Finding Money

From an early age, Kayleigh seemed to have an obsession with money - especially finding it when we were at the shops. Every day that we went shopping Kayleigh would be checking underneath counter and the supermarket checkouts and picked up everything she found, even it it was just 5c. Kayleigh saved all the money that he found and most time she would come home with at least a $1 to add to her savings. The best find was under the photo/DVD counter in Kmart - the store person said they could go behind the counter and keep anything she found - I think the total was close to $10.

A day in december last year, Kayleigh found $20 on the path outside the Commonwealth Bank in Tuggeranong. We looked for the owner but couldn't see anyone so Kaylegh decided to keep it, but not for herself. With the $20, the first thing she bought was a coffee for her dad, and then she paid for a family Christmas photo. She insisted that we were all in it (even though I hate having my picture taken) an I am so glad that I did. It was to be the last Christmas we had together.

Favourite: Toys

As Kayleigh got older her choice of favourite toys changed (as everyone does) and her choices reflected what she liked as opposed to what was ''popular'' at the time.

As a baby Kayleighs favourite toy was her rocking horse that she called 'Row Row'. She got Row Row for Christmas just after she turned one, and she would spend hours and hours on him rocking. As previously written in a post, for a number of years she had her Moosie. When she was about 7, I got Kayleigh a Care Bear which she had several 'talking' ones. She also got into Winx as well. For her tenth birthday, one of her friends bought her a Bratz doll - much to her disgust - as she hated Bratz and the only Barbie she ever owned had an unfortunate accident and lost its head and legs within days of Kaylegh getting it. The christmas that Kayleigh was 11, she got a Robosapien (clear) which played with for months - she really liked to have him do its dance and she taught herself to dance the same way - it was too funny watching her.

When Kayleigh got into High School she wanted more electronic toys.For her final christmas she got a Wii, and she also got an R2D2 - which was voice activated and controlled and funny enough this R2D2 only seemed to respond to Kayleighs voice, every time I tried to use him he wouldn't work.

Noo-Noo Kisses

Kayleigh loved teletubbies as a child - her favourite was Laa-Laa and she had a talking Laa-Laa for her 2nd christmas because she wanted it really badly.

Kayleigh always though the Noo-Noo was funny (Noo-Noo was teh vacuum cleaner) - the way it sucked up the Tubby toast and tubbytustard. Kayleigh invented a new way of giving Terence and I kisses, which she called Noo-Noo kisses - she would give us a kiss on our cheek and suck in a little. It felt a little weird and she always laughed after. I miss Noo-Noo kisses even though it has been years since I last got one.

Roses

We have had a rose garden in front of our house on and off since we have been here. All the children had a rose bush to call their own. Kayleigh always chose the white iceberg rose everytime. I think she liked the pure white as she liked wearing white clothes as well.

Each year we always had a bet whose rose would flower first, most years it was Terence's Kardinal rose, one year it was my Queen Elizabeth. The iceberg rose never flwered first much to Kayleighs disgust. This year Kayleighs iceberg rose was the very last one to flower.

Ghosts

Kayleigh believed in ghosts and though that we had a ghost in our house because some of the unexplainable things that sometimes happened. First the computer turned on by itself. Then Terence's battery razor turned on in the middle of the night, when I went the check on it, I turned the light on and it turned off, and then when I turned the light off, it turned back on again. A remote fell off a shelf and then when it was put on the shelf it immediately fell off again. Lastly, Kayleigh was standing on one of our stools (the type that you can ajust the height) and it went up all by itself with Kayleigh on it.

Since Kayleigh died, there had been two instances of unexplained thing, both with nerf guns. We have the battery powered Nerf 'Machine gun' and one time Terry was cleaning up his room and it shot him in the bum with no-one around him. It paused and then shot him until there was no bullets left. The second time, a different Nerf gun was sitting on Kayleigh's bed and started shooting when no-one was in the room.
 

Denon

Denon is our current German Shepherd. When we picked him up form the breeder, Kayleigh held him the whole way home from Kaleen to Theodore and made sure he was happy. Kayleigh taught him to lay down on command after I had taught him how to sit.

Kayleigh play fought with Denon every afternoon after school, running around the backyard with Denon  chasing her and throwing him the ball. She would play tug-a-war with a tea towel and tease Denon and then give him a big hug. Kayleigh always helped give Denon a bath - which was a task in itself as he is such a big dog. The day Kayleigh dies, a friend of our said he was whining at the gate, which is unusual for Denon - maybe he knew what was happening.

Denon as a puppy

Rollerblading

I had a pair of rollerblades whcih I left behind at my Dad's house when I moved in with Terence. along with this was a pair of rollerblades my younger brother had. Kayleigh discovered the rollerblades when she was about 7 - but they were too big for her to use. By the time she was 10, she put on thick socks and practiced rollerblading in her Grandpas backyard. Kayleigh and Natassja would go up and down the path for hours.

Eventually, grandpa decided they were good enough to take out of the backyard, so he took Kayleigh and Natassja to Lake Burley Griffin where they rollerbladed (while Grandpa walked) between the two bridges and past the carillion. Kayleigh really enjoyed rollerblading - she liked the feeling of gliding. Kayleigh went rollerblading with Grandpa alot as he wanted to do walking for exercise - and he always bought her a gelato after :)

School: Year 6

Kayleigh had Ms Strangward for year 6, and as I have previously mentioned before Kayleigh did not have a good time in Year 6 and this came out in her attitude at school and at home.

Kayleigh constantly came home angry and many times in tears becuase of the way that the other girls in her class treated her. Many times she told me she wanted to die because there was no reason to live. As a Mum, that really was distressing to see her like that. We had so many discussions with her teacher and the principal but nothing was ever done. Kayleigh was teased about her asthma, told she was fat and ugly, told she was anorexic and stupid. Kayleigh found the boys were OK to talk to - several times Brandon Jackson told the other girls to leave her alone, he was always asking Kayleigh how she was going with her asthma and looked after her. She also talked with the boys about TV shows like Doctor Who and Top Gear. Unfortunately, the other girls in her class then turned on the boys that talked to Kayleigh and teased them until it was easier not to talk to Kayleigh, so she ended up with no-one to talk to in class. And then someone thought it would be amusing to steal all of Kayleigh's connector pens which she had been collecting, and put rotten food in her bag, and to kick her bag off the  portable deck into the weeds and mud.

Outside of class, Kayleigh would either go to the library or hang out with Natassja and her friends. Unfortunately, Natassja also had a bully problem and this bully also got Kayleigh in her sights. This particular bully was not verbal, but physical and would hit and push Kayleigh and Natassja. She came up behind Kayleigh in the library and cut her hair. She smashed Natassja head against the sink in the girls toilet and pinned her to the ground punching her. It got to a stage where the school was not doing anything and we  stopped the kids going for a week to see if we could move school. Calwell primary was too full to take them and other primary schools were to out of area to accept them. We had no choice but to take them back, after discussions with the principal who assured us that things would change - but they didn't.

Kayleigh hated school in Year 6 - she didn't get higher than a D (yes even in PE) and she was glad to see the end of it. The start of Calwell High saw such a change in attitude in her and that was mainly because most of her bullies went to MacKillop instead of Calwell so she had a chance to make new friends.

Memory: Erika Kesby

This post was written by Erika Kesby - someone who went to Calwell High with Kayleigh
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I didnt actually know Kayleigh that well, but when I went to calwell and saw her around she was always either smiling or laughing. And this always managed to put me and all my friends into a good mood as well. Even though we didn't know her we all loved Kayleigh and one day I went up to her and said, " Hey, Me and my friends have seen you around? Why are u happy all the time?" She looked at us, laughed and said " because, I have a roof over my head, food to eat, and a family that loves me. Some People dont have that at all." Me and all my friends were shocked. So that's why, so from now on when we get mad at something at our homes we think about what Kayleigh said.

My heart will go on

As previously mentioned Kayleigh most favourite song in the whole world was Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On - I listened to it for the first time since Kayleighs funeral today and it was really really hard. I couldn't finish it.

Kayleigh loved that song from the time we got Titanic on special edition DVD a couple of years ago (I think she was in Year 6) so we bought her the Celine Dion CD for her birthday. At that stage I bought Kayleigh a flute from St Vinnies and I taught her the basic fingering and how to read music. The first thing she did was go to her Grandpas house and print the sheet music for "my heart will go on'. I then taught her how to play it.

Once Kayleigh remembered how it went, she then transferred it onto the keyboard, her guitar and then even Kiara's toy crocodile xylophone. Kayleigh memorized the words and loved singing it - and she was terrible!!!

Jewellery

Kayleigh got her ears pierced at the age of 8 and she has had a thing for jewellery for most of her life, although she wasn't very good at not losing it.

When she was little, Kayleigh had a charm bracelet with a charm of a swan that we bought from a small amount for her birthday when my grandmother died. She wore it on and off for a couple of years before it was lost. After Kayleigh got her ears pierced she always seemed to manage to lose one earring - no matter if it was a stud or loop earring. She lost sleepers and studs a like. We were always throwing out one earring like people throw out odd socks.

Kaleigh loved wearing necklaces and she had a few over the years. Te last one she got with her "k" pendant she got two Christmases ago. She had a habit of 'overloading' her necklaces and putting far too much on them  like her K, her Sagittarius pendant, and other things and the necklaces would break. Kayleigh would sometimes then swap he necklaces for Natassjas - meaning that Natassja then had a broken necklace which wasn't very nice.

Kayleigh also liked wearing the chains the Terence bought. They were thick silver chains that were originally bought to melt down into silver wire for use in his Hi-Fi system. Kayleigh claimed on and a matching bracelet and wore them to school.

Family: Natassja

Kayleigh was not even 1 when Natassja was born. Their relationship was on the whole quite good for sisters who are close in age. I think the best way to describe it is to define their personalities and how different they were. As we all know, Kayleigh was the sporty outgoing one - who loved climbing on things, running and doing backflips. Natassja, on the other hand is more reserved and arty. The funny thing is, the one thing we praised the other for being, they wanted to be better at. In her end of Year 6 'About me', Natassja wrote that she wanted to be more flexiable, where as Kayleigh had written that she wanted to be able to draw better.

Kayleigh and Natassja got on quite well when they weren't fighting. As previously mentioned, Natassja was happy to let Kayleigh hang around with her friends when no-one wanted to talk to her. They talked for hours at night before going to sleep (as they shared a room) about school and boys. They teased each other and helped each other. Natassja found it good this year at High School as Kayleigh had already done most of the assignments she got, so all she had to do was ask Kayleigh how to complete them.

Kayleigh and Natassja did fight - and loudly. Kayleigh would get irritated at Natassja for not helping clean their room because she was busy drawing. Natassja would get angry at Kayleigh for taking her things and not giving them back. They would yell at each other, Kayleigh would hit Natassja, Natassja would scream back and then Terence and I would have to intervene. They then spent the next hour or so sniping at each other.

But they did everything together - Kayleigh was the oldest child, but Natassja tried to help out as she could. They were very different in personalities but they helped each other and looked out for each other. They worked together one recess to clean Mr Macks' classroom at school - I don't know why - but I think that shows the co-operation that they had together - even though they 'hated' each other some days, they always were someone they could count on when they needed it.

Kayleigh - Drawn by Natassja

Memory: Marcelle de Almeida & Ashley Knowles

This post was written by Marcelle de Almeida & Ashley Knowles - friend of Kayleighs at Calwell High.

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Kayleigh was the same age as both of us even though were a year above her in school years, even with the school year in between us we got to know Kayleigh very well. . .

Kayleigh was extremely sporty ! we competed against Kayleigh in cross country and athletics , she was our biggest threat as she was so darn good she would always whoop our butts ! she was so fast she'd win by a mile. She was amazing at cross country.

One of the many things that we love about Kayleigh is the fact that even though she beat us in our events she would always come over with a huge smile on her face, hug us and tell us we did amazing. She was a true athlete and an amazing competitor.

I remember when Kayleigh was in year seven, at the athletics carnival me ( Marcelle ) and Dara Haigh ran the 1500 m with Kayleigh as we worked out we would come 1st second and third and all make it through to zone together, sadly there was a mix up and none of us went , but it was an amazing race. .. . Kayleigh talked with me and told me things i never knew.

She was such an amazing and talented girl, we will both miss competing against her.

School: Year 5

For Year 5, Kayleigh had  Ms Woods. Year 5 was the real start of Kayleigh problems with friends and bullies. As we all know, girls of this age start becoming rather nasty to other girls for all sorts of reasons. As Kayleigh had few friends, and kept to herself, and didn't have the same interests as other girls she was a target.

Some girls told her that she was fat - which led to some talks between myself, Kayleigh and her teacher to ensure that Kayleigh was eating her lunch. Kayleigh was moved away in the class from the girl that was creating the issues to try and settle things down a bit.

Academically, Kayleigh was going OK - she was still struggling with Maths and english and she only managed 1 'C' grade - for PE with the rest being 'D' and 1 'E' for maths. You might wonder at the 'C' for PE . . . . . . .like I did until you realise that most PE classes at Primary are team based sport, and who wants the outcast in their team?

Her Last Week

The last week that Kayleigh was alive was probably the best week that we had as a family - everything seemed to be going great. The weekend before the hyperdome was having some sort of promotional things and we all got free hot chocolates and Jelly Belly Jelly beans. Terence and Kayleigh (and me) worked together to get the frame of the carport up - in some very wet weather - but it was good.

On the Monday, Kayleigh went to school and had a great time - she had to talk to Mrs Thompson about her Biome assignment and the fact that Mrs Thompson had missed two marks - meaning Kayleigh got the joint top mark in Year 8 for the assignment.

On the Tuesday, Kayleigh had the day off as she had been awake with her asthma overnight. She helped her dad put the roof on the car port. She walked with the other kids down to the school and watched Terry come first in the round the oval race. Terence showed Kayleigh how to do a 'death drop' off the monkey bars and she was so excited when she did it. When I found out I told not to do it by herself as it is dangerous - you could fall wrong, break your neck and die. Kayleigh promised she would only do it with her dad around.

On the Wednesday, Kayleigh went to school but came home at lunch time - she had sent her dad a text message saying 'Dad I feel like im going to pass out'. Terence rang her and told her to come home. I also had a half day at work that day as I was felling flu'ey. Terence had the flu too and felt aches and pains.
That night we had a babysitter (Monica) come around and Terence and I went down the club and had a great diner and won $33 on the pokies. We rented two movies one which we watched when we got home 'Armoured'. Kayleigh did her usual trick of getting Kiara to sleep and then sneaking out and watching the movie. I caught her several times and each time she would get up and run back to her room. At the end of the movie she came around the corner and gave both me and Terence a big hug and said good night. That was the last time Terence spoke with her (whilst actually awake). Kayleigh woke me up around 3:30/4 with her asthma playing up again. We found a paper bag to use as a spacer and Kayleigh said she felt better and I went back to bed. That was the last time I spoke with her.

Noodles

Now, you may think that this post is about noodles - 2 minute noodles and the like (which Kayleigh loved) but it's not . .

When Kayleigh was learning to talk she always had trouble saying the word needle - so she used noodle as a substitute. It was always funny to hear her say 'Mum I need a noodle to fix my shirt'. It became an on-going joke in our house. Every time I needed a Needle I would say to Kayleigh " I need a noodle' - and I always got what I needed. - and we still say it to this day.

Storm Chasing

One thing Kayleigh loved to do was go storm chasing in Summer whn storms were coming over the Brindabellas. We would all pile into the car and drive near to where the storms were occurring. Kayleigh loved the lightning and thunder and the heavy rain that came with storms, and it was even better when it hailed. The day the Theodore and Richardson copped a huge storm (New Years Eve 2008(?)) we had been all around Canberra watching the storms brewing and had even gone down to Lanyon homestead and saw the storm that was to come.

One time, when storm chasing in Macather, we hit a Kangaroo in the tarago we had at the time. The car was OK, but we killed the kangaroo - Kayleigh was so upset and made us turn around to check that the kangaroo was in fact dead - and it was. We went home early that day as Kaleigh was too upset to enjoy the storms.

Kayleigh and Terence would get on the internet when storms were brewing and check the weather radar to see where the storms would intensify. Kayleigh and Terence would then go chasing the storm cell. It was a great andrenaline rush.

The storm - New Years Eve - we storm chased this :)

Fashion

Kayleigh never had much of an interest in fashion trends - when girls her age were wearing flared jeans - she wore trackies. When girls were wearing low cut jeans - she wore trackies and when girls were wearing particular brands of clothing and shoes, she wore what she wanted.

Kayleigh was most comfortable in trackies and shirts from known sports brands - Adidas, Nike, Reebok, New balance etc - but only after she reached about 10. Before that she just wore what she thought was comfortable. She had no idea about colour matching. WE got alot of her 'sports brand' clothes from St Vinnies as people give away some really nice, near new stuff that fit Kayleigh perfectly. She was always excited to find some thing new - a Adidas shirt for $4, trackies for $6 - brand new. Kayleigh didn't like wearing jeans - she always found them uncomfortable because she was skinny and not short - so getting jeans that fit properly was impossible. Kayleigh believed clothes are for wearing and you should feel comfortable wearing them.

Her favourite clothes - which she was cremated in was her short white skirt, her adidas t-shirt and her bubblegum coloured asiscs. She loved those asiscs - the were the first shoes we had bought her in year 7 and they were blue and green coloured - like bubblegum. She actually needed a new pair and we had planned togo shopping the weekend to buy her a new pair.

Kayleigh and her favourite New Balance shirt

Always wearing trackies . . .

Clothes should be comfortable :)

School: Year 4

For Year 4, Kayleigh had a lovely teaher by th name of Ms Klose. Kayleigh did very well in her class and progressed well with her maths and reading. I was readlly an uneventful year - Kayleigh played with Natassja and her friends at lunch times and got on with her work during school times. She did have issues with bullying but not much as she kept to herself. Her teachers all remarked how helpful Kayleigh was - staying behind to help clean the classroom and pick up the chairs and clean he whiteboard - in a way I think this was because she wanted to help, but also avoid the playground.

Kayleigh was very proud of herself this year as she could swing on the monkeybars and miss 3 rungs in between an no-one else could do it :)

Politics

Politic never played a big role in our house - probably for long time I was the only one that could vote until Terence became an Australian Citizen  just before the election that Mr Rudd won.

Kayleigh was doing a course on Australian Politics in Year 8 and it was then that she started asking about and having conversations about politics. She was working on an assignment for a board game for SoSE based on politics and the courts which was due the day she died.

When Kayleigh passed away, Kevin Rudd was still the PM and Tony Abbott the opposition leader and she talked to me one day about her feelings on the two men. Kayleigh thought that Mr Rudd was OK, but he seemed to spend more time out of the country than in it. Kayleigh thought he was doing a good job in spending money on education and some more on health but could do more about important things like ambulances and police  - which I then had to tell her was a state responsibility. Kayleigh did not like Mr Abbott at all - she thought he looked like a used car salesmen and she didn't like his views on women. Kayleigh thought that he should never be PM.

I don't know where she got these views from - as I said we don't discuss politics at home....I wonder what she would have made of Ms Gillard?

Dad's Birthday

Todays is Terences birthday and it reminded me of how excited Kayleigh got when it was someones birthday in the family.

About a week before Terences birthday Kayleigh would make a birtday card. If she stuffed it, or didn't like it, she would start another until it was perfect. Kayleigh would get the other kids to write their names in it so it was really personal.

On the day, as soon asshe woke up she would come start into our bedroom and give Terence a huge hug and say Happy Birthday daddy!!! and then she would make Terence a cup of tea.

Kayleigh was always so excited and happy and I miss it more today than other days.

Hair

As a little girl it was impossible to get Kayleigh still long enough to brush her hair - she always had things to do and places to go. She had very fine hair, and not alot of it.

It was only when she got the high school when she started taking car of her hair properly, brushing it every day  - in fact she gone to the opposite of what she was previously. Everyday I would tell her to get out of my room (where we have full lenght mirrors) and stop brushing her hair - if most days it was several times I had to tell her to get out! She started using my shampoo and conditioner instead of the cheaper brand we get the kids and everytime I'd tell her not to use it, and everytime she washed her hair she'd use mine. One time she left me nothing and I had o use the kids shampoo ......Kayleigh was the same with my hairbrush and my hair clips - several times I had to go looking for my brush and found under her pillow or in her bag. One time I couldn't find it and had to got to work with my hair unbrushed grrrrrrrrr......

The last day she was alive, I had bought a butterfly hair clip. I got home and the first thing Kayleigh did was tak it out of my hair and put it in hers. I was a little annoyed at her and took it back - we laughed about it. After Kayleigh passed away I put this clip in her hair, just for her . . . . .  .