Story and Craft fun

Here's our gorgeous little library!  It's small but what it lacks in size it makes up for in personality.  It has a fairly good range of books and Diana buys whatever we want!  I do admit to restricting the number of books we borrow each week because we are going to be here for 3 years....    

 Natalie and I go every Thursday for storytime where Diana the Librarian always provides a fabulous craft.  Here's what we made last week - a beautiful bird.  The library is situated on the main road so we do the mail, newsagents, and hardware store too, if we need anything.  There's also a general store where you can pay exorbatant prices for butter, bread and other groceries.  I don't like going there for the principal but I'm also torn between providing jobs, and keeping the store open, because it is handy.  I've needed it a few times when I failed with my shopping list in Emerald....

The Full Story - Another fall, another scar...

Hayden is wild.  Much as I've tried to tame him, I have as yet been rather unsuccessful.  He's full of energy and not a hint of fear of injury is present in his body.  Generally, he is like a cat and lands on his feet, hardly ever hurting himself more than a few scratches.  He's also a bit of a melodramatic child and at times a small graze brings full hysterics.  So when I heard some screaming and saw Hayden riding his bike slowly back from the other end of our street with a fair bit of drama, I wasn't particularly worried.  Looked like fairly normal behaviour for a fight with Lachlan or a small fall.  It wasn't until he got across the road closer to me that I saw all the blood!  

The story goes that he was going "really really fast - about 40km/hr and I got the wobbles and my wheel slipped off the path and I fell onto the grass", in Hayden's own words....  

"Where's your helmet?" I asked

"I couldn't find it", said Hayden.

Hayden had a fairly deep cut above his top lip and his mouth was bleeding from the inside and there were several scrapes on his forehead, nose and cheeks.  He looked a mess.  But nothing too serious.  No protruding bones or large cuts anywhere else.  

Elliot decided it was Ambulance worthy.  Which it wasn't.  But when you live in a town with the closest Dr 35mins away and a friend who is the Ambo, whom you know is not particularly busy, I guess you think it's ok.  I was mortified that he was ringing 000 for a bit of a grazed face....  Nevertheless, lovely Kerri arrived and gave Hayden a good going over and some advice about his injuries.  Here's Hayden being treated by Kerri.

She gave him the full treatment.  (Which I guess she was obliged to do, attending a 000 call...)  Kerri and her husband, share a full-time Ambulance officer job here in Capella.  They came here for a 3-year contract and that was 5 years ago!  They are really really cool people and super friendly.  She was so kind and Hayden really loved the attention and was immediately calm for her!  We decided against going to the Emerald hospital.  He probably would have had 1-2 stitches in the cut above his lip but we're confident it will heal pretty well on its own.  And everyone needs one scar story, right?  Though something tells me this is not going to his last....

He was very brave considering and was in a fair bit of pain.  His lip was swollen for about 4-5 days and made eating and drinking a little tricky.  But the grazes on his nose and forehead scabbed over quickly and it's all healing really well.  

Mud-slinging In The Outback

Apparently to my kids rain = a mud fight.  

Shortly after we moved in it rained a lot and our front yard flooded.  Of course, the kids were drawn to the mud patch instead.  And this is what ensued....

Unfortunately, I missed the really really muddy shot.  They had a LOT of fun!  

A Glorious Graduation

The day after Elliot's birthday we attended his graduation ceremony.  It was a very proud day for us all.  

For Elliot, it was never about finishing and graduating, he constantly said it was about getting the job that would provide better opportunities for our family.  The day was certainly made sweeter knowing that he had secured that job.  It was a glorious feeling that day!  I was so so proud of Elliot.  He sure worked hard for four long years and we all did it tough.  But it was worth it.
In mid November we were out doing Christmas shopping and were in the surf shop when Elliot received a phone call.  He never answers so when he did I had a brief thought.  When I was still standing talking to the owner discussing the qualities of surfboards 10minutes later and there was no sign of Elliot I had this feeling he got a job offer.  He finally came back looking a little stunned and pale.  He'd just accepted a job at St George! We were thrilled but it was remote, high risk of flooding and no church.  The next evening while at work Elliot got another call and a message left on his voicemail offering him a job in Capella.  So an agonising weekend of research of waiting ensued.  We decided that while St George was a point higher, Capella had a branch 35mins away and was a better opportunity.  Elliot called the principal first thing on Monday morning and accepted.  It was lucky he did so so early because as it panned out, he shouldn't have been able to receive 2 offers.  But we are incredibly glad that the Capella offer came through and that we could get out of the other, even if we did feel a little bad!
Looking back, those uni years went in the blink of an eye!

Checking The Mail Is A Big Event

So here in the country there is no postie.  Instead, we are now the owners of a PO Box and go to the post office to get our mail.  

Here's the Capella Post Office.  It's such a gorgeous little building.  It's the best looking building in town too.  And Eileen, the post office owner is just the nicest lady.  She remembered my name the first time and has made me so welcome.  She's always up for a chat and a wealth of information about the local area.  

Usually Natalie and I check the mail on one of our daily walks - from school, or to the library or the pool. I don't go everyday.  It's a bit of a letdown when there's nothing there so we generally just go every few days.  And if there's a parcel (from all our recent internet shopping it's a bonus!) This was the boys' first time at the post office and they thought it was just wonderful!

Back to School

The kids were excited to be heading back to school.  On Sunday afternoon, Natalie dressed up in Hayden's school clothes and got herself all ready for school.  She knows just what is needed!

Monday night we had a back to school dinner with a couple of special treats - soft drink with dinner and pavlova cups for dessert.

Tuesday morning the boys woke even earlier than usual and were dressed for school before 6am!  They were so excited!!  Let's hope that enthusiasm and excitement for school continues, though we could do without the sub 5am wake-up...

 Hayden is in a grade 1 class with the loveliest teacher.  Miss Sutton is just delightful - imagine your ideal early years teacher and she is it!  She's just young and this is her second year at Capella.  They do activities with the Prep/1 class and there is an equally lovely teacher in there (whom, incidentally we kicked out of this house:( But she is just an older version of Miss Sutton).  I am very excited for Hayden to have such a great teacher.

Lachlan is in Grade 3 with Miss Kemp.  She is another young teacher who came to Capella a year ago too.  She is so softly spoken and quiet and seems really nice.  Lachlan was really pleased with her and reported at the end of the day, "she doesn't yell at all!" 

Both boys had an excellent first day.  Miss Sutton was pleased to report that Hayden had earned 2 stickers and had mingled well.  Lachlan played games with the Chappy and some other kids at lunchtime but couldn't remember anybody's name.  

Some different things at Capella State School:

• They have "Brain Break" at about 10am where they take a quick break from lessons to eat a small piece of fruit / vegetable in the classroom and go to the toilet.  Then it's back to lessons.They play first and then eat at both lunch breaks.  The boys seemed to enjoy this.

• There is no playing before or after school.  Anyone at school before 8.30am sits very orderly under the covered area.  When the bell goes at 8.30am everyone puts their bags in racks and sits in lines outside their respective classroom.  There is a rule of no playing on the playgrounds both before and after school.  We used to stay on the playground till about 3.45 at Marshall Rd State School...

It was Elliot's first day at school too! Here he is coming home from his day.  It seemed to go well after he managed to sort out a technical glitch of his computer not working.  He is a power point king so this was kind of vital.  Well done Elliot!  

Moving on....

2 weeks ago (can't believe it's that long ago) we said goodbye to our Brisbane life!  I've lived in Brisbane for 29 years, with 12 of those in the Coorparoo / Mt Gravatt area.  Moving to "the Bush" is going to be a big change, but we are super excited for our adventures ahead.

Lachlan's class in Holland Park ward.  There's a couple missing here.

Natalie's Sunbeams class in Holland Park ward.  Hayden was being uncooperative so there's no photo of his class :(

The kids went to Nanna and Pop's while we watched the packers box up our house.  Actually, I got to do a few bits of packing to feel useful.  Then I started the cleaning...

Here's some of the boxes awaiting the removalists the next day.  A funny note: on our estimation of boxes we had previously said there would be about 10 boxes from the kitchen.  There was in fact 22 boxes just from the kitchen!  

It got a little hairy for a while, but these masterful packers managed to squeeze it all in. 

Goodbye Blaine St.  We've lived in this house for 6.5 years and it has been a great house for us.  There are lots of great memories in this house.  

• We brought our second child home to this house
• Elliot walked to uni  1km from here every day
• Lachlan started kindy at Mt Gravatt
• We brought home a little sister here
• Lachlan started Prep at Marshall Rd State School
• Grandpa injured his shoulder requiring surgery after a fall on our path
• Lachlan and Hayden both learned to ride bikes in the top of the street outside our house
• Hayden started kindy at Hollaand Park kindy
• Hayden started Prep at Marshall Rd State School
• We've all had 6 birthdays (bar Natalie) at this house and 7 Christmases celebrated here
• There's been numerous milestones achieved here.  As I looked around the house I could remember places where funny things had happened - Hayden trying to bungee jump off our porch, Lachlan driving his little "big red" wiggles car around the courtyard and learning to talk in his cute little voice, Natalie lying on her blanket in the loungeroom with her brothers fawning all over her - memories in every room.  It's the end of an era - a new beginning and a new career!

Finally the big day arrived!  The kids were very excited to be going to their new home.  

Natalie enjoyed her first flight.  She went to the toilet 3 times, ate lots of lollies and only whinged a little.

The boys sat in front of us and were well entertained with their electronics.  Lachlan was a little worried but soon felt happier after take-off.

They were extremely happy to see their Daddy at Emerald airport and deliriously happy to see their new house.  An update on that coming soon.  We were not so happy about the oppressive heat that met us.  Ugh!