Hi all! Sorry I have not commented the last couple days. Most of our family is feeling nauseous, obviously a bug. They will all be staying home from school tomorrow! I am madly preparing a 1 and a 1/2 hour presentation for Roly and Spindles' stage (61 kids) on Africa. Powerpoint presentation, African food, skit, interactive stuff, and maybe a quick simulation game. Very exciting but a little daunting, specially after my meeting this afternoon with the teacher I will be replacing in just a few days now! Now THAT was a real overload; hearing what I have to do for those five weeks! I know that I won't really understand it all, till I am in the middle of doing it.
*just had to take a 10 minute break to clean vomit off a child, and off our bed where he had been sleeping since the last vomit! Nice...*
Well, I was going to write more, but it seems I am needed eslewhere. *hugs*
Posted by michelle ::
11:12 pm ::
8 comments
links to this post
The SMashing Pumpkins are coming (promise) but today is a very special day in Oz, so i must report on that. It is ANZAC day! The word ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and it was on this day in 1915 that the ANZACS first military action was taken in Gallipoli in Turkey. They were terribly defeated, and over 8,000 soldiers were lost to their country and their loved ones. So we now take this day to remember and honour those who have given their lives for our freedom, and for those still serving our country.
At 8:30 am I whipped up a couple of sandwiches for our town's ANZAC morning tea. Then we lined up for the parade!
Waiting!
The old soldiers were transported by jeep....
The Scottish band was fantastic. Always bring a tear to my eye, bagpipes.
The children of those who served and died, marched in their place with their medals proudly worn. Very moving.
High school kids....
Some of the smaller girls dressed as the nurses who worked in the wars.
The service was held directly opposite our house.
Many people came forward to place wreaths at the ANZAC memorial.
Then the dervice dispersed.
Topsy and I MARCHED over to see the band do some impromptu stuff.
OOOps! Yet again, it's been a while! We had a very blogworthy event on Sunday that happened to our property but that we were totally unaware of whilst it was in progress. So be on the lookout tomorrow for my post which shall be entitled 'The Smashing Pumpkins! Isn't that the name of a band? But today I took my little on to have his first official haircut. Yes, I am sure most of you are gasping. It has been nearly two years and he hasn't had a haircut. I have snipped at his fringe a couple of times and he hated it, so I thought I would never put a hairdresser through that! But I just happened to mention this in passing at church. And a lady who was visiting said' You should go to the salon where my daughter works. They have very special chairs for kids there.' And when she described the chairs, I decided to give the place a ring. (I was glad I did, 'cause they had been briefed I might be calling, and already knew my name!)
So here is a photo montage of what went down at Topsy's first haircut.
Before: just awake and about to leave for the hairdressers.
The 'special chair'!!!
Prepped and ready to go!
Ok.... not quite where he thought he was going, but, oh well!
Co-operating...
Holding the spray bottle......
The consequences of the hairdresser letting him hold the spraybottle!
Nearly done , and still smiling!
Doesn't that look like fun?
After: front...
back....
and sides.
Side by side before and after! You like?
And guess what? I got out my wallet, ready to part with half my money for that experience, and the hairdresser said 'No, his first haircut is on us!'
Did I tell you that there are some renovations slowly happening at our home? We live in the church manse (house) right next to the church. Money has been donated so that our closed-in verandah can be converted into an extra room and an extra bathroom. Plus there will be a paved entertainment area! Yeah! But it has all taken time. We thought it would be done by February, and it is only really just starting now! So today the guys came with a jack hammer to break up the cement in the verandah for the plumbing. We were caught a little unawares, having actually expected them yesterday. The jackhammer was unrelenting! So we fled to the church building, till most of it was over!
Hard at work
The offending tool!
We ate lunch in the hall.
And then turned on the music we used for kid's club, got the kid's club marracas and had a jolly time! Topsy favors the gold marracas.
We are not usually like this at church, truly!
But we'd been exiled!
Spindles looks a little nervous!
There was a box of toys that had Topsy entertained.
The kitten escaped the jack hammer too! He fled to his favorite spot: our rosebush-covered archway!
Our first CIA (the kid's Bible study) fun night is over, and was rather successful. It was a very small group, with a couple gone, but it was great for a first time. (I only got a couple of pics, after carefully charging up the camera! Too busy I guess!)
The kids came at 3:00 and after having to solve a puzzle together to work out our destination, we went to visit a farm where the farmer is reknowned for his woodwork skills, and where his wife has the greenest thumb around. They walked us through their skills and it was actually very interesting.
The country afternoon tea they served was much appreciated!
We went home then, and while the kids played for 10 minutes, Hubby and I dressed up as waiters.
The cryptic menu worked a treat. Poor Diva had a spoon and a knife for her dessert. And her friend had chicken kebabs and icecream for entree!
Don't worry, we realized Roly's cap was on, and it came off quick smart! :)
Each of the kids had been given a secret mission for dinner. I had pulled them aside at different times in the afternoon, to give them their mission, so no-one realized the others also had missions. Part of it involved asking two of the kids they knew least a set questions, without anyone knowing it was part of their mission. (Spindle's was 'What job would you like to have some day?') And the other part involved doing something a little odd, several times, without anyone catching on that it was part of a mission. (Diva had to ask people to pass the salt 3 times, when no salt shaker was on the table. Roly had to reminisce about his imaginary frined Sigwam 3 times!)
Dinner over, we broke them into teams and played some games. Tons of fun! And now I am pooped!
Hubby is dropping the kids off now. And I am going to have a big ol' soak in the bath.
Topsy's vocab- range update!
Last night Tospy said his first sentence! We were at the dinner table, and I was telling them all again vividly about how Topsy shouted out 'HELLO!' at the library (the kids love hearing that story, makes them all laugh!) I cupped my hands to my mouth as I pretended to be him shouting out.
Topsy was looking on amused as well. And then when I finished, he turned to Hubby and said H'lo AHHHH (shouting that word out, with his hands cupped around his mouth) Mum! He said it to each of the kids as well, and we realized he was telling them that Mum was shouting out 'hello'! Clever boy!
Over a hundred sneezes into my day, I realized that this is a cold I have, not allergies. Grrr. Thus it was a good day for Hubby to surprise me by getting the pink slip done on my car. My registration is due in 2 days. And when the mechanics told him that the car would pass inspection after it got 4 new tyres, he made my day even better by scraping together the money for them himself and coming home with my pink slip all done! Yeah! So this afternoon after forking out for third party insurance, I took in all the paperwork to the RTA, and paid to be able to safely drive my car around for another year! Hubby has definitely earned himself some brownie points! :)
