Ginger Ninja in concert

I missed the Ginger Ninja's first flute recital today because Dh was away interstate, and poor Ginger Rose was too unwell with a cold to come along. I thought it was very brave of the Ginger Ninja to go along and play without his own fan club in front of 10 other families! And I'm very grateful to the parent who took some photos for me!

His teacher was very pleased with him, and I think he'll be much less stressed about playing in the Christmas concert.

Homeschooling has been great for his flute practice, so he was better prepared than he might have been previously. 

Disco queen

We arrived at Briar Rose's school disco a little early - it was still daylight, but that didn't seem to stop them having fun in the school chapel!

This is the second weekend in a row that dh has been away interstate and missing a school disco. And Ginger Rose has a nasty cold and high temperature, probably due to my partying her too hard last weekend - so I think I'll be a little less social this weekend.

Of course, we're already committed to an extra couple of boys sleeping over tomorrow night, so with half a dozen children in the house, I don't think I'll have a problem keeping my social life tame!

I think we'll BBQ. For any doubters, I proffer as evidence of global warming the latest school newsletter which allows children to wear summer uniform for the last two weeks of term. As opposed to the previous system of having a choice of summer or winter uniform for the first two weeks of the following term - so we're changing a whole four weeks early! 

The new sport

Even Briar Rose has decided to join in with the indoor rock climbing fad - and she's pretty good at it! Not to mention thrilled that while the rest of her group, the Rock Rats, have to wait to be belayed by one of the two instructors, she has a big brother on hand to give her extra climbs in between!
 

Grandad's visit

It's been a while since I took a photo of Grandad - he's here regularly, so I'm afraid we might sometimes take him for granted!

As you can see, he and Ginger Rose have a great relationship - even if it's a month between visits, she runs laughing with joy as soon as he arrives! 

A Monday afternoon

Ginger Rose and Briar Rose helped me with the grocery shopping, so we rewarded ourselves with afternoon tea at McDonalds. Yum!

While we were out shopping, the Ginger Ninja and Possum were enjoying themselves at the local rock climbing centre. We recently signed them both up as members of the rock squad - I think they're enjoying it.

Briar Rose was so impressed that she's joining the junior rock squad tomorrow. Thanks to all the basketball finals on the weekend, we have now have time for activities other than basketball training and matches! 

Girls' night out

Briar Rose and I enjoyed her first evening trip to the theatre for a spot of "Swan Lake on Ice". We were very rushed getting there, and my expectations sank when Briar Rose said "Katie fell asleep in the middle of Swan Lake, but she's a real earlybird".

It was a good but not great performance - we had third row seats to the side and were almost able to catch the chipped up ice, but the sound wasn't great - it was my first time at a "ballet" without live music, which I hadn't anticipated.

Anyway, at the end of the performance, Briar Rose's initial comment was "I don't know how Katie could've fallen asleep during that!". I was thrilled that she had enjoyed it so much - until she added "It was far too loud for sleeping in".

Fortunately, she later added that she was looking forward to telling Katie about all the good things she'd missed, so the evening wasn't a total non-event! 

Gratuitous toddler and baby photo

The title says it all :).

Our friends have six ragdoll kittens - that huge monster being strenuously cuddled there is only about 7 weeks old! And cute as a button. The toddler, too!

And perhaps I should just sneak in the comment that this week we brought the Ginger Ninja home from school. We'll be homeschooling him until he learns the skills to learn in a less supervised environment (so, perhaps when he's 21...).

We have had some encouraging words from dh's side of the family, but my family are rather discouraging. About what we expected from them!

There were three in the bed...

I love the way Possum is so good at reading to the girls! Ginger Rose is so keen to sleep in a big bed - and very keen to do anything that her big sister does! 

Market Day

Briar Rose became a butterfly when we visited the markets this morning. Local farmers have been struggling with the drought, so it was particularly cruel to have the markets closed because of raging winds and rain. 

New hens

Today my wonderful dh spent Fathers' Day building an extended yard for the hens. I'm thinking we'll be getting many more eggs in gratitude, because it's 100% better than the old run!

To celebrate, we bought a couple of Eiser Brown pullets, seen eating from Possum's hand. 

My baby's growing up!

Guess who turned two this month? Not really a Bubs anymore . And she can SingStar just like the rest of them!
My little gorgeous Grace :).

It's the first day of Spring, and the weather has been stunning. I went for a walk with some friends and got a little more exercise than I planned after walking down the wrong mountain path - then needing to walk back up again!

But after spending the morning with two newborns I'm definitely clucky again :).