Now to catch you up on everything else that’s been going on!

We got a new carport and handball court installed! The kids even sometimes let me park my car there! So generous…

It has been a bit of a game-changer, having the extra outside area for the kids to scoot, ride bikes, draw with chalk, and of course play their beloved handball. I also made sure adequate drainage was installed to help prevent another flooding situation. If I were to change anything, I would have gotten more of a sloped roof. There’s currently a frisbee, a pokeball and a soccer ball sitting on the carport roof…

What else??

Heath and Marian and kids came up for a little visit to say goodbye to Vicky and Teddy who have moved back to England, with Tim joining them at the end of the year. So lovely to have us all together once more. Who knows when the next time will be!

The kids have been up to a few things as usual! Chance had his final robotics session at the end of the term and presented his final build and coding creation which was fantastic; Quinn went on her first school camp, and even though she was very nervous, she was also very brave and had an amazing time; Darby is losing teeth like there’s no tomorrow – he just needs to start growing some as well!; Julius continues to be my big helper in the kitchen which is just lovely.

We’ve had a fairly low-key start to the holidays, with more lazy days at home and hanging out with friends to come. Mum and I took the kids with their cousins to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (thanks for the voucher Topher!) and they had a great time together, then continuing with the animal theme, Kate and Alexander brought four of their Guinea Pigs over on Wednesday morning for some cuddles. Quinn asks me what my favourite kind of pet is – my answer is always “someone else’s!!”

I hosted the end of term drinks at my place, the afternoon/evening before we went to Sydney and it was brilliant as always, having the school crew at my place. There were over 25 kids and maybe 15+ adults, good food, great conversation, and even a few tears. It’s been a long term and an even longer year for some, and it was so great to unwind together and know that we were all in good company. Who knows what the next term and year will bring, but with this village, we can handle anything that comes our way.

And to round it out with a few random things, the kids did their colour run at school, and I kindly volunteered my time to colour bomb them along with several other parents. Kate and I have been working on very intricate colour-by-number paintings, every other Sunday for the past few months and we finished off our first materpieces! We will be starting the next one this week. The kids surprised me with a car wash while I was cooking dinner recently which was very sweet. They also vaccuumed the car while I was away in Sydney (thanks for the help Gran!) which was lovely to come back to. And we had a puzzle and Lego Masters day on a rainy day this week which was really lovely.

I think that pretty much catches you all up with what we have been up to. We have an exciting month coming up with Kris & Kate visiting for Mum’s 70th birthday celebrations which are sure to last a couple of weeks, as well as the business of back to school and term 4. I’m feeling pretty prepared for it all at this stage. Let’s do this thing 🙂