15yo’s cardboard armour had been getting more and more detailed each iteration. I hadn’t seen any for a while and thought maybe he’d finally lost interest in it but one day some parts came in large boxes and suddenly there was more. It was quite detailed with individual pieces cut out and taped together (an entire roll of packing tape was used in this endeavour). I think it was a potential practice run for making larger cosplays (he had dreams of making a Space Marine cosplay like the one he’d seen at the Royal Show and then he realised how much effort was involved and that it wasn’t going to be a few hour thing like his previous projects.

15yo apparently only got beaten once or twice in all the rounds he played in his Warhammer tournament and placed (the winner was someone who had been playing a lot longer). We all agreed it was a pretty good outcome for a first tournament. 17yo was able to pass her level 6 badge in the first competition and 19yo got his level 7 badge in the second one (he had missed the first one due to illness and he and his coach decided to risk the do or die in the second competition as if he didn’t get it then, he was out of states). I think most of 17yo’s kids did alright.

April started with 19yo and 17yo’s first concert. 17yo had found out about a Stardew Valley concert and as she loves the game she asked if we could go. 19yo was interested in coming along for the ride but 15yo refused. However the system wouldn’t let me buy three tickets and forced the purchase of four, so 17yo invited one of her besties (who has not played Stardew Valley and knows nothing about it) along. Bestie came along because she likes classical instruments and is in a school ensemble (I call them baby orchestras).

The rest of the year has just been a blur of trying to keep on top of anything never mind everything. Most of February and March was 15yo painting Warhammer minis. We both thought it would be funny for him to do a faux painting pose as seen on the internet.

The Christmas Island trip continued with all its fun and educational opportunies. 15yo found a new “pet” at Lily Beach when we trooped over for our annual campfire. It was put back down somewhere safe after the photo.

I had bought The Art of War in very recent history (can’t remember precisely when but I feel like it’s been at least a year by now) as 14yo had expressed a desire to read it. He didn’t get around to actually reading it until recently, when he suddenly went on a health kick (both physical and mental) and on advice of J and 18yo, started trying to get in at least a little bit of exercise, eat a healthy breakfast (the kids and I don’t really eat breakfast as we never feel particualrly hungry for a while after waking up) and read a book every day.

May 14yo and one of his friends developed an interest in the series Breaking Bad and marathoned it, and then made some “crystal meth” (coloured toffee). This batch was apparently a test run for Halloween when he has plans to go out in the streets dressed as shadily as possible and hand some out to kids. He and the friend did have some vague plans to dress up as the main characters from the show but distance (the friend lives about 40min away) and other plans (no idea what’s happening around that time) may be challenging.

I tried to get J to organise this month’s excursion to a cave in a national park that is not that far away from us in the grand scheme of things. I had organised it mostly for 14yo but I had misunderstood, he had some vague interest in oldschool mines which was related to an interest in blacksmithing but didn’t like caves, and neither did anyone else so that idea got nixed.

We accidentally had two excursions this month. I’m not sure whether that makes us “caught up” due to not having one last month or able to chill next month given that the first and second months tend to be organisational and transitional. The last time we went to the Gravity Discovery Centre was in 2010. Unfortunately stuff just didn’t occur to J and I, for whatever reason I thought that we were only going for the night thing even though their night things always include entry into the rest of it, so I didn’t cancel roleplaying, and J assumed we’d be roleplaying and didn’t mention it. And it was unfortunate as the kids would have made the entire solar system walk now, before we only managed to get up to Uranus before we had to turn back.

I had asked J to book the Aboriginal Astronomy thing at the Gravity Discovery Centre for this month’s excursion but as he had a lot of work on he kept forgetting/not getting around to it and finally booked it for next month. Probably just as well as February has its own level of chaos with term going back in and having to settle into term routines. 18yo started back at TAFE with much more enthusiasm or at least tolerance than previously. 16yo and I started work back at gym. 14yo did not start at school as J (who is handling everything to do with that, I have completely refused to deal with anything to do with that side of things) decided that he hadn’t put in enough effort into going to bed and getting up on time, improving his writing or making sure he was on top of stuff that he “should” have from year 8 to be ready to go into year 9 to start this term, so he’ll have to actually start putting in the effort so he can start next term. An issue we’re having there is that he claims that he will do all that when he needs to but doesn’t see why he should bother til then, so they’re at loggerheads.