Blowing out the Candles

As with all birthdays in our family, the kids help to celebrate by blowing out the candles on the birthday cake. Auntie Jenny's was no different. A nice chinese lunch - thanks Mum - followed by a tasty cake. 

We sang 'Happy Birthday' with the kids help

And then it was time to blow out the candles... but as the girls took a breathe, the boys got in first.

This lead to lots of laughter. It's not fair if the birthday girl doesn't get to blow out the candles. So we relit them and the girls had their turn.

Happy birthday Auntie Jenny! We love you.

 

Sculptures By The Sea

With a weekend free (very rare for us it feels at the moment) James and I decided that we would take the kids to see Sculptures by the Sea. We hadn't been to this before but the kids did enjoy the sculptures in the Blue Mountains when I took them so we thought they might like this. We made a day of it - drove to Circular Quay, walked to the bus stop then caught the bus out to Bondi. 

The kids were pretty excited about the bus ride, and even more excited when it was a bendy bus! Daniel wanted to sit next to the bend. The other 2 sat down the end of the bus with James. I was with Daniel - the bend was the highlight for me as a kid too.

Once we arrived we found a park and had lunch and a quick play. It was a pretty windy day! 

Then it was sculptures time. We didn't really have a plan, we just wandered around the different sculptures, took photos and went to the next one that people wanted to see.

I spy 3 kiddies

Grumpy Babies, Happy Eliza

I loved the design of this one - it was like a whale's heart but made out of ply wood.

Eliza loved this on because it was pink.

But this one was my favourite! It was a periscope that looked down to the waves crashing on the rocks below. I could have sat there and watched it all day!

I did like the design idea of this one. Kinda reminded me of the old cameras with their long bendy lenses.

This one of the waves was a great hide and seek spot (although resulted in rust getting on the clothes).

Daniel's favourite one was some bamboo huts that were designed into spheres but they were large enough that you could sit inside them. They kinda looked like bubbles that had landed on the ground.

Alexander's favourite was a rubbish one which was large sculptures of scrunched up chewing gum wrappers which we pretended to 'throw' into the bin. They were way too heavy to lift up though.

Once we got to the cloud frame, I had a lovely idea that we could get a nice photo of the kids in it. Was that the wrong idea or what! Daniel lost it at Eliza, Eliza got upset with Daniel, Alexander cracked it, I got frustrated. It was a bit of a disaster. So I took a photo of just the frame. 

Daniel wasn't very happy about that. Fortunately James kept his cool and he managed to talk to Daniel and help settle him down.

Alexander was keen to get a photo with another statue - matchy matchy.

 The kids slowly settled so I took a photo of them in the frame. Still not what I had envisioned but oh well.

This one Alexander really liked too - the wheels actually spun so he was entertained. 

With all the different sculptures they had signs on them saying if you could touch them or not. Of course, if you could touch them, then they would touch them. No matter what the sculpture was.

This place is one of Tim and Rach's favourite places so we sent them a little video wishing they were here.

We walked along the headland and liked looking at a few more sculptures but the kids were getting pretty tired.

The pencil behind us was James' favourite one.

I also liked this one - Thru.

We then hopped on a bus to go to Bondi Beach to get a Boost Juice. Unfortunately we got on the wrong bus so hopped off at Bondi Junction and got a Boost there instead. Alexander was pretty excited to have his first Boost!

A nice way to finished the day! We'll definitely try and visit the sculptures again in future years.

Kindy Orientation

My baby girl is growing up. Each Friday morning in November we headed into school for her to visit her kindy class for 2020. Eliza was put into Kindy Green. Sadly most of her friends were in other Kindy classes - Ems in Kindy Green, Eve in Kindy Red, Ayla in Kindy Yellow, but she did have Ethan in her class as well as 2 girls from preschool but not in her class. 

On the 1st of November Eliza was ready and so excited to go!

She really surprised me by how confident and keen she was. I think because of her anxiety that had come up in preschool at different times and with different things, I did really know what to expect. But she was so confident, talking happily, was fine with not knowing many people in her class and with not knowing her teacher. 
It was Daniel's loud shirt day so he got a photo too.

I'm a bit sad about Emily and Eliza not being in the same class because they are such good friends, but it will be good for them to be able to make different friendships too. And they will always be able to play together in the playground and at each others houses so their friendship should continue to grow. They were very cute while waiting to start kindy.

We met Miss Stewart who is the Kindy Green teacher. She was lovely. A very kind teacher who was happy to meet the kids, big smile and just seemed very gentle. Eliza liked having her. She made her crafts, played with the blocks and loved having the Year 5 helpers with her. When I went to go, she hardly looked up tot say bye. Very proud of her confidence. The 2nd week Miss Stewart was away so I wasn't sure how Eliza would respond with that but she was fine having a different teacher and again, confidently walked into the class and sat down to do an activity. The 3rd week, Eliza was fine. It was Alexander who left in tears because he didn't want to go to swimming and he wanted to stay with me. Didn't see that one coming!! 

The last week the kids came into the school hall and did a little song about starting school. I remembered Daniel doing this and it is a very cute song. Eliza was one of the last kids to come in and didn't look very happy. I wasn't too sure what was up. Maybe too many people there, maybe feeling shy, maybe something went wrong in class. I wasn't sure. But as the song went on, she did join in. After the song her teacher mentioned to me that she had a small cut on her finger that was upsetting her, but she was ok. That made sense.

My baby girl Eliza, 
May you have the confidence that you showed over these weeks as you enter big school. May you make new friends and grow the old friendships that you already have. Continue to look out for others. Enjoy having a different teacher with you in Kindy. Enjoy learning different things. I know that you are excited to learn how to write and I look forward to the many secret notes that you will give to me, but you can continue to draw the pictures too. You are going to blossom and thrive in school. Be kind to yourself. It is ok to not understand something or to find something hard to do. As long as you try your hardest, that's what Daddy and I expect of you. It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be your best work. Be confident in the playground. This can be a hard place as a little girl. Friends can sometimes be mean, friends can sometimes run off to play and you get left behind. Use those opportunities to extend your friendship circles, to help out others, to have some time to yourself in the library. 
Sometimes you will have cuts on your fingers, don't let them slow you down. They will heal and they will get better. Hang in there. You are going to be amazing at Kindy. I can't wait to see what you are going to achieve in 2020 and beyond!
Love you baby girl.
Mummy

Jayne's Wedding

My little Jayne is all grown up and married. It was just a joy and privileged to be invited to her wedding and I'm so grateful to Mum and Dad for looking after the kids so that James and I could go. The wedding was held up near Tweed Heads. So Thursday night after dinner we helped put the kids to bed at Mum and Dad's place and then headed home for an early start north. The drive was nice being able to stop when we wanted, being able to read in the car without interruptions, being able to have either a quick stop because no one needed to play or just swap drivers so we could get there. It will be different this weekend when we head up there with the kids. 

We stopped at Old Bar to visit Grandma G. I was nervous about seeing her because last time it was so hard seeing her so confused and lost in the place and she didn't have time to say hi or chat with the kids. It was a bit heart breaking. But this time was very different. She was very chatty, very happy and didn't mind talking and walking with us. So lovely to see her again and to have a happy memory now, instead of the difficult one.

The rest of the drive went smoothly and we made it to our gorgeous AirBnB that James had found - a little 1 bedroom place on a family farm. Gorgeous views, peace and quiet and close to the wedding venue. It even had horses that we could feed!

We headed out to dinner with Jayne and Scott and other guests of the wedding. It was so lovely to sit, chat and catch up on the last little while and to just see how happy Jayne is.

In the morning we had a slow morning, because we could. James slept in and I sat and finished reading one of my books - something I'd been working on since being in Scotland. We then headed to the shops, walked around a little bit and then headed back to make a grazing plate for lunch while we got ready. Grant came a joined us too.

We were wedding ready. The wedding was at a gorgeous little place and in an open chapel - perfect for Jayne! It was just a ceremony filled with joy. Relaxed, low key, God at the centre. I'm so happy for Jayne and Scott and wish them all the best in the marriage. 

It was fun hanging out with Grant and also lovely to catch up with El and Drew and Emily too. Such lovely people. The ceremony was followed by drinks and photos on the lawn and then a fun reception on site too. 

Happy Wedding Jayne and Scott!