Where has the time gone?

I cannot believe that it has been almost 2 months since my last post.  Looking back at my iCalendar, one would certainly understand why!!  We have been on the go with everything from birthday parties to surgery. So in similar fashion to a Christmas letter, I will write a little about everything =)

July was actually pretty low key.  The girls had two week vacation in early July and we decided to take it easy.  They had officially finished HALF of their first school year in Perth.  At the end of the 1st semester, the school distributes reports.  Up until this point, the only report card or grade we have received was at the end of the first term.  It was a portfolio of the girls work, and did not include numerical or letter grades.  In fact they will not be graded on the scale that we are used to ever.  So the report was a written report on the girls progress thus far.  For Morgan it was a 4 page document, and every teacher (classroom, music, pe, French, etc) had to evaluate Morgan.  For Addison, her classroom teacher had to assess her in 8 different areas using 180 words for each area.  All I can say is WOW...the amount of time spent on these reports is incredible.  Overall, we are pleased with both girls' reports.  Morgan is right where she needs to be and skipping half of 2nd grade has not put her behind at all.  She is excelling in Language arts and Music.  Addie...well Addie surprised us all.  Apparently she is a rather smart little girl and has learned so much in a short period of time.  She is one of the top readers in her class and is close to being able to read chapter books on her own.  According to her teacher, she is logical and inquisitive.  Oh and she also enjoys being in charge ;)

Once Term 3 started, we were off and running!  The girls started swim 2 days a week, and Morgan continued with Netball.  Addie LOVES swim and does not complain one bit that the water is cold...remember we are swimming in Winter right now.  Often it is cold, rainy, and windy. They have a wetsuit and are quite the troopers.  Morgan is continuing to improve on her strokes...we just need to get her breaststroke kick down.

Netball for Morgan was a huge success.  Her team worked so well together and was undefeated for the season.  It was awesome to see how much they improved over the season!  Morgan really took to the sport and I think she will continue to play during our time here.  She is quite the athlete!

Also starting in Term 3 were piano lessons for the girls.  They are learning using the Suzuki method, which means that I join them during their lessons.  So for an hour on Wednesdays I am up at school learning piano with the girls =)  They are offered through the school and are during the school day.  Right now we are still learning Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but hopefully we move on quickly to another song!

Within a two week period the girls both went on two excursions.  Clearly field trips are not cost prohibitive at a private school ;)  The first field trip Addie took was to the Zoo.  I of course volunteered to chaperone, only to find out that Addie did not want me to.  When her teacher asked her why...her response was "I really just feel that my mom is at school too much.  I am a big girl now, and I really need to start doing this thing on my own."  Uh really????  She is FIVE...lord help me now.  SO after a few days of thinking about it, Addie said I could help out (the teacher needed moms), but she did not want to be in my group.  When it finally came down to it, she changed her mind and decided I was cool enough after all, and she was in my group.  She even had a smile as we walked around the Zoo.  Even if Addie did not want me there, one of the little boys I walked around with did.  His mom told me that he went home that night all excited I went to the zoo with them.  Morgan went on a "walkabout" of the neighborhood surrounding their school, sketching and discussing different architecture. Another day, they took the train and went to the local shops to again discuss and view the different styles of architecture.

The other field trip for Addie was local and less exciting, so I did not go...instead I decorated the door for their Book Week.

One of the things that PLC is good at is balancing academics and arts.  For a week the entire school celebrated Book Week and Arts Day.  Each day was full of different activities centered around books and the arts.  On Tuesday, the girls dressed up as they favorite book character.  Morgan decided to dress up as Paulina from an Australian book series.  Addie dressed up as Fancy Nancy.  Both looked awesome in their costumes.  Addie's included a wig that she did NOT like....it came off an hour after she got to school.  She said she did not like that she looked so different in the wig.  Morgan had to make her entire costume, so we made her a wig out of yarn....that she kept on all day ;)

The highlight of Book Week for our family, was Morgan's performances.  On Friday, she sang two songs with her Petit Chorale, as well as performed a song with her house group.  But what made us the most proud, was her INDIVIDUAL performance in front of a library full of people.  The girls were able to sign up to "busk".  Basically this is performing for donations.  Morgan signed up to sing "Bare Necessities" SOLO.  Can I just tell you how amazed I am at her singing talent?  I truly had no idea she could sing like she can.  She amazes us everyday.

As if ALL that was not enough, Morgan was asked to run in a cross country race for school. Based on her running time in PE, they asked her to run a 1K.  And of course as if our schedule could ever be anything but crazy, her race started an HOUR after Dustin was discharged from the hospital.  Dustin was bound and determined to be there for Morgan, and so he was.  And of course, she was thrilled he was there =) While she did great, sprinting might be more her speed.  When it was all over, she said she liked it and would think about continuing training.  We'll see how that goes.

FINALLY, as a family we participated in the "City to Surf" race.  The girls and I completed a 4k along with several friends, while Dustin ran the half marathon.  It was a good family day, and we all had a successful race.  The event was HUGE with over 42,000 participants.

WHEW....in all of that, throw in 4 birthday parties, a Smashing Pumpkins Concert, a beach BBQ, playdates, volunteering at school, and all of life's daily chores.  Now I know how our 8 months here has gone by so quickly!

We think of home often, and miss you all!
Hugs
Amy

Stars and Stripes forever....

Spending the 4th of July in another country is a bit odd.  There were the obvious differences:

1.  Not a National Holiday, so the kids were in school and Dustin was at work =(
2.  No fireworks...and you cannot shoot off your own, so no sparklers even.
3.  I was in long sleeves and jeans instead of sweating my bottom off.

Now just because there were differences does not mean the day went uncelebrated.  In fact, many moms told me Happy 4th of July....I thought that was nice.  In fact I was asked by Addie's teacher to come in that day and make something "American" for the kids.  I was a bit stuck as to what to make because anything that was truly American I could not make in 25 minutes, i could not get the ingredients here, or contained Peanut Butter...which is not allowed in school.  I really wanted to make Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches for the kids cut out in star shapes, however I did not want to get the teacher in trouble for me bringing a banned item to school ;)  So took my mother's advice (as I always should!), and made a white cake decorated as the American flag with strawberries and blueberries.  Turns out my version of white cake was a bit different than they are used too, so they really enjoyed helping decorate the stars and stripes of the cake.

While they were eating their cake, I told them about PB&J sandwiches....there were intrigued that we eat "jam" with our peanut butter on bread.  They usually eat PB with honey if not plain.

Morgan's class did not even really talk about the 4th.  She knew what the day was, and we decided to start our day off by singing the "Star Spangled Banner" on the way to school....twice.  We then recited the Pledge of Allegiance just to make sure we did not forget it!

Instead of celebrating that day, the previous Sunday, we attended a picnic hosted by the American's Women Club.  Not knowing what to expect, everyone was pleasantly surprised and had a great day.  It was held at a local park and had hotdogs, hamburgers, COKE, Budweiser, ice cream, activities for the kids, and more.  They also had several choices of American candy....hubba bubba, Reece's Peanut Butter cups, and the elusive Krispy Kremes.  It was incredible how many people love those doughnuts.  I was not a huge fan of glazed doughnuts back home so I could not see spending $25 for a dozen here.

We spent the day with two other families from Houston.  Their kids and our kids ran around jumping, playing, running....just being kids enjoying the gorgeous weather.

While we were not in the country to celebrate the Independence of our country, we did remember the day and how lucky we are to be AMERICANS.  Next year though I am smuggling in some sparklers....

What is more American than baseball?

Yummy cake =)

Big Band....

Morgan and Teagan

The Ferriers and the Colliers

Eating a hot dog

Old fashioned cars

Tug O War

Group 1 for cake decoration

Group 2 and their cake

Say Cheese?

I love pictures...always have, always will.  Not only do I love being in pictures ;)  but, I love taking them and seeing all the memories they capture.  My pictures however have always been amateur at best.  While my pictures served their purpose to capture the moment, they was certainly room for improvement.  After moving to Perth, I quickly started looking for photography classes.  Just as quick, I realized how expensive classes could be. So being the avid couponer that I am, I was super pumped when I found a Groupon for a photography course.  "Protrack 1 and 2"  was being held at the Freemantle Prison and promised an interesting background to learn basics of my SLR camera.  

Of course I hate doing things by myself, so I was even more excited to find out that my friend, Marie, was also interested in taking a class.  So the two of us signed up and were surely on our way to becoming the "next big thing" in photography!  

After several attempts and scheduling mishaps the day had finally arrived to attend our class.  This Friday I packed my bag with everything I thought I would need and was ready to go.  Did I mention I forgot to charge my battery?  Yeah that would have been a good choice do to the night before.  Hmmm, now some of you might be worried at this point that the class would be ruined for me because I would not get to use my camera due to no battery.  HOWEVER, I once again lucked out and was able to charge my battery onsite before we started shooting some pictures. And since we did not even start taking pictures until FIVE hours after the class started, my camera battery was plenty charged.   

Yes, you read that correctly....a photography class that boasted an interactive site with excellent photo opportunities gave us a total of 60 minutes of practical hands on picture taking time.   Hmmm...not what I was expecting.

Now don't get me wrong, I really did learn more about my camera than I would have on my own.  And I know I need to understand the theory behind taking pictures before I can become good at taking pictures...but really FIVE hours?????  One thing I did discover is that I am not cut out to be a student that has to listen to lectures.  My ADD kicked in big time and I had to work really hard at not talking to Maria the whole time.  I suppose I should understand where Addie gets it from huh?

Back to the topic at hand however.  So when we finally did start taking pictures, they were of this 20 year old model whose dress would probably have been too big on Addison.  I felt like the paparazzi, and it was a bit uncomfortable to be honest.  

What did I get out of the course?  Well it did make me want to be a better photographer and figure out how to "design" a better picture.  But I can assure you I will not be attending Protrack 3 - 6 at a cost of $1500.  Instead I signed up (with Marie) for a 6 week CREATIVE photography course with a local art center for $187.  I do think this will be a better fit and I cannot wait to see the pictures that Marie and I learn to take.  Thanks Marie for "giving it a go" with me again =)

Hopefully this time I will actually have pictures worth posting on Facebook and my blog!  

XOXOX

Amy

Has it really been a month????

So in my last post, I said I was going to write every Friday about what that week.  Welllllll, as you can clearly see from the date of this post, that DID NOT happen.  I honestly did not realize how busy we have become.  On a normal week for us goes like this:

Monday- Swim for Addie at 4:10
Tuesday - Swim for Morgan t 5:00
Wednesday - Netball for Morgan until 4:30
Thursday - play dates with the girls friends
Friday - Garage and outside time
Saturday - 8:00 am Netball, and more outside time with the girls
Sunday - whatever floats our boat for the day =)

It does not seem like a lot of things, but it certainly does add up!  Dustin's group moved to a new building, still downtown but it now affects his commute.  He used to be able to catch the bus about 50 yards from our house and it would drop him off right in front of his office.  Now he can still catch the same bus and then get on another bus to his office.  Not too bad, but does add considerable amount of time.  PLUS the other issue is that he can not get home the same way because the downtown bus only runs one way....uh, that makes sense????  He tried taking the train home one day and that worked really well, as did riding the train into work.  So I can drop him off on the way to taking the girls to school...  If he does not like any of those options, then he runs home from work now.  It is 6 or 7 miles and since it gets darker right now he gets his run for the day.  He bought a special backpack just to run with =)

Both girls were assessed with their swimming and have been moved up to the next level of instruction.  Addie is SO proud that she can swim and no longer has to use floats.  She can really swim!  Morgan was told that her freestyle and backstroke are perfect, but she does need to work on her breaststroke kick.  They will not move her up if that is not down.  They do not want her DQing when she competes.   Both girls have asked to continue with swim, so I signed them up for two days a week both.  Hopefully we can coordinate so they can swim at the same time both days....otherwise that will be a no go!

Morgan received the Coach's award this past netball game for her defense and leading skills.  She is doing awesome and really is becoming a great athlete.  She can anticipate what is going to happen on the court as well as realizing what is going on at the moment.  Her reactions are getting great! Best of all, she is LOVING the game and wants to continue.  She has made really good friends who are also on the team...several have been over to the house and they are just as crazy as Mo.  Secret handshakes and all ;)

Addie continues to entertain her class and I am constantly being told the American sayings that other children are coming home with.  Ya'll seems to be a popular one.  It is funny to hear an Australian say ya'll =)

As for me, I am still trying to go to my Body Pump class on Mondays and Wednesdays.  Two out of the other three days of the week, I try to walk the beach with a friend.  We usually do about 4 or 5 miles a day.  For someone that really never worked out, I am pretty proud that I am doing this much!  I also found an Art Center that offers classes for things like drawing, painting, jewelry making, and photography.  I am hoping to find something to sign up for.

Slowly but surely we are staring to get the hang of their "language", but every once in a while they change it up and I get confused all over again.  For instance they call cookie a biscuit...okay got that, but then someone asked if I wanted a bickey, and I had that blank look.  I have made an art of that quizzical "huh?" look.  It's ok, I just smile and tell them I am American ;)

Still trying to plan our family vacation somewhere within Australia, and our trip back home.  Hopefully we can figure something out soon!  Time and money....both factors (aren't they always?)

HUGS to all!
XOXOX

This IS the adventure....

When we started telling people about our move to Australia, the word ADVENTURE usually popped up.  "What an ADVENTURE", "Make the most of your ADVENTURE", and so on.  Because I have never been out of the United States let alone lived outside of the United States, the idea of Australia was an adventure.  However when I hear that word, I conjure up images of grandeur, thrill, and excitement...you know BIG things.  So when I decided to write a blog to chronicle our ADVENTURES, I thought I could only write about our travels or eating weird foods or seeing HUGE spiders.  And for a while everyday was so new that things were easy to write about, I always had ideas.  But as we settle into life, I was getting worried that our ADVENTURES were being few and far between.  The ideas of what to write were not coming nearly as easy.

....and I then came to the realization that LIFE IS OUR ADVENTURE!  So while we may not be petting Kangeroos or traveling across the ocean or catching gross 8 legged crawly things, our days are adventurous.  So now I feel like I can write about our daily lives and what that means here in Perth.

So this week was busy....

Monday is swim for Addie, so right after school we eat a snack, get dressed and head to the pool.  Lucky for me, two of her friends from school swim at the same time, so I have moms to chat with =)  Addie is doing really well with swim, and does not let the COLD water deter her at all.  We bought her a wetsuit so that helps keep her warm.  She has done really well and is learning a lot.

ALSO on Monday, I went shopping for Dustin's birthday present.  Now this was an adventure because I drove on their freeways for the first time.  I only got lost once and had to one illegal U-turn to get to my destination, but it was worth it.  The navigation on my phone crapped out halfway through the trip, so I had to rely on good old sense of direction....clearly this was when I got lost ;)

Tuesday is swim for Morgan, but because we had to get ready for Dustin's birthday and she was starting to not feel well, we skipped it and went shopping for a homemade cookie cake.  I googled how to make a Great American Cookie cake, but that requires Caro syrup....they do not have that here, nor do they have Great American Cookie Company.  I settled for making a chocolate chip bar cake.  I was lucky enough to find decorative frosting, but the store was out of chocolate chips, so I had to use chocolate buttons....they melt much easier, so the cake was a bit different on consistency.

Also on Tuesday Morgan and Dustin went to the Father / Daughter breakfast for school.  It was at a local restaurant. Dustin said they sat with some really nice dads and that Morgan had a great time.  She seems to be right in the thick of it with friends and being a normal silly 8 year old girl =)

Wednesday was a big day for Morgan and I.  We went to the zoo.  It really was so much fun to see her with her friends.   That silly Morgan that we are used to has finally arrived in Perth.  She was able to be herself and her friends really like her for it.  I was in charge of 8 girls as we walked around and took notes on the Bushland.  Their assignment was to take notes on the habitat's characteristics and make connections with how the habitat suited the animals that lived within it.  They will then create an animal of their own that could survive in the Bushlands.  Pretty impressive what these 8 year olds could do!!!

Many of the girls wanted to see what words we used in American versus their words here in Oz.  The word they are the most enthralled with is "ya'll".  To funny. One little girl asked "Now is that short for you all?"  She then tried to speak American like me...she tried to imitate my "accent".  We had lunch on the lawn and the girls played for a bit.  After walking the zoo for almost 4 hours, I was EXHAUSTED when we got home.  Morgan was too, and actually wound up getting sick =(

Thursday she stayed home and we make a cookie cake for Dusty's birthday.  The one we bought ingredients for on Tuesday ;)

Thursday night we celebrated his birthday because I did not have anywhere to hide the cake....so out of necessity he got his presents early!  The girls also made him a poster for his special day.....

On Friday, Dusty had the day off.  We got his haircut, and then just hung out while the girls were in school.  We went exploring at a new mall for us.  Still unsure of the brands over here and what is our style.  In time....all in time.  

Morgan went to school because she had music camp to get ready for her Winter Concert on Wednesday.  She is in the Petit Chorale and loving it.  When I picked her up at 6 that night though, she was wiped out and had a fever =( Poor thing.   Needless to say she did not do Netball on Saturday.  

Today we are just being lazy and resting!  

Whew, we had a busy week.  I really am going to try and write every Friday about our week, unless something blog worthy pops up earlier in the week =)  

Hope everyone is doing well.  Missing you all like crazy.

All our love and hugs!!!!

She shoots and she SCORES at Netta =)

Every term at school, the girls get to pick a new sport to participate in.  The first term was swim, the second term was either Minkey (hockey), Netta / Netball, and multi-sport training.  None of those are sports that are really played in the States, so we were really surprised when Morgan came home and said she wanted to try Netta.  Sure why not?  

I must say that Dustin and I were just proud that Morgan wanted to try something new!  Netball is a rather big sport here for girls, so I was beginning to get a bit nervous since none of us have any idea how to play or what to expect.  As with everything else, anything can be researched on the internet.  So we went to youtube to at least see how to play the game.  The rules on the other hand, well that will have to be learned along the way.  

So our first Netta experience was this Saturday at 8:15 am.  Let me start from the beginning....Year 3 is the first year that girls can play organized Netball, so it is called Netta.  Every year there after it is called Netball.  The game seems to be a mix between soccer and basketball.  The first piece of advice we received was to arrive at the court EARLY because parking was limited and that fields are BUSY.  Not knowing what to expect, we got to the game at 7:40.  When we arrived, I was shocked to see how many courts there were...OUTSIDE.  Morgan was on court 34. Okay now to explain the game....I am not sure how to start, so please bear with my rambling.

The court is split into three parts with a basketball goal on each end.  The difference is that there is no backboard on the goal.  The court has lines similar to a soccer field.  There are five girls on the court at one time and they are each assigned a specific position...Goal scorerer, goal assist, center, defender, and assist.  Similar to soccer, you must stay in your assigned area as well.  The ball cannot be dribbled, instead it must be passed.  If you have the ball, you cannot run with it....you can pivot on one foot to move around though.  

Morgan played GS (goal scorer), GD (goal defense), and GK (goal keeper).  The only people that can attempt a goal is GS and GA.  So when Morgan was GS, she was able to try MANY times to score....she scored once.  Now that is one more time than I would have scored because there was no backboard.  She did a great job with passing, defending, and catching the ball.  When she went to shoot, she was so excited that she often overshot the goal.  Overall though she did AWESOME, and we cannot wait to see how she progresses this season.  I think she is going to really enjoy it!

Below are some pictures:

They all clustered together...always

No backboard

A couple of the other courts

All the different courts there

Morgan in the front right

She was goal keeper.  Defended the other teams goal

Talking to the coach about what to do as Goal Scorer

Shooting....

She made it!

Shooting again....

After the game getting "lollies" (candy)

Can you hear the music???

Between taking the girls back and forth to school and running errands I spend a lot of time in my car.  I usually have the radio on and have been flipping through channels to find my favorite station.  One station  plays "oldies".  The radio was on this particular station when a song came on that gave me flashbacks to one of MANY nights spent dancing in  my garage with Gretchen ;) ....the song?  "Flo-rida's Low.  I realized that many of my memories could be associated with a certain song or bang.  For example:

"Rolling on the River"...Kelly Kyle and I used to ALWAYS sing this song while riding on her scooter.
"Diddy by Paperboy"....Katie Grothoff and I would listen to that until we got EVERY word right.
Any Pearl Jam song...Kevin Martens, you were obsessed with Pearl Jam.
"Getting' Jiggy with it"...Spring Break when I met Dustin ;) (with LeeAnne and Angela)
"Chicken Fried"....The Breaux Family because I tried to sing that song at the Crawfish Boil...I knew SOME of the words
"Tik Tok" by Kesha...Courtney Terry, sorry Addie taught your daughter the words to that one.
"Stayin Alive"...Andree Falast, it is your favorite!
"Rumpshaker"...Andree Falast, because we shook ours in college!!!
"Temptations"....Lynn Collier, she loves any song by them!
"Old Time Rock and Roll"...this reminds me of my parents because we would listen to their old records and at Camp Goddard in 5th grade I sang this.
"Broken Road by Rascall Flats"....My brother and Michele's wedding song.  I can see them dancing ;)
"Eye of the Tiger"...I have two memories....2nd grade in New Jersey listening to the band play this while sitting on a metal folding chair....AND the halls of Hamilton Middle School.

The list could go on and on...because there are SO many songs and so many moments that I can recall.  That is the beauty of music...no matter how technology changes, music will always be around.  The format may change, but the song does not.

Know that I may not talk to each of you everyday, but rest assured that I do THINK about everyone.  It may be at the most random of times, but it happens.

Oh and do you have a song that reminds you of me?  I would love to know which one.....

Hugs Always