Changes

...and the next adventure begins.

The long school holidays are over and life has returned to packed lunches, ballet lessons and homework.

This time though things are a little different. The comfort and familiarity of the walk to the primary school at the top of the hill has been replaced with the bus ride or the lift to the city. 

This is High School territory.

This is...

... jam packed (and crazy heavy) school bags; 

...locker combinations; 

...timetable abbreviations; 

...lunchtime meetings; 

...7am activities;

...new friendships. 

This is a whole new world and a massive adventure.

We are in the steep learning curve. The 5.45am alarm is taking some getting used to (well definitely for me, anyway!)  Sibs however, is able to jump out of bed and become instantly wide awake. 

So far she has managed to remember her hat daily and the violin or the sports kit on the allocated days....and they have all come home again! I consider that a great start.

I am enjoying, no, make that loving watching her enthusiasm and smiley face as she recalls her day. I silently punched the air when she told me that she was enjoying maths. She was nervous about this subject so thank you, thank you lovely maths teacher.

There are so many new things to take on board - even the names of some of the subjects, it's all so grown up!

On the whole the transition has been remarkably positive. 

There have been a few moments though....

There's been the laptop that was 'charging' without being plugged in!

The first time she started at 7am and didn't pack an extra snack to see her through until morning break.

The time the bus was a little late.

The afternoon I found her sitting cross legged on the floor of her bedroom in from of her mirror checking to see how much of her back brace was showing through the material of her blouse.

That one was a little tough....

Sibs is a reasonably confident kid, but I have to remember that however well she has adapted to many things during these last few months, some things are just tough. 

How does she share her back brace with another seventeen new girls in her class? She wants to - she just doesn't quite know how to. 

We're working on it and I have every faith that we'll get there when the time is right.

So I have spent a few mornings this last week or so just sitting watching a little bit of the world from my front deck in the sunshine. I have reminded myself to take things each day at a time. The quiet rhythm of the ripple stitch crochet blanket that I'm working on definitely helps to slow the mind and it seems that Modlen the cat has taken quite a liking to it too.

2015 is marching on but I'm keeping up!

Summer school holidays with my girl

We are part way through the Summer school holidays here.  They started last year...

We're enjoying weeks of no routine and a slightly gentler pace of life.

Just as school broke up Sibs was lucky enough to spend a few days away with friends up the coast. She filled her days with hours at the beach, lots of swimming and ice creams, playing board games and generally having a fun time with great company. She came home with a glow.

Then Christmas and New Year came and went and all of a sudden we are in the countdown to a new school year. We have been shopping for school shoes. It's getting closer....

The first week of the new year was taken up with Sibs attending a Young Blue music camp. It's a five day non-residential camp where the young musicians get together and work on a themed show. This year it was Young Blue in the Jungle.  They started their days with yoga for performers, they worked in small groups on their instrumental techniques, they got to record and learn all sorts of performance and staging technical stuff, they did costume and choreography and it all concluded with a Friday afternoon show.
Young Blue is part of the Deep Blue orchestra set up. Website HERE

My first week of January was no-where near as exciting as I went back to work for a few days!

photo is from the Deep Blue Facebook page.

So last week we decided we needed to get a bit more organised. Out came the calendar, a list was drawn up of all the things we wanted to do and the people we wanted to see and we set off planning.

One of the things on my list was to get a little bit creative and spruce up some old pine stuff that I had kept hold of. I think I'm a little late to the party but I have just 'discovered' the wonder of Annie Sloan chalk paint.  I started by dropping the tin in the garage as I was getting out of the car and nearly had a heart attack - but it's been all good since then!

I've also been catching up with some crochet. This photo is roughly at the half way point of the blanket I'm working on and I'm ploughing through and up to the last third by now. Modlen loves to sit next to, or on me when I crochet but Twmff is slightly more wary!

So what else has been happening?

I had a birthday and Sibs and I spent it shopping.......for a new fridge!  (We did manage to fit in a bit of girly shopping too)

 
It's been very hot, so hot that the cats have been reluctant to venture out. So we've spent time chasing the air con places. The optician was one place and the shopping centres, library, cinema have all been on the list.

I have been craving the cold weather that I see back in the UK. I just love the images of the snow in the countryside that I see on my facebook and instagram feeds. Although when we were talking about this the other day I did confess that I conveniently forget about the dirty slushy ice and the biting wind and the frozen toes!

To escape a bit of the heat and humidity, Sibs and I went up to Noosa and spent the majority of the time in the water. On the odd occasion that she would get out of the pool it was straight to sit under a fan.

Time to get out....

cousin time

This morning we have been to a yoga class and Sibs is now catching up with some ballet friends before a quick turnaround and she's off for a sleepover with a school friend.

We have an appointment with Gary the back brace man tomorrow, then to the school uniform shop to swap some clothes as they no longer fit around the brace...
On Thursday we  have a catch up with a  friend from a musical that Sibs was part of last year, a couple of Australia Day parties over the weekend and then this time next week it will be Sibs's first day at her new High School.

So there goes the Summer holidays.

I'm gearing up for a busy few days before routine kicks in again.

Happy times.