Time to brag on my girls. . .

Meggie and Katie have completed their first year of school at Marsden and last week was filled with prize-givings and chapel services and shared lunches and caroling concerts and all sorts of celebrations. They have had an amazing year and as I sat at each of their prize-givings I was so grateful that they were part of such an incredible school - not only is Marsden at the top of the tables in New Zealand academically, but Marsden also has a higher percentage of girls that participate in extra-curricular school activities like sports, chess, drama, debate and other school related activities than any other school in the country. That, combined with the amazing teachers we've enjoyed and the lovely friendships the girls have formed have been such a blessing to our family. Dugald and I are grateful, as are the girls, for the opportunities presented at Marsden, thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the scholarships!!

Faculty and Staff enter for the start of the Upper School prize-giving ceremony.

Meggie received an award for achievements in science and maths. She and I were laughing on the way home that neither one of us saw that coming - she's usually much stronger in language arts!

Of course I forgot the camera - so this video clip - and  the photos - are from my phone. It's hard to hear but you can see Meggie walk across the stage and collect her certificate.



Meggie also was awarded a certificate at school for passing her grade three speech and drama examination with honors.

I went to Katie's prize-giving as well and while she didn't get a specific prize (the rumor is that they never give first-year girls prizes in the primary school), she did have her name mentioned all over the program for outstanding achievements in sports and on international tests, so we couldn't be more proud of her!! Here is a list of her accomplishments:

She participated in Western Zone Athletics Competition (you had to qualify by placing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in your school's athletics competition)
Western Zone Swimming Competition
Wellington Primary School Swimming Championships (only she and one other girl from her grade qualified)
Chilton St. James Exchange

Credit for ICAS English
Distinction for ICAS Science
Distinction for ICAS Mathematics

I went to Katie's last chapel service prior to dismissal and got this photo. I was on the committee to make food for the morning tea prior to the service and while we were there setting up there was another big jolt from an earthquake. The little girls were out playing on the vicarage lawn and I did the dumbest thing possible and took off running to find them - Dugald said if it had been a big one I'd probably be dead. I don't think I will ever get used to these things!!

After school on the last day a lot of us went to the pool since the girls were dismissed at lunchtime. Here is a cute photo of Katie and some of her good friends.

I have to give a shout-out to the girls' amazing homeschool math teacher, Daddy, because as I'm sure you noticed they have excelled in that subject. Well done Daddy for laying such a strong foundation and preparing them so well for school.

If you aren't sick enough of all this bragging already, we also received the girls' end-of-the-year school reports and both of them were full of praise for our girls. I'll just include a little excerpt from each here as this blog gets printed at the end of the year and serves as our family scrapbook and we don't want to forget how well they've done.

I'll start with Katie - she had seven marks for outstanding effort and two for commendable over her various subjects. Some of my favorite quotes . . .

English "She listens politely to the ideas of others and will ask relevant questions to gain further information or to clarify her thoughts. . . ."

"Kathryn was always well prepared and is a a natural speaker. . ."

Health and P.E. - "Throughout all physical activities Kathryn has promoted fair play values and shown respect for others."

Final paragraph from her form teacher:
"Kathryn's diligence to her work has contributed greatly to the excellent results that she attained. She willingly accepts responsibility and actively pursues these opportunities. Kathryn's spontaneity and ability to be herself, as well as her capacity to compromise and negotiate with others makes her very popular with her peers. She displays excellent thinking skills and is very perceptive. I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching Kathryn as her positive and energetic nature contribute much to our classroom environment."

Last but not least, Katie placed in the 96th percentile or above (stanine 9) in Reading Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension and Mathematics on the New Zealand national standardized tests. We are so proud of you Katie Anne!!

Now on to Meggie. . .

Opening paragraph from her form teacher:
"This is a report of which Meggie can be very proud. It is a reflection of her hard work and determination to give her best in each subject. Her teachers have commented on her strong abilities across the curriculum, especially in Mathematics. Meggie has made a very positive impression on all her subjects. Her cheerful, enthusiastic attitude and respectful manners makes her a special member of the form class. We have been very fortunate  to enjoy Meggie's gracious leadership skills in Term 4, as Form Captain. She has undertaken the role reliably and with humility. I have enjoyed getting to know Meggie. Each morning she has a cheerful greeting and a smile, which helps to set the tone for the whole class. I wish her well for Year 8.

Meggie got an A+ in Math, B in English, B+ in Science, and a B+ in Global and Local Perspectives. Her other grades were effort grades in Design Technology, Food Technology, Art, Music, P.E, Religious Education and Introduction to Languages and she did really well with almost all 5's for Outstanding Effort.

We didn't get a comparison to national standards for her but we are also very proud of Meggie for adjusting to school this year, making new friends, being diligent in her work and doing so well academically.

Taupo Half-Ironman

We've just returned from an amazing weekend in Taupo where I participated in the half-ironman as a part of a team. We had 14 teams and 4 individuals who went together as "Karori for Glory" and competed together. I did the swim portion of the event which was a 2K swim in the very cold lake. I've been nervous about the event even though swimming 2Ks is easy for me - I hate wearing a wetsuit, I hate being cold and I hate swimming in a crowd. However, my good friend Fleur encouraged all of us to sign up and I'm so glad I did - there is a real sense of accomplishment at having conquered my fears. Dugald was an awesome support and encouragement and the girls had a blast hanging out with so many of their friends for the weekend. I had a fantastic team and we rocked 15th place out of the female teams competing, so yay us! (Don't ask me how many all-female teams there were, I don't know but probably not a lot). Our friend and neighbor across the street organized the "Karori for Glory" shirts and baseball caps for everyone and we all rocked the race in our blue and certainly stood out from the crowd as there were so many of us. 

Me, Julie and Fleur about to swim - it's 6:15 in the morning!

Milena and Murray cheer us on.

More Karori for Glory supporters at the swim start.

Alison and Lisa (Lisa is my biker)

Milena telling me to think of every sorority girl who ever wronged me and swim for revenge.

The purple caps (teams) started 10 minutes after the white caps (individuals).

"Mom no one looks good in a wetsuit." Agreed.

My little encouragers! My biggest encourager took the picture. 

Ellie and her friend Pascalle

My teammate Lisa rocking the 90K bike ride.

Richard with his medal - he was the first of our individual competitors to finish - he finished in 5 hours even. Amazing!

Josie, Ellie and Isabel.

Fleur and Richard

Kids playing rugby while we waited to run our runners in to the finish.

My teammate Kathryn on the 21.1 K run to end the race.

The kids ran everyone in for the finish - here is Kathryn finishing up for our team - the Karori Dynamos. 

What we've been up to. . .

Sorry for the lack of blogging - it's been a crazy month! Dugald was gone for a little over two weeks in Seattle, then he came home for two nights and was off again for another week to Sydney. We missed him but the girls were good and we did well, it's just really hard to single parent. I didn't have time for much extra so taking photos of the girls and blogging fell by the wayside I'm afraid. I've spent considerable energy, research and prayer trying to find us somewhere to live. We have to move out of our rental by January 19th and we haven't found anything yet. . . we tried for two houses but were seriously outbid. I am now looking at rentals but those are scarce as well. We could move out of our suburb but I feel very strongly about doing whatever we can to stay in Karori as most of our friends and connections are here. We'd appreciate your prayers.

Now that the hubs is back I'll try to be a bit more present on the blog! It's a busy time of year down here in the Southern Hemisphere. Not only do we have Christmas busyness like everyone else, but we also are faced with the end of the school year busyness. The girls only have one more week of school and there are parties to go to, chapel services, prize-givings, shared lunches, etc, etc. They've loved their year at school but I think we are all excited about the slower days of summer and spending more time together as a family. 

Katie in her panda hat just thinking.

Ellie enjoying the sunshine in her penguin hat while she does some painting.

Meg and her friend Katie on a walk to the shops - nerds!

 Katie's school disco was held during the time Dugald was in Seattle. Marsden combines the Year 5's and 6's for the disco and it's girls-only (Marsden is a single-sex school). I was on the planning committee for this year and a lot of thought and effort went into making it a special night. The festivities began as soon as school was dismissed and the girls headed over to another room for "after-school club" where they got dressed and some older girls were there to paint their nails and do their hair for them.

Katie and Jemma in their coordinating colors

Having her nails painted. 

The lanyard around their necks were their tickets which also had stars for them to throw into the wishing well for spot prizes. All was going perfectly - the mom's that were meant to make the snacks for after school had all shown up and there was plenty, the Year 13's had come to help the girls with hair, makeup and nails, the Cultural Center was decorated beautifully, the food mom's were in the cafeteria cooking up a delicious meal. . . .

The only problem, and it was a big one, is that the DJ hadn't shown up. When we phoned him to find out where he was it turns out he hadn't had our disco in the books (it was booked a year in advance by the previous year's committee) and he was in another town. To make a long and rather stressful story short, I ended up being the DJ with some help from mine and other's iphones and the technical department at school. The Year 13 girls stayed around and emceed the event and sorted some games and whatnot. Another girl ran to the upper school and got lights and a disco ball. Somehow we made it all happen, the girls had fun, and the school has decided we may not need to spend the $450 on a DJ for next year's disco. . .

Anyway, I will try to update more often than once a month! Thank you for sticking around those of you who have been checking on us here.

Happy Birthday G.G.!!!!

Lots of love from all of us. . .. Dx

Ballet Exam Time Again

It's that time of year again - ballet exams for the older three girls. They've each worked very hard this year and we look forward to seeing if their results reflect that. Each one of them came out beaming so regardless of their scores it was a great experience. Meggie did grade 5, Katie grade 4 and Josie grade 2. 

Katie with her teacher Ms. Tarrant and her group of Scarlett, Pippa and Ruby.

Meggie's group - Olivia, Georgia and Miriam.

Waiting patiently and practicing since they could hear the piano music from upstairs in the downstairs studio where the girls got ready.

Josie and her partner Celia and their teacher Mrs. Miles.