Mufti Day

We had a mini-crisis this morning in the school drop off lane.  As soon as we pulled up I realized what I'd done.  I completely forgot it was Mufti-Day.  When the Little Princess realized it, the tears started to flow.  She didn't want to get out of the car.  I felt horrible.

Any decent mother would have put this date in her diary (that's calendar for you Americans) weeks ago.  The memo would have been slapped on the fridge and the outfit laid out carefully the night before.

But we were away all weekend in gorgeous Jervis Bay (more on that later) and I just completely forgot. 

Mufti-Day is the term used here for a "free-dress" day at school.  And I guess when you wear a school uniform every day you DO NOT want to show up in your uniform on Mufti-Day.

So I did what any guilt ridden mum would do.  I raced home and gathered up some clothes and darted back to the school.  When I went up to her classroom I saw that the Little Princess had stuck a stringy red feather in the back of her pony tail.  She said she found it on the playground and stuck it in her hair so she wouldn't be left out of Mulfti-Day even for the 20 minutes it took me to go home and get her clothes. 

She had a big smile on her face when she saw that I stuck her glittery purple Converse in the bag for her.  Because the outfit just would not have been the same with her black uniform shoes. 

You better believe the next time a Mufti-Day memo comes home I'll be setting up a reminder on the iphone, writing it on the calendar, posting it on the fridge and writing it on my arm in Sharpie.  We won't miss the next one Princess. 

Sugar Overload

Australia, in many ways, is strangely inconsistent. People here, it seems, are quite health conscious. Sport and physical fitness is heavily emphasized in school. But when it comes to birthdays, our school encourages children to bring cupcakes. I think they do this because they don't want kids bringing in full cakes that the teacher has to cut and serve! If every kid brings in cupcakes on his birthday, that would be approximately 2-3 sugary treats a month. It seems like a lot to me, but, when in Rome . . .

The Little Princess celebrated her 7th birthday one week after school started. She wanted to bring cupcakes and she wanted them to be special. Here's what we came up with:


Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

I've made these cupcakes before and, frankly, they didn't turn out so great. When I filled the cones with batter and baked them, they never "puffed up" properly, and my cones were sort of flat on top. So this time I decided to cheat. My new method is much easier, and the results are better, too.

Step 1:
Bake the cupcakes in regular muffin tins. For you lucky people in the U.S. who can buy decent cake mixes at the super market, this part is easy peasy. For those of us in Australia, well I'm getting pretty good at making cake from scratch.

Step 2:
Fill the cones with candy. We used Smarties, which are an Aussie version of m&ms.

Step 3:
Invert the cupcakes and "glue' them to the cones using royal icing.


Step 4:
Decorate with frosting and sprinkles.


Step 5:
Create some kind of crazy contraption to transport these beauties to school. Duct tape is your friend for this project.

I do believe the cupcakes were a hit. They certainly met the sugar overload requirement, and got rave reviews from the Little Princess and her friends.

The First Day- Take Two

I love the first day of school. I love the new supplies, the fresh clothes, the eager faces, and the excitement of having a new class. It's the teacher in me, I guess.

So, I was a bit let down by the way the first day of school unfolded for the Little Princess yesterday. First of all, we never got a school supply list so there was no big shopping trip to pick out fresh crayons and textas (that's Aussie for markers). Instead she took her old pencil case from last year. I did buy her new uniforms in the next size but they were too big so I decided just to let the hem out on her old ones. So no fun mother-daughter school clothes and school supplies shopping day.

Nevertheless, she was so thrilled to be starting year 2. She woke up early, got herself all ready had a huge smile on her face when she saw many friends waiting in the COLA (covered outdoor learning area). Unlike our American school, we didn't find out which class she was assigned to. Instead, all the kids line up with their previous teacher and go to their old classroom first thing in the morning. Then, at some point in the morning, they were assigned and moved to the new classroom.

I was eager to hear all about her day, so I waited for her after school. She came bounding out, telling me about how her BFF is in her class and so are several other dear friends. She told me her teacher's name and then bolted off to play with the other kids.

I fished through her backpack, looking for the typical (American) packet of back-to-school paperwork but came up empty handed. Nothing. No note from the teacher, no supply list, no forms to fill out, nothing that shows which classroom she is in or how to spell the teacher's name.

When I asked her about her day here's what I got:
"Tuesday is sport day, Mondays we go to swimming, we have a smart board in our class, we share a room with another class, and we can bring sliced apples into the room to eat while we work." Huh? That's it?

I'm hoping (but not necessarily expecting) to get more information today. This is Australia and as they say, she'll be right. I guess.

First Day

Today the Little Buddy started preschool. I felt a little sad about it. But it will be good for him to have some time away from me (I guess). The teacher called mid-day and said he had a few tears but an "enjoyable" morning. I'll take that as a good sign.


The Little Princess and I went to pick him up early and he was sleeping like an angel on his little cot. We could have come back later but we woke him up because we missed him so much. Starting next week- 2 days. Hope I can handle it.

And the Winner Is . . .

Fifteen years from now when the Little Princess completes her first triathlon we will look back and say it all started today.



First, she ran the Mini-Mos 2k this morning with her daddy. The crowds were huge!




While walking home after the race we passed the local bike shop. The Little Princess fell in love with the light blue Mongoose bike so we brought it home. Half an hour later she was riding a two wheel bike for the first time!




As the principal of her school told us when we took the tour, Aussies love sport. I think it's rubbing off on her.

If only it would rub off on me a little.

Off to School

My darling daughter started school here yesterday. She was so excited to get in a routine and make new friends. Doesn't she look precious in her school uniform?



For lots of reasons we decided to send her to our local public school. She is in Year 1 (first grade) with 19 other charming boys and girls, one of whom is also a newly arrived American. Hooray for expats!

She came home thrilled after the first day. She loves her teacher and has already made lots of new friends. I am amazed at how quickly she is assimilating to the Aussie culture. She told me that they go to the "toilet" with a partner and then asked if she could get something from my "wardrobe". She now loves to use words like "carpark" and "lift" and corrects me when I say "garage" instead of "gar-age" (emphasis on gar). I think she'll fit right in.

I hope she doesn't forget how to say the Pledge of Allegiance.