STRIKES AND VICTORIOUS!

Hi Everybody,

I went to watch Step Up 3D with Volunteers, Tim and Theo ... and  James.  It was so much fun.  We went to the mall and the arcade and the ring shops.  It was such fun without Kieran!  LOL.  But I did miss him a bit.  I had so much fun.  Maybe my Mom will let me go again next time.

Hello Everybody,

Wicked Mom had a l-o-n-g scissors and pretended to cut off Ellen's hair!

On Saturday this lady came to visit us.  Her name is Shannon.  She is helping to make our barn better and she is going to buy a big screen in for us.  She has two sons.  They are also twins about our age but they are not identical.  And you know what else?  I checked on Kiera and Jessica when I got home and they ARE NOT IDENTICAL.  They have become completely different.  Aaah.  I think thats a bit disappointing, actually.  Anyway, I was having a long conversation with Shannon and her kids.  She also has a very cute, small girl, like about 2 years old.  We told Shannon all about our life and she told us about hers.  She also thinks that big families are great.

There is a strike on and it isn't that good.  We can't go to school and have an education.  When I heard that there was a strike, I was not very happy.  Kieran and I went to Aloe Ridge School and we stood by a board that said 'NO SCHOOL DUE TO STRIKE.'  Pippa said we must jump up and down and look happy, but Kieran just stood there and Pippa said she is going to put on the blog that 'Kieran is a LOSER.'  She wanted to take a picture so badly.

Jesse and Kieran!

Well, I don't care cause I was not in the mood for jumping up and down!  Anyway ... I don't like that whole strike story.  I think they should pay our teachers properly.  No wonder there are not enough teachers when they don't get enough pay to look after their kids properly.  So, I don't like the strike either, but its not like they WANT to strike.  It's because they HAVE to strike.  The govament must pay their people like they promised.  So, I didn't think there was anything to jump up and down about and even if Pippa calls me a LOSER I won't because the strike doesn't make me feel happy at all.

It was Tommy's birthday party on Saturday.  I went to him and I said, --- Tommy can I please come to your party? --- and Tommy said --- Of course my  son --- (he always says that to me, even though I am not his son).  It was a real cool party.  Tommy turned 17.  He had lots of friends around and they were all kind of about his age.  There was a lot of cool music and we could put it real loud because it was in the barn and we didn't disturb anybody.  I went on the dance floor and I was dancing a lot.

A Boerewors Roll

After a while I ran to check on my Mom and she asked --- So how is the party going --- and I said --- GREAT! --- So she told me to put on my slippers but I didn't listen.  I ran back to the barn - I was so scared I was going to miss something and I was dancing and dancing again.  It was such fun ... I was dancing with Tim the volunteer.  It really was such great fun.  I ate popcorn and drank Pepsi.  I am not actually supposed to drink Pepsi so it made me a little dizzy.

I was roasting marshmallows and we had boerewors.  That is like a South African delicious sausage and we had it on rolls so that's called Boerewors rolls.  Yummy.  Tim had to carry Jesse to bed then because he fell asleep.  He was so mad with himself on Sunday morning.  But he just couldn't keep his eyes open.

Tommy has a girlfriend.  Her name is Poppy.  She is lovely.  And Tommy gave her a present ... it was a party pack with chips and stuff and a lovely teenager book.  Poppy was so happy.  I really, REALLY wanted to get a picture of the two of them.  I think I took about 2000 of the party ... but they were all fuzzy.  I think I probably shake a little bit.  Mom was disappointed.  She trusted me.  She said ...  'Oh Kieran!  I should have done it myself.'  Aw ... sorry Mom.

FAMILY FOCUS:

KAY

Kay is Joanna’s firstborn tummy-kid. It is not hard to write about Kay because he is such a fabulous guy. He is a great friend and is always a lot of fun. He never makes trouble because he is quite quiet. He is very good at school and does his work well and is clever. He never gets into trouble. I think he has never got a discipline mark in his life. Everybody loves Kay. I don’t think there is one person in this whole wide world who ever said ... --- I don’t like Kay Jones --- He is such a cool dude. (Not in a proud way, but in a nice way).

Kay is the same kind of age as Brendon and Crispin. When he was born he was very premature because my sister, Joanna, is diabetic and so he was very tiny and she was very sick. Mom says that Joanna nearly lost her life giving birth to him and so she decided not to have any more tummy babies, but only to have heart babies instead. Joanna had already adopted West when Kay was born. West and Kay are very different from each other. Kay is such a peacemaker. He doesn’t like fights and that kind of stuff. When fights happen, he always moves away from the fights, or otherwise he stays very quiet.

We all think that Kay looks a lot like the Jarvises. Mommy says he looks a lot like Joanna did when she was a little girl, except that she had blue eyes, and Kay has brown eyes like his father. But I think that Kay looks quite a lot like Rhys, actually. And I know that Rhys and Joanna look a lot alike too. All those white Jarvises look similar. You can really tell that they all have the same genes and the same blood. They laugh the same, and they all have blue eyes. They think the same things are funny and sometimes its like they have their own language when they talk ... you kind of don’t really know what they are talking about or what they are trying to say, and then they all burst out laughing together and you are going .... ---W-h-a-t?--

Kay likes to play soccer. He is so good at writing things like stories. He is good with his hands. Next year Kay is going to High School and he will not be going to St. David’s like the Jarvis boys do. Joanna wants him to go to school close by and that school is called Waterstone. I think Kay might be a little bit lonely without all the Jarvises, but we will still see each other in the afternoons and in the holidays and weekends. Kay says he is a little bit scared of that school because nearly all the kids are white and in Aloe Ridge nearly all the kids are brown. Kay is used to being only one white face here at TLC where all the other kids are brown. But I am sure he will find friends at Waterstone and he will be very happy because he is such a good, kind guy.

Kay was very heart-sore when his Mom and Dad got divorced. I think it must be much more sore when it is your real own flesh and blood Mom and Dad because you are like their creation from their bodies and the reason you are on earth is because they loved each other and so they made you together ... a real special thing, like a whole kid! And then one person runs off like it never happened and takes another person for a wife or a husband and forgets about that first family. I can see how that can be very painful for a kid. And I can see why God doesn’t want us to do things like that. I know big people always say that its complicated. And maybe it is complicated and a kid like me can't understand it yet.

But when I am big I will pray to God that my life doesn’t get complicated because I want to stay with my babies and my kids forever and ever and not be like having one kid with one person, another kid with another person and another kid with another person so that some of my very own kids don’t have a Dad. I want all my kids to stay with me and with their one and the same Mom forever and ever so that nobody gets sad and unhappy and cries for me. That would make me too miserable.  I would be broken hearted if that had to happen.  I always cry in the movies when I see stuff like that and I promise God I will never do that to my kids or my wife, even if she gets fat and ugly or toothless and old and there is a pretty young thing flirting with me ... oh no!  I will run for my life back to my family...

VICTOR MATTFIELD AND JOHN SMIT

Then I also wanted to talk about that Trinations match with Australia and South Africa on Saturday.  Wow!  I mean WOW!!  Wasn't that something?  What a GREAT game.  Geeez Louise!  I enjoyed that ... except for the beginning when I was beginning to think we might lose.  But then our boys picked up ... they found themselves again and WHAT A WONDER!!!  Didn't you just LOVE it?  And Victor Mattfield standing on the pitch singing the anthem with his two little kids in his arms.  My goodness it brought tears to my eyes.  So lovely.  When I get a son one day, I want to call him Victor.  Guess why?  Well, NOT ONLY because of I think Victor Mattfield is the GREATEST, but did you know, my own flesh and blood Dad was called VICTOR?  It's strange but my Mom's name was not on any of the hospital documents, but there was my Dad's name.  VICTOR.  So, I am going to call my son Victor one day (with permission from my wife, of course!) LOL  And maybe if its a girl, I will call her VICTORIOUS!  LOL!  LOL!

~~~~~~~~

So now we are going to answer the comments.  Errrah ... it's a big job.  It IS!  It takes FOREVER.  Maybe we will do it today but  not every time.

Hannah Johnson said...


Wow you are very brave, i would not have gone swimming in a lake full of big fish! Although maybe Kieren could have done a bit more "fishing" hey?!
Yeah! LOL
I'm glad you got a new Justin Beiber cd jessie, you'll have to take good care of that one!
I am.   No scratches and locked away from the TLC thieves.  They even stole Ellen's purse with R20 in it, and while Mom was in Cape Town they stole her rosary and she was heartbroken.  It was her Pope John Paul II very special rosary.  I hate thieves! 
Me and Becky are going to a festival for the weekend where we have to live in a tent for 4 days! I hope it doesn't rain, it always rains in Engand!
I hope you had a good time.


I forgot to ask you what shoe size you are for the trainers?! Could you let me know and i'll see what i can do! Love you both loads xxx
I am size 3.  I  am size 4.
annegreenacres said...

Hi b boys great blog again! I think West would make a good counsellor as he is such a good listener. I remember all of Joanna's family as the soapbox tgeam liveed at their place. I did enjoy my time at tlc & would dearly love to visit again
Hello Aunty Anne.  Thank you for making a comment.
Anonymous said...


I don't know if you remember us. You stayed at our house (Don & Dolly) while you were in Saskatoon, Canada. You will always have a special place in our hearts. I love reading your blog. You bring a smile to my face whenever I read it. Keep it up!!!!


Dolly Toews
Oh we remember you Dolly.  We remember you and Don and Heidi and Kimmy and ... mmm.  Oh I forgot somebody.  So sorry.  But we mostly  remember Don  because he loved us so much.  He was like a Dad and we cried and cried when we had to leave on the plane, because we didn't want to leave Don.  And afterwards Don sent us some presents and letters.  We remember it snowed the night we had to go on the plane and we were excited because we never saw snow before.  Dolly we were only 4 ... Now we are 11!

I am a reader and a fan of your blog and it allways makes me smile :-)You guys are excellent story tellers! I live in Holstebro, Denmark and am the proud mother of Oliver (Andile) and we adopted him from TLC in 2007. I will show him the lovely pictures :-) Please keep on posting! Gitte.
Thank you Gitte.  We don't know you but my Mom does, and she knows Andile.  We don't know the babies because they come and go all the time.  But Mom mostly knows everybody.  Pippa says 'Sabina phoned' and Mom says, 'oh yes, that's Thando's Mom.'  and then Pippa says 'HOW do you DO that'?  But we can't do that.  Sorry.  But we are very glad that you like our blogstories.
Benedicte said...


Thank you boys, for writing such lovely and entertaining stories from your life. I read every one of them, and it's so great to hear about life at the Jarvis's. I hope to come back to TLC sometimes in the future with my two sons-sand hopefully meet the two of you.

Say Hello to your mom, and tell Pippa I'm looking forward to seeing here when she comes to Denmark.

Pippa is getting very stressed.  And she struggled to get a visa every day the man called and wanted something more and something more till Pippa was going crazy.  But now she has it so she's happy but she has to prepare a lot to go because she is so busy.  Thank you for reading our blogstories and my mom sends her love back.


Anonymous said...

Hey boys, your doing such a flippin`good job with your blog! Love to read it, so I can keep all of you in my heart! Anna, your biggest fan in Germany!
Actually we don't remember Anna either, only and English Anna.  But I am sure my Mom will know you.  Thank you for being a fan.  We love you!
PDeverit said...

Plain Talk About Spanking??????

by Jordan Riak


http://nospank.net/pt2010.pdf

We thought this was a mistake because ... it was wierd.  Then Mom said 'Oh I think that person is Danish, maybe because they don't spank in Denmark.  Then I remembered that I said to the Dutch lady that we were going to give Holland a spanking in soccer.  LOL!  LOL!  LOL!
Dear anamous, we did not mean a REAL spanking.  You probably don't understand because you don't speak English.  In English we say 'We are going to beat you.' when we mean we are going to win a match.  We don't mean we are actually going to B-E-A-T you will our hands!  LOL! LOL! LOL!  And so sometimes if you feel like being funny you can say WE ARE GOING TO SPANK YOU ... or WE ARE GOING TO WALLOP YOU.  But we don't mean it.  Don't worry.  We don't mean it.  We don't spank each other for real!

You guys should also know that I am not a sporty person.  People keep asking me sport questions because of the World Cup and what we wrote on the blog.  I liked the world cup soccer.  But I don't like sports because of my heart problem.  JESSE is the one who loves sports.  All kinds of sports.
 Zach and Emily said...

Boys, I just love reading your blogs. Keep it up!
Thanks Zach and Emily.
Hey Kieran and Jesse :)

I read your blog everytime when you write something new and I just LOVE it! You are so wonderful! And by the way so good in writing those things down, I can really imagine how everything happens:)

Just miss TLC and you guys very often so badly!


Lots of love from Germany, Eva :)
People always say 'I love TLC so much because ... of this ... because ... of that'  and those things are true and nice.  But people forget that it always happens that people must leave and then our hearts are sore ... yours and ours.  I hate it when people go again.  Like Becky.  I MISS YOU BECKY!  COME BACK!
Thank you for your comment Eva.

Linda (Germany) said...

I do understand, why you didn't like fishing, Kieran! I also think it's VERY boring! There are many other things that are much more interesting! I'm happy for you that you got the chance to go to Cape Town, though! It's such a beautiful place, I love it!

I love your blog stories! It's so nice to read how you experience life at TLC! It's so nice to hear from you and see how much you have grown up! (I was at TLC 2006/07, so long ago!) Every day I look at your bolg to see if there is a new story, even though it's not the weekend and not time for a new story yet.

Lots of love,


Linda

Thanks for the comment Linda.  We don't remember you anymore, sorry.  But I know my Mom will remember you.  Thank you for reading our blogstories, though.  Love you.

Lizzie Simon said...


wow you guys have been busy!!!

jesse i'm so happy you got your justin bieber cd, i hope you remember all the songs still!!


i miss you guys loads but im starting school next month so hopefully ill be very busy!!!

love you loads, (ps, im holding jessica and kiera in fiona's photo! ;) )
We miss you so much, Lizzie.  We wish you could come back right now.


Hi Boys, Another fantastic Blog - what an adventure on the Cape Keiran.We live in an area,like your Mom says,way up high in the hills and the only things that like to eat the rough grass on the moors are sheep and I have to agree with you I wouldn't like to kiss one on the nose either!! but I think it's ok to stroke a pet one.And how lovely to re-find your brother and the rest of the Family at Home then to celebrate with a great picnic at the lake with them all. Your Family is terrific so thank you again for sharing them with us.We are glad to share Lucy and Hannah with you for a while.We did know about Hannah's knee - you need to give her a big hug from us so she gets better each day.

Thank you Aunty Jay.  We love getting your comments, even though we think we might not be able to answer them all anymore.  I hope you don't mind.  I hope you are not disappointed.  We didn't think it would be so much work, but we get very tired because we have to do it on Word first so that we can check the spelling and be very careful and stuff.  Then we have to move it all to the blog and sometimes we lose some of it ... ugh!  It's quite hard.  And answering the comments makes it twice as hard.  But when we can we will do it.


Allison F said...

Kieran, I understand how fishing can be slow. I am usually the one to go with my daddy because my sisters don't like to sit for so long. We pass the time by singing silly songs that tell the fish to come and bite our hooks. Sometimes it works and we catch really big ones!

I'm glad you all had fun at the lake! I understand being a bit spooked about the fish- once when my husband and I were in a lake, he was floating on a raft when a bug landed on him and bit him. But before he could swat the bug, a fish jumped out of the water and ate the bug off of him!! He was very surprised, but I had a good giggle. = ) We both laugh about it now.

Keep writing!! I look forward to your posts all week.
Much love from Virginia,

Allison
Yikes if that happened to me, I swear I would have a heart attack. Imagine a fish doing that. Oh yuck man. It's just gross. Sucking a bug right off your body. Gross man!  Thanks for your comment Allison.

Swellendam 2 and Bas Lake

Jessica & Kiera

First of all we wanted to give you a report back on Jessica and Kiera.  They are doing so well and are growing quickly.  Mom asked the volunteers to take a picture of the babies, that looks the same as the picture she took of Kieran and I when we were that age.  She made like a competition and said the best picture would get a little prize from her.  So they all took pictures, but the very best one of all was this one.  It was taken by Fiona from Pennsylvania (Not Pencilvania! LOL).  We think she did a great job, don't you.  And those babies look so lovely.  Next time we will show you how they look now.  Because these pictures were taken a few weeks ago. 

Jesse and Kieran

This picture was taken by Mommy when we first arrived at TLC.  Jesse came first, and I was very sick because of my heart problem.  Mom had to wait another week before they called her to fetch me and she was so happy!  She said she nearly danced all the way to the hospital.  But when she got there, they told Mom that she should just love and look after me nicely, but that they didn't think I was going to live more than a month because of my serious heart condition.  But Mom thought to herself.  "Hmmmm ... God can change anything!"  So she brought me home and started praying for me right away.  I kept stopping to breathe and Mom put me onto oxygen.  I was on oxygen for about three months because every time she took me off it, I would stop breathing again.

One day, she was giving me a wash and I stopped breathing.  She got such a fright and she tried to rescusitate me, but I didn't come around.  So she was very upset and was trying everything.  Just then her old priest friend called Fr. Victor who was the Catholic Chaplain of Baragwanath Hospital phoned her and he did not stop ringing the phone.  So Mom answered and just said "I can't talk to you now!  A baby has stopped breathing.  Before she put the phone down she heard Fr. Victor's  voice shout:  "Is the baby baptised"  She shouted back, "NO!" and put the phone down.  Mom says, she couldn't believe it, she was just back with me and trying to tap my heart again, when she hear Fr. Victor's voice behind her say, "Out of the way, we need to baptise this baby."  She was astonished because she didn't think that Fr. Victor could have got there so quickly, because neither of them had cellphones in those days.  Anyway, Fr. Victor pushed her out of the way, took the special bottles out of his little case and started to baptise me.  Just when he said the words "I baptise you in the name of Jesus" and poured water over my head, I coughed and spluttered and began to breathe.  Can you believe that?   My Mom says that was a REAL miracle that she saw with her own peepers!  And I never lost my breath again since that day!  Isn't that a lovely story?  And it's a TRUE story!

We thought that it will be fine if we put Joanna's kids in now so that it will make more sense later on. Otherwise you might think that her kids are Mom's kids. So Joanna did things differently from Mom because she first adopted West, so she had a heart-kid first. Then she had a tummy-kid and that was Kay. After Kay she had three more heart kids.

FAMILY FOCUS

W E S T

This is West. He is Joanna's firstborn heart-kid. Joanna's family are not called Jarvises. They are called Joneses. It does seem a bit strange that we are actually their uncles because Mommy is their grandmother. The first day I found that out, I was like WHOOOHOOO! I am the uncle of a 13 year old and I am only 10! But now we are all used to it and it's not such a big deal anymore. Sometimes when there are strangers we just say we are all brothers. Otherwise it's complicated.

Everybody loves West a lot because he is very different from other kids. He's kind of unique. He's very gentle and kind but you mustn't annoy him, because he can get into quite a temper sometimes. (I hope he doesn't get annoyed with me that I said that!) Brrrr! I will ask him if he minds, and if he does, I will take it out.  But usually  when West gets mad its because somebody MADE him mad.  He doesn't just get mad for nothing.  So we are usually patient with him because we all get mad sometimes.

West goes to Randeor School with Tommy, my Mom’s 3rd eldest heart kid and Brendon, her 5th heart kid. Randeor is a Technical School for people who don’t like studying Maths and stuff, but prefer to work with their hands. In the beginning West didn’t really like it there, but now he does. Now he has friends. What I like about West is that you can tell him your troubles and your worries. He likes to listen to you and to try to help you when you're sad.

He was always scared that he was going to get bullied at Randeor and they teased him sometimes too, like they tease everybody. But then this year Tommy was made a Prefect and everybody in the whole school respects Tommy too much! Even the thugs and bullies started to respect the Jarvises and Joneses because the bullies know our family sticks together when there’s trouble. Tommy took good care of West and he’s fine now. He likes his school now and he also has friends there so that helps too.

West likes to do stuff like building things. He’s very good at that type of thing, and he likes to dress up. And he likes to do hair and nails and stuff like that.

Yes, I think dressing up is his most favourite thing and do you know, he is very good at it. He even dresses up his mother, Joanna. Whenever Joanna wants to buy some new clothes, West goes shopping with her and he says – Mom try this on, Mom try that on. – and he matches the dresses with shoes and scarves and things. He can also make clothes, but not real ones yet. Mom thinks he might be a dress designer one day. But his favourite thing in the whole world is to make people look beautiful.

West grew up with the big boys, like Joshua, Reuel and Tommy, mostly. But he’s a little bit in the middle like with Crispin and Brendon on the other side of him.

West loves my Mom too much. He calls her Gogo. Actually all Joanna's kids and Pippa's kids call her Gogo. That means Grandma in Zulu. Whenever he makes a mistake or something he always says ... -- PLEASE don't tell Gogo! -- because he doesn't like to disappoint her.

And my Mom adores West too. She says he’s like an angel to her and she says she knows that he is going to grow up to be a very, very special person one day because he has such a beautiful heart.  She says she loves the way he always listens to everybody's problems and if he can't help them he comes to her or to Joanna and they tell him what to do. 

Maybe he will be a listener one day.  Like somebody who listens, you know, to other people's worries and problems.  There was a guy in the next door farm called John.  He used to come once a week and listened to all our problems and he never ever told anybody what you said.  Something like a priest who listens to your confession.  He will never tell anybody, even if you hold a gun by his head.  Wow!  That's special.

Yes, very special.  It took me a long time to trust our Priest.  Longer than it took me to trust John.  John had these kind of shiny blue eyes and you knew you could trust him.  But a priest?  Uh uh!  I wasn't sure about that.  So I started by telling him only my smallest little sins ... and then I watched Mommy's face for about a week.  I could tell she didn't know.  Then later I started telling him bigger ones and then eventually I told him HUMUNGOUS ones!  LOL LOL!  Now I know I can trust him, even though he's Polish.  It's good to tell the Priest stuff because it washes your heart clean and he prays for you and God gives you grace.  Then your soul gets strong and you can resist the bad stuff.  It does work hey!

Kieran in the Peach Grove Blossoms ~ Swellendam

Cool, now its time to tell you about the rest of our wonderful trip to Swellendam.  On Tuesday Uncle Jerry and me and Mom went in the car to Cape Town.  I was so excited.  But it did take very long.  Very, very long.  Hours and hours.  I kept saying ... are we there yet? ... and then my Mom would say .... Nearly! ...  And then later on she would say yes, this is Cape Town and just before I could get happy Uncle Jerry said ... No no.  This is not Cape Town yet ... this is such and such.

Then finally we got there.  I was so excited when I saw Table Mountain.  Mom was saying that its the grandest thing she has ever seen in her whole life.  She said its not the same to see it in pictures.  So I was wondering and wondering how grand it can be.  But really it is VERY grand.  It makes your heart swell up so that you can hardly breathe when you see it for the first time.  It is so, so huge.  I felt like that even on the first day and we were not even up close yet.  We were quite far away actually.  We only went up close the next day when we went to the Docks and to the Waterfront.

We had to wait a little bit for my cousin, Gerard to get home from work.  He is Uncle Jerry's son. So we waited and that was cool because we were looking at Table Mountain all the time and it was awesome.  We were at Blouwberg Strand, that's like on the other side of the sea from Table Mountain.  Well, not the REAL BIG sea, but sort of around a bay or something.  You could even see Robben Island.  Blouwberg Strand is nice.  Maybe when I am big I will live there because they have millions and millions of smallish houses all next to each other and each one is more lovely than the last one.  And next to the sea they have lots of restaurants and ... yes, I think I would like to live there one day.

So then it was time to go to Gerard's house.  I was so excited and I wondered if he looked just like Uncle Jerry, but actually he looks completely different.  Mommy says he looks more like his Mom, that's why.  (His Mom died).  Gerard was the one to do the cooking and he made a potjie.  Can you see that little black kind of Africanish pot he is cooking in?  That's called a potjie.  So he made meat and vegetables in it and it was really very yummy. 

I was happy about that because the last time I ate potjie it was disgusting.  And I won't tell you who the cook was because he will probably kill me! LOL!  Gerard's got a kind of a wife and her name is Kirsten.  She is very pretty and very nice.  She taught me and Mommy to play Battleships.  We hadn't played it before.  Gerard also has a little daughter who is 8.  Her name is Kayleigh.  She is pretty and very nice too and played Battleships with us as well.  Me and Mom lost.  But I wasn't feeling comfortable.  Mommy kept teasing me and that wasn't nice either.  It wasn't that I didn't like the little girl, I DID.  I just don't know why I was uncomfortable.  Maybe its because I didn't get to know her yet.  And she stays with her Mom in another house so Gerard took her home later.  Then I was comfortable again.

Breakfast at Blouwbergstrand

The next morning we got up and had breakfast at one of the beach restaurants.  It was very cool.  You could see the mountain and the sea, and Robben Island.  It was really nice sitting there in that beautiful place with Uncle Jerry and Mommy.

After that we went to Cape Town but guess what?  It started to POUR with rain and it was Mommy and Uncle Jerry's fault because I TOLD them not to say the word RAIN and they kept saying it.  So well, what did they expect?  The rain came pouring down.  But we did see Table Mountain up close. The only thing is it was covered with cloud so you couldn't see the top.  But we went to the docks and the Waterfront.  It was nice, but it was raining.  I think Uncle Jerry was not feeling too well because he had to sit down quite a lot.  I felt sorry for him and then I didn't really want to walk around a lot anymore. 

Mommy told Uncle Jerry she would just take me into the aquarium for a whizz around there, while he sat outside, and then we could go home.  So that's what we ended up doing.  I LOVED the aquarium.  It was really, really cool and we watched them feeding the penguins.  I was longing to see a killer whale but Mom said they wouldn't have them there because surely they are too big for such small tanks.  But I didn't believe her.  Look .. those tanks are VERY big.  Anyway, we couldn't spend the whole day there looking for a killer whale.  So she bought me this neat little plastic killer whale and she bought me a special ring that changes colour when you are mad or when you are calm.  It's nearly always brownish yellowish when I wear it, but when Mom wears it, its blue.

So, when we were finished with the aquarium, we had to walk very quickly to the parking because it was pouring with rain.  Then we left and drove straight back to Swellendam, except we stopped for lunch at Steers.  We got back to the farm sort of in the evening, and Aunty Yvonne made some roast lamb for us all.

Kieran with the Poplar trees

Well, the next day was Thursday and I was already getting a bit sad because our holiday was nearly finished.  Aunty Yvonne asked me what I wanted to do, and they laughed when I said I wanted to go shopping!  I don't know why they laughed because I love the shops and hardly ever go to the shops.  My whole family loves to go to the shops.  I mean the kids.  I know Mom hates the shops.  Well, so we picked up Aunty Nel from her little cottage and we all went to the shops.  Mom bought me all the things I asked for ... it was SO cool.  She bought me chips, and a cold drink, a Ben 10 Lucky Packet, a pair of sunglasses and a plastic binoculars, so Mom didn't have to worry that I would break Uncle Jerry's expensive ones!  It was a very nice day.  We went for a walk around the farm and Mom took some pictures of me.

Trying to touch the sheep

Uncle Jerry has sheep on his farm, and chickens and of course two dogs.  Mommy wanted to take a picture of me stroking the sheep's nose, but I wasn't sure about that.  Aunty Yvonne showed me how to do it but I didn't  like the idea.  Mom reminded me of the picture in the lounge with Kayleigh KISSING the sheep ... but I didn't care.  No way was I gonna kiss a sheep.  So here is a picture to show you that I came very close and I did try, but it wasn't for me.
 
The ones you can see:

Before we knew it ... it was Friday.  I was feeling sad because Uncle Jerry had not taken me fishing like he promised.  I wonder if he heard me whining, but I thought I was whining very quietly.  But after lunch he suddenly said, ... So Kieran do you still want to go fishing? ... and I said ... DO YOU want to go fishing? ... and he said ... I hate it when people do that!  Do you want to go fishing or not?  Then I was a bit scared because I thought I had made him mad.  I just looked and Mom and Mom said ... YES he really wants to go fishing.

So we hitched a trailer on his quadbike and I got in there with all fishing rods and stuff and Mom sat behind Uncle Jerry and off we went to the river.  (It's really not very far).  We got there and Uncle Jerry put up two fishing rods.  One for me and one for him.  Then he said we had to be really, really quiet.  I was feeling very happy to be there, so it was quite hard to be still.  But I did try my best. 

Fisherman abandons post!

And I waited and I waited and I waited.  But the fish wouldn't bite.  And I started to get in a bad mood.  So I was chasing Ciska around with a stick for a while and Uncle Jerry said ... You better not hit my dog with that stick! ...  I mean, come on!  I wouldn't hit Cisca with a stick?  Anyway, I waited and waited and waited again but the fish just wouldn't bite.  I know that they DO bite because I saw a picture of Gerard with a fish as big as a dog and he caught it in that very same river.  So, I asked Mom for the 10th time, ... Why is it taking so long? ... and Mom said ... Because fishing DOES take long, Kieran.  We have only been here for half an hour.  Sometimes it can take all day! ... I thought W-H-A-T?  So I didn't say another word.  I very, very quietly left my chair and everything and tip-toed up to the path and then ran back to the house as fast as I could.  I will never fish again.  ALL DAY!  That's just stupid!  I wonder how long Gerard waited to catch that big fish.  Probably all day and all night!

Well, after the 'fishing' we had supper and then Mom and I packed our bags and we were ready to leave in the morning.

So the next morning arrived and we packed up the car and left for George.  We had some lunch there and then we got on the plane at 2 o'clock.  It didn't take us very long to get to Jo'burg.  It was 2 hours but it felt like a half hour.   Pippa was waiting for us with Jesse, Paul, Dominique and baby Ruthi.  When I saw them I realised I was happy to be home again.

Yeah!  And I was SO HAPPY to see my brother again.  Even though he didn't buy me a single thing in Cape Town.  Jesse you got nice stuff from Aunty Yvonne and I gave you my best ring!  You are so ungrateful.  Oh yes ... that's true ... but I wasn't talking about Aunty Yvonne, was I?  But then he DID give me his ring and I as very happy and Mom stopped at the CD shop and replaced my Justin Bieber CD and then I was REALLY very happy.

Paul stayed in the car

So the next day was Sunday and we all went to Mass as usual.  It was nice being altogether.  And the tent wasn't THAT hot because it was a coolish day.  After Mass Pippa took us all to Bas Lake.  That was so exciting.  Bas Lake is a quarry that was dug out of the rocks and is really quite big.  They don't use the quarry anymore.  Now they use it for training people to dive.  It is more than 100 metres deep!  That's kind of scary.  Mom didn't like the idea either.  When we got to the lake Mom said ... --- eeeew ... I don't like this place.  Its sinister. ---  Then Paul asked Mom  --What's sinister --- and Pippa said ... Scary ... and then Paul said ... --- I wanna go home!--- and he refused to get out of the car.

It was a lot of fun.  Tommy swam right across ot the other side of the lake.  That was SO brave and all of us were holding our breath and hoping he would get back safely because it its really a long way to go.  Mom was say ... --- Oh my God what if he gets a cramp? --- and Pippa said --- Then we are in big trouble! --- We kept yelling to him ... --- Come back Tommy!  Are you alright Tommy?  Then finally he came back and was fine, thank goodness!  Mom was getting quite tearful and we were scared that she was going to get sick again because everybody was so happy that she is back at home now and not at Postinia anymore.  So when Tommy got back Mom was SO happy!

We were all watching Tommy and hoping he would get back

So then Pippa made a delicious braai.  Pippa's braai's are the best in the world.  But I always feel sorry for her because she goes blood red from cooking because she has such a white skin.  We all at a great feast and everybody was so happy because we were all together again and not only that, even RHYS was there because Mommy was home and he wanted to spend the day with us.  He was being very funny and making us all laugh with his jokes and stuff. 

Pippa kept saying - --- Oh this is lovely!  Oh I just love this place!  Sorry you think its sinister Mom.  But I think it's so lovely!  ---  By this time Paul was out of the car.

Well, it was a great day.  In the end we all had a lekker swim and it was a bit of a slimy idea because it is FULL of fish (BAS).  Luckily I didn't realise it because I only saw them later when my Amy and Khensani threw some bread in and they all came bunching and crowing together.  Whaaaaa ... I didn't get back in the water after I said that.  Especially when someone said that they can suck you TOES!

Well, sorry that the blog is late but you see it is very, very long today and it took ages to finish because of all the stories Kieran had about Cape Town and stuff.  Huh?!

We just want to say thank you to all the people who make comments:  We did try to answer on the comment place but we think that you don't look there after you made your comment.

So:

Jeppe D thanks that you always say something on the blog.  It  makes us very happy.  And you will see more of the family, we promise.  We are starting to do them in our spare time so that they can be ready for you.  Pippa also started to put little pieces on her special camera so that she can load up some of the brothers and sisters to say a short bit.  But we are not sure if that will work yet.  One day we will visit you in Denmark.  Mom says the happiest people in the world live in Denmark.  She says its because you have a queen and not a king!  LOL!

Hi Hannah Johnson.  Sorry that we went to the football without you.  It would have been even more fun with you there.  Poor Becki had to give us all her stuff.  Her coat, her jersey, her next jersey ... because we forgot to take ours off the bus.  She is just as kind as you are, Hannah.  We miss her so much, and we miss you too.  Here is a picture of her because she came to Bas Lake with us on Sunday!

Crispin and Becki Johnson

Hi Emma.  So it was YOU!  Well, we won't get anybody else looking at us in Gibraltar now.  And we noticed that all our Chinese fans have disappeared too.  I guess English is too hard for them to read.  I know Chinese would be hard for me to read.  Hope your new class also likes our blogstories.  We love you Emma.

Hello Aunty Jay.  Hannah has just arrived, but she is hobbling and is on crutches, did you know?   Shame.  It looks really sore.  It's nice to have her back and Lucy is so happy.  Maybe we will take solme pictures and we will put them on the next blog.  We are glad you like our blogstories so much.  Mom says that Buxton where you live is the highest town in England.  That's cool! 

Hi Gabi,

We are so glad that you are reading our blogstories.  Are you homesick for TLC?  Is it nice to be back home now.  We think the babies are missing you a lot.  Its nice when volunteers read the blog because you already know what TLC is like and why we all get bothered sometimes.  Are you going to come back one day?

Hi Aimiee,  Did we miss you?  When did you come back.  Nobody told us that you were back and where did we go that we didn't see you?  You must have only come for a very short time.  We love you too, Aimiee. 

Hello Piet and Joke,

Thank you for reading our blogstories.  My Mom told us that you were a visitor here and that you are from Holland.  But Murphy doesn't really remember you either.  I will see if there is a picture I can post for you of Murphy.  Yes, we would love to see the pictures not but of the house and school, thanks.  We only want to see pictures of us.  LOL (I mean all the kids).

No no Joke, when Holland comes again, Bafana Bafana are going to give them a good spanking!  LOL!

Okay now we really have to say bye because I'm exhausted.

Yeah my back is aching

see you all ... Bye!

Bye!

Phew

SOCCER CITY & SWELLENDAM

Hey Friends,

Last Wednesday night Pippa took all of us who have not yet seen a soccer match, to Soccer City. There was a match between Ghana and South Africa. It was awesome! But the freezingest night of the year. I didn’t really feel the cold during the match, because it was so exciting. The stadium was packed to the brim. But at half time and after the match I thought my ears were going to fall off! It was really icy cold. Each one of us brought our vuvuzelas and we were blasting them from beginning to end, what a great night!

Wow! It was such an exciting match ... and I am sure you already know SOUTH AFRICA WON!!! 1-0. We were all waiting and waiting ... holding our breath for that first goal. Thank goodness it was from South Africa when it eventually came. Steven Pienaar kicked a great ball to Mphela and he kicked it so well, into the goal. And then we were in the lead for the rest of the way.

We were all very proud of Bafana Bafana. And we were so lucky to see all those players up close. I always thought that they were kind of normalish sizes but actually they are very big. Steven Pienaar is very tall. It was great to see them up close and I wished I was brave enough to go and shake their hands. But I wasn’t. Maybe next time.

The next morning I didn’t feel so good, but I went to school anyway. That was Thursday morning. But when Friday arrived I had a banging headache and a bad cough. For the first time in my life, Pippa said I could stay at home. I also felt quite sad because Kieran is going to Swellendam with Mommy. I have to stay at home. But I know it’s fair because I had lots of chances to go places already, especially with Karate.  So Mom and I worked on my half of Slobber and Kieran will do his in Swellendam.  And we have already worked on our new thing ... Face Focus, when we are going to do one member of the family every week.  This will will be Joanna.  And we already did West.  That we will put in next week.

Hi Friends,

Beautiful Cisca

Last Thursday when Mom was still at Postinia Pippa told me that Mom had a surprise for me. I thought it was a gift card. But I was wrong. So when I went to Postinia I knocked on the door and my Mom opened it and she said that she has a surprise for me and there were some new clothes for me so I asked her what they were for. She said that she was going to Swellendam to visit her brother for a week, and since I wasn’t too well, she was going to take me with. I was so excited.

So on Friday Rhys took us to the airport and we flew to George. George is the name of the town where the airport near to Swellendam is. When we got out of the plane, my uncle Jerry, who my mother calls Jurie, was there with aunty Yvonne to fetch us. So they drove us back to Swellendam. It took about 2 hours to get there and by the time we did it was pitch dark. We had some supper and then we went to bed because we were very tired.

Swellendam is a very old town in the Western Cape. Uncle Jerry says that it is the third oldest town in the Cape.  First there's Cape Town, then Stellenbosch, and then Swellendam.  It's more beautiful than anywhere I have seen in the world (Except for Ramsgate).
This is the church in the middle of town.  It really makes the whole town look lovely and important.  The town is very, very small and the church is the biggest building in the whole town.  I don't think its a Catholic Church.  Mom says its probably an Afrikaans church.

The best thing about my uncle’s farm is his dog, called Cisca. He also has another dog called Snowy. But Snowy is very old and not much fun. But Cisca likes to run and play. She is also a Boerboel like our Slobberdog. But she is younger and much more good looking (sorry Slobberdog!) I spent a lot of time playing with her, and we became like best friends.

I went on a Quadbike with my uncle Jerry. It was awesome. The greatest thing I have ever done. We drove round and round. We went down to the river as well, with the quadbike. It was so cool. They have a big river running right next to my uncle’s house. It’s really awesome. I want to come back someday and have a swim in it ... I think.

Aunty Yvonne

Maybe it’s not as scary as the sea. I will have to try it out first, and then I will be able to let you know for sure. But right now it’s too cold to swim in. It’s just nice to be down there and sit there and to chat quietly. It was very nice just being there with my Mom and my Uncle.  It was like cosy, knowing they are brother and sister for real.  And I belong to them. When I grow up I will buy a farm just like this and I will have a dog called Cisca.

Yesterday we went to a place called the Pumpkin Patch in a place called Barrydale and we had a delicious meal. I had a humungous hamburger. It was so huge I could only take a few bites and eat my chips. Then I had a bit more for supper but still didn’t manage to finish it. Then I had some for breakfast, and there’s still a big piece in the fridge.

Aunt Nel

Mom’s cousin, Aunty Nel, also came with us. She is quite old. But she is very nice. Not too grumpy or stuff like that. We drove up a very high mountain called the Tradouw Pass. And Mom took a picture of me, so you can see how high it was. It was awesome being up there.

Tomorrow Uncle Jerry is going to take Mom and I to Cape Town. That’s going to be awesome. I always wanted to go to Cape Town because Jesse and a lot of my brothers have been to Cape Town already, except for me. So now my dream will come true and I will be able to visit Cape Town. I will have to tell you about that next week.

This part was done last week ....

.... So Kieran and I thought today we would like to tell you some more about our family. Because a lot of people do know us and know what our family looks like. But probably most of you who don’t know us might think that we are just like -- two twin boys with a Mom and a Dad and that’s it. No, no! That’s not it at all. It’s a much bigger story than that. So we are going to give you a bit of an idea. But we don’t want to make it boring ... you know, like -- well this is so-and-so and that is such-n-such. Blah de blah de blah!  Like the speeches at school.  We thought we would put the story together with photo’s of our last holiday, to make it more interesting for you guys.

But when you look at the pictures remember that we last went on holiday like ages and ages ago. I mean I think it was like 5 years ago!  Are you crazy Kieran?   Well, it was a BIT long ago.  It was 2008 ... so that's  only like two years ago Kieran.  We haven't had enough money for a holiday since then. But I think that was the very best holiday anybody could ever have. Our whole family went -all 30 of us- and it was so awesome. EVERYBODY was so happy on that holiday there wasn’t even one single fight the whole two weeks.

Boy oh boy!  I wish I was rich ... so we could go once a year like Mom would like to. And I am sure she wouldn’t end up sick in Postinia if we managed to go on holiday once a year.  That's why guys ... g-r-u-n-t ... I wanna make this blog a success.  So that we can make a bit of money out of it.  You CAN you know!  But we just don't know how.  But if I work hard at my computers at school I will learn lots of stuff and one of these days I will find out how to do it. 

Okay, enough blabbering now.  Let's get down to business.

~~~~~

We have a very, very big family. My mom had 5 kids first of all. These were Joanna, Pippa, Rhys, Zoë and Faith. Those were the ones that grew in her tummy. But they are adults now, and here is a picture of all of them.

Mom on the left, then Faith, Rhys, Joanna, Zoe and Pippa

A lot of people ask us -- So where's your Dad? -- and that's not actually such a stupid question, right?  Because he's not there, is he?  Well, just like a lot other people in the world, our parents are divorced.  Our Dad lives in England now and he has a new family.  Finished and klaar.  That's the whole story.

Yeah!  So these 'photos were all taken at Ramsgate, on the South Coast of Natal, where we love to go on holiday.  It's like a peace of heaven; it really is.

So, Mom will be turning 60 this year.  Wouldn't it be great if we made a lot of money and could give her a great big party.  But her birthday is in October, and there is not enough time to get rich, I don't think.  What a pity.  Anyway ... All these adults in that picture work at TLC doing different jobs.  Well, all except for our sister Faith.  She doesn't do anything at TLC.  She just goes to university and she has a boyfriend.  His name is Lionel.

FAMILY FOCUS

JOANNA

First, there's our eldest sister, Joanna.  She is 38 years old.  And she works very hard at TLC.  She looks after everything to do with our babies and there are about 40 babies in the nursery so you can imagine what a big job that is!  Joanna is a lot of fun.  And watch her!  Her very favourite thing is to SNARK you!  Oh gross man! LOL LOL

A snark is when she puts her mouth over your nose and blows real hard.  Ugh its just plain disgusting!

Joanna is like TLC's doctor.  If Mom thinks we are fooling around and just want to get out of school or something, she always calls Joanna and there she comes with her thermometer and stethescope to see if we are chaffing or not.  We all love Joanna.  She is always kind and makes lots of jokes and tickles us.  It's just the snarking that's too much but otherwise she is the best big sister in the world.  Here she is with Faith.  Mommy's eldest and youngest tummy-daughters together.  I love this picture because they look so nice in those orange T-Shirts.  Mommy also likes this picture a lot.  She says they look so happy! 

When Joanna was exactly our age, she fell off a horse.  She hurt her back but not too badly and they thought that she was fine.  But after a few weeks they found out that she got diabetes and they think it was because she fell off that horse. 

But Mommy says that she is really proud  of Joanna because she has always looked after her sugar levels and she has always been amazingly healthy.  Even more healthy than people who don't have diabetes.  She has also always done very well at school and university, so diabetes is no excuse for being a failure.

Joanna is very brave.  She was also divorced a little while ago but she is very strong and didn't cry and cry like Mommy did.  Or maybe she did, but  did it more quietly like in her own house.  Here at TLC nothing is private, so you can't cry privately.  That's quite hard sometimes actually.

We love to go and visit Joanna's house and are always asking her, -- Please Joanna, please can I come to your house this weekend.  Her house is great.  It's a real fun place to be and it's nice to go there sometimes and get away from TLC.  But she does get a little fed up with us when we ask too often because she also has to get a rest and she has five kids.  Her kids are West, Kay, Shannan, Taylor and Rayne. 

Joanna is always helpful.  Even when she is busy and we ask her for something she never says --- Ugh man - I'm busy now go and bother somebody else --- or stuff like that ... like my other big sisters sometimes do.  I love her so much because she works very hard at TLC to get all our babies ready to be adopted, and she makes sure they always go to the special doctors when they are too sick for her to help them.  I know that when I feel sick I am always happy when I know that Joanna is around in case something happens to me, I know that she will be able to sort me out.  Here she is with Rayne, her youngest heart-son.

So from now on, every week we will put in a FAMILY FOCUS part where you can meet one or two of our family members and get to know them little by little.  Otherwise it is going to be a very big story, and you will get too bored!  We will rather give you a bit of news, and a bit of family.  We hope you like that idea.

Then lastly, we want to say that this past week we had new friends visiting us from Egypt, Spain and Gibralter, so our world is getting a little greener every week.

Goodbye Friends!
Bye Everyone!