Kate!

Kate on Premontre Day participating in Tug-of-War, which her class won!

Kate tried out for the school hip-hop team on Wednesday. Will find out next week if she made the cut!

School Mass

We attended our first College Mass tonight. Phil is away at the moment, so it was juts the girls and I. It is one of three compulsory events for the students (and their families) the other two are in November. We all enjoyed it despite the sudden drop in temperature which left us a bit cold!

Two Weeks Down

Well we have survived the first 2 weeks back of school. We have the school run down pat to 2 different schools now, we leave home at 7:45am to drop Kate off first, and then back to Ella's school by 8:20am. In the afternoon Ella gets picked up first at 3pm, and we get to Kates school around 3:20pm. She finishes then but doesn't get out to the car until 3:30pm so it works out well. We are home around 3:45pm. The girls are getting used to getting up around 6:15am. We organize bags, homework and uniforms at nights so less hassle in the morning.

Dancing is going well too, taking up Mon, Tues, Wed and Saturdays. They will be performing at our local festival next month, so are looking forward to that.

The weather has been unbearably hot. The air con is still on the blink, this week someone is coming to look at it, so hopefully it can be fixed or we will have to replace it.

Ruby is enjoying Year 3, and Jonah has just started 3 year old Kindy!

Happy Birthday Amie!

 Our eldest daughter is 25 today! Where did the years go?

We went straight down to Amies after school. The traffic was terrible - slow and busy busy busy! It seemed to take forever! We enjoyed cake! The kids played (didn't get any photos of the kiddies today!) Then we came home. Everyone was tired. Kate wasn't feeling the best. TGIF!

Happy Birthday Amie Turtle!
xxx

Premontre Day!

At Kates school, there are Five houses - Kate is in Premontre. Today they celebrate with a day of fun!

Here is a little bit about the 5 houses:

	Xanten, near the Dutch-German border was the birthplace of St Norbert in 1080. His early life before his conversion was spent in this area. As such it holds a treasured place in Norbertine history. Xanten is also familiar as the name of our Performing Arts Centre. The Xanten mascot is a Tiger. Prémontré is the valley near Laon in France where St Norbert Established his first communities of canons and cannonesses. It was from these that the Norbertine spirit spread through Europe. While there is no longer a Norbertine community at Prémontré. it is the beginning of Norbertine history. This house name would be familiar to staff and students as it is the name of our Library. The Prémontré mascot is a Penguin.   After some years at Prémontré, St Norbert was made Archbishop of this German city and Primate (Head-Churchman) of Germany. In 1126 he also established a Norbertine community there, which had a high reputation for missionary preaching among the pagan people known as the 'Wens'. St Norbert was buried in Magdeburg, but at the time of the Reformation his body was taken to the Abbey of Strahov in Prague. The Magdeburg mascot is a Magpie.    The town of Tongerlo, in Belgium has a Norbertine Abbey which is the 'Grandmother' of the community here at Queens Park. Canons from Tongerlo Abbey established a community in Ireland, which in turn made the foundation in Western Australia. Tongerlo was established during the lifetime of St Norbert, so it has a strong tradition which is over 850 years old.Norbertines from Tongerlo have spread the spirit of St Norbert to Canada, Chile, Zaire, Ireland and England. The Tongerlo mascot is a Kangaroo.   Kilnacrott is a Gaelic (Irish) word meaning 'church on a hill'. It is the place in County Cavan, Eire, where Tongerlo Abbey established a community of canons in 1924. Holy Trinity Abbey Kilnacrott founded the Norbertine Community in Western Australia in 1959 when three Irish Norbertines arrived. The Kilnacrott mascot is a Crocodile