A year in review

Hello poor neglected blog, remember me? I'm sorry I haven't paid any attention to you lately, I'll endeavour to do better this year, okay?

I feel the need to get this little blog up-to-date. Here goes ...

Kylie

• Has finally finished a teaching degree, having taken 5 years to complete a 2 year degree. And what can I say but woohoo, I've finished, happy dance around the huge pile of notes and assignment drafts! Stay tuned for the ceremonial burning ...
• Is currently unemployed, but is working on rectifying that situation. I have decided to do casual relief teaching for a while so that I have time to help out Miss H's class one morning a week and also practice mess-making, otherwise known as art. Theoretically that would also give me time to keep up with housework, but I would miss the whirly-whirls of cat hair and dirt and am resisting changing everything in my life.
• Lost 7 kg, after putting on all of the weight I lost the year before. My personal trainer is my friend and, ummm, I love pain? Not. But I have discovered a love for Body Combat and am slightly worried about happy grin on face when kicking up a storm in class. I've also taken up swimming - James and I started stroke correction lessons this year and we're making good progress.
• Is getting more serious about art; I plan to keep this blog updated with my learnings and doings.
• Has a child in Kindergarten. When did that happen? When?
• Retired the dinosaur phone for XMAS and guess what? The new phone has Internet access, and can take photos! I'm so excited, though I do realise that normal people have had these phone features for years now. The photos in this blog post were taken and edited on this phone. They're not the best quality but I'm still a proud phone-mummy!

James

• Is rocking along okay at work, though may look elsewhere if a promised and well-deserved promotion does not go ahead. We'll see.
• Has taken up swimming and is loving it; it doesn't hurt his knees and what do you know but he's actually good at it! Check out the sexy goggle-look! In desperate times I have been known to wear my tinted goggles while driving, though the silly things do have a tendency to fog up.

Miss H

• Started swimming lessons in 2011 and has come along amazingly. We're so proud of her!
• Has developed a real love for anything creative.
• Has turned into a very sweet, intelligent, considerate and polite young lady, though she does have her off-moments as all nearly-6 year olds must have.
• Enjoys listening to us reading chapter books. We started with some Enid Blyton last year and have had many adventures since - great fun for all!
• Started school this year; her reading is coming along well and apparently her favourite activity at school is maths rotations. I was pretty surprised she told me that, as she's a typical child who usually responds with "I dunno" to my questions.
• Has shot up and is now taller than many kids a year older than her.
• Discovered a love for climbing trees. I remember my tree-climbing days with fondness and encourage her, and yes we are being as safety conscious as possible.

Eric and Rosie

• It took some time, but the new cat, Rosie, did end up working things out with our old boy-cat Eric. They now behave like typical siblings - they pretend to hate each other when anyone's looking but are secretly glad to have each other around. We've even caught them sleeping close together on occasion. They make us laugh and give us lots of love; I'm really glad to have both cats in our lives.
• That's Rosie below. As you can see she is not at all relaxed and happy with her home situation ...

And that's 2011/2012 (so far) in a nut-shell! I promise it won't be another year before the next post.