be afraid Surfers Paradise, be very afraid

cos the Allstar Cheer teams have landed.

Farewelled one very excited junior cheerleader at the airport this morning. Today was THE DAY to get on a plane to Brisbane to then go to Surfers for the Down Under Spirit Champs. I did only manage one photo on the mobile of the event, but the chaperones have promised to take lots of pics during the 6-day trip.

Feels very odd to be doing nothing after school - normally we'd be in the car heading for gym practice by now. Jess better hope I don't get too used to not doing it, LOL!

I'm hoping I get lots of stitching done.

Number 19 done!!!

Only 3 to go, woohoo. The end is in sight, and if I keep up the finish-a-penguin-a-month pace, then the piece will be finished with time to have it framed ready for my mum's birthday in November. YEEHA. Eleven years to stitch 22 penguins can't be too slow, can it? LOL I counted up how many other things I've stitched for mum in the meantime and it added up to 9 things, which makes it not so bad :)

Anyhoo - here's number 19

And this is what the row 1 thru 19 looks like in total

Only 3 sleeps to go and Jessica is on a plane to Surfers. She's sooo excited now. The bag is 90% packed, last minute items sorted out and by Wednesday night she'll be good to go.

Sunday, after cheer practice, the team got to perform the routine during half time at the Harbour Heat vs Hawks basketball semifinal. It was a great experience for them and they really enjoyed the atmosphere. I'd not ever been to a live basketball game before and I was astounded at the speed and ferocity of the play - no wonder there's several refs out on the court!

The team tracksuits got handed out. Thank heaven for my fabuous MiL. Jeanette is a wonder at alterations (trained sample machinist, now works for a drycleaners as their alterations guru), and just as well as the pants have to be virtually remade to fit my tiny 10 year old. Funny thing is Jeanette had already altered a pair today for another team member! Talk about small world. Apparently her boss's granddaughter or niece is Jess' back base, and her track pants needed major alterations too.

Must remember to take photos at the airport, if only on the mobile's camera. Jess will definitely want a record of this trip :)

My Weekend by Evil Gym Mom

Here is my report on the weekend, LOL.

Saturday went well logistically, phew. Sunday went well logistically too, yay!

Ballet exam went ok for both girls, and then Tamsin had a lovely grandma day while Jess was competing Cheer Nationals.

Jessica was in two teams competing in Division 1 - East Development (her home team) and Junior Development (a combined team for the Aussie comp). East placed 5th and Junior placed 1st! She was really happy. It was a good afternoon and she had lots of fun with her cheer teams.

Now we're on the countdown to flying out to Australia (June 28). Only Jess is going, but she'll be really well looked after by the chaperones and the bigger girls. There is another Jess in the Senior team who has "adopted" Jess, and calls her "mini-me". Big Jessie is a lovely young lady and I have no fears about Jess travelling without us. In fact, I suspect she's going to be spoilt rotten!

As promised, I took photos of Lady Scarlet after recharging the camera batteries.

She really is rather lovely :)

My dear friend Sarah has her now, and thinks her new stitchy travelling companion is very cool.

TGIF!

This has felt like a very looooong week. It started with a busy weekend: lots of extra ballet and cheer practices in the lead up to exams and competition. Then I was off work due to a very sore arm (now well on the mend, yay!) so the days seem all muddled.
Anyhoo, here I am at Friday. Comtemplating an even busier weekend. Saturday is ballet class for eldest, after which she is heading off for cheer practice while I get youngest to gym class. Some other cheer moms are picking her up from ballet and taking her for me so that T doesn't have to miss gym. Then T and I will trundle over to join J at cheer.
Then on Sunday we will really be pushing it. T has her ballet exam first thing, so we have to have her, with her just to shoulder length fine hair up into two buns, at ballet by 9am. Then J has her 45min ballet exam at 11.45am (no make up, hair up in one bun). Then J is due at cheer comp for warm ups by 1pm - in uniform, hair done (high ponytail) and make up on. Talk about rush rush, and J eating lunch in the car yet again.
Still, that's two big events out of the way. One to go - J flies out with her cheer team on June 28 for the Down Under Spirit Champs in Surfers.
And then it will be back to mostly normal, yeeha.

As promised

a pic of Lady Scarlett's Secret Garden. It's not very good as the camera decided not to work, so I had to scan it. I'll post a better one when I get the camera up and running again. The little needle book is too cute, and was not bad to stitch and make up. I might stitch another one for me.

This is a gift for Sarah, my best friend and eldest DD's godmother. Sarah made quilts for both girls and then on our anniversary gave us the huge quilt she'd made for DH and I.

Anyway, thanks again Ally for enabling me into this lovely Just Nan kit :)

here we are at Tuesday again...

...which seems to be the only day I get around to posting!
Anyway, I finished the needle book part of Lady Scarlett's Secret Garden last night and it's too cute. I'll post pics once I've done the pincushion part.
Promise!
Well, that's Queen's Birthday Weekend over No more long weekends till October. Admittedly I will take time off before then to deal with school holidays, so the big gap isn't so noticeable.
Ballet exams and cheer regionals are rushing towards us. Coach/ teacher are looking a bit flustered about the small number of practice times left, so extra practices are popping up all over the place. Some schedule juggling coming up :) Nuts, that's what I am, LOL.