Much to Mark's horror.........

........Biddy is increasingly becoming a horsey girl! Ha ha ha. Whilst I wouldn't say that Mark is anti horses, he certainly can live without them in his life. So to have a daughter that seems to speak, breathe and live horses (even whilst not actually owning one), is just wrong in his books!

Fortunately for us, Mark's sister Libby does own horses and amongst them, a pony that is small enough for Biddy to ride (and add to that, it is lucky she lives almost next door). Back in May, we all went to Lib's place for afternoon tea on Mothers Day. Most of the little kids got a quick ride on the pony. Biddy spoke of nothing else for about a month. About 2 weeks ago, she again started banging on about riding the horse at Libby's, so I arranged a ride for her.

This may be the start of all things horsey for us.....but doesn't she look so pleased with herself? Brings joy to my heart!

The small things

I am feeling a bit happy today and it is all to do with a lump of wood. Yes, you read that right. Wood. Well, I think it's wood. Wood veneer at least. It is my new desk that actually is not really new.

Medium length version of the story is; when Mark renovated this house many years ago, a very small office was created off the front entranceway. Over the years, and with me now on the scene, it has become the office for EVERYTHING....studies, CFA, farm bookwork, entertainment and most recently, my Graceful Impressions office. We moved the farm stuff to another new office 2 years ago now, but the small alcove I have now taken ownership of, never got an overhaul. Old filing cabinets full of stuff we never use, an old student desk with drawers of stuff that haven't seen the light of day in YEARS, more technological equipment than a Dick Smith store trying to vie for room on the desk with my craft stuff......it just wasn't working.

About 12 months ago, I bit the bullet and bought a new desk with a return. 12 MONTHS AGO. I finally got fed up waiting for Mark to put it into the office, so mum and I cleaned it all out 2 weeks ago, stacking everything in the entranceway. As expected, Mark got sick of maneuvering around said stacks and decided he would put my desk together today. I don't think he realised just how long it would take him, but it is done now.

It is a very tight fit, but everything does fit nicely. In fact, there is little space for flies, dirt and small offcuts of paper to accumulate under furniture which will be refreshing! So now I just have to bring everything from the entranceway back to the office and find a nice spot for it.

As the title of the blog says, small things.........!!

In just 6 short months.....

Mark and I took Tom (and the girls) to St Mary's primary school in Colac for a walk through today. We put in an application a few weeks back for Tom to start prep and received a phone call last week informing us that he had been accepted into their prep class next year. Neither Mark nor I had actually been to the school, so before officially accepting the offer, we decided to have a visit and see the surrounds, the kids that are there and meet some of the teachers. It was really to get an overall impression and to see if it "felt" right for us and our family. Because let's face it...we have the girls to go through as well in a few years time.

I was so impressed with the school. St Mary's is a small school - only about 230 students all up - but it is big enough that the kids get to experience a range of opportunities. Like many schools here in Colac, St Mary's has recently benefited from a building stimulus package and is now sporting a new multipurpose room, library and grade 5/6 rooms.

The feel of the place fits in with our own family's values. It is nice to have something certain for Tom's (and Biddy's and Bella's) foreseeable future in the education sector. But oh my Lord.....off to school!!!! This has all just come around so fast. One minute he was a baby, the next we are discussing schools. This is the first step towards independence, towards not needing me all the time and it is scary as hell (for me!). And between you and me, I think a few tears will be shed over it all!

So.....look out St Mary's, here we come!

Thankyou

In this day and age, many congratulations are expressed "virtually" - that is, I mean that you tend to receive 'happy birthday', 'condolences' and 'congratulations' via the web, email or text messaging.

When we welcomed Bella into our lives, we received well wishes from many people in just these ways. Of course, we also received the "old fashioned" cards as well, which are great because you can hold onto these and cherish them in years to come.

For those that sent cards, we sent them this "thankyou" card. For those of you that sent well wishes via the internet, this is loaded on here for you. Thanks!