Grandbuddy Program

Last term Leah's teacher came up with an idea of a Grandbuddy Program for the Grade 6's to take part in with the residents from the local aged hostel. All the kids were teamed up in pairs with one of the residents.

Leah and Terrence were buddied up with Marjory. The gem of the hostel. A gorgeous lady. Marjory was born locally and at 96 although her sight and hearing are failing her mind is still100%. She has an amazing sense of humour. The grade 6's spent 9 weeks doing the program and visited the hostel every week taking part in various activities with the residents as well as taking part in an art project directed by a local artist, Sally.

Each pair took part in writing a biography about their buddy. The books were bound and the buddy, kids and school all received a copy about the life history of their buddy. During the presentation each pair stood up in front of the audience and spoke about their buddy. A slideshow was played with photos of their nine weeks of activities and themed music. I was quite teary at some stages. It was so moving to see the kids interact and learn from their buddies.

The school presented the residents with a Wii. Something they had all been fundraising for. They were over the moon and couldn't wait to play.

The afternoon concluded with a lovely afternoon tea. Marjory insisted Leah sit on her knee. Leah was a little embarrassed but Terrence was relieved she hadn't asked him as they feel way to old to be sitting on someones knee. I think this will be a program that will remain in their thoughts for many years to come.

Happy 15th Birthday Kady

Today my gorgeous girl turns 15.

The last year has been an amazing year of growth for Kady. She has had a few battles to deal with and some things to work through and has done an amazing job learning to handle her anxiety and fears. She has become a much stronger person.

Over the past year Kady has become even more focused on her school work. Her dream was to become a Forensic Scientist in the Police Force but due to her ear/hearing problems she has decided to follow her second love of becoming an Architect. During the school holidays she met the young Architect that works for Jason and has already lined up her work experience with their large company in the city.

The last year also saw Kady move from her black stage to her pastel stage LOL. She still loves her black clothing but wears a greater variety of colours now.

Happy birthday Darl. We love you heaps and are so proud of you.

Kady received her pressies from us last night. It's our tradition with the girls if your birthday is on a school day you get to open your presents the night before. We started this when the girls were little so that Jason got to enjoy watching them open their gifts.

Here are a couple of blurry pics from last night. Kady received the Lord Of The Rings collectors boxed trilogy and clothing including a couple of jumpers, a gorgeous scarf (she needs it as winter has already arrived), a Twilight T-shirt and her favourite a Cry Baby (Johnny Depp) T-shirt.



Tonight we are going out for dinner with Mary, Eddie, Simon, Debbie and her boyfriend Dylan. This weekend all the family are coming over for more birthday celebrations. I have been busy cooking finger food all week. We will have hot finger food, open sandwiches, cheese and fruit platter and of course birthday cake. I will probaby make a couple of pots of different soup for those that stay for dinner.


The open sandwiches I make look similar to the pic above. I usually do salmon with lettuce and capers, beef with lettuce, wholegrain mustard and tomato, chicken and avocado, ham with tomato and chutney, salami with gherkin and tomato, turkey with lettuce and cranberry and a few other varieties as well as some with prawns etc. These are done on diagonally slice french sticks. They look awesome and everyone loves them.
Other news, Jason is working over in Broadmeadows looking after a job now. It means an hour and a 1/4 driving to get there and a little longer coming home.
Leah began her Grandbuddies program at the local hostel with the school. Her Grandbuddy is Marjory and she is 96 years old. Leah loves her. They go once a week to visit. They had to ask their buddies different questions. One of them was about best friends. Marjory told Leah that her best friend had died the week before and they had been best friends for 83 years old (since they were 13) Wow. I just find that amazing. I think it's a fantastic idea for the kids to have a Grandbuddy program.
Leah's school turns 150 years old this year. I am contemplating whether or not to join the commitee.
Kady has a hearing test next week to see how much damage has been done to her hearing since both her eardrums burst in February.
We all have a Karate grading coming up in May. We are all going for our senior red belt.
Last night was our coldest night for a while. It hit zero and we had our first frost of the season. The fire has been burning non stop. I ordered gas at the beginning of the week for the gas heaters as well. I think we are in for a cold winter.

Leah's School Concert

It's that time of year again for end of year school concerts. Leah was really excited this year in taking part. This year the school charged family per seat to attend. Leah wanted Dylan to come along and watch her so we picked him up from flight camp and then drove him back after the concert.

The theme was Grunge Circus for her class. They had to wear dark clothing and put colour in their hair.

The entire school did a circus theme. We didn't enjoy it this year as much as previous years but the kids had a ball and that's the main thing. As with previous years it was a stinking hot night.

Sadly I accidently deleted all the photos I took so I only have a few from the very end of the concert when the teachers did their act. The teachers act is always so funny.

Stop Work Action

Only a week back at school and Leah's school are taking part in a stop work action.

Next Thursday, 14th February (Happy Birthday, Mum) the school will close all classes of all the teachers taking part.

Only two classes out of the entire school will not be taking part.

NOT HAPPY. I really feel sorry for Mum's who work full time and don't have the luxury of just staying home or being able to rearrange their shifts.

I know teachers should be paid more but it's a pain when so soon in the year they are stopping work.

Junior School Council

Leah was very excited when she came home from school yesterday and announced she had been chosen for one of the four, junior school council positions.

Leah is a composite 5/6 class this year (there are two 5/6 classes and one year 5 class).

The school voted in three year 5's and one year 6 for the chosen roles. This will mean Leah gets to announce special awards, student of the week etc at school assembly.

Well done Leah.

It's That Time Again

Kady and Leah headed back to school this morning. Both were keen to go back. Kady is starting year 8 and Leah is in year 5. Where have the years gone. Seems like only yesterday Kady started school. Kady is in a different class this year with none of her old school mates. She isn't too happy about this but her coordinator wanted her to change. Hopefully she is happy in the class.

We have had a great summer holiday. Kady was happy this morning until I told her she wasn't getting on the school bus with her doc Martins, studded wristbands and chains. She relented under protest and put her new school shoes on and removed most of her jewellry. Her hippo Bert, is wearing them whilst she is at school. Leah is so excited about her new teacher this year. I will miss the relaxed routine and the sleep ins. It is so quiet here this morning.

Yesterday my family room was tidy until the girls decided they didn't want any 'baby' stuff in their bedrooms anymore. All their porcelain dolls and trinkets are now all over my family room floor.

Kady removed all her ornaments and trinkets from her book shelf and her Dr Sueus books. Leah removed all the golden books and Wonder books. These books pictured above where mine as a child. We have added to them over the years. They were favourites for many years. I will pack them away in some plastic tubs and keep them for when they have children.

Man I can't believe I typed that.

A Few More Things

have been ticked off the back to school list.

Last week Kady's text books arrived. Last year and this year we had them delivered for a small fee as it's a lot easier than lining up for hours at the school to collect them. They still need to be covered in contact. A job I hate.

A few weeks ago we picked up most of Leah's school uniform at Highpoint. Kady only really needed a new shirt (due to a lovely kid putting black paint on hers in art) and some navy pants. We picked up the shirt from the new uniform supplier for her school (a bit cheaper than the previous seller). Now we just have to buy the pants.

Today we shopped for school shoes. I like them to wear good well fitted leather school shoes as their feet spend many hours in them. Two pairs of school shoes and one pair of runners for Leah and I am $150 poorer. Not too bad as the school shoes were only $59.95 each and because we bought two pairs of school shoes we got the runners for half price. My bargain for the day lol.

We also finished up getting the rest of Leah's stationary.

I ended up having to take my printer in to Mt Helen, to get fixed as Neil's job got cancelled that took him near our place. Gave me the push to get some more school stuff out of the way anyway.

Kady's Graduation

Tonight we had Kady's primary school graduation. All the girls looked stunning. Kady looked beautiful in her new dress and shoes (the dress is all finely pleated). I took a few photos in the back garden before we headed off tonight. The photos have a bit of an orange glow to them due to all the smoke that is covering the sun from the bushfires at the moment. Kady had a ball. It was an emotional night for her and for me.

The teachers put on a fantastic slide show to Time Of Your Life by Green Day(have added it to my sidebar). Just listening to the song made me teary as the pictures clicked over. All 17, year six students made a speech. Kady's was very funny. She mentioned, out of eight years of primary school she was taught for five of those by a husband and wife (two different schools) and then to top it off one of her best friends in the early years was their daughter so she made a comment about being stuck with the family throughout her primary school years. The teacher found it funny thank goodness.

I took a few pics at the graduation of the class posing together. Hard to get a good shot of 17 heads plus someones little sister snuck in there. I didn't bother trying to get one of Kady doing her speech as where we were seated was a shocking photo vantage point.

Kids are now officially on Summer holidays. I think we are in for a really hot dry one. Fingers crossed we have no bushfires.

And a few photos of Miss Leah tonight so she doesn't feel left out.