Sports Day

Today was the big Sports Day for the infant school.  It was Henry's last infant sport day as he will join the wider school next year for their sports carnival, and it was Milly's first sport day ever.  The infant sport day programme at their school is non-competitive.  There are no trophies or ribbons, it's just all about having a go at different sports, games and activities and having fun.  They save all the competition and races for the junior and senior primary students, which is when they join a "house" and wear "house colours".

Milly was a little excited and anxious about her first sports day.

Henry was loving every minute of it.  Or maybe he's just closing his eyes to avoid looking at the girl behind him who has lifted her skirt up and decided to flash everyone.

Egg and spoon.

Sack jumping.

Relays.

Pogo.

Buster and I spent the whole day helping out and he even got to join in on a few activities.  He also proved to be quite coordinated for his age and impressed many a teacher and parent with his ball skills and hand-eye coordination.

 

 

Education week

Henry and Milly's school held their Book Week parade and Education Week celebrations all on the same day.  So what does that mean?  Well it means, they got to attend school dressed up as their favourite book characters, and have me come and visit them in the classroom so they could show off their work.

Their school is pretty proud of their academic record, but on display this year they focused on the arts.  It was lovely to walk around the school and see kids putting on musical performances, ballet or other dance recitals, and even a magic show.  There were art works from each class hanging up all around the school.  The chess club was out in force challenging anyone to a game.  And it was hard sit back and watch a game of handball and not be able to play.

Harry Potter and Lola.

I gave Milly the option of having me visit her classroom first or second.  She said she wanted me to visit her class last because it would give me more time with her.  So off I trotted to class 2W to see Henry.  His class were busy doing a find-a-word puzzle that had a recycling theme.  He gave me a red pencil to tick off his words as he found them.  He showed me under his desk where he keeps his books and pencil case, and told me he wished I could visit his class all the time so I can give him the answers.

 

Next stop was visiting Milly in her class KM.  When I arrived I could see parents with cameras filming, but by the time I reached the classroom it was all over and Milly was in tears.  I had missed her kindy class performance.  Her teacher was so apologetic and said she had waited knowing I would be there but had to get the program of activities underway.  Of course, had I known Milly's class were going to do something special for the parents I would have gone to her class first.  After lots of cuddles and kisses Milly calmed down and took me to her desk to show me her workbooks and around her classroom.  

 

It was so lovely to see the kids in their classrooms and have lunch with them in the playground.  Am now looking forward to Buster starting school in 18 months time and visiting him in class as well.

Nanoo's birthday

While the French celebrate their Bastille Day, here in Oz we celebrate Nanoo's birthday.  And nothing screams French more than a good old fashioned Aussie BBQ birthday brunch.

 

Road trip

Me and the kids took a little spontaneous road trip to Kangaroo Valley to visit friends for a couple of days.  It was the school holidays, we had a few spare days of nothing much planned, so why not.  It's a 4 1/2 hour drive from our house to Emma and Dave's place in Kangaroo Valley.  Michael didn't have time off work, so I took on the driving duties myself.  I borrowed a car DVD set from a friend and we set off.

First stop, dropping Michael off at his workplace in Sydney.  Kids got to see Dad's desk and pretend to work.
 

Stop.  Revive.  Survive.
 

Once we got off the freeways and were officially driving through the Southern Highlands it was just beautiful.  Lots of bare trees line the streets, winter flowers in bloom, and fresh cool air up the nostrils.  Then finally we arrived.

Our days were spent catching up with friends, the kids playing with each other, walking around the property and enjoying the blue skies and warming sun, despite it being the middle of winter.

Emma and Moz.
 

Glorious sun for a winter lunch outside.

Special mention must be made to "sausages".  Buster was obsessed with this toy.  It's a dog's toy he found outside that none of the dogs playing with.  Buster took it everywhere with him and it became a security blanket for him while we were away.  Emma kindly let him keep "sausages" and now we are home, of course he has no interest in playing with them.  But he has squirreled them away with his other precious momentos that he hordes.

One of the highlights of the trip was a show put on by the kids.  You see there is a TV commercial called Dumb Ways to Die which is funny and has a very catchy jingle.  The kids occupied themselves for a whole afternoon planning a play we have called "Dumb Ways to Die - The Musical".  They producted tickets for the show, made and organised props, prepared a running order/script, numbered seats for the audience, and all the kids were given a role.  Buster was an usher and handed out crackers once the audience was seated.  Joe was the announcer, and Henry, Milly and Allegra were the performers.

And then it was time to say goodbye to Kangaroo Valley and head home.

McHappy.

Pyromaniacs?

A heart warming drink for the adults.

At winter solstice time you can usually find us at Kangaroo Valley around a bonfire, but the past few years (due to soccer commitments) have seen us staying at home sitting around our chiminea.  Our house is surrounded by trees and we amass a lot of branch and twig debris.  Add some marshmallows to the mix and we've got ourselves a fire-starting night of family fun.

Why don't children feel the cold?

"But it does all fit in Mumma"

The fun didn't end there, we still had a heap of sticks to get rid of and a handful of marshmallows.  What were we to do?  Well, the very next day we fired up the chiminea again and spent the day burning as much wood as we could.

Milly looks completely over it.

The magic of Harry Potter

If you've never read the Harry Potter books nor seen the films then this blog post might not make much sense to you.  But know this - the magic and imagination in those books transcends the pages and inspires the reader.

For the past year we have been reading the Harry Potter books to Henry..... and Milly and Buster when they sit in and listen before becoming too fidgety.  We've also let them watch some of the movies.  The stories have influenced their playtime together and inspired some creative activities - all self initiated.

They run around casting spells on each other and they have made Tom Riddle's diary and The Marauder's Map.

The magic of Harry Potter is that it's the gift that keeps on giving.

Henry's Marauder's Map
A magical document that reveals all of Hogwarts School, showing every classroom, hallway, corner of the castle, the grounds of the castle and secret passages.