Heart at Home

What have I been doing lately?

December has been its usual rush of activities. I have had little time for blog updates, as well as a few days there where I had no internet at all, through my own clumsiness. I knocked my laptop off the little table it sit on, and it fell straight onto the external modem plugged into the side ( I have a very well loved hand me down computer, no fancy internal modems for me!) It snapped the modem in half, and it took me a few days to get back online. Everything else is fine, and fortunately we had a spare modem, so it was not an expensive mistake.

The Christmas party was a delightful evening. Fantastic dinner and a dessert table laden with delicious little delicacies, including my all time favourite, Creme Caramel, a dessert that brings back memories from a very happy childhood holiday. We stayed the night at the Marriott in the city, and relished the exquisite linen and an actual bath tub. The view of the Brisbane River was pretty good too. We eventually retrieved our children from their ever indulgent grand parents on Sunday. It was a lovely little holiday, just what twe needed to launch into the couple of weeks since then.

We smiled back at the moon, Jupiter and Venus. Blurry picture, because heat has melted the glue in my tripod, so I need to stick it back together.

My cherished frangipani (plumeria for you North American types) finally bloomed after two years and a transplantation to a better spot. It looked good, but the kids picked all the leaves off it one day, sparking a parental explosion of epic proportions. It has recovered slowly, and finally rewarded me for my patience.

We said a fond farewell to Mr Brown, one of the most outstanding, patient teachers I know. Josh is so excited about moving on to school, but I am already feeling quite sad.


I stitched this Victorian Lace Snowflake, designed by Rosewood Manor (JCS 2007) for Christopher's teacher.

And Peace, also by Rosewood Manor (I didn't notice the coincidence until just now!), from JCS 2008 for Samara's teacher. This is the fourth year in a row that I have had a child in her class, and now I hear a rumour that she'll be teaching Samara again next year. She is very pleased with her growing ornament collection. She has more of my ornaments than I do!

Samara won the academic prize for her year level at the school awards night. Auntie Sarah was the designated photographer that night, so no pics just yet. We were all very proud of her effort. Christopher did not win a prize this year, but impressed us enormously with a solo performance at the concert. His confidence is amazing, to stand in front of a crowd and sing so well!

I have so much yet to do before Christmas!