School ends 2014

The boys have had a good year on the whole.
Xavi has had the most wonderful year with great friends, fabulous teachers and lots of great learning. Xavier got the Citizenship Award for his class in the big assembly, for showing kindness and being a fair and conscientious student. Got to be happy with that hey?!
Seth has had a year of ups and downs. Life seems to get harder as we get older. He has had a good teacher, but no Mr Bush. He has had relationship issues with friends on and off and a bunch of his good buddies are leaving for all sorts of reasons. He was sad on the last day and it broke my heart. Pray with me that he makes some good friends next year and that he has a fabulous teacher who helps him reach his potential.

Xavier turns 7!!!!!

Hooray! Finally!! He just loves his birthday and it is a very long countdown to get there. (Well it feels long to me). He is funny and cheeky. He is determined and frustrating. He loves to get his own way. He is friendly and outgoing. He is cuddly and loves Jesus and wants others to love him too. He loves people and being around them. We love this little pocket rocket with a passion and are so glad the God placed him in our family. With all the things he needs to learn there are many that we are learning through him too

It was a birthday with many celebrations. We had a ninja turtle party with the Barclay family the Saturday before. We went to builda ear with his buddy Cooper the day before his birthday. We went out for dinner on his actually birthday. We had a combined birthday afternoon tea the Sunday after his birthday for Xavi and Taylah at Miss' place. A fun week for a fun loving kid.

Laura is engaged!!

At the end of October Laura got engaged. She is just so so happy which is just lovely. She has been planning away. During the busyness of Christmas, end of school and Xavi's birthday we squeezed in a day to shop for bridesmaids dresses. Laura also got her dress. I am not sure if I should show you the dresses or not....here is close up of Liz wearing it so you can see the colour.

Randoms

Headphones help in thunder storms.
Smoothies taste better in a mason jar.
Lite, natural yoghurt is AWFUL and we keep getting tricked at Aldi. This particular one was Bert's doing but I am guilty too.
I love that Indie sits and takes in the cool morning breeze and watches the street even though she is a terrible guard dog.
We put out our bats: it felt like the right thing to do.

Seth singing at the nursing home

Seth learnt the box step and they performed it at the nursing him. It was super cool. Seth loves going to the nursing home and visiting with the residents. We are hopeful that another teacher will take it on next year as the fabulous Mr Bush is retiring.

Kids' Club changes and houses

So next year we are moving Kids' Club to Friday afternoons from 4:30pm-5:45pm. This is a big and scary change but the right one (I think!) I have been struggling to get leaders on a Wednesday at 3pm for a couple of years and this year we worked on a skeleton staff a number of weeks. I am also keen to train up the youth leaders we have and to make the link between kids and youth. Anyway sorry to bore you but I felt I should put it out on the internet in the hope that it still sounds like a good idea!! It is - I know.
Anyway I also needed to do a better finale this year. I decided to embark on mini gingerbread houses with 50 kids. Yeah I am nuts. However it was a great afternoon. Seeing so many parents there working with their kids. As crazy as it was it was a good thing to do.

Jemma's 9th Birthday

How did this gorgeous little poppet get to be nine?! She is creative and quirky. She is kind and friendly. She loves with a passion and you have to chase her to get a cuddle. She loves playing with our boys and making up imaginary games. She is amazing at tidying up and loves coming to my place and getting treats out of the 'magic' cupboard. I love this little treasure.
We celebrated with her at Liz's with a day organised by her. Hide & Seek pass the parcel, party poppers, movie, lollies, twister and dancing. Too fun.