Jack's First School Sports Carnival

Jack had his first sports carnival the other week.  Now he is not a very good loser so we had spoken to him in detail about how not everyone can win and it's all about having a go and enjoying yourself etc etc.  They had been timing the kids at school so they were pitted against worthy rivals.  Their race started with a false start so they re-lined up, bang went the starters pistol and they were off and racing.  I was so proud of my little boy sprinting down that field, little arms pumping and cheeks jiggling.  His little friend Mitchell won the race and Jack was unfortunately at the back of the pack.  I could see his little shoulders pull upwards in the start of a sob and I reached him just as a teacher and the headmistress were asking if he was okay.  I scooped him up and gave him a big hug and told him how proud I was and what a great job he'd done as I struggled to hold back my own tears.  All the Prep kids got a ribbon for competing which took some of the sting out of the loss for him and he recovered quickly enough.  I was worried that he wouldn't want to participate in anything else but he was back on the field in the relay race not long after.

The next activities for the Preppies were the ball games.  That was adorable to watch.  Even though they had been practicing the games at school the excitement of the day made for a bit of confusion as to who was to run and to where.  I was very thankful to my boss for letting me have the day off so I could go and Owen stayed for the first race as well which was great.

They took a break for lunch.  Jack had a chocolate milk and an ice cream...a real athletes lunch!!

After lunch they had high jump (which wasn't very high and was of mixed techniques, his friend Lauren has some great form), a ball toss, vortex throw and they finished up the day with the long jump, again using a variety of techniques.  It started spitting just as they were starting the long jump so the end of the day was timed well.  Apart from the not so good start to the morning Jack seemed to enjoy himself which was great and it's always nice to hang out chatting to my friends Tricia, Kim & Erica so it was a good day all round. 

The school holidays started this week and so far Jack has done alot of PS3 and Wii playing.  He has been asking about going to the "zoo park" for awhile now so after I finished work the other day we headed up there for a couple of hours.  We started with a walk around the animal enclosures before heading up to the playground area.

Here's Jack being very co-operative as a size model beside this huge leaf.

Daddy helping him out on the monkey bars.

Sitting on top of one of the big concrete pipe thingy's and looking pretty cute doing it too.

And getting a push from Dad on the swing.

Not much else to report and it's pretty late so I better head off to bed.

Ciao

The Rocky Show

So after Owen and I finished work yesterday we headed off with Jack to the annual Rockhampton Show!!  Woohoo!!  Oh what fun!!!  I just SOOOOOOOOO love the show.  It's such and exciting event in my year!!  When we were kids it was just such an extreme treat to go to the show and my brother and I both even used to get a new outfit just for the show.  The atmosphere to me is just electric.  So many sights and sounds, so many different personalities, different fashions, I nearly go into sensory overload. 

We didn't get there until about 4.30 so I did miss out on going through all the pavilions (Jack would be thanking his lucky stars for that).  As soon as we got there we went and registered Jack at the Police stand and got him and ID bracelet.  Last year we actually found a little lost kid so if there's something like this offered at your local show, I'd definately recommend it.  Before we headed off to the rides we went and checked out how we went with our cooking and craft entries and we both did quite well.

Jack received a commendation for his Lego entry which he's proudly pointing to here, it's the green vehicle at the back.  He tells me that just about all the protruding thingys are guns, lots of guns, such a boy thing those guns.

He won 2nd place for his layered jar display, Yaay Jack!!  His mask wasn't a prize winner unfortunately but you can see it in the photo on the bottom shelf, it's the one with the red pom pom on it's cheek.

I got a 3rd place (I think) for one of my scrapbooking entries and a 2nd place for my jewellery making, Jack unfortunately missed out on a place for his scrap page and fine art drawing.  On to the baking!!  Jack placed 2nd for his scones and I can't remember now whether he got some type of placing for his muffins as well.  I got 2nd for my birthday mini cupcake display and I can't remember what placings I got (all seconds and thirds) for my scones, pumpkin scones and chocolate cake so that was pretty exciting.

*Official Results*

Jack-  1st for chocolates

          2nd for bottle of dried food

          3rd for batch of plain scones

          Commended for Lego display

Me-   1st for Pumpkin scones (thanks Kim)

          2nd for Jewellery Making

          3rd for Chocolate Cake

          3rd for Plain scones

          3rd for Mini cake decorating

          Commended for scrapbooking (I thought I'd at least gotten third place but nope, just a commended)

By the time we got through that one pavilion Jack was champing at the bit to get stuck into the rides and games so we headed off for him to enjoy himself and enjoy himself he did.  He had a ball with all the ball games...

...boat rides (get away shark!!)...

...driving the train...with no hands...woohoooooo this ride is wild!!!...

...the merry-go-round...

...the jumping castle...

and the dogem cars with Dad which he just loved.  The last dogems ride they had was pretty rough and I thought at one stage that Jack looked as though he was about to jump out of the car to escape but after he the ride was over and we were walking away he told us that all the big bumps just made him tougher...grrrrrrr...and then he sauntered along with his hat on backwards, "the tough way".  Awwwwwwwwww, he's so adorable.

So that was the show for another year and it was great.  

Ciao

Bit off more than I could chew...

So our local show is on this week (which I'm very excited about) and Jack and I have entered a variety of things in the craft and cooking sections as we have the last couple of years.  Thinking back now I'm pretty sure that last year I told myself that I should choose just a few things to do and not do so much however I obviously forgot when I was filling in the forms.  I had done a read through and highlighted the sections I thought Jack and I should enter and then when I filled in the forms I just kept adding other things.  So I have had one hell of a busy baking weekend.

In the craft sections Jack has entered the fine art drawing, a layered jar of dried foods, decorated mask, scrapbooking and the lego and I entered scrapbooking and jewellery making.  The cooking was where I went overboard.  Jack has entries in the sweets, scones, small cakes, muffins and juvenile cake decorating.  I'm in the fudge, scones, pumpkin scones, slice, chocolate cake, tomato relish and the cake decorating.  I was meant to be in the chocolates, ring cake, damper and piklets but ran out of time.

This is my wedding cupcake entry

And this is my entry for the birthday cupcake section.  I think they're really cute but they won't win because I didn't have time to do any piping (well that and the fact that I'm an amateur who does some wonky work)

As well as all the baking, Jack had a soccer game on Saturday morning and has started Circus Skills classes on Sundays so we have had a full weekend.

 I bought this gorgeous oil print from work the other day.  I fell in love with her as soon as I saw her.  I tried her out in a few different spots before I found the best place for her.

I had to re-arrange a few other things to fit the print in so now this is my entryway and all the photos that were in my entry are now in my hallway.  It's nice to have a change around.