Proud big sister

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

My sister started school yesterday. She is such a clever girl! I am really proud!

I believe she will make a huge success of her first year of school. She is smart. She is active, because she partakes in so many sports and activities. She makes my heart swell with pride!

Yes, I love this girl madly and I hope that when she is bigger, we will be close and do stuff together like girls' nights. She is such a beautiful girl.

Babysitting two girls

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

We struggle to find things to do for my baby sister during the long December holidays. The schools and holiday care at the school is closed for the festive season and we are running out of ideas, so my sister's best friend came to sleep over, last night, and she played here for the day.  This is roughly the summary of my babysitting adventures:

Coloring in Tinkerbelle

Painting ceramics

A letter to the Tooth Mouse/ Fairy

My sister had lost her tooth, because she refused to take it out, only to later realize that it wasn't in her mouth anymore. We had to write a letter to the Tooth Mouse, asking forgiveness and asking him if he would be so kind as to search for the tooth and to still give my sister money for it.

Pizzas for lunch

 I made the girls delicious, little pizzas after they nagged me for it, only to change their minds that they want pasta and I ended up eating it.

Playing dress-up 

Clay play- making all sorts of interesting things

Man, kids are different kinds of species and hard work. I am waiting another 20 years before I get my own children. Babysitting is hard work and I have mad respect for all the teachers, babysitters and nannies out there.

Travelling starts locally

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

One of my biggest dreams is to travel the whole world. This has been my dream, since I went to France and London in 2011. I have discovered that I have a wanderlust. According to the Urban Dictionary the definition of Wanderlust is:

1. A very strong or irresistible impulse to travel.

2. Strong longing for or impulse toward wandering


I want to see and explore every country. I want to eat the weird and wacky foods of those countries and learn about the traditional foods, the traditions. I want to experience EVERYTHING!!

But what does it help if you travel the world, but you never explore your own country?

This past week, we went to Uvongo in Kwazulu-Natal on the South Coast of South-Africa. Here are some photos of our time there and the surrounding areas. I decided to use photos, because they are worth a thousand words.

Beautiful mountains on our trip to the coast

We have arrived! Rock pools at Uvongo

Sister taking a photo of me at the rock pools

Sisters ready to go to the beach

The beautiful beach, Uvongo.

My flip flops in the sand

A coffee tour at the Beaver Creek Coffee Estate in Port Edward

Taking a walk at the Clearwater Trails in Port Edward

I find the name Clearwater Trails ironic, when I look at the river. 

Travelling back home, my sister made a fort for herself out of pure boredom

Travelling starts locally and then internationally. I had the best time this past week and I realized all over again, just how beautiful my country is. South-Africa truly is majestic and amazing!

Will your younger self approve?

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my younger self. By younger self I mean my 5 year old self. I keep asking myself: Would my younger self approve?

Would the younger Kiara approve?

When I was little, I was a very big tomboy. I used to play with bugs, chase boys around with all sorts of them literally from big to small. I loved playing pranks on people, scaring the living daylights out of them, doing all sorts of silly things and part of being tomboy, I also loved to play with cars and refused to wear dresses, because it wasn't fun to play in it. Yes, that was my younger self. Just writing this blog post is giving me nostalgia, which I can't explain. Is it a part of yourself which you lose whilst growing up?

I feel like I have left my younger self behind on some playground, because somewhere along the line, life said that it is time to grow up. Why is growing up so boring? Waking up, getting ready to go to class, working, eating and sleeping has become my daily routine. But yet, life is fun and it is long enough to both have fun and sometimes be serious and act like an adult. I must just make time to have fun and just be me who I really am. I always make excuses that I don't have time, but my problem is that I never make time.

I miss the days when I made pranks on people. I can never forget the different reactions I got from people and how i laughed until I cried.

I once had a small paper bag, which said "Rattle snake eggs: handle with care". I would take it to school and show the teachers and they were usually curious to look inside, once opening the bag, a rattling sound would come out of the bag.

The trick was that there was a rubber band with a piece of metal in the middle of the rubber band. You then had to wind the rubber band up and hold the packet correctly so it won't unwind. When people opened the packet, the rubber band unwound and the metal piece hit the sides of the packet, making the rattling sound. It scared a lot of people and the reactions were priceless.

My sister brings the fun back

Since my sister's birth, I learned to chill a bit and have fun, because she is only young once and when she's older I won't be cool enough to have fun times with her. She taught me a lot about life and how to enjoy the simple stuff.

Enough of the complaining! This is my decree to myself for all to see: I will go back to my roots and have fun for the remainder of 2014! I will pull pranks on my friends and family! Yes, you heard it... be prepared, I'm coming

Parents: Angels in disguise

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Everyone would always talk about their amazing parents, but I can truly say that my parents aren't like any other!

My amazing parents and me at the Holi Festival of Colours

Every single day, I get tears in my eyes, because I can never say thank you enough to these two angels, with the names of Mom and Dad. My appreciation can never be put into words.
Why are they so amazing?

Dad:

I met this fellow when I was 9 years old. From the beginning, he always took me into consideration even on their first date. He could've chosen a fancy restaurant, but instead he chose a family restaurant with jungle gyms, so I could tag along. He married my mom when I was 11 and became my wonderful father! LUCKY ME! He crept into our hearts with his good food and lame humor (much love, Dad!) He also gave me a beautiful sister! Yes, sometimes we can disagree and we are both stubborn, because we know what we want. But he has taught me what a real husband should be like and how a woman should be treated. He is always game to do fun stuff and he is adventurous! Just what my mother needed in her life. He is my blood. I don't care what my birth certificate says!

Mom:

Wow, what can I say? THANK YOU! You are the most amazing woman I know! You are strong willed, you do not let people mess with you, you are my role model. You are the dictionary definition of an amazing mother! I know now that you will literally do anything for me and Mieka. When I was younger, I didn't always see it, but as I'm getting older, I've seen it with my own eyes. You have taught me so many life lessons, but actions speak louder than words, and your actions literally shouted your words. You are my Power Woman. I am glad that we have a very strong bond and it only grew stronger since I started studying and for that I am grateful.

Thank you for being such great parents! You are really appreciated and I miss you every single day when I'm not with you! If I'm only half the parent (one day far, far from now), you are, then I'll already be great.

I LOVE YOU BOTH!

Trip to the zoo

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Today, we visited the Johannesburg Zoo. Here are some pictures:

Lions tanning in the winter sun

Baby sis throwing a tantrum

Fish over head

My love list

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

So, I saw the Love List on Momagain@40  and decided to compile my own Love List.

(In no specific order)

• Books
• Coffee dates with my friends
• My parents  
• 
• My baby sister

• Flowers
• My entire family
• All things beautiful
• Good food
• Popcorn
• Love
• Fruit
• Positivity
• Being happy
• Friends 
• Visiting my friends
• My friends visiting me
• Travel
• Holidays
• The bush veld
• The ocean
• Our two dogs
• The color blue
• Sunsets and sunrises
• Lays chips
• Liquorice
• Dubbel zout droppies
• Water
• Coffee
• Tea
• Pasta
• Being in nature
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Making memories
• Photos
• SLEEPING!
• Writing letters
• Shoes
• Scarves
• Dresses and skirts

Yes, I love a lot of things.

There is also a hate list, but I am not going to compile such a list, because it is negative and to focus energy on a hate list, is wasting energy on the things which I do love.

What are the things that you love?

Good to be home

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my baby sister, or my dad's food? Yeah well I'm mentioning it now.... It really is good to be home for the Easter weekend.

The headband gang

Mieka and me wearing our onesie's

Missing home

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

My university is 120km from home, which means I can only go home on weekends and holidays. But I usually have too much work to do, to go home every weekend.

My baby sister is growing up very fast and I am missing out on so many things, she is 5 and my mom wrote a blog post about my sister having a loose tooth. It makes me sad because I am not there to experience and share my sister's excitement.

I have also missed out on a few family holidays due to exams. It sucks to miss out and to just miss...

Sisterly love

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

A picture speaks a thousand words, but I love my baby sis!

Maropeng: Cradle of Humankind

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Yesterday, we went to visit Maropeng: Cradle of Humankind.

Sister got scared on the boat ride

Looking into the endless mirrors

Going on a nature walk

We had a lovely time there and I would recommend it to everyone. I just wish the Sterkfontein caves were included in the hefty price., so we could also go and see them. We will do the caves another time.

We all are winners

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Today, we went to go and watch my sister running at her school's athletic event.

Sister and me

She was very upset when she didn't win (or even close), she was third last. Just after she finished running, she already had a sad face and said that she lost. How do you explain to a 5 year old, that winning isn't everything?

Children grow up believing that it is very important and it's not...
I, also never won. Our family is not really athletic. We have the brains! One day she will win other kids in grades, whereas they will in sport. Everyone wins in their own way and every person is unique and no one else can be the same as you.

The awesome blue team

We all are winner, just in different ways!

Baby sis is in Grade R

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Sister with her big bag

 Today, Mieka started her first day at Grade R (Grade 0). She has been looking forward to this day for ages! She was always telling us that her hair would be like Rapunzel's and that her eyes will shine. She was also convinced that after Grade R, she will be joining me at university. She still has to get through 12 years of school before she can go to university and then I will most certainly not be there anymore.

She enjoyed her first day and we were glad to see that one of her friends, was NOT in her class, because they always have some sort of fight.

What was your first day like in school?

Attacked by a dog

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Today my mom, sister and I took our dogs for a walk, which they absolutely loved. They are always attempting to escape our garden. So, this walk was freedom x 10000.

*Petite Peu and Benji

The dogs tired easily, because they are unfit due to the reason that we don't go and walk with them a lot.

In our complex, there are lots of dogs and they bark at everything even at an ant walking in front of them. So, when we entered the complex, the dogs started barking loudly. Our dogs are very small but can get very arrogant against big dogs, when we know they will come second to these dogs.

We were almost at our house when suddenly a huge dog jumped over his wall. I couldn't believe my eyes and he ran straight at us and was aiming for Petite Peu, the black dog. My sister luckily ran to the house, while we were fending off this big dog.

All I could think of was to get PP away from the big dog, so I picked her up by her leash and was holding her in my arms. The big dog's mouth went over PP's head, but she didn't bite because I pulled her away. My mom kept screaming "NO!" at the dog. I wasn't even worried about myself getting bitten by the dog, I just wanted to protect my dog.

It is really strange how we react in a crisis. My sister ran, my mom screamed and I just tried to save my dog. Luckily none of us got hurt, not even PP, who was so arrogant against this big dog.

This big dog that attacked us, is to large for our complex environment. The dogs are not supposed to be higher than knee height, this dog was about hip height. HE CAN JUMP OVER WALLS! That scared the living crap out of me!

It was scary, but I'm just glad that no one got hurt.

*Petite Peu stands for 'little bit' in French. She was supposed to be way smaller than she is, but we still love her and Benji, all the same, even if they are arrogant towards very large dogs!

Friends forever

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Everyone has those few people, who will always be your friends.

Marinda and me

First of all, I have a life long friend, Marinda, I have literally known her my whole life. Our mothers met in prenatal classes. She was born the 1st of July and I was born the 6th Of July. We have been friends for 20 and a half years. She was also working with me at the shoe shop, so it was really fun seeing her every day at work. At least she is with me at university and we usually make lunch dates just to see each other in our busy schedules.


Second of all,  I have a friend, Melanie, whom I met on the first day of my first school day.

Melanie and me

I still remember the first day of school. We were sitting across each other and we instantly became friends. At the end of the day, I put her home number on my calculator... Yes, my calculator! I put the calculator in my bag and when I got home the number was GONE!! (It was a solar calculator) I cried for hours, not realizing that I will be seeing her the next day! We have been friends for 14 years now and still will be 'til we die!

Last, but definitely not least, is Margerethe.

Margerethe and me

She was my roommate this year at our residence. We only met last year, but have been best friends since then. She has the best personality and is the most down to earth person I know. Her nickname in the residence is Nike and it suits her quite well, because she is a very hard worker. It was great sharing a room with her and we had so much fun and random times. This friendship is definitely gonna last a lifetime. She really is a roll model to me and I look up to her.

I have many other friends, who are all really special to me, but these 3 deserve a special shout out. They have changed my life in ways that no one else could. thank you for being my friends. I appreciate you!

Li'l sister is 5!

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Mieka's ballet concert

Five years ago, my whole world changed, with a baby girl named Mieka.

I grew up alone and always wished for a sibling. Be careful what you wish for, 'cause you might just get it!
She enriches our lives in so many ways, it's impossible to describe. It was tiring to play catch by myself!

She is a real princess and she loves wearing dresses, heels, tiaras and fairy wings. She is a real lady and a pretty one, at that.

No cheese for this camera!

She is the complete opposite of me. She is deathly scared of bugs, which is the opposite of me, because I used to catch them and play with them all day. And I disliked dresses a lot! I was the tomboy chasing the boys around with bugs haha!

Before gymnastics

Time flies when you are having fun! 5 years flew very fast and I cannot wait for the memories yet to come, with her.

I love you, my baby sis!

My princess