Happy "Back To School" To You All

Well, despite the Big Wild Wet of the long weekend, and predictions of showers for the remainder of the week, the first day back at school dawned bright and sunny, with barely a cloud in the sky.

No power outages or flood damage in our neck of the woods, so Cheyenne's school was open for business.

Figured we'd make a good impression for the first day, so she wore one of the new style polos. The uniform is in transition, meaning for the next year, the students can wear either the new or the old uniform. As I'd only just bought her two brand new polos (old uniform style) at the beginning of last year, I only bought two of the new style shirts this year.  As you can probably tell, I did not buy a new hat.  I can't see the point in spending money on a nice, crisp-brimmed beauty, when it is only going to be jammed into the school bag during class. Within a week it would look like her current one (although, perhaps less faded, lol).

We had to get a new school bag this year, too.  Her old one only just made it to the end of its second year of use.  Can I just put it out there that I'm unimpressed with the available selection of backpacks at Big W, Kmart, Target, etc.  They are all either too small to put folders in, too humungous for a kid to carry or come in a bundle pack (because EVERYONE needs a new pencil case, ruler, lunchbox, utility case etc that they will probably never use).  Most of the selections this year also seem to come equipped with a laptop compartment and a "wet section".  I'm guessing this is for stashing your togs and towel after swimming lessons... or maybe it's for leaky drink bottles?  Does anyone still sell normal backpacks?

Anyway, Cheyenne likes her teachers - she's in the two teacher (job share) class - and is, for the most part, happy with the kids who are in her class.  She's excited to be learning Japanese for the first time, looking forward to her first school camp later in the year, and, so far, happy to be back at school.  Hopefully she retains this positive outlook.

After 3 days of rain, we actually needed sunnies!

 

2013 Already? Happy New Year!

Well, didn't 2012 flash past rather quickly!   It seems like only a month or so ago that I was writing a "Happy New Year 2012" post, but in fact it's been twelve months.

I'll admit it now - I was VERY SLACK last year, postwise.  I think I managed to post twice. Twice?  I really will try to make more of an effort this year.  Not that it's a New Years Resolution. I don't make them.  I'm not anti-resolution or anything. I just think that if you want to turn over a new leaf, you can do it whenever you want. You don't need to wait until New Year.

So...  what has happened since my last post in August?   Let's see.  Cheyenne turned 9 in September, I turned 39 and Steve turned 41 in October, and Cheyenne finished grade 3 with an encouraging (although not fabulous) report card.  We bought Cheyenne an early Christmas present of a Honda CR50 dirt bike, which she is getting more confident at riding. My boss closed her office for the whole of December, so I've had a month off work.  Nice, except that no work equals no pay for casuals. Oh well.  I finally bought myself a new Christmas tree, managed to get my Christmas cards done on time, and did a little bit of Christmas baking (including Baileys balls - YUM!).  We had a nice quiet family Christmas lunch at my mum's followed by a bbq dinner at Steve's mum and dad's. As usual, Cheyenne received far too many presents.

We've just had a relaxing week away camping with friends at Borumba Deer Park.  Although we do enjoy it there, we have vowed to try somewhere different this year.  I sense some Googling research in my future, lol.

Steve returned to work today after two weeks off, and I go back to work on Wednesday, so I guess with three weeks to go, it's time to start covering school books and getting ready for the new school year.

I wonder if 2013 will seem to fly by as quickly as 2012 did.