Jasper begins his Preschool Journey.

In 1 weeks time my baby boy turns 3.

 Normally at age 3 would be when he would begin preschool but he has been fortunate to enjoy 3 years worth with me when I did casual teaching there.

baby Jasper at 5 months old sleeps in the reading hammock.

the boys used to adore and dote on him

 

more swinging in the hammock, sometimes it was the only way to get him to sleep in a busy class room.

just too cute



Jasper in the background, not yet quite mobile enough to get to his sisters preschool work adding glass beads



2 good looking boys in the mirror



preschool life just carries on around the baby!

 

This week marks another exciting occasion as I will not only be working at the preschool but running it also.

So Jasper gets both Mum and a preschool experience.

But he has been there right from the beginning anyway!

 

 

To see more of the new preschool click here

 

To see Sienna's preschool journey click here

 

To see Teddy's preschool journey click here

Sienna begins her preschool journey

After 2 years of dropping her big brother off at Banyan Park Playcentre and reluctantly having to leave after completing a puzzle or two, It is now Sienna Rose's turn to stay at playcentre for the next 2 years before starting her 'big' school journey.

Banyan Park Playcentre is a right of passage for most Norfolk Island children.

It began as a social club of the wives and mothers club who came together for social interaction for themselves and their children, they fund raised diligently and managed with the help of the Lion's club to earn enough to build the present building next to the Banyan tree opposite Norfolk Island central school in Middlegate.

Playcentre is a great play group style centrefor 4-5 year olds on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and for the 3-4 year olds on Thursday & Friday.

Tamson enjoying a quiet read while dropping her daughter Abi off. Kids books are addictive.

Wendy, Susie and Sarah have been the long time regular staff at BPP.

On Sienna's first day, she already knew 12 out of the 16 children in her group and they have all got along famously (speaking of famous, she has already entertained her class & teachers with renditions of the Mama mia/ABBA songs)

Sienna is happy to see her best friend 'my darling Wilkie' at Banyan park, no doubt they will get up to plenty of mischief together.
The amazing view out to Philip Island from the yard.

As a confident and heartwarmingly funny little girl, we wish her all the magic, wonder, learning and friendships that she can soak up in these preschool years ahead.

*in 2010 Sienna's baby brother was born. So at age 4 she enjoyed a year being at home with Mum  before going to big school and at the newly formed Montessori Kinderhaus.
Here is her journey to school blog post. http://norfolkheavenonearth.blogspot.com/2011/02/five-year-journey-to-school.html

My Stamps are Launched!

I have a list of things to do while on Norfolk list that I wrote over 2 years ago when we wanted to move over here, On the list I wanted to design a Norfolk Island stamp, write children's books and make beach glass mosaics(among other achievable items on the list). So far I can tick off 2 things,Stamps and mosaic but not the children's books yet..........

Well, the stamp launch day has arrived and I love them, they look so bright and colourful!

So how did I get to design the Norfolk Island stamp? Well............

Banyan park playcentre is Teddy's kindergarten and the only kindergarten on the island, It started out as the young wives and mothers club by some enterprising young mums on the island 40 years ago, but 30 years ago they fundraised to build a permanent building for themselves next to the Banyan tree and opposite the school in Middlegate.

So, Norfolk philatelic gave them an issue for their 30th anniversary and the money that would normally go to the artist would go to Banyan park. Now to find the artist and the design.

The offer was open to all families who use Banyan park and the community to design stamps or Christmas cards using images that were inspired by "Norfolk, children and a Banyan tree'.

It was about time I got my paints out after being on the Island for 6 months, so I felt some inspiration and the spirit of competition kick in(even though I am not hugely competitive in life.)

I love COLOUR!the brighter the better, So I went for the children in Norfolk theme and painted a series of about 8 different scenes depicting what I felt was relevant about the children in the community. There were some other really good entries too, some done by photographing the children and adding little phrases.

The final decision rested on another Mum,Alice from Banyan park who has Graphic design experience and she chose my 4 designs plus an extra banyan tree to be part of the first day cover. I was thrilled and felt so honoured to be able to support Banyan park and at the same time, have something that I designed posted around the world.

I painted all of these back in June(see blog a creative week) and have taken some photos along the way, to show you the journey of the stamp.


I painted these on heavy cardboard and then Alice Rogers, who chose the designs, scanned and played with the set up of the words and amounts and lastly, Rob from Photopress changed the design again slightly, cleverly adding the rainbow to each stamp and adding some extra colour and pizazz, before sending them to be printed in N.Z.

Finally, they could be launched today, we celebrated with a little party at banyan park with lots of Original young wives and mothers, who are now playing another important role with the island children as they mostly all have grandchildren.


Next, we got our Christmas cards printed as well and were overwhelmed with the amount of orders for cards that we received, my Christmas card designs with my stamp on them have been whizzing all around Australia, New Zealand and the world, Amazing.


I have loved every minute of the process,
And now my head is starting to fill up with designs for next year..........................