The rest of 2014

So since my last catch-up, I have the following things to report.

Fixit has been made permanent at the Rehab Equipment Hire place. He initially applied for a warehouse packer/delivery driver position but his skills and talents were recognised and he was eventually hired as the Warehouse Manager.  He works long, physically demanding hours in a hot dusty shed, but seems reasonably content.  This is a shot of him celebrating his birthday this year, we had a deluxe dinner of sushi, garlic prawns and Peking duck pancakes, and he was very impressed.



Cherub graduated to a full-size bike. It is my old mountain-bike with a more masculine set of handlebars.



Cherub's school had another fete.  I made more bunnies for the craft stall, and some cupcakes for the cake stall which suffered somewhat by being transported to the fete in the basket of my bicycle.  I worked pretty much the whole day on the Champagne/Strawberries and Cream stall so didn't really get to wander round much. It was a good day though.



My sister was diagnosed with tongue cancer.  She has had the lump removed and had 6 weeks of radiation to make sure.  It's been hard for her, but she's been brave and positive throughout. Her recovery starts now.



During the school holidays my Dad and I rented a house on Phillip Island for a week and took my kids and Bron's kids with us, and while we were there we celebrated Cherub's 11th birthday.  We did a bit of rock and tree climbing too, and some maze-running.




We also visited an a native animal park, where we patted kangaroos and tried to avoid the stroppy emus.




We helped Bron move into a better house, and I cooked lots of soup for her. Not that she was able to eat much of it before her mouth got too sore, but you do what you can.



We went to the Royal Melbourne Show with friends, and the kids had a great time as usual. Patting baby animals, trying out rides, inspecting yarn-bombed items and getting a showbag. Fun.




The boys finished off their soccer seasons, and Cherub was awarded Best and Fairest Player in his U11 team.

We took Cherub to see The Dream by Bell Shakespeare (Climber was off camping with a friend and a whole host of mosquitoes at French Island)  The production was an adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream using only 6 cast members. It was clever and fun, although not as fantastic as some previous Bell Shakespeare plays I've seen. But you know, gave my kid some culture.

And we took both boys to their first comedy gig.  We started them with a master, the brilliant Bill Bailey, and the kids loved it.  It was really fun taking them to see this, sharing with them something we love and seeing them love it too.



Both kids received excellent reports, and Climber received an A for his flute exam.  He also performed a short flute solo as part of Junior Stage Band. It was beautiful.

I missed out on September Craft Camp, but got to sneak off for a night to enjoy a girly-getaway to a deluxe spa resort with Jen and Astrid.



Climber went away on Year 8 camp. He had a very good time, possibly too good a time... (don't ask)



Fixit wasn't granted any holidays over the Christmas January period (grr) but was given a week in early December.  It was nice to spend time with him again, and he certainly needed the rest and recharge..


And summer is on its way, which means we see much less of Basil. So I grabbed a picture while I could, with the portable air conditioner which will soon be working hard as the hot months arrive.



So that is us pretty much up-to-date, although I need to report back on my end-of-year concerts too. Still waiting on a bit of footage and some time to piece it all together.

In the meantime, I'm quite glad to see the back of 2014, what with the various familial health scares and the job stuff with Fixit.  I hope that next year brings health and stability and fun, and wish anyone that still reads here love and happiness for the new year.

High School Musical, Primary School Musical

Unlike our primary school, a school production at high school is a voluntary, additional activity, and in Year 7, Climber, despite having always enjoyed performing at primary school, did not volunteer.  He also had no plans to participate in Year 8, despite the fact that they were calling for tap dancers and the kid has been tapping since he was 4. When I found out about this I encouraged and cajoled (and eventually begged) him to try out, like a good stage mother. It seemed positively sinful from my point of view not to use his skills, and to miss out on a fun-filled opportunity because of either fear of failure or fear of judgement by his peers.  But nothing I said swayed him, and I eventually emailed his Home Group teacher (also the Production Director) to say he could tap and I wasn't sure why he was so reluctant to try out and could she have a word please. The upshot of which was that he did audition and did get the gig, alongside our mothers group friend and fellow tap student Pip.



The show was an off-broadway musical called Urinetown, and the school put on a great production in July.  All the kids did a fantastic job.  There is something very beautiful and heart-warming about watching a bunch of committed kids giving their all on stage.  I was extremely proud of Climber and Pip.  I am pretty sure that Climber enjoyed himself, although I think early in the rehearsal process when the dancers were separate to the main cast he felt isolated and resentful.  But once it became a performance, he seemed to really enjoy it, and had a great time hanging out backstage with some friends.  I suspect any future high school performances will be based on whether his peer group takes part (it will have to come from the girls, none of his male friends show any signs of wanting to perform), but I'm very glad he gave it a shot this year, and that he persevered and discovered it was worth it.



As for the younger son, his Grade 5/6 production went on in September, and it was fun all the way for my all-singing, all-dancing Cherub.  He auditioned for an acting role and got nothing (unbelievable!) but was not cast down.  He just had a ball singing and dancing as part of his class' routine to Happy ...



... and as part of the boys hip-hop crew to Classic. 





He was one of the strongest dancers in both numbers, and looked so cool, and so comfortable.  As always the production was heaps of fun, and again, all the kids were so committed and were having such a great time on stage that it was completely happy-making.



Little dude.  I love how much he loves dancing.

And so that was Christmas.

Hello! I'm sneaking in a last-minute post to record our December festivities, and now that I'm on holidays may even sneak in a few more to belatedly fill in some gaps from this year!  But first, before I forget: Christmas.



Christmas just seems to get more crazy every year, in terms of my workload. Some days I romance the idea of a mid-year tap concert for my school, but my students and I probably need the December concert to be a big full-stop (really an exclamation mark!) for the whole year of tap. So I spend November and December in a panic: producing, directing, choreographing and administrating two concerts; all the while trying to keep some headspace free for the myriad of other things that need to be done at the end of the year. What it means is that by the time I'm ready to get Christmas prep started I'm exhausted and having to push through in a slightly hysterical manner.



Anyway. We got the tree done very early in December, and everything else (shopping, cooking, wrapping, card-writing) very, very late, but it did all come together on the day.  I woke on Christmas morning with my heart racing, thinking something important happens today, what is it? and then I thought oh yeah, Christmas and stopped thinking work-work-work and instead tried to relax and enjoy.



The kids came in to our bedroom at a very respectable 7:30am and opened their stockings with us. I do like this time, watching them dig in and find a little something and then show it to us all, then wait patiently for their brother to do the same.  It's quite lovely.



Poor Cherub had to wait before we opened the under-the-tree presents.  Like Inigo Montoya, he hates waiting. But everyone needed to be dressed and breakfasted and ready to leave before the wrapping paper could be ripped away.




I think everyone liked what they received but I am conscious that Christmas carries the weight of expectation, a feeling that maybe under the tree is something so lavish and wonderful that you'll explode with happiness.  And then there's just the dvd you requested and a smallish lego set. On our income with all these people to buy for there is never going to be a big ticket item for anyone, even when I do let the guilt get to me and spend more than I think I ought to on them.  And I think our kids know this and accept it in theory, but they also carry this memory of being 4-years-old, and receiving a really big box full of Thomas the Tank Engine stuff that blew their mind with excitement.  Christmas does  kind of go downhill after that.  But hopefully after you realise that the fireworks present isn't happening this year, you take stock of the nice stuff you did receive and feel happy and grateful. Hopefully.





In the lead-up to Christmas we had a couple of family gatherings, a big get-together with my Mum's extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins galore!) which is always fun, although as it was scheduled on the same day as my Tapkids Concert, I was pretty wiped out during and didn't manage any photographs.  My boys are always pretty popular with the younger kids at these parties and generally walk away with a devoted fan each year.  This year it was 5-year-old Alec who insisted that Climber needed to come to his house for a sleep-over.  Anyway. Here's a photo of my Mum staying with us afterwards.  It was good that she was able to be here, especially to spend time with my sister who is recovering from horrid-but-successful treatment for tongue cancer.



Then there was our Mothers Group Christmas celebration, our 14th! This year we tried the kids out with a 'crap-cringle' which is where instead of buying presents targeted at a specific person you lucky-dip for a gift and if you don't like it you can exchange it for a present that has already been opened. This system favours persons whose name comes out of the hat last, and ruthlessness is meant to be the name of the game, something I'm sorry to say my children displayed shamelessly. This meant we came home with the giant Toblerone and the giant box of Malteasers.  Also the gingerbread house kit, which I think meant we got ALL the sweet stuff.  Good work, Fixit males.



Despite this, my kids have decided that they prefer being bought for over the riskiness and crazy fun of crap-cringles.  They have always been fairly cautious individuals.



On Christmas Day we spent lunch time with the Fixit family, and I really only took one acceptable photo (Pa Fixit handing out presents) and then the afternoon onwards at my aunt and uncle's house with my sister and brother and father and half-brothers and cousins. Didn't take a single shot there, but we had a lovely time and ate some very fine food indeed.



On Boxing Day we headed to Barwon Heads to see some more of my family, and enjoyed more good food and company.  Climber and Cherub were very taken with baby Beatrix.





And then it was back home to play with the lego and the computer game and to read the new book and eat some of that chocolate, and to rest and stop rushing. It's all good. All that rush and work and effort means there's a busy vibrant Christmas going on round our way, and really that's something to be very happy about. Family, friends, food and fun. Christmas as it should be.  Hope yours was too.

The Fixit Shoulders

Climber is going to a party this weekend, a 14th birthday celebration for one of the girls in his class.  This is the same crew he went trick-or-treating with on Halloween, without adult supervision, to a vaguely specified location a few streets away, which was fine except he said he'd walk home and when it got to dark-time, he hadn't come home and wasn't answering his phone, and I got a bit anxious about him walking alone in the dark. Well, it turned out he'd lost his phone during the trick-or-treating because he'd gone dressed up as a ninja, and as such had done a lot of ninja dives and somersaults during their travels (quite understandable), and the phone had come out of his pocket.  That whole tale is very typical of Climber.  The phone was found and returned to us next day, so no harm done.



This is his crew, and for the sake of fairness, here is a picture of Cherub and his friends in their Halloween garb.  Cherub went as a pirate, arrrr.

 

I got to stay home at Halloween and hand out lollies to the local kids in the area.  I think Halloween is settling into being a thing here. The 'trick' part of 'trick-or-treat' seems to have disappeared, which is good, and the kids know to only knock at the houses where Halloween decorations are displayed, ie willing participants. (I prefer that, small children dressing up and asking nicely for sweets is one thing, but threatening harm to your property if you don't cough up is quite another!)  So as it stands, the Melbourne version of Halloween is quite a fun evening, with community spirit and friendliness and adorable dress-ups. My kids certainly enjoy it, and are still working their way through the substantial haul of sugar they received. Our dentist will be able to holiday somewhere nice.

Anyway, back to the party.  Climber asked if I could take him shopping to buy a new shirt to wear, so we did that yesterday.  It was actually really nice walking round shopping with him, although I could sense he was hoping he wouldn't run into anyone he knew, sigh.  We eventually found a shirt we liked in a department store, a boys' size 16.



We'd tried a few men's size-extra-smalls on, which were a good fit across his swimmer's shoulders, but were too long for him.  I was telling Fixit about this later and he shook his head and said the Curse of the Fixit Shoulders.  This made me laugh.  Shoulders like theirs will never be a curse. Climber just has to grow into his.

Puh-hickle Cha-hicken

Puh-hickle Cha-hicken is the current phrase that my boys use to make themselves laugh. It's in high rotation. Previous phrases in this series are: wheeeskers and: it's pronounced [insert opening of mouth and closing of eyes while touching index fingertip to thumb-tip] "neggie".  Yep. I don't really know either, but I do know I like how well they get on together. On the weekend when we drove out to visit the Fixit clan, the boys spent the journey making sentences or sums by taking turns to opera-sing a word. Climber: eight Cherub: pluuuuus Climber: seveeeen Cherub: equaaaaaaals Climber fifteeeeeen. The remainder of the journey was spent sticking their heads out of the window like dogs.





They laughed and laughed. I hope they get on this well as adults too, the loonies.

Basil is well. He's been helping me sew.  Not that I've been sewing very much, even when he doesn't sit all over my project.



Fixit seems pretty settled in at the job and it looks like they are treating him like the second-in-charge. I don't have a picture of this so here is one of Basil helping Fixit sort out his work toolbag instead.



They have not as yet made a firm offer for his long-term prospects (which I am cranky about) so he is still on a casual rate of pay and not eligible for sick leave or holiday pay.  He is not keen on rocking the boat, probably because 9 months of unemployment dented his confidence. Allegedly they will sort this out in a couple of weeks.  (Why? Why can't they do it now, since they know they want him?)  I don't have a picture of this, but I do have a picture of a new frock I bought as retail therapy for the stress I've been feeling about it.



I also bought a computer, but not as retail therapy, I bought it because we desperately needed one with an up-to-date operating system that could read modern websites.  I'd been meaning to do this just prior to Fixit being made redundant, so we've been making do for more than a long time.  It is such a relief to have something that works although I'm still ironing out a few bugs with software/organisation.  I have the makings of a new professional website that I'm really keen to get up and running, once the ironing out is done.



My poor Mother-in-Law in back in hospital AGAIN. She has had the worst year for health. On top of diabetes and chronic arthritis and an ulcerated foot which has meant months in a moon-boot, she spent the second half of last year in rehab hospital following a nasty fall in which she broke her leg and arm on one side.  Last month she had a heart attack (luckily she was already in hospital to check out what felt like an angina episode so they were able to perform CPR and bring her back to life) so that was another week in hospital.  And then yesterday she went to unlatch the door to let out the dog and fell and broke her hip.  Back in hospital again!  I don't have a picture of this so here is one of Basil helping me sort out the clean laundry instead.



It was Bookweek at Cherub's school and he chose to dress for the parade as The Joker, from Batman.




For form's sake I was heard to mutter that Batman isn't really a book, but both boys assured me that comics count as books for the purposes of Bookweek.  Cherub was very focused about this dress-up and made sure that I had plenty of notice and a clear idea of all the items required for his transformation.  Both of us were very pleased with the result.






Cherub also had his first turn at playing Goalie for his soccer team, something he has only been interested in this year, despite or perhaps because of his brother's prowess in that position.




Fixit and I and Cherub's coach all thought he did a really good job.  Being a goalie is a tough gig.



This week Climber has two school band competitions in Ballarat, as well as his first ever flute exam (Grade 2). Go Climber! He has been given a flute solo in the Junior Stage Band's rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow which is very lovely. I don't have a picture of him doing any of this, so here is a picture of him with fluffed up hair from sticking his head out the car window instead.



There are little pops of spring in our much-neglected garden.



Fixit was hired out as a Neighbourhood Fixit this month.  It felt like we never saw him when that project (hanging some doors and shelves for some friends-of-friends) was on, what with the 12 hour days he already puts in at work and him also being manager of Climber's soccer team. So he has only this week started to put our own garden to rights. Here is a picture of him multi-tasking, instructing Climber on the correct techniques of shoe-shining (the afore-mentioned band competition performances require shiny shoes) and weeding the little herb garden.  Now our Vietnamese mint can breathe again.



See how Basil is helping?

Tobogganing.

My mum was convinced that nobody photographed her having a toboggan ride during our family visit to the snowfields at Mount Stirling, and she was rather miffed about it.  Fair enough, it is pretty impressive that a person of her years was able and game enough: she was the only senior cit in the snow, let alone on a toboggan, that we saw all day. So impressive, and she only needed a bit of help climbing to the top of the slope, and being lowered onto the toboggan.  But the truth of the matter was that it was only my-sister-the-photographer who didn't have the fancy camera out on the three, yes you heard that right, three occasions when Mum decided to have a go.  When I showed Mum that actually I had taken a photo of her, using Fixit's phone, she declared that it wasn't her and muttered darkly about photo fixing. But as you can see, the lady in the red parka with the purple backpack is the same lady sailing elegantly down the slope.  Et voila, Grandmere sur le Toboggan.

Here is Mister Fixit, who managed a few goes in between hanging with the boys or giving my niece big pushes. I do like the way his leg is sticking up and out as he careers down towards the temporary fencing.  He crashed out quite a lot. He was probably a bit big for the toboggan.

But now we should look at the good quality pictures, the ones taken by my-sister-the-photographer.  They're much better than mine.

C'est moi. Whee! 

Cherub. He had the best time.

Climber. Climber was very good on the toboggan, but he was a fiend with the snowballs as you might be able to see in this collection of shots. No one, apart from Grandma, was safe. He got me a beauty, smack on the cheekbone as I whizzed down -which really hurt- but at least he gave me a slightly stricken apology when I climbed back up the top.

In point of fact, the only person who did not get a photo of herself on the toboggan was my poor sister-the-photographer. Ain't it always the way. So here is a collage of the terrific bus we took to the mountain top, just so you can see that my-sister-the-photographer was also part of the snowday fun. Hi sis!