Pond Hopper

The other mother and I went into the school to meet with the teacher and the assistant head.  We both let them know how upset we were that we were not informed that our children were sent to the office and how much we were against the children being allowed to play fighting games on the playground.  I told them I wouldn't allow it at home and I'm really unhappy that it's being allowed at school.  They admitted it was a problem and explained that they are planning to introduce a a scheme to teach the children to play in a safe way.  They will be calling it 'Super Hero Training'.  They plan to give out capes & masks out to children who behave well as rewards at playtime.  They will have assemblies where they will teach the children to play fighting games without making contact.  I find this to be absurd.  The problem has gone on to long and I doubt they will be able to teach little children to change their games when they have sixty other childr...

Yesterday after the school run, another mom and I decided to let the kids play for a while.  We were walking to their house together when a group of guys called out to us.  It was basically the English version of 'Yo Yo Baby you're looking fine!' don't ask me to repeat it because I can't even type an English accent (even after all of these years).  I was walking with a twenty-five year old girl so I assumed she was the target of their outburst and ignored them.  Then one called out, 'Hey there gorgeous! You in the grey - you are beautiful!'  I was so shocked that he was talking to me, I laughed out loud!  In hindsight the poor guy probably thought I was laughing at him.  The truth of the matter was that I could have run up and hugged him! My confidence is at a low right now.  In the last year I have gained 25 lbs.  My arthritis has gotten much worse and I wasn't able to workout for months.  I ballooned.  Over the summer I hated pu...

My son has been back to school for three weeks and I have already had three meetings with the assistant head (vice principal).  He's five years old and has just started in year one (1st Grade in the US). Let me start from the beginning though. Last year, I was the class mom.  I went in nearly every week to help.  I got to know the children and  both teachers (he had two that split the week).  I got along really well with one of the teachers, but clashed with the other from the beginning.  At the end of last year, we found out that my son was going to have the teacher I clashed with again this year (full time without the other teacher).  When my son found this out, he cried and said he wanted to switch schools.  I can't say I blamed him, but I talked to him and finally convinced him to give her another chance.  I never told my son I didn't like her (or that I had gone to see the Head teacher/Principal to complain about her), but he sensed it ...

This morning I woke up to yard looking like the set of a horror movie!  The entire yard was covered with spider webs.  They covered every surface and piece greenery there was.  They were in the garden furniture, between fence posts and in the bushes and trees!  I noticed it through the window and it took me ages to get the nerve to open the door to take some photos because I was afraid to see what might be on the other side! I'm sorry if the photos aren't clear, but it was as close as I was willing to get!

I took the summer off from Blogging as in the UK, children only get six weeks off for the summer.  This year for unknown reasons, they only got five weeks off so we had a lot to cram into a very short summer.  We went on three family trips.  I'm using the word 'trip' because I've been out of the US long enough to not want to use the word 'vacation' and not in the UK long enough to want to use the word 'Holiday' so 'Trips' it is. Our first trip was a two night trip to Legoland in Windsor.  The second was a three day trip to London where we spent two days at a Theme Park/Zoo called Chessington Wild Adventure and one day at a theme park called Thorpe Park .  The third trip was  a five day trip to Wales where I experienced my first British 'Caravan Holiday'. There were also many day trips to more local places.  I don't think I have ever had such a busy summer (if you can call five weeks a summer).  I am still recovering.  My son went ...