This is not my Christmas tree so we’ll just pretend, shall we? We didn’t actually get a tree up this year as it has been too hot to bother and too chaotic with end-of-school festivities. My eldest got into the Selective School of his choice, which was an exciting way to wrap up his primary school experience. My second made it into the same Opportunity Class my eldest just graduated from, so lots of changes in store for him too, including a change of primary schools — bittersweet, as he’s leaving behind the best group of friends anyone could ever hope to have. Fortunately, my youngest three will NOT be changing schools so we’ll have at least some continuity there — I think 5 kids at 4 different schools will be more than enough for my brain to keep track of next year!

In other news, I finally got diagnosed with Lyme Disease. This took forever because Lyme “doesn’t exist in Australia.” Never mind that I am American and travel back and forth a fair bit. If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ve probably heard me mention my neurological problems at some point, so it’s a relief to finally have a diagnosis, even though I haven’t quite worked out how I’m going treat it yet. (If you or someone you know has recently pursued treatment for Lyme from Australia, please feel free to send me some info!) In the meantime, the blog will probably continue running along as it has for the last 6 months or so, which is to say at a much slower pace.

And on that note, I’m about to go camping for the next week, so wish me luck! I have visions of myself rocking in my camp chair by the time my husband finishes work and comes to join us, but fingers crossed it doesn’t come to that. With 5 kids, I always feel like it’s useful to expect the worst as then you are almost always really pleasantly surprised by how well things work out in the end!

As always, thank you for reading and participating in this blog and here’s wishing you a safe and happy holiday season!

x Nicole