It struck me this week how valuable the downtime of the long school holidays really are. I’ve watched Charli settle into the joy of no routine and having freedom to utilize her time to her own clock. She has grown so much in the past school year and learnt so much, but this downtime gives…
Category: Charlotte
Inspiration and the joy of music
I was sat having a momentary cuppa and a glance over my friends’ Facebook updates when I came across the wonderful Katie of ‘Kate5Kiwis‘ update. She’d posted up a video of her son, Charlie, playing the most beautiful piano piece by Ludovico Einaudi called ‘Primavera’. I was held captivated and had to get my hands…
The school year draws to a close
We had a lovely evening at Charli’s school tonight. It was the farewell to the seniors going onto Intermediate school. We feel very fortunate to have such an incredible school for our children to attend and the atmosphere tonight was so touching. The evening of singing, speeches and dashes of humour was finished off with…
Portable North Pole
The girls have received a very special message from the man in the red-suit… See Charli’s message and Sophie’s message. They were so amazed to receive their messages… asking, ‘How does he know my name? How does he know where we live?’ They were particularly amazed when he said how old they were and what…
Zippity Zoo
They have all the fun at Kindi. This morning was Sophie’s Kindi Christmas Party. They had an awesome spread of party food (we were on sausage roll duty, which meant taking them out the freezer to defrost at 7am and getting them in the oven ready for the party). The entertainment was provided by the…
Eels!
Cripes! So many eels hungry for a feed on Saturday ‘avo in the country. We stopped by the Saddleback Cafe at the Country Club Riding Academy to finalise details for Sophie’s 4th Birthday party celebrations and spent a good half hour baiting sticks and feeding the eels. It was a glorious day of sunshine, after…
Advent castle calendars
The girls spent yesterday afternoon and this morning making advent castle calendars. Daddy-O got in on the act this morning and helped Charli out with her ‘haunted’ castle – eek! Sophie has rainbow stickers hidden under the doors and windows of her castle, which I enjoyed helping her with. We’re really getting in the spirit…
Cards for their teachers
The girls transformed the dinning table into their craft base last night. Glitter and sparkles still remain, as though we’ve had a visitation from the fairies. The reason? Christmas cards for their teachers. Charli has done cards for the teacher aides, the headmaster and the school secretary. She’s really hoping to get through Wednesday’s audition…
Meeting Father Christmas
‘Ho, ho, ho!’ The girls were thrilled to meet Father Christmas at Kirkcaldie and Stains recently. He was really authentic. Charli had a massive beam on her face for ages afterwards. She was really overwhelmed and her big eyes were glazed over with wonder. Sophie was also in total awe. Sooooo cute! And what did…
Daddy and Daughter face-painting moment
Sophie is at her quietest and calmest when she’s having her face painted. It’s quite rare for our little chatter box to stop still for a moment and, in the past, face painting has come in handy when we’ve had to wait a while for something like the car to finish having it’s W.O.F. She…
Let the countdown begin!
After a blast of summery sunshine on Sunday the clouds have rolled in with perfect timing for the Christmas countdown to commence. The heavy rain clouds filling the sky make a befitting backdrop for twinkling lights. It’s normally rare to see their sparkle much before 9pm at this time of year; but the downpour has…
A positive week thus far :)
On Monday, I got my mail off to the UK for the economy Christmas deadline. I’d pre-organised a deluxe pedicure for after the mailing (an hour of standing on my feet certainly was deserving of some tender loving care). I’ve never had a pedicure before and it was only because someone had kindly given me…
Shades of Summer
Summer is really forging its way through in short, sharp bursts. This past week we’ve snapped every sun-filled opportunity to delight in our favourite pastimes that good weather allows for. After school last Monday I took the girls down the waterfront for a big ride on their bicycles and some time to view the world…
Charli’s School Athletics 2009
This is the first time Charli has participated in school athletics and it’s all a little different to how I remember it in my school days. For starters there’s high-jump and long-jump, which I didn’t even hear of till I was around ten year’s old and in senior school in the UK. They start them…