Misc Memories

As the year comes to a close, I'm doing a bit of organising and have some final memories to share. These are just the small moments that happened in these last three or four months that I've captured with a snap (most times just the one quick pic) that I'm thankful for now, or they likely be forgotten all together. 

We took the girls to seem Mary Poppins at the Lyric Theatre. This wasn't their first musical there, but it was the first they were genuinely excited about. They had seen a school production of it a couple of years ago but were so keen to see the magic on the big stage. 

Steve's brother's dog had puppies and we got to see them grow from tiny squirmy things to these fun little balls of fluff. They did end up getting twice this size before we had to say goodbye, but it was loads of fun to have cuddles with them before that. 

Sophie got a red stripe at Jujitsu! Red stripes are for leadership and are pretty hard to come by. We were so proud of her for getting this one. 

My school music concert was themed "TV and Movies" this semester, so I dressed in Steve's Jedi costume from four years ago and told all the students I was a "Jedi like my father before me."

The girls went on a guide camp the week before our 14th wedding anniversary, so Steve and I took the opportunity to have two nights away in the city. We ate delicious food and stayed out late, did an escape room and watched the Black Panther 2 movie. Lots of fun just being together in beautiful Brisbane. 

For the first time ever, we actually did our street proud with Christmas lights. Could be the addition of the front fence, but it was so exciting to now put up those lights. Steve got excited and got them all wifi connected timers and also went security conscious with them too. No hacking our lights! 

The girls went to a ginger bread house making afternoon at my parent's church where they were very excited about all the lollies on these little houses. They actually made six in total, four of which were shared with the street kids as soon as they came home, because there was a dance practice for the street party. 

Oh do I love to see the street kids organise themselves, practice and perform their dance at our street party each year. Three years in a row, and it's not getting old. Speaking of performance, these girls also did their first on stage performance with Rachel's music school. 

Proud of their performer lanyards, Rachel played piano and Sophie accompanied on ukulele. They also got their faces rather spectacularly painted. Their music school is moving next year to the other side of the river, but we are luckily retaining the fantastic piano teacher Rachel had and he is now coming to our house to teach both our girls. Whew! 

Sophie's compassionate nature scored her this free pineapple plant from Bunnings. We were walking through the garden section while she finished of a sausage on bread when we happened to see a pineapple that was just lying out of it's pot. Sophie told the people at the front and took them to see it. The Bunnings lady then said that instead of repotting it herself, she would just write it off and give it to Sophie to take care of. Free pineapple for us!

Rachel got a geode rock science kit for Christmas (early present since my parents were traveling) and had loads of fun being a scientist with it. Her favourite thing to do was smash open the geode that came with the kit, but she also enjoyed the other things. This crystal growing one didn't turn out quite as we hoped, but it was still fun. 

I've been reading lots of books. Some to check to see if the girls would like it. Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl, Ronia the Robber's Daughter, Enola Holmes and Dragon Rider all fall into that category. I've also read the second Dragon Rider book and am currently in the third. The first was good, but the other two are a bit busy. Still, the author has taken the time to add a thought provoking quote at the beginning of each chapter which I truly appreciate. 

I've done lots of sewing, and cleaning/culling/sorting of stuff that we need to get rid of, and other things that I guess I'll blog about soon enough. The garden is growing and the weather at the moment is beautiful. We are planning 2023 and some fun things to do there. 

I also type this with joy, because when I post it, it will mean I've finally made my goal of posting five posts a month for a whole year. I don't think that means I'll change things up next year. Maintaining is just as important as improving in some cases, but it's good to know I'm there. Maybe next week I'll think more on resolutions but for now, thanks 2022 for all of these little memories and more. 

Here's to 2023, whatever that may bring.