Heart at Home

Oh, what a night!

December again, and it's time for the annual school Awards Night. I am certain the mosquitoes spend the whole year preparing for the night's feast. I also know that the children and their teacher's spend hours preparing the performances. The quality was quite high this year, a vast improvement on some years. Samara's class rock and rolled to Splish Splash. Seven year olds dancing with each other is always an entertaining sight. Christopher's class sang a couple of songs, one from Africa, and one from the Torres Strait, as they have been exploring other cultures this term.

An additional surprise was that both our delightful children won Quiet Achiever Awards! Samara's was a little expected, she has had an outstanding year of progress, and we have been thrilled with her effort. Christopher's was even more remarkable, coming out of the blue. He's a bright boy, but has always been a bit restless and spontaneous for the classroom. One of the things he's gained from his involvement in the Youth Choir is an increased attention span, and it's starting to really show! As I said to him (and the grandmothers I spoke to on the phone afterwards), "Wow! You managed to be quiet and achieve, at the same time!" I am simply bursting with pride at the moment :)

Above is a photo of the kids with their prizes - gift vouchers for a book store. We will have a very nice time spending those! The blurry guy in the blue shirt is Paul Lucas, the Deputy Premier of Queensland. The kids were impressed with his title. He donates quite a few prizes to the school each year.

Christopher enjoying a slushie at the sausage sizzle before the formalities.

Samara, cute as a button, even with tomato sauce on her cheek. She was much admired by a friend of mine who only has sons.

I am very annoyed at the 'wall of text' that is this post. For some reason my paragraph breaks are not showing today, and I am too lazy to figure out why. Oh, and Grandma, if you are reading this today, the photo will be taken tonight, once the tree is decorated for a background.