Swimming and the rest

Hannah and Zach have had swimming this week at school, a concentrated burst of 8 lessons. The weather has been mostly fine so the quick turn around for togs and towels isn't an issue. Zach has had his third birthday party in a row this week, lucky chap and managed to fit in cricket on Saturday and a sleepover at Anton's as well.
We have our Japanese student, Erika for three weeks, which is going to be fun and a bit of a challenge for us all. I was thinking this morning in church about how to explain how much of what happened in the service was Kiwi culture, how much was Mosgiel culture, how much was the gospel and how much just was what happened on the day. All of which is difficult to translate even with an electronic dictionary! Makes you think, really doesn't it.
Chris continues to plug away on the office, and is on to the sanding bit. He has got stuck into the work thing, meeting with other youth workers on Friday and putting together a year planner which should hopely eliminate some of those 'but we've already planned something' conversations around regional events.

What day is it again?

We are rapidly sliding into what passes for routine at our place. Chris and the girls went to Faithfest over the weekend which will go down in history as the one where attendees were thoroughly cleansed and then blown dry! Despite the extremely wet and windy weather, the event went well, good numbers and they managed to hand on to all the tents, although Chris was up at all hours tying things down, I gather.
The girls have been challenged to keep on top of their homework with a weekend away. We are also looking forward to hosting a Japanese student for 3 weeks, which will also challenge them to share a room while Erica is with us.
Zachary didn't play cricket on Saturday but he wasn't too sad as he had a birthday party in the afternoon. The kids also had friends over on Sunday, as if they didn't see enough of them at school! We've also tried out Kiwi swim club, which will help the kids improve their swimming hugely. This is our Tuesday night activity for an hour, and while this addition hasn't met with universal approval, I am hoping it will pay off long term.

One week into Term One

I just love routines. Everyone has gone back to school happily enough, helped by a day trip for the Opoho kids on Friday and Janine has a Fun Day on Tuesday. The big girls are cracking into their homework. We've had a bit of a shift around in the sleeping arrangements so that Janine can have her own room upstairs and the two youngest are sharing a room, divided of course, and this seems to be working OK so far. Chris has started back at work and Mosgiel seemed pleased to see us on Sunday - we also had a picnic out at North Taieri.
Zach is back into his normal routine as well, with plenty of phone calls wanting him to come and play. He had a swimming party on Saturday with his friends who are twins, and another party coming up next weekend. We are also back into cricket and he caught and bowled a player this week for the first time - awesome!!! He seems to have had a growth spurt over the summer as those trousers which were OK in December are looking a bit short now! He is a reluctant short wearer which is a pity because he is going up rather than out at the moment.
Hannah is also elongating rapidly at the moment, and her clothes are showing the same dysfuntional set of symptoms. And I am just not going to comment on the height of Katarina and Janine....
The garden has had a bit of a clear out again, with cheap and cheerful bits going in the front, seeds for winter veges planted and the compost bin has been moved. Chris recruited the neighbour's oldest son to help bang the fence back together, although there isn't much you can do about rotton fence posts but replace them. Eventually.

Back in Dunedin

We had such lovely weather while we were away and wouldn't you know it, the weather packed up just as we headed over the motorway into Dunedin. Even today, it is cold and wet. Bleeuck! So we have the fire on and a stew in the slow cooker, not very summery at all.
The big girls go back to school on Tuesday but the other two don't go back until Thursday.
Chris has been offered a 6 month stated supply job at Mosgiel, so as long as Presbytery approves this on Tuesday, we will be OK.
We are all enjoying our own beds again but it is taking a while to get into a routine again.