3 prize givings

Sunday 9th Dec. Ruth having fun in meal prep again. Serving her guests outside this time.

Two very happy children.

They even got desert.

Monday 10th: Anastasia enjoying broccoli and pulling funny faces.

Tuesday 11th: Rachel's TeKura prize giving was in town this morning. She hasn't officially got her level 3 NCEA yet as she is still waiting for her external to be assessed. Her work through the year was still acknowledged though.

And she had the special privilege of being asked to read one of her poems from her Freedom's cost trilogy. She read "My Father's Son" and moved many people with it. Her English teacher from last year was so very pleased with her poems and so it was really special to have this opportunity to share one of them with this group today. Many people came up to Rachel afterwards and congratulated her on such an excellent and moving poem.
And this marks the end of Rachel's school career.

And another "final" was the St John Youth prize giving. Rachel ran it again this time. This will be her last prize giving as a St John Youth although she does still hope to help out in the years ahead. Moving onto St John Ambulance will be her main focus next year though (she can only start in April when she turns 18).

She was very surprised to receive the Girls 13 and over Cadet of the Year trophy. She has been helping so much with organizing that she sort of forgot that she was still a cadet. :-)

Her drill team also got acknowledged for their great results this year.

A very special evening.
And Rachel provided a huge cake for the supper afterwards (as another practice for the wedding cake next year). This was the bottom layer, so she needed an opportunity to make the normal (not GF) chocolate cake which was VERY big. Thankfully there were enough people to help polish it off. :-) It was also a great opportunity for me to learn and experiment with how to cut the cake (as I will be helping cut the wedding cake next year).

Thursday 13th: Final Assembly today where Ruth received two certificates. One MERIT for diligence in Mathematics and Technology - hard materials.
And the other was the Platinum Home Learning Challenge.

Well done Ruth.
Anastasia was due for a nap and thankfully managed to fall asleep in her buggy.

The first 3 classes give a certificate to each child. Asher got one for joining in games with peers and learning class routines.

Hezekiah got one for excellence in Mathematics, Science, Dance and Drama.

Friday 14th: Anastasia enjoying pulling funny faces again and making people laugh.
She loves watching the children outside on the trampoline (she can just see them from the lounge window). Ruth took her out for a jump today which she just loved.

Saturday 15th: Ruth helping Asher and Anastasia have some fun on the deck. It was so sweet watching Asher pushing Anastasia around. Great sharing Asher.

School prep and prize givings

And then there were 6!!! I'll try to add the last two years of photos to the video slideshow at some point. I started when Hezekiah was a baby and he is 6 already. :-)

Monday 4th Dec. This is one of Asher's "go to" activities when she arrives at preschool. The school has made a note to buy one for her for when she starts school next year. The Primary Principle and the 1st year teacher both attended preschool today to watch Asher and learn a bit about what helps her to keep calm and feel safe.
It gave us a bit of time to chat too. So I made use of trying out my new phone's camera while I was there for a few minutes.

Rachel loved Anastasia's ballet hands today.
It was a VERY hot day. Still 32 degrees after 5pm!!!

Anastasia often struggles with her stomach in the evenings. Dad has his favourite position to get his little ones to sleep. And he got a little shut eye with her.

With the end of the year so close a lot of things start coming home from school. Instead of keeping all the art photos (and then not getting to post them as I plan) I thought I would just post them straight away.
This was his self portrait.

It was funny getting the reactions from the family on what this was. A lot of us first saw a monkey - not the fireman putting the fire out.

Tuesday 5th: Anastasia in her spot for her sleep at Champion Centre today.
We had a lady from the Ministry of Education visiting with us today. She just loved how sweet Anastasia looked, so took these photos for me.
I really enjoyed spending time chatting with her and also getting her feedback that Asher really is ready for school. She pointed out many positive things that she could see in Asher through the bit of time she had there and so it was really encouraging.

At least I got a photo of Asher too - enjoying the mini parachute during her music time.

And then Anastasia, Ruth and I were out to join Rachel at the St John prize giving. Rachel received a few badges and her 100 hours community service badge.
She always looks very serious when receiving badges.

And then she also received her promotion. Joe presented the promotions and is always so pleased with the hard work the cadets put in to this achievement.

Getting her 2 stripes removed and replaced with 3.

And even Rachel couldn't help a small smile. Joe's smile being very contagious. Well done Rachel.

Rachel had a ballet lesson before St John, so we had left by 3:30. Hannah and Hezekiah had asked Brendon if he would take them to the pool. He was unsure about taking Asher but decided to give it a try (I had mentioned that last summer she had been to the pool a lot without seizures). They all had a great time but unfortunately Asher had a seizure while in the pool. It's made us a bit nervous about taking her back again. It has been so very hot though and he says she did so love the time she had before it hit.
Wednesday 6th: Asher missed out on her full morning at preschool today as she had a seizure at 10:30. She then had another one at 5pm. So a rough day for her. She started pacing again in the evening and so Brendon just gave her an extra dose of her medication. Unfortunately these pacing sessions are happening a lot more frequently now.

This evening Anastasia and I were out again, this time to the Te Kura prize giving as Rachel had a couple of certificates to receive. She has done very well in her English NCEA Level 2 this year and has worked hard on all her subjects. Well done Rachel.