A quiet life

On Monday night, as we ate dinner at 8.45pm, Andrew's Mum asked me if life was always this hectic for us. Thankfully, I was able to say no. With two working adults, even if one is part-time, and three children, life is pretty full. When you add presentation nights, piano concerts and weekends away at weddings, things will, inevitably, become a little hectic. As I made my two Christmas cakes on Wednesday and Thursday I dreamt about a quiet life where whole days could be spent in preparation for celebrations, no rush, just familiar, comforting ritual. I have loved making these cakes with Granny's recipe. I think it was originally her mother's and it is lovely to think that, one day, my children will make it. Now, the challenge of leaving the cakes alone until Christmas...

Sue and Ron really enjoyed being able to come to the presentation night as they have been to those of their Sydney grandchildren. Toby received his award for great results in mathematics and spelling.
Jossie received hers for being a conscientious learner at all times.

All of year three have been learning the violin this year and while I did take a little video of the performance, and it was really quite good, I'll just show you a photo.

Sue and Ron left on Wednesday - thanks so much for coming and for looking after the kids last weekend!

Last night Jossie had her end-of-year piano concert. There were forty students performing, a couple of them adult staff members at the school, and Jossie played brilliantly. Here is a short video of her playing my favourite piece, Malagueña.

Bethany and I were at the shops on Thursday and Bethany tugged on my shirt so I leant down to hear her whisper "I saw a daddy with a baby in his tummy!" I was very thankful that this was whispered and we had a conversation about how when men have big tummies it is generally full of beer and definitely isn't a baby. Speaking of babies, congratulations to Jessica on the birth of her very sweet little girl!