Gingerbread Houses

We continued our annual tradition of making gingerbread houses with the Sheppards this year. I don't know what it is with us and these things but we never can seem to get it right! We decided it would be best to do one per family so it would be clear which house went home with the Sheppards and which one stayed with us. While ours was beautifully decorated, it wasn't structurally very sound. I think maybe the walls couldn't quite bear the load of all those decorations. Anyway, it was still a fun afternoon and it was lovely to see the girls working so well together and it's always a joy to hang out with Pippa and Monty.

Afternoon tea before we start.

The Morrison house just before it collapsed completely.

Monty and Pippa with their finished product.

Josie in The Wizard of Oz

Josie was great in her performance of the Wizard of Oz. I love the way the drama teacher organized the show - each scene change involved a complete change of cast for Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow so that there was no one star of the show, rather everyone got a chance to shine. I've cobbled together a bit of the scene where Josie played Dorothy, followed by her receiving the school cup for the highest score on her Trinity Exam. Enjoy!

Christmas Parade and Ballet

Greetings all!! I do believe this is the busiest we have ever been in the lead up to Christmas which is my  excuse for being so behind on the blog. It's been a fantastic few weeks with lots of shows, dinners with friends, end-of-school activities and parties so we are not complaining, but we are ready for a little down time and r & r over the next few weeks. I'll start with these photos from the Christmas Parade, followed by the ballet recital of Sleeping Beauty. Meggie and Katie were in the parade this year because Josie had a rehearsal for her drama performance and Ellie was at a birthday party. 

Meggie and Kristi - spotty clowns in the parade.

Katie and Dierdre.

Christmas kitty.

Josie all dressed up for the recital.

Josie and Sophie.

Meggie and Miriam.

Meggie in the middle.

Katie in the middle as a mouse.

Josie in the middle front.

Meggie second from left.

Meggie second from right.

Marsden Year-End Activities

Big sigh, Meggie and Katie finished their last day of school for the year last week. We are exhausted - but very proud of our girls! Their school reports have already arrived full of praise and excellent marks for each of them, and both girls received awards at their Prize Givings. They also performed at a music concert - they both played piano and Meggie sang. Given that they have only been taking piano for a few weeks I thought they were very brave to participate.

Here is a clip of Meggie singing with her partner Charlotte. My phone ran out of memory 45 seconds into the song, apologies!

Meggie and Charlotte with their voice teacher, Annabelle.

Katie's Prize Giving was held first and she did very, very well. She was commended for "consistently high achievement and excellence in science and research" as well as winning the Year 6 speech cup. I stopped the video after that and missed catching the announcement of the next award on video - The "Esther Franks Year 6 Cup for All Around Achievement" which Katie also won!! She won that with her very good friend Emily Stewart. The program says, "This cup is awarded to a student who has worked consistently and has achieved at a high level." We are so, so proud.

Katie with her teacher, Mrs. Johnson, and Lottie, Juliet and Mila

Katie and Emily after being presented with the cup.

The Year 6 girls (as many as I could fit in my frame).

Meggie also won a prize at her Prize Giving. Whereas Katie's Prize Giving is held at school, Meggie's is in the Town Hall and is quite an affair. This year Meggie was highly commended in Languages, Information Technology and Mathematics. We are so proud of her for her hard work too!

I've cobbled together a video of the girls getting their prizes along with a short clip of Katie's last ever Primary School chapel service (I cried) - she is dancing away in the front but it's hard to pick her out of the massive crowd of girls.

Scouts Camp

I took the first few of these pictures as we dropped the girls off, but the rest of them were taken by the leaders. The girls LOVED Scouts camp! They are already asking to be signed up for the Easter camp. Next year all four girls will be in Cubs or Scouts - I think it's great since they will be at an all-girls school and we are a family of all girl children. So much better than selling Girl Scout/Guide biscuits!

Katie and Anna work on putting up their tent.

Meggie sorts out her new self-inflating camp roll.

With a little help from Katie and the instructions.

Anna, Anna and Katie on the flying fox.

Getting ready to ride.

Meggie on front horse.

Left-over glitter on her eyes from the cheer performance.

The Katies.

Katie

Meggie, Katie, Anna, Anna and Richard.

Katie, Anna and Richard

Girls in the jacuzzi.

Meggie and Katie R's tent.

Katie on the zip line.

Here comes Meggie.

Katie again.

Katie abseiling.

Meggie decides to try abseiling facing forwards. 

Group  Shot.