One month till Christmas!

This year, the 25th November was important for 2 reasons...1. The girls had their Dolce Piano Concert & 2. It was my Birthday.  

Each year, I am overwhelmed by the special messages and gifts that come my way.  The love and kindness of others is always the most tangible and memorable gift of course.  Brod, precious, wonderful & amazing Brod (everyone thinks it so I might as well mention it), gifted me with what I wanted, Big Blue clothing- just as I've been linking this up to their site - I've discovered their latest ladies clothing items...grrrrr. But since I've been wearing my gifts for most of the month he did buy some token gifts for the kids to wrap up(there was even a foot scrub from 'Edward & Bella' - how thoughtful!, Check out this Zombie Song - it was our Halloween song with the sweet Twilight reference).  A Black Forest Cake was the birthday cake treat - that man can throw an awesome impromptu party when he wants to, a precious Piano concert, dinner @ Cafe 99 with Hiram & Amanda, a DVD and bubble bath - and then I was absolutely SHOT. 

Now, onto the really important part of the day. The Dolce Muisc Academy Piano Concert for KZN. Our little girls have been attending their piano lessons as faithfully as possible, practicing nearly every day. It has been fabulous watching them work hard and committing themselves.  All their hard work paid off.  Phoebe has been blessed with an amazing ability to handle all situations with ease. Sophie has great ability, but her little stomach gets twisted into a thousand knots. The opportunity to show case her talents was just up Miss Phoebe's street - she was thrilled, and had even invited her Speech & Language Therapist(and my friend), Carmen to watch the performance. Sophie got to the venue early and practiced earnestly to be ready. It was special watching Sophie overcome her fear, which was HUGE and perform so perfectly. I wonder if anyone has noted that I've been watching Mr.Poppers Penguins a lot lately:) 

Life is all about the lessons that we learn.

The people that we meet.

The love we get to feel.

How special, to experience this all in just one day.

Here are some pics:

My impromptu party - little Hope helping me blow out candles

so special having friends pop by

The girls piano teacher, the lovely Samantha Clark

That's a whole lot of stress right there - nerves!

Totally chilled Phoebe enjoying the concert

She did it!

Musical item by Michaela

Missy Phoebe

Gift from Carmen

My R25 Woolies birthday banner that I bought months ago for this day:)

Carrie-Ann knows me well - inscription on the inside, "Bringing your 'happy place' into your home".