Our year in Nursery, 2010

Launceston West Ward Nursery, 2010



Robert and I have spent a little over a year as nursery leaders at church and were released from our calling today. Its been lots of fun working with everyone; seeing so many different personalities and traits developing throughout the year. We spent time playing with toys and playdough, singing lots of action and nursery songs, reading endless stories, mopping up tears and runny noses, co-ordinating morning tea (or should I say refereeing morning tea LOL), teaching basic gospel lessons - lasting approx 30 sec to a minute - its very hard to keep 2 year olds on task, and being constantly rewarded with loads of hugs.

Robert and I had our photo taken with Owen on his last day in nursery before his family moved to live in Victoria. Comfort, our wonderful nursery assistant, is hiding in the background.

Each member of our class has been so much fun to get to know and teach and we'll miss them so much!!! Thanks to all the parents who shared their precious children with us.

Arden loved playing with the red bucket this year.

Eden has grown up so much this year.

Chloe (our climber and class problem solver) sitting at the table working on her lesson handout.

Hannah (with her Dad) and Ava - 2 of our newest class members.

Chloe and Rachel enjoying their fruit at morning tea time.


Tarquin and Arden loved having Robert in the class and spent a lot of time getting special hugs and stories.

Aiden enjoying one of our bubble blowing sessions at the end of class one Sunday.


Ella always came into nursery each Sunday with a smile on her face.

Chloe loves books and enjoyed sharing a story with Hannah.



We welcomed Matilda into nursery recently and she settled in so quickly. She is a very determined, and bright, young lady!

How can you resist this face! Arden has been the most sensitive member of our class this year. He has an eye for detail and has never failed to notice, or make comments on, my jewellery each Sunday.

Robert working with Ella and Aiden during a colouring in session. Aiden loved Robert's drawings of racing cars that always ended up on the back of his colouring-in pages each week.







The highlight of each Sunday for the children was the time spent blowing bubbles just before mums and dads started arriving to pick them up. There were always lots of squeals of delight and cries of "my turn" when the bubble containers came out of the cupboard. Chloe learned to say the word "bubbles" very quickly in her first couple of weeks with us!

2010

Seminary/Institute Graduation (including Jenny Phillips fireside) 2010

On Thursday evening our family attended the combined Seminary/Institute graduation ceremony for 2010 which included a fireside performance by well known LDS artist, Jenny Phillips. Jenny and her husband, Dan, flew from Utah to spend just 4 days in Tasmania, leaving their young family behind on Thanksgiving weekend. Everybody who attended appreciated Jenny sharing her amazing talent with us!

We've attended many graduation ceremonies over the years and this year it was Rachael's turn to graduate, after 4 years of regular attendance at Institute (a 4 year course of scripture/church history study for young adults).
I really enjoyed the talks given by Jordan Christie and Sam Prebble and it was great to see so many of our youth receiving certificates for completion of this year's study.



It was wonderful to see our Stake Young Women's choir join with Jenny to sing one of her beautiful songs called "Virtue". After the formal part of the evening graduates and their parents joined together for the "cutting of the cake". It was delicious, especially the chocolate around the edge!

Saturday at Symmons Plains

Yes, it was time for me to get my yearly dose of burning rubber, revving engines and high speed action when I headed out to Symmons Plains on Saturday 13th November to see the V8 Supercars in action! Its always a great day out. There were plenty of great viewing spots on "the hill", the weather was kind to us (too kind as I got my first sunburn of the summer season) and I got the chance to experiment with my camera on dozens of fast-moving subjects! Besides the supercars there were also a fantastic range of older touring cars on show, Australian superbikes, stunt utes and young guys doing crazy stunts on their motorbikes.

Off to the fair...

Each year on the November long weekend it has become a tradition for my sister, Carolyn, to fly in to Tassie for a couple of days so we can go to the craft fair together. Somehow, Sacha also manages to get the day off from work to join us and she adds to the fun and laughs! Now all of us have a variety of technology devices on hand it's become a challenge to capture some funny photos along the way. These photos usually involve food or, more to the point, the eating of it! There's always so much to see and do and friends to run into along the way. My purchases this year focused mainly on jewellery, although I saw lots of other things I really liked too! I managed to find the stand selling my favourite flowers (bearded irises) and made the girls wait while I chose some new colours to add to my collection!
The raspberry cheesecake is always a favourite and this year I had mine for morning tea in the vain hope that I might walk some of it off throughout the day! Sacha and "Aunty" Carol preferred the Brid River lamb sausages. One of the fun things about the fair is hopping on and off the buses to get to each of the venues and this year Sacha managed to capture a shot of us "two old loves" (as she calls us!!) getting off the bus. I always manage to get a payback photo along the way. By about 3 pm in the afternoon we're all exhausted from walking, shopping and eating and its nice to stop and rest before heading for home. There's nothing like a zingy ginger beer to rejuvenate body and mind before the drive back into town! Nothing more to do now than look forward to next year...

It's Iris Time...

October and November can't come quickly enough for me each year because I wait with baited breath to see how many of my bearded irises will flower. These stunning flowers thrive on neglect and then produce the most amazing blooms. I've been adding to my collection for the past 10 years and sometimes have to wait up to 3 years to see some of my purchases come into flower. Its always worth the wait, though, and my camera works overtime recording each new flower as it emerges. The other great thing about these flowers is that they multiply, and can be divided every 2 to 3 years to create lots of new plants to spread to other parts of the garden. Next week at the Deloraine Craft Fair I get to add a few more different colours to my collection. Can't wait!!!
I've discovered over the years that I just can't resist all shades of purples, lavenders, etc. so this year I need to try to focus on other colours - maybe pinks and whites for a change.