to go with her on your own. But remember it was supposed to be part of my birthday presents so she must still get it for me. But shame, my poor Mom has to buy so much stuff for so many people. So I must be patient with her.

One day I will see the Lord Face to Face. That is going to be such an awesome day. I asked my Mom, Mom why can’t I see God? And she said, - Look in my eyes - Look very well. Look Deeper!  Look Deeper!  And I looked, and looked. And then she said, Can't you see Him peeping out of the windows? LOL LOL LOL LOL

I want to tell you something very interesting. I am busy writing a real story. Every day I write a little bit more and a little bit more. And one day I am going to publish that story and I am going to be rich and famous. That will be so cool because then I will be able to spoil my whole family and will give them all gifts that their hearts desired. And then I will keep after (look after) my Mom when she is old. And then (don’t tell anybody), but I am going to run TLC and keep after my Mom at the same time. LOL LOL Oh shoosh Jay!

I'm laughing because Mom has always told us about the naughty things our Ouma used get up to. And even the naughty things HER Ouma used to do. They are the funniest stories you have ever heard in your life. So, Kay, what are you going to do when Mommy takes after those ladies? Hey Kay?

Well, I don't care. I know I will be the best person in the world to keep after her. I know she might be old and cranky and it will be hard to look after an old lady but I love her so much and I will manage.

If she is in a wheelchair, I will take her out into the garden and put a hat on her head so that she doesn’t get sunburned. That’s how much I will love my Mom when she is very old. And if she is in the shade I will take the hat off and put pretty flowers in her snow white hair. I know that will make her smile. I wonder if she will still have teeth. But even if she doesn’t, I will still love her. The way she has always loved me. If she gets cold I will buy an extra special soft and warm shawl and put it around her shoulders to make sure she is warm and comfortable. Nobody knows or loves my Mom they way I do. We have lots of secrets. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night to check if she’s okay and sometimes I find her praying. Sometimes she cries when she prays. Then I sit next to her and hold her hand softly and I pray too. And after we have finished she tells me the secrets that God told her. She thinks I am a very special boy. And that’s why I love my Mom and nobody else in the whole wide world loves her more than I do.

The toothpick that came out of Benji's toe!

Yesterday my brother, Benjamin came hopping down the stairs calling, Mom! Mommy! Mom looked and saw a piece of stick sticking out of his big toe. So she sat down and he sat down next to her and she tried to pull it out of his toe but she couldn't. Then our eldest sister, Joanna, came and she tried to pull it out but couldn't. So Pippa went to fetch a pair of plyers and she pulled and pulled and finally it came out. It was a 3/4 piece of toothpick! It had gone right into his toe with only a small piece sticking out!

Khali-Leah!

Also, yesterday we gave two of our dogs a bath. Khali and Basher. They looked awesome! I love it when they are all clean. They are such lovely dogs. Khali looks wonderful now! He is the white poodle in the picture. And Basher is the brown one. She is a cross between a sausage dog and a chihuahua. My Mom says she is the most loving dog she has ever had. The two of them follow Mommy around all day and all night. If she goes out for a while they wait where she parks her car until she comes back and then they are so happy to see her again.

We were very happy that England won yesterday and that they are going through. Especially Thabang. He has been cheering for England from the beginning. He loves England because our Dad lives there. Our Dad was the first person that Thabang met when he came into our family and he always talks about him. He really wants England to win the World Cup.

So, that’s all I have to say for now. We think Lynette will be here any minute. That's why we did our Slobberdog story early this week. Next week I will be able to tell you all the exciting things that happened with Lynette.

Okay I am going now. I actually don’t feel so well so I should go inside. I have a headache and I feel like I might vomit. I think it’s all that talk about snakes, Macson and dead babies! Bye everyone!

TRAINING A DRAGON

THE DRAGON!

Hello Friends,

Well, today is not the best day in our lives. The reason is this horrible old pump story. Every single time Rhys tells us to go and switch on the pump. We HATE that pump duty. So today I was walking to go and call my brother Kay to come and do the Slobberdog story and Rhys came in here and grabbed my head and squeezed it really sore. The worst thing is he did it in front of a volunteer. I could see she was shocked! And then he screamed and said ‘Go switch on the pump!  Why don't you do what you are supposed to do.  Now the nursery has run out of water’ I was crying. I can’t help it. I know he calls me a wimp but I cry when I’m upset. 


I called and called for my brother, Kay, but he didn’t come. So then I walked to the pump and I cried all the way. When I came back home I found my Mom in the house.  I told her what happened and she said - Yes Jesse but you frustrate Rhys because you know you have to pump on a Sunday morning otherwise the nursery runs out of water.  But then she saved me. She went to Rhys and told him – I don't want the twins to switch on the pump anymore. She especially doesn’t like it when I have to go after it is dark. Mommy told Rhys to leave us alone because we are too young for that job. He must find somebody older to do it. And Rhys said – 'Yes, okay, I will leave them alone.  But you guys are just little sissies.  Can't even switch on a little switch!’  When we walked out of his cottage I said to Mom - Well its not about the switch! and Mom said -  Shhhh Jay.  Don't be disrespectful!

Christian

Well I don’t believe he will leave us alone. He just says that because of Mommy but I bet you when Mommy goes out he is going to get us AGAIN.


When I was walking Rhys came to me. He pushed me and said – YOU go and help your brother. And I said – But he is already finished with the pump. And then he said –  Then go and fetch me cat food. But I didn’t. Instead I ran away into the playground. As soon as he was calling my name, I said, “James pick me up, quick!" and I stood on his shoulders and I climbed up into the tree and hid behind the leaves.


Then Rhys came into the playground and said – where’s Kay? I nearly died, but then James and Christian saved my life because they said - We don’t know.  Shooo! That sure was scary. My other brothers said – Go and switch on the pump quick! and I said – I don’t do the pump anymore. But then they said … - Don’t lie! And I said, if you don’t believe me … go and ask Mom.


Slobberdog is not happy right now. Mommy is changing the garage into a homework room for all of us. Fr. Barney helped to pay for it.  It will have computers in it because these days we always need to do computer work for homework and we can’t get it done because we have to use her computer and there are too many of us. So now they turfed poor Slobberdog out of the garage to make the changes. It was so sad because he was lying right on top of all the stuff they turfed out, because his mattress was up there, wobbling on top of old cupboards and boxes and stuff. I don’t know how he managed to get up there and to sleep there all night under the stars, but he did. Even though Mom tried to call him in, he just sat there looking grumpy.

OUT IN THE COLD!

Mom kept covering him with blankets, but then when he needed to go for a wee he would lose the blanket and be cold again. Oh, poor old Slobberdog. It really is a dog’s life hey.

I don’t know what is going to happen to his sleeping place once we have finished the room. I hope we manage to buy him a nice, cozy kennel. But because he is such a big boy, the kennels cost a lot of money and Mom keeps saying, - maybe next winter we will be able to afford one. But it never seems to happen for poor old Slobberdog.

Today is Father’s Day. I can’t talk to my father today. But if I could talk to him I would tell him to speak to his son Rhys and tell him to behave. LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL.


I think we should put a big sign on our gate with a picture of Rhys that says:   'BEWARE OF THE DESPICABLE  HUMAN!'  LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL


What does despicable mean?

I don’t know, I heard it on a movie. But its not very nice.  It was on HOW TO TRAIN A DRAGON. LOL LOL

If Rhys tries to touch me or my brother again, I would take a vuvuzela and wave it at him. I will say ‘you touch one - you touch them all’, that’s our family lore. So nobody can beat us except our mother because she knows whether it’s right or not.

But actually I AM sad about Father’s Day. We did send our father a Father’s Day card but he returned it. Mom says 'Not to worry, he has probably just moved again.  He likes moving. She said he’s probably in Pencilvania by now.

Where’s Pencilvania?

Where the Pencils live, silly! LOL LOL. I don’t know. I think that’s what she said. Or maybe Scandanavia.

Oh well, it doesn’t matter anyway does it?

NAH. Gone is gone.

But there is some great news! We are going away for 3 days. A most amazing thing happened. We asked our Mom if she would call Lynette and ask her if we could visit her for a few days. This holiday is so long and boring! We love Lynette a lot and always have lots of fun at her house. But Mom didn’t know her ‘phone number and so she tried to call Fiona but Fiona wasn’t answering her ‘phone. So then Mom said she will try later. And before she got a chance, guess what? Lynette ‘phoned Pippa and told her she wanted us to go to her for a few days. We are leaving on Thursday. How cool is that? Me, Kay and Benjamin will be going.

We are going to get spoiled. She always spoils us. Benjamin is our little bit bigger brother. He is the one who got burned. I’m too sad to tell the story, so I am not going to say anything now except GOODBYE!

Okay, I will tell the story about Benjamin. This is it: One night about two Christmases ago, we were all making a little camp outside under the willow tree. We took our little two-man tents and pitched them outside and we thought it was going to be great to sleep out there, under the stars. We did it lots of times before. We were all singing songs and making our tents nice, while Tommy was making a fire in the braai-vleis place.

BENJAMIN

Tommy got irritated because he could not get the fire to catch. The wind kept blowing it out. So he said to us – I am going to fetch something from the workshop. So off he went and came back with a plastic bottle of petrol. We all said – let’s not do that. But Tommy was sure he knew how to do it well. So he took the bottle and told everybody to step back. Then he poured it on this tiny little flame in the braai and WHOOOOOSH! The whole braai exploded and Tommy got such a fright! He threw the left over petrol bottle across the lawn and it splashed and burnt Benjamin.

Benjamin ran straight into the house and to Mommy, screaming and screaming, Mommy! Mommy! Tommy burned me. Mommy grabbed him and was screaming: What happened? What happened? And Ben said Tommy burned me. Mommy put him in a cold bath while she called Pippa and when Pippa came they rushed him to hospital. He was in ICU for 10 days and was very sick. He missed Christmas and everything. We were all so sad and very scared.  We didn't want him to die. It was terrible. Mommy and Pippa were never home because they were sitting with him and they didn’t talk to us because they were so scared. But there was a family who were spending Christmas with us, Cheryl Spessert and her three kids and husband. They looked after us while Pippa, Zoё and Mom were at the hospital. We prayed a lot. We were happy that the Spesserts were Christians because we all wanted to pray so much.

Anyway, Ben eventually came home. He has bad scars on his face, but they are getting better and better. If people tease him at school we threaten to punch them in the face because he is our brother. We believe ‘You touch one you touch all!’

ITUMELENG GETS A RED CARD!

I want to say something about the World Cup. We are NOT as happy as we were at first. The reason is because there was this very ugly Referee in the Stadium when Bafana Bafana was playing. And we could all see that he didn’t like Bafana Bafana - but only the other team which was Uruguay. He never gave Uruguay any red or yellow cards, but he just kept picking on Bafana Bafana through the whole game and in the end, he gave our goal keeper Itumeleng a RED CARD! That was so bad and Itumeleng cried and cried and was so disappointed. Now he can’t play in the next game against France and he is the best goal keeper in the whole world and this might make us lose! Just imagine how upset poor Itumeleng must be? And on top of it, it’s his birthday today. On Father’s Day as well. Well, we already said a prayer for him this morning. I hope he feels okay.  Everybody should feel okay on their birthday!

The other thing was that we were disappointed with the South Africans who were watching the game because they just got up and left after that. That was so rude to walk out when the players are still trying their best to win. We didn’t think South Africans should behave like that. Sis!

Also, another bad thing that happened was that our very good player, Steve Pienaar had to sacrifice himself because we needed a goal keeper and you can’t play without one so Steve Pienaar had to go out. He sacrificed himself, so that was kind of a good thing … because Jesus also sacrificed himself for our mistakes.

One night I was watching soccer in the barn. My big brother, Joshua, told me to go and switch on the pump. I was so sad and scared because it was already dark, but he never listens.  Then he said I must go and tell the security guard to come with me if I'm scared.  But the security guard sits right near to the pump so its still very far. But I didn’t listen to Joshua. I ran to my Mom and I told her. She was too sad because every time she forgot to tell Rhys that we mustn’t do the pump in winter because it is too dark and cold. And I said Thank you Mom. But then Rhys still shouted at me and said 'No I don't care you must still do the pump. Mom treats you like a baby.  You are 11.  You can do the pump.' I hope he stops now.

The weather has been very cold this week so it hasn’t been nice to play outside. We mostly just hang out in my Mom’s room and watch soccer, and soccer and more soccer. Even though we do love soccer, it does get very boring every day. We all love our Mom’s room too much, though.  It's so cozy and it smells like her. But sometimes it smells like Ruthi's stinky nappies!  If we only had DSTV like she does, we would get out of her room more often and we would watch our own channels in the lounge. Wouldn’t that be nice? But then I guess the lounge would still be colder than Mommy’s room, so we would probably still go there because many of us make the room nice and warm.  And the lounge doesn't smell like Mom.  Sometimes it smells like cat pee!

Sis Jay!

Only joking.  Okay we will go now until next week.  Bye!

Bye!

PAUL JARVIS GIVES PRESIDENT ZUMA R10!

This was a very exciting week. First of all, we all helped Pippa and Rhys to turn the Barn into a special room. We put up the projector and stuff so that we could watch the soccer on the big wall. We put lots of wood shavings on the floor and that made it so cool. We took all the old, frot lounge suites and chairs from the storerooms and we covered them with soft blankets so that there is room for everybody to sit and be comfortable.

South Africa played against Mexico. It was amazing. Lots of people were at Soccer City. The score was 1-1 because it was a tie. Bafana Bafana should have won! But it was a draw. But a draw is still good because they still have another chance. We had Mexican and South African food. Most people loved the Mexican food best, but I preferred the South Africa food.

We were in the Barn and we were so excited when Bafana Bafana scored that first goal. We all screamed and screamed and danced and danced around the Barn. I thought Mommy was going to have a heart attack! Today none of us have much voice we are all hoarse from the yelling.

But we were very quiet when Mexico got the goal. Except for Magda and Yarek (two volunteers from Poland) who cheered. Can you believe it? They sat in OUR BARN, OUR JARVIS BARN and cheered when Mexico won! I wanted to kill them. We all gave them dirty looks!

No we didn’t!

Yes we did. Well YOU SHOULD HAVE. How can they sit in our barn and cheer for the enemy. That’s just rude.

No its not.

Kay, now you are irritating me. They are Polish not Mexican.

It’s just a game, Jay. What about today when England plays against America? We are going to cheer for England, right?

Why do we have to cheer for England?  Maybe I want to cheer for America.

Because Daddy’s English, so we are half English.

Well that’s different but I’m not going to cheer for England if they play against South Africa. Are you?

Maybe.

Shut your mouth, Kay. Say your stuff so that I can go. You’re just irritating me now.

Some of us went on the bakkie with Uncle Alfred. We were screaming and blowing our vuvuzelas all over. It was awesome. We went to the Spar and jumped out of the bakkie and we were dancing with lots and lots of people. The police came but they didn’t do anything to us. They just went into the Spar to buy something and left. Everybody was cheering at us and smiling and laughing.

And then Uncle Alfred took us up the road past Thaba Ya Batswana where the Mexican team is staying. We were going to go to Walkerville but then Uncle said NO. He did not want to miss the opening ceremony of the game. The roads were very very full and the cars were all hooting and the people were blowing their vuvuzelas. And Uncle said maybe today we can go to Walkerville.

The saddest thing that happened after the Soccer Party on Thursday night was when Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter went home afterwards, her parents had a car accident and she was killed. She was only 13. That was very sad and poor Nelson Mandela is so sad that he could not come to the Soccer Match. We all missed him, but we understood and we all felt very sad for him and his family.

All of us sometimes ask my Mom if we could meet famous people.  Like the Pope, or a film star or something like that.  One day Paul said to my Mom - Mom can I meet the President?  Mom said - Is he made of flesh and blood?  Paul said YES.  She said - Then, if you pray, believing that you will meet him, and if it won't hurt the destiny God has for you, then I believe you can meet him.  So Paul prayed and believed.  And he kept telling his teachers ... I want to see the President.

One teacher, Teacher Rose, started to get irritated because every day he kept saying "Let's phone the President and invite him to our school".  Finally she said, okay Paul, I have his number.  Come to the office and you can phone him.  So Paul did.  But the President was overseas.  So he spoke to the President's assistant and she was very kind and told Paul that she would tell the President about Paul's wish.  Then the next week she phoned and said yes, the President will visit Paul's school.

On Thursday morning I went to my Mom’s room to tell her something but then she was so excited she just ran out of door. She started driving off with Paul and Dominique and left her ‘phone behind. And then I ran fast and took it to her before she could actually leave. She went to Paulie’s school and down came a helicopter with Jacob Zuma in it.

My Mom could not see anything because she had to wait in the hall, but Paul was outside with all the school staff and Principal who were going to greet him. Paul was a little bit shocked when he actually saw the President for real. But in a little while he was fine. When the President was finished meeting all the staff and the Principal, Paul told Mr. Zuma that he wanted to talk to him in private.

So he took Mr. Zuma’s hand and led him to the Principal’s office and they closed the door. Then Paul said to the President ‘I WANT TO ASK YOU SOME QUESTIONS.’ The President said … Fine. So Paul asked him … why did he want to become a President and was it a hard job. And the President said that it was a very responsible job and hard work, but he knew he could be a good President. That was why he wanted to be one.


Then Paul asked him how did it feel to meet the Queen of England. And the President said it was wonderful and a big privilege. I can’t remember what else they said. But then Paul had some coins adding up to R10 in his pocket. Mommy had given him that money to go to the tuck shop because the President was very late and Paul did not bring sandwiches. Paul did go to the tuck shop but it was closed. So Paul said to the President, please will you do me a favour. And the President said, SURE. Then Paul gave him the R10 coins and asked him to please give it to a poor child that he knows. And the President promised to do that. Then Paul said MR PRESIDENT I just want to ask you one last favour. And the President asked What is that? Then Paul said I want you to make a plan so that MY WHOLE SCHOOL can go and watch one of the World Cup Soccer Games. And Jacob Zuma agreed.

We know this story because when the President came into the hall he was holding Paul’s hand, and he told everybody, even the Newspaper People, what had happened in that room behind the closed door. So Paul was in the Newspapers and everything.

My Mom said to Paul, “What about your Family? We also wanted to go to a World Cup Game!” And Paul said … Aw sorry Mom … I will ask him next time.

Paul was in many newspapers, even overseas ones ... but if you want to see just three, you can check these out:

1. SABC NEWS



http://www.sabcnews.com/portal/site/SABCNews/menuitem.5c4f8fe7ee929f602ea12ea1674daeb9/?vgnextoid=be43badeffc19210VgnVCM10000077d4ea9bRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&channelPath=home

2. HIGHBEAM RESEARCH


http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-228494916.html

3. WAKE UP SOUTH AFRICA


http://www.wakeupsa.co.za/forum/showthread.php?t=69790

As soon as Mom and Paul and Dominique got home the thing that I was going to tell her was if she could take me to the shop to buy new slippers. I never got slippers when everybody else got them, because they never had my size. But she didn’t take me because she was too tired after the whole President story. She never got to meet the President herself. She only took pictures. But Paul was sad afterwards that she did not get to shake the President’s hand. And Mom said … Paul it was your time and not mine. It was not for me to meet the President.  God answered YOUR prayers, not mine and it was in YOUR destiny not mine. All there was for me to do was sit there with a heart, swollen with pride and so much joy, my son.

And then my Mom told Paul that she has changed her mind about our President.  She never liked him before.  But she said, only a good man will hear God's voice and honour the wish of a little boy.  Do you know that he had a meeting with Banki Moon in the morning, then Paul, and then he had to meet Bafana Bafana after Paul.  But he didn't say 'I'm too busy, let's cut the kid out.'  I think he is the best President in the world now.

But then I said to my Mom, One day or maybe when school starts, I will phone the President and ask him if me, my school AND my family can go and watch ALL the games. (I don’t go to the same school as Paul). Paul goes to Frances Vorwerg which is a Special Needs School. I go to Aloe Ridge which is a normal school.

All of us wanted to see the President too. And some of us wanted to go and see Nelson Mandela. And I said to them … we will have our chance one day when God is ready for us.

Mommy, Pippa and Tommy are making Fish and Chips because England is playing.  I hope England wins because my Dad is English.  Before the match, though, I am running off to Southgate with Mom to buy those slippers.  YIPPEEE!

Bye Friends, see you next week.

Yep ... I wonder what news we will have then?  Don't forget we need followers!   SEEYA!

AT LAST WE ARE ELEVEN!

Hiya Guys! Sorry we missed last week, but our internet was down because the satellite blew. But here we are again and we are so excited to see that we have 9 followers now! Well done! Yahoo!


Well, not everything we thought was going to happen on the 29th with the Soccer Ball happened, and not everything that we thought we would do for our birthdays happened either. First of all, the Soccer Ball didn’t happen exactly because when Mom woke up on the 29th she was not well so she could not go with us. So Joanna took me to the movies for my birthday. I watched Prince of Persia and I went with Joanna, Kay, Shannan and Brendon. I hope that my Mom will let me go and watch Twilight Eclipse too, one of these days. But I know she won’t let me because it is age restricted ‘16 Violence’. That’s really so sad.

I didn’t go to the Soccer Ball on the 29th. When I saw Mommy that morning and she was looking so sick, actually more sad than sick, I thought maybe I will stay at home with her to keep after her. (Translation: ‘look after her’) I wasn’t ready to go. I didn’t want her to be by herself. She looked so sad. She looked like somebody died. I love my Mom. I don’t like it when she’s sad. And I hate it when she’s sick. But when the evening came, Joshua and Reuel also decided to stay with her. So it wasn’t too bad. And we all watched the Rugby. That was such an exciting game. The Bulls won and the Stormers lost. My whole family are all Bulls fans, so we were happy that they won.

My mom felt a little bit better on Sunday night so she took me to the Spur for my birthday. I went with Mommy, Crispin, Thabang, Erin and Benjamin. It was very nice. The waiters all sang ‘Happy Birthday dear Kieran’ with an African tune. We played on Play Stations that the Spur has for kids. I wish my Mom bought me JAWS, but she couldn’t find it. But she still bought some nice presents like: Alvin and the Chipmonks 2, Burnout Dominator Play Station Game, hot chocolate. I don’t feel like saying all the rest.  Here I am opening my presents.

At school I coloured the best Stadium and my teacher was very pleased with me. We are busy with exams so some of us are stressed. I am perfectly fine, though. I don’t get stressed. But Brett is very stressed and goes to bed as soon as he gets home. Sometimes he cries the whole afternoon. But today he is up and about and feeling better.

Slobberdog was not well this week. He had to go to the vet and have an operation to remove some cancers on his body. He had some on his belly and one on his willy. So, he was feeling a bit sorry for himself when he came back from the vet. He went straight to his bed. But Mommy gives him his antibiotic in big lumps of polony. He loves that and really looks forward to swallowing those in one big gulp.  Notice the puddle of drool under his mouth!  He can't WAIT for that polony.

I am really, really sad … do you know what happened? My Mom bought me some lovely presents but the best one was a Justin Bieber CD. And yesterday somebody stole it out of my bedroom. That is one thing I hate about TLC. There are always thieves stealing our stuff. They even stole my birthday marshmallows. I was crying and crying all evening because I am so disappointed. And they left me with just SEVEN marshmallows. That's so hard to believe.  Gee, I just can't get over it!

Here is a picture of me opening my presents:  We each got a nice blue trunk with locks, so that we can lock our stuff away.  And they STILL stole my stuff because I forgot to lock the trunk.

I was worried about Slobberdog. I get afraid when I hear cancer. A while ago my mother also had a cancer and everybody was so scared. I don't know what will happen to us if my Mom dies.  Its scarey to think about it.  Even Joshua was scared and kept asking her if she was fine. Even Rhys was scared. But she had that thing cut out and she is fine now. I am so glad. And I am so glad that my lovely Slobberdog is fine too.

I couldn’t sing at the Soccer Ball, because I didn’t go. I thought my brother was going to sing for me, but he didn’t. That was because all my brothers and sisters practiced a lot and did the Diski Dance at the ball as a “team”. The Diski Dance is our nation’s dance that we have been taught for the 2010 World Cup. Everybody at the Dance was impressed with them because they did it in time and did a good job. Belinda Peters managed to raise a lot of money for TLC and Mommy is so pleased.  Here is a picture of those who went to the ball.  Only Lionel, the guy on the left with the long hair is not family, he is my sister Faith's boyfriend.  I feel sad that they cut Faith off.  She is sitting next to Lionel.  Jay is the one with the red shirt and the ball.  Rhys was happy because he won a camera in the raffle.

School finishes on Wednesday. It is going to be exciting. I don’t have to see boring school again until July. Our government gave us two month’s holiday because of the World Cup. I wish I was born the day when my Mom was born. Then I could finish school quickly! That would be much better … I don’t care if I would be as old as she is. At least I would be finished school. Plus … If my Mom says “Yes”, I wish I could go and see Toy Story 3 on the 25th of June. It would be so exciting if she said “Yes” but we are a little short of money at the moment so maybe she will not be able to say “Yes”.

I am so happy that school is finishing next week. ‘Cause people tease me at school. They say I have a big mouth!  I also hope in the holidays if we could go to the movies just once. I love the movies more than anything in the world, even toys and stuff. Did you know that I can talk like a grown up man? It makes my Mom laugh out loud. The only thing is I can’t speak with a South African accent. When I am speaking like a man I can only speak with an Irish accent. Actually, I can also speak with an American accent. Maybe one day I will be an actor. But I will have to lose my stage fright first! I am going to Durban in September with my Sensei to the South African Championships again. Last year I won the South African Championships and I went to the World Championships, but those Japanese were too good for us. They beat us hollow! I really hope my Mom can come with me.

I hope we can go to Durban for a holiday in 2011 when I am 12. We used to go to Durban quite often on holiday but now my Mom doesn’t have enough money. We also used to go to Magalies Park too sometimes, but we can’t do that anymore either. So this year and last year there were no holidays for the Jarvises. My Mom says, never mind. We don’t have to go every year. My Mom only saw the sea for the first time when she was 12.

When I was small (young) like 4, we went to Durban and then I was sitting on the sand. My Mom came out of the water and tried to pull me in. I was always running away from her because I was terrified of the sea. I still remember it wasn’t a good feeling. Then one day she grabbed my hand and made me go in. She really wanted to show me that it was such fun. But I still didn’t believe her. But today while I am big, I know it’s fun and I love the sea. I only found that out in 2008. But I don’t like to go in deep like Jesse and the other boys. I like to stay with the waves just up to my hips. So I guess I am still a little scared. I am afraid I will get knocked over and won’t be able to breathe. Maybe I won’t be strong enough to get back onto my feet.

I remember our volunteer Simon from Canada came to Durban with us. He said do you want to swim? And I said, yes. Because I saw my brothers having fun with him and then it was MY TURN! Then he picked me up and we went far, far out. I thought a shark was going to come and then he said I must try and swim. So then he held me on my tummy and he pushed me and he said I should kick my legs and swim. So I kicked my legs and did the crawl and I remember the time when I tried to show my Mom that I could swim, but I couldn’t suddenly. Every time I tried to show my Mom something, I slipped, or something happened and I couldn’t show her. But now, hallelujah! I can swim. I am still very careful, though. Mom says its good to be careful. She says God gives us carefulness to keep ourselves safe.

So we think that’s enough news for one week. We will write to you all again next week. I hope you all have lots and lots of fun and do exciting stuff. Thank you for making more followers. Our friend told us that followers are important.

Goodbye! Seeya!

PS.  When Mom read this week's Blog she said it needed to be jazzed up a little.  Its a bit flat.  But we tried and didn't know what to do.  We think next week we will start introducing you to our family members and you can have a good laugh.  Even our animals are funny, not just Slobberdog.  So sorry if this one is flat.  But next week you will have something to look forward to.  Also, if we are on holiday we can do more blogs, not just on the weekend.  That will be cool too.