FRIENDS FOREVER (Senior School Musical)

Justice's school musical this year is on Thursday, when Will is at work and I am going to be bombing my closed book Equity exam.  Fortunately, there was a matinee performance today and I was able to see the show.  Justice was in a small group of male dancers from his class who did a quick routine to "Hammer Time".  (They were hammerhead sharks)  Its bad quality, poor camerman (I didn't even realise I could zoom) because its just from the regular pocket digital - but Justice is the little shark on the left with the special moves...


Sharona came along with me, and we were surprised by how long it was (two hours) but very impressed with all the hard works the kids had put into it.  And the cute costumes...



(our little shark is the one with his knee up)



OUT OF THE BOX

We have been absolutely slammed this week, primarily because in addition to a generally busy week, QPAC is putting on the children's Out of the Box festival again.  SO MUCH bread goes into those delicious lunch boxes and cute little burgers!  (In fact, our Monday night for Tuesday was our busiest night to date - by A LOT!)

This is Justice's last year (officially its an under 8's festival) so we wanted to be sure and get along and have a look.  Because of my exam schedule, and the expected weekend crowds, we opted to skip school Friday in order to head into the city.

I found that the paid workshops and performances were a bit more pricey than past years, I don't know if this was my interpretation based on the budget, but we signed up for the Left Side, Right Side - Flip Side event primarily because only kids had to pay for tickets.  I was shockingly uninformed about what to expect (there was an informative blurb, but I hadn't read it when I booked the ticket). 

The performance was fantastic - young circus performers in a dream sequence.  And even better, this performance was followed by all the kids attending seperating into groups and round robinning through a series of intsructional workshops taught by the same young performers.  In the end, Justice got to do the things he saw in the performance and it seemed like he had a ball!

 In case you had any doubt, lunch was delicious!  We sat near the under age stage and saw the end of a comedy routine involving a pink frocked water ski team and the beginning of a magic show...

All in all, we were very happy with our choice of performance and very impressed with the entire Out of the Box festival.  There were heaps of free activities outside and tons of delicious food on offer.  We had a mini burger with chips and salad for FOUR BUCKS!  how cool is that?! 

AND it was absolutely DELICIOUS!

It was our last official visit to an OOTB festival, but it was a treat.  We're ending on a high...

Which might be why I let myself be talked into doing the ferris wheel again, even though I am a giant wuss and really struggled with the height the first go around...

ANOTHER YEAR GONE BY...





Time is flying...

Look at him... GROW!

see more here and here and here 

MOTHER'S DAY...

Happy Mother's Day! 

I have a few friends who are experiencing their first Mother's Days - how wonderful for them!  CONGRATULATIONS!

I have a few loving women in my life who have played some sort of mothering role with too little recognition - I am thinking of you!

I have a few friends who will find that today goes by unmarked.  I hope that this isn't you...

For all of the wonderful women I know and adore -I hope your day is marvelous! 

I was spoiled with a breakfast in bed of scrumptious honeyed pears and warm toasted brioche.  Will was full of delicious surprises! 

I curled up in bed with Merlin keeping me company and savoured the experience before indulging in a novel - (gasp, pleasure reading during the semester!)

What a perfect day. 

LONG WEEKEND

I love this time of year, when we are spoiled with a series of public holidays... (how crazy is our life that two days off constitutes a long weekend?) 

It also means that Justice was able to have a friend over...  They played legos and giggled and stayed up late... They watched Scooby Doo and we went out to breakfast...  They got out every stuffed animal in the house... but it was lovely to have her stay and great to give Justice an opportunity that parents who work six nights a week are not always free to give...

really they could've shared a single order of French toast - this place buys in the best bread!

the boys...

(that was my breakfast!)

tired after staying up late...

PLUS, the build up meant I had help with SO MANY chores!  I never knew a more helpful child...

THE NEVERENDING STORY...

Ok, maybe sometimes it IS all plays... but how could I resist this classic?! 

We watched the movie last weekend, and were thrilled to be attending the intimate Cremone Theatre once again. 

This adaptation of The Neverending Story was brilliant. 

Honestly, if you have the chance you absolutely have to check it out!

CHANGES

Merlin was very sick today, and my regular vet was closing in half an hour.  Because we are still limping along after the dramas, we rushed into the other local vet. 

Merlin walked through laundry powder that had spilled.  This made him very sick when he cleaned it off his paws afterwards.

BUT it was only temporary - AND it gave us the excuse/opportunity to run new blood tests... As suspected, Merlin's kidney failure was an acute reaction to dehydration during his recovery from surgery.  On his new diet, and after all the special patient loving care, Merlin is now wonderfully happy and OFF the organ failure list.  He is WELL!