Milla - a Y1 girl!

Tuesday was Milla's first day at her new school, and she is now a Y1-girl! 

She is in a shared Y1/2 class, and her teacher is called Maria, and is such a welcoming, warm teacher! We are looking forward to getting to know her better.  There is 17 boys (!) in her class and only 9 girls. Hopefully the boys will not be too rowdy :-)

First day in class. Can you see Milla? She is under the letter 'G' holding her knees.

I'm excited as well...listening carefully...

When we came to pick her up, she told us with a big smile she had a lovely day! And she showed us a drawing of herself outside the classroom. All the kids had made self-portraits, describing who they were - and Milla described herself as:

Caring

Happy

Smart

Funny

Helpful

That's a great self-portrait. My little Milla is exactly that! And beautiful too!

Milla's self portrait

Milla's friend, Brianna. They used to go to kindy together! 

Auntie Deb & Uncle Peter

The other weekend we went to auntie Deb and uncle Peter's house for Luke's birthday lunch. It was nice to see them again. The girls always have so much fun playing in the garden and in the cubby house, and this day little Jessica was also there!

Auntie Deb had saved some Christmas presents for all the girls - and us! as we didn't see each other over Christmas. Lucky us! We have a gourmet evening at the cinema waiting for us (with an offer of babysitting as well!) and the girls got some very popular sticker and activity books with Tinkerbell and a Santa to decorate amongst others. Back home, they started painting straight away:

Thank you for a lovely day, auntie Deb and uncle Peter!

My romantic man

This evening I turned on my Mac and discovered this:

My man has a flair for romantic ideas and sweet gestures...I like it a lot!

Rain makes everything better!

Isn't it nice to sit inside and listen to the rain...? I love a rainy day. Even better, I love to spend a rainy afternoon over coffee.

A good hot cup of coffee seems to be the basic need of the human heart in nearly every great crisis.  No crisis today, but still found room for a cuppa' and great company. You make good coffee, Helen!

It's Friday!

Friday night we had burger night at Friday's. This was the first time the girls had hamburgers (ever!) - and they loved it!

Mmmmmm, we all loved it! Fajitas for me, and a huuuuuge whiskey glazed burger for MrC. Miraculously enough, we also had room for some dessert! Yummy!

Little Swimmers

Wake up! It's Saturday morning - let's go swimming!

Milla with her 'move up one level' certificate!

The girls are growing into confident swimmers, now learning proper techniques and diving. Milla had improved yet again, and was moved up one class! Congratulations! We are so proud of you! After finishing swim lessons, we stayed behind and had some fun in the play area. Weeeeeee....

 The perfect way of finishing off a day with so much fun: ICE CREAM!

Second tooth out!

Wow, first day of school AND the second tooth fell out! Busy day!

Surprises from America

Milla's 'bestest' little friend, Ava, is on an adventure in San Francisco. A long-term adventure, that is. They moved there over a year ago, and we miss all of them terribly! Ava's mum, Sally, is always full of ideas; craft, excursions, theatre...you name it! Life's a party - not even a grey, dull every day is boring,  and we loved having fun together! And now that 'Something on Saturdays' is almost starting again in town, we miss them even more! Every now and then we get little surprises in our mailbox... Letters, lots of photos of what they have been doing in America and little presents! Our latest surprise was an amazing Christmas card (as always!), a school photo of Ava and three adorable little felt ornaments. 

Not to mention a subscription for Okido - the arts and science magazine for kids! We love it! To show you just how much fun is in the magazine, here is a YouTube clip from an earlier magazine edition: 'A storm in your hand' - dealing with weather, they designed a hand held storm to cut out of the magazine and build! Is that clever or what?! Have a look:

Gingerbread house SMASH!!

So, after Christmas, there is ONE more thing to do.....SMASH the gingerbread house and EAT it!!! Yoooohooooo!

The big water-slide!

Milla's little friend, Ciara, celebrated her birthday at the outdoor pool, and we couldn't wait to go! First Milla wrapped her present, and wrote her a nice card - all by herself :-) She is getting so good with writing these days, I'm very impressed.

 The party was in the pool and they played heaps of games and had lots of fun!

Milla in her pink swimsuit with her back to the camera 

And then - the BIG FINALE! The kids could have as many go's on the big water-slide as they wanted!!!

I didn't really think Milla was up for that, on her own! I mean, perhaps if I went with her.... But no, she did not want me to go with her! 'Mamma, I want to go by myself, ok?' So off she went. 

For sure, I thought she would change her mind. If not at first, then at least half way up, cueing up those big, daunting stairs! But she didn't change her mind - and went all the way down the big water-slide just like that! 

I was there, ready to comfort her, when she came up from the water. Surely she would at least need a big cuddle after that scary ride?! But no, she  just gave me a little wave and said 'I'm ok, mamma', and then she went lining up for another go with a big smile on her face and laughter from her tummy! My little Milla really is a big girl now!

Half-way up... very brave little girls!

There she comes - can you see her in the middle of the slide?

SPLASH!!! I'm ok!

Waiting for another turn

SPLASH!!! Milla is in the middle of that big water-splash!

That was fun!

Time for birthday cake!!!