Sophie's friend

Today, Sophie's best friend came over for a play. The girls don't see each other at kinder this year, so we catch up on Saturdays at ballet class and for playdates at home. Sophie has been waiting for this day all week!

Junior School Council representative

James received his Junior School Council (JSC) badge at assesmbly this week. We were very proud when James returned home from school recently to announce that he had been voted as the class JSC after performing a speech in from of his peers. Well done James!

After school activities

The three males in our house have started some basketball skills training after school in preparation for the games on Saturday. It certainly exhausts them, especially in 30 degree heat.

Meanwhile, Sophie chooses to ride her scooter...

and the chickens are enjoying their new found freedom in the backyard.

Ballet

Today was another exciting day for Sophie with the commencement of ballet classes and the extra suprise of her friend Scarlett (from 3 yo kinder) joining the class. She thoroughly enjoyed the class, as did I. Parents were allowed to view the first class. In future classes, parents will be invited in for the final 5 minutes to watch a short performace. Afterwards, Sophie was happy to spend some time in the playground with Scarlett. Sophie is so tired from her big week that she has put herself to bed for a nap before we go out again tonight.

End of a big week

It has been a big week for everyone. The boys had their first full week back at school, Sophie commenced her pre-prep 3 day program at Tintern, and Adam and I experienced a different type of week where we had three days without children at home from 9 til 3.30. A welcome change after close to ten years with at least one child at home during the week.

Sophie has adjusted beautifully to her new routine and spoke this afternoon about her day. She told me that her teachers and class "prayed with a boy called Father....can't remember the other name... and it was really weird" (demonstrating how she was instructed to hold her hands whilst praying).

Later, when I explained prayer she stated: "I believe God's real. I love God because he builded us...and mum". I had to laugh to myself. They say some cute things sometimes!

Adam spent some time today modifying the chicken coop. They have grown so much that they weren't able to fit into the nesting boxes. We are expecting fresh eggs very soon!

Beans!

We have begun harvesting vegetables from our garden. The tomatoes should be ripe very soon and Sophie and Patrick were pleased to find some large green beans last night after dinner. We shall eat them tonight!

First day...

Sophie started her pre-prep program today and will attend three full days each week. She was very excited and a little bit anxious, but appeared to have settled in well when we left her this morning. Can't wait until 3pm to hear about her day. 

End of the holidays

To mark the end of the six week kinder/school holidays, we visited a Chinese restaurant for dinner on Tuesday night. The children love going out for dinner and further developed their chop stick skills.

We have had a very relaxing summer holiday with a good balance of days at home and activities. The favourite activities were, swimming at the Doncaster pools, bike riding, play dates with friends and spending time with the chickens and guinea pigs. School and kinder commenced today, so we are back into our routine and counting down until our next big holiday to see the Reid family!!