THE WEAVERS NEST

Born to run?

Back in the day, pre kids, and, in what feels like a previous life, I used to be a runner. I ran fast. I ran a lot. Running was my life. And then I fell pregnant and had a baby. And I stopped running. I was just starting to run again, when I fell pregnant again and had another baby. And then another. ( Baby - not running attempt)

Anyhoo .... Fast forward 11 years ( gulp.. Yes 11) ... And here I am, like a virgin runner again. I am older. I am slower. But I am loving it just as much. And I feel I can once more call myself a runner. Yay!

However, it's not all sunshine and roses :(. Back when I was a Gazelle, I ran and ran and ran for years and had zero injuries. I was bullet proof, and I guess because of my personal history, I have never really appreciated how blessed I was to be able to run injury free for all those years! Being a Physio, I guess I SHOULD have appreciated it... I mean runners make up a large bulk of my patient population.. You would think that I would think how lucky I was that it wasn't me. But I didn't. You see there's a certain arrogance that comes with youth...

But I am not a youngster anymore. Starting out running again in my 4th decade is no easy feat. Compound that with 3 pregnancies, a horrible c - section scar, weak muscles with a muscle memory that only remembers strong muscles... And you have an injury waiting to happen. And happen it did. I am injured and limping. But not beaten and not broken. And in true runner style, I am searching all the avenues that I can to "run through" this injury rather than taking some time out. Good news is - I think I can. Yay.

Which brings me to the title of this post... Are you born to run? Sadly ... Some people just should not run. Luckily I am not one of those. I have a long history of running, and that counts for a lot. Unfortunately, the underlying reason for my injury ( my self diagnosis) is as a direct result of 3 pregnancies,traumatic childbirth, c - section scars and weak stabilisers! Muscular control is the key to injury free running. Back in my gazelle days, it wasn't just genes that gave me a washboard stomach! My lumbopelvic stability was more than stable! It was steadfast and rock hard ( could also be why I failed hopelessly at letting a baby go during failed childbirth)... But now... My lumbopelvic stability is less stable than the San Andreas fault line... And that is the root cause of my pain. So... I am addressing it with exercises, KT taping and some sensible running. Fingers crossed you will see this gazelle bounding down the road soon :)

Can I remember...

...how to operate this thing? Considering it's taken 3 attempts to just log into Typepad alone, I'm thinking not... It's been THAT long since I blogged. Can you Adam and Eve it? Thanks to the delightful Time-Hop App, I have been redirected to my blog daily to read posts I wrote 6,5,4 and 3 years ago. They have made me laugh a lot, cry a little, and get all nostalgic! How different my life was then with 3 babies to what it is now with 3 growing young personalities! I am sad that I have missed out on 2 years of recording our daily antics, holidays , milestones etc. And so I am inspired to blog again! For me. So that one day, I can sit on a rocking chair, with a blanket on my knees, and cackle and coo at the things that happened all those years ago that I cannot remember so well anymore. And then I'll give the blog books to my children to treasure. Or burn. Whichever they desire ;). Now - if I can remember how to do it - I will post some current pics of where my monsters are at currently, if I can't - then I will do some research and post pics next time. Cos there will be a next time. Oh yes. I am back Jack. Put your crash helmets on and enjoy the ride :) Big boy: currently 10 years and 9 months
Princess: currently 8 years 1 month
Baby boy: currently 6 years and 8 months
All 3 loving Daddy for Father's Day 2014 :)

Well hello....

Wow! It has been exactly a year since I wrote a blog post! A whole year people... that is insane. A bit like our lives with 3 growing children - insane!

So I've missed out on a whole year of capturing the Weavers nest shananigans here in this little space on the web. Do I feel sad about it? Yes. Will I continue blogging? I can't answer that. Some days I dont even have time to fart, so realistically, for the forseeable future, I see blogging to be on the back burner... but maybe one day when my days are not so busy? But for today, I am stuck at home with a very sick little weaver boy, so will take the gap to capture some memories.

So - what has the past year held for The Weaver 5?

Quite a lot actually... too much to capture in a single blog post without sending you all to sleep or reaching for your wine... so here are some highlights:

RYAN:   Turned NINE!

He finished Gr 3, his first year in the Boys prep. What a wonderful year he had of growing in all sectors of his life. As a sportsman, a gentleman, a son, a big brother. Sport seems to rule his life... especially cricket. Eats, sleeps and dreams cricket. He even has a poster of Allister Cook on his wall... yes, thats right! He has pledged allegiance to his place of birth and supports ENGLAND! Much to his mothers discontent.... although he tells me that he is still more English than South African, as technically, he has still lived there longer than he has lived here... Anyhoo, this loyalty to the St Georges Cross pleases his father immensely, so that is a good thing. This year thus far has seen him morph into a very busy Gr 4 boy. He has played cricket, tennis, soccer, rugby and cross country so far this year for his school. And he is enjoyimg gr 4... Mom pulling her hair out a bit, as he doesnt seem to take his academics that seriously?!

Look how my boy has grown:

At the finish of the 94.7 Mountain bike race, which he completed with Pete. A remarkable achievement for a just 9 yr old x

MISS EMILY: 

Emily finished her first year at "big school" and raced into Gr 1. She is reading and writing and growing up, and this excites her immensely. She is such an eager beaver to do anything and everything... and do anything and everything she does! Ballet, swimming, gymnastics, hockey, tennis... and arts and crafts and baking and writing and reading! She is still such a busy little bee! She recently did her 2nd ballet exam and 2nd gym competition and did exceptionally in both! Her zest for life is totally infectious... and exhausting! I do not know where she gets her energy from.. and seems to surive on not much sleep! ( Definitely not from my gene pool!) She arises at 5 am every morning and I have caught her on numerous occasions either reading a book or playing a game via torch light under her duvet late into the night... a real live wire. Look how our little princess has grown:

The Aristocats - a grade R production

A little doll for her ballet show 

Playing hockey for Old Parks

Gym, gym, gym...

A random shot on the beach in April... which had Pete polishing his shotgun! She looks toooo old in thnis picture 

 

LITTLE LUKEY:

Lukey finished nursery school at the end of the year and started Gr R in January. Finally all at the same school. He loves being a "big" boy at big school and thrives on the routine. This year he started tennis and soccer, and loves them both, even if his enthusiasm is far bigger than his raw talent ;0. Bless him x. He is physically a big boy, but young in his school year and is finding some elements of school a little challenging. He started OT 2 months ago, and is making great gains with a once weekly session. He sems to struggle with fatigue, possibly a low responsive reticular activating system, so this is what the OT is addressing, and his endurance and alertness have improved dramatically. He is also a very willing participator in all aspects of life, he reminds me of a puppy that hasnt quite grown into its paws yet... hopefully with a little maturity everything will start to "click' for our little boy x.

Loving the bush during our annual Mabula trip

5th birthday party fun

Nursery school graduation

1st day of big school

 

FAMILY NEWS:

We were lucky enough to have a dream trip overseas at the end of last year, and January this year. This saw us spending christmas and new year in England, which was lovely to spend time with all the UK based family. In early Jan, we flew to Chamonix, France and had THE best family holiday skiing. All 3 kids learnt to ski and the parentals got to spend some quality time together. Amagical, unforgettably time making family memories to treasure:

Fun in the New Forest

On the London eye

Holdin an Olympic torch!

Daddy and daughter bum boarding in Chamonix

My 3 little skiers

Building a tiny snowman ;)

Wonderful one on one time connecting with nature for the parentals 

2013 thus far has also brought the birth of 2 new additions in the Weaver household:

Firstly, our little precious Rolo! Emily has wanted a puppy ever since she could speak, and as our dear Sandie is getting on a bit, I wanted to introduce a new member before she was too old to see the good side of a companion ;)

So we went to view the little pups... and this little one opened his eyes whilst we were viewing, so it was a sign that HE was to be ours :)

A 2 week old little mole!
 He was born on the 1st April, and came home to live with us on Mothers day! He is growing into the most beautiful doggie, and the kids are besotted!

And the second birth was of my own practice :) On the 2nd April, Kirsty Weaver Physiotherapy opened its doors. I am loving being my own boss, and also having my rooms closer to home and to the school! It has been such a good move for me and I am blessed that it is going from strength to strength.

And that, in a very brief nutshell is mostly what was missed in the past year of non blogging! If you've made it to the end, well done :)

I must dash, I have to play nursemaid to my poor sick baby boy, and must check the tennis score of my big boy who is playing an u/11 tournament for saints at st benedicts today! Dad on duty there - and keeping me updated via bbm of the scores! Don't you just love modern technology? And there beeps my phone.... yay! Ryan through to the semi finals. Well done my boy x x

I can't promise I'll be back soon... I will try, but no promises.

Ciao for now x x x 

 

 

 

 

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

One thing that has really struck me since moving to South Africa 4 years ago, is the sense of social responsibility that most South Africans seem to have adopted. And the school setting is no exception. Most South African schools from more privileged areas adopt a school/s from less privileged areas and do various things to help. It ranges from fund-raising projects, to food collection drives, to soup kitchens and to donating warm blankets and clothing in the winter months.

But the one aspect that strikes me the most is how they get the children actively involved in the community projects. At my sons school, the boys are taken to the adopted school from Grade 3 onwards, and they do various activities with the school children from the under privileged school.

I had the pleasure of accompanying my son and his class mates on Thursday. Their community project this year is a nursery school in Ivory park. On Thursday, we took the boys to Ivory park, where they actively participated with the little children, helping them with some art activities, and then feeding them lunch and playing with them in the playground.

As part of the 67 minutes for Nelson Mandela's birthday, the entire boys prep school had made sandwiches, which we delivered to the nursery school in Ivory park. This meant that not only did the nursery children get a meal that day ( in many cases the only meal they eat every day) but they could also take home enough sandwiches to feed their family for that day.

Ir was such a great lesson for our boys - to really grasp how privileged they are, in a country with so many children living below the bread line. And it was heart warming to watch how the prep school boys helped the little children in the tasks that they had to do.

To end off the day, the boys planted a tree in the play-ground. This tree will be a symbol over the years - as the boys and children grow, so will the tree. It will be interesting to revisit the school in a few years time and see how the tree has grown, and how the work that the Prep school is doing has benefited the nursery school, and the Ivory park community as a whole.

Here are some picture collages of our exhausting, but very rewarding day spent at Ivory park:

 

ROUND - UP

Sooo...now I need to do a catch up on the past many months of non blogging...

Hmmm, where to start? First of all - a quick question for all you techies out there. As you can see by my changed blog-ness, I have downgraded my Typepad plan... and in the process lost everything in my sidebar. So - does anyone know how I can add stuff to my sidebar again? Like blogs I read, and quick searches etc.... I don't know how to do it, and its driving me nuts...

And back to the catch-up:

Lets start with the little weeds... cos they are the ones growing the most:

Big boy weed Ryan:

Everytime I turn around, this child of mine seems bigger! Older, wiser, taller, broader.... shew, he is growing up so fast. Is that what happens at 8? Everything about him is maturing. His outlook on life, his temperment, his sports passion...its fascinating to watch.

His latest love is Rugby. They have just started playing rugby at school, and he is totally smitten with all aspects of the game. He had his first school rugby match on Saturday, and it was a great one for him.  He scored himself a hat-trick of tries, and his team won 45 - 0 ! The score would have been higher too - they stopped the game early, some kind of "mercy" rule, apparently. Anyhoo - it was just such a needed and deserved confidence boost for our boy. He was really very chuffed with himself :)

Tomorrow, he is saying a speech in class. He has to stand up and talk for 1 minute on his chosen mammal. He practiced the speech for me earlier... and oh.my.word! I was gob smacked. In front of me stood this little boy, with bright orange flash cards containing his key words.... and he spoke for 1 minute, only glancing down at his flash cards. He spoke clearly with confidence, expression and humour... and he taught me 1 or 2 things about Polar bears! He is growing up so fast.

Little girl weed Emily:

Miss Madam continues to love school and all her extra-murals. She recently completed her 1st ballet exam, Pre-primary, and was awarded a certificate and medal. At this age, they aren't given a percentage mark per se, just a number grading. She got the highest number for all aspects of her exam, so we are very proud of her.

She is enjoying her hockey to the max, and has emerged as the little goal-scoring star in the tournaments that she has played. It is absolutely hilarious to watch the U/6's play .... no rules, no positions, 6 a-side hockey, which results in 12 little sticks hacking at a ball. Too sweet.

After a brief holiday from ballet, they are now in full rehearsal mode for the end of year ballet show, which will be performed in October. She informs me that she is a doll... we shall see :)

The littlest weed Lukey

 Lukey- pooks is enjoying his  last year at nursery school. He is growing up in leaps and bounds too...but still just loves his cuddles. He recently got a new bike, and just loves to cycle as fast as he can and keep up with his big brother and sister. He is a  real little charmer, and manages to win the hearts of most people he encounters. He has great confidence, I think he learnt this from his sister, but its an awesome attribute to have. He speaks to every-one, every-where... whether its strangers in the supermarket, parents at pick-up, petrol attendants, police officers... you name it, he'll chat to them :)

Mommy and Daddy Weed:

Life with 3 growing weeds is verrry busy, and doesn't allow much quality time for us. We did, however, manage to have a fabulous night out at Madame Zingara recently.

A wonderful evening of merriment - highly recommended.

Daddy weed recently celebrated his 38th birthday... I still owe him dinner for that :)

He is still working and commuting to sasolburg daily for work... interesting project for him, just a tiring commute.

And I recently had the pleasure of meeting my blog bud Mel, who came up from Cape Town. We chatted like lost friends - twas absolutely fabularse. We will have to do it again sooooon :)

And that...in a  nutshell...is my quick round up ;)

 

 

 

 

I MISS MY BLOG

It finally happened. I miss my blog :)
I was browsing through some old posts, and suddenly had an a-ha moment. I have not blogged much at all this year, and that is very sad. It is sad, because our day to day lives are sooo busy and we are so caught up in the moment, and then time passes.... And we forget. And we will never have that time back again.
Reading through my old blog books made me realise how much time has passed. And how much I've forgotten. But luckily, it's all documented, and then I read it and I remember how it was then. Well... I want to always be able to remember. I want to be able to flip back in my books in years to come and remember this moment, and that holiday and that milestone... Etc.
And so.... She returns!
One thing is for sure... My 2012 blog book will be a very thin volume, considering its Mid July already... But anyhoo.
So peeps.... Watch this space. I am gonna revamp my blog and start documenting again. And for the first time in a very long time... I actually feel a bit excited about it :)

ONE DIRECTION'S LITTLEST FAN?

 

X X X

ANGRY BIRDS CAKE POPS TUTORIAL

Lots of you have asked for instructions on how to make the angry birds cake pops... so here goes. May I just state from the start, that I am an amateur cake maker, and do it for my children because I enjoy baking. I am not interested in doing this for a business or for money... so please excuse any amateur mistakes etc... this is just for if you want to make cake pops for your kids too. :)

To start, you will need to make the cake balls. There are 2 ways to do this, in my opinion, the one way is far preferable to the other - purely on taste. My preferrred way is to make pure cake balls. To do this, you will need little round cake moulds or a cake pops machine, that bangs out 12 at a time, in a snackwich type device. (How very handy) Unfortunately - you need to order these machines from the States, so not that easy for everyone.

So - probably the easisest way to make the balls is to bake a large cake. When it is cool, you then crumble the cake and mix in some icing to form a mouldable consistency, and then you can make the ball shapes. Then place them in the fridge.

Luckily for me, I have a cake pops machine, so I make pure cake balls:

Chill the balls in the fridge.

So - thats the easy part over with, next on to decorating them! To start, you will require the folowing items:

From the back : White chocolate coating, edible glue, Fondant icing (coloured), powdered candy colouring, and lolly sticks. You will also need a polystyrene block to stick the cake pops in whilst they are setting and whilst you are decorating.

Melt the chocolate and then dip the tip of the lolly sticks into the chocolate

Then stick the chocolate tip of the stick into a chilled cake ball and leave to set

Next you need to colour your chocolate. You must use a powdered colour, as liquid will make your chocolate seize. Add the required amout of colour and mix very well until it reaches the desired shade.

You are now ready to start coating your cake pops. You need a bowl/cup that is deep enough for you to dip the whole ball in and pull out in one movement. If you do it numerous times, the cake ball will break off in the chocolate! It must be coated in 1 step:

Gently tap the cake pop on the side of the bowl to shake off any excess chocolate, then place it in the polystyrene block to harden.

You are now ready to decorate them how you wish! The possibilities are endless, you just choose your favourite character, and off you go! The angry birds and pigs are very easy to make, as all you need to shape are the beaks, noses, eyes, eyebrows and ears for the pigs, feather crests for the birds.

Here are my finished angry birds

And the proof is really in the eating.... and who wouldn't want to bite into that crunchy shell to reveal delicious, light cakey goodness

CHEERS x

 

EMILY IS SIX...

...wow! Our little princess is 6. That is so hard to believe, when I can remember the day she was born, like it was yesterday. Will it always feel like that? 

Darling Emily....now you are 6. You are in Gr R at Saints, and just thriving. You love your teacher, your school, your friends, your uniform, your daily routine...you bounce out of bed in the mornings, and genuinely seem dissapointed when its weekend and there is no school! (Long may that last)

You are as active as ever with your extra murals, doing ballet, gymnastics, tennis, swimming and hockey. Lately, gymnastics seems to be your main obsession, and you cannot walk 2 steps without doing a cartwheel. You will be doing your 1st ballet exam at the end of this month. So exciting for you. You will also play your 1st hockey tournament in 2 weeks time....secretly, I'm just hoping that you escape without getting a stick in your face ;) . You just love to be a busy little bee and relish all these sports that you play.

You are having your party at the Johannesburg zoo. It is still your dream to one day be a vet. Your love for animals is a joy to watch. You love your Sandie dog and your kitties, and would even hug a snake if given the opportunity!

Your main birthday present this year was a Leappad explorer, and you love it! You love to do art and be creative. You make crowns out of tinfoil, cottonwool and paper and proudly display them on your head. You can sit for hours and create beautiful things out of nothing. Such imagination is a joy to behold. You do not have much time for tv and films, losing interest after about 30 minutes and moving on to do something more active.

 

You are such a confident, happy little girl and you bring your family so much joy. And laughter. Lots of laughter! You are quite a legend on facebook, as Mummy shares some of your funny quotes and antics! Just yesterday you declared "well - this is definately the best 6th birthday that I've ever had!"

Happy, happy, happy birthday our beautiful 6 year old! Wishing you 100 more happy and healthy birthdays. Love you to the moon and back our Emmy-moo. x x x

 

 

QUICK CATCH UP

• Kids are still on holiday. It's been a looonnng holiday.... we have not/are not going away at all these hols, and its been a challenge to keep the kids entertained.
• At least the weather has still been lovely, so plenty of outdoors playing
• My boys are very into playing "ARMY" and war type games at the moment...

Tis very sweet... am hoping it is just a passing phase though... definately don't want to be the parents of 2 soldiers when they are older.

• Sadly, all these war games leave Little Miss on the side lines...something she is not used to, and not liking either! She usually comes running to me and asks if we can do girly stuff together... which usually results in her painting my toenails! But as soon as the boys are all army-ed out, she dumps me, and grabs her brother to go and ride bikes, or play outside.
• We have decided to go overseas at the end of the year. (Hence no holidays now) We will be spending Christmas in the UK, and then we are going skiing in Chamonix in January!
• I am sooo excited! Pete and I LOVE skiing... but the last time we went skiing was when I was 9 weeks pregnant with Ryan. But now we feel the kids are at an age when they can pick it up quickly, and we will be happy to leave them in ski school for the mornings whilst Pete and I hit the slopes, and then we will spend the afternoons on the slopes together.... falling and having fun. ... I cannot wait! And nor can Miss Madam:

Such cute little hello kitty earmuffs... snapped up at the traffic lights :)

• Last night we had a work function with Petes  company at the Sandton convention centre. The company is celebrating its 100th year... which in this day and age and economic climate is no small feat.
• Because it is a global company, and this was such a milestone event, they wanted to use modern technology at its best, and hook up at every satelite centre worldwide with a live feed.
• Sounds all very normal and good on paper.... until you bring in the reality of time differences between California, London, Johannesburg, Perth, Shanghai, Vancouver etc... and you realise what a logistical nightmare this is!
• So the end result was, that for us in johannesburg, the function started at 9 pm, and then we went live around the world at midnight SA time!!
• This makes it a VERY late night for Pete and I... we are usually getting into bed at 9pm, not walking into a black tie function at the Sandton Convention Centre.
• So I went, warily, not expecting to have ANY fun at all.
• But it was totally awesome... which makes today not very awesome at all, as we crept into bed in the wee hours of this morning.
• A surprise of the evening was a live performance from Johnny Clegg. It was so amazing - like a personal concert from Johnny in your lounge.
• It started off rather stiff, with all the stiffs in suits sittting at their tables. So a few of us rebel wives decided to get up and go to the front and start taking advantage of this once in a life time personal performance from, arguably, SA's best musical performer.
• To begin with, there was only about 5 of us bopping at the front, but those of you who know johnny Cleggs music, and who have African roots, will know that it is very hard to sit in a chair whilst his tunes play. So we were slowly joined by a steady trickle of people.... until IMPI played. And then - every stiff in a suit took to the floor, and it was just amazing! From there he played all the usual suspects : scatterlings of Africa, Great heart, Cruel crazy beautiful world, Kilimanjaro, I call your name... and more.
• He is an amazing performer and dancer... wow- can you believe he is 59 yrs old?
• After the concert, it was just about midnight, so we all had to take our seats and then we crossed live to Dallas and to all the satellite centres worldwide.
• All in all - it was an amazing evening! We are just paying the price today ;)
• And ... in other news: I was the lucky winner of a R3000 Pandora bracelet and charms!

How beautiful? Thank you Child Magazine. Lucky me :) I was given a choice of pink or blue glass murano beads... and as you can see, I chose blue. The blue is just my colour... so all I need now is some more gorgeous charms ;)

And that is about all the news in the Weavers nest at the moment. Am going to have a quick catch up on all the other blogs now x x

Happy Sunday all