HoHoHo!!!

Nature at Play - The Sequel

When the battle between a pet and a wild bird drags on for too long, you wonder what the outcome will be. In a sequel to the battle between the bird and the cat, an unexpected turn tipped the scales in this evenly-matched stand-off. Enter... the dog! Yes, Ben, our ageing German Shepherd, took matters into his own hands - or that had better be, into his own mouth. He managed to get more than a passing hold on one of the bird's offspring this morning, much to the disadvantage of the bird. Needless to say the remaining bird family now no longer regards the cat as enemy number 1. Funeral arrangements have already been attended to by Ev.

O Captain, my Captain

Congratulations to Rachel who has been appointed Choral Captain of the Junior School for 2008. She was formally handed responsibilities at the graduation of this year's Year 6 group today. Rachel has been happily singing as we have been decorating the house for Christmas!

Basketball

It's been a day of triumphs on the sporting field for the Heard boys - Sam leading the way in swimming, and Caleb storming home with a strong second half in his qualifying pool match for basketball championships. Producing his best-ever performance, Caleb finished a strong game with a remarkable shot from under the basket behind the board, as he was falling out of court, taking him to 20 points on top of a strong game on the boards, together with some steals and assists. More importantly, his team finished this part of the grading undefeated, and now faces a cross-over match before proceeding to the next level of qualifying.

Mind you, Caleb had walked 14 km this afternoon in a school walkathon, and is now currently absolutely wiped out. He is required to back up with a second game tomorrow afternoon...

Swimming Success!!

Samuel took to the water today in the Vision Australia swimming carnival, participating in three events. And he WOWED them! Streaking away in the first event to win the 25 metres, Sam put into practice all that his swimming teacher had been trying to teach him, and romped to his first blue ribbon! He backed it up with a second blue ribbon in the relay, swimming a strong anchor leg, and then a second place in his last event (obviously tired!)

On his return to school he was given a hero's welcome, with rousing cheers from his classmates, and quite a few tears from teachers who have shared his journey. Email and SMS have been running hot with congratulations all afternoon. We have our own thorpedo in the making.

What does this say?

Our usual morning routine includes driving the kids to school, but this took an interesting turn this morning when, after opening the boot for the kids to put their bags in, I opened the driver door to see that the car had been trashed overnight. Someone had popped the locks and in their search for money or other valuables managed to throw every small piece that was not nailed down around the front of the car (I say this because I want to excuse two of the children for what follows!) I commenced to clear up the front of the car enough to sit down while the other three closed the boot and simply jumped into their seats! The child in the front passenger seat (who shall remain nameless but is over 6 feet tall) made a small comment about the state of the car and waited for me to start driving. (Note that at this time my seat was covered in papers, etc!)
Now what does this say about:
1. the state in which the car is normally left?
2. the perceptive abilities of young teenage males?
3. the normal comfortable parameters for living environments for our children?
Fortunately I have long since bothered to leave anything valuable in my car, having had my vehicle entered and searched by unwelcome intruders on numerous previous occasions. Living in the inner city, it is not an uncommon occurrence.