The Purr Factory.

Every two years Greenfield puts on their school production. The entire school takes part - one of the many benefits of a small school is that every child takes part in things like gala's, sports day's and school plays. By the time Niave leaves Greenfield we will have been a part of 6 of these delightful events. That sentence can sound a bit sarcastic but it's not, they truly are delightful. Hard work, exhausting, disruptive to routine - yes, but delightful none-the-less!

The quality of performance that the "Dream Team" - as they have been dubbed, are able to produce each time amazes me. They are, after all, working with primary school girls between the ages of 6 and 13...you would never say so at times. The drama and dancing teachers are incredibly dedicated and have once again outdone themselves and will, I'm sure, need at least a week to recover!

So in spite of the moaning and complaining that I think we were all guilty of, it was a great success. So many talented girls and indeed parents - the sets were amazing as were the costumes.

The Purr Factory is of course about cats. The entire cast except for the grade ones were cats. The grade 1's were mice and there was 1 dog!

Four performances multiplied by 200 cat faces equals a lot of busy mommy's transforming the girls into cats and kittens of many breeds and varieties. And don't think the teachers were excluded!! They also had a part to play and took their costumes, make-up and hair very seriously!!

The Principal and grade 3 teacher!

One of the teachers told a story about stopping at the ATM on her way home after the first performance after having removed her make-up and ears, only after climbing back in the car did she realise that she was still wearing her tail!!!

The play takes place at Suzie Swishtail's Academy for Kittens where kittens learn how to be cute and adorable and finally graduate by receiving their purr's... BUT... the purr's go missing and the mystery has to be solved...

Niave was a mouse, they were Mickey and Minnie Mouses and looked very sweet in their red and white outfits and their Mickey ears! I am very glad not to have to get that hair in and out of those buns again!!

Not a very happy mouse at this point!

The boy and girl version of the mice costumes.

Abigail was an Alley Cat. 
They were brilliant - she had to have her hair teased to death 5 times in 1 week - I don't think it will ever be the same!

It's amazing what make-up can do, they were very cat-like.

Limits pushed, friendships formed, memories made, exhaustion and excitement in large amounts - thank goodness it only happens every second year!

Niave's 7th Birthday.

It's only been 2 months since then so now's the perfect time to fill you in!!

Let me start with last year...it was one of those days when the weather forecast shows 100% chance of rain. So there I was making last minute change of venue plans. 
This year I was not going to be caught out so we hired a hall - and, of course, it was a beautiful, sunny even hot day.
Oh well, better to be over prepared I always say!!

So, back to this year...because the hall was not available on her actual birthday, a Saturday, we spent a mostly quiet day at home although we did get to visit with family as it was also my sister-in-law's birthday breakfast.

The morning of the birthday.

Niave had asked for a jungle themed party as she is somewhat obsessed with cheetah's, leopards, tigers... - basically anything of the cat variety.

Normally I do most all of the entertainment, games etc. however this year I didn't feel I could manage a whole party on my own, it was time to outsource!
I still did a few jungle related games but the bulk of the time was taken up with a drumming circle. Michelle from Drumkidz had them totally captivated, well, all except Niave, she lost interest before the end - too much excitement!!

And of course there was the cake. An easy one this year, the cakes do seem to get easier as they get older!

It's always nice to come home to some sort of order when you've had a party at an alternative venue.

I can highly recommend the hall (Brownie hall in Pinelands) as well as Drumkidz.