2018 A&P Show

Ruth had been up helping with her class's fundraiser from 6:45am till 8. She came home to get some last entries which we had to drop off before 9. 
Rachel's friend Bonnie came to spend the day with Rachel and so they all headed up before 10am. The older girls said they would watch Hezekiah and help him with getting on the rides that he wanted to go on.

They all save up their pocket money through the year with the A&P Show getting a big part of their savings.
Hannah and her two friends also headed up at 10 and spent the morning together. Ruth also found her friends to spend the morning with.

Hezekiah's legs were just long enough for him to drive the bumper cars. He kept being lapped but had such a great time.

Brendon was working through the morning, so I was home with Anastasia and Asher. At lunch time we collected all the children and enjoyed fish and chips together at home before Ruth and Hannah headed back up.
Hannah enjoyed a lot of rides with her friends in the morning.
Ruth had the most money saved, but didn't spend all the money she took (which we were impressed with).

At around 2pm Brendon and I headed up with the youngest 3 and Rachel and Bonnie also headed back at the same time. They quickly spotted these free fun bikes to try out and let us know about them.
This was a huge highlight and was so much fun.

Hezekiah was the one steering on this one.

One of Asher's teacher aide's was here and so spent a bit of time chatting and singing with Asher which was really special.

4 of them on this one.

Even having the opportunity to see if they can maneuver a wheelchair.
Around this time Hannah's friend's mum called me to let me know they were leaving. So we could ask her to send Hannah over to the bikes to have some fun with us too.

Taking Dad for a ride.

Dad and Hannah on a tandem scooter.
Hezekiah on this funny one which was steered with the pole in the middle.

Look at that funny one.
It was nice that the children just teamed up to enjoy the bikes together. Even if they didn't know each other that well.

So much fun.

Hezekiah having another go on this one with Pippa. He took charge of the steering and although it was very tricky, he was getting the hang of it.

We enjoyed watching the Grand Parade and then headed over to the Ferris Wheel.
Hannah had enough money to have another ride.

And Brendon consented to taking Asher on. Neither of us enjoy the Ferris Wheel, so this was a sacrifice on his behalf. We had no idea how Asher would do, so even Rachel didn't feel comfortable taking her on. If she had a seizure while up there it would have been rather scary (not much in front of her to keep her on). So Brendon had a tight arm around her and the other hand holding tightly onto the bar.
With Asher having a KiwiAble card (showing that she needs a support person with her) Brendon didn't have to pay for his ticket. So I treated Hezekiah and paid for him to have another go.
And Asher absolutely LOVED it.

We thought she might as she loves going in lifts. She likes the feeling of "loosing your stomach" as the lift stops, so this suited her. She especially loved the top and going over the front (the part that Brendon and I dislike the most).
So I was really pleased we made the effort to go up together and get Asher on the ride. I'm sure she will remember next year and make a bee line for it.

I had fed Anastasia and left her at home with Brendon and then headed back to watch Rachel and Bonnie in the Young Person's Challenge. They do a whole range of activities and it is always so much fun.
Here the local policeman was showing her how to dismantle and put together a gun.

Rachel having her go. They all get timed and pointes are awarded for speed.

Ken was really helpful in giving her tips and telling her when it was in right and to move on to the next thing.
Last year they had a rifle to do, so it was nice to get to do something different again.

They had a first aid challenge again this year. This time it was mainly to see if you knew how to get someone into recovery position. Bonnie was a bit nervous about this one as she hasn't done first aid stuff before. She did really well though as did Rachel.

They had to hammer a nail into a block of wood. Counting how many times they had to hit it to get it in.

They had a fitness challenge which totally exhausted both Rachel and Bonnie. Well done girls for giving it your all.

A really fun one was making an omelette. Rachel's was perfect in my eyes. Well done Rachel.

They also had to take a creative selfie (that was hard for me to take a photo of). Rachel's creative idea was to take a selfie on her own phone and then hold the phone next to her in the same spot and take another selfie with their phone. A selfie of a selfie. I thought it was very clever.

And learning to lasso too. What fun.

Such a pity I didn't get a photo of Rachel with it up swinging. The girls did so well and had so much fun.
Thanks Bonnie for coming to join us for the day. It was a fun filled day.

All the art and awards left for their own blog posts. :-)

2018 A&P Show School Art

We just missed getting into the room to look at all the artwork on Saturday, so I ended up taking the photos on Monday morning. So at least we can all get to look at the work and keep a nice record of what they did this year.

This photo should be big enough to read if you double click on it. Some very thoughtful and interesting reflections from Ruth here.

Hannah's class on witches. Just trying to have fun and be creative with their writing.

Hezekiah's class did dog faces with their own individual comments.

Asher's class did collage art on insects. Asher did this caterpillar. It was lovely to hear how she happily stuck the paper pieces onto her caterpillar while a boy worked on his next to her. She was not able to write something about it as the other children had done, so they just put her name on the bottom. I'm so glad they didn't do it for her - but just allowed her to do what she was able to do. The background had been painted before she started school, but she did help add sand and other things that got stuck on.

I was also really appreciative of how they included her with this art piece. The other children had done "self portraits" and as Asher is not able to, they just stuck a photo on of her.
The other children had also coloured in their names. I am so glad they just left Asher's white. She is not able to colour in yet, and it wouldn't feel right if it was just done for her. So I'm glad for the inclusion as well as the acceptance for who she is and the limitations that she has. It may seem really simple, but it meant a lot to me to see these art pieces from Asher's class. It made me very thankful.

2018 A&P Show results

The most exciting result was for Rachel's cake. It was entered into the open cake section and won. Not only that, but she also received "Most Outstanding Home Produce Exhibit".
Well done Rachel.

So special. A great reward for her hard work. She received a $50 voucher as a prize too.

She also entered a trilogy of poems. She had written and entered Gallipoli into last year's show and then her English teacher suggested she write two more poems to submit the trilogy for her creative writing. She received an easy Excellent (NCEA Level 2) for these - even though they don't normally accept poems in the creative writing module.
So it was great to share these with others. She won first place and received a Special Award for them too.

She also entered a photo into the "Photo on a phone" section. She had such a clever idea and won first place. The judges especially liking how she "thought about the category" and "have produced something a little outside the square."
I also thought it was a brilliant idea, so I'm glad it did so well.

So Rachel came home with 3 first places as well as 2 special awards and a prize.
What a great effort.

Brendon had his first entry this year, and came away with a first place, a trophy and $50 in prize money.
I was going to just enter the one photo of Asher smiling so wonderfully (the bottom left photo) as it was a really special one from that week in hospital with her. And then I saw the "Photo Series" section where you enter 4 photos to tell a story. So we got the extra photos and entered that category instead. The photos weren't the best quality as they were taken on his phone. He took the last one on my phone (thus the better quality). So it was a better category to enter.

The photos themselves aren't that special, but as a whole they do tell a meaningful story.
On the entry form we had to put a "name" to the entry.
It was entered in as:
"Moments of joy while parenting through the uncertainty."

Ruth did very well this year and got so many certificates.

1st and 3rd for the two sets of apples that she entered.

1st for this photo (she entered 4 photos - so I'm glad she got a place for one of them).

She entered two roses and got a 2nd place on this one.

She also got a 2nd place for her "soft toy". This is Pugly (yes, he is ugly). She made him for Anastasia. She got these pens and a chocolate as a prize too. Well done Ruth.

Her pumpkin won 2nd place in the funny pumpkin section. I'm not sure which one this baby pumpkin was in, but he is very cute.

She got a Highly Commended for one of the sets of jewellery that she entered.

And a Highly Commended for her lego house. She put a lot of effort into the house (and it's hard to capture all the details on a photo).
Well done Ruth. 8 certificates out of your 14 entries.

Hannah entered a Lego creation and got a Highly Commended.

Hezekiah had created such a fun car / plane and has been playing so much with it the whole week. So although it only got a Highly Commended, it got 1st place in our home as he had SO much fun with it.

I encouraged him to also enter something in the Duplo section (with is up to 6 years old - so his last time to enter in this section) and he got a 2nd place. Including an easy egg prize. Well done.

Asher's class had made gingerbread men, cupcakes and a vegetable creation (with vegetables and flowers arranged to create something).I didn't get a photo of her vegetable creation, but got a 3rd place certificate on Monday for it. I'm not sure how much she actually did herself with the different entries, but at least she was included in the fun and encouraged to participate.


It was so much fun for everyone having entries this year. I think it has encouraged Hannah and Hezekiah to enter more next year.

I entered 2 photos that I liked, and it has encouraged me to plan a bit better and get some photos collected through the year (and not leave things too late again).