FIVETRIBE

Monday morning hasn't looked this good for some weeks. Firstly, no school and secondly, Russell is home this whole week! Awesome. I left the crew to shower and ready themselves for the day - trust me - with this many girls in the house showering, doing the hair and getting dressed is an event of epic proportions. I truly was grateful to have a reason to exit the house. I popped over to Constantia to meet Raine for coffee and a catch up. Plenty of time but somehow never long enough to really be able to relax and get caught up PROPERLY. Sped home to fetch 4 eager mall-crawlers. I forgot to mention I had called T earlier and asked if she could please send her boys over to hang with Levi as I am concerned that he may not survive the estrogen overload this week! Thankfully he could stay home with the Dreyer boys and do boy-stuff. I spent 2 hours doing this. Thankfully Faith had dance rehearsal otherwise I suspect we may have been there way longer. The upside is that ...

Saturday mornings….. park run. Faith was the only sprog to join us. It was not a good day for her - she had a really bad run and for the first time she could relate to my grumpiness after a crappy run. ;-) Thankfully it was an exquisite day so we simply walked/ran in the sun filled, crisp autumn morning - the dogs came along and were only to happy to explore and mingle with all the other runners and dogs. The jeep track to nowhere Later that morning I stole some time to go to the new Meeting Place in Kommetjie with my folks. The coffee was horrendous but hopefully that will be remedied very soon …. Baseline's details have been made available to the owner and he was very keen.  A quick walk on the beach rounded out our morning. my lovely mom on long beach That afternoon we shot through to town to drop Levi off for his birthday sleepover with D & S - much excitement at the thought of all-night movies and all your can eat pizza and all you can drink creme s...

This last week has been spent focussing on refining the Ted talk delivery and finalising the visual presentations. Matt is Rachel's age and he was also at school with her last year. They share many common  friends and experiences from their school going days and seem to really enjoy working together. He is a great kid and I must add that Levi LOVES having him around as a soccer buddy! doing kahn on their iPads  each in their own space as sometimes distraction is too great! TED talk rehearsals at my place on Tuesday The girls both presented their Ted talks today and did a brilliant job. It could not have gone off any better, their delivery was smooth and their visuals went off seamlessly. I was very proud of them as it was not an easy task. I was, in fact, blown away by all the kids doing talks today. Many of them had to push through significant fears to get up there and speak. All of them delivered thoughtful, provocative talks that left the adults, on...

My post of yesterday did garner some response. I have to say I was not completely satisfied with my feeble attempt at laying out the fb dilemma as I see it. It is a complicated beast that is well underestimated. I think I will close this chapter by saying that I believe there is a true psychology around Facebook. I think we treat it like a friendly pet but actually it may well be a rabid dog that could cause grave danger if not executed timeously. Perhaps one day I will have to do a thesis on The Facebook Effect. In other news  Today is 8 weeks since I decided to boycott wheat and lower my sugar intake. While I still occasionally indulge in the odd croissant or muffin I steer clear of wheat in my day-to-day life. I decided to hop on the scale and pull out the tape measure and see how things stand. I have lost a full 5kgs and a whopping 6cm around my waist.  I finally feel like I have defeated my 'skinny-fat' status; I just generally feel much better and have load...

I have been putting off this post for ages. The whole topic has been bubbling at the surface of my mind and I have felt ill-equipped and simply too exhausted to go deeper, to poke around in the muddiness that is social media and more specifically Facebook. I have one thing I know for sure. I have a severely complicated, possibly co-dependent relationship with Facebook. It’s the big room you can’t leave. As Amanda Hess depressingly  puts it :  “Facebook is the living dead: the most popular, least relevant social network where teenagers and adults alike gather out of fear of missing out on things that don’t even make them happy.”  It’s as vital as life, maybe, but also as irritating. I now have to begin to untangle this thing before I allow Rachel her own profile. I have to know my own boundaries before I can set hers. Thankfully she has zero interest in Facebook but one of these days she may ask for her own account. I need to be ready. The thing with Fac...

Sunday was the day I have been holding out for for a while. All the kids birthdays and parties behind me. Nothing to do, plan or think about. No commitments, no appointments, nada. Hallelujah Lazy morning with coffee in bed and an episode of House Husbands. House Husbands I just LOVE and ADORE this Australian show. It is a drama series (not reality) that follows the lives for four families where the men are primary caregivers. It is so cleverly written and unpredictable; the characters engaging and believable. Am a sucker for a great story! Oh, and the kids can watch too as it is not overtly sexual and the language is passable. Had a long, slow bath and headed to the mall with Russ. The mall, without kids and WITH Russell is a much happier place than I imagined. We did some bits n pieces, returned home and mellowed until he had to leave for the airport at 4pm. It was such a beautiful day; the dogs were restless so I dragged myself down to the beach for...

The day finally dawned; Rachel has been looking forward to this for weeks. Originally the date was set for the 6 June but all her mates were writing exams so we had to postpone the party until 21st. I made burgers, hotdogs, borrowed a chocolate fountain and had strawberries and marshmallows, plenty of chips and drinks and that was about it. A young friend of mine organized a scavenger hunt with clues and puzzles around the estate which kept them busy for almost an hour. The kids love the freedom of being out and about at night as a pack - there was much hilarity and silliness. preparing all the clues for the scavenger hunt Back at my place I had set up the outdoor furniture with candles and fairy lights and left them to their own devices. It was a very easy party but definitely the LOUDEST I have ever been involved in in my entire parenting career. the chocolate fountain hidden by sweet-frenzied teens.  I took very few photos, kids this age detest the lurking paren...

Happiest when outdoors. And moving. Fast. Levis is 8! He has grown up seemingly overnight - even the girls look at him and say things like: Mom, I can't believe how fast the time has gone. or Ah mom, remember what a beautiful baby he was? Quite unusual for me to hear them being nostalgic, especially about their brother! It was a real struggle for him to go to sleep the night before - his anticipation was off the hook. (do you remember feeling like that when you were young?) It was doubly difficult for him as Russ arrived home from Gabs just after midnight and Levi woke up all excited …. had to break the news it wasn't quite morning yet!  He was very happy with his pressies that included a new black (plether) jacket, Stormers blanket and beanie, cap gun, wooden model car and a R50 Marcels yoghurt voucher. He went off to school happily to share the morning with his mates. We all picked him up after school and headed off to see How To Train Yo...

The girls have been doing a course in Ted.Ed around public speaking, sharing ideas and experiences and generally coming to grips with preparing a speech of sorts. It has been STRESSFUL to say the least. They have each had to come up with an idea and flesh it out to present next week, 27 June. This is scary stuff for 99% of the population so I am being as supportive as possible whilst encouraging them along the way. I am very impressed that both have decided to get up there and SPEAK. In the beginning Faith felt she may want to do a voice-over presentation however she is now confident enough to present in person. Huge. HUGE. These are their talks. Right now they are busy preparing there visual presentations that will accompany their speech. Faith: CHASE DOWN YOUR DREAMS HI, my name is Faith. My passions are fashion, designing and dancing. Ever since I can remember I have wanted to be a fashion designer . I have always had a love for clothing, textiles and creating dif...

Currently, I am… Reading:   nothing really. mainly  research material on various subjects but I did pre-order the new  Brian McLaren "We Make The Road By Walking",  and that should hit my Kindle tomorrow. I need to up the ante with my reading but find it very difficult to get into books these days.  "Each chapter is written to be read aloud in ten to twelve minutes, and is accompanied by a set of Scripture readings, reflection/discussion questions, and liturgical resources - so the book can be useful in a variety of ways for classes, small groups, new faith communities, and churches. And of course, it's an inspiring and formative read for individuals too." Listening to:   I don't listen to music. Heinous you say? Sanity I say. I am surrounded by sounds all day every day so when I can have silence it is ALWAYS my first choice. In the car I listen to pop music with the kids. I sometimes listen to Cape Talk if I am alone. Laughing ...