Back to school

Unbelievably, the school holidays are over.  My boys have gone back to school this morning as Grade 2s.  Its going to be a great year for them, I can feel it.

First day of grade 2

I know some parents are thrilled that the school year has begun - those summer holidays can feel very long!  But for me and the boys, it is with mixed feelings that we start another year.  Part of me is thrilled to have them off to learn more, to not have to drag them off to do the jobs that are part of my week, and to have the peaceful hours in the day without the occasional bickering and the constant run of mess that they leave as a trail behind them.  But the other part of me will really miss having them home.  I love having them home to come and eat lunch with me and I've thoroughly enjoyed having my one day in town for shopping and jobs broken up by visits to the skate park or a scooter ride/walk along the foreshore and visits to the library to choose a pile of books together.  And for their part, they will miss lazy mornings when they haven't had to get dressed till 10am, and being able to come and chat with me, and time to explore, play and just be, enjoying the precious twin time that they spend together - brothers and best friends.

A beautiful place to walk on shopping day

But, as we're not homeschoolers, it is back to school for us and back to our regular routines. and today, that routine for me includes hours of mundane office work (blah!). and a big batch of cooking for Stu to take to share with his (new) workmates tomorrow. He feels guilty leaving me to cook for his turn at supplying morning tea, but that's ok. Honestly, I feel guilty that I get to stay home and cook while he goes to sit in an office all day.!

School holiday strawberry picking fun

Fresh strwaberries are the best!

I haven't blogged much over the last few weeks, school holidays does that, but there is so much going on around here that I have been busting to share!

Firstly, we have put our deposit on our solar power system! With a bit if luck, we'll be making our own power by the end of the summer. It will be amazing to have no (or very small) power bills, and to think, we have the gut-wrenching experience of Stu being made redundant to thank for it....

Our second big news is that we've booked an overseas holiday for later in the year. We are thrilled to be able to take the boys to Bali with us to experience another culture, and I'm really enjoying working out how to have a culturally enriching, environmentally OK holiday. I'm also loving relearning bahasa Indonesia (which I studied at school and uni) and teaching the family a bit too.

And our third piece of exciting news (you guys are going to love this one) is that we're getting goats! I have finally nutted out a plan and twisted Stu's arm into agreeing. I've also found a breeder close by who we'll buy from. We will get a couple of mini goats who will produce just the right amount of milk to keep us in dairy products 9 months of the year.

It's all just too exciting! I knew this was going to be our year.

I'm hoping to be back to more regular blogging now, so I should be back real soon.

I hope all of your days (extreme weather aside) have been grin worthy too.