​This week our bloggers revisit a favourite time they have shared or experienced. These types of holidays either public holidays or family holidays are always fun and create memories we can recreate in future years.
 
It was also Jessy’s last day with us. Jessy our support worker has left a huge mark on our hearts and we always remember her for her kindness…
 
My favourite holiday would probably be Halloween, though it’s not an Australian holiday it’s a day that I’ve been able to bond with friends over and that’s really important. There’s nothing better than dressing up and being a little bit extra about characters or monsters that you connect with! It’s also a day that many people are able to express themselves creatively and artistically. Added bonus there’s lollies, chocolate and the coolest decorations ever.
 
Its also the day that I watch Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas, I absolutely love this movie because I think that the characters are super cute and I love how different Tim Burton movies are to the traditional Disney movies. I know that many children dress up and go trick or treating and that’s very exciting for them, I really enjoy handing out lollies to the trick or treaters as well. I myself don’t go trick or treating because knocking on strangers doors on a normal day is scary enough.
 
I don’t do any of the really scary movies because I’m not very good with horror. But I love that Disney + have a Halloween collection during the month of October and I can watch something different to what I’d normally watch. Honestly it’s something to look forward too and as I said share with others. Seeing all of the decorations and the Halloween themed products makes me so happy because all of the Halloween enthusiasts can share in the excitement and joy of the spooky season.
 
There’s just so much that I enjoy about Halloween, even talking about it is exciting and I am very lucky to have people that also share my excitement and love of all things spooky and Halloween.
I am in my spooky era.
Your friend,
Shan
 
 
Hey friends and welcome back it’s Thursday again which means back to blogging. Today’s topic is public holidays or any special occasions.

 I have chosen to write about my favourite holidays which are Christmas time and Easter time because my family gets together to have lunch with each other and sometimes my cousins and aunts and uncle come along also.

One of the best things about Christmas is getting presents and my birthday is three weeks later. We have lots of fun and lots of laughs together which makes the day a whole lot better.

My second choice is Easter because we get lots of chocolates and just spending quality time as a family. I love getting easter bunnies and easter eggs and we sometimes do an easter egg hunt. They are usually hiding in the garden and hanging off branches high in the trees.

What are your favourite public holidays or special occasions readers? Tell us about your fun and adventures in the comments. 

Thank you for reading my blog, this is bubbly Bethany signing off until next week.
 
 
Hello readers. What a nice and sunny day today! I hope you all are doing well and had a great Easter break. 

Today’s blogging topic is about our favourite holiday. Do you have a favourite holiday like Christmas break, Easter break or is anyone still at school and enjoying school holidays? 

Hmm, if someone asks me what my favourite holiday is I like Christmas holidays and New Year because it's a long break and I celebrate Christmas with my family. We usually enjoy around three weeks break from Umbrella Support, we finish in mid-December and come back in mid-January. I still remember that I really enjoyed the term four breaks when I was at school because its more than two weeks. 

I also enjoy Christmas break because I get Christmas presents, I get to rest as well and take it easy, even though the weather is hot. It’s summer season during Christmas holidays and I don't like the too hot weather but I still enjoy it. I still remember during Christmas and New Year break long time ago I went to the beach with my parents, my brother and my aunty, uncle and cousin it was fun and memorable. We made sand mountains and I think we had a barbeque lunch at the beach and also other time we ate KFC for lunch. 

Do you all like going to the beach during Christmas holidays with your family because it's summer? 

Christmas and New Year breaks are also great for me, because since 2015 New Year my grandmother from Indonesia has visited Australia. She decided to come in the summer because she can't stand the cold as she lives in a tropical country, she usually stays for a long time and has celebrated Lunar New Year here with us. When she is here we get to do lots of family things together like the Christmas Myer Windows. 

Do you like seeing Christmas Myer windows or other Christmas decorations? 
This year is a little different around Easter, the usual four days off and also the following Friday for Anzac Day which gives us two short weeks to enjoy. That’s something to look forward too. 

I have a fact to share with everyone. Even though I celebrate Lunar New Year with my family, in Indonesia it's a public holiday.  But here, it isn’t. So my fun fact is that I had to work on Lunar New Year as I work every Wednesday.

Joke of the day is related to Christmas. What is a Christmas tree's favourite candy? Ornamints.  From: Cool Jacinda
 
Dear readers, this week’s topic is what is your favourite public holiday or special occasion. Let me start by telling you about my favourite special occasion
which is my birthday.
 
I love my birthday every year because I get to celebrate it with my family and friends. I even like a good sleep-in but to be honest the thing I don’t like is getting older. However, I do love to eat delicious black forest cake and to receive presents as well.  I look forward to getting to choose what we eat for my birthday dinner and especially this year because it is a big one.
 
My favourite holiday is Christmas because there’s no reason. I just love Christmas. I get to spend time with my direct family however I feel sad because it was my dad’s favourite holiday as well. I love waking up and getting to open presents with my family because I get to see my family's warm smiles after giving them their presents. Of course I love to receive my Christmas presents too.

What is your favourite public holiday or special occasion?
 
Written by Charlotte
 
 
My special occasion to blog about is New Year’s Eve because it’s my birthday and I absolutely love celebrating my birthday with friends and family.  My highlight is that my late grandfather would say I am the limited edition in the family. 

My mum would tell me to go to bed early so she could wake me up to watch the fireworks and bring in the New Year with my family and friends. When I was young I would go camping along the Murray River with my family. I remember one year I got drunk until I got a hungover, and to this day I don’t get a hangover anymore as I’ve learned my lesson from drinking.
Thank you, I’m back. Ash. 
 
I love to go to holidays, they are so much fun.  I can’t stop thinking about Jessy today, she is moving away. 

I saw Joker and Harley Quinn at Movie World and Wet n Wild.  It was so much fun in the water and then I got a sunburn on my back. 

Sea World was wonderful and I saw polar bear, really cute. There were also two girls with me, oh lord they were crazy and funny.  I love fun with my friends and crazy stuff together too. – TJ
 
Good morning and welcome to a relaxing holiday blog. My favourite holiday is Anzac Day as I have a tradition of going to the rugby with my dad to watch the Melbourne Storm play. It gives me a chance to not only enjoy the sport I love but also pay my respects to the soldiers who have fallen to make this country what it is today. I also love this as they turn off the lights for the ceremony which is cool to witness.
 
I also love watching the Anzac eve AFL match between Melbourne and Richmond as it provides the perfect lead in to the big day. No matter how many times you listen to the last post it still gives me tingles. Do you like Anzac Day? What do you do to celebrate and commemorate?
 
Keep being awesome and Lest we Forget – Ben VR
 
 
I’m not like a regular girl, I’m the spooky girl. I love Halloween, my dream would be to go to America to see how they do it.  I’ve read on the internet that turnips were the first vegetables to get the carving rather than pumpkins.

Also, I read that they got trick or treat from Aprils 1st is April fools day is 6 months away from October 31st Halloween.  
 
April fools would be trick and October 31st is treat. Anyways, I love Halloween not just for the treats. I love horror movies and I would do a thirty one days of Halloween horror movies, kinda like Christmas but better. 
 
Last year for the thirty one days of Halloween I tried to watch all movies, I haven’t watched before, 
 
I’ll just name a few 
P2 (2007)
Slaughter high (1986)
Tourist trap (1979)
 
When I was little, we would go trick or treating and get heaps of lollies, even money. 
I think everyone is entitled to a good scare once in their lifetime. Last year, my friend and myself went to Luna park for Halloween. Let me tell you, it was a hell of a ride. There was a walk through haunted house maze, and the people would walk up to you and scare you and there were fake feet and hands hanging from the ceiling. We even dressed up. I dressed up as a broken doll and my friend dressed up as the bent neck lady from the Haunting of Bly Manor. It was the greatest time ever. I hope we can do it every year.
 
Well that’s me all wrapped up, I’m a bit scary, a bit spooky and all kinds of sweet.  – Haley
 
 
My favourite holiday is Christmas because I get to celebrate with friends and family. I love receiving and giving presents. I love having Christmas lunch with my friends and family. My favourite food for Christmas is ham, and for dessert is Chinese custard tarts.

My other favourite is the weekend just gone because we celebrated Easter. I go out with friends on the weekend sometime or shopping.
What is your favourite holiday? - Thank you From Ben C
 
Hi readers, we are going to talk about our favourite holiday or public holiday.
My favourite holiday is Christmas because I get presents. The best gift I have ever received was a smaller version of a flight simulator that my dad gave me. It is so much fun the way it works and it connects with my computer and you learn how to manoeuvre it like your are in a real  aircraft. Have you ever received a gift that made you happy?

Anzac Day (25th April) is special to me because we acknowledge all who have fought in any of the wars. Another place I have been to is Pearl Harbour and have walked through the ship. It was interesting and moving.
There is oil still leaking from the ship which is a burial site. I also sat on the submarine. Have you been to Pearl Harbour and if so, what did you think of it.

Do you have a favourite holiday and if so where is it

Cheers Nick 

Happy Easter friends!
Do you love Easter? Do you celebrate this occasion the same way you do Christmas with your family and friends? What is different about it? Do you go away or stay home? There are so many questions we have and today we will answer them telling you all the way we love to celebrate this time of the year.
 
 What does Easter mean to you?
Hello and good morning welcome to our blog. We are writing about the Easter holiday and the first thing that came into my mind was spending it with my family. This Easter our family is going on a long holiday and I am so excited. We are cruising to Vancouver and will travel by train to an amazing place called Niagara Falls and much more. We will take the train through the Canadian Rockies. It is going to be so fun but I know everyone is going to miss me and I will miss my friends too. I can't wait for dancing, food, drinks and lots of fun with my family. I will take a lot of photos and I will get my haircut on the ship.
I love Easter, my favourite is eating hot cross buns toasted, with butter. I also love decorating my house with the beautiful crafts that I make at Handmade on Monday and Tuesday crafts as well.

I will eat Easter chocolates too but I like hot cross buns better. My mum buys them from Coles. - I am happy From your friend, Claire. Bye for now I will be back in 6 weeks.
 
Hey friends how are you today? 
Today’s topic is what do you do for Easter?

Easter Sunday is a special day for my family and friends. 
We get together for lunch and have lots of food and then when we finish our dinner we get excited and open up our easter eggs. This is the best day ever when we can eat as much chocolate as we want and not get in trouble (does an evil laugh hahaha)!

My favourite easter eggs are Kit Kat easter eggs, Humpty Dumpty easter eggs with marshmallows and Smarties in them. Bunny rabbits and mini eggs. I also forgot to mention hot cross buns.

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter and a wonderful safe holiday.

How do you enjoy your easter holiday my readers? 

This is Bethany signing off until next week.
 
 
 What does Easter mean to you? 

“Easter means that you can have chocolate for breakfast.” A quote from Haley. 

It seemed appropriate to start this blog with a quote, even better that it was a quote from a fellow blogger and friend. I feel like Easter for me is a time for giving and spreading kindness. The Good Friday appeal is always important for the Royal children’s hospital and I believe it’s a charity that is close to many of our hearts. For those that can donate even the smallest amount it’s something that I’m sure is greatly appreciated. “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” – Dalai Lama 

Easter is also a time for appreciating. Appreciating the people, animals and everything that we have in our lives. It’s important to take a moment to practice gratitude and appreciate those we love. We have an opportunity to celebrate an event with others and share joy and kindness. Even if the celebration is with your animal family that’s still really special and worth the celebration. We should also be appreciative for what we have and the time we have with our loved ones. “Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” – Quote from Google. 

Easter is also a great time for some self care and self love because why not? Make it a tradition to give yourself some kindness at some point during the Easter break, get yourself some nice P.J.s, some fluffy socks and have your favourite snacks. Because you are worth it! “It’s not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself and make your happiness a priority. It’s necessary.” -Mandy Hale 

Taking the time during Easter to think about what Easter means to you would be a great thing to do if you have some down time. Or make it a journal prompt. 
Enjoy the week ahead my friends, 
Happy Easter,
Your friend Shan.
 
 
What does Easter means to me? If I’m honest, it kind of confuses me. How is it that we have an Easter Bunny, but somehow we get Easter eggs?  I’m 100% sure Bunnies don’t lay eggs. 
 
Well anyways, when I was younger at Easter time we would go away camping with my cousins, Aunty and Uncle. On Easter morning we would do an Easter egg hunt and each kid had a pile of Easter eggs waiting for us back at the campsite, after the egg hunt. 
 
When we got a little bit older, I did Scouts and we would go away on a camp over Easter. I remember because when we got home on the Easter Sunday my parents would place my siblings and eggs on our bed. 
 
I wasn’t much of a chocolate eater in my younger days, so I would get a movie and an Easter chocolate. My oldest brother was a chocolate fanatic. He would have eaten his chocolate by the end of the day. 
 
As I got older Easter just become another normal day for us. Until my first niece was born, we had egg hunts and Easter eggs again. Then my nephew came along so we started going away camping again. We do egg hunts at the campsite site just like I did when I was a kid. There are so many people camping we are restricted to only our camp site.  But we still had fun.
  
Now they are older we don’t really do much for Easter anymore. 
So it’s just my parents and myself. My mum always gets me kinder surprises, their chocolate is the best, well to me it is. 
 
We still like having hot cross buns on the day, and you’re allowed to eat chocolate for breakfast on Easter without being pestered by anyone. 
 
Happy Easter, enjoy the chocolate eggs, and family time.
Haley. 
 
 
Hi everyone, today's topic is Easter, how do you celebrate Easter?
I celebrated Easter when I was a kid and to be frank I cannot remember much about that time but these days I like to celebrate by staying home playing video games.

If I get to see my dad our plan is to go to Kilcunda and we usually go to the pub for dinner and we meet with some of his friends there.

My dad and I have been there so many times that we know most of the locals at the pub. I feel that I am too old to celebrate and for me Easter is like any other day.
I know a lot of my friends love to celebrate Easter and I want to wish all of you Happy Easter and hope you will have a great time with your family and friends.
 
Thank you for reading my blog Nick
 
 
Hello and welcome to another Egg-citing blog. With Easter fast approaching we are blogging about Easter. For me Easter is about chocolate chocolate…………......and did I mention chocolate? Did you know that in England they have something called the cheeseter egg. It’s an easter egg made entirely out of cheese. I love this concept as I can’t have too much chocolate.
 
As a kid I loved going on easter egg hunts and eating lots of chocolate. I am a massive white chocolate fan. We always used to play the chocolate dice game every easter which is one of my favourite games to play. I love the easter Monday tradition of watching my Hawks play Geelong. I love eating chocolate hot cross buns. Do u have any favourite chocolates or easter traditions? I have some more coming up in a later blog.
 
Nice to chat again readers and have an eggscellent holiday.
 
Keep being awesome. - Ben
 
 
Hello readers! 
Today I want to start my blog with a quote:-
“The great gift of Easter is hope". Why did I choose that quote?  It's because this week, our blogging topic is about Easter. 

Do you like to celebrate Easter? If you celebrate, do you celebrate with your nuclear family only or do you like to have a big gathering with your Aunty, Uncle, cousins, niece and nephews? I do celebrate Easter with my family, but we are not sure what we will be doing for Easter this year. I don't have many extended family members  here so it’s quiet which is okay for me because I don't like big gatherings.

My brother is still working overseas so I guess my dad might cook something.  We usually go to church for Holy Week Mass. We might visit my grandparents on Easter Sunday and wish them a Happy Easter, if they are well and healthy that Sunday. My grandparents live in aged care now. 

Usually on Easter Sunday or any special occasions that I celebrate, I like to choose an image on Google. There's a huge variety of images to choose. There are cute ones like Bunny rabbits, cartoon characters like Snoopy or Disney, and there's a simple one that just says "Happy Easter".  You might be asking me "What do I do with that picture"?
I screenshot it and keep it saved on my gallery on my phone. I like to choose two different pictures for special occasions that I celebrate. One is to put on my Instagram to wish everyone out there a Happy Easter. The other one is to send to my close family that live overseas and message to my brother. If he was at my house I wouldn’t need to, I would just wish him in person. Do you like to find an Easter image on Google too like me? Which one do you like?

I’ve already chosen my Easter image this year. One is a picture of Snoopy and one is a picture of a children’s cartoon called "Sunny Bunnies". I find its busy for me sending these images to all my close family but not all my extended family celebrate Easter. Mostly they are Buddhist so they celebrate something else. My cousin is very thoughtful as she sends me an Easter greeting and a Christmas greeting even though she doesn’t celebrate them. 

Some people get gifts for Easter like those cartoon character mugs with the giant Easter egg in a box or a Bunny plush toy. I don't really get any Easter egg chocolate from my parents or a Bunny soft toy anymore, only when I was still living in my old house my parents got my brother and I an Easter Bunny plush. My brother got the sky blue one and I got the pink one. I remembered I named my Easter Bunny "Pinky" because she is pink and my brother named his Bunny "Bugsy". My brother and I  don't keep those Bunny toys anymore, we gave them away before we moved to this house. 

I remember some Easter gifts that I’d received over the years. In Easter of 2009 my brother and I were still children, then in 2010 for Easter my brother and I got another present, it was a Peter Rabbit plush toy it came in a box and there was Easter chocolates inside too. Do you like Peter Rabbit? I also remembered my Aunty, who lived in Melbourne, she gave my brother and I a mug with a big Easter egg. I got a My Little Pony mug and my brother got a Ben-10 mug. I remember my cousin made an Easter card for my brother and I with fun activities on the card like word-search and colouring in. 

I also remember another mug with Easter eggs from my mums friend in 2021 I think it was. It was a Mickey Mouse mug.

When we were still living in Indonesia my parents, my brother and I would attend all the masses from Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter vigil and Easter Sunday. You all might think that's a lot but the reason why we go on the Easter Sunday mass is because they have children's mass and when the mass is over we got goodie bags. It had various snacks like Hello Panda, pocky sticks, tiny teddies and other things like that. One of the items from the goodie bag that I remember the most was a Winnie the Pooh dinner plate.  It was aqua-green my favourite colour, and my brother got a Mickey Mouse one. So yes, childhood Easter was fun because we got treats. 

I hope everyone has a lovely Easter for those that celebrate whether you have big gatherings or just spending time with your close family like me. Or, if you don't celebrate Easter I hope you enjoy the long weekend. 

Let's end my blog with an Easter joke: What kind of dancing do bunnies like ? Hip hop. Hahaha.  From your cool friend: Jacinda
 
Today we are writing about Easter.
I'm going away for Easter with my mum and dad. I am going to see my friend Bri up at Echuca and we will be staying in a house and Bri my friend will be staying in a caravan nearby.

Sometimes my mum gives me hot cross buns for breakfast, and we will probably go shopping to a craft shop. This will be my first time going to Echuca and I am looking forward to it.

My mum and dad and I might donate to the Royal Children's Hospital this year to help raise funds for equipment for the hospital.
From Ben C
 
Dear readers, this week's topic is Easter.
 
Let me tell you about  what  Easter means to me.

I like to celebrate Easter with my family and every year on Good Friday my family and myself donate to the Royal Children's hospital.  One of the reasons we donate is because I used to be patient there and I remember how well I was looking after while being there.

My mum makes fish soup for us to eat on good Friday and then on Easter Sunday we are with our family doing an Easter egg hunt. Eating Easter eggs is a tradition in my family.

Easter lunch which is coloured eggs with ham, horseradish and apple sauce.
I am excited for my family from Brisbane who are coming down for Easter to spend time with us and I'm very excited  to see my younger cousin.
 
Happy Easter to my readers.
 
Readers, I have a question: What do you do for easter?
 
 Written by Charlotte

It’s cold! Brrrrrr. What does that mean to us and how does that make us feel? Some of our bloggers LOVE the change to the cooler weather and others do not. THIS, is what makes us so different and unique. Today, we blog, about soup, scarves and heated blankets!
 
 
Hello readers, 
 
How are you today? As winter approaches, we thought it would be great to share some thoughts on how we prepare for the colder months. 
 
Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with winter. On one hand, I loved getting cozy under a warm blanket after a hot shower, and there's nothing like a hot cup of coffee in the morning or tea in the afternoon to warm me up. Pumpkin soup is also a favourite of mine during this time. 
 
On the other hand, when the cold weather becomes too much to handle in Melbourne, I love escaping to Queensland for some sunshine. And, of course, Summers is the place to go for me and it is a whole different story – I enjoy outdoor activities, festivals, markets, and trying all sorts of delicious food and drinks with my close friends. 
 
Now, I'd love to hear from you: what do you do to prepare for winter? Do you have any favourite activities, foods, or traditions that help you cozy up during the colder months?
 
Thank you for reading my blog, Thomas
 
 
Isn’t it funny how we prepare ourselves for the different seasons?
That’s the topic this week. Winter is coming and what do we do to prepare or do during winter?
 
Well I know in the mornings during winter the heater is on, so I wake up toasty and warm.  Even our food changes.  In the summer time it’s usually salads and a BBQ, but, in winter it’s soup and stews and something warm to warm your insides.   
Sometimes people also have a summer closet and a winter closet and they swap each season.   
 
Winter closets consist of scarves, mittens, beanies and anything knitted.  Whilst in the summer it’s dresses, shorts, skirts and sun hats.  I add extra blankets on my bed in the winter. Even with two cats on the bed, I know when it’s getting cold at night as they both try to snuggle into my neck and legs. I also put on different Pyjamas, and sometimes even a jumper.  
 
Some people even dye their hair for winter, usually a darker tone to keep the warmth, but in summer they put some highlights in.  I’m guilty of this. 
 
In the winter time my family will have stews/ soups, but in the summer time we barely have them, isn’t that funny?  Why do we eat food for different seasons more than others? In winter we barely eat salads, let’s be honest , who would want a cold salad during winter? 
 
Winter is also a great time to cuddle around a campfire and roast marshmallows, in a safe environment of course. This would be one of my favourite things to do. 
 
One thing I would love to do is go somewhere where Christmas is in the Winter and have a white Christmas.  Because in Australia, Christmas is in the summer time, and I think Christmas lunch in winter time would hit differently. 
Thank you for reading Haley.
 
 
 Hi friends how are you today?
Today’s topic is preparing for winter.

I am looking forward to wearing warm clothes in the winter as they make me warm and cozy like my long sleeve pj’s. I also love wearing long warm dresses with thick socks or tights. Having a long warm showers to keep warm. But the most important thing I love about winter is the change in food and drinks. 

The foods that I like to eat during winter are:
Chicken noodle and tomato soup. 
Pasta bake with tomato and sausage and zucchini.
 
I love beef and potato shepherd’s pie and cheesy crust casserole. Bangers and mash, creamy chicken pasta. Pumpkin, spinach and ricotta lasagne.

Some of the best hot drinks to have during winter are ;
Peppermint hot chocolate with marshmallows
Mexican hot chocolate which has some spice in. 
Pumpkin spice latte, Gingerbread hot chocolate. White chocolate with marshmallows and Peppermint chai with vanilla and marshmallows.

This is why I love winter. 

This is Bethany signing off until next week
 
 
Dear readers this week’s topic is preparing for winter.
Let me start telling you about what I do to prepare for winter
I like to prepare for winter by putting my warm doona on my bed and buying warm pjs, and socks. On my feet I usually wear them all the time at home. I even wear a Oodie. My bed is so warm and comfy.
 
I love the house to be warm and my mum makes delicious warm soups, and stews but my favourite is chicken schnitzel with lots of different sauces especially my favourite which is  cherry sauce and this recipe has been handed down by my mum's grandma which she had for a long time.
 
I love to wear my track suit pants, jumpers and put on my puffy warm jacket and sometimes I wear a scarf and  fingerless gloves to keep me warm.
 
Readers I have a question: What do you do to prepare for winter?
 
Written by Charlotte
 

Today is how we prepare for winter. How do you like to get ready for the cold months? There are lots of things you can do.
You can have warm drinks in warm pyjamas. I like to wear hoodies. You can have pies and hot chocolate too. You can have sausage rolls as well.
There are so many things you can do to prepare for and enjoy winter. I wonder if our blog will give you some ideas. Ben C
 
 
Hi everyone today we are writing about how to stay cozy and warm during winter.
In my room I have a heater to keep me warm, I have warm clothes and good warm food like pies, and I like to make a hot chocolate or coffee while watching horror movies or YouTube. Yeah, so make sure you all are always warm and stay warm where it is safe. I always try to keep warm, and it makes me feel good.

I like to go to the snow and it's so much fun. Last year we went on a holiday to the snow, I think it was Mount Buller. We threw snowballs and threw it at my friend's face lol. We all walked around, and we had hot food. I tried snowboarding but it was too hard for me. The important thing is I gave it a go.
Thanks for reading my blog, From your friend TJ.
 
 
Good morning everyone. How is your day so far?
Today I am back again to blogging from home. This weeks topic is "How to keep winter happy, cozy and comfortable?"

Do you like Winter?   

I love Winter then Summer because I love wearing trackpants, jumpers and my Oodie.  They keep me warm. I also have a few adorable winter slippers but I haven't worn them yet this year, maybe I will wait when it's closer to Winter.  I usually wear socks if I wear Winter slippers. 
 
It is easier to sleep in winter than on a hot scorching summers day. I don't like too hot weather in the summer. I usually like to have an extra blanket, so I have my doona cover and a cozy blanket. They keep me warm when I sleep in winter and I have winter pyjamas too they have various pattern such as: Bunny, cupcake and teddy bear. Have you got any cute winter pyjamas? I also wear winter socks to bed, I bought them at Daiso as they have nice ones. 
 
Since the cold weather is around the corner, yesterday my parents cooked simple soup. The ingredients are potatoes, spam, carrot, sausage, celery and cabbage. My parents put vegetables in the soup to make it healthy. There are also other foods that are suitable for winter such as: spaghetti bolognese, chicken kiev, chips (well you can actually eat chips during any season), fish and chips are good for winter too because one time we went to San Remo fish and chips in winter time and it was so yummy. 

What's your favourite winter food? My favourite winter foods are spaghetti bolognese, chicken kiev and chips. 
 
You can stay warm by turning on the heater, I don't usually have my heater all day at home. I actually haven't used the heater yet this year, but if we used the heater we usually turn it on in the morning. Usually I was the first person to wake up in the morning or sometimes if Dad has to work super early he turns it on. Then we turn the heater on again at night time and my parents will turn the heater off when they go to bed. Some people think that winter is not their cup of tea because its freezing but I love it because I like to wear winter clothes. 

There are a lot of activities that you can do in winter. You can still go for a walk as long as you wear a winter coat, beanies, socks and  trackpants. You can still go on a family outing or travelling together. Last year we went to Geelong in the winter that was fun. Doing some crafts in your room, colouring-in, read your favourite books, watch a family friendly movie with your parents and your siblings. I used to do that with my parents and my brother in my old house and eat some potato chips while watching a movie.  You can still catch up with your family and friends and go to the cinema that's perfect winter activities because it's nice and warm there.
​
I hope you enjoy reading my blog. I hope you all have a good week. I know winter is not everyones favourite season but think of the great things about winter like wearing an Oodie and trackpants, and maybe your favourite winter food and activities. 
From Jacinda, you winter “fan girl”. 

 
Winter is coming, and I love winter. I love the fire pit outside it keeps me warm.
I love my family and warm hugs so in the winter I always make sure I give more warm hugs to the people I love.

A warm shower is the best and getting into my warm pyjamas straight away. I love to have a hot chocolate in the lounge watching my favourite YouTube channels.
Mum cooks lots of warm soup and bread, and pasta too in the colder months. Pasta is my favourite and I have it for lunch today. I like creamy and tomato pasta and spicy foods keep me warm in the winter too.

It's the best to have warm clothes, many layers, a scarf and a skivvy. I need slippers on my feet to stay warm at home. My support worker helps me at home with keeping my room tidy and clean and she will help me with putting my winter sheets on my bed on Friday.

My family and I like to watch movies when it's cold on the big screen at home.
Dad's garden looks different in the winter. His trees become orange and yellow and red, and the leaves will drop off. But in the spring they come back.
Winter makes me happy because I love to be cozy and cuddled into my warm clothes and the lounge.
 
Thank you once again for reading, Claire. 


Winter has recently become a season I look forward to, it does get very cold and rainy days can be miserable but I get to be warm in bed with a ridiculous amount of blankets, cuddled up with my dog and have a hot beverage in a cute mug. I can wear scarves, beanies, cute gloves, my favourite hoodies and jackets everyday. I can look like the Michelin man and no one will question it because we are all in the same seasonal boat, the cold one. This makes me all kinds of happy because winter to me equals being comfortable and cosy. What’s better then that? (That’s a rhetorical question, I don’t wanna start the summer versus winter debate).


My preparation for winter is mostly just having everything ready so that I can be warm, my family gets the heater ducts cleaned, blankets and winter clothes come out and get washed if they need it. It’s nice to have fresh bedding too, I recently got new bedding and pillows which is exciting and I like to get heat packs out if they’ve been in hiding. I also check if I need anything for winter like bed socks or heat packs or a rain poncho.


Chopper has his oodies, jumpers and jackets ready to go for winter, he gets anything that needs washing washed too and for anyone asking Chopper is our dog and like any other family member he is also part of the preparation for winter. He needs to be warm too and look adorable on walks. Katut just needs the house to be warm for her, she wouldn’t appreciate it if we tried to dress her in clothes, as she is a bird who is fine with just her feathers and her warm hut at night. She also doesn’t go outside the house often so she gets the luxury of heating and cooling inside.


I do more preparation for winter than I thought, funny how you do things routinely without much thought because it’s just something you do. I love that when we blog it brings things to light in our mind and we all learn something new about our routines or just us in general. Have you thought about how you prepare for winter? Do you enjoy winter or do you just wait for it to end so you can get your Spring, Summer or Autumn on? Maybe this can be a journal prompt for you? Or just something to think about.

​Enjoy some time with you my friends,
Shan

Today we are going to become smile makers. That means we are going to do our best to make you smile reading about things that make us smile. Is that a deal?
 
We welcomed Jacinda to our blogging team and were so happy to read her very first blog. See! We’re already happy and smiling…
 
 
Dear readers  this  week’s topic is  something that brings you joy or happiness
 
Let me start by telling you about what brings me joy or happiness and that is  seeing  my Umbrella friends and listening to music. My family and my family dog Gucci and getting my nails done once in while. I also love reading and watching  my favourite  movie  Twilight. Just to clarify, I also read the Twilight books and I also like to watch the tv show the Vampire diaries. I like going shopping and going glamping with my  family  for some of you that don’t know what is glamping is, it's fancy camping in a caravan and I really like when it’s a warm sunny in the afternoon because I like to go outside and sit outside under the carport in sun.
 
I've written this week’s blog at home because I was feeling a little bit unwell but by time you read this I hope be back at Umbrella.
 
I have a question for the readers: what is something that brings you joy or happiness?
 
Written by Charlotte
 
 
I see acts of kindness at my work all the time. I make sure I say "Hi friends have a nice meal...enjoy"
And I see that it makes people smile.
The people I serve at work also give me tips and that is kind.
My special mate at work is coming with me to Somers Camp in May. I am looking forward to it and my other friend is coming too. Everyone is kind at Somers Camp and they are close friends.
Close friends are kind to each other and always say "Hi".
A smile is kind and being nice with your eyes. My friend Brooke is very kind. If someone smiles at you, always smile back.
Not everyone is kind but it is important for me to be kind to everyone.
Thank you, your kind friend, Thomas
 
 
I am kind and I have smiles for everyone.
I have lots of kind people that I love and they are kind to me.
I love Mondays at the park with my Umbrella “Handmade” friends. We dance and laugh and sing, we are kind to each other.

Hugs are being kind and I like to hug my closest people. I hug my friends and they smile.
When I go on holidays I see many kind people, and I am excited for my birthday that is coming. I have a huge cruise coming up to Canada for 6 weeks.

I love my boyfriend and he is kind. He has kind eyes. And he is kind to me for my birthday too.

I have Krystle who is kind, smart and special. She is a good woman. We go to the movies and lunch together. We also play a word game which we like called Splat. Every time we listen to Disney, we sing together on the way to the movies. And on the way home too.
Thank you for reading, your kind friend Claire.
 


Hello everyone, my name is Jacinda how are you all ? This is my first time doing blogging from home. It can be nervous starting something new, but Cindy and Krystle said there’s nothing to be worried about. This weeks blogging topic is "What brings you joy?"

Firstly, things that makes me happy and bring me joy are when I go on holidays with my family. I have been to Japan twice, New Zealand, Indonesia (which is my nationality). I haven’t been to many countries but I would love to go to more. 
Everyone deserves to go on holidays. I can be envious sometimes when people go on special holidays but they deserve to be happy just like me. 

Last year I went to Japan in March and April. I really love going to cute places like Tokyo Disneysea, Super Mario World in Universal Studios, Sanrio shop (Sanrio is where Hello Kitty is from like Mickey Mouse is from Disney). Do you like cute things like me? 

The most memorable part of that holiday is when I went to Super Nintendo World with Mum. Dad didn't go he just hung around. My ticket says I can enter the Mario World by 6:40pm so I could not enter before 6:40pm. I was very impatient because I really love Super Mario characters so much, especially the Cheep cheep fish. Have you heard of that character before? 

Then when it was my time to go in I was super happy. I went on a ride called “Mario kart bowser challenge". It was fun and I really loved the toilet in Mario world because it’s underwater theme. Can you guess what the wallpaper was in the toilet? Cheep cheep and his friends Blooper and the colour is light blue as its underwater theme. I would love to thank mum for accompanying me there, I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to go to Mario World in Universal Studios Osaka Japan

Thank you for reading my very first blog
Bye from 
Jacinda



I love watching my friend Mark work on his plane which he pulls apart into a million pieces. I love to work on lawn movers which make me happy and hopefully I can fix them.
 
On the weekend I went to Maryborough to help my friend Mark to take the wings off his plane. It took hours and it was great fun.I had to unscrew the nuts and bolts there was so many of them. It was so hard but I found it so interesting and fun to do.

When I am at home I have fun playing my games on my computer and my favourite game is flight stimulator with Ethan my best friend, this makes me smile.
Another thing that makes be smile is when I am working and I find some interesting things.

I love to hang out with my friends, this makes me smile
Nick
 
Welcome to another happy and smiley blog. Today we are talking about what makes us smile. As people know I love my sport but I also love media. I love how I can be myself and express myself and add emotion into anything I do.  It doesn’t matter if it’s here at blogging, podcasting, editing or working. I feel like my disability disappears when I get behind a computer or microphone.
 
I’ve always had a passion for media so to be able to do what I love without my disability interfering is amazing. I’ve made some lifelong friends who I’m very grateful for and who support me in everything I do.  I hope to get a job sports media one day to combine my love for sport and media.
 
Keep being awesome. – Ben VR
 

An act of kindness that has made me smile.
Acts of kindness are truly magical acts for all that need it and even those who don’t need it at that moment but will remember the kindness for life and may even pass it on to others. From paying it forward with a coffee or meal or leaving a small uplifting note I’m a big believer in spreading kindness and making the world a little brighter, it’s just such a beautiful moment knowing someone will benefit positively from a small act that may be seen as huge to someone else. Our world needs all the kindness it can get to be honest.

I have seen many people benefit from acts of kindness and it honestly makes my whole heart happy, doesn’t have to be an act of kindness that I have participated in it just needs to be something that has made someone smile. I remember other people’s joy far more than my own however there have been some acts of kindness that I have been the recipient of that have hit me all in the feels.

As a young child I had always wanted a sibling so when my sister was born I saw that as a gift to me from my parents, so I believed this to be the ultimate act of kindness and it really made me the happiest big sister in all of Victoria.
 
I feel like all the things that make me smile that I could write about start and end with my sister. She is my absolute favourite and I can say that because I only have one sibling so there is no chance of jealousy.
 
My second act of kindness I want to talk about is when a lovely, beautiful and kind person gifted me my sewing machine when my old one was no longer working and needed to cross over to sewing machine heaven. I was not expecting that level of kindness and I am EXTREMELY thankful and grateful that I was so lucky. My sewing machine helps me to make scrunchies and then I am able to build on my confidence and attend markets and sell the scrunchies I make.
 
I also pass on the kindness by gifting sewn goods to others and I have also been able to help out with a primary schools performance costumes.

I am extremely grateful for all acts of kindness that come my way and also grateful to the people that help to spread kindness around our world because this is how humanity should be.

Go out and spread kindness to others but also don’t forget to be kind to yourself. You are truly wonderful and deserve some kindness too.
Your friend always,
Shan
 
 
Have you showed an act of kindness or has anyone given you an act of kindness? 
Some people also say “pay it forward” for example a pay it forward situation is where one person can do something nice for someone, they would say pay it forward, so that person who received help, will help another person.  The simple acts of kindness usually makes someones day, like opening the door for them, smiling at them or even saying hello. 
 
Acts of kindness and happiness, belong together I think. Acts of kindness usually brighten up peoples days, and can bring them happiness for the day.
 
What brings me happiness, is being around people, where I can be my true self. My very own quote “Some people make me feel like I’ve got a trench coat on, but other people, make me feel like I can open the trench coat and be myself.” 
 
My cats are Maggie and Banshee.  Last night I had a delivery and it was a cat tie and a laptop, I dressed Banshee up as a business man, he was adorable. My family and I had a great chuckle at him. This made me happy. 
 
Spending time outside in the sun with the cats also makes me happy.  
For some reason Maggie will only go out with me, no one else.  I think she trusts me a lot, which makes me happy too.  Haley.
 

Good morning readers,
What makes me smile is when I see my mum and dad smile. I live with two of my friends who make me smile when they come into my room and sit down on my couch and have a chat. Kindness to me is love when think of mum and dad.

Kindness to me is friendship when I think of my housemates and closer friends.
The other thing that makes me smile is when I speak to my friend on the phone. That is what makes me smile a lot. If I am being kind I am being helpful, with a smile and happy face.
Over and out, for another week. Ben C
 
 
An act of kindness that made me smile 

I’m happy for when people are kind to me and others. Everything makes me smile and helps me feel calm.  At Handmade on Mondays when they listen to me and I listen back to them. I always be kind and respectful, love each other and be friendly.

If you want to be happy to hangout with your friend or family, always be kind and love.  Sometimes I listen to music which makes me calm and have a lovely day.
 
Your friend, TJ
 
Hi friends how are you today? I am writing my blog from the city. Today’s topic is something that brings you joy or happiness.  Something that brings me happiness is starting my own business for people with disabilities or special needs, and their Mum and Dad. Support workers are more than welcome to come, my friend Amelia has inspired me to start my own business. My business would be called BB karaoke and it would be big for parties or just for fun and I would make a facebook post about it and I would also sell T shirts. I would also make invitations and sell them to all of my friends. I want it to be like a party theme and disco lights and smoke machine and balloons. I want everyone to dance and sing their worries away.
 
What brings you joy or happiness readers
Thank you for reading my blog?
 
This is Bethany signing off until next week.

​Do you have family traditions? Or even personal traditions? You know if you don’t you can start one today! A tradition doesn’t need to be a huge party or occasion. It can be as simple as eating fish n chips on the beach in summer or walking the dog on Sundays! Today our team share their traditions in their blogs and they are AWESOME!
 
Family traditions are important.
I have some traditions with my family, my mum and dad, and brothers. We see each other at least every week and they come to my house. My dad likes the BBQ and cooks for everyone. Sometimes my mum cooks too.

When they come over we like to talk about our holidays and we swim in the pool when it's hot. But when it's cold we go in the spa.

We have a tradition to go away for Christmas which I like. We do a cruise sometimes.
For birthdays our tradition is to go out to dinner all together. And every year I am so lucky I get to have a holiday for my birthday. This year is another cruise.

I love Disney and all my cousins do too. Which means I am good friends with my cousins.
I am the best sister, and best big cousin.

On Christmas morning I am still excited to open presents. I am always so lucky.
On Mother's Day I make my mum a cup of tea and she can enjoy it in bed and rest. I love my Mum and she loves me. This is a nice tradition we keep in my family.

I do a photo book of my holidays and a tradition of ours is that Mum and I will always take a selfie wherever we are. We have a selfie together in front of Cinderella's castle, in front of scary rides, and with our Frozen ice cream.

I think everyone has traditions that are important to them and their families. I will keep doing our traditions.
Thank you, Claire. 
 
Family and friend traditions.
I like to hang out with my friends and family sometimes.  I have fun with them and I can’t wait to go to Queensland with my friend and hangout with Kristian.  I cannot wait to see him and to get a new tattoo with colour, makes my friend happy.
 
On Mother’s Day I get Mum flowers and my friend too. Father’s Day I get Dad chocolate and my crazy little brother when it’s his birthday, I get him Lego.

Anyway, I had fun with everyone and my good friend, when I’m 30-year-old maybe I will have a big party for my birthday, I can’t wait to see what happens.   TJ
 
 
Traditions are something you do each year on the same day.  Either by yourself or with people.  In my family we don’t normally have traditions, but a few years ago I said to my dad, we could go to Cape Schanck where we scattered his Mums ashes at sunrise to see the sunrise over where we scattered  her ashes.
 
We have done this for a few years now.  Each Mother’s Day or on her birthday which was May the 2nd.   We would watch the sunrise,  then go for a walk along the boardwalk. After that we go get a coffee or a hot chocolate.
 
That’s really the only tradition we have, but I’m proud to have started it. 

I’ll list some other countries traditions found on “bored Panda” 
 
“International Hair freezing competition” held in Canada.
 
“Cheese roll” in England 
 
“Polterabend” in Germany 
 
“Boot tossing” in Finland 
 
Do you have a tradition or do you want to start a tradition with your family or friends, like I did. - Haley.
 
 
Dear readers today is a blog about traditions
 
Let me start by telling you about one of my families Christmas traditions. Every year on the 6th of December we celebrate Saint Nicholas and we call him Nicholas Mikl’os and the night before we polish our shoes. If you have been good all year you get a small present and chocolate and if you have been bad, you get coal.
 
This happens while the children are sleeping. This is a tradition I love.
 
Fun fact, the 6th of December is the feast day of Saint Nicholas and that is the reason for the date. Another fun fact is children put their shoes either outside their bedroom door at Christmas time, or near the front door. We put ours near the front door.
 
Another fun fact is many European countries celebrate Saint Nicholas too. I am Hungarian, this is why.
 
What are the traditions you celebrate with your family?
 
Written by Charlotte
 
 
Hello readers, welcome back to my blog! Today, I want to talk about family traditions. To me, family traditions are special activities that we learn from our parents and grandparents. They help us feel close to our family and create memories that last forever. 
 
I am lucky to have a big, loving family. My mum’s name is Vicki, my two sisters Elena, Emily, my brothers (and brother in law/s) Chris, PJ, Daniel, Conor, Jamie, my nieces and nephews. We always try to spend time together and have fun.
 
One of our favourite family traditions is taking a trip together every year. Sometimes we go on a road trip, and sometimes we travel overseas. This year, my mum wants us to go on a cruise together. 
 
I love my family so much. Thanks for reading my blog.  – Thomas
 
 
Hi friends how are you today?

Today’s topic is traditions and I have chosen to write about what is the reason for hot cross buns. I Googled “when did hot cross buns begin” and this is some of what I discovered.

They are believed to have begun in the 14th century by a monk, whose name was Thomas Rocliffe at St Albans Abbey. He gave them to the poor people on Good Friday. They were called the Alban bun.

The cross on the bun is believed to represent Jesus Christ, making them a traditional Easter treat. 

Queen Elizabeth the first ordered the sale of the buns only on Good Friday, Christmas and funerals.

Another tradition I discovered is the Pagans worshiped Easter, with the goddess of dawn and spring. It was a month-long celebration. it is believed in Paganism that the cross represents the four phases of the month. 

Traditionally Hot cross buns are eaten on Good Friday but now they appear at supermarkets on Boxing day.

Do you like Hot Cross buns and if so when do you eat them? (My favourite is chocolate and white chocolate and raspberries.) Do you have a favourite one if so what one do you like?

this is Bethany signing off until next week.
 
 
Hello and welcome to my traditional Thursday blog.  Today we are talking about traditions and how they shape our lives. I have a tradition every year of going to at least a day of the Boxing Day test every year. Every few years (depending on the fixture) we add either a basketball game or soccer game so our day usually starts about 8:00 am and finishes about 10:00 pm.
 
People who read my blog know that I love sports and I regard the 26th as my Christmas Day because there is so much sport whether it be the NBA (Christmas Day) or lots of local sports from the A-League to the BBL. Another tradition I had when I was at school we were allowed to watch the first ball of the first test match of the summer before going back to class. Do you have any sporting traditions that you do during the year? Thanks for reading my blog
 
Keep being awesome - Ben VR

Traditions and such.
When it comes to traditions I feel very much like Olaf in Olaf’s frozen adventure. Like Olaf I’m curious about other people's traditions and I find them really interesting because they’re all different and unique. I love learning about what everyone does for different celebrations and the traditions that they started whether it's been something that’s been in the family for generations or they got up one day and just started it up as something fun to do.
 
I know many different traditions that I’ve come across and been a part of through the years though I won’t be sharing them here because they are special to those people and I don’t have permission to share.
 
Olaf goes around searching for traditions in his frozen adventure and from what I’ve watched he discovers Most traditions involve coming together and sharing a memorable experience, there might be food and drinks, it could be somewhere memorable or special to the group and it’s usually something that would be done on the same day every year, month, week or on a special day.

In Olaf’s case it’s Christmas traditions. How great is Olaf? I love him so much! Maybe your tradition could be watching a Disney movie on a special day, may I suggest Olaf’s frozen adventure? Or The Lion King?
 
Imagine that you just get out of bed and think to yourself; I’m going to start a tradition!! Maybe for the family to make something special to pass on through the generations or just because you want to make that particular day a little more exciting.

Just right now I’ve been thinking about traditions people might have with their pets, something that brings joy and is a cute little bonding experience that makes our animal friends and family feel included.

I will be continuing my research on traditions probably all my life because I’m a curious human and I will also continue to love Olaf because he is a wonderful snowman. I’m not sure if I have my own traditions however, I do affirmations with my dog nearly every other day. So maybe that’s a tradition.

Have a wonderful day my friends,
Your friend,
Shan
 
 
Good morning readers
What I give my friend at Easter, which is a tradition, is to my friend Brianna.
I give her chocolate and she gives me lollies. I sometimes make her a special pretend gift cards on the computer. Once I made a card that said "you're invited to a weekend away somewhere and we can catch up a lot".

This is our tradition nearly every year that we do. I've known her for a few years now. Yes, she is good company.

With my mum and dad we do have lots of fun, we go out and have dinner sometimes as a family and sometimes we go to a Chinese restaurant and we have lots of food.

​Another family tradition is we celebrate Chinese New Year and we have lots of fun.
from Ben

Are you reading our blog in the daylight? Or is it night where you? What do you think about daylight savings? Do you prefer being outside in the day or the night? The time will change soon back an hour and daylight savings will come to an end. Will this disrupt your routine and how long might it take you to adjust? But let’s remember an hour lost, is an hour gained. 
We hope you enjoy our bloggers thoughts below on daylight savings which is right around the corner. 

Hello readers, welcome back to my blog, today we are writing about daylight savings.
For me I like when the day is push forward because I know that means longer days and summer is close. I love summer it is my favourite. For me it doesn't really change my routine but I still love it.
I always have a busy week. I have a lot of support around me and this make me happy.
I go to day program like Just Write, Hellow Media which is on Thursday, and I play basketball on Wednesday afternoon. Some days I have my work which is awesome. I love working at the Rosebud RSL, and Wheels La Cafe.

During spring and summer I spend a lot of time with my family and friends doing stuff like walking at the park, go shopping with my mum, having fun with my close friends and I spend time with my Brother PJ who drives me around in his van. He is a good brother.
Thankyou for reading my blog, Thomas 


Day light savings is coming to an end and today I am blogging about it to you. Hello readers how are you? Some days are longer and some days are shorter. In the summer it's longer. I can swim at 9 o'clock at night because it is still daylight and warm.
The winter is very dark very early and no swimming, as it’s too cold.
But guess what, I have a spa! I can sit in my spa in the winter to stay warm. In the summer it's nice because my dad is on the bbq and he cooks lots of nice food.

We are losing daylight soon because the days are getting shorter and it's winter coming.
My mum likes to cook pasta when it's cold, and my dad likes to do the bbq when it's warm in summer. That's when my mum does yummy salads.

I like winter because I can cozy up with warm clothes. But I also like summer because it's warm and sunny.
My blog is good today, from Claire. 


Day light savings... do you love it or hate it?
Our days will be shorter soon and it gets darker quicker.
Daylight savings gives me time to work on my mower for longer because it is light until 9pm some times. Daylight savings also allows me more time to work, catch up with friends and enjoy my life.  Going to the pub with friends and sometimes we go fishing and have lots of fun.
  
One day Gerry fell out of the boat and it was so funny. I hope I never forget that memory as he was dear to me.  Winters are good too with the bonfires.
Thank you to my readers every week,
Nick 


Why do we have daylight savings?  
During the summer months in Australia, we have daylight savings because we can utilise the longer days and the natural sunlight. 
How daylight savings works in the spring time, the clocks Spring forward an hour and in the Fall (Autumn) the clocks fall back an hour. 

Daylight savings has been around for many years, its lead to believe that Benjamin Franklin (he didn’t invent it) but suggested daylight savings to reduce the use of candles. 
Australia adapted to daylight savings for World War one and World War Two to reduce energy usage. 

An AI Review from the internet says “daylight savings didn’t start in the 1970s but it was widespread and adapted by many countries by the government seeing potential for energy conservation by maximising daylight hours during the nights”.

At first when the clocks turn either forward or backwards, I get confused, tired early, and I sleep in. But after a while I get used to it.

But I like both, because in the summer time I can stay out later with friends, without having to be in the dark of the night. In winter when it’s raining at night time, you can hop into bed and snuggle up with a warm doona and pets and watch a movie, not caring about wasting any daylight. 

Thank you for dropping by and reading,
Haley


Daylight Savings. Love it or loathe it...
In the grand scheme of things daylight savings isn't that big of a deal, that being said I don't know how I feel about daylight savings. I don't love it and I don't loathe it either, I guess I’m a bit of a fence sitter when it comes to daylight savings. I know that for me it causes a bit of drama with things like routine, sleep and confuses the heck out of the dog when it comes to dinner time. Once I get used to the change in times, I don’t seem to mind it either way.

I often wonder what my dog thinks is happening during daylight savings, I hope he doesn’t think that we are starving him for an hour, does he feel the changes in time and when its lighter or darker at night? I wonder if he feels shaken up by the slight changes in his routine and life? Honestly, now that I think about it it might be a lot harder on our animal friends than it is on us.

This feels like something that most people might overlook and I just had a discussion with Haley about how it must affect her furry family members and especially at breakfast and dinner or any other feeding times. I think that it is important that we give our beloved pets/furry family members some extra love and understanding because they might not know what is happening and that must be confusing for them.

I wish that I could explain to all the animals what is happening and why some things have changed in their routine. If anyone speaks cat, bird or dog maybe you could take one for the team and put the animals at ease. That would be awesome and the world would thank you or at the very least the animal world would. I think I might have gotten a little off track with the blog topic but that's ok, it’s still about daylight savings and I need to think about if I like daylight savings or not.

Do you like daylight savings or are you a fence sitter like me?
Have the best week and I support you!
Your friend,
Shan.


Do you like the start or the end of daylight savings and why?

Dear readers, today’s topic is about daylight savings. I don’t know if I really like the start of daylight savings and the reason is the days are longer. I don’t like losing an hour sleep at the beginning, some people are grumpy from losing sleep, but I do like daylight saving when it ends because I get one hour of extra sleep. The birds love it because they can stay out longer. 

A little fact about daylight savings is that it starts the first Sunday of October. 
The reason it began was to move the clocks forward in the warmer months so that darkness falls at a later time. 

Who came up with the brilliant idea of moving the clocks forward on the weekend… in the middle of the night? Why not move them ahead on a Friday around 4pm. I think there would be a lot of support for that. 
Daylight savings gives me more time to shop and see my friends.
Daylight savings is a huge mood booster.
This is Bethany signing off until next week.


Hello and welcome to another daylight-ful weekly blog. Today we are talking about daylight savings and how it affects people’s lives. Did you know daylight savings began in 1916 in Tasmania and a year later in the rest of the country and was periodic in the early days due to the war in 1942. After 1944 daylight savings was not used again until October 1st 1967 when it was reintroduced in Tasmania. In 1971 in Victoria, ACT, New South Wales and South Australia and Queensland all reintroduced it. It was abandoned in 1972 but was re-trialled in 1989. It was abandoned again for good in Queensland. Western Australia trialled daylight from 2006-2009 but was abandoned for is unpopularity. The Northern Territory hasn’t used daylight saving since 1944. I love daylight savings because it means we get more light.

How long does It take you to adapt? What are your thoughts on daylight saving?

Keep being awesome.
Ben


Good morning readers, today’s topic is daylight savings.
For me, daylight saving is when we gain an hour during summer and when we lose an hour during winter. It makes me sad when I lose one hour. Because I cannot see my friends. When the weather is nicer I like going for wheels outside with my support worker. 

When the day is longer I do more things like swimming, arts and craft.  I also like doing a podcast and Radio and l listen to music and my favourite  music is pop music.
Going out for dinner and coming to Umbrella Support on Thursday where I do blogging and Media.

How do you like to spend your day? Thank you for reading my blog. Ben 2



Dear readers, today topic is daylight savings.
Readers I have a question, do you like the start or the end of daylight savings? 
Let me start by telling you, I like the start of daylight savings because I have longer daylight hours. However, I don't like losing that one hour of sleep when the clocks are turned forward. But I gain an hour of sleep at the end of daylight savings. So I guess it all balances out. 

During daylight savings I like to listen to music on Spotify whilst sitting outside under the carport and I like to read inside and look out at the sun.

More daylight saving hours gives me time to feed the neighbour’s horses which I love and also more shopping time for Mum and I.

Daylight savings is ending at the beginning of April and I'm looking forward to having more sleep and no more hot weather.

Written by Charlotte

This week our bloggers are writing about a time they have experienced or will be experiencing that brings people together. We love hearing their stories about family and friends as well as times they have had that have brought joy!
 
We hope that you enjoy this weeks edition…
 
 
Hello readers, I hope you are well because I am bit tired today. This week we are writing about the long weekend and I can't wait for mine because I am planning to have a chilled one and stress free. I will meet with my lovely girlfriend, and I will watch my favourite DVDs.

On Saturday I will have a date with my girlfriend Claire and my support worker Matt will be there support us. We will go bowling and have dinner and we might go to a movie as well if we time.

On Sunday I am resting and watching my dvds in my cozy bed and hopefully I can see my close friends too the following day.
That will be all for my long weekend. – Thomas

 
Hello my lovely readers, today's blog is about the long weekend. I am looking forward to my long weekend, I always have a great plan because of my mum, she helps me plan it all.  She is an amazing mum and I am very grateful for her. On Saturday I will have a quiet morning resting before my date in the afternoon with my true love Thomas. We will go bowling and have a nice dinner and will be helped by Thomas's support worker Matt. It is warm weather on the weekend so I will probably swim in my pool. Thomas can too. I will miss my friends on Monday because it is a long weekend but that's ok, I will see everyone on Wednesday for bowling.
Thank you to my readers, Claire. 
 
 
It was Labor Day long weekend last weekend, and my plan as I write this blog is to do some interviews at Moomba on Friday night. I think I am doing two interviews when I'm there with Rechelle. She is my support worker extraordinaire. I will interview a person from travellers aid.

On Sunday I will have time with my mum and dad. I also live with two housemates in Box Hill and they are going away, so l am going to move to the family house and then when they get back, I will move back in with my housemates.
 
Over and out, this is Ben signing off for today – Ben
 
 
Dear readers today topic is  coming  together
 
 Let me start telling you about what I’m doing on the weekend.
 
Friday I’m going to celebrate my Aunty and my dogs birthday and my dog is turning  seven years old and  I’m feeling very excited  for  my dogs birthday and  I’m going to bake a  banana  and peanut butter cupcake and for my dog/s birthday and for Aunty I’m going to message her and call her. By time you read this her birthday would have already passed.
 
Saturday I'm  going to Fountain Gate to do shopping for my sister's graduation dress with my mum and sister.

I met  and made a new friend last weekend and this weekend were going to meet with her and mum and  we are going  to grab lunch while at shops and after that me and my mum might do our  nails .
 
Sunday, hopefully  it's a calm  and quiet rest day and I might spend time with my  family  and maybe even read one of my Twilight books.
 
What are you planning to get up on the weekend?
 
Written by Charlotte.
 
 
My grandparents are members of the Peugeot car club and it was a yearly thing to go with them in one of their Peugeot cars to a property in Phillip Island that I believe was owned by one of the Peugeot car club members. All the Peugeot car club members would come for a Christmas catch up, lunch and unofficial show and shine of the cars (they all were really clean and fancy). When I was in primary school, I would come with them and it was exciting to spend the day with my grandparents.  
 
On the drive up to Phillip Island we would stop for morning tea at a cafe/farm and I would have a sweet treat while all the members chatted away about this and that. I would also go out with my grandparents to see the animals that they had at the cafe. I always looked forward to stopping for morning tea because it was lovely to have that time with my Grandparents and felt very special to be with them. Of course, I also loved the sweet treat and seeing the animal friends.  
 
Once we got to the meeting place where we would have lunch in Phillip Island we would set up and my grandparents would have snacks and nibblies for us to have and everyone would start to catch up and look at each other's cars. I don’t remember if lunch was put on by someone else or it was bring your own lunch but it was a really good day of exploring and bonding with my grandparents.  
 
I remember one time at one of these events my Grandad trusted me with his really fancy camera and I went off and took photos of the Peugeot cars all lined up together. They liked it so much that it got published in the Peugeot Car Club magazine. That was really awesome for me because I loved having my photos appreciated. Everyone in the car club really love and look after their Peugeots.  
 
It was a really lovely time to share with my grandparents and it was great that they wanted to share the Peugeot Christmas get together with me.  
Have you got fond memories with your grandparents?  
Have a beautiful day and keep hydrated, 
Your friend,  
Shan  
 
 
Hi friends welcome back to my cozy corner today’s topic is coming together and I have chosen to write about my long weekend .

On Saturday  I went to my friends house and we had so much fun together. 

On the Sunday I got to sleep in and then mum made my favourite breakfast, which is pancakes with strawberries and ice cream. After breakfast mum and I went to Panda Mart, have you heard of it or been there. It’s a huge factory that sells everything but not food. I really loved looking at the flowers and having a good look around. We were there for 3 hours. After our big day shopping, we went Noodle box for our delicious dinner.

Monday was a public holiday and we went to Moomba. It was my first time there and I was a bit nervous and also excited to see the parade and the carnival with its many rides. It was so much fun.

After my busy wonderful weekend I got to go to bed early exhausted but happy.
What did you do for the long weekend. 
This is Bethany signing off until next week.
 
 
Welcome to my blog for this week  I am writing about the long weekend.
Saturday afternoon my friend is having his birthday party at the
pub, and we are going to have a nice dinner and a few drinks.

I am looking forward to catching up with them. I hope to see my friends niece as well because I have a crush on her and I my friend knows about this. I have known this friend since I was eighteen. He is a good mate of mine and he is the person who bought me my first drink at the pub. I am also excited to see my friends niece and I will try talking to her as well.

For the rest of the weekend I am planning to work on my propeller which I found in an 
antique shop. I am proud of my propellers that why I want to have a mechanic who specialises in aircrafts to look at it and tell me more about it. They can track the serial number and it can reveal lots of information on the planes origin.

Thankyou for reading, Nick 

It’s that time of the month again when our bloggers choose their own adventure and write about anything they like. It’s one of our favourites and we love hearing stories of such variety.
 
Last week, you would have noticed I didn’t write a blog. But I had a really good reason. I was in Hamilton Island soaking up the sun. 
 
I went to Hamilton Island with my friend and her mum and her mum’s partner.  
The first day we got there, we went to the apartment, dropped off our luggage and we got a buggy, because in Hamilton Island there are only a few cars on the island. We travelled around the island to have a look what was around.  I sat in the back of the buggy, let’s say it was very different. 
 
We named our buggy “Freddy”. We would always say thank you to Freddy. 
 
The first night we also went on a sunset cruise and buffet. 
Didn’t see much of a sunset as it was cloudy, but the cruise and the buffet were brilliant.  I even tried crocodile (tasted like chicken).
 
My friend and I went in a helicopter ride around the island and the surrounding islands, we got taken to Whitehaven beach. Guess what?, we had the beach all to ourselves, the helicopter polite was very shocked. Apparently Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales was filmed there.  It was the most amazing beach, we saw sting rays in the water. 
 
The following day my friend and myself, went for a walk to the highest peak of Hamilton island, the track we did was called Passage Peak.  It took a while to walk it but the views up the top was spectacular, you could see a 360 degree view of all of the islands surrounding Hamilton island.  On the way down I had a mishap and fell down.  I got back up and soldiered on.  My friend on the other hand she was worried, so I had to walk in front of her. 
 
The third day my friends mum and her partner went on an all day boat ride to the Great Barrier Reef, they loved it, they said it was a great experience.  They could even snorkel if they wanted too. 
 
While they were on the boat, my friend and I just lounged around the pool, waiting for our massage appointment.
 
The last day we all lounged around the pool, even when it poured down with rain, nothing was going to stop us from being in the pool. 
 
The night time at Hamilton island was so busy, We usually went out for tea, the food was delicious.  The buggies even had headlights on them. But they did make a horrible noise when reversing. 
 
We didn’t see much of a range of animals while in Hamilton island.
Mainly cockatoos, kangaroos and one snake on the walk at Passage Peak.  If you fed one cockatoo, the whole gang would come fly onto the balcony.  Funny story, my friend’s mum left her smokes on the table outside and when we returned, the packet was gone.  We found them on top of a bush underneath the balcony. How did we know the cockatoos took the packet? There were claw marks on the packets and a few cigarettes were marked too. Those naughty cockatoos. 
 
People say it’s expensive, but I guess if you save and plan ahead, it’s do-able.
 
All up, Hamilton Island was amazing and the weather was great apart from the last day. But that was okay.  We didn’t mind at all because it was still hot.   I would gladly go back to Hamilton island in a heart beat.   
 
I can’t wait for our next holiday to Wollongong for the darts masters.
I think  while we are in Wollongong, we might do the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. Which will be amazing. 
Until next time. 
Haley
 
 
I have done travelling before I have been to Hong Kong for my birthday, and my favourite bit was the big Cinderella Castle. It is so beautiful.
I went with my family and it was a long trip. On the plane I watched movies and had a sleep.
We went on scary rides, I was so scared. They are fast and they are high.
The Mummy movie has a ride and it was scary for me. They wet me! But I did laugh and it was heaps of fun.  I went on other scary rides like the dragon boat park. It's on the water, but it's fun because you get wet too. Harry Potter rides too, scary dark and lots of fun.
Disney have the best fireworks and they are great. You can see lots of stars at night and I had hot chocolate. It is my birthday soon.
 
 
Next year I want to go to a different Disney for my birthday, Shanghai is on my list. I heard there is a Disney Island in the Bahamas which I might put on my list too.
I have three lists. I have a movie list with Krystle, and a travel list with mum. And we tick them when we are done.
I will do the rock the boat cruise next year it will be very fun.
 
Thank you for reading my blog about travel, and me
Claire. 
 
 
Hi readers, today we get to write about anything we want. It's a choose your
own adventure day. I want to tell you about a passion of mine which is riding
and fixing mowers with my friends. I started fixing mowers on my own when 
I was ten years old, one day I saw an old mower in the hard rubbish and I pushed
it home. It was a way for me to keep myself busy and learn.

I am very lucky to have a shed where I can spend a lot of time fixing my mowers 
and over the years I have watched many videos on how to fix them and I taught
myself  which is something that I am very proud of.

The exciting part about mowers is when I get to ride on them with my close friend
David. We go to Kilcunda every now and then and we have so much fun. Sometimes Dave comes with us! 

Do you have something that you are passionate about?
This is Nick the lawn mower guy.
 
 
Dear readers, today's topic is choose your own adventure.
 
Let me start by telling you about what I have chosen to write about, planning for a holiday.  
 
I’m planning to go to Brisbane this year. I went there two years ago and it was my first solo trip, it was fun and scary at the same time.
 
I'm looking at Virgin Airlines for their ticket prices and I might buy my tickets around Easter time as they usually have a sale.  That way, I don't have to stress about buying them at the last minute as I like to be organised.
 
Buying my ticket early allows me to save for all the extra things I need for my holiday in September.
 
Are you planning on going on holiday this year?
 
Written by Charlotte
 
 
Good day friends and readers, today's blog is a choose your own adventure and I want to write about all the lovely people in my life. I am lucky to have close friends, and family who I love, a best brother Chris and my beautiful girlfriend Claire. I have my support worker Jordan who is an amazing person. I feel good having so much support around me, this makes me happy and calm. Sometimes I can get overwhelmed by
people, but at the moment I'm working on myself to get along with my peers. It is not always easy but I have the support around me to help go through good and bad
situations.
 
Thanks for reading my blog Thomas.
 
 
Good morning and welcome to another choose your own adventure.  As we get ready to kick off another AFL and NRL season I thought I would talk about the travel the players and staff get and how easy it’s all booked and the money that they earn. I find it crazy that players and staff can earn millions of dollars yet everyday Australians struggle with day-to-day life.
 
How can the public struggle with buying food and basic shopping, yet players can get flown to exotic cities like Vegas for their job. How can big sporting corporations just ignore people who are homeless etc. Sports like golf do have charity events but these are too few and far between. How can sports organisations and clubs not see the impact of this when they go to local disadvantaged communities yearly for community camps, yet can easily accept contracts worth millions of dollars. My question to you is this. Has this ruined the enjoyment and overall life for players? Why has this happened and what can be done about this?
 
Signing off for another week
 
Keep being you – Ben
 
 
Hi friends how are you? Today’s topic is a choose your own adventure and I have chosen to write a made up story. For those who don’t know what a made up story is let me tell you. It is a story that you can make up using your imagination, it’s called fiction. 

My story is about the day I saw a Dolphin. Once upon a time I was walking along the beach when I saw a dolphin and the sun was shining and the sky was blue, no clouds at all. The ocean was a pretty blue.

I was feeling very happy when suddenly I saw a dolphin in the water. My heart jumped.
There was the most beautiful dolphin just watching me. All of the sudden it started breaching and rising up and down I was so excited I could hardly breathe.

This went on for a couple of minutes but it seemed like hours, I couldn’t believe it and then suddenly, just like that, it turned and waved goodbye. I nearly cried but my heart was so happy and sad at the same time. That day I was wearing my beautiful dolphin dress with a matching necklace and bracelet. I have now bought a new dolphin tracker necklace and it has a matching tracker bracelet to remind me of this special day. 

Have you ever seen a dolphin and how did you feel? 
I hope you enjoyed my story even though it was a made up story one day I hope it’ll be real?
This is Bethany signing off until next week.


I am Ben Chew and I like music and pizza and I also have a friend called Brianna. I like to come to meet new friends. I like swimming as well. I am excited to be here this morning This program is so much fun where we get to go blogging our own stories. I've got my own Instagram and my own radio show called Everyday People.
I'll see you next week
Ben Chew

Meeting people for the first time can be hard, and daunting..but also rewarding when the conversation flows freely. We are blogging about how we might use an ice breaker to start conversation with others, and how easy, or hard, it can be. Enjoy our weeks entry below, our bloggers personality really shine through in this one.



Hello, beautiful readers and friends!

Today's blog is all about icebreakers, conversation starters, and making a great first impression. When I want to befriend someone new, I always start with a smile. If they smile back, I take it as a sign to approach them and start a conversation.

My go-to introduction is: "Hello, I'm Claire. I'm a smart woman – and I mean that confidently!" This usually brings a laugh, as not everyone is bold enough to say something like that out loud. Then, I share my passions and hobbies, and express my happiness. I find that people are drawn to my positivity.

By sharing my interests and listening to theirs, I create a comfortable space for meaningful connections to grow. That's how I, Claire, make friends!

What about you? What are your favourite conversation starters or icebreakers? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Thank you for reading my blog, Claire.


Good morning to my blogging friends and readers. I love my close friends, they support me. I like to start a conversation by asking how are you and usually people say I am well thank you, how are you? Another question l ask is how is your girlfriend if they have one. In the afternoon I would ask how has your day has been? Sometimes I like to ask people how their lunch is and have they enjoyed it. 
I love talking to my girlfriend Claire and telling my family and friends how lovely she is, how much I love her and how good we are together. Sometimes I get overwhelmed talking to people especially if there is a lot of noise. But my media friends are caring too, 
Thank you everyone, your friend Thomas. 


Hi friends how are you? Today’s topic is conversation starters and how to start a conversation, and to keep it going.  When I researched there are three different suggestions to start and they are 1. Introduce yourself, 2. Ask questions, and 3, offering help.

Let me tell you how I would introduce myself, it would depend on the group though. If it’s a new group for example, I would say “Hi I am Beth what is your name?” Asking questions of people you know is easier and I would say something like “Hi how are you or good morning, how has your day been/going?”
As for offering help to people you know like family for example “Mum can I help with the cooking?” and to friends “I would say do you need a hug or can I help you with anything?”

I love talking to family and friends and telling them what I have been doing. I find talking to strangers hard but I’m learning to get braver.

How do you find talking to family and friends or strangers and what do you do to start a conversation with someone?

Signing out for the week, thankyou readers,
Beth


Dear readers, today topic is how to start a conversation.
Readers, I have a question: how do you start a conversation or use an ice breaker?

Let me start by telling you how I start a conversation. With people I know I would say good morning how are you and I hope you have a good day.
With my blogger friends it's usually "Hi I'm tired", as sometimes it takes me a while to wake up as I'm not a morning person or an afternoon person.
Another way I like to talk to my friends is asking how they are?
If I am not sure of the group or it might be a new group, or one I have just joined, I would say  "Hi my name is Charlotte" and I would share a little bit about myself.

Do you enjoy talking to people?
I find it easy when its someone I know.
Readers I hope you had a great read. 

Written by Charlotte


Hi everyone, Nick here, and welcome to our weekly blog!

Today, we're discussing how to start a conversation with someone new that you'd like to befriend. To begin, it's essential to greet people respectfully and be mindful of their personal space.

Personally, I like to start by introducing myself. I say "Hello", and I may mention how I know them (e.g., "I've seen you around here"), and they often respond with "Yes, I do remember you". This is how it helps me to break the ice.

I then share a unique hobby or interest, like my passion for lawn mowers. I've even fixed them up for racing – yes, you read that right! Most people are surprised to learn that lawn mower racing is a thing, and they often find it intriguing and entertaining, if a bit unusual too. 

By sharing my personal interest, I create a conversation starter that can lead to real connections and friendships.

What about you? What are your favourite conversation starters or hobbies to share with others?

Thank you for reading my blog, Nick.
For anyone who doesn't know me well, I'm not a big fan of starting conversations. I get a
little anxious talking to new people, also with groups of people and people with authority. (for example, police people). This is something that can end a conversation for me, before it can even start. I know that eye contact and speaking clearly are good foundations for a good conversation. Although sometimes eye contact is not possible, (shout out to my friends who may struggle with eye contact, you are valid.) I have found that starting off saying that I'm a bit anxious and might not be great in the conversation is helpful for me to take the 
pressure off, and it gives the other person an insight as to why I might not be at ease in 
the conversation.
From my years of experience with conversations with people, I have learnt that you can pretty much start a conversation with anything, it might even be something you can laugh about later. 
Even if, like me you're anxious and you start by explaining you are feeling that way, you can say something like “do you want to hear a fun fact?”, maybe tell a really awful 
dad joke which will start a conversation about how awful dad jokes are or even talk about your pets. I like talking about my dog and I will sometimes ask “do you want to see my dog?” (I show photos from my phone) and it leads into a conversation about dogs and if they have a dog. I have had someone start a conversation with “I know where you live.” 
Normally I wouldn't recommend starting a conversation like that but luckily for me that person is my best mate so it worked well for her and she wasn't wrong, she did in fact knew where I lived which was right down the road from her.
Once I get comfortable with people, I will talk their ear off until the cows come home or they ask me to stop whichever comes first and it's the highest compliment from me when I'm comfortable because it is hard work for me to get to that. 
I would like to end this blog by saying that I hope you are always met with kindness and respect when having conversations, no matter what walk of life you come from or what your abilities, because you have the right to be heard and your feelings are valid.
Thank you for joining the conversation and i look forward to our next blog,
Your friend always,
Shan.

Hello and welcome to another blog. Today we are talking about how to start a conversation. For me, it’s always sport or media. I feel like these are topics I can easily stay engaged with and focus my energy on my favourite things rather than focusing on the negatives. I also love talking about my favourite TV shows or movies. My favourite TV show is either Court Cam or any real-life police show. I also love Thank God You’re here and The Amazing Race. 

How do you like to start conversation? Do you have any specific conversation starters that you know both people will enjoy?

Keep being awesome. 

Ben

We all have a creative outlet, even if we don't realise. Do you dance, do you sew? Painting and drawing and even researching ideas for a party is a creative thing to do. Creativity is about allowing yourself to make mistakes. And learn from it. Our bloggers are realy quite creative and share their favourites this week. 


What sparks my creativity? 
I’m a very creative person, I love to find different ways to be creative through art, sewing, problem solving, tech and so many more creative outlets. I throw different ideas around in my brain and hope that it makes something beautiful or makes something work better. My creativity can also be really weird and may only make sense to me. That’s what’s magical about being creative you can create your own world through creating art or whatever it is you're creating. It doesn’t need to translate to others because they can create their own meaning from what you’ve created.  
Sometimes I’m not even thinking about being creative I just start doing and it’s wonderful because my brain does far too much thinking.  could power most of Australia with the power I’d generate from the amp of over-thinking I do. 
My first love was drawing. I’ve always loved drawing because I saw how good my mum was at drawing and it was something I wanted to also do. So I suppose my love for creativity started with my mum. Young Shan was inspired to be creative through admiring her mum’s drawing talents, and that’s a beautiful thing to think about. 
Sewing was born through a desire to learn something new and also because of COVID lockdowns. I love the endless possibilities for creativity and that I can create something from nothing. I use a sewing machine now but when I first started, I was hand sewing which takes a lot longer but is wonderful at keeping my brain quiet and it’s very relaxing for me. It’s super rewarding when I finish a sewing project and I get to appreciate my handiwork. I also really enjoy making things for people and I love that it makes people happy. Another thing that sparks creativity is a love for making others happy while bringing myself joy aswell, what a win-win. 
Honestly I could talk all day about the different forms of creativity I enjoy and what sparks them however, that would be a short novel not a blog. I believe the main thing that sparks my creativity is my own creative mind. I have always loved being creative and creating weird and beautiful things. 
What sparks your creativity and what is your favourite creative activity? 
Go be your awesome selves and choose kindness! 
Your friend always, 
Shan 

What’s sparks your creativity?
Usually my brain sparks my creativity, sometimes it sparks too much creativity for me, and I don’t know where to begin. 
I had an idea to start another blog but  I would do a puzzle and watch movies of the same theme. 
For example Disney puzzles, I would watch Disney movies. Superheroes puzzle, I would watch superheroes movies.  It went well, but then I had another idea of taking photos while I’m out in nature.  Im not a pro but it brings me joy, and im learning how to use filters and make more prettier photos. 
But I get into my head too much and I annoy myself and pick out things I don’t like about it or it not taking me anywhere. So I go into a down spiral and lack creativity, but it soon comes back to me with something different like drawing. I like trying to draw lyrics but in form of an illustration.
The other day I drew a skeleton hand with a halo and a human hand holding each other with  the lyrics from death cab of a cutie song “I will follow you into the dark”. But drawing kind of scares me due to all of the copyrights rules, so I just leave my artwork either in my portfolio or procreate. 
So really my brain is like a computer with many tabs opens and sometimes it freezes and then I get stuck but then I get re booted onto a different creative hobby.    
Haley.

When I am being creative I love it.  When working on my engine and when I cant get something undone, I use a big pole to jimmy the nuts off.  
Sometimes I have to crawl under the mower, but first I use a winch to jack it up.  I make sure the hooks are on tight and in the correct place.

I can look at a problem and figure out what tool I should use to solve it, like with engines. I love working on motors and figuring out how they work.
I have figured out that it's important to be safe, I always keep the winch on to support what I'm working on.  
Nick

Hi my beautiful readers, how are you? Today’s topic is what sparks your creativity. How I get creative is by knitting, karaoke, colouring-in and occasionally I do diamond art.

I am learning to knit and my plan is to make a poppy headband. It is relaxing but it’s very stressful while I'm learning how to knit and sometimes I have dropped a stitch, but that’s ok I can ask for help. When I first started learning to knit I was at blogging and Delia helped me and we did it during our break time. In a few weeks when it’s cooler we will start again.

I love singing especially at Dinner with Friends once a month and my friend Amelia always supports me.
I have many songs I love to sing to myself and to my friends.
Do you have a favourite song?
I do colouring to help me calm down or to relax and I love any colouring books. We have lots at Umbrella to do on a Monday and I love it.
I sometimes do diamond art because it’s calming and relaxing and it’s really fun to do different themes and it feels satisfying when I finish it.

What do you do to be creative?
This is Bethany signing off until next week.


My friend Aly she is special, kind, She is good and support me. I like music and I like to sing with her.   
Hello readers, today I am very happy to see my friend Aly joining our blogging group we used to be at the same school together and she is special, kind, and she is a good friend to me. My creative way to express myself makes me feels happy when I dance and on Tuesday night at Dinner with Friends I got to dance with my beautiful girl friend Claire. 
I love watching YouTube videos about dancing and this is the way I learned dancing. My love of music has made me dream about becoming a DJ. Since I was a little boy I have been watching HR Puff and Stuff. I like to watch Home and Away. Thank you for reading my blog, Thomas 

Disney is my favourite.
love to dance and sing and Disney music is the best
Disney makes me dress up, my favourite dress is the blue one like Cinderella. I love to pretend and dance all the time.
Cooking is creative I love to cook with my mum, fish was so yum with all the veggies.
My other favourite things to make with mum are chicken schnitzel with gravy and lemon. I like to get creative with mum and do baking like cakes and banana bread with a nice cuppa tea.
Singing is creative too and every Monday at handmade I sing at the park with my Umbrella
friends. I like to make up my own dances and songs.
Tuesdays is a creative day for me and I made a bear for Thomas with a love heart. I have done paintings and drawings too.
I listen to music on my phone and like to have music playing all the time. I go dancing with my friends on Wednesday nights we practice together and it is a lot fun. I am good dancing and I have been doing it since a little girl. 
Thankyou for reading my blog, Claire. 

Dear readers, today topic is creativity. I like to cook or plan for my big birthday coming up in a few months.
With my cooking I research recipes for dinner that are quick and easy.
I use Google or my recipes books to look for delicious meals or sometimes I go back to my favourite recipes which are Leek Chicken, Leek soup, coconut chicken and rice and spaghetti bolognese just to name a few.

Regarding my birthday I’m using pinterest for ideas for the most perfect cake, the theme and decorations, nails, invites and outfits.
I like to use pinterest when planning big events for ideas.
Do you use pinterest or Google to research ideas 

Written by Charlotte 


Good morning readers, my name is Alyshia I am happy to start blogging again and I hope you will enjoy reading my blog. Today, we are writing about what sparks my creativity.

Art. I love doing my art work with paint brushes and tools to create my art with my mind and I love using bright colors to do my beautiful paintings. It makes it stand out a lot better and makes me feel so happy inside. I love to make shapes and patterns with tapes and I'm so proud of myself.

Cooking. I really enjoy my cooking every Tuesday with Jessy we make different dishes together and I love the taste of the different meals that I make with her. I have a few favorites that we make often for example taco bowl, lettuce cup and butter chicken. I love good food and it makes me happy when I prepare dinner for family. I also go out for dinner with friends and my family.

Music and dancing. I love to listen to country music, and sometimes I listen to rap music, I also love pop music as well. For me, music is so beautiful to listen to. I love all the different kind of music and it makes me feel so relaxed, calm and it amazes me.

Thank you for reading my blog kind regards Alyshia 


Hello, and welcome to my latest blog. Today we are talking about creativity and how we are creative in our own lives.  I love tie dye and how different colors mean different things. Tie dye looks awesome and it helps people express who they are. It was first invented in 4000BC in India although it dated back to the 5th century in the Sui dynasty in China. It returned to trend in the 21st century and I personally love it. I got a tie dye pillow case and doona cover for Christmas. I love bright colours as they get me thinking about happy things and happy memories. I also associate tie dye with Summer and that also makes me happy. I love how different cultures have different techniques and how it looks so different but expresses the same thing. I also love how baristas are creative with their coffee art. It’s cool how they have their own artistic ideas and how they maneuver the milk to make the art. The word barista originates from Italy. The founder of the barista was Rajat Agrawal and the first barista was Pascal Rosee. 

Keep being awesome

Ben