Where Have We Been?

Last month seemed to just fly by. We were pretty busy and somehow I missed updating the blog at all.

Let's see what happened?

Jordan got baptised


and we had a lot of our family and friends come for that. It was a crazy weekend with way too many people in my house - but we had fun.


(I could comment on my Mother in Law's sudden involvement with having her hands on Jordan's shoulders but I'll keep my Mother In Law stories for another day)

We had two school performances - one from Jared


And then a week later from Jordan


When I go to school performances I can't help but think about when we were in England and we had school musicals like this you'll have to click on the video to check it out 1/2 way down the entry.

Right after Jordan's performance we continued rushing around to get Jared ready for his school Grand Canyon trip. I've never been and I'm a bit jealous but I really didn't want my first Grand Canyon trip to be on a bus with a ton of kids. I did have to laugh when Jackson said it was no fair that Jared got to see the Grand Canyon. When Jackson was in Year 6 in England (5th Grade) he went with his class on a ski trip to Switzerland. Let's talk about not fair!

I think Jared took some pretty good pictures
This is Mikey - he has been all over the world with us so of course he went to the Grand Canyon too!





And then this last Wednesday we made a drive out to the new Gila Valley Temple. This was the kid's second open house experience.

Hidden Talents

Today was the gym competition at the kid's school. This means gymnastics and they have class, group and solo competitions. Apparantly Jackson signed up a while ago and then forgot about it. They called his name up today and he had nothing - no music, no routine - nothing. He just put in a cd someone else brought and made up his routine as he went. Somehow he then walked away with the bronze medal. A girl got the gold, then his friend Gabriel won silver and he won the bronze. Out of the entire year 6 - about 30 kids - and he wins bronze? Apparantly I need to get this kid signed up for gymnastics because we might have another Peter Vidmar on our hands. HAHA.

Sick Day Take Two!

Yesterday Jordan decided to take a sick day. She woke up with red goopy eyes so I decided a visit to the doctor was in order. As I thought she has pink eye. The doctor had the nerve to say to her "normally I tell sick children to lay on the couch and watch tv all day but when your eyes aren't well you shouldn't watch tv it strains your eyes." UM then what are we supposed to do all day? On doctors orders we had to play. We also went out to lunch - it hardly seemed fair for Jared to be home sick the other day and that he got to go out to lunch and then to NOT take Jordan. So, off we went for a nice little lunch of chicken strips, nachos and cheese fries.

She is back at school today. Her class had an assembly this morning - I'll have to explain. Every morning the children of the entire school have assembly. There is a focus to each morning - Tuesday the older children have class assembly, Wednesday is performing arts assembly, Thursday the younger children have class assembly. You know in the states when they give announcements over the loud speaker and the kids say the pledge? Well there is no loud speaker so the children meet in the gym - have their assembly, get announcements, say a prayer and move on with their day. Jordan's assembly was today. Her class has been learning about weaving and they even went on a field trip to a factory that makes fabrics so they were able to see how it all works. In the assembly today they presented what they had learned. Each child has a speaking part, there was a poem and then they presented a fantastic round. It was a round of all the sounds in the factory and the children did a fantastic job.

Bonfire Night

Last night we went to the kid's school for "fireworks" night. This is in celebration of Guy Fawkes and the infamous Gun Powder Plot. This is the 4th year we've been in England for Guy Fawkes night (which isn't actually until Monday night but the school celebrated on Friday). The first year we had a bonfire, we had a "Guy" that we also threw on the bonfire in fact there was a contest for the children to name "the Guy". Then we also had fireworks. That was the year that we had a headmaster. After he left the school was handed over to a headmistress. I'm sure the main difference between men and women is fire. Men love building fires and throwing stuff on them. Women think it's more civilized to sell hotdogs and cupcakes and launch fireworks. Okay that's a generalization because I much preferred the bonfire. It had much more of a ceremonious feel to it - burning the "guy" and all.

Jordan wasn't enjoying the fireworks too much. At one point she said "I should have stayed home with Daddy, I didn't know it would be like this." I'm not sure what she THOUGHT was going to happen with fireworks being launched 50 yards from us but oh well. We bought our hotdog and our glowing toys, socialized with a few people, watched the fireworks and went back home.

Money Tree Anyone?

I am pretty sure that the head teacher at the kid's school thinks that we all have money trees in our back gardens. We signed up Jackson for a ski trip to Switzerland. Not something we can really afford but seriously - what an opportunity so we budgeted the money. We payed the deposit and then 2 weeks ago we got a letter saying the remainder was due in 3 days. Um, we have to come up with HOW much in 3 days? That's not really allowing for our budget. Then Friday we get another letter about an outdoor education center trip in June and they would like the 350pounds for that by this coming Friday. Yep, I have an extra $700 just laying around for outdoor school. We just told the boy that he wasn't going. It's either that or we're living in a card board box when we move back to Arizona - fine in the winter time but they don't usually come with A/C for the summer.

Jordie Pordie

Puddin' and pie kissed the boys and made them cry. Okay, well the boys aren't CRYING but the girl is kissing. I told her she had to stop kissing the boys at school and she says "I don't anymore because now they run really fast!" Well, that's logic for ya. I suppose we're just lucky we don't live in the States where we would have the possibility of her being suspended from school or sued for some sort of sexual harrassment.

Birthdays

I hate birthday parties. Okay, normally I don't hate them but I do hate when there are parties and your child isn't invited. Twice this week I have heard parents from Jared's class say to their boys "if you don't do ___________ right now you will not be going to Tom's party." Lovely, Jared has not been invited. The year 4 class has just been combined - there were two year 3 classes but as enrollment is down they combined them this year. Jared has never been in Tom's class before so this could explain why he isn't part of the birthday party - I'll tell myself that even though several other boys who were in Jared's class - not Tom's class - have been invited. Then there is Mitchell's party. Since enrollment is down ALL of Jared's friends have left the school. Harry is being homeschooled, Nathan switched schools and Riley moved back to the states. I ask Jared who he plays with and he says Mitchell. But Mitchell is having a party and Jared isn't invited. Fortunately my son has a better attitude then I do. I asked him about it and he said that Mitchell is only inviting 3 boys because they are going to the movies and that he has already seen the movie and he didn't like it. (Surf's Up) So - I guess I'll quit feeling sorry for my son and realize if he doesn't care I shouldn't either.

First Day of School

Here we are September 5th and my kids are JUST going back to school. I have to say it just isn't that fun here. I took their picture but I wonder what is the point? Are we going to look back on them and say "oh remember that was your favorite shirt - you wore it everyday." Highly unlikely. I miss buying cute clothes and see all the kids with their bright white tennis shoes and crisp new clothes on the first day of school. Nobody comments on the way in to your classroom that you've got a really cute blazer on today. I don't really mind the school uniforms most days. It saves the hassle of deciding what to wear. It just takes the fun out of the first day of school AND out of picture day but that's another issue altogether.

Well, the morning went off without a hitch. All kids bathed, a summer's worth of dirt removed from their fingernails, hair brushed and all the rest of those morning things. We get to school and the boys disappear. They are old pros now and don't need their mom walking them to their classroom. (I went upstairs to peak on Jared anyway just to make sure he made it.) Then I took Jordan to her classroom. She has the same teacher Jared had for year 1. There are only 11 students in her class. Not very intimidating. 5 girls, 6 boys. Not bad. We find her desk, get her settled and then she turns on the tears. WHAT? She didn't cry on her FIRST day of school last year. Luckily she quickly realized the tears weren't going to work and turned back to the picture on her desk and continued coloring her sand castle. PHEW!

Brag About the Girl

Let me just tell you how excited I was when I opened up my baby girl's first end of year report card. There aren't any "grades" on it just comments about each subject and how social she is etc etc. What I was really proud of? Her chronological age is 5 years 4 months. Her literacy age is 6 years 8 months!! I finally have a reader and a good one! My boys struggled with school at the start (okay Jared still does) and most of that is my fault. Seriously whose idea was it to have boys in July and August and then send them to school immediately when they turned 5? Alright before I turn this into a rant or something as I normally do I'm just going to say - HOORAY JORDAN!!!

Yet Another Performance

It sure seems like a lot of my recent posts have been about my children and their drama productions. Jared is in drama club at school and he had a competition last night so we went to the theater and watched 4 plays. Jared's play was called The Happy Prince and the next group performed Daniel. I could go off right now about the school's drama teacher also being the director of the group that performed Daniel and how much more she puts in to that group but she's leaving the school so I'll leave it at that. The third group was a small group of 7 girls that did a fairly depressing play on school bullies.

The last one was called "A Real Happy Meal". It was an unbelievable bash of McDonald's performed by 9 and 10 year olds. They covered it all even the 12 year old girls in China making $5 a day to make your toy that you throw away the very next day. I think the best part was when they said "this box doesn't make you happy it gives you diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease!" I just don't think a junior drama competition is the place for some person to spout off on their hatred of McDonalds. LOL The funniest part was that Dh actually left the theater for the last act because he was hungry and WENT to McDonalds.

They also made a jab at American's and their adding of artificial sweeteners that cause cancer. LOL They put the DIE in diet coke ya know.

When we were leaving Jackson said it was all funny because it wasn't true. Ah what a child who lives in the age of television - can't tell fact from fiction - crap! I'll just go buy him a Happy Meal, that will solve it all.

The Car Park

As I sit banging my head against my steering wheel I have to wonder how some people can be so self centered. We have this woman at school who acts as if she owns the car park. It is a simple process. You either park in the parking lot and walk your children up or if they are old enough you drop them at the roundabout. In the afternoon we all have to park and you either walk up to get your children or they walk down to you. I am always in the walking catergory because of Jordan. The boys are old enough to walk on their own, she is not.

Anyways, where the story begins, 2 weeks ago I went to a Mum's coffee morning with some of the mom's from Jordan's class. I enjoyed a nice hot chocolate and muffin and listened to the regular gossip and complaints. This took place at the local fitness club and somebody asked about the woman outside playing tennis - was she a mom from our school? And then the ranting began about how horrible she was, how inconsiderate and how she wouldn't talk to you if you weren't driving the right kind of car. I said "well I guess I'm out since I just drive a Toyota Picnic." While it is a Toyota we all need to admit any car with the name picnic in it can't be that posh. The main complaint on this woman is her behavior in the car park. She has no problem pulling in and blocking the entire driveway between the 2 carparks so she can chat with a friend. Hmmm, the rest of us would like to drop our children off or pick them up - could you MOVE.

You're wondering what more I could have to add to this post - it's boring enough already, yes I know. So, I see her in the carpark following her usual routine of blocking traffic and I glance at her black SUV. SUV's are very popular here, so if you think all of England is driving tiny little economy cars come to Yorkshire and you'll see how untrue this is. Back to HER SUV. The woman who someone said "wouldn't talk to you if you weren't driving the right car." I take a look at the shiney black car and then I start to giggle. It is a Hyundai! Fine if you drive one, I'm not REALLY knocking it - okay yes I am. It is a Hyundai. In a world of Land Rover's, BMW & Volvo SUV's, and a few Mercedes tossed in for good measure I have to laugh. The car is a Hyundai Tucson - trust me Tucson is not so glamorous as to have a car named after it. I'll stick with my Picnic and truly prove I'm not trying to be anything other than who I am.

Speech Day

Last Friday was speech day at the kid's school. What is speech day? Good question. LOL It is actually very similar to a graduation ceremony. They focus on the kids who are in Year 6 that are moving up to secondary schools next year. Since it is a small school every single year 6 child leaves the school with some sort of an award. They even can win a Cup/trophy but the funny thing is that they can only keep it for a year. Then the cup has to be engraved (at the winner's expense) with their information and sent back to school to be passed on to the next year's winner.

I almost didn't attend speech day this year. It's usually an hour and a half of speeches by the Board of Governors, the Head Mistress, and a guest speaker. I decided at the last minute to go and I'm glad I did. My Jackson got an award - and I actually had the camera to take a picture. What a good mom I am. He is in year 5 and he received the award for progress. There are 2 awards given to each year 3-6 class, achievement and progress. Achievement is rewarding the top student and progress is for most improved. Woohoo!

The picture is of Jackson receiving his award from Peter J Murray the guest speaker. If you click on the link you will see he is an author of children's books. Jackson has read a few of them so this was pretty cool. (We're inside a marquise that they have to rent because the school doesn't have a large enough room for all of the students and parents. They also use it for the school's summer pta ball but we chose not to attend since the price is 55pounds a person - my hubby and I are NOT spending $200 just to go to a dance with people who don't talk to us. LOL)

Oh - and of course our little American contingent sat together and at the end complained again that they hadn't provided us with the words to God Save the Queen. As tempted as we were to sing My Country Tis of Thee we resisted.

Starring Jackson as........

This week Jackson was in a musical at his school. Their class did a very short rendition of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat where Jackson played Judah. He did try out for the part of Joseph but he isn't much of a singer and he needs to work on his stage presence. The part of Joseph actually went to a girl. I think they did a fantastic job. We were treated to 3 productions. All of year 5 did Joseph, one of the year 6 classes did a short bit of Grease. And let me tell you we were all pleased that Greased Lighting makes the chicks scream. It's still a bit weird to hear 11 year olds singing about getting friendly down in the sand. The last group of year 6's did a bit from The Boyfriend.
While the last 2 were good Joseph REALLY outdid them. Jackson's class year is full of girls with very nice voices. The year 6 girls are just average. I took a video with my digital camera but it just doesn't do any of it justice.

Had we figured out that our video camera wasn't working BEFORE the lights went out we could have taken a decent video. Lesson learned and next time we'll give it a test shot before the play begins.

A group of the teachers also performed in the middle. It was quite comical as they all came out dressed as nuns and sang My Favorite Things. Which of course include when the bell rings, our children go home, and a bottle of wine. LOL

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Saw this on another blog - hmm I think I have a spelling problem. Now if I could get my sentence structure back up. LOL

I Scored a 100%!

Thursday Thirteen #5

#5 Thirteen Things I Like About My Kid's School While I know it's the 100th Thursday 13 day I've just been way too busy this week to sit down at the computer and find 13 TT that I have really enjoyed. So - you're stuck with 13 Things I like about my kid's school. 1. Largest class has 14 students in it. 2. They have lots of play time. 3. During lunch they have a whole hour in which to eat, play, or join in a club - like choir, computers, or sports. 4. My son can take guitar lessons AT school. 5. My daughter was able to start school at 4. LOL 6. They learn all sorts of cool history. Ask my 7 year old about Romans and you'll get an ear full. 7. It is such a small school that every child knows everyone. 8. The grounds are beautiful. They have this gigantic tree called The Magic Tree that you can go inside and climb around. This is Jared inside the tree. 9. They perform in all sorts of plays/musicals/speeches and every child participates. 10. They take a class called Religious Studies and learn about other religions each term. While I'm sure sometimes it is on a biased slant I still think it is important that they are able to learn basics of other religions. 11. They wear uniforms and I don't have to buy very many clothes for outside of school. 12. They get a lot of scattered holiday time with Term breaks and 1/2 term breaks - makes for visiting other countries/sites around here easy. 13. And my number 13? They go to school from 8:45-4:00!!!

And The Medal Goes To.....

Yesterday was sports day at school for the boys. *Jordan's is today. It was a great day. I have one very athletic boy and one, not so much. Jackson loves competing, he loves sports, he just enjoys being outside. Jared would prefer to sit on the couch and watch Sponge Bob. They had a series of events and since they are in seperate grades it kept me busy running from one end of the field to the other. Jackson did great. He had one melt down when he stopped short in the hurdles race - he was ahead even. I did hear them being VERY specific as to where the finish line was after that. He received a first place in the nerf javelin throw at 18.5 meters, 2nd place in the long jump, 3rd in the 75 meter and another 2nd place but I couldn't tell you in what. He also came in as a VERY close 4th place 150meter runner.

Jared, on the other hand, just participated. He is a good kid and doesn't seem at all bothered that he didn't place in anything. He was quite happy with the 5 "I'm a good sport" stickers he recieved to decorate his hat. He IS a good sport. Not once did he complain about any of it. He finished every race and event and I'm very proud of him. When they did the hurdles I was dying though. Seriously, these are small hurdles, just a tiny jump over them. Then Jared gets up there and MAN my kid is short. They looked like proper hurdles for him - he had to really get a good momentum going just to leap over them. He did just fine though.

When the events finished we had a closing ceremony. Points were awarded to each house - yep just like in Harry Potter. Each time someone wins or places in an event those points go towards the house points. My boys are in Rutland and they came in 2nd! They also award overall athletes. It always amazes me when you see one child stand up covered in first place ribbons. Oh how it would be to be good at EVERYTHING. LOL The headteacher gave this speech about how they are all winners and we giggled in the back about how American that is. Of course I whisper to my friend that if they were all winners Jared wouldn't be covered in "I'm a good sport" stickers. LOL I'm a horrible mom, it's true.

Then the headmistress tells all the children they can go home with their parents. Oh wait, if you need to take the bus home stand up, also those going to afterschool care. LMAO She seriously should have just said "so for those of you who have parents who didn't show up to support you could you all stand up so we can see who you are!"

The best part of the day was when I got the boys together and Jackson took some real interest in Jared and his "I'm a good sport" stickers. He could have gone on and on about the events he placed in - instead he focused on his little brother and told him that he must have done really well to get so many stickers. How this happened when they come from such a sarcastic mother I don't know -but hooray for them!!

I'm off now - have to watch Jordan skip rope. She's been practicing for days so I hope she does well.

*Sports Day has been cancelled - DARN RAIN!!! We'll try again next Tuesday.

Rain & Shine

So, I was off to the summer concert yesterday at the kid's school. Of course being England it decided to be a bit rainy. It has been beautiful outside for at least a week but with a planned activity outdoors this calls for one thing - rain. It didn't actually downpour - more of what J5 refers to as "spitting rain". So, there goes our outdoor summer concert. We are then packed in to the tiny gym in the school. It's humid and packed full - what better place to cheer your child on.

My pictures are horrible - this comes from being at the very back of the room. But what can I say - I was picking up some last minute picnic items and then had a desperate need for a coke with ice from Burger King. I mean seriously, priorities ya know!!

Okay back to the summer concert. After my rush to get there and then the beginning of the rain I stand in the back. I look at the program and of course my little one is LAST. I have to sit through the nursery children putting on a WAY TOO LONG performance. The program says they will do 3 numbers - first 2 were poems/group readings. Then a little song. LIARS - it was not 1 little song it was 15 minutes of watching preschoolers dance around singing about earthworms and dirt. (The theme of the summer concert was "An English Country Garden") Fine if it is your preschooler, but since it wasn't there I stood in the hot, humid gym wondering how much longer this would go on. Then we get a short performance from the year 2s, then the year 1s and finally to J5. Of course she does a fantastic job.

Since this is a schoolwide concert out go the pre-preps (Nursery-Year 2) and in comes Prep. I would have enjoyed it more had my children performed something new but they repeated performances/readings that we had all seen before at the drama festival in February. Oh well! J9 did sing a few new songs in choir. One was Heat Wave - just what we need right? They were set to sing "Singing in the Rain" but decided not to tempt fate seeing it had stopped raining and we were still planning a picnic on the lawns after the concert. After the choir concert I grabbed the children and ducked out before we got stuck listening to the orchestra and small ensembles. Having been in the gym for almost 2 hours already it was time for some fresh air.

We gathered all of our things from the car and spread out our tarp and blanket for a picnic. A friend had given us both the tarp and blanket when she went back to the states and I was confused about the tarp until our first picnic experience when I realized how wet the ground can be after sitting on it for a few minutes. And yes, I should probably invest in a proper picnic blanket. We sat on the outskirts, joined by two other American families. I wonder if they realize we are excluded or if they just think we are exclusive? In all it was a nice afternoon.
J5 - the girl in the center/front

J7 all the way to the right

J9 also all the way on the right

Summer & Music

Off to the summer concert at the kid's school. I promise to return with pictures - and a happier attitude then yesterday.