Elrika's Baby Shower

A week ago Thelwyn, Martelize (of course) and I went to the baby shower of Elrika. She has been Thelwyn's friend since they were two years old. Her mother, Elsa, two other friends and I had an "exhange" play group back then. Each of us would get a turn to look after all the children once a fortnight. That meant 3 child free mornings every in return for the "service"! Real life savers for us moms: it meant (inter alia) one could go shopping without towing the toddlers and babies along! I would recommend such an arrangement for any stay at home moms! Elsa, Brenda and I have remained very good friends ever since.

Martelize was as good as gold in the car to Midrand and at the party - that after having had a crying spell all morning. (If only babies could say what was wrong!) Here she is unpacking Thelwyn's bag while we were waiting for Elrika to come down. She did not know about the baby shower: here in South Africa we like to keep it a surprise. Her friend had invited her for a massage and while they were busy upstairs, her mother and other friends quickly set the tables with really delicious goodies. Elrika never suspected a thing - she did not know about the cars that were being parked on the sidewalk while she was being pampered. I thought having the guest of honour in the house beforehand was a very clever idea, because the parked cars can be a dead give away.

Another good idea was to have the tea party before the opening of the presents. That gave Elrika chance to say hello to everyone, and anyone who was in a hurry could leave whenever they wanted. Here is Elrika (the pregnant one obviously) talking to friends. Elrika is expecting baby daughter Janelle in 5 weeks time. We were over the moon when we heard that she was pregnant. They had struggled to fall pregnant for years.

Everyone settling down for the opening of the presents. My friend Elsa in the foreground.

Thelwyn and another very good Kempton Park friend of mine, Rouxlene. Rouxlene was also part of the exchange playgroup at some stage. She was an excellent math's teacher and a real inspiration to my children. She and Elsa now work for her engineer brother. Elsa was also a teacher before. (Rouxlene, by the way, if you are reading this, we hope to be reading your blog soon. Just go to www.blogger.com and create a blog - it's that simple! Even if you don't start a blog, just register, so that you can at least comment and let me know when you have read my blog.)

Another very dear Kempton Park friend, Irmgardt. We come a long way too. Like some of Elsa's and Rouxlene's children, her children were in my "official" (i.e. not exchange) playgroup and she referred many friends to me. I had a playgroup in Van Riebeeckpark for 9 wonderful years - until God sent me to Con Amore, a school for severely mentally handicapped children - but that is another story. As usual, I digress....
Irmgardt and Annemarie visited me just the other day, but we had so much visiting to do, that I completely forgot to take photos. (Sob!)

Another very good idea: Elsa's cake she had made out of nappies.

(Jy is baie kreatief Elsa - dit was 'n heerlike partytjie, so baie dankie vir die uitnodiging. Ons sien saam met julle met groot verwagting uit na die koms van Janelle!)

Mother's Day and Anne's birthday

My sister, Anne, visited us this weekend. It was her birthday on Mother's Day, so it was a double celebration. It was great having some of her children here too. Here she is with daughter Marianne.

Hendrik, Marianne and Thelwyn went for an early morning ride.

Hendrik on Klasie.

Franco with his best Ouma smile and Ouma bib. He was supposed to be sick, but generally he was his usual cheerful, busy self.

Tired? An active man needs to rest sometimes. Franco leaning on the "walker" we gave him for his first birthday. (They make the cutest toys nowadays.)

Martellize woke up soon and as usual the two cousins were very interested in each other.

Martelize discovered she could crawl up the steps to our bedroom and did it a few times with Franco following in her wake.

"Wat maak Martelize, Franco?"

"Sy kyk vir my!"





The hooter of the bus says "Toot-toot-toot"!

"Don't swallow the blocks, Martelize!"

Two cousins enjoy Tannie Dorette's antics. "Rol op die tolletjie..... trek, trek, klap, klap, klap!"


I hope you all had as great a Mother's Day as we had!

Funny pics

Although the "nice" pics of the weekend are coming up soon, I thought I should not publish only the good ones. I had a good laugh when I saw these - perhaps the children will enjoy them too one day.





I meant to take a photo here - that's why the camera is twisted - only later saw what Franco was up to

So why is he crying, when he is pulling her hair? His Dad scolded him...!

Our babies are "talking" and "walking"

Franco, 12 months and Martelize, 9 months old, having a great time at the windowsill overlooking our garden. All my ornaments had to dissapear of course! The videos are symptomatic of an Ouma who can't choose - I just had to try and capture their first conversations, but of course by the time I realised that these were Kodac moments, the real excitement had passed...

Glenmore Holiday!

Gert and Dorette had to attend a wedding in Port Edward on 25 April, and as we were to babysit Franco, we made a holiday of it and went down to Glenmore, after voting on election day. This was the view from "Fourie Cottage" where we stayed.


23 April 2009: One year old! Look how big I have grown!


What is this? What do I do with it? Does it make a noise?

A BIIIGG! sandpit! Wonderful! (Franco loves the sandpit at school and had a great time here)

Hendrik and Marietjie also loved the sand and quickly made a tunnel.

Oupa and Franco soon had other ideas...

Back at the cottage: Birthday party! Again! "Veels geluk liewe Franco omdat jy verjaar..."

So many cameras! Waar moet ek kyk? Franco, Franco... Julle maak my deurmekaar!

What's this? Franco does not like to put strange things in his mouth and has not eaten cake before.

Hey! This tastes great!

"Klaar-klaar!" Do I really have to eat supper? With half of his cake on the floor, Franco still had quite an appetite!

The neighbours cat came to visit! Animals are the greatest!

Spit image of Ouma Elna!

Ham sandwiches for Marietjie and Hendrik.

Hannes, Gert's brother came along too. Seven adults and one baby - that's the way to do it.

The previous time I was here, was 27 years ago: My sister Lalie and I went to Glenmore with 9 (yes nine!) children and only two adults! Jansie (10), Ethie (8) and Thelwyn (4 1/2) were the "big"ones. Eugenie and Dorette were (terrible) 2 and Hendrik was 10 months and then Lalie had two foster children of 3 and 1 years old as well. We had a rough time counting heads on the beach then! No-one got breakfast before 8 o'clock because we had to make sure everyone was really hungry and would eat enough to last until 12 o'clock. Nine plates of Pronutro did the trick!

Back to the present holiday... Franco loved the water!

The lagoon is the best, but the sea was thrilling too!

"Look what I found!"

A family pic of the L's

And another one! Franco in his carrier: the best way to carry a baby to the beach.

Franco wasn't much interested in boats and ships in the sea, but when they towed in this boat onto the trailer... Now that was very fascinating for this future engineer.

On our last day it was rainy and rather chilly, but nothing would keep these 3 out of the sea! They say you can always tell who are from Gauteng Province (Pretoria, Johannesburg region): the only ones in the sea on a day like this!

Franco can clap hands and wave "Tata"

Election tomorrow!

I hope everyone will go and vote despite the cold - but may it snow in any place where people intimidate others.

Pray that the millions who do not want to vote for Zuma (i.e. ANC), but also do not want to vote for an opposition party out of loyalty to the ANC, will come to their senses and realise that if they do not claim their share of the 400 seats in parliament, it will go to the ANC regardless.

If we have an 80% voting rate tomorrow, a party will need at least 46,000 votes for one seat: so vote for a party that will darem at least get one seat! Don't waste your vote! It's valuable and the right votes are now needed more than ever!

Interesting times! Make sure you cast your vote where it will make a difference!

Small things amuse small minds?

School started again for me and Tammy today. I had so many plans to do this holiday - and what did I do... apart from the Easter Drama and Franco's birthday party, mostly small little things... but things that gave me great pleasure all the same. Activities that may not be in the same league as scrapbooking, but still creative in a smalll sort of way.

I washed my mohair blanket - it did not really look dirty, but I was surprised at the dirty water: Here's how you do it:
Fill the bathtup with some cold water and imerse the blanket in it. Sprinkle about 500g coarse salt over the blanket and let it soak. No soap. No stasoft. Turn the blanket over now and then. Then push the blanket into the laundry basket. Drain the tub and then fill it again a few times to rinse the blanket thoroughly. Then let the water drain out of the blanket by letting the basket lie on its side. Then easily lift the basket, blanket and all and hang it up - the blanket is like new! (It is really 35 years old!)
I got the tip from my sister in law, Tiela. (Dankie Tiela, dit werk soos 'n bomb, soos jy gese het!) It really works and there's no strain on the back!

The bath tub is also an excellent place to scrub dish racks - almost the same age as the blanket. I can do with new ones, but in the meantime it gives me pleasure to have racks that are as clean as I can possibly get them.
My grandmother used to say that her grandmother used to say that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing it well. She (my grandmother) often resented that saying and would take off a button from my oupa's pajamas if it had been sewn on with the wrong thread. Who cares really? But if its worth doing... it worth doing it well! I too resented this saying a bit, but nonetheless took great pride in cleaning my oven until there was not a speck of brown to be seen on the racks. Did anyone notice? Of course not, but it did make me feel sort of like the woman of Proverbs 31. Luckily my oven is only two years old and not used tooooo often! (Ek's nie daardie soort meisie nie.)

I spent a lot of time cleaning tiny bottles and filling them and labelling them - often by peeling the original sticker of the original container and sticking it onto my minute bottle. It was not always possible, so some products just got boring old handwritten labels. Why all the fuss? We're going to the sea for 5 days and later this year we are going overseas for 10 days. I did not like my previous cosmetic bag, so I got a new "cosmetic" bag and filled it. The sea holiday is my cosmetic bag dress rehearsal. If I use more than half the bottle, I'll know my bottle is too small.

My new cosmetic bag (a six pack cooler bag) packed with 26 products (excluding the make-up in the outside pouch). All that is still lacking is my hairbrush. Preparing for a holiday - especially an overseas one - is for me almost as much fun as the actual trip.

I also sewed on several buttons (took off the remaining 3 buttons on a shirt of Hendrik's and sewed on five new ones - all on the wrong side.... will take them off again and sew them on again on our way to the sea), I sorted socks without partners and put together 14 pairs between Hendrik and Jan's socks! I started shortening two pairs of Jan's pants: I undid the side seams and pinned up the hems, now I just have to do the sewing and will do that when I have company.

As for the Proverbs 31 woman - did she like all housework? I hate vacuuming and sweeping - no satisfaction in that. Desia referred me to the flylady website (Thanks Delia). I'm taking baby steps in housework, and it's not killing me (yet). But now I've got to fly go and get Jan something to eat and to shine the sink! Tonight at 21: 30 (bedtime really) there is a programme on Russia and I do not want to miss it. (Guess where we're going...!)