just another morning here

Happy Christmas from all of us

I’m going on a blog-break until some time in the New Year, hope everyone has a wonderful festive time. I’ll leave you with a round-up of the year, because I did them for the last three years so I figured I might as well do one this year as well - I was going to put it in Christmas cards but then I didn’t get round to it (or send very many!), so here it is instead.

January saw Anna turning 9, and then all three children starting school at our local C of E Primary, just 5 minutes’ walk around the corner.

In February we started our Service Centre, Water Lane Garage, taking on our wonderful mechanic Terry. Along with Steve, he has made the garage into a huge success, it has been a welcome addition to the sales site and is doing very well.

Josiah and I both got new bikes in March, thus completing the family’s bike ownership quota, and we’ve had some great bike rides together this year.

The highlight of April was Easter, and various friends who came to stay. We also had our first camping weekend of the year in the van, accompanied by snow and sunshine! Oh, and Anna got a merit in her Grade 1 piano exam (Christmas letters just aren’t right without this information!).

In May we spent time with friends and family in various places at various times! Anna went on her first school residential and loved it (predictably).

Joe had his 5th birthday in June, so I think we spent the rest of the month building lego and playing playmobil! Steve and I spent a weekend away together in Cheltenham which was great – and we did more camping and cycling all together as well. The garage went from a partnership to being Steve Clarke Cars Ltd this month, too, which was very exciting.

In July we went on a camping holiday in North Devon with friends, and then had various other friends to stay with us too. Anna passed cello Grade 2 with distinction!

August was busy too – we did the church Holiday club – the children attended and Sarah helped out. We followed that with a week away in Wales with friends, and then Greenbelt Festival over the bank holiday weekend.

We had the holiday of a lifetime at Disneyland Paris in the first week of September, which we all really enjoyed.

In October we had the pleasure of seeing Anna perform in the Wizard of Oz at the theatre, which was a fantastic production by her stage school. We also eventually decided to deregister Joe from school again so we’re back to home education for 1/3 of the children, while the girls are still really enjoying their schooldays. Half term was spent in a Yorkshire youth hostel with friends, and then in Birmingham with more friends.

November doesn’t seem to have been very exciting, I can’t remember anything of note, anyway! Anna sat yet another music exam (Grade 2 piano) and somehow managed to pass!

December – Abbie has just celebrated her 8th birthday, and we all enjoyed the run-up to Christmas with the added bonus of school activities. Water Lane Garage has also become a Limited Company, which is fantastic.

Anna is doing far too much extra curricular stuff, learning cello, piano, ballet, and dance/drama/singing at her stage school too.

Abbie will be taking Grade 1 piano in the New Year; she’s also learning the recorder and taking part in a Wind Group which she loves.

Meanwhile Josiah is carrying on with his suzuki violin lessons, and he can play beautifully when he puts his mind to it! He’s really happy to be being educated at home again even without his sisters, although it is a very different experience this time.

Steve and Sarah … well, a picture can speak a thousand words

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 7:34 and is filed under general. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.