Sparkly Street Family Update.

Last night I made a roast pork dinner for the family; Fixit and I loved it, Climber quite liked it, Cherub ate it but didn't enjoy it. Kids. Cherub eats a wider range than he used to but is still basically a fussbudget, or, as we say, maintains constant vigilance against our pathetic attempts to poison him.  He insists, despite my persistent cajoling, that he doesn't like gravy.  Obviously he's crazy, how can anyone not like gravy?  Mind you, Fixit insists he doesn't like pork crackling, we don't even bother telling him he's crazy, we are too busy fighting over it.

After we ate, we played card games together, even Fixit who says he doesn't like card games. (We were going to play Jenga but we couldn't find our Jenga set. Maybe I gave it away when we moved, but that sounds crazy.)  We played Billionaire and Uno, and it was really fun.

While we were playing, Basil ran through the house with a smallish rat in his mouth. Fixit charged up to our bedroom to deal with it, the rest of us followed bringing the plastic container needed to remove the rat. When we got up to the bedroom (it's quite a long hallway) Fixit and Basil were both hunting around near the window, trying to find the rat which the stupid cat had let go. Suddenly I saw something moving on the lace curtains, and there was the rat, scaling the lace. I may have shrieked, it was so perfectly a reminder of how rats could totally run up your leg if you didn't stand on a chair when one was loose.  The rat got right to the top of the curtains very quickly indeed, so Fixit did the only sensible thing he could, and picked the cat up overhead and said there it is you idiot, whereupon Basil launched himself up and across, like a top soccer goalie making an amazing save, and snaffled it. We all cheered like mad. Then we took the rat away from him, for humane disposal. He hates it when we do that, but based on his prior record, we really can't trust him not to lose a rodent. Although about a month ago I witnessed him eating a mouse whole, it was disgusting. PS this is a cat who only eats THE most expensive catfood.

Afterwards we noticed that our lace curtains got torn during the kerfuffle. I don't know if I should try and patch the tears or keep a look-out in op-shops for a replacement set.



In other news, Cherub's voice is breaking. He's very croaky, much more so than Climber ever was.  It's keeping us entertained. He can't reach any high notes any more, but his attempts to do so are very funny. He is still not as tall as me but his man-nose is coming in. He says his nostrils are as wide as his face and is not impressed, but we think he'll grow into his new nose.  He is liking high school.



The soccer season has started. We're crossing our fingers that both boys' teams get re-graded down a level so we don't have to suffer watching them get flogged every week like last year.



Last night I was woken up by a thunderstorm. I'm much braver about thunderstorms than I used to be. I just rolled over and went back to sleep

Today we went grocery shopping as a family and as we packed the car I banged by head really hard on the edge of the boot.  Pretty sure I'll be having a Lump from that.

Cherub made chocolate chip cookies today, the only thing he ever bakes. He was galvanised after seeing white chocolate chips at the supermarket so we bought them for him.



Climber helped him for a bit. Climber is a very accomplished baker and recently made croissants from scratch with this best mate



Climber has been growing some sunflowers from seed, and they've just bloomed. I think he was inspired after his girlfriend (they've been together 6 months, she goes to a different school and she's very nice but rather shy with us) expressed a desire to punch a sunflower. For him to grow them for her so she could realise her dream of punching a sunflower is so sweet, and very like the sort of thing Mister Fixit would also do. But I hope she doesn't actually punch the sunflowers.



Just thought I should actually start writing some stuff down again. The days whizz past so quickly.

www.misscarolinetapdance.com

Last year of primary school

Well it's official - Cherub is enrolled for High School! His - and our - final year of primary school is slipping away so quickly, and I am not doing a very good job of recording it here!  So here are a few of the recent happenings for my Grade 6 boy.



Last night we watched his last ever primary school production, the Grade 5/6 kids doing Alice in Wonderland Jnr. Their normal drama teacher went on leave this term, and Cherub and his friends, who had been keenly looking forward to their last ever big production with that teacher, were very underwhelmed by the sudden change of plan.  They didn't put themselves forward for roles, and told us it was lame.  Which was a shame, and I kept exhorting them to change their tune and make the best of it. The show must go on etc. They looked unconvinced.



Actually, the show was completely fine. They hired costumes for it, and Cherub looked very cute in his lion suit.  Well, I'm pretty sure he was meant to be a lion. Other guesses include a dog, or a possum or a werewolf.  But his classmates looked quite like the cast of The Lion King, so I'm going with lion. We're still unclear as to what place wild animals have in the Alice in Wonderland storyline, but at least we parents didn't have to sew anything this year. The wig/mane looked so much like Cherub's own hair first thing in the morning that he was very easy to identify on stage.  As always, his dancing was very good indeed, and he fulfilled my stage mother requirements by being in the front row, although whether he was put there because of height or merit is unclear.



The best thing about it was it was very short, so we were none of us too tired to enjoy our traditional post-show gelati.



In other 'lasts' of primary school, Cherub had his final ever Bookweek Parade. A few years ago he went as Frodo from Lord of The Rings, this year he was determined to be Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit.



He insisted he needed a red coat, not too long, and we eventually found one to borrow from my sister.  I also made him a little green vest from a jumper I'd accidentally partially felted in a hot wash.  To make the ears I sewed some foam padding  rounds in half and threaded them on to a hairband made from hat elastic. Threading them meant the ears were adjustable on his head, I was actually pretty pleased with myself for thinking that design through.  I found a shirt and some shorts at the opshop, and for his overlarge and hairy bare hobbit feet we put a pair of Fixit's brown socks over a pair of sandshoes with some padding down the end, then used some flesh-coloured knee high stockings over the top, which we drew hairs all over.  It worked really well. He already had the Hobbit Sword and a Ring, but he didn't look for the ring until leaving time and it was nowhere to be found, so I had to quickly fashion one out of picture wire.



Here he is going off to school in costume with all his bags for Friday (music, futsal and school) ...

 

...and here he is parading.

 

While we're playing catch-up, here are some shots of the Friday Night Futsal team that Cherub has been playing in these last two terms with his school buddies.  All the kids really progressed throughout the season, and they even made it to the finals, which is so good considering they only started this year.



 

Also a shot from Cherub's last week of soccer, because hooray, soccer season is over and we don't need to be always taking the kids to soccer!



And we don't have to be the Team Managers any more, which was stressful and boring and bad for our relationship. Note to self, don't say yes to that job ever again.  Cherub's team played in a division too high for their abilities this year, so they got thrashed most weeks. Just at the very end of the season they started to hit their straps, and so they managed one win against the second-worst team and a draw against the 3rd-worst team, before finishing the season losing 8-0 to the league champions.  We were all pretty ecstatic the week they won, I can tell you! Here's the Team Captain looking happy.  He worked his guts out all season in defence, and made us proud every game.



To end this post on a good note : here are the lads enjoying a delicious home-cooked breakfast of pancakes and bacon for Mister Fixit.
 

Happy Fathers Day.

February from March

Somehow February skipped by, with all of its back-to-school-and-tap madness, without making a mark on the blog.  So before March marches out of control, here's what went on in the last month or so. 



Climber started Year 9 and Cherub started his last year of Primary School.  Talk about grown-up.



They seem to have settled into their new year at school really well, despite Cherub being separated for the first time from his lifelong best-friend. They are doing well with it though, and it's quite sweet to hear them discussing with each other what they've been doing in their different classes when his bestie comes over for a regular Thursday afternoon play.  Probably can't call it a play anymore. Sniff.



Tap started back too, and is going really well. Good class numbers, excellent retention of current students and quite a few new faces too.  The tap-kids and I are madly getting ready for another performance at the Merri Creek fete. We're all very excited!



Climber got targeted by an unknown German man via his Instagram account and received some disturbing private messages which made me feel ill when I read them.  Not that there was anything highly explicit, and my feeling now that I've calmed down is that the sender was not an experienced predator and could possibly have just been a young gay guy trying his luck, but it's so hard to know who someone is just by looking at an Instagram account.  However, it is absolutely clear that Climber is only 14 years old when you look at his profile, so there is still a high level of wrongness, and the guy has been blocked, and other preventative strategies put in place. What I took a lot of comfort from, once the shock died down, was that Climber just thought the guy was being stupid and inappropriate and either said repressive things like that's none of your business or just didn't respond.  He is an awesome kid.  I worry so much about the corrupting influence of peers and internet and high school, but time and again Climber's true character shows me I needn't.



Fixit knocked down our cubbyhouse, seeing as how the only family members who used it were Fixit (for lawnmower storage) and Basil (for mid-afternoon catnaps).  I do feel a little bit sad, but it had to be done.  We've been looking around for a new place to live, but not with any luck so far.  We did find something which I thought was perfect, but they didn't even ring up our referees so I obviously need to work on how we present on a rental application form. Possibly we need to lie?  I don't really know how these things work.



We went to the zoo in the school holidays with Jen and her girls.  We rode our bikes there which made it even more fun. There's a lovely bike path the whole way there.



I took this photo against the seal window. 



Climber has grown so much since the last seal window shots in 2013.



We went Socceroo crazy during the Asian Cup, and were rewarded when Australia was crowned champion.  The final match was an absolute killer, it looked like we were going to win and then the North Korean team equalised with 1 minute to spare, forcing the match into extra time.  Cherub wept until the moment that Australia scored their second goal.  It was his first ever experience of putting his heart totally into a team and then finding that they could let you down.



Cherub has had his last ever primary school camp.  He had an excellent time, but was so tired when he got home Wednesday night that he didn't fully recover until Saturday.


Before camp


After camp

He also had his final primary school swimming carnival. Previously he has elected to specialise in breaststroke, but I wanted him to enter the other events just to see how he performed after all these years of swimming lessons.  He decided to go against this request, and I roused on him when I turned up at the carnival and found he was still dry; so having missed the chance to see how he'd do in freestyle and backstroke, he gave butterfly a go and got 3rd place. He also received 2nd in breaststroke and 2nd in the diving.  I just wanted him to enter to see how he went, not for ribbon glory, but I suspect having seen the rest of the field in the 12-year-olds, his attitude cost him a backstroke ribbon at the very least.  Anyway, the day after camp he represented his school in the breaststroke at the Zone Carnival and finished a creditable third in his heat.



I came home from tap on February 14th to find this lovely surprise on my pillow from Mister Fixit. I had forgotten it was St. Valentine's Day so I was even more gratified. Didn't have to hint or anything.



Fixit and I attended his cousin's wedding down at a winery on the Mornington Peninsula.  It was a very pleasant day, although it did seem a shame to be the designated driver at an event where the wine was likely to be very nice indeed!



Fixit's good shoes fell apart (the soles suddenly started disintegrating everywhere) so he had to leave the wedding between ceremony and reception to find a local shoe store. I think this is indicative of how little Fixit wears good shoes, but he should be set for a while now.



I made a wearable muslin of a 1950s style tea dress with princess seams, in preparation for some dressmaking at Crarf Camp, and I'm very pleased with it. The Tiny Tappers were very impressed, and somewhat distracted, by my Winnie-the-pooh dress when I taught them this week.  I sewed an invisible zip for the first time, not wholly successfully, but good enough for a practice dress.



And although there's more to be blogged, I am off to Crarf Camp tomorrow - yay!- so I will have more to say when I return.

A desk of one's own and other bits and bobs

The end of January, and indeed the start of February, went by in a bit of a blur. In between getting my ducks in line for the start of the kids' school year and my new term of tap, I zipped up to Sydney to see my Mum who has had a pacemaker inserted. It was good to spend time with my Mum.  We didn't get up to much because she was recuperating, but I really like her little area of Sydney and we managed a stroll or two every day and some nice together-time.  I am feeling grateful to live in this age of medical miracles. A tiny machine inserted in her shoulder and a life-threatening condition is fixed.  She was fit to go home the same day and will tick away safely for many years to come. Amazing.

While I was away Fixit and the boys were gainfully employed helping my aunt and uncle move out of their city flat and fully into their beach home.  Poor fellows were working in a nasty heatwave, which made me feel guilty for not being there to look after them and happy because I was enjoying some beautiful balmy Sydney weather and the air-conditioned comfort of my Mum's house.  No-one likes a Melbourne heatwave. The hard work and high temperatures took their toll on the boys, who fell asleep on the floor in the middle of the day, something they haven't done for years.



I made it back to Melbourne in time to see my baby off to his first day in Grade Five.  The big end of school.  He looks too small for all that.



Climber started Year 8 a couple of days later.



It is like a switch has been flicked in Climber's head.  Last year he seemed rather foggy about what-things-needed-to-happen-when, a fairly common reaction to the rigours of Year 7, I'm told.  But at the start of this year, he started really thinking about getting himself organised, and not just thinking: doing.  The new-found focus was first evident when he asked if Fixit could make him a desk. Fixit knocked him up a temporary one, thus.

Then we inherited a proper desk which Fixit modified for a small space.  I suggested we put the hulking great [white-elephant] landlord's wardrobe to use, by removing the door and putting in some shelves, and Fixit obliged. Prior to that it had only been good to store toys in-and-on-top-of; the doors didn't fit properly and were a nightmare to open and we don't need much hanging space for the sort of clothes my kids tend to wear. So now Climber's schoolbag and books and uniform have an organised place to be, instead of (despite my nagging) all over the kitchen floor. What's more he has been sitting down enthusiastically to complete homework. It is a beautiful thing.



The Climber was very busy fitting out his new workspace, whipping up a homemade pen holder and a calendar, and asking Fixit to make him a bookend for the textbooks.  His grandmother will be pleased to hear he has been using the reference books she sent him last year to help with English grammar work.  I am observing all this focus and drive with great admiration and some relief.

Our desk donor also bequeathed us a bookshelf which has provided somewhere to store lego creations, textbooks and trophies.  And the ukulele. Perfect.

All in all, it has been a very good start to the school year.

In May from June

In May, Climber went off to camp twice.



The first one was music camp. Climber and most of the music kids he knows are 'novice' musicians, and as such weren't eligible for Music Camp yet, but Climber attended because of being in the choir. This meant he didn't really know the other kids at camp well enough to feel comfortable, and although he had a bearable time, he was I think a bit lonely and came home looking and feeling fragile.  If he didn't like his choir teacher so much he might have ditched choir by now, but I hope he stays with it because he has a nice singing voice.



The other camp was the Year 7 camp, which had been postponed due to the industrial action in Term One.  Owing to this and availabilities of theatres and camp locations, the rescheduled camp clashed with the Music Concerts, so on his second night of camp, Climber was bussed back to perform with the choir in the Strings and Choir Concert, and then went back to camp that same night, had his last day at camp, and then came home and performed flute that night with the Bands concert.  I missed the Strings and Choir concert because I was teaching, but man, the Bands concert was excellent.  The kids in the Intermediate and Senior bands were so impressive and inspiring.  I feel very happy that Climber is getting to do music in such a great school program.



All of these camp/concert shenanigans involved a fair bit of organisational gymnastics from Mister Fixit and me (who both work nights), not just to get a parent there to watch with Cherub, but to make sure Climber got to the theatre in a clean and sweet-smelling state with the things he needed, like his flute and shiny shoes. We were all exhausted by the Thursday, and I gave the kids the day off to recover.



In May, Cherub's class was asked to reprise their rendition of Thriller for the school's AGM, which was exciting BUT clashed with Climber's Band Concert/Return from Camp.  I explained to Cherub's school about the clash and asked if Thriller could be scheduled as first item so that Cherub and I could race to watch Climber's show straight afterwards. The teacher's initial response was that if not, maybe another child could take over the role of Michael Jackson? Obviously I am far too much of a Stage Mother for that to be an option, I mean surely there is only one Michael Jackson as far as 4A is concerned. So I set about organising a babysitter who could take care of Cherub, just in case.  As it turned out, the Principal, very kindly, did rejig the running order to accommodate me, and Thriller was the opening act, done and dusted by 6:50pm, leaving Cherub and I plenty of time to make it to  Climber's concert in Moonee Ponds by 7:30pm.  Cherub was very good again, and managed a creditable moonwalk despite performing on carpet which is not slidy enough for really optimal moonwalking.



In May I celebrated National Tap Dancing Day on the 25th by teaching heaps of gorgeous children tap dance. (It was Saturday, we were there anyway, but we did celebrate - I made them pose for photos with me.)



In May we received our school photographs. The High School went the bog-standard school photographer and we got bog-standards pictures.  But the Primary School went with a local woman and I just love the beautiful shots she took of Cherub and his class.



See the difference?



In May, we did a lot of throwing out.  Old tellies and computers, old clothes, old potties and strollers.  We were holding on to a lot of crap, stuff we felt we needed to keep "just in case", because our finances had been so tight for so long. (I don't know why we were hanging on to the potties though.  Maybe we were waiting for a poor friend to have a kid so we could pass them on? Or maybe they were just in a cupboard I didn't open very often.) Anyway, Fixit is a qualified mechanic now, and it won't break us to buy new stuff where required.  So out it all went, and it felt really good. Clothes drawers are in good order and clothing that was never worn has been passed on to the opshop. Shelf space has magically become available.  Somehow all this virtue resulted in me going out and rewarding myself with not one but two brand new pairs of winter boots at the 25-percent-off boot sale at Myer.  I haven't owned winter boots for nearly 20 years. Here are the workaday, standing around at soccer games pair. Very comfortable, and a zip at the side so I don't have to undo all those laces. The other pair is more posh.  I may wear them to the theatre.