Leaver's Dinner

I'm not sure how Jalen is about to finish High School (grade 10) because it seems like he was just in grade 7 a year ago.  Aaron used to love going to the grade 10 leaver's dinners at school and we used to love going along to see his students all dressed up, as they arrived in their fancy cars.  I always imagined what Jalen's leaver's dinner would be like, but never thought it would happen so soon.

I was so happy that Jay decided to ask one of his girl friends to go with him, and for the last couple of months I've been bugging him to see what she would be wearing, so we could go and find a suit that would match.  When he found this blue suit he loved it straight away, and there was no talking him into going to look at other suits, as it was the one he wanted.  I was actually pleased that he cared about which suit, shirt, tie and shoes to get, as it could've been easy for him to just tell me to pick them out. He probably could've gotten away with wearing a suit that he wears to church, but it was nice to make it extra special, and to get a new suit.  At least I know he will wear it again.

We had some fun mucking around taking photos in the backyard, before his partner arrived.

 Milly is always waiting for the ball to be thrown!

 I love the shoes he picked out (just not the price tag!).

Jay asked his friend Edina to go with him, and I hadn't met her until tonight. I have to admit that I did some Facebook stalking to check her out, and was glad that she seemed lovely.

It was so nice to meet her tonight, and it was fun seeing them together, as I could tell they were good mates and that they would have a fun night together.

Edina's family knows someone who owns this very cool car, and he was happy to drive them to the dinner in it.

We went to City Park to get some photos, and it was packed with other people taking photos from both Queechy High and Riverside High as they both had their leaver's dinners tonight.

Edina and Jay were keen for a photo in front of the train :)

It was nice that Mum was able to come in to check him out.

We were so glad that his good friend Eliza (who goes to a different school) had her leaver's dinner on the same night, as it meant we could get photos of them together.

 Crazy boys! (And Harri has another sporting injury).

 After going to City Park we met his 'squad' up near the casino (where the dinner was held) to get some photos together.   They all looked so lovely.

Jay went to primary school with Jackson and Rani, and it's so good that they're still great friends. They will also be going to college together next year (year 11 and 12).

Harri and Kobe were keen to get in as many pictures with 'the squad' as possible.

 It was so fun to watch them all arrive in their fancy cars. 
The Principal was great as was there to welcome them as they got out of the car, and then asked them to turn around so people could get photos, before they moved inside. When Jalen got home he told me that the Principal actually sat on his table and sat next to him. He thinks she's awesome so he was very happy to have her next to him. 
Nice photo bomb Kobe :)

Thanks for letting me steal your photos Skye! :)

It was so nice to see him so happy and looking forward to a great night, with his good friends.

He keeps saying that it hasn't really hit him yet, that he's about to leave high school.  I'm so proud of him and how far he's come in the last four years.   Without a doubt I know Aaron would be too. I wish that he were here to see him tonight.

Memorial Awards

It's a busy week this week and next, with school finishing up soon.   Schools are having their end of year presentation assemblies at the moment, and this year I donated memorial award for Noah again at the boy's school and also memorial awards for Aaron and Noah at Kings Meadows High School. 

At the Punchbowl celebration night Jalen got to present an award as a part of the Student Leadership Board group of students who used to attend Punchbowl Primary.  Queechy High donate an award to someone going to Queechy the following year.

This year the Noah King Friendship Award went to Seb Annear.  We wanted to make sure that the award was given to someone who shows care and concern for others. 

Because I used to work at the school, I got to know a lot of the kids.  One day I noticed Seb and how lovely he was and made a comment to his teacher, that he would be a great recipient of Noah's award this year.  I didn't think much more of it, and was happily surprised when they announced that he had won it this year.

Today I went along to the Kings Meadows High School presentation assembly to present Noah and Aaron's memorial awards.  I had breakfast with some friends this morning (LOVE my days off work!) and they were asking me how I was feeling about going. I said I wasn't really excited, nervous or sad, but was glad to do it. It's so different now that the students at school don't really know Aaron, as it's been almost four years since he passed away.  I felt okay until I was just about to get up, and then felt a bit emotional.

I was so happy to hear that Bowen Pearce had won the Aaron King Memorial Prize this year, as I know his family.  It was lovely to chat to him and his Mum afterwards, and his Mum was saying how honored they were that he got it.   The prize goes to a grade 9 students who has qualities that Aaron had, or what he looked for in his students including being hard working, compassionate, they endeavor to do their best academically and love sports. 

This year Angela Durrant won the Noah King Memorial Prize for Child Studies. The teacher that used to ask me to take Noah to Child Studies to talk about having a child with a disability, no longer works at the school, and I miss talking to the students about him. 

 After it was over I headed to the cemetery and sat at Aaron's grave for a bit. 
Just before I left I sat in the car and put some photos up on Instagram about the awards and looked up and saw a car coming towards me.  I then heard a voice say 'stop crying!' and had to laugh when I looked up and saw my friends Marnie and Norbert in their car.  Their baby Isabella passed away a couple of years ago, and they asked me to speak at her funeral and take photos. It was such a hard time for them, and it's so lovely to see them smile all the time again.

I laughed and told them I wasn't crying and was just texting :)  This is the photo they took of me :)

We had a nice chat and talked about how often we go up to the cemetery.   It's crazy how life turns out. 

I'm glad that I can keep Aaron and Noah's memories alive through donating the memorial awards each year. It's always nice to go back to Aaron's old school and catch up with his work colleagues.  I know that they miss him (almost!) as much as we do.  

Decorating for them

Aaron loved Christmas more than anyone, so we always make sure that we decorate his and Noah's graves for Christmas and also Easter.  On Sunday we went to the cemetery after church to decorate.  Jalen has been best mates with Rani since Kinder, so it was so strange to run into him and his Mum at the cemetery as it was the last place we expected to see them.   I always laugh when  I see their height difference.

Noah's tree is so full of other children's graves now.  For a long time it was just him and another boy - Thomas.  It's actually hard to get to the tree now that there are other graves there, so we just threw up some tinsel this year (which I hate on my tree at home, but is the easiest thing to do at the cemetery).     It's lovely to see that Thomas' Mum has been watering Noah and Thomas' graves regularly. 

Even after almost four years, it's still hard to believe that Aaron and Noah aren't here; and aren't coming back.

Christmas isn't the same without them, but hopefully they're looking down and are happy that we are making the effort to celebrate, even though it's the last thing I feel like doing.

That Time of Year Again

We used to love going to the lighting of the Christmas tree in town, the Christmas parade and Carols by Candlelight, and the whole of December was busy, but so much fun.

We haven't been back to the lighting of the tree or Carols by Candlelight since they passed away (there's something about being out at night in big crowds where everyone seems happy, that is just too hard), but we still go to the Christmas parade.  This year Eden came along with us, as our friend's Gary and Lisa were busy, and didn't want her to miss out.  It was lovely having her with us.

 It was nice to run into my friend Lynne and her two boys. Her boys go to school where I now work and it's been lovely to see their friendly faces around school and to hear them call out 'Hi Mrs King!'. 
The highlight at the end is always seeing Santa.  Kobe started crying the other night and said 'I know I'm going to be on Santa's naughty list! I just know it!'.  He cracked me up and I asked him why he thought that and he said 'I just know I've been too naughty'.  During the week we have been watching some old home videos and Kobe watched the one where Santa had sent him a video message to say he was on the good list.  I'm sure he must've been thinking about it all week :) I told him he had better buck up his ideas then and start behaving as Santa was watching.  Got to use it while I can! :)

The first Christmas after Noah died was really hard. Aaron was still with us, but we didn't feel at all like having Christmas but did it for the boys.   The next year was our first year without Aaron and Noah and I dreaded it so much. I didn't even put up our Christmas tree, but used the excuse that we would be at my Mum and Dad's for Christmas anyway, and that the house would look nicer without it, as we had put our house on the market.

The next year we put up our tree in our 'new' house (the boys are always telling me it's old as it has some cracks in the walls) but I put it up in our sunroom, as I knew I wouldn't have to look at it all the time then.  Then last year I was really brave (and feeling stronger) so we put it up in our living room for the first time since Aaron passed away.

This year we ended up putting up our tree on November 30th (I knew it would be another week until we got it up otherwise) and put it in our lounge room again. If I had my choice, I probably wouldn't put it up, but the boys make it easier with their excitement for Christmas, so when they saw me getting the Christmas tubs out of the garage, they became very excited when they realised we would be putting up the tree.  It was fun watching them go through the boxes, pulling everything out and trying on the Santa suit - even though it fitted them when they were two!

 Even Milly got in on the action.

Jay made me smile when he said that we needed to put on Mariah Carey's 'All I want for Christmas' song. It was something that Aaron would do every time we decorated the tree, so it was nice to see Jalen taking over that tradition.  All of the boys started dancing (including Jalen) but he refused to dance for the camera, as he knew I would probably put it up on Instagram :)

It actually turned out to be a fun night (after I spent 45 minutes of getting cranky at the tangled lights!) because the boys were all so happy about it. Jay was helping - he just decided to Snapchat the moment :) 

Harri came running in the room at one stage saying 'it's spitting outside and there's a rainbow!'.  There's been so many times when a rainbow has appeared as we have felt sad, or had been thinking a lot about Aaron and Noah.  We no longer believe it's just a co-incidence.

I'm still not looking forward to Christmas and don't think I ever really will again, but it makes it easier because the boys are excited about it.  It is nice to sit in the lounge at night and see the tree all lit up.  I just wish I was buying and wrapping presents for all five of my boys, rather than just three.