367 + 263 Weeks

We have had a great week, which is so nice to say!  On Friday the kids went to a joint birthday party of two friends, which was also held at the NAIDOC festival (in recognition of aboriginal and islander people, for those of you not in the know).  The festival was great - there was t-shirt painting, arts and crafts, music and dancing, a jumping castle, motorcycle rides for three people at a time, Australian animals.  The kids loved it!  Arley could have stayed on the jumping castle all day.  He was a bit overwhelmed for the first fifteen minutes of the festival/party and demanded to be taken home, but he settled in soon enough.  It was the crowds and noise, I think.  Carmie got her craft on and was very content.

We also looked after our friends' dog Casper this weekend.  Casper is a whippet, and a real sweetheart, and Bella was so happy to have a friend.  The kids loved having two dogs, and the pressure was off Bella to be Arley's full-time entertainment and punching bag.  On Saturday we took the dogs to Collers Beach for an exploration, and then on Sunday we took them for a bushwalk at Narrawallee.  The hike is lovely down there, and we plan on doing it more often.  The dogs sniffed out an echidna, which the kids thought was very cute indeed.  It was curled up into a ball so we didn't get to see its face though.

On Monday and Tuesday Carmie went to an all-day drama workshop.  There were about twelve kids, including her bestie Hannah.  Carmie absolutely loved it.  At the end of the second day, they put on a 15 minute play about Tutankhamen and ancient Egypt.  Carmie had a bit of stage fright and was very nervous for the first half, but got more comfortable in the second half, and she was very cute as an Egyptian mummy.  She wishes she could go every week, but they only hold the workshop during the school holidays, so we are going to look for some other weekly program for her, I  think.

We had our first open house on Saturday.  The kids stayed with Mum and Geoff on Friday night so Jeff and I could get the place ready.  The open house went really well, but no takers yet.  We have another one scheduled for this Saturday, as well as next.

Today we had the homeschooling registrar come to our house to register Arley for homeschooling and to re-register Carmie.  It involved me preparing an outline of what the kids will learn in the year ahead, and showing him all of the things we have done this past year.  The interview went well, and he was blown away by both of the kids reading skills :)

Arley's behaviour has been a little better this week.  I have thought of a new discipline tactic - whenever the kids (or mostly just Arley!) do anything naughty, they get a warning. If they don't comply, they lose five minutes off their bedtime.  Win win!!!  Arely so far has lost between 20 and 25 minutes each night, except for yesterday when he only lost 5.  But it's the best 'punishment' ever!  Jeffrey and I get more peace at the end of the day, and the kids read more (they get to read as long as they like in bed at night), and get more rest too.  Ingenious!

Arley face to face wth a wombat at the NAIDOC festival

We got to ride on a motorcycle - the kids loved it!

There is an echidna in there

Besties

Carmie, the cutest mummy ever :)