A quick catch up

It's been a busy few weeks so I've not had much time for blogging.

We finished up school (for the next seven months) a week before Christmas. We'll miss the everyday contact of our school community while we're in England, so we felt a little sad. It was an even bigger last day day for Jacob because when we get back he will be starting at a new school. Here he is after going through the 'guard of honour' with the other students who are leaving.

So we got through all our farewells and end of year events and it was time for me to really start packing for England and getting organised for Christmas. But on the first day of the holidays, I got sick (worse than I'd been all year - the type of sick where you can't really get out of bed and look after the kids). So I needed a fair bit of help for the next couple of days and didn't manage any packing. But I was well for Christmas - hooray! I got to enjoy our church carols night:

you can't see it in the photo, but as well as Christmas decorations, there were tea lights in jars hanging from the string - stunning!

We spent Christmas day with Dave's family at our place and then Boxing Day with my family. Both events were a great chance to spend time with our families.

our kids with some of the cousins from Dave's side of the family...

me and my sister

Then this weekend, we had two more special events. First, Elsie had her sixth birthday. We celebrated by inviting two other families over for brunch in the morning (utilising one of her presents - a chocolate fountain!). Then we had lunch with Dave's parents, and dinner with mine. A busy day, but one that was very much enjoyed by our extroverted six year old!

The second special event was Rebecca's baptism yesterday (I explained our thinking about kids getting baptised back here if you are interested).

And now we have thrown ourselves into packing for our six months in England! I can hardly believe we only have two weeks until we fly out now. Exciting (and a little stressful!).