White pages

It's that time of the year again.

Lycra

Becky and Trav had a bike clothes clean out and passed on a heap of lycra to Peet - there was a lot of laughing and teasing going on - until Peet tried on one set and declared them the most comfortable thing he has ever worn. So Roger and Jesse gave it a go and at last Louisa tried a set. The consensus is that Peet is right.

Peet wore a set riding the next day and now says 'don't knock it till you've tried it.'

Fathers Day

We rarely do 'big' presents - our theory is that birthdays and so on are celebrations of the person not a nest feathering exercise. Once in a while though we make an exception - and it's heaps of fun because no-one expects it. So Roger had no clue that we were giving him a swag for Father's Day.

Jesse bought herself a swag too - and set it up on the verandah.

There was also a book, a Perry the Platypus made by Louisa and an episode of Fineas and Ferb (?) from Max. And 7 hour slow cooked lamb for dinner.

Kelvin Grove Spring Concert

Kelvin Grove concerts are always a treat. This time Louisa sat right in front of us - her group performed Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Iron Horse Express.

Peet was far away and so we have no photo - his group performed two pieces - Fanfare for the Fair Plant and Celtic Bridge. Simone is in the same group as Peet and Monica's group opened the night with two beautiful pieces.

Lovely night.

Pine Art Show

Two great things happen when Pine holds an art show - the Pine kids and teachers and some parents spend weeks producing all sorts of amazing art, and lots of old friends turn up for the show.

And as a bonus Mathilda and Patrick brought Toby. Mack was there too - they were highlights.

Jesse works as a teachers aid on Thursdays - which is the main art day. So there was Jesse art work on display too. She loves those little kids.

My favourite piece is a work in progress - lots of kids have already contributed but families are invited to make a junk creature too - eventually it will hang in the library.

Max also had three line drawings in the show - but we have no photographs. Eventually I will scan them.

School and Louisa

So just when we thought everything was getting better Louisa came home from school in tears. The HPE (Health and Physical Education) teacher yelled at her. At Louisa! Good grief.

I phoned Amanda, the year 8 co-ordinator, and said Louisa wouldn't be going to that class anymore - I know that sounds like I over reacted - but this teacher has already had one swearing episode and regularly walks out on the class. (He also lost three of Louisa's workbooks with nary a word of apology.)

Amanda talked to Louisa the next day and arranged for Louisa to work with her during HPE, then she phoned me to give me the run down.

She said that she told Louisa 'we'll come across lots of different situations and we have to learn to deal with them.'

I told her I agreed - and one of the ways we can choose to deal with things is to say no.

Louisa is thrilled - for one of the weeks this term she will be supervised by her very favourite teacher.

Now usually my approach to a child being badly treated is to leave the villain to his or her own devices (or his or her own mother) and teach my own child to deal with the situation. But sometimes, when you are young (or not), you just need to know that there is someone big and strong and powerful in your corner who can take on all comers and make things right for you.

It's true that Roger and I won't always be able to make things right - but this time we could, and with a bit of talking in the next few weeks we hope that Louisa can learn that although the results may not be as immediate as they were in this case she can count on us. And she can count on Heavenly Father to be there - because He loves her as a Father too.

Snuggies

Jesse had snuggies waiting on Louisa and Max's beds when we came home from Sydney - gee willikers that went down well. There were shouts of joy and Jesse now enjoys most favoured sister status. (Those two kids had been begging for snuggies ever since a couple of sick days resulted in daytime tv viewing a few months ago.)