NBTN : The Honeymoon is over

       

It's official. The honeymoon period is over. After 2 weeks of being here my husband started work today and my eldest daughter Ava starts school tomorrow. I am feeling that dreaded what about me feeling that all us mothers go through when our family move onwards and upwards in their lives. I've got a little bit of those lonely blues but ill get over it, hopefully sooner rather than later. I still have my youngest daughter Carrera with me for now. We've got her on a waiting list for the local daycare centre. I should be thinking about all the free time ill have to myself as a lady of leisure. Time for me to exercise, bake, blog and come up with a way to dominate the world! Back in NZ when everyone goes to work and school I used to get to hang out at home with my mum, dad and sisters. We used to get up to nothing at all, or a whole bunch of trouble. I skyped home and we hung out like we used which settled my nerves about being at home by myself. Good luck for the basketball game tonight guys! Go hard and get the W!

 

NBTN : off to the principals office

                         

  

Today I had the enrolment interview for my daughter Ava. Woohoo, she starts on Tuesday! In Nz Ava was in year 5. I remember it as std 3. In my eyes she had next year as her last year of primary then off to Intermediate. Here in Australia she is now a year 4 because she was born in the 2nd half of the year.

Her new school Mt Ridley College is separated into 3 sub schools within one large school that covers from new entrants to 5th form. 6th and 7th form is currently in construction to start 2014. Ava will finish this year in the junior school, makes some friends and settle in before she heads to middle school. Middle school is a combination of intermediate and junior college. Here they mix the age groups and even though Ava will be year 5 next year she will be integrated with children of mixed ages and mixed levels of learning. As a parent to me this means she is able to be her calendar age but still learn at the level she is comfortable with, whatever that level maybe. 

Uniforms are very full on but I like it. The look very smart. She needs a sports uniform twice a week. This includes a sport polo, black tracks and a rugby styled jersey. There is the school uniform as well which is worn on non sport days. At the moment we are in winter uniform which is a polo shirt with a tunic. A school jumper in wool knit or jersey and a school jacket. When she moves to middle school she will change to a blouse, skirt and tie combo, leaving the polo and tunic behind. The uniform isn't the cheapest but luckily I only have 1 to enrol, for now. Carrera turns 5 next March which means she will start school at the beginning of next year. OMG. Her school fees are $150.00 but that includes all her stationary. I hope this gives a small insight to the schooling set up here in Australia. I don't know if all schools are using this method but I find that it suits Ava's learning and personality. 

We have our American Idol finale party on tonight. My sister and her family are coming over so maybe I should put some baking in the oven. TGIF everyone!

NBTN : Melbourne Monday

 

                       

So I was going to post how horrible the shopping is here in Melbourne but instead I spent the whole day in a grumpy mood because I couldn't find my passport. 3 kids at home plus a 4 yr old that has the energy of terrible twosome on crack, plus a visit from the property manager tomorrow. Well that was a wee challenge for me today. Trying not too lose my cool with everyone because i'm trying so hard to retrace my steps to recover my passport. To kill time and calm me down I thought Id finally unpack out of our suitcases. It's been so full on since we arrived that we hadn't fully unpacked. Luckily the library called at 4pm and said that i had left it in the photocopier on saturday morning. i don't really know whats best right now. Having it back, or knowing thats how forgetful or careless I am sometimes? still though, what a relief! So now I'm here trying to use the free wifi, which is painfully slow, to download skype so i can have a chat with my sister. Multi-tasking right? Anyways hope you all had a better Monday than I did. I must say it has all turned out the way I needed, plus there is chicken marinating in the fridge for dinner. Nom! Night peeps xxx

NBTN : One way ticket to Melbourne, Australia

                                     

Good Morning Everyone,

It's my first TGIF post from sunny Melbourne this morning at 20 degrees. At the moment I'm finding it a but hard to disconnect with NZ. I'm in a great place at the moment, but the homesickness is so hard that I'm in denile, so I just block it out for now. My husband has a thousand different ways to connect with everyone via his S3 but I have my IPad. He uses whatsapp, voxer, viber, texting, Facebook, Instagram and now kik. To me that all seems a bit confusing so I thought I'd keep it streamline and keep it to Facebook and start blogging again to keep everyone updated with everything. Once we have our Internet provider sorted and with the help of my cousin Tyrel Orrin I will be posting videos soon too. 

Thanks to my little sister charm, above Is a snap of my family and I going through the gates at Auckland airport for our new adventure in Australia. We thought we were going to be late to board our plane so we raced to the farthest gate in the whole airport. When we got there the gates hadn't even opened yet so we were fine. We flew with Emirates and we enjoyed and recommend it thoroughly. Service, comfort, movies, games, music, food and drink, kids meals and kids entertainment pack for the same price or less as other Airlines at that time. It was Ava's 2nd flight to Melbourne, but a first for Carrera, Alfred and I. 

Everything has just been amazing since we got here. Our friends and family here have been nothing but supportive and amazing for my family and I. It really lets you know what relationships you have with people when you leave so much love behind and get to the other side and its just as overwhelming what people do for you. I'm so appreciative, grateful and humbled by everyone and what they are doing for us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Ka kite ano xxx Heds