HAPPY 30th CLIVEY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Hubby who turned the big 30 today!
Those of you in the know would have known that I had planned a SURPRISE 30th for Clive and boy was he SURPRISED! A huge thank you for all of you who kept the surprise and for those who helped set up a.k.a. Sian Kelly, Catherine and Veronica and of course Heather who helped make the party possible.

Well we all dressed up 70's and 80's style as these were the years that Clive grew up in, and everyone went through so much trouble to dress up and what was really nice was that everyone did! You know you always get some spoilsports who dont like to dress up well obviously this crowd was the exception to the rule.

Lets see we had an Elvis, loads of Hippies, Disco Queens, Afros, Rasta's, lead singer from Kiss, Madonna, Don Johnson - Miami Vice, Austin Powers and so the list goes on.

We had the whole day planned out, Clive went to play golf in Darling on Saturday morning early with Shaun (his ex-boss and family friend) and he left the house at about 10:30 for golf to start at 12pm, they kept him busy in Darling having drinks playing poker etc, whilst we all raced around to get the hall finished, pick up all the things that needed to be picked up and pull the whole thing together. Sian, Catherine and Kelly were in charge of draping, Veronica and I decor and Heather the Food Co-Ordinator. Well phew come the start of the party I was actually finished but it passed quickly once all the shriek of laughters started filtering in with the arrival of all the dressed up friends. If we had a prize for the evening I would have to say Elvis (Ford) and Kiss Lead Singer (Dan) would have won - as they looked brilliant!

Part of the "Plan" was that Shaun who is the chairman of the Melkbos angling club (where we held the party) had to "drop of petty cash there" on the way back for a dinner "we were all going to" for another "function" - hope you can make head or tale of all my inverted commas. Clive walks in with his fake bank bag and everyone shouts SURPRISE and he goes "no its not me" thinking that he has spoilt someone elses party he still didnt click as we were all in costume so he didnt recognise anyone - Hilarious!! Eventually he clicked and put his hands over his face and walked back outside... which he doesnt remember I think he was in a bit of shock. After some tears and greeting everyone we got down to some partying. A great time was had by all and the evening was a HUGE SUCCESS. Clive wont forget his 30th for a long time I am sure. Me on the other hand is pooped... Keeping a secret is hard work, never mind everything else that went into planning, but it was all worth it.

Here are some pictures of the evening, there are so many so I am going to just put up a few:

70's and 80's Jol

"Surprise"

Auf Wiederschauen - Goodbye

Well last night was the night to say bye to Monique who is off to JHB tomorrow morning early. So we gathered at Catherine's house for yet another mini party - there have been many lately. Never mind it was a Monday night - we all wrapped up warmly - as the weather here in the Cape at night is still freezing, to say farewell. Monique was rather emotional and a bit tipsy but as we all reassured her JHB is just a mango or kulula flight away.

So bye for now Mon your presence will be missed terribly at all the braais and all the parties but we will look forward to when you visit!

Some pics from last night:

UB40 Mania

Well Tuesday night was the UB40 Concert in Cape Town and whilst they are not maybe everyones cup of tea, I absolutely love UB40, I dont listen to them all the time, but they bring back such great memories of me growing up in Durban and Standard 5 when their Labour of Love II album was such a hit with "Wear you to the Ball" "Homely Girl" Cherri O Baby" etc. Well we arrived at Ratanga Junction my sister and I, at about 5:45pm and joined Clive already in the Golden Circle queue and didnt wait much time at all before we started moving forward. What a mixture of people, oldies, youngies, rastas etc. We got to be quite close to the front, about 3 rows to be exact. and had a great view. Concerts are a funny thing, people push, moan, smoke when it clearly says "NO SMOKING" - it was a UB40 concert were the organizers smoking something when they tried to implement that?
What with fights breaking out and two reggae mad chicks in front of us who were confused I think as they were head banging basically, this is not a heavy metal band - hello! Anyway a great time was had by all - they were really FANTASTIC they are so good live which not all bands are. The african guy with the dreadlocks (forget his name) who sings Rat in mi Kitchen was really so good these days new pop stars just use digital special effects to make the sound effects but he was doing them himself. Favourites of the night was definitely Rat in mi Kitchen, Red Red Wine, Here I am Baby, Homely Girl, Kingston Town and The Way you do the things you Do. actually they were all great. Now I just have Celine Dion to long forward to in February next year with my mont - at Vergelegen Wine Estate in Somerset West which I think will be stunning.
Have a great weekend all xxxx

Quiet Weekend In!

It was a busy weekend past and its going to be a busy weekend coming up. Friday night saw us babysitting Levi Nell on our own - which was actually great and we did fine! Saturday night saw a 40th birthday party of Kim Bywater which I had incorrectly assumed (assumption is the mother of all ****ups- as the saying goes.) would be quietish!

"All together now.... Y.M.C.A."

Sian, Me and Kelly

After not realizing that red wine and copious amounts of champagne actually do not agree with each other and not having eaten anything since 3pm - I was a bit inebriated to say the least. Anyhow it was good fun, however Sunday was not. This saw me waking with a raging headache and aches all over my body, obviously my bodies way of saying "hey you are not 19 anymore you know!" However a great time was had and it is almost near the next weekend which will also be "A quiet one" - Not.

Farewell to Moniquey soon :-(

A party is being held on Friday in honour of Monique who will be leaving our shores soon, to head out into Gautengland. Thanks to Veronica for arranging this, and then on Saturday there is another party being held, I think our friends are in age denial :-) and on Sunday my husband is playing golf - even though it is going to rain hahaha you will find me in bed me thinks with a good book and hot chocolate.

Also a big welcome back to Kelly from Qatar, she is here until September - home from teaching in Qatar, she is loving being able to drink in public, eat what she wants - for now. It was her mom's 40th that we went to this past Saturday.

Welcome Home Kelly!

Catch up with you later in the week. Where are the rest of the bloggers I wonder?
Nicci

Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays

Hi have been bad at blogging this week. Although have noticed some are also behind - Ron - a whole week? Thats not like you :-)

Well I dont know about anyone else out there, but I have had quite a few birthdays and more that are coming up! A 40th this weekend, Andrea's birthday on the 19th, Clive's 30th is coming up and it just never ends. My sister turned 19 on the 23rd June, I cant believe it. She is no longer a snotty nosed brat - shame she was a brat not so much anymore. Cant wait until she is in her mid 20's and the big gap of 10 years wont seem so big anymore. Feels like the other day that I was feeding her pureed food and helping bath her. Have included a pic of her taken last year at her Matric Dance, she is the one on the right.


Then my dear husband turns 30 in under a months time, have told him in no uncertain terms that he is NOT ALLOWED a mid-life crises! So begins the battle as to what to do and what to buy for his birthday. I am also starting to wonder when this year is going to slow down but time waits for no man. Heard a interesting way of describing time the other day by TD Jakes, "The earth is a circle spinning in itself, spinning around the sun, creating days and months that are spinning - never stopping, we are born and the days are already spinning, NOTHING stops the spinning!" How true I think, in fact my head is spinning right now, just thinking about how time is spinning by - hahaha.
Have a wonderful weekend all before it 'spins past'
Nix

Winter Solstice

"Watcha looking at?"

"Daddy's Boy"

"Hmmm think I may still be hungry"

Well if you live in Cape Town you know that the weather has been rather brrrrr lately. Yesterday was the official Winter Solstice of the Southern Hemisphere and heard an interesting fact regarding it, apparently it gets colder after the winter solstice - so dont pack away the winter woolies just yet.



Thought I would include a picture of Levi Nell, Kim and Carl's baby boy that I posted a while back when he was 1 day old, he is now a month but theoretically should be only 12 days old as he was prem. We had supper at them last night and they have a little girl Michaela (Kayla) as well who is 5. A good time was had by all and Levi was a bit niggly - think he had cramps, and Kayla wanted to play and experienced first hand that I think it is quite tough to have 2 children one a little girl and another a brand new baby who needs your attention as much as your little girl does. Hectic! We had a good laugh as Kayla now has a chart to chart smiley faces and sad faces for the week dependent on her behaviour, cleaning her room and chores, and if she has x amount of smiley faces by the Friday she will get a 'surprise'. I thought this is a good idea.

Later on in the evening, Kayla says "Mommy I laid out all my clothes for school tomorrow for me to get dressed in the morning" - Cue Kim, "Good Girl" Smiley Face for you. Dad goes into the room a bit later and the dogs are pouncing on her clothes..... wait for it.... she had stuffed her pockets full of chocolates (Quality Street nogal) and mints - FULL and the dogs had smelt it and began to attack her clothes. Haha did I laugh, but then it was reprimand time and scratch that smiley face. What a tough position laugh or be stern and instill the discpline. Kids will be kids I suppose, I bet she thought she was the cleverest little kid pulling the wool over mommy's eyes!!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Freakin Facebook

Clive the Loverboy and Lindy (check the shades)
Pink Ladies at our Matric Valedictory

Hi there all,
Well blogs have been taking a back seat to Facebook. Wow it has just taken over our lives hehee.
Have had a hectic week was off last week and am back at work this week and just cant seem to get into the swing of things. Was looking for groovy old 'kiff' pictures from back in the day at school and found some hilarious ones. I will post one of Clive with his first girlfriend he says (hey Ron thought it was you?) Lindy Pendelbury (however you spell it) was apparently the first. Well I think he had quite a few on a string actually.
A big CONGRATULATIONS to Catherine and Gavin on the birth of their little boy Max, he is too cute.... and a big congrats on being able to give Natural Birth, I am sure you will have your own set of horror stories now too.... :-)
Have a great Tuesday and see you all soon xxx

Godparenting - Whats in a Name?

Hi all welcome to Friday, thank goodness....
Well I have done some online research as to the meaning of being a Godparent, as some may or may not know, Kim and Carl Nell have asked us to be Levi's Godparents. In this day and age with tradition going out the window for new more modernistic views, I thought it may be interesting to research what the meaning of the term Godparent stands for, and here it is in the original Catholic origin from where it stems:

What’s the point of Godparents? The Role of the Godmother and Godfather

I’ve been asked this more than once, so I thought it would be an interesting post. Catholics choose godparents for their children when the children are baptized. The role of godparents stems from the reality that it is a big responsibility to raise children properly in their faith. Especially today, when we are bombarded by materialism, it is important to have some assistance, a community of sorts, to help you keep your children on the straight and narrow. In addition, parents must constantly try to see the forest as well as the trees, so to speak, and godparents are further from the realities of everyday life – this gives them to ability to focus more on the forest, if you will. (Note: this does not mean parents aren’t directly responsible for this formation, it simply means that godparents can provide assistance).

The role of godparents is a serious role and not to be taken lightly. The Pope has noted that godparents should be examples “of solid faith, of deep prayer, and of active involvement in the Church’s life” in order to be selected as godmother and/or godfather. Godparents are expected to positively affect the child’s life in areas of faith and morals. In itself, this means praying for godchildren, and making constant attempts to discuss and influence the godchild on religious reality. It is a tough role that requires commitment on the part of the godparent in order to succeed.

Logically speaking, assigning a godparent for your child is obviously good. Basically, you get another faithful adult involved in the formation of your child’s spiritual life – are two better than one? In this case, yes! The role of godparent is taken too lightly by most parents; if you choose a disinterested person, all of the work in forming your child lies on you alone! Be sure to pick a faithful, trustworthy individual to fill this important role in your child’s life. Traditionally, the godparent takes over the parent’s role in the event that both parents die, although this isn’t necessarily the case today.

Well that is quite a lot to take in, but nevertheless is a honour if you are chosen as a Godparent, the hardest part will not to play and enjoy baby but to remember your purpose with the little life entrusted to you by the parents, to be a source of strength to both the parents and the child and to help out whenever is necessary.

Have a wonderful Friday all....

HAPPY 31st Birthday Monique!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Monki Monkey Monique. Hope you have a wonderful day and we had a great time at your party on Saturday night. May you be blessed with many more birthdays.

To Veronica a.k.a. purpleronnie, hope you have recovered from your hangover Miss whole bottle of champers! Hope you have recovered.

Have a great Monday everyone!

Cute Man!

Close up picture taken by the hospital, looks a bit grumpy here :-)

I'm 1 day old!

All together now, Aaah, no really he is too cute and has so much hair and has such big hands. I will share a comment from another friend of mine, also a Nicci, who told me in an email after seeing the pictures in no uncertain terms that:
"He is actually much bigger than I thought and the thought of pushing something that size out of my 'vajayjay' terrifies me half to death! Matthew (her unborn baby) is already 1.8kg thank you very much! And he is at least going to double in size! HELLO???? Can you feel the pain?"
Had to laugh at that, although not sure why I am laughing.

Am dying to go back to hospital today and hopefully I can get away from work to go and see him and Kim again. But she is doing so well and was up walking when I arrived yesterday to see them, which I was really impressed by, I would probably still be in bed ringing my bell, asking someone to feed me grapes and fan me with a palm.

Well lets see who is next? Catherine Davis, then Nicci Brooker (as above) then Caroline Avnit and then either Ronel Killian or Taryn Fowler (depending as Ronel is having twins so they could come earlier than expected) and then after that newly added to the list is Tammy Smith who has recently discovered she is pregnant roughly about 3-4 weeks. So once again people I tell you there is something in the water.

Have a wonderful day and will leave you with a couple more pics of Levi Nel.

Welcome Baby Levi Nel to the World!

A big CONGRATULATIONS to Kim and Carl Nel whos baby boy Levi Nel was born this morning at 2:50am at 3.16kg at Milnerton MediClinic. He surprised them both by coming a bit earlier than planned, 9 days to be exact. But nevertheless he is here and healthy from all accounts and we wish the whole family much joy with him. Hopefully will post a couple of pics soon.

Cape Town is still in the grips of what the weather lady margot on SABC says is a 'Cold Snap' not sure what on earth that is supposed to mean? Anyone out there do Geography, not me I did Biology, I can tell you where to find your knees / ears etc. but not what a Cold Snap is, all I can tell you is that it is BLADDY cold! Snow in Plett, Snow in Franschoek, starting to think we have traded places with all our UK friends and family. Basically spent the entire weekend at home watching movies it was too cold to do anything. However my husband Clive had to play golf on Sunday with his golf 'society' and it was pouring with rain, but they play in rain believe it or not! Our good friends Veronica and Steven made us a lovely curry on Friday night and we enjoyed that with a glass of red wine or two, that was about the most interesting thing that we did this weekend. Also a big WOW and congratulations to Paul Cobley on his Music CD I think it is fantastic! Hoping it moves onto bigger things.

Well thats me for today, I am off to see a newborn baby later this afternoon and coo and aah and hopefully not get puked on (only joking) I wont mind.

Will someone out there in the UK please let all us Safricans know when Gav and Cath have their baby, any day now!!!

Bye for Now
Nicci Lammer

T.G.I.F. (Thank God its Friday!)

Hi All
Thank goodness that it is Friday, what a long week.
Just wanted to post a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Wendy for tomorrow the 19th - the big 30 has arrived and to Susan on Thursday also the big 30! As my comment on Caroline's site said, I have no idea what thats like have another WHOLE YEAR before I have to contemplate that - he he he. I will just continue to bury my head in the sand.

Another BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Tammy and Mark Smith who informed us yesterday that they are expecting a baby (she is about 4 weeks preggers), WHAT is in the water people! It could be a conspiracy - hmmm but from whom?

Catherine and Kim are about to pop anyday now and their lives will never be the same for Catherine it is the first and for Kim it is the second. Wishing you ladies an easy birth - see Lilyland Blog -

Well am going to sign off now, Cape Town is expecting a brrrrr cold front to make landfall tomorrow and I am going to burrow myself in my bed with a good book and the occassional cup of hot chocolate.

Time Flies.....

Sorry it has been so long with another post. I moan at all the other blogs that I read that they aren't updating then I dont come to the party. Something that has been on mind a lot lately is that the cliche 'Time Flies', but if you really think about it, it REALLY DOES. I cant believe I am already 29, it felt like the other day (Ok the other week or a couple of months) ago that I was 19. Where has 10 whole years gone?? Pretty soon in that case I will be celebrating my 39th Birthday!! How depressing! I suppose a reason I am thinking this is the pictures I have attached here are family friends who's daughter (who was born when I was small) has got married and already has a 6 year old. I remember her when she was a baby, I suppose that is what all our parents are saying about us now. But take each moment and live each moment and savour all the memories you can even over day to day boring activities, as before you know it the day will be over and the time gone! Have a wonderful Wednesday.
Love Nix

Miserable Monday

Hi All,
Well some of us in S.A. have to work today, whilst the other 3004659 Billion have taken the day off to have a very long weekend. Not me am saving my leave for the end of the year and now am regretting being in at work today. It is like a morgue (not that i really know what that is like) but I am imagining. Had a very quiet weekend. Clive tiled a wall in our lounge with a natural stone tile and it looks really good, and then went to movies on Saturday night with Veronica and Steven to watch Hannibal Rising, bit gory but actually quite good. And now I sit at work for the rest of the day and wish the hours away.
My saving grace is that it is a holiday tomorrow yay! But I am up early again as I have arranged a Managers Morning out at the spa so am looking forward to a hot stone massage for an hour and a half :-) Catch up later xxxx
Monday Blue Nix

It's Raining Babies.....

Well as my title heads, Its Raining Babies! Let me see how many people do I know that are pregnant, should I list them? Yes why not:
Kim Nel
Nicci Rossouw
Taryn Fowler
Catherine Davis
Ronel Killian x 2 (Twins)
Caroline Avenit

I think that is all.... only :-) Well the first baby shower of many came around. Kim is due at the end of May although she is convinced baby Levi is coming early - she is having a boy if you are confused by the name. So off we went to the baby shower where 3 more members there were pregnant as you can see by the bare tums! When shopping for Kims prezzie, I was overwhelmed by the amount of baby items out there, how many gizmos and gadgets, I think I will want them all one day. One thing is for certain children are going to cost you for the rest of your life, but it is all worth it. Whilst out and about on the weekend, I also caught up with my aunt and learnt a couple of interesting family facts! I knew that there were twins in my family however what I didn't know and what I found out is that on my dad's side there were 8 sets of Twins in 4 Generations! Holy Moly, I thought I had a very slim chance of having twins, but seems it is quite (no very) possible. Although my gynae says that it is more common having a 'singleton' as she calls it than twins. Well think I will leave at that, after all what else is there to say after that bit of news!!!!!

Re-Awaken the Blog Bug

Hello all, well it has been ages since we last posted a blog, so am trying to get back into it. Should be working but am really tired of that today.
I celebrated my 29th Birthday the otherday and thought I would share some of the pictures that I took.