James' news

woot i passed my L's test today with a pass of 100% in the multiple choice test. now i can legally drive on the road so stay off the footpath. oh and thats a natural smile by the way cos there was a person there who made me laugh as they took it. he told me to look the way i wanted the police to see me when they pull me over.

Ishbel got an award today

In her own words . . .

I am proud of myself because I had a different teacher today and it takes alot of hard work to impress someone new.

Ishbel

Keeping you updated . . .

Not much to add, just to let you know we are still about really.
Jamie had exams last week at school and is getting his results back. He's done pretty well. He also entered a Science competition a while back and did that test today. He's happy with how he went, he thinks.
Robbie is having his exams this week.
Ishbel's school had an open day yesterday but, unfortunately, with having been off sick and with having had to take time to take her to the dentist AND with a colleague off on leave, I didn't make it to school. Today she was at a play - The Happy Prince - which she was very excited about going to see and which she thoroughly enjoyed.
We spent last weekend doing a light on sport runaround - Robbie and Ishbel both had bye's so that gave us time to help our friends, Bec and Steve, move house.

24 Hour Teacher's Strike

Tomorrow there is a 24 hour teacher's strike so I will be home with the children.
I told the boys they would not be allowed to XBox or play computer games or anything else unless they were all up-to-date on their homework. They are planning now to "sleep in until midnight."

Clever Boy

I shall let the certificates speak for themselves.

5 Days of Birthday Party

I've had a great birthday, all five days of it!

The celebrations began at book group. We usually meet on the first Friday of each month but had to postpone by a week this time. At the end of the book chat we had a little party. The girls had clubbed together and bought me a book voucher and TWO of them had made cakes.

Saturday looked like it was going to be a regular Saturday running around fitting in the washing, taking kids to sport and shopping. About 4pm Steve and Bec rang to ask if we were doing anything that evening. We ended up with them, Marie and her two boys plus Leigh's girlfriend Jess and the boy's pal Harley, Hugh and us five for a BBQ dinner. Bec put together a chocolate cake and we had a birthday party going.

We are still eating coleslaw - I asked Steve and Bec to get some then promptly forgot and sent Ian out for some too. When he came back with only a smallish tub I went out and got more!!!

Sunday was Mother's Day here as well as my birthday but I was up early to go to RFS training. We were doing fire behaviour and weather conditions. We went for a walk to a lookout with breathtaking views and had an outdoor tutorial on bush fire behaviour before going to the grounds of a local high school where we chased the PC which had a hose running from the back - we were mimicking grass fires.

Then, as a Special Mother's Day Treat, Steve let me drive the BIG RED TRUCK!!! I couldn't begin to tell you how exciting that was!

Meanwhile, at home, Ian had donned his pinny and was baking scones and mince tarts and almond tarts, jellies, fruit salad and cake for an afternoon Birthday tea to which Karen, Dan and Ben, Sharon, Janet, Steven and Kate and Joanne came. The others also brought along sandwiches and slices, etc. The table was fairly groaning. We had to go for a walk in the middle of the afternoon to make room for more. The fridge was still chokkas from the BBQ the night before so I'd told them no one was leaving before the food was all gone.

See the Birthday party photos. I'm just sad there's not one of me driving the truck.

Monday I thought I was back to normal at work but no, the girls bought a cake and we had a birthday morning tea.

I was feeling a bit poorly yesterday morning (sore throat, dry cough, bones aching) and nearly didn't go in to work but one of the volunteers has been promising a lemon cake for my birthday for ages so I felt obliged to be there. Good job I made the effort - Jeanette had been up at 5:30am to bake it - and it was delicious. But I did go home immediately after morning tea.

Parent-Teacher Night at Springwood High School

It was parent-teacher night at Springwood High School last night - Rob's school - and off I trotted to find out what he's been up to.

1. First teacher was Mr. Svegli who teaches Science. When I introduced myself as Robert Colquhoun's Mum his face lit up. "A lovely boy, always interested, broad knowledge base, share chats about music, etc, etc."


2. At the next table was Ms Martin who teaches Robbie History. When I introduced myself as Robert Colquhoun's Mum her face lit up. "A lovely boy, always interested, broad knowledge base, etc, etc." Her partner had taught Robbie last year and put Rob in her class because he thought she would enjoy teaching Robbie.


3. Next stop was Ms Green, Robbie's Mathematics teacher. When I introduced myself as Robert Colquhoun's Mum her face lit up. "A lovely boy, always interested, broad knowledge base, etc, etc." The only glitch was that he had only handed in 1 out of 5 homework sheets this term. We are still in negotiations about that one, Robbie and I . . .


4. So the last teacher I could find was Mr Secombe who teaches Geography. When I introduced myself as Robert Colquhoun's Mum his face lit up. "A lovely boy, always interested, broad knowledge base, etc, etc." He asked if I knew what the score was in Rob's Way or My Way - apparently he's not taught Geography for a while and is a bit rusty so Robbie keeps him straight and lets him know when he's going wrong. I believe the score is 6 - 2 to Rob!

Knitting

Ishbel has been learning how to knit today.

It's a bit fiddly . . .

and takes a lot of concentration . . .









but she's not doing badly at all.
Bella, however, found it all a bit boring.

Queensland Holiday - Day 6 - Return Home - Tuesday 29 April 08

Back home today. Went for a last walk and the kids did some last activities before we packed and tidied up. The courtesy bus was arranged to collect us about 11:30am and took us to the airport. A quick 1 and 1/2 hr flight home and another 1 and 1/2 hrs or so on the train and we were home.
Catherine has been looking after Bella and Abigail and staying at our place while we've been away and when we opened the door it was to The Clash belting out on the CD player and the yummy smell of Osso Busco in the oven. It was lovely!

Queensland Holiday - Day 5 - Monday 28 April 08

Our last full day of holiday has been spent mostly on the lagoon.

Ian and I went out on a catamaran, but not for long, I found it utterly boring and got Ian to take me back in for a kayak after about three minutes. I tried to persuade Ishbel to join me on the kayak but she was terrified of falling in the water, despite having a life-jacket on, and begged me to let her off after a very short ride. So I went off across the lagoon on a kayak with Ian instead which was much better because, sitting in the back, I could get him to do most of the paddling!
While Ishbel hugged the beach, the other kids were playing on a big inflatable, jumping and pushing each other off it and having a great time.