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 . . . . .  .