I only had 18 children at school on both Thursday and Friday and it was like a dream - it reminded me of when I only had 20 children in my class at RJ Lee - it's so great with numbers like that - it's like having one whole group of children less in your class. It was much easier to teach to that many children and less noise - I wish it could be like that all the time. On Thursday, we had a 'Walk for Daniel' to raise money for the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. Daniel was a young boy (about 13 years old) who was taken from the side of the road where he was waiting for a bus and then killed later on. His parents run the foundation and try to ensure children are taught about safety. Both the local tv station and the local newspaper were out at our school this day and it turns out that I was on tv as the Preps were first in the line for walking (there were about four students in front of us carrying a banner). I didn't see the news that evening, but my friends did and told me later that they had seen me leading the children around the school oval. On Friday, we had a special 'parade' (assembly) at school - it was 'International Teachers' Day' and the administration wanted to acknowledge us in a special way - they had us come up in front of everyone in the school to receive a special appreciation certificate and a pen (which has my name on it). It was nice to be appreciated and to receive such a nice memento.
We had a busy social life this week. On Wednesday, we had the Gilbert's over. They are a south african couple with five children (two born in South Africa and three born in Wales) who moved to HB within the past year (they are the couple whose house/yard was damaged in the storm and Dad and the SES were over there helping to clean up a couple of weeks ago). Brother Gilbert wanted his wife to learn how to input names into the church genealogy internet site, so we invited them to dinner beforehand to get to know them a little better. On Saturday, we had our friends Robyn and Geoff over for dinner - we had invited our friends, Trudy and Peter over as well, but Trudy got really sick and couldn't come. Robyn and Geoff are our closest friends here in HB and we always have a good time when we get together. We taught them how to play cribbage and they caught on really quickly. On Saturday, our friends, Rob and Rosalea came into town from their trip up north. They were staying with Robyn and Geoff and so we went over there for dinner to say our good-byes to Rob and Rosalea as they are heading back to Western Australia.
On Saturday morning, we got to Skype with our boys again - they are so cute! :-) They were on their way to bed so the talk was short, but they did get to tell us the talks they gave for their Primary Sacrament meeting presentation. Both Colin and Caleb memorized their talks and it was so neat to be able to hear them say them to us. On Sunday, we Skyped with Grandma Martin and Jackie (with Scott in the background). Grandma is doing okay - she's very happy that Jackie is still staying with her.
On Sunday, our ward had the Primary Sacrament meeting presentation. Things went very well, I thought, and I was told the same by people in the congregation. I spoke for about a minute at the beginning of the program to let those in the congregation know what the children have been learning about this year in Primary. Then our 11 Primary children read their parts and sang their songs really well. Some of the children spoke really quietly so it was a bit hard to hear them - and others spoke really loudly - and the singing, although quiet, was really sweet.
We have been exercising just about every day for the past three weeks. We either go for an hour long walk around the neighbourhood or for a 6km bike ride along the road near our house. We feel really good about getting so much exercise in and we feel better physically for it, as well. I was thinking that I would go swimming once a week to do lengths, but that hasn't happened as yet. :-) We have also been eating very healthily and feeling better for that, too. I have lost over 2kg in our 'summer slimmers' competition at school so far - I'm still not winning percentage-wise, but there's still time for that. :-)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
It's been a pretty good week and a very busy week. School has been pretty much the same this week although I did have Monday off - well, sort of - it was a 'pupil free day' which means that I had to go to work, but there were no kids there (if only that could happen more often ). It was supposed to be an interview day and I had three scheduled and hoped that two more would happen (I had sent home two letters asking them to come in for an interview on that day). As it turns out, I had one interview - sheesh. Anyway, I just wanted to let the parents know that their children were struggling a bit and tell them what they could do to help their child so that they would be able to learn what they needed to, to get ready for grade one.
Dad spent Monday working outside on the lawn and other outside stuff. Tuesday, he spent the afternoon helping our friends from church to move to a temporary home (the ones who I told you about last week whose rented house/property was wrecked by that storm last week). Thursday was SES - they spent the time there counting supplies as the 'boss' is going to meet soon with the powers-that-be on the council to report on the readiness of the SES for activation during the storm season which will be upon HB in December/January.
We had a really lovely day yesterday - we decided to celebrate our anniversary then. We started off by having a lovely chat with Colin, Caleb, Benjamin and James (Terri-Ann was at a church women's conference). We love talking with 'our boys' and they are 'true' boys. :-) We talked with them for a few minutes and then they wanted to get moving again. While we talked to James and Benjamin, Colin and Caleb ran back and forth behind them laughing and having a great time. :-)
After that, Dad made our usual Saturday breakfast: poached eggs, toast, baked beans, tomatoes, and for a little treat, a little piece of bacon. We then got in the car to enjoy the beautiful weather of the day. We were driving down to the esplanade (where the beach is) when we passed the botanical gardens and decided to back up and go for a walk in there. It was a lovely place to walk with lots of trees and paths and a big pond in the middle with ducks swimming on it. We also happened upon a wedding and watched from afar as a bagpiper piped in the bride. We also 'happened' upon a teacher from the school I was at last year and found out that there's a possibility of a one-day-a-week job going in grade two next year - I will go into the school this week and talk with the vice principal about it.
After our walk through the gardens, we drove down to the esplanade and walked along Urangan Pier which is 800 metres long. There were quite a few people fishing off the pier and we actually saw one guy holding a fish which had to be about two feet long. After our walk on the pier, we went to a lovely cafe by the water (the harbour) and sat at a table overlooking the harbour and all the boats - it was a really nice place to sit. The food was just okay this time - I went there with my friend once and had a really yummy meal. Dad had a club sandwich with fries and I had a steak sandwich with wedges. The wedges were very yummy, but the rest of the food was pretty ordinary, so we were a bit disappointed. We went to the Cheesecake Shop after our meal to buy ourselves a pavlova (thanks Nana! :-) There weren't any small ones left, so we HAD to make do with a large one. :-) We had a piece when we got home yesterday and then another piece at night and have had one piece today after lunch and will have the other piece tonight before bed - what a yummy way to end our relaxing day.
Dad spent Monday working outside on the lawn and other outside stuff. Tuesday, he spent the afternoon helping our friends from church to move to a temporary home (the ones who I told you about last week whose rented house/property was wrecked by that storm last week). Thursday was SES - they spent the time there counting supplies as the 'boss' is going to meet soon with the powers-that-be on the council to report on the readiness of the SES for activation during the storm season which will be upon HB in December/January.
We had a really lovely day yesterday - we decided to celebrate our anniversary then. We started off by having a lovely chat with Colin, Caleb, Benjamin and James (Terri-Ann was at a church women's conference). We love talking with 'our boys' and they are 'true' boys. :-) We talked with them for a few minutes and then they wanted to get moving again. While we talked to James and Benjamin, Colin and Caleb ran back and forth behind them laughing and having a great time. :-)
After that, Dad made our usual Saturday breakfast: poached eggs, toast, baked beans, tomatoes, and for a little treat, a little piece of bacon. We then got in the car to enjoy the beautiful weather of the day. We were driving down to the esplanade (where the beach is) when we passed the botanical gardens and decided to back up and go for a walk in there. It was a lovely place to walk with lots of trees and paths and a big pond in the middle with ducks swimming on it. We also happened upon a wedding and watched from afar as a bagpiper piped in the bride. We also 'happened' upon a teacher from the school I was at last year and found out that there's a possibility of a one-day-a-week job going in grade two next year - I will go into the school this week and talk with the vice principal about it.
After our walk through the gardens, we drove down to the esplanade and walked along Urangan Pier which is 800 metres long. There were quite a few people fishing off the pier and we actually saw one guy holding a fish which had to be about two feet long. After our walk on the pier, we went to a lovely cafe by the water (the harbour) and sat at a table overlooking the harbour and all the boats - it was a really nice place to sit. The food was just okay this time - I went there with my friend once and had a really yummy meal. Dad had a club sandwich with fries and I had a steak sandwich with wedges. The wedges were very yummy, but the rest of the food was pretty ordinary, so we were a bit disappointed. We went to the Cheesecake Shop after our meal to buy ourselves a pavlova (thanks Nana! :-) There weren't any small ones left, so we HAD to make do with a large one. :-) We had a piece when we got home yesterday and then another piece at night and have had one piece today after lunch and will have the other piece tonight before bed - what a yummy way to end our relaxing day.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
We've had a busy and lazy week. :-) School was pretty much the same as it's been since we got back from holidays. The kids seem to have settled down a bit - except for Fridays - they go swimming on Fridays, so after the lessons, they have a difficult time settling down. We have a PD Day (they call it a 'pupil free day' here) tomorrow which will be nice. Not so much fun to have to do some kind of workshop in the morning, but we do get from 1pm onwards to do interviews (I have three booked already and hope two more will show up) and then we get to work on whatever we want. That means I can do preparing for the coming week which has meant that I didn't have to do any school work yesterday which was a real treat.
On Tuesday, while Dad was at his Priesthood Executive Committe, I was able to go and visit teach with my friend, Diana (the Bishop's wife). I have always loved doing visiting teaching - I love being able to get to know the sisters on a more personal level - being able to have a good yak as well. :-) Diana is really good at yakking (like me) so we had a lovely time. I usually stay between 45 minutes and an hour when I go visiting teaching, but Diana and I were having such a great time together that I called Dad and asked him to get a ride from the Bishop to their place so that Diana and I could have more time together - we ended up visiting for almost 1 1/2 hours. :-)
Yesterday, Dad and I had the loveliest of days. We spent the whole day relaxing and enjoying the outdoors. We started off watching a movie (Eat, Pray, Love) - a good one, but not as good as the book - I have got to stop watching a movie made from a book if I have read the book - I have never seen a movie which is as good as the book. We had a great chat with Krystal over Skype (sad that her boys were sleeping, but Krystal has her voice/guitar lessons on Friday night, so we have to wait until she gets back from them to Skype). Dad and I then took our books outside and lay down on our chaise lounges in the beautiful warm sun. We both read for a while and then had a nap - I love these kind of days. We then drove down to the beach and went for a short walk (half an hour) and ended our lazy day by watching tv.
We had an enormous storm last night - out where we were it was just really powerful (and loud) rain, but in other parts of Hervey Bay, it was much worse. When we got to church, we heard that one of our families had it really bad last night - a mini cyclone went through the area of town in which they live. A roof off a school building out their back yard had come off and parts of it landed in their trees and in the yard; many of their trees had fallen, so much so that they were told to stay inside their house until help had arrived to clear things away. Just after that, Dad got a call from SES putting him into activation. Lo and behold, when he got to the SES shed, he was told he was going to be working at our friends' house. :-) There were 29 SES members called out today and 15 of them were working on our friends' property. It was really warm today and the SES uniforms are long sleeved - Dad sweat so much today - they worked for 8 hours on that property and there's still tons of work to be done. What a blessing for people here to be able to call on the SES for assistance - and it's all free. This was Dad's first call-out to assist in an emergency - although he is exhausted from the hard work, he feels good that he was able to help someone in need.
On Tuesday, while Dad was at his Priesthood Executive Committe, I was able to go and visit teach with my friend, Diana (the Bishop's wife). I have always loved doing visiting teaching - I love being able to get to know the sisters on a more personal level - being able to have a good yak as well. :-) Diana is really good at yakking (like me) so we had a lovely time. I usually stay between 45 minutes and an hour when I go visiting teaching, but Diana and I were having such a great time together that I called Dad and asked him to get a ride from the Bishop to their place so that Diana and I could have more time together - we ended up visiting for almost 1 1/2 hours. :-)
Yesterday, Dad and I had the loveliest of days. We spent the whole day relaxing and enjoying the outdoors. We started off watching a movie (Eat, Pray, Love) - a good one, but not as good as the book - I have got to stop watching a movie made from a book if I have read the book - I have never seen a movie which is as good as the book. We had a great chat with Krystal over Skype (sad that her boys were sleeping, but Krystal has her voice/guitar lessons on Friday night, so we have to wait until she gets back from them to Skype). Dad and I then took our books outside and lay down on our chaise lounges in the beautiful warm sun. We both read for a while and then had a nap - I love these kind of days. We then drove down to the beach and went for a short walk (half an hour) and ended our lazy day by watching tv.
We had an enormous storm last night - out where we were it was just really powerful (and loud) rain, but in other parts of Hervey Bay, it was much worse. When we got to church, we heard that one of our families had it really bad last night - a mini cyclone went through the area of town in which they live. A roof off a school building out their back yard had come off and parts of it landed in their trees and in the yard; many of their trees had fallen, so much so that they were told to stay inside their house until help had arrived to clear things away. Just after that, Dad got a call from SES putting him into activation. Lo and behold, when he got to the SES shed, he was told he was going to be working at our friends' house. :-) There were 29 SES members called out today and 15 of them were working on our friends' property. It was really warm today and the SES uniforms are long sleeved - Dad sweat so much today - they worked for 8 hours on that property and there's still tons of work to be done. What a blessing for people here to be able to call on the SES for assistance - and it's all free. This was Dad's first call-out to assist in an emergency - although he is exhausted from the hard work, he feels good that he was able to help someone in need.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Wow, I didn't realize that it had been that long since I had written, so here's the Reader's Digest version of what's been happening in the last week and a half.
I loved being on holidays (except it being lonely at night without Dad here) - no work, no kids, no stress! :-) School started again last Monday and it's actually not been too bad at all. On Monday, they were really well behaved and listened well - however, on Tuesday, they were back at it. :-) One of the teachers said that the kids don't get any better than this - she reckoned that by this time of the year, the kids are 'over school' (meaning that they had had enough of it for the year).
Dad got home on Thursday night after one false start. He almost got out on the first night he tried, but then at the last minute, the reservations agent had to tell Dad 'sorry, but no go'. Fortunately, he was able to get on the plane the next night (got the last seat on the plane in the back). He was able to get on both flights within Australia and I met him at the airport (he wasn't sure if I would feel comfortable driving out there, but it was an easy drive) and he was very happy to see me and to be home.
We went out for dinner on Friday night to celebrate Dad's birthday. He had a lovely big steak and three jumbo shrimp and I had chicken parmigiana. We went to our favourite restaurant/pub, Hoolihan's, and the food was as delicious as always. If it's your birthday, they will give you a free meal (entree) up to $25. so Dad's meal only cost us $10. We had bought a pavlova for dessert which we had some of when we got home. We also rented two movies (we would recommend one of them called 'Unknown') and enjoyed watching them together. Dad said it was a really nice way to spend his birthday.
We spent yesterday relaxing all morning and doing school stuff all afternoon. We watched another movie last night. Jet lag started to affect Dad last night and so he went off to bed early.
It was General Conference today and we were able to see two sessions. Because of the time difference between here and Utah, they tape the Conference sessions here and we view them the next weekend. I love our prophet - he has such a great sense of humour and a very strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. I love listening to him talk and am looking forward to getting the Ensign magazine so that I can read his talk. One thing I noticed today was that, when we read the talks in the Ensign, we can't read the emotions of the person giving the talk. Two brethren got really emotional when giving their talks today and I am glad that I could actually see them give their talks and experience their emotions, so that when I read their talks, I will be reminded of these emotions. The power of the Spirit was amazing today! :-)
I loved being on holidays (except it being lonely at night without Dad here) - no work, no kids, no stress! :-) School started again last Monday and it's actually not been too bad at all. On Monday, they were really well behaved and listened well - however, on Tuesday, they were back at it. :-) One of the teachers said that the kids don't get any better than this - she reckoned that by this time of the year, the kids are 'over school' (meaning that they had had enough of it for the year).
Dad got home on Thursday night after one false start. He almost got out on the first night he tried, but then at the last minute, the reservations agent had to tell Dad 'sorry, but no go'. Fortunately, he was able to get on the plane the next night (got the last seat on the plane in the back). He was able to get on both flights within Australia and I met him at the airport (he wasn't sure if I would feel comfortable driving out there, but it was an easy drive) and he was very happy to see me and to be home.
We went out for dinner on Friday night to celebrate Dad's birthday. He had a lovely big steak and three jumbo shrimp and I had chicken parmigiana. We went to our favourite restaurant/pub, Hoolihan's, and the food was as delicious as always. If it's your birthday, they will give you a free meal (entree) up to $25. so Dad's meal only cost us $10. We had bought a pavlova for dessert which we had some of when we got home. We also rented two movies (we would recommend one of them called 'Unknown') and enjoyed watching them together. Dad said it was a really nice way to spend his birthday.
We spent yesterday relaxing all morning and doing school stuff all afternoon. We watched another movie last night. Jet lag started to affect Dad last night and so he went off to bed early.
It was General Conference today and we were able to see two sessions. Because of the time difference between here and Utah, they tape the Conference sessions here and we view them the next weekend. I love our prophet - he has such a great sense of humour and a very strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. I love listening to him talk and am looking forward to getting the Ensign magazine so that I can read his talk. One thing I noticed today was that, when we read the talks in the Ensign, we can't read the emotions of the person giving the talk. Two brethren got really emotional when giving their talks today and I am glad that I could actually see them give their talks and experience their emotions, so that when I read their talks, I will be reminded of these emotions. The power of the Spirit was amazing today! :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
