Happy Ash Wednesday

We're learning all sorts of interesting things about Catholicism and the accompanying beliefs and sacraments. While we don't have the kids do the sign of the cross or recited prayers at home like they do at school, we do encourage them to appreciate all the different ways both religions worship and to recognize the symbolic value in each.

I attended the kids' Ash Wednesday liturgy where Will did an excellent reading from the Bible about how we're not to show off our good deeds. Then all the students received ash crosses on their foreheads. Definitely a new one for us. But I appreciated the introduction to Lent and that the ash cross was to remind them that nobody's perfect and encourage each child to use this opportunity to abandon a bad habit or find new resolve to improve oneself in some way.

Being at this school has led to some great dinner discussions already and I'd say that's a good thing.

Of Houses, Hats & Carnivals

SCHOOL. Bless it. Forget the notion that our move precipitated this blog. I, all of a sudden, find myself staring down 6 virtually uninterrupted hours each day while my three children are in school. (The same school, with the same schedule, I might add.) Brilliant.

Aren't they just cute?? (Kenna wasn't thrilled about not having packed black shoes.) Due to the hole in the ozone being directly above Australia, it's actually law that children must wear sunscreen & these funky hats anytime they're outside during school hours.

We toured four schools the day after we landed, and were equally impressed with each. Great education system. We chose a private Catholic school down the street with vegetable gardens, chickens to feed and a kitchen for cooking classes. I have to admit I like the idea of having them experience something totally different than they would otherwise have. Uniforms, agriculture, religion sprinkled in. I'm liking it. We may be heavily focusing our FHEs this year on the LDS Articles of Faith to avoid any doctrinal confusion, but I think there's great potential for enriching life experiences there.

The first day was actually their Swimming Carnival. We were bussed to a pool for the day for games and races and they made some cute friends as we sat with and cheered on their "house" participants. Yes, they are assigned houses, like at Hogwarts and it actually makes for some great school spirit activities.

Monday was their official full day and they did great. Well, except for Annie who cried about 5 of the 6 hours. She's still pretty young for "kindie" but barely makes the cut. Kenna's been a sweetheart to play with her on breaks but I think she'll be fine once she makes some friends. They all got real nice father's blessings Sunday night and we talked up how lucky they were to get two in one year (hoping they won't realize that they also never got a summer break...) Kenna and Will bumped up to year 2 and 3 and are so responsible, setting their alarms each night and getting dressed right out of bed. It's pretty cute and they seem to be adjusting well. I think I heard the words "best first day of school ever" in fact.

And me- I'm just home propping my feet up eating bon bons. (wink) I have yet to work out a schedule, but it's worth mentioning that Summer is at that delectable stage where she can sit and play on a blanket with toys for quite a while between naps. She officially "crawled" the week we arrived, but hasn't caught the full vision of being mobile just yet, which I'm a-okay with. Bless her sweet little heart.