After this week, I feel exhausted. I need another week off school just to rest. I had wondered if it was such a good idea going away for the whole of half term. I had reports to write and it was not giving me much opportunity to get any planning done and I would not have the chance to go in to school to tidy my classroom ready for the new half term. However, I am glad I did go away. It was good not to go into school all week. My classroom is a mess and will need a couple of hours one evening to get it sorted, but it is worth it.

We had a fantastic week away. We went to Elvaston Castle camp site again and visited Sarah, Ben and Toby. Toby hid under the sofa most of the time (Z & J were too noisy and lively - I almost got under there myself!), but Sarah and Ben managed to stay out from under the sofa so we had a lovely catch up albeit for only an hour as we had to be at the campsite by 7pm.

From there we went to Seany's. We stayed at a campsite down the road from him for a couple of nights and then camped on his drive for the other 2 nights. He was happy for us to stay at his house, but we like sleeping in the van and it made more sense than Seany having to move furniture around to accommodate us. It worked out really well at the campsite. We were able to put the awning up for the first time and so we had more space. That also meant that Seany & my mum could come and visit us and had somewhere to sit. There was a large grassy area for the children to run around and so there was no need to worry about whether they were touching something they shouldn't.

The main reason for the visit was my mum's 70th birthday. She had a fantastic day. Actually the celebrations sem to have lasted a whole week as various people have taken her for a drink or sent special gifts.

At the end of the week was Larry's birthday. He's not 70, but I think he feels it sometimes. He enjoyed his day and we spent a lot of it playing Seany's Nintendo Wii.

I managed to get 5 reports written while I was there (although had a day off for Larry's birthday!) so I did not feel like I had loads to catch up on when I got back.

So there it was. Half term break came around quickly and was over almost as soon as it arrived. How long till the next one?

A Good Week

(The picture has nothing to do with the post. I just liked it. Don't waste your time trying to figure out a connection. There isn't one! Unless you find a really clever connection, in which case it was intended and carefully thought out!)

This week has been good in many respects.

First of all, after about 3 weeks of unhealthy eating and general Christmas-related overindulgence and a subsequent week of not daring to put both feet on the bathroom scales, I can now confirm I have not gained any weight over the Christmas period (or am back to the weight I was before Christmas).

Expecting my first week of teaching to be hectic was realistic and my expectations were met. I was therefore not suprised when my first proper maths lesson (teaching from the new framework) was a bit of a mess (to put it mildly). Maths is not my strong point, but I am pleased that at least my literacy lessons are much better and the children are making progress. That sounds like my maths lessons were not at all productive. That's not true. They were just not as good as I want them to be.

The whole year group went to the theatre to see Peter Pan on Wednesday. We didn't lose any children and I got to know some of the children's parents better.

Towards the end of the week I had several parents compliment me telling me they were very happy and their children liked me and were happy in my class. That sort of comment is always very reassuring to hear.

I had a meeting with my induction mentor (the deputy) with whom I get on very well and she was pleased with how I have settled in and how I am coping in general.

My head of year has also been very complimentary.

I love this school. I don't want to leave in the summer. My contract officially ends at the end of August, although there is a possibility that my contract will be made permanent as the class teacher may not return. We will have to wait and see what she decides to do. Even if she does decide to return, I will have completed 2 terms of my NQT year at one of the best schools in Southampton which puts me in a very good position for getting a teaching post at another school.

The only thing that I am sad about at the moment is that after spending most of last term doing the school run and taking Big J to his music group, I am really missing my friends. Many of them I only ever saw in the school playground and so don't see them at all now.

I am planning a quiet weekend, where I will have to do a certain amount of planning & resource making for next week, but am not going to spend all weekend planning as I seem to have done last weekend. I think my own children need me too and I am making a stick for my own back if I don't give them some quality time now. Added to which, after hearing that Big J (at only 3 years old remember!) commented to Larry as they watched Gwen Stefani on TV that she had "nice boobs", I think he needs more of my female influence! I am not sure whether I am more shocked by the fact that my three year old son made such an inappropriate observation, or that every man I seem to tell about it simply replies, "well, he's got good taste. She does have nice boobs!" You know who you are!

So, anyway, a great week all around.

And the best bit is that today is Seany's birthday and mum & dad didn't buy him a bike! (unless they gave him one as a token present!)

My Bruver Got a Bike an I Dint

I have much better things to do than this, but Seany started "the bike thing" again so I have to have my say!

For further clarification on what the bike thing is all about, you might want to read point ten of 30 Things about Seany.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, unless it's a bike and then it will come in a box with a big shiny bow on it.

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. Real trees are too wide and would get knocked over by the bike as it goes past.

3. When do you put up the tree? As early as I can get away with it. I like hearing people complain to me that it's too early.

4. When do you take the tree down? One of my kids usually knocks it down with their new bike as they ride around (if one gets one, they both get one!!). Failing that, I take it down before I go back to work in January.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, but I don't really agree with stealing eggs out of nog's nests.

6. Favourite gift received as a child? I don't remember. Did I get a bike? No, I don't think so. My brother did though.

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Yes, and every year a bit more of it gets broken. The shepherd now has a shorter crook (ooh!).

8. Hardest person to buy for? Secret Santa presents when you don't know who you are buying for.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Seany. I can just buy him a bike every year as he keeps losing or breaking them. (Never taught the value of money!)

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Decorative teapot. What is the point of that?
"I have bought you a teapot",
"Oh Thank you!",
"But don't use it, will you?",
"Why not?",
"It's for decoration only",
"Right, so you have bought me a teapot, but I can't use it as a teapot.",
"That's right."
"What the F*&K am I supposed to do with it then?!"

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. We get 50 free stamps because Larry is a postie.

12. Favourite Christmas movie? Love Actually

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? July. Yeah, so what! Shut up!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, every year. The kids have so many things that they don't realise I keep taking their toys and wrapping them up for them again the next year. At least they get something they really want!

15. Favorite thing to eat/drink at Christmas? Clotted cream, Brandy Butter, Port, guinness (wow, now I see why I am having to diet!)

16. Clear lights or coloured on the tree? coloured and flashing

17. Favourite Christmas song? I want to ride my bicycle

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Christmas day in Bethlehem was great, but I love being home with the family for Christmas.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Yes. Frank, Pat, Ricky, Bianca...erm... I can't remember the others.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? A Fairy.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Open them Christmas day. Shake, prod, sniff & squish them as soon as they arrive!

Anyone else want to have a go? Let me know so I can have a read.

Oh, and don't worry, I bought myself a bike!

A week in the life of....

Do I have too much time on my hands?

Mon 3 Sept
Took Little Z to INTECH, the Science Centre, for the last day of her summer holiday. INTECH was a lot of fun for both Little Z & I and highly recommended. Science has never been my strong point and having forgotten a lot of what I learnt at school but still being expected to teach it to children, it was really good to be able to have the opportunity to experiment with all the interactive exhibits.

Tue 4 Sept
Little Z started Junior school. On the same site as her infant school, but nevertheless a different school and still slightly daunting for her. She got on well and her new teacher seems very pleasant. I am pleased to hear the class do not come in on monday morning to sit down and write in their weekend diary, but do thinking skills exercises and that the teacher regularly does "brain gym" type exercises with them.

Most of my close friends know what I did on Tuesday and have advised me strongly against doing this again. (Nothing sordid, just don't want to upset anyone by posting about the details.) I decided I have enough friends and so does my son!

Wed 5 Sept
Took Big J to Southsea's Blue Reef Aquarium. Big J walked for over 3 miles to and from the Aquarium to where we parked, which is not bad at all for a 3 year old. During the walk as Big J showed my how to crawl along the promenade like a wolf, I understood how he is going through a pair of trainers every 3 weeks. The aquarium was good, but quite a lot of money for the amount of time it took to get around. Big J liked the sharks best of all and has not stopped talking about sharks ever since. I confirmed what I already knew, which was that Portsmouth is a rip off tourist city. Each time I have been there, I have been intentionally short changed or overcharged by someone in the tourist trade. Next time I will go to Bournemouth instead where the tourist traders are more honest.

Thu 6 Sept
Went to a friends for lunch. That sounds like she made me lunch. In fact, I went to her house and made lunch for both of us while she did some DIY work which she should have been doing while we had been chatting for over an hour on the phone earlier.

Visited some friends in the evening and the weather was so lovely we sat in the garden. They have a lovely garden. Big J liked it so much he watered the flowers, which we only found out when he emerged from the other end of the garden pulling up his pants and saying "I've done a wee!" I am so proud.

Fri 7 Sept
Went to another friends with some exercise equipment she wanted to borrow. Didn't intend to stop for lunch, but did. Didn't have to make the lunch myself.

Seany went on his holiday. Well, at least it should keep my mum out of the pub!

What will he do next?

It is difficult in todays world to shelter our children and protect them from things we don't want them to know about, at least yet. We try our best to teach them about the dangers and to teach them right from wrong. It is different from when I was a child. Children have access to so much and seem to know about things they are not ready to know about. I find that even if I stop Little Z watching something on TV or on a DVD that I don't think is suitable, there will be someone at school happy to tell her all about it. I am glad however, that I can rely on the adult members of my family not to teach my children to do stupid things like run into the sea, for (randomly chosen) example...



Or can I?

Thanks, Seany! It might have been a long time ago, but he remembered! :o)

Having said that, we did have a great afternoon.

On Saturday Little Z, Big J and I discovered Holly Hill Woodland Park and liked it so much, we went back with Larry today. We were all fairly muddy by the time we got back to the car, so will shortly be investing in some walking boots for Larry and myself. Little Z's wellies kept her feet dry. Big J's wellies, although okay for large puddles, didn't really meet his needs today.

A Dinner Guest

As I have occasionally been asked what Seany (my big brother) looks like, I thought I would post this picture on my blog. Both Little Z and Big J are very fond of their uncle Seany with his goatée and so we decided he might be just who we needed to invite for dinner to encourage the kids to eat their meals. Unfortunately as he lives 260 miles away and is quite busy with work at the moment we had to improvise:

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope 2007 brings you everything you wish for.

We had a great family evening for New Year's Eve. PP had been shopping and bought lots of nice Christmassy food to eat, as we had been away for Christmas and not bought any food in for Christmas yet. He was surprised to find that Tesco was almost out of all their Christmas food already, but he still managed to get some treats for us to enjoy on New Year's Eve and found quite a few bargains where items such as Tesco's Finest mince pies had been reduced to half price (making them just about affordable!). I guess we will see the seasonal aisle filled with Easter eggs next week!

We decided to have a family games night and spent a few hours playing Elefun, Jitterbugs and Hungry Frogs (cheapy version of Hungry Hippos). We have lots of family games, but choosing ones which are suitable for Big J to play is difficult. He is not very good at turn taking yet, which rules out most games. We had a lot of fun though, got the children very excited and hyper and then spent the next couple of hours trying to calm them down so that we could watch the TV and see the new year in before all going to bed at about 12.30.

While Seany and I both stayed in, our mum was at her local pub having a few(?) drinks and seeing the new year in with her friends. Somehow this seems the wrong way around, but I hope I have a social life as good as my mum has when I am her age.

Today we have had a fairly quiet day. I have done some sorting out to make room for the new presents and have managed to clear a lot of space in Big J's room. I can't help wondering if I have gone too far by getting rid of his bed!

Joking aside, I have taken Big J's bed out of his room as he doesn't sleep on it. Since he went up to "Toddlers" at nursery he has had his midday nap there on a crash mat on the floor. This seems to have discouraged him from sleeping in his bed at home at night. We often find him asleep on the floor in his room and no matter how many times we tuck him back into his bed, we invariably find him back on the floor again in the morning. After trying many different things to encourage him to sleep in his bed, we have finally given in and taken his bed away, leaving him with a mattress on the floor to sleep on. I think it is better for him to sleep on a mattress on the floor rather than just sleeping on the carpet or on his rug as he was before. At least now I won't have to keep getting down on my hands and knees to clear out the toys from under his bed!

Charity begins at home

I like to think of this time after Christmas as a time to think of others less fortunate than ourselves (really, there are people in worse debt than me!!) and so we take the time to carefully choose some of the children's toys to give to charity. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that they get far too much for Christmas each year and without a massive sort out we would not have room for all of their new stuff, I think there is a valuable lesson for the children to learn about children who do not get presents at Christmas. Maybe I could kill two birds (not literally, Sarah!) with one stone next year and not buy them any presents. The problem with that is, I like shopping as much as (probably more than) they like receiving the presents.

We do have a problem though of where to store all the new presents. Our house is not tiny, but it's full already and we don't have a spare room. Having had Christmas at Seany's this year, we came back and literally dumped everything into the conservatory, where it has stayed. I am gradually filtering some of the gifts into the children's rooms but they simply do not have anywhere left to put things unless we get rid of something. Little Z has very conveniently decided she no longer wants to keep her huge Sindy doll's house or the furniture. It is a bit easier with Little Z as she has a lot more stuff which she is growing out of or doesn't play with any more. Big J on the other hand, has the smallest room in the house and does not seem to have grown out of any of his toys yet. We were given several big boxes of boys' toys by a neighbour last year and although we passed some of it on at the time, we kept a lot of it and the storage space in his room is full to the brim not to mention the big tub and 2 boxes and a small tub of toys he has downstairs in the living room. I go through phases of ruthlessly getting rid of lots of stuff, but even that's not working at the moment. The minute I put things into a bag for the charity shop, Little Z finds the bag and gives Big J all his stuff back. I heard her telling him this evening, "Mum wants to give this to the charity shop" (passing him a Bob the Builder phone.) I would have been really cross, except Big J is only 2 and has no idea what a charity shop is because it is not something he can eat.

I need someone to give me some good ideas on how to get rid of the children's toys. Otherwise I will have to do it during the night and tell them santa came back and he was very cross!

Thank you!

This post is dedicated to my Big Bruv, Seany, who made sure our Christmas this year was one of the best ever (and who is probably going to kill me for the awfull attempt at the picture above, which I really ought to have blamed on Little Z!)

We planned to leave Southampton on Saturday 23rd December after PP had finished work and had come home for a few hours sleep. However, it didn't quite go as planned. In the 3 weeks running up to Christmas, I had a bad cold then Big J had his chest infection and then poor Little Z had a bad cold which kept her off school for the last few days of school (the only days when they get to play all day and not do any work!) and which meant that the few days we had together after she finished school and before Big J's nursery closed for Christmas were spent mooching around the house instead of having fun "girls' shopping trips" which I had planned for us. PP had got away with a mild cold in all of this, but we thought we had at least got all of the germs out of the way before Christmas. So, we were not very impressed when PP started coughing & sneezing around Wednesday of the week before Christmas as we knew it was unlikely he would be able to get rid of it before Christmas. I was even less impressed when, on the Friday night before we were hoping to travel on the Saturday, I felt the beginnings of another cold. Surely I have had my quota for this year, or maybe it's like holiday, maybe I still had some to use up before the end of the year and it could not be carried over. With all the hours he had been doing, PP had not really had a chance to let his body recover from the cold and so it had just got worse and worse, so I thought he needed the opportunity to sleep non-stop for what most of us consider and take for granted as a full night.

Anyhow, the point is (oh yes, the point, I had almost forgotten!!) we finally decided to leave the 4-5 hour journey until early the following morning (Sunday 24th) as neither PP nor I were feeling like driving. We arrived at Seany's around mid day on Christmas Eve after a very smooth journey. Not only had Seany given up his bedroom for us, he also had bought lots of extra things in that the children needed and had also made sure that he had bought the children's favourite breakfast cereals. In fact, during the four days we were there, he spent a lot of the time running around after us and my parents. The Christmas dinner was excellent, one of the best I have ever had, and the buffet he did for Boxing Day was so good, we had more on Wednesday before we left for home.

What also made it a great Christmas this year for me, was the Children. It is always difficult when you go to someone else's house to stay, as you rely on the host having a lot of patience with your children or you rely on your children to behave themselves. In my experience, you can never rely on either of these for any significant length of time, but I am very proud of both Little Z and Big J. They were not perfect, but then who is? But they were well behaved and I don't have any complaints about the way either of them behaved while we were at Seany's house or on the journeys there and back.

I hope you all had as wonderful a Christmas as we did.

Playing catch up

Crikey. I didn't realise how long it was since I last updated my blog. That probably means everyone has got bored and has stopped checking in to see if it has been updated.

So what have I been up to since my last entry? Well, those of you who also read Seany's Blog will already know that all my nagging did in fact pay off and my children, PP and myself were (eventually) honoured with a visit from the infamous uncle Seanie, during which much fun was had, the most memorable of which was our visit to Lepe beach where Big J decided to run into the sea and Seany duly followed. Big J can lead anyone astray, even his uncle who, as he himself admits, really should know better! As if I didn't have enough washing to do, Big J not only decided to cover his clothes in sea water, but added a few blood stains to this (and his dad's T'shirt) as he took a tumble off his trike and used his face as a brake. Luckily it looked worse than it was and although he had a fat lip for a couple of days, he was not seriously hurt.

We had a couple of guitar sessions, in which Seany played and I sat holding my guitar, pretending I could play. I bought the guitar about 6 weeks ago having never played before and with the intention of teaching myself how to play. It is harder than it looks. I still intent to stick at it though, as I think a teacher should be able to play at least a few chords on a guitar and it will be very useful when I haven't a clue what to teach as you can always shut kids up by singing. I would also like to learn to play the piano, which is something else Seany can do and I can't, but then he had a piano to practice on (yes, he was bought a bike and a piano! - spoilt is not the word (no, it really isn't the word!))

Since Seany returned to "The North", Little Z has gone back to school and ballet and although the school term has started and I am a teacher, as I do not yet have a job I have not gone back to work. I am, however, in the process of applying for 3 jobs in schools locally and so I hope to be in work by January. Unfortunately, I do not have the option of being a lady (I use the term loosely) of leisure until then. I have to enter the depths of "Supply teaching!". Maybe it isn't so bad, but if you went to a school like the one I went to and saw the way the supply teachers were disrespected, you would also be a little nervous.

On a more positive note, I have joined weight watchers online and after my first week, I have lost 4lb. Yippee! Feeling great about this, I entered the weight into my online weight tracker, expecting some kind of praise from the weightwatchers site. Instead, they displayed a message thanking me for entering my weight this week and then telling me that the recommended amount of weight loss is 2lb per week and that losing more than that means I am likely not to keep the weight off. Well, I know that you shouldn't starve yourself because this is not an effective method of weight loss, but I have been following their point system and eating the right amount. In these early days of my diet, I really could have done with some encouragement. If I wanted to be told I was doing it wrong I would have phoned my dad. I have about 6 stone (ouch - damn Haribo) to lose and I know it isn't going to happen over night, but as being officially "very obese" is also having detrimental effects to my health, I have been advised to lose weight, but to take it slowly and not to expect to be skinny by Christmas! I will settle for being skinnier by Christmas.

Wot no Seany?

So we were all excited at the kids' uncle Seany coming to visit. Then we got the call. Seany was not well. "He'll probably be here tomorrow" we said. Tomorrow came, and still no Seany. Seany was still not well. Poor Seany :o( We were all very disappointed, especially when Seany said he probably wouldn't make it at all this week and would probably forget about it this time and maybe come another time. Time for drastic action. I phoned my mum. No one argues with my mum. She phoned Seany. I think Seany will be here sometime tomorrow. Cool. Little sisters still get their own way, even at the age of 32!

life changes

tAfter many discussions with my brother about how great his blog is (judge for yourself) and how bad mine was (I have now deleted it), I decided to take the opportunity of having 6 weeks off this summer to do something worthwhile. I also decided to start a fresh new blog!

It can be a scary thing to make a big change to your life, especially if your life is actually okay. In November 2004, after returning to work after having my second child, I realised I could not suffer my job any longer. I left my job and did a Primary PGCE at the University of Southampton..

I am lucky to have a very helpful, hardworking and supportive husband as the course was extremely difficult and at times I really wondered if I could cope with family pressures as well as the full time PGCE. Somehow, if it is something you really want, you do it. I look back at it now and let out a huge sigh of relief that it is over....or is it?

I now have to complete my NQT year and that is not going to be easy. But first things first, I have to get a job for September. Supply agencies here I come...