2020 has been a bit of a different year for everyone, hasn’t it? We have been thankful to have a little bit less disruption to our lives than many people around the world. After many socially distant laps around our local park during lockdown, we were thrilled to get back to our sports in May. The second half of the year has been busy with lots of rescheduled excursions! We took a visit to Kalbarri in November and it was a great week swimming in the pool, cruising the river, exploring the gorges and fishing.

Matthew is nearly 5 and will be in pre-primary in 2021. This year he is old enough for Junior Blasters cricket and in January he will start swimming lessons and gymnastics. He’s excited to be old enough to join in with his siblings!

Lucy was able to have her 6^th birthday party just after the lockdown restrictions lifted in Perth, so she was excited to see her friends after so many weeks at home by ourselves. Lucy is keen writer and loves to send letters to her friends and family. Lucy has just got glasses, she has hyperopia and astigmatism (like Emily, but milder) so will wear glasses for a while as her eyes grow.

Edward turned 8 and although he was sad his party had to be cancelled due to lockdown, Phill hosted an amazing party on Zoom with his friends. This year Edward completed year 3 and continued with gymnastics and cricket. He loves having guitar lessons with Grandad Okely.

Emily celebrated her 11^th birthday with her friends with a Minecraft online party. She’s just finished primary school with a lovely celebration with fellow homeschoolers at Tompkins on Swan. She is continuing with piano, Spanish, ballet and gymnastics. Emily enjoys coding and is learning JavaScript.

Phill continues at BHP as WA Projects Discipline Engineering Manager, busy with an ever-growing team and an ever-increasing list of projects. He worked from home for 3 months and checked in daily with his team online! Phill is also still part of the Compass Kids ministry at church hosting the main group time.

Melissa continues home-schooling, music at church, scrapbooking and teaching online classes. This year she also played piano for the Christmas Carols in the Park at Heathridge and Yanchep so we have spent many weeks listening to her practise the 22 songs on that setlist!

Merry Christmas and our best wishes for 2021. We hope your family enjoys this special time of the year.

We would love to hear from you.

Matthew is nearly 4 and is a joyful participant in everything he does. He loves sport, music (he loves ‘playing’ any instruments he gets his hands on) and dancing to any music he hears. He will start kindy in 2020.

Lucy is 5 and has finished pre-primary. Lucy had a big finish to the year participating in the “O Chicken of Little Faith Musical”, her first ever dance concert as a Munchkin in the Wizard of Oz ballet, singing on stage at church in our Family Christmas service and being part of the lunch break junior cricket on day 2 of the Test Match at Perth Stadium. Plus, Lucy lost her first tooth! She has taken everything in her stride.

Edward turned 7 (year 2). This year Edward has enjoyed gymnastics. This year he started cricket in the Master Blasters group at our local club. He was given a guitar for his birthday and has enjoyed learning to play. Like most boys his age, he loves Minecraft (computer game), Pokémon trading cards and building creative things with Lego.

Emily celebrated her 10^th birthday with her friends at the Pottery Playhouse where the girls all enjoyed glazing ceramics. She’s just finished year 5 and is continuing with piano, Spanish, ballet, gymnastics and cricket. Any spare moment is spent reading, drawing or creating something with Lego. She is also a big fan of Minecraft so enjoys playing that with Edward.

Phill continues at BHP as WA Projects Discipline Engineering Manager, busy with an ever-growing team and an ever-increasing list of projects. He was able to represent BHP at the World Engineering Convention in Melbourne, and at Resources Technology Expo in Perth. He had surgery on his hand for a torn ligament in March and is back to normal now. Phill is also still part of the Compass Kids ministry at church, storytelling and teaching years 4-6.

Melissa continues home-schooling, music at church, scrapbooking and teaching online classes. This was her last year on the Mothers of Pre-schoolers (MOPS) team, which has been a part of our life for past 8 years.

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for 2020. We hope your family enjoys this special time of the year. We’d love to hear from you.

Matthew is nearly 3 now. He is now sharing a room with Edward (which they love!) His favourite activity is riding his ride-on ‘motorbike’. He never misses an opportunity to join in backyard cricket or trampolining.

Lucy has started home-schooling this year (kindy) and loves learning her letters and numbers. She can often be found playing with her dolls or Barbies and loves to draw, colour in and dance.

Edward turned 6 (year 1) and is becoming a confident reader. This year Edward has been participating in Trampolining and Gymnastics at High Flyers and even did his first competition. He loves Pokémon and has made a few friends who also play the card game.

Emily is 9 (year 4). This year she has taken up learning Spanish as her language for school. She’s continuing with piano, ballet and gym at High Flyers. Any spare moment is spent reading or creating something! Highlights of her year include the dancing in the Christmas Cheer Ballet and singing in the Children’s Christmas Choir.

Phill continues at BHP in Perth, taking on a new role as WA Iron Ore Discipline Engineering Manager in September. This role is a step up and he’s now managing a team of engineers across the various disciplines (mechanical, electrical, civil etc).

Melissa has joined the church music team again as well as taking up swimming laps. Home-schooling, Pilates, helping with Mothers of Pre-schoolers (MOPS), digital scrapbooking and teaching classes have made for another year filled to the brim.

One highlight of our year was family holiday in Dunsborough, we enjoyed seeing caves, whales, horse-riding, seeing farm animals and exploring a little of our south west.

We are looking forward to Christmas and hope your family enjoys this special time of the year too.

Our year was bookended with two special family events. My brother John getting married in February to my gorgeous new sister Kaitlin. Emily, Edward and Lucy were in the bridal party. What a wonderful day! In November my brother Daniel and his family visited from Seattle. After almost two years it was lovely to spend some time with them.

Matthew is almost two and is full of joy! He is saying quite a few words and loves teddies (currently keeping 4 or 5 in his cot), cars and playing on play equipment designed for children twice his size.

Lucy has started dance lessons with Miss Dee at Gail Meade Performing Arts Centre. She loves colouring, reading books, dancing and riding her bike. We were so proud of her singing on stage at our church’s Family Christmas service this year. Lucy’s started to draw lovely pictures and write her own name too! Lucy is turning 4 in June 2018, so she’ll join in home-schooling next year.

Edward turned 5 and has loved pre-primary. He is now learning to read and especially loves doing ‘real sums’ in Maths. Edward has been participating in Acrobatics as his sport this year.

Emily was in year 3 this year and continues learning piano, ballet, and acrobatics. Highlights of her year include learning to use her mini sewing machine, spending time with her friends, a garden themed 8^th birthday, media classes and reading.

Emily and Edward have enjoyed all kinds of fun events this year. Highlights include: presenting medals at the Spring State Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships (we were there to see Aunty Cait compete), attending the WA Ballet perform Peter Pan at His Majesty’s Theatre, and watching Aunty Kaitlin perform the role of Phyllis in a local theatre production of the Railway Children. They have loved the local Children’s Christmas Choir and singing Christmas carols for seniors with some friends from North Beach Baptist.

Phill continues at BHP Billiton Iron Ore in Perth, working as Lead Engineer on a new project in the northwest of WA. Phill has been able to join us for a few fun activities this year, including trips to Penguin Island and SciTech. He’s recently taken up riding his bike in the early morning around Lake Joondalup, so this year his birthday gift was a brand new one!

Melissa There’s never a dull moment when you are wife, mum and teacher! I’ve continued running Hello Mornings Bible studies, teaching digital scrapbooking and doing a few other crafts too, thanks to the inspiration of our local Mothers of Pre-schoolers group at True North Church.

We are looking forward to Christmas and hope your family enjoys this special time of the year.

We started 2016 with the arrival of Matthew Alexander Shanhun on the 5th of January (one week overdue). He has been an absolute delight and a lovely happy and placid baby. Matthew’s just starting to chatter (and say Dad!), pull himself up to stand and has 7 teeth.
Emily has enjoyed a full year. As well as studying year 2, she started learning to play piano, ballet, and acrobats. She also took her first dance exam, for Tinies A and passed Highly Commended. Emily celebrated her seventh birthday with a ballet-themed party. Other highlights of her year include her first time ice-skating (with former ice-hockey player, Grandad Okely), participating in a choir, sports days and saving up to buy a Sylvanians dollhouse.
Edward turned four this year with a piñata cake (by his request) and a big celebration with friends and family. It was lovely to see so many of you there! He is loving homeschool kindy and moving up into the kindy room at Church, where the leaders have spoiled his class with amazing activities and gifts. Edward has been participating in the Fledgling Falcon Aussie Rules skills classes this year with Phill. He loves his footy, and enjoyed watching the Eagles in a pre-season game at Arena Joondalup.
Lucy turned two in June and is talking up a storm! Lucy is an adventurous little girl, so we were surprised when broke her wrist in July tripping in the playroom rather than doing acrobatics on the play equipment! She loves her dolls and has been practicing caring for them. Lucy also loves her baby “Maffew” dearly, and has been a good helper for Mummy.
We’ve all enjoyed Lego Club at the Woodvale Library and have also been able to join in with several Homeschool WA excursions and sports events.
We went on a family holiday to South Australia in September and enjoyed seeing the Store branch of the family and looking around Adelaide, the reunion in Port Elliot and a couple of days in gorgeous Hanhdorf. Lucy and Matthew enjoyed their first flights and everyone travelled well, and we made good use of the children’s area Qantas Lounge!
Phill continues at BHP Billiton Iron Ore in Perth, working as Lead Electrical Engineer. He’s upgraded several tools in the shed and is currently building a front wall to enclose our front garden and cut down on the road noise. Phill has managed to organise his work schedule to be able to join us for several excursions and family outings which has been fun.
Melissa continues as wife, mum and homeschool teacher. I’ve also been leading Hello Mornings Bible studies and squeezing a bit of scrapbooking in my spare time. I’ve been enjoying getting back into Pilates and taking the time to find new parks around the area on my daily walks (thanks to Pokemon Go!)
We are looking forward to Christmas and hope your family enjoys this special time of the year.

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