THE WEAVERS NEST

Faaark

Typepad! You keep on eatin my posts! I have written the very same post out 5 x now. Aargh. Am frustrated and
Bored with it now.
Anyhoo - I will try again. So - we made it to half term. Only just. That was a very busy first half of term - particularly because the boys prep operated on 2 sports timetables - which alternated every week. It was very hard for my old brain to keep up. Luckily the boy child has loved it and is thriving.
But talking of old brains - this very old brain here will be turning 26 + vat next month. And I will hasten to add that vat is 14% in SA. Or in other words - In the UK, I am turning 20 next month. Plus vat.
I never celebrated my 30 th birthday, because I was in complete denial that I was turning 30. And I regretted it ever since. So - for the last 9 years or so I have been vowing that I will celebrate my 40th. And I am. Yay me. The venue has been booked, the menu has been finalised - and I am currently organizing the decor. It's actually been quite fun. Who knew .
So - I am ready to face my next decade. 40 is the new black - and I am going to rock it :)
And if typepad would baddy let me,I would insert my fabulous invitation here. But I am doubtful that you will be seeing it. I promise to show it off when the gremlins in here have been sorted

PHEW....HALF TERM

Test

Quick test cos type pad is driving me nuts - I am unable to upload photos. So I am trying from the iPad.
If you see a photo after this, then it worked. If you don't .... Boo hiss TYPEPAD

WELL.....HELLOOOOOOOO

....Nice to see you. To see you...................NICE.

It has been forever and a day since I last blogged. Truth be told, I haven't had any time to miss it much, eish! Grade 3 at the boys prep.... I is not coping. Wowza, its a bit of a mans world - and such a stark contrast to the very nurturing environment that was the Junior Prep.

Luckily, the boy child is doing just fine. Its just the parental that needs to be drowned in Vodka every night.. And that, dear people, is mostly why there has been no blogging.

And so - here we are already well into February, and I haven't documented anything from the big first month of the year.

January started with a bang for the Weaver household. Ryan was starting in the Boys Prep School, Emily was starting in Gr R in the Junior Prep and Luke was starting his final year at Nursery school. I am happy to report, that 1 month in, all 3 mini weavers are well and truly settled in their new schools/ classes and doing well! What a relief. Ryan is VERY busy! Between school sport, club sport, extra murals, catechism, matches.... oh, and Grade 3 work. But he is thriving - clearly he was ready for this mans world. The mother person? Not so much! The school have organised a Dada and lads weekend away in a couple of weeks. The lucky dads and lads are off rafting, paintballing and some other blokey stuff. Now - If I could just farm my other 2 off spring out for the weekend, I might be able to check myself into the health spa and have a weekend of pure bliss :0

Before I forget, I promised the lovely Gill that I would give feedback on the Brazillian hair do. So here goes: I have/ am very happy with the result. Bare in mind, my hair is naturally straight, so I wasn't aiming for the starightening effect, more for the smoothing effect. Well - truth be told, I am happy with both!! yes - it actually made my hair straighter. As in straight and sleek from root to tip. You see - even people with straight hair, don't have symmetrically staright hair from root to tip. whilst my hair is straight, it had this little wave thing that it did about halfway down the length, so it would be straight, then it does a little squiggle, and then straight again. Hard to explain - but those of you with straight hair will know what I mean. Anyhoo - post brazillian: the aquiggle is gone! It is just beautifully straight. And smooth. Smooth like silk, I cant stop touching it, it feels so divine. You have to wash it with the special shampoo and conditioner, which costs a small fortune itself ( cue R320 for each bottle) but it smells so utterly divine and hopefully will last a long time ( they are big bottles). The shampoo is sulphide free. if you use shampoo with sulphide in, it will lessen the life of your Brazillian.

So - magic question: what is the life of the Brazillian? I think it depends on how curly your hair is... the hairdresser told me it would last 6 weeks - 3 months. Its been 6 weeks since mine and its still very sleek and utterly straight....but I have been a good girl and only used the shampoo recommended and havent swum in chlorinated water. So - will I do it again? I have to say, I'm kinda addicted to smooth, silky hair - so yes, I probably would. BUT _ I will not pay full price because I think charging upward of R1500 is daylight robbery. So - i will consider doing it again on a special deal.... but I do feel it was oh-so-worth-it... and I am worth it too ;)

So - there you have it Gill! Give it a try, you wont be dissapointed. I must just stress that I am talking about the all natural Brazillian Keratin Cacao treatment.... there are no chemicals involved. If you see the word FORMALDEHYDE mentioned anywhere.... get yourself and your hair outta there as fast as you can. You are likely to walk away with no hair, never mind smooth hair!

And to end off - just a few pics of my wee treasures from this year thus far.

Or not.... cos Typepad is playing up....gggrrrr. Photos next time then x

SO - I'M GETTING A BRAZILIAN....

I announced this to the husbank last night. His eyes lit up like a kid in a sweet shop. So I said... a brazilian, as in a hair job, not a supermodel called Giselle. "Yes, yes, I know" he said panting with excitement. I still didn't get the excitement from the man, after all, when I come home from the hairdresser, he usually doesn't notice anyway! And he has also been known to write notes on his hand if he is pre warned that I am visiting said hairdresser, so as to remember to give a compliment to a new hairstyle that he would otherwise fail to recognise. So why the excitement about hair now?

And then the penny dropped. So I announced.... the brazilian, is for the hair..... ON MY HEAD. And you could have sworn that I had just taken his sweets away! Aaaah... bless the male species. So simply easy to please.

Anyhoo...back to the Brazilian. For the hair. On my head. Its happening tomorrow.

Apparently, its going to change my life. Tis true. Every-one from Holly wood to sandton is having life changing brazilian blow outs, and the hype has got so bad that I have to have one myself. Yes. Me. I am a sucker. I have shelled out an extortionate amount of money to have the must have Brazilian applied to straighten my already straight hair. There's the error. Right there. I already have straight hair. Oh - but my straight hair is not sleek. And THAT is what the Brazilian claims to do for hair that is already straight. Make.it.sleek.

So tomorrow, I will sit in the hairdressers chair, have the keratin stuff applied, let it set, then have it ironed in. And then people, THEN... I will walk out and do... whatever it is that people with fabulous hair do!

I will be back. To post pics of me. And my Brazilian.

Test post from my iPad

Helloooooo. Welcome to 2012. I hope you all had great new year celebrations. We had a lovely new years eve, celebrated at my sister Fee's house. With prawns and steak on the menu ....a delicious time was had by all.
New years day saw all the extended family celebrating new years brunch at the country club. My in-laws are out from the UK at the moment and they are enjoying the lovely hot weather.
Ok - so this was just a test to see if this typepad app works from the iPad - so all that's left to do is insert a pic and we're done!
Happy. New year all x x

2011 ROUND-UP

So... the end of another year is nigh and I just want to capture in print what 2011 held for these 5 Weaver birds.

RYAN:

2011 has seen this young boy grow in leaps and bounds. We were blessed with a phenomenal teacher for this year and the change in my boy was visible from the 1st term at school. He has grown in maturity - both intellectually and emotionally. This year has also seen his love for humour emerge. (Wonder where he gets that from).

His self confidence in both his abilities and self, have changed so dramatically that, at times, I don't recognise this polite, confident young man!

He has achieved so much in sport this year, which adds to his self confidence. He played for the Crusaders U/8 A soccer team, swam in his first gala, played in 2 tennis tournaments - winning the U/10 club championships, played cricket for the Old parks U/10's... and just grew physically over night too!

In the classroom, he has progressed phenomenally - he is reading avidly, showing a love for Horrid Henry and friends, and he has a love and knack for maths. (Gets the maths thing from his Dad)

Ryan my boy.... you have had  such a good year, you have grown up as we have stood by and  watched in awe. You are more than ready to move onwards and upwards and into that mans world, that is the Boys Prep, next year. We look forward to watching you evolve more next year and wish you an even more successful 2012. Go and get 'em my special boy x x x.

EMILY:

Our little princess spent a very happy final year at land of Oz. She was also was blessed with THE most amazing teacher, and I am pleased to say that Little Lukey will have this same teacher next year.

Emily kept herself busy (and out of trouble!) by participating in ballet, gymnastics, tennis, pottery, swimming and catrobats. Phew! And still - this little over- achiever wants to do more! She performed in her second major ballet production and loved every minute of it. Her gymnastics has matured so much this year, as has her swimming. She also swam in her first swimming gala... and went off like a rocket, that determination showing even more so in a competitive environment.

This little girl puts herself under immense pressure, and had bouts of anxiety towards the end of the year, which resulted in stomach cramps, tears when leaving Mum, and nail biting. It was absolutely heart breaking to watch. I felt quite helpless as I watched my confident, bright and happy little girl crumble every morning when I left her at school. Luckily, with help from her awesome teacher, a few heart- to- hearts and a "magic" necklace, to remind her of mum when I'm not around, seemed to do the trick and she was quickly back to her bubbly, over-active self. She is now SO looking forward to starting at St Stithians next year, and is more than ready.

Emmy-moo - we just know you are going to soar with the eagles next year. We will be with you every step of the way. Love you to the moon and back x x x

LUKEY:

This little angel will always be Mamas baby boy! He is such a soft little soul, and he melts my heart with all the cuddles and kisses that he demands from his loved ones.

He has grown up SO much this year. This little guy learnt to swim this year, and also swam in his first gala. His confidence in the water is dumb-founding. He loves to "cannon-ball" into the water whenever he can and does his damndest to keep up with his siblings. He also enjoyed a happy year at nursery school, doing Catrobats and going on endless playdates with his best buddy Cade. He, along with his brother and sister, took part in the 94.7 kids cycle challenge for the 2nd time. The change in our baby from last year was gob smacking. Last year he was happy to cruise along at the back, unaware of any competition going on. This year... not so much. The gun went off, and off he raced... with me panting along behind him, trying to keep up.

After some medical tests in October, it was established that this poor little chap was suffering from sleep apnoea and chronically infected sinuses. With a short course of very strong meds, he is now a very normal, energetic 4 year old. What a relief.... :) Allergy testing will continue next year, but we are confident that we are on top of the problem.

Lukey - pooks : you are a gorgeous, loveable, happy 4 year old and my wish is that 2012 will see you blossom in your last year at nursery school. Love you so much baby boy x x x

DADDY WEAVER:

Daddy weaver has had a very busy year at work again. Luckily for us, he didn't spend too many prolonged trips away, cos we all miss him so much when he's not here. He did have a few shorter trips, the longest being 2 weeks in Secunda for the annual shutdown of the Plants. The past month has seen him commuting to sasolburg daily. He is really getting to see all the most beautiful parts of South Africa.... ;)

He took up running later in the year, and the running bug well and truly bit him.... He participated in a few races, doing some very impressive times. Unfortunately, illness and work have meant that he has slackened off a bit now, but he is itching to get back to the regular runs and to start increasing his mileage.

He has, once again, been very involved with Ryans sport - helping out with both Soccer and Cricket.

We recently celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary, and revisited Cathedral Peak in the Drakensberg, which is where we were married.

Love you so much babes..... here's to another 90 years together :)

MUMMY WEAVER:

I have been exceptionally busy this year at the practice, which has seen me treating patients from 6.30 am these past 2 weeks, to try and catch up with the waiting list. This is all good, but I am very glad to say that I saw my last patients yesterday and am now officially on holiday :)

I attempted to get back into running this year,.... and it went very well. For about 2 weeks. And then the daily school, mummy, work, wife schedule just got to much and I fell off the wagon. I hope to get some decent runs in during this break, and get that bug well and truly bitten, so that I can run throughout 2012 :)

We will be having a big family christmas this year, as always. Am very much looking forward to spending some good quality time with family. Petes parents arrive from England on the 30th December for 2 weeks, and we will all be going away to Champagne castle in January.

And with that - may I wish all my friends, family and blog readers a very happy Christmas and a blessed 2012 x x

I JUST DON'T LOVE YOU ANY-MORE

 

I don't know why.... I don't know how.... but somewhere along the way, I have fallen out of love with my blog. And blogging in general.

I wanted to carry it on, to keep writing posts, anecdotes, facts about our daily lives now - because I print an Annual book of The Weavers Nest, and its something that I'd like to keep doing. But really... I am finding even that hard to do. I could blame it on being busy - and busy I am. But I also know - if I really wanted to, I would MAKE time for it.

I don't know if I will get the urge to blog again or not.... or if I should just push through and keep going. Or call it a day?

All my blog buddies who have stopped blogging - either permanently or temporarily, what is your advice? Did you get the urge to blog again, or when you stopped was that it? Dead and buried.

I apologise for not keeping up with your all blogs etc... like I said, days go by without me switching on the laptop. I have not fallen out of love with you... just blogging in general. I hope to get over this hiccup soon.

WHEN RAISING CHILDREN...

...The days are long, but the years are short.

Oh my word... and how I have had this message rammed home in the past week. Firstly, who does this gorgeous big boy belong to?

Surely, it can't be me. Because wasn't it just yesterday that I brought my baby boy home from hospital? It was... it really was.... just yesterday! *sigh*.. where has the time gone?

Next year, my big boy moves into the Boys Prep School. We (the parents) had our introductory talk to the Prep school on Thursday evening. On the one hand, I was absolutely blown away by how lucky our children are to go to such an awesome school.... and on the other hand, I was a bit gobsmacked at what a mans-world the Prep school will be. Surely my baby could not cope in such a mans environment? And then I came home from the talk and looked at my boy.... and really looked and listened. And yes... he is ready. It's me who's not! The Junior Prep is verrrry different to the boys prep.... and I fear that I will do a lot of growing up with my boy next year, as he morphs into one of those awesome prep school boys.

The headmaster gave a speech which really struck a chord with me. He focused his speech on a certain boy (now on the brink of man-hood) This boy has just been made Head boy for St Stithians College for 2012. He came up through the Prep school, hence the focus on him. The headmaster showed a class photo of the boy when he was in Gr 3 at the Prep school. And he said " This is him in Gr 3, when he started at St Stithians Boys Prep in 2003".... and then it struck me. 2003 - thats 8 years ago. 2003 is the year my son WAS BORN. And I cant quite fathom how we've got from 2003 to 2011 and I suddenly have an 8 yr old!!! Well... I better brace myself, because spin forward another 8 years and I will have a Gr 12 MAN in my house, in his last year of school! And if the last 8 years are anything to go by, .. then I  am literally going to blink... and we'll be there. WOW.

So - I guess my message is this: Savour these days, even the verrry long ones (wine helps ;)), because the years flash by and before we know it, we'll have empty nests :( And I'm thinking the wine may not be so comforting then.... the silence will be deafening though :)

A MAGICAL LONG WEEKEND

We are back. Had sooo much fun this weekend! The Drakensberg is such a special place - in general - but it is especially special to Pete and I.

The first time we visited The Berg together was in 2001. Before we were even engaged. I was doing a Physio placement job here in SA for 3 months, so Pete flew out to join me at the end of it, and we had a wonderful holiday - going to Cape-Town, Stellenbosch, Victoria falls, the Pilanesberg, Sun-City, Ballito and finally - Cathedral Peak, in The Drakensberg. Of all the beautiful places we visited on that wonderful holiday, The Drakensberg was our favourite. It stole our hearts - so much so, that when Pete proposed on Christmas day 4 months later, back in snowy England, we decided to plan our wedding to take place there. We phoned Cathedral Peak on boxing day, and booked our wedding for the 14th December 2002. And the rest, as they say, is history.

So since our wedding, we haven't been back to The Berg. It was so special to revisit with our 3 children, almost 9 years since our wedding day - and 10 years since we first visited.

We laughed and laughed and had sooo much fun as we re=enacted our wedding photos! Ryan was put in charge as chief photographer for our 'posed' shots - and he did very well, considering my SLR camera is not a doddle to use, and is also quite heavy! Little miss madam would not be left out of the photographers role - but alas, the camera is not her forte, so we ended up with dodgy shots like this:

And this:

Actually - after trying to photograph my children and the scenery this weekend - I now appreciate the very difficuilt task that our wedding photographer had at our wedding. That scenery is breath-takingly beautiful, but oh my.... the light is tricky to play with, and even more tricky is photographing the subjects but also keeping the background scenery as a focal view! I will forever look at my wedding photos in a different way now - and really appreciate what a marvelous job our photographer did!

And heres a few fun snaps of our wedding poses :

So much fun this weekend... too many pics I want to share with you...but I will limit it to these few more:

My gorgeous dudes

The 3 dudes in my life approaching the chapel. How gorgeous? x

I cannot tell you how many times I get asked how old my twins are.... they do play so nicely together x

Girls unite

Could this be the most beautiful Chapel in the world?

And thats enough.... for now! Will share more pics on Facebook x x

I hope you all had great weekends.... and its hot here!!! 37C in Pretoria today.....PHEW