Graduation

The graduating students!!





The graduating class

On December 13th 2007 Wade, Jessica and Meagan graduated from year 6. (well, Jessica was a little concernOed because her report card had a typo that said promoted to year 6...) There day began with a class breakfast at a local restaraunt (so local, they could walk there at 8 in the morning!!). Most the class indulged in pancakes with ice cream....


Jessica




Meagan

Wade

At 11 am they had their official tree planting ceremony. Each year, every graduating student plants a tree (or shrub) so the school never forgets them!!

School was officially finished at 12:00 which gave the girls lots of time to doll themselves up for the evening of "officialdom". Yup, 7 weeks of school holidays lie before us...

The graduation ceremony began at 6:30. Mr Louw made up poems for each student and read them out before they could come forward and receive their certificate and gift (a bible to take with them into Middle school.), and then a few words were said by the students as they travelled down memory lane...

Here are the poems from our 3:

Jessica:

Now for the first of three for you to greet,

yes it's the Lewis' you have to meet.

Striving to please, that's been her motto

Pleasing results, she caused me no sorrow.

Polite, co-operative and well-mannered too

Makes a great cuppa, I tell you.

While she sits there as I tell of her

She's quiet, but she can be quite the babbler.

With her school work she had no fuss

Her results have at times left me tongueless.

The hardest thing for me to do

Was to tell her apart from her twin it's true.

Yes, now we must bid her farewell

Thank you for being a student so swell.

May God bless you in your future education

Who knows, teaching may become your vocation.

Yes Jessica, this is your cue

Stand up for with you we are through.

Meagan:

Now for the second of the Lewis girls

I hope I have the right one, we'll see what unfurls.

A competitive streak she certainly has

At times it results in some razz-a-ma-tazz.

Always willing to help you I did appreciate

All that you've done, it's been great.

She likes to have a chat of that there's no doubt

Even to get out of work, my ears are worn out.

Spelling, reading, maths no drama did create

that didn't leave her prostrate.

Her homework was always completed on time

She really has been sublime.

For seven years she has been at this school

Now she's leaving, but not as a fool.

The school will never be the same

We'll have to carry on without this dame.

Yes Meagan, it's for you to show us how you blush

Please stand, take a bow and I will hush.

Wade:

The last of the Lewis' to graduate tonight

About him I am going to be forthright.

A pleasure to teach, of that have no doubt,

He is a young lad with a lot of clout.

A more helpful lad you'll never meet

Having him in class was a real treat.

Spelling, reading, writing, it's all a breeze

Finishes it all as quick as you can sneeze.

Give him a problem, he loves to solve

He will become totally involved.

Presentation of work is not part of his game

His handwriting, oh now that is a shame.

Now that you're all grown up and you must leave

You must stop wiping your nose on your sleeve.

It has been great teaching you Wade

It's time for you to move on and upgrade.

Please rise from your seat and give us a wave

Oh, doesn't he make you proud Dave!!

Well, that's our three off and graduated, moving on to middle school means they now get to take the bus to and from school every day. It's about a 40 minute drive to school, so it means my days will be quieter longer; from7:30 'til 4:00. The others (Brooke, Brett and Travis) will still go to our local school, so I'll still be a taxi driving mum!! No time for being bored around here.

Wade's Birthday

On December 8th Wade turned 12. I can't believe how quickly time flies by. Suddenly I'm getting a whole houseful of pre teens!! As usual, he got spoilt rotten... even got a remote controlled airplane from his dad. (I'm still not hundred percent sure who that actually was for!!) He had his best friend Waylon sleepover on the Friday night, and Saturday we spent the day at the beach. Rather convenient for me, since it was an outing for the youth groups (from grades 9-11) and since I was a leader, and am now in the committee, I was invited with my family. No organising necessary for me, and just what Wade wanted to do. They played cricket and volleyball on the beach (until some dog bit the volleyball!!), and the kids all spent lots of time on the boats, getting pulled on ski biscuits etc. and of course socializing with their friends!!

Wade had a big class party on the Wednesday before. We combined it with 2 girls (cousin Emma and Elaine) since their birthdays were also near the end of the year. We had 19 year 6 students over at Linda's from 3:30 'til 7:30 and kept them busy with loads of games. We could've even gone for extra time!! They even went in the pool even though it was cold and rainy!! Amazing what peer pressure can do, hey? I've been waiting to get photos from Linda from that day, but that seems to take me a while, so I thought I'd better update my blog before I'm really far behind!! That party was loads of fun. I really enjoy keeping a group of kids (especially around that age!) occupied with all sorts of wacky games, and the kids all seem to really enjoy it as well.
So now our boy is 12, and we're looking forward to another blessed year with him!

Travis turns 4!!

Today is the day!! (Sorry, the kids were watching the Tigger Movie, so I'm a little Tiggerish at the moment!!) Yup, today our baby turned 4 years old already. In some ways he's growing up very quickly, but in others he's still my baby; when he tugs his hair as he drinks from his sipper cup is one of those times.
He was spoiled rotten today, and had a fantastically fun-filled day with family and friends. First he got some prezzies from us - Dave had set up the train table for him last night so he woke up to a big surprise with all Thomas trains set up on there. Then the kids all gave him something. At 10:00 his friends and cousins came over so we had 11 little ones running around and having loads of fun playing with all the new stuff. Lightning McQueen and Thomas made a big hit! Travis is still a terrible eater, so when I asked him what sort of cake he wanted, he said Jelly, therefore the big bowl of blue jelly. Blowing out the candles became more like spitting out the candles, but the kids all seemes to enjoy the jelly anyway! Dren and Natasha even made it up, and they stayed 'til 3:30 which was extra special. (Thanks Dren for putting in the effort!!)
Tonight we had Travis' favourite for dinner: pancakes...more sweet stuff, after eating lollies all day!! His teeth got a good scrubbing tonight.
So now my baby is 4, and ready to start kindy next year. Thankfully it starts off with just 2 half days a week. Maybe I can ease into this "empty nest during school" syndrome!

Woman's Club final

On Tuesday evening we had our final Bible study meeting for the year. I hosted the event at my place and had a really good time going through the "Footprints" poem with lots of Bible reading and singing and discussion. It was very "gezellig" and the ladies didn't leave 'til 11pm! (Maybe it was the chocolate fondue that kept them around the table...) If you'd like a copy of the 'program' I can email it to you so you can get an idea of what we did.

Weekend away!!

Last week Friday night Dave and I finally took advantage of mum being willing to take care of our kids so we could go away overnight. Wow, I feel so spoilt having mum here! Thanks mum. Anyway, we went out for dinner (after Dave first had to play a game of cricket with the kids, of course) and had a lovely meal at a small Italian restaraunt in Perth...just Dave and me....(no, that doesn't happen here very often). Then we stayed overnight by the beach at Observation City, and gorged ourselves at the smorgasbord breakfast the next morning!! Needless to say, we didn't have any lunch... We spent the day enjoying eachother's company and catching up on some shopping and browsing (okay, and dreaming!!) What with 2 birthdays coming up, we had a bit to do. Saturday evening we had a lovely dinner at Paul and Lisa's and finally spent some time catching up with them as well. Yup, it was a special time, getting away, and catching up with friends. Now with mum here, maybe we can look forward to outings like that more often??!!