Term 2

So far this school year has been crazy busy, and very stressful.  It's been such a messed up school year with Covid and the flu as so many students and teachers have been away at different times, we've had to wear masks (up until a couple of weeks ago), and we've been so busy with planning interpreted Parent Teacher meetings and then having to reschedule so many because of illness. 

I've also had to plan extra on top of my usual teaching in case we needed to go on class.  Illness hit many teachers hard last term and I ended up getting the call to teach on class at my school for a day last term, when no other teachers were available. 

I literally haven't taught on class for 22 years but it wasn't half as bad as I thought it would be. It reminded me of the good things about being on class (only having to deal with your 'own' students, creating relationships from the beginning of the year, knowing exactly where you students are at) but I love my job as an EAL teacher, and although there are many challenges that come along with it, I still think I have the best job in the world. 

I love working at the school that I'm at because I feel like a real part of the school community and not 'just' an EAL teacher.  I had fun planning and running the school disco with the P.E. teacher last term and the kids had the best day. 

Kobe and Harri have both loved playing club footy on the weekend and both of their teams have won pretty much every game.  Kobe has also loved playing school footy again and we so excited to play on Aaron's oval with his team. 

We loved watching the NBL this year because of our new Tassie team the Jack Jumpers.  They did so well in their first season and made it to the grand final.  I joined up as a member at the beginning of the season just to support them, and also so we could go to the games when they played in Launceston, so we were really lucky to be able to get finals tickets when they were released.  We went to Hobart to watch them play in the second game of the finals and were so excited when they won the second game. Unfortunately they didn't win the third. 

We've been to a couple of live AFL matches in Launceston to watch Hawthorn play but I have to admit that I don't follow it much anymore and have no idea who the players are.  Kobe is still really into it though and so is mum.  Aaron would be happy that at least one of us is still into it! 

Kobe had his 14th birthday in June and as an early birthday present I gave his bedroom a makeover.  I spent a whole weekend pulling down an old wardrobe that was falling to pieces and taking it to the tip, and then putting together flat packs and putting up floating shelves. He was so happy with it. 

His birthday was on the weekend so we decided to go down to Hobart for a night and stayed in our favourite hotel. 

We rode scooters to the cinema and met Jay and Jessie there to watch Top Gun Maverick which we all loved. 

The next morning after opening presents we went ten pin bowling and then Kobe chose sushi train for lunch. 

Kobe and I went for a drive to the snow one weekend. I always love going to it, but am always so glad that we don't have to live in it all winter long. 

It was also my birthday in June. The boys were great and all made an effort to buy me some lovely presents. It was on a school day, so after school we went out and had Bento boxes for tea. 

The next night it was lovely to go out for tea with Simone, Naomi (visiting from Adelaide) and Collette (visiting from Hobart). 

Kobe and I loved meeting my cousin Emily's baby Jasper for the first time about a month ago.  We couldn't visit when they were in hospital (bloody Covid!) but I had dropped off some treats and had spoken to Emily through the window.  He was so cute and such a happy little man. 

We loved spending a weekend with my brother Jared and Becky when they came up for a pickle ball tournament. Kobe and I went out for tea with them (and of course Jared has to give the finger for every photo!) and then the next day Jared came and watched Harri play footy and then we watched Becky play pickle ball. 

We loved having them around for tea and to play games. Becky kept saying how quiet it was in our house because they had left their five kids at home. 

Noah would've turned 21 in June and it kind of crept up on me.  We have a joke from when Harri was little that Noah's favourite meal was KFC (as Harri wanted to eat it one year for his birthday, even though Noah never had KFC because he was tube fed), so we had KFC and cake at the cemetery. 

One of the best things about Kobe playing footy is that Thomas is on his team, which means Bec and I get to hang out every Sunday.  We've been friends since Kinder so it's fun to have our boys play on the same team.  We had lunch at the beach after they played at George Town one week. 

Harri isn't home much as he's either at work, at Josie's or hanging with his mates at the gym, but I'm glad that he's out and about and busy. 

Poor Kobe got really sick at the end of last term and we did three RAT tests which were all negative for Covid.  We also did a PCR just in case, which was also negative so it must've 'just' been the flu.  He was home sick for a week and I ended up staying home with him one day, but probably should've stayed home a lot longer with him. I can never find the balance of not feeling guilty as a mum or a teacher (especially when there's so many teachers away from school at the moment). 

We've still avoided Covid somehow and are hoping that next term isn't going to be as crazy as the last one, but with Covid peaking in the next month plus the flu around I don't think it's going to be better for a while yet.