Busy

Sometimes I look back on a busy week or two and wonder what on earth has kept us busy. This last month or so we've been frantic - doing what I don't know.

We did get some new chicks - they are living on the verandah with a light for a mother until they grow. Started with 12 and still have 11 - not too bad I reckon. They are Araucanas and they lay blue eggs - I can hardly wait - I have visions of blue boiled eggs in lunch boxes - because we all know that the colour of the shell is the most important part of an egg.

Lee made Max a go-cart. Admittedly this has not kept me busy at all but it sure has kept Max entertained for hours at a time. Action shots will follow - but it seems to work as a breakfast bench too.

There are lambs at the end of our road - so we walked down for a closer look. (No photos of the lambs - just the kids.)

Roger married Caitlin & James (Welham) - beautiful wedding - liberal dosings of love and laughter and beauty.

Seminary Scripture Faire

Traditionally Enoggera Ward Seminary students have a great time at the multi-stake Scripture Faire - they also traditionally come last.

This year they came third! Maybe the t-shirts helped.

In keeping with tradition they still had a great time - Roger said they could easily be found in the crowd because they went everywhere as a big blue pack.

Peet was moved to dance with excitement when he came in to tell me the good news.

Roger reports that the first thing they did when the questions were handed to them was to push their chairs aside and lie on the floor - some things don't change.

Also - Peet is eating in the photo - another thing that doesn't change.

School and Louisa

Everybody knows that the best way to make a child with a cold or flu better is to take them to the doctor - guaranteed the minute you step into the waiting room the child will be healed.

This principle can be applied in other areas too, it turns out.

All year Louisa has been begging for days off school - quite successfully - it turns out she had 36 days off last semester. (12 of them were the Laos trip - but still!)

Finally Roger and I decided that something hadto be done and duly made an appointment with the guidance officer to talk about sending her to Pine again or maybe homeschooling. These were not our first choices for two main reasons - orchestra and friends.

The music program at KGSC is brilliant - the teachers are dedicated and gifted, the kids are nice and the quality of the music is award winning.

And for the first time in her life Louisa has the opportunity to choose friends. This is a big deal - Pine is so small that you pretty much learn to get along with whoever else is there. That's a great skill and one that lots of people never learn. But learning to choose friends from a smorgasbord of friend choices is another skill - and not one to be missed.

So our first choice was keeping her at KGSC - but it was looking dire - we figured the time had come for some serious planning.

That did the trick - the very same week Louisa got better. She started to enjoy school and decided that she would like to stay - she even said she would like to go to the school dance. Since 'would like to' and 'school' have not been in the same sentence for Louisa so far we bought a new shirt and frangipani hair clips to celebrate. (It was a rainbow theme dance and Louisa chose yellow.) A pair of shoes borrowed from Joan and jeans and she was set. Jesse braided her hair and Roger took this picture when she came home after the dance. (I was away for the weekend and didn't want to miss out altogether.)

Apparently the dance was lots of fun but the music was a 'bit dodgy'. The unbearable gorgeousness that is Louisa continues.

We are very happy - and relieved.

Becky's Baby (and Travis's too).

If little girls are made of sugar and spice and all that's nice then Becky's baby is sure to be a girl! The sugar overload at the baby shower alone should take care of that.

It was an exceptionally pretty and elegant shower - hosted by Susie - and attended by family and friends from all over.

Becky is looking like a pregnant woman at last.

Lindsay-Jane was there too - her third lovely boy will arrive within days of Becky's - and still she looks like Angelina Jolie. Can't wait - two new babies in the family.

Birthdays

Peet is 15 - my goal is to get him out of a flanno before he turns 16 - it's a lofty goal. That's a flourless chocolate cake, which followed chicken and broccoli for dinner.

And Jesse is 19 - and wearing the beanie I crocheted because Max and Louisa were sure she would be terribly disappointed if I didn't. That would be a vinegar cake with a white chocolate ganache icing - which followed salmon and salad for dinner.

We can't get enough of either of them.

Magic Money Pants

Peet has 'magic money pants'. Really. Every week he finds somewhere from $2 to $6 in his pants. School pants don't work and church pants are the most reliable. Once Louisa put $2 in the church pants. But the next morning there was $3 in the pocket.

It's a mystery. As far as we can ascertain Louisa is the only person to actually top up the pants on purpose. Lee & Joan swear it isn't them. Roger too - though he is at the top of my list of possible benefactors - he's the only one in this family who could pull it off with a straight face. But he swears it's not him either.

I suggested that it could be because the pants are polyester and they are attracting loose coins in the washing machine - but everyone scoffed. Which was rude given that no-one has come up with a better idea.

I think we will never discover the truth - and the money has slowed down. But so far Peet has made $37.

Now we all want magic money pants - or magic something pants - personally I favour pants that result in a tidy house every time I wear them.

Ekka

For once I was the keenest to get to the Ekka - we are buying new chooks soon and I want to get some blue eggs so the chook pavilion was calling me. Also the cattle and the goats. Luckily nobody wanted rides or show bags (other than some for snacks during the ring events).

Tom was in Toowoomba but everyone else came - it took some doing - Peet was torn between the Ekka and a stake dance that night - eventually the Ekka won - but I had to beg.

I still don't know which chooks lay blue eggs but we had a lovely day.

Seconds after this photo Jared Tibbets (a friend of Roger's who runs the petting farm told Peet the animals weren't to be picked up - lucky everyone had a turn early.)

At the end of the night The Grates were playing (a little bit head banging and a little bit Cindi Lauper) - truth be told this is what actually swung Peet to the Ekka (not my insistent begging). Peet was at the front with friends while Roger and I stood at the back watching him and the others wildly dancing. (This may not be a great photo but all the rest were blurry because the dancing was so enthusiastic.)