Latest News from Mudgee

It’s hard to believe that we are now in the 4th month of 2006. Where has the time gone? Its also hard to believe that Sophie is almost 1 year old! She’s such the big girl now, standing on her own very easily and cruising the furniture and typing on here and playing with my mouse while I have my fingers on the keyboard!

So what’s been happening in Mudgee!

Erin is having a great year and has been very successful so far. Her class is 3/4A and her teacher is Mr Armstrong. Erin started playing the clarinet to join the school band and has progressed extremely well. From not being able to read any music at the start of the year she now reads the treble clef fluently and plays her clarinet quite well for such a short time. She plays songs such as Jingle Bells, When the Saints Go Marching In, Study in C and she has also taught herself by ear “Kookaburra sits in the Old Gum Tree”. She is in the school choir and has recently signed up for public speaking and debating. She is looking forward to doing the UNSW Competitions for Science, Reading, Spelling and English in May/June.

In addition, she has also been very successful in swimming. We have not had lessons since coming to Mudgee so her last “proper” swimming was in July 2004 at Revesby in the 25m pool. This year was her first swimming carnival. Her first time to swim 50m in a 50m pool and she came second in every race: 8 yrs 50m Freestyle, Junior Breastroke, Junior Backstroke, Junior Butterfly and Junior 4x50m Individual Medley. The girls who beat Erin is an exceptional swimmer. This week she won 2nd place at the NSW Speedo Champtionships at Homebush Bay. So we think Erin has done very well. Erin was named Runner up Junior Girl Swimmer at the school carnival. Junior covers all ages up to 10, so at still 7, we thought it was great! As a result we also got to go to the zone carnival and Erin was very proud to be wearing her Cudgegong Valley Public School swimming cap.

Kathryn is having a quieter year although she is learning guitar. We have been given a half size guitar and Kathryn is very excited to be learning an instrument. Kathryn is in 1M with Mrs MacPherson and she loves school. She was too young to compete in swimming, but we know from home that she has improved a lot this year. Kathryn is a huge fan of Captain Underpants at the moment and is devouring every Captain Underpants book she can get hold of. She has read everything from Captain Underpants and the Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space, to Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets. The way we go through books in this household I think we should have purchased an Angus & Robertson store!! Kathryn has also undertaken the Lexile reading test and commenced on their reading program (this usually happens in Year 3 at our school). She scored 400 which is excellent for a child in Year 1.

Andrew has started pre-school 2 mornings a week and is having a great time. They are very pleased with his progress. They have reported on his excellent memory and great reasoning skills. The pre-school’s topic at the moment is fish and with Andrew loving all things aquatic, he is in his element. Finding Nemo is still his favourite movie, however Shrek and Madagascar and not too far behind. His favourite song is “Three Jellyfish”. The pre-school is having an excursion to the pet shop on Wednesday. They will get to go on the bus and it is very exciting. He loves singing generally and loves to sing and dance along to Play School. Andrew is also a computer whiz and plays any computer game you give him including titles not necessarily for 3 year olds such as Finding Nemo. He plays them properly and completes the challenges to go to the next level.

Sophie is standing very well independently, and cruises around the furniture. She is not too far off taking those first steps alone. She babbles a lot and says Mum and Dad easily. The girls think she says their names too, but it could just be an overactive imagination on their behalf. Sophie also loves to play on the computer. We have Reader Rabbit toddler and although she can’t do a lot of things, she loves the colouring in where she gets a result just by moving the mouse.

Norwin and Elizabeth don't have much time for anything other than the bakery and children at the moment. Elizabeth, however, has purchased a flute and is trying to learn to play. Erin and Elizabeth frequently play duets to concerts in the Zatschler household.

The Bakery has recently been awarded a 5 star rating by Bakers Delight. What a huge accomplishment that is! It means that we excel in product quality, customer service and standard of cleanliness. The inspection took about 4 hours and they check everything from maintenance carried out, that everything electrical is tested and tagged, to how clean the wheels on the flour pallet racks are. We are now preparing for the onslaught of Easter our busiest time of the year. It will be a very hectic time and on bun day (Thursday 13th) Norwin and I will be working around an 18 hour day from 5am through to around 11pm. We will also be starting the first production run at 8pm on the Wednesday night and carry on until midnight when reinforcement bakers will arrive. Needless to say we will spend some time relaxing on Good Friday!