Halfway through 2008

OK, so this week we've had very pleasant parent-teacher interviews for Zachary and Hannah, who are both doing well, flying through their reading levels and picking up all the things they should be. Zach is reading the Deltora series, a fantasy series for 8-12 year olds, and Hannah is reading C.S. Lewis' 'Prince Caspian' with me. Hannah's first front tooth is finally through, so there will be an end to her gappy smile soon. She won her soccer game this week, Zach lost his, and Zach wrote a song for the recorder this week.
Katarina and Janine have had school exams this week, and they are looking much better with their new lenses in their glasses.
Chris had to help with a funeral this week, and there was an extra service on Sunday as we celebrated the appointment of the first ever regional 'Kidsfriendly' coach, Cheryl. So we've spent most of today in Mosgiel!
Coming up this week - Connect in Christchurch, a youth leaders conference, and the kids will spend the weekend in Oamaru. It's the last week of term.

Quizzical looks in June

Chris, Katarina and Janine were part of a Friday night sports night at the Edgar centre which had 18 teams instead of 10, lots of happy kids and somewhat stressed organisers, but at the end of the day, all good! The regional work in Dunedin is starting to pick up noticeably, and the communication between leaders continues t0 improve.

We have parent-teacher interviews tomorrow, which should be fun, the girls have their new glasses and say they are seeing much better, although they still can't see unwashed dishes and messy bedrooms. Ah well...

We are just waiting for the church to decide whether they employ Chris for another 6 months - should know by next week.

Janine is a teenager

Janine wanted some friends over, which turned into a sleep over for the Mosgiel friends, so two movies, pizza, baked alaska and lots of necklaces later, we have one very happy daughter. It has been unseasonably warm the last few days, which makes life pleasant. Zach won his soccer, Hannah was playing in Mosgiel and lost. It was busy this weekend - Katarina had netball games Saturday and Sunday, to make up for no games on Queen's Birthday weekend, and I was on Sunday School today, plus a congregational meeting (they are deciding whether to offer Chris 6 more months over the next few weeks). Friday night was the soccer fund raising quizz night.
OK, bizarre note of the week - if you get the Listener, our car is in it (we sold it to Rosie Fyfe for the cost of some repairs that needed doing!). We laughed.
Hannah was unwell this week on Thursday - she spent the afternoon asleep in the school sick bay. I felt bad, but, as the school said, there was no point waking her and she was no trouble. So I thought I ought to be extra careful and keep her home on Friday, but she was in tears because she really wanted to go to school. So - what would you do? Of course we sent her! And she was fine.
We've had both girls at the optometrist this week, they've both changed their prescription, but yay for the government subsidy!

June, the first week

I'm sorry about the lack of news last week, but Chris and I were in Auckland. We spent three days at Vaughn Park, an Anglican retreat centre on the North Shore where we were part of a Churches' Youth Ministry Association conference. The rest of the week was spent in meetings, as part of my new role as the studentsoul (National) facilitator. Mum and Dad came down from Oamaru to look after the children for us, and they seem to have had a lovely time. Katarina organised herself a sleep-over so she could go to the youth service over in Mosgiel.

On Sunday, the recorder ensemble that Zach and I play in had our first concert, at the George Street Normal School hall. Helen Clark is due to open this new facility on Tuesday, but we preempted her by a couple of days. We sounded great, and while the rest of the concert bored him, Zach seemed to enjoy the experience of performing.

We've had a decent wintry blast over the weekend (no soccer) but back to warmer winds soon after, so the snow didn't stay long on, although getting off the hill on Sunday morning was a little tricky, and we were quite late to church. It is still very windy today, so it was an unusually slow trip off the hill this morning. You'd think I would be blown back up this afternoon, but we shall see.