The Fate of Mr Pokey Face

It rained.

Then it rained some more.

After that, it rained and rained and rained. Creeks flowed, rivers raged, gutters overflowed and puddles grew and grew and grew. In particular, the semi-permanent puddle which encircles the school oval practically became a moat. News of flash flooding, landslides, road closures and water damage filled the airwaves, social media sites and the grapevine.

But, what do you think was the most interesting and exiting news of all?

It was, of course, the news that there were tadpoles hatching in the school moat in the puddles around the oval! Lots and lots and lots of tadpoles.

Mousie's class are currently studying nature's life cycles, so her teacher collected a bucket full of these tadpoles and brought them up to the classroom for observation. Some students wanted to observe them more closely, and so it was that Mousie met me one afternoon with a takeaway container full of murky, smelly pondwater and the tiniest little tadpoles I have ever seen.

Everything "baby" is just so cute, and these mini tadpoles were no exception. They were like a glistening grey tapioca with big back eyes and a sliver of a tail. We set up 'home' for them in the pergola, in an opaque, rectangular bucket, and started feeding them lettuce. I figured it would be a good experience for the girls to watch them change from tadpoles into frogs, and the girls were blissfully happy that they finally had pets!

The girls, particularly Mousie, Teddy and Kitcat, spent much of their time watching their new pets. One tadpole caught their eye because it often came to the surface and poked it's little face out of the water. Thus 'he' became christened "Mr Pokey Face" and was firmly established as their favourite.

I noticed during the following days that the girls weren't the only ones who liked to watch the tadpoles. I saw the backyard birds eyeing the bucket with great interest, so I pushed it underneath one of our outdoor chairs for protection. When the girls came home they immediately went to check on their pets and started panicking because they couldn't see the bucket. I explained that after they had fed the tadpoles they must push the bucket back beneath the chair so the birds couldn't eat them.

This became their little ritual - go outside after breakfast to say good morning to Mr Pokey Face and Friends, come home from school, check on Mr Pokey Face and Friends, clean the old lettuce out of the bucket, scatter some fresh lettuce over the surface of the water, and push the bucket back under the chair. Although the tadpoles were growing steadily, they were still tiny - smaller than my little fingernail.

The girls were very excited when Mr Pokey Face began to sprout back legs! In the following days nearly all the other tadpoles had started developing their back legs too. The experiment was becoming very exciting as the daily "checks" revealed daily changes in body size and structure of the tadpoles.

Mr Pokey Face, however, was leading in the developmental race. He was rather smaller than his companions but his legs were longer and, according to Mousie, he was the strongest and the fastest. He continued to live up to his name by regularly swimming to the surface to poke his face out of the water. Although I told the girls he was probably just trying to get some fresh air, they were convinced he was trying to communicate his love for them.

Just yesterday morning Mousie went outside to talk to Mr Pokey Face and immediately started squealing, "Mum! Guess what Mum?! Come see!! Guess what? Mr Pokey Face has arms!! He has two cute little front arms!! Oh look!! Guess what mum!?! He's using his arms to swim around!! Look!! Look!"

And indeed it was so. Mr Poky Face continued to lead the pack in terms of froggy development. The fact that he was now more frog than tadpole lead me to do some online research. Can frogs drown? Would Mr Pokey Face need an island in the bucket so he could climb out of the water?

My research led me to believe that an island would be a nice idea, although not entirely necessary, so we filled a little pail with some pebbles and sat it in the corner of the bucket. The 'island' protruded a few centimetres out of the water and we thought it would be a suitable froggy refuge. The girls spent the afternoon watching to see if Mr Pokey Face would utilize his new home. At one point they actively encouraged him to sit on the pebbles (ie they picked him up and put him on the island) but he did not seem happy so he was sloshed back into the water .... or so they thought.

As the tadpole bucket was pushed back under the chair I called everyone to the dinner table, but Mousie and Teddy were preoccupied. "Where did Mr Pokey Face go?" they murmured to each other as they peered through the side of the opaque bucket. Determined to ensure he was safely tucked away for the night the girls pulled the bucket back out from beneath the chair.

I heard the sound of dragged bucket scraping along the tiles at the same time as one of the girls screamed "NO!"

But it was too late.

It is unclear as to how Mr Pokey Face came to be on the floor. We will never know if Mr Pokey Face had been accidentally dropped by one of his protectors, or whether he had decided to try out his new legs while on his island and made his first, and last, jump.

Whatever the cause, the outcome was that poor Mr Pokey Face met his fate as a small, squishy smear on the pergola tiles.

Students of the Month(s)

Way back in November last year I forgot to chronicle a very important event - Ducky was chosen to be "Student of the Month". She was awarded for her Persistence and "...for always working to capacity - a great achiever."The girls started the school year on a wonderful note too, with Teddy receiving the first Chaplain's award at the first school assembly for the year. The week after that Kitcat brought home an achievement award she had received at the assembly, which was for "....always acting in a safe, responsible and respectful way to all."And the week after that Mousie showed me her Principal's Award, for "....fantastic work in maths investigation". She just loves maths!That same week Teddy was awarded with Student of the Month for February. She was so pleased with herself! She was the only one of her sisters who did not achieve this award last year (Mousie and Kitcat had their turn last March.) so I guess she felt like she'd caught up to them. She really does not like going to school, so to win this certificate is a real achievement. Teddy's award was for Persistence, and "....because she always tries her best and completes all tasks to the best of her ability." Well done Teddy!It's very gratifying for HB and me to know that the behaviour and attitude of each of our girls has been acknowledged with this much-coveted award, and all within a year of each other. We are very proud of them all!

Ducky's Decade

It's amazing to think our little duckling has reached the age of 10!

In her usual fashion she eagerly counted down the days until her birthday for at least 6 weeks beforehand; every day she figured out how many more days and then promptly forgot, meaning she had to work it all out again the next day! And every day she became just a little bit more excited until, the week before that magical day, she was practically jumping out of her skin at the mere mention, or even the thought, of 'birthday' or 'presents' or 'cake'.

She wasn't disappointed with her birthday gifts. She especially liked this cute and crafty present from Nanna and Grandad.Although Ducky had been begging for another Zhu Zhu pet in the preceding weeks, she was more than happy to unwrap this "Fur Real" toy duckling. It is just so cute as it quacks and flaps its wings after being fed! No wonder it keeps getting kidnapped by Ducky's little sisters.As well as some lovely new clothes, new winter PJs, books and other birthday goodies, Ducky was very lucky to receive a large amount of cash from Nano, Grandma and Grandpap. Do you think she likes it? Ducky was fortunate that her birthday fell on a weekend and she had asked to go to MovieWorld for the day. We went on the Superman ride twice (0 - 100 km/h in 2 seconds), the Green Lantern ride (goes upsidedown), the Scooby-Do ride (goes backwards in the dark), the Road Runner ride (which stops so fast you think you're going to be catapulted out of the carriage) and the Wild West Falls ride (goes backwards and sprays water everywhere). After all that Ducky was still buzzing with excitement, while I was feeling rather dizzy and slightly ill, but it was still a fun family day out.

Ducky, Possum and Teddy hugged some camel statues at MovieWorld.......... and then Possum and Ducky posed for a photo with a rather relaxed, languid Cat Woman who had taken up station on a vintage car.Like Mousie and Teddy, Ducky also had a voucher for a free birthday meal at Hungry Jacks so on the way home from MovieWorld we stopped for an early dinner. Once home again it was time for Birthday Cake .... .... except Ducky had asked for Birthday Pavlova instead of cake. Pavlova is a firm family favourite and everyone enjoyed it.

Here's the now-traditional digi-scrap page for Ducky's birthday.Happy Birthday to our big, beautiful, 10-year-old Ducky!! We love you!!

She's my Teddy .....

..... and she knows it!

Since moving to Brisbane HB has been getting up and leaving for work very early - often before I am even out of bed. (He goes in early to avoid the peak-hour traffic and get some extra practise done.)

Teddy takes advantage of this arrangement. She is usually awake before anyone else in the house. She waves goodbye to her Daddy, then jumps in bed with me. If she's lucky she will have me and the big bed all to herself for at least 10 minutes or more before Kitcat or Mousie join us for early morning snuggles.

This particular morning Teddy brought into my bed her newest teddy bear (Bernie Bear) and wriggled up close. Bernie Bear's silky soft fur was tickling my nose, so I grabbed it and hugged it tight.

Teddy pulled it away from me, saying reproachfully "Hey! That's my teddy!"

Then without missing a beat she snuggled in even closer to me, wrapped her arms and legs around me, put my arm around her neck, and said very matter-of-factly, "Here's YOUR Teddy."

I've been Tagged!

Like Debi, I have not done one of these for a very long time. I thought they had become extinct but, like some species thought to be lost to this world, the 'meme' or 'tag' is still alive and kicking (even if only rather feebly). So this is for you, Debi .....

The rules: (my version)
You must post these rules.
Each person must post 11 things about herself on his/her blog.
Answer the questions the “tagger” listed for you in her post, and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
You must choose 11 people to tag and link to them in the post.

1. Word association. I say “tender”, you say ______________.
Lamb. Tough lamb is the worst....

2. What is the most important virtue you possess?
If you're talking about the 7 Catholic Virtues, I think I'd have to choose Justice. It is the moderation between selfishness and selflessness. (I certainly cannot lay claim to many/any of the others.)

3. Favorite song and why?
My favourite song is Keith Green's "He'll Take Care of the Rest" or "Face to Faith" by Sandi Patti.

4. If you had to choose someone from the Bible that most closely represents you, who would it be?
At the moment I feel like Balaam's donkey - frustrated and stubborn. Often I think the Persistent Widow most closely represents me.

5. A quote or inspirational verse that you turn to when times are tough.
God's love is meteoric,
His loyalty astronomic,
His purpose is titanic,
His verdicts oceanic.
Yet in His largeness
Nothing gets lost;
Not a man, not a mouse
Slips through the cracks.

Psalm 36:5-6
(The Message - The Bible in Contemporary Language.)

6. What is your favorite recipe?
My Quick and Easy Cheesy Bacon Scrolls - I make these often for a quick weekend dinner, served with salad in summer or cooked veggies in winter.

6 sheets puff pastry
300g Bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
1 tin creamed corn
2 tablespoons mustard (any kind - your choice - optional)
1 & 1/2 cups grated cheese

Pre-heat oven to 210°C
Lay puff pastry flat on bench and allow to thaw while cutting onion and bacon.
Mix all ingredients (except pastry) in a bowl and season with pepper.
Divide mixture evenly between the 6 sheets of pastry.
Roll up, cut into slices, place on greased oven trays and bake until golden and crispy (about 20mins)

7. Most dramatic childhood memory.
Driving in the highlands of PNG over a newly made road, cut into the side of a mountain by the local villagers, mere hours after that side of the mountain had slipped away into the valley far, far below. It was raining heavily, nearly dark, and I laid my face in my Grandma's lap and prayed the whole way as my Grandpap drove the 4WD over the slippery road ...... this is quite possibly why I dislike 4WDing now.

8. (for a school throw-back question) If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?
I'd be a mangrove tree, with my roots in the water and the fresh sea breeze in my leaves.

9. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
My weight.

10. Coffee? Iced, frozen, hot or not?
Not frozen, but iced or hot (according to the weather) is fine by me!

11. A moment in time that changed your life?
When HB decided to join the Army it was a moment in time that certainly changed my life. I've had to learn to be so much more self-reliant and trust in my own abilities, due to the demands of his job and the fact that we were taken away from our family/friends support network.

It was fun to join in with this meme .... I am not going to tag anyone specific, but if you'd like to join in please let me know when you've completed the questions.

1) What pets did you have when you were a child?
2) When is the last time you treated yourself to something that was "just for you" ?
3) Which part of Australia would you love to visit?
4) Why? (about question 3)
5) If you somehow had the ability to eradicate one disease from this planet, which one would it be?
6) What's the strangest dream you have ever had?
7) Thinking back to when you were in senior high school, talking with your friends about how you'd like your life to be and what you planned on doing after school - how different or how close is your life now to how you thought/planned it would be?
8) Do you wear high heels? -Why or why not?
9) What's the one item of makeup you cannot live without?
10) If you could meet one celebrity/famous person politician who would it be and what would you say to them?
11) Do you believe in the current model of Climate Change/Global Warming?

Mousie & Teddy's Birthday Party

Mousie and Teddy really wanted to have birthday parties this year, but it's so hard to organise a kid's party when their birthday falls during the summer holidays (Mousie) or the first week of school (Teddy). They pleaded for a party almost incessantly, so I said they could have a combined party like they did several years ago.

This wasn't entirely to their liking, but I guess they realized it was better than nothing. So on 13th February they gathered with their friends at the local 'golden arches' for the long-wished-for party. This particular restaurant doesn't offer party hosting, so we just booked the little function room at the back near the playground and set to work having lots of fun.

Dragon was in charge of Party-Hat-Decorating. He had to write the girls' names on their sparkly hats and help them attach their chosen stickers and streamers. Possum was the Face Painter. She drew 4 designs on some paper and let each girl pick the one they wanted her to draw on their face or arm. And Ducky got the job of Tattoo Artist. She did very well as she industriously transferred a pretty heart tattoo to each of the guests' arms or hands.

HB was the photographer who took all these lovely photos.They played Pass-the-Parcel (Mousie's request) and had lots of fun on the playground. The McDonald's staff actually got the whole order correct, first time, which as a wonderful surprise. (Usually when we order as a family of 8 we always have problems so I did not expect them to get a whole "party" order right.) Everyone loved the birthday cupcakes I made - half with blue icing (Mousie's favourite colour) and half with green (Teddy's favourite colour) and decorated with sparkly sprinkles. Just before it was time for the party to end Teddy and Mousie opened their gifts. They were both so pleased with the lovely presents, and we now have multiple Zhu-Zhu pets scampering around our house!

School Resumes 2012

School started on 23rd January 2012. This was the first time in five years I did not have someone starting a new school 2007 - Ducky started Kindergarten (Prep here in Qld), 2008 - Possum started High School, 2009 - Mousie started Kindergarten, 2010 - Teddy started Kindergarten & Dragon started High School, 2011 - Kitcat started Prep (they ALL started a new school last year) but it is the first year one of my children have become a Senior Student. Possum, now in Year 11, has begun the senior phase of her high school education. At her current school this means, among other things, that she has to wear a formal uniform.She is quite happy that formal uniform is only required on Mondays and Fridays. The other three days she wears the sports uniform which students in all lower grades wear Mon-Fri. It's a shame, because I think it looks really nice. She doesn't like the tie (which she refuses to wear with the blouse buttoned up to the top) or the long-ish skirt (which she turns over at the waistband to hitch it up a little - we can't shorten ir because the school logo is embroidered at the hemline). Senior school also brings with it more subject choice - more deliberate subject choice.

Gone are they days when choices were made simply because you were interested a particular subject, it would seem. Some students need to think about which subjects they will need to study to, hopefully, achieve the OP results they would like in order to further their education at University after Year 12. This requires at least a vague idea of what they would like to do when they finish school.

Unfortunately Possum has no idea, apart from knowing that she probably wants to go to Uni, and this fact is not helping her natural indecisiveness as she is still unsure if she is taking the 'right' subjects and is still wondering if she can make changes even now - three weeks into Term 1. It seems there is a lot of pressure on them, at such a young age, to have a 'life plan'. I hope she understands that it's all in God's hands.

Isn't she gorgeous?

In other school news, Dragon has begun Year 10, the pre-senior phase, and is also feeling the pressure to 'know' what he wants to do/be when he leaves school. His personality is so different to Possum's, in many ways, so he isn't too worried about it ..... yet. He has been selected to be part of the school's touch football team again this year. Dragon has also been taking more of an interest in guitar lately.

Ducky was supposed to go into a 5/6 mega composite class with two teachers. Last minute changes in enrollment numbers meant she ended up in a straight Year 5 class. She has some good friends in her class and the new teacher seems really nice - even more so because she has some problem with her voice box which means she cannot yell. Not a problem for her students! She is in the Performance Choir again and has been promoted to the senior guitar group which will accompany the choir. Ducky was also invited to learn flute at school this year, and she was very excited to finally get her instrument a couple days ago.Mousie was supposed to be in a 3/4 composite with her amazing teacher from last year. She was so looking forward to it! Instead she is now in a 2/3 composite taught by one of the teachers Ducky was supposed to have. Her disappointment was immense - for a few days. On about day 3 of the term she confided to me that "...Ms E is even better than Ms M .... but just a tiny bit better." Mousie has been separated from her best friend but is now making new 'best' friends and, after her initial feelings of being 'demoted' back to a Year 2/3 composite, she is now enjoying being one of the bigger, smarter kids in the class. She is also enjoying her cello lessons as she was selected to be part of the school's string program.

Teddy was also disappointed when she found out the teacher she was supposed to have this year (Ducky's fantastic teacher from last year) ended up being assigned to one of the new Year 1 classes. Teddy is in a mega Year 2 class, with three teachers. Her main teacher yells too much, she tells me. She also does not like the fact that her old Year 1 teacher is one of her new Year 2 teachers. She yells too. Teddy doesn't like yelling (unless she is the one doing it, I suppose.) All her best friends are in other Year 2 classes. Poor Teddy didn't have a good start to the year. By the end of week 2 she was starting to brighten up a bit as she was the first in the whole class to finish her sticker chart and receive a reward. She also received the Chaplain's award at the first school assembly, which was for being kind to others. Her teacher told me she wished she had a whole class full of Teddy's because she works well and always behaves. So hopefully she will settle into Year 2 ..... after she returns to school after being home this week with pneumonia, poor Teddy!

Kitcat is the only one who ended up in the class and with the teacher the school told us she would. She has started Year 1 with a happy and enthusiastic attitude, particularly when she literally danced out of the door at the end of day 1 triumphantly holding the classroom pest pet . As the only one who missed out on this honour last year (because her teacher did not have a classroom pest pet) she was more than thrilled to be the first of all her classmates to be chosen this year. I was less thrilled than she, although it was a nice surprise to find that the teacher did not expect photos to be taken, printed and pasted into the logbook of "Snuggles" the puppy. Kitcat had to draw a picture instead.

This the is rather rushed photo I snapped two seconds before we all piled into the car to head to school that first day. Now that we are all back into school routine it seems like the holidays never happened! Oh well, only 7 more weeks till the Easter break.....