Professional Development weeks leave me bored.

Well, it was back to work on Sunday for the staff. I was in charge of the professional development and decided we will all learn about the Daily 5. I never used it myself, but saw it used and felt I had done enough research on it to be sufficient in the presentation for our purposes. My expectation was not for everyone to jump on board, full force, but they did. The entire week was spent making resources and center rotation charts and getting ready to implement the Daily 5. I was thrilled and every day of this week was better than the next. 

While we were at work, Grammi, Pop and the kids enjoyed the rain we had on Sunday. Since it seldom happens, it was a rare treat. It cooled off the day and The kids played in the one puddle the rain created. My mom was able to sand and paint the primer on the bench in front of our house as well. All in all, Sunday was a great day. 

This was as the rain began. Millie was finally able to use her Frozen umbrella, although she pretends it is raining inside all the time. 

There is a legitimate puddle behind them. 

Unfortunately, in all the playing outside, Jack locked the Land Rover, causing me to have to go to the police station.  Because we bought a 2002 vehicle, we also welcomed the privilege of having a car that has no key to lock it, so Stuart was just locking all the doors except the front passenger door. When Jack got in the car, which we have asked him a billion times not to do, he locked it. We made Jack pay some money towards the cost of getting a locksmith out to our house. 

The police station was a new experience. He asked me all kinds of questions to make sure the car was mine. He had to fill out a paper that I had to give to the locksmith, giving him permission to break into our car. It was an easy enough process, just different. 

Once I was home and all was back to normal, the kids ate their dinner early and we put them to bed. We turned in early as well. It was an exhausting day. 

Monday I did a presentation on Critical Thinking and used one of the displays I used to have when I taught in Chandler.  It was a Blooms Taxonomy board and it seemed that all the teachers in my school wanted to use those resources as well.  Again, another successful day. 

During the day Monday, the kids helped Grammie and Pop paint the color coat on the outside bench. 

Grammie, Millie and I went to the mall after school, while Pop napped because he wasn't feeling well, Daddy stayed at home also, and Jack played at his friend Sammy's house. 

We walked around the mall a bit and then decided to get ice cream. As you can see, Millie loved hers. 

After ice cream we shopped a bit. Millie was especially interested in the hats. 

Once we were home from the mall, Pop had recovered a bit so we went to the club to eat dinner. Jack decided he wanted to play instead of eat. So I gave home the 'kitchen closed when we get home' speech, and let him go play. As you would guess, once we were starting home the begging for food began. It was relentless. He fought a good fight, but in the end he lost. I had also gotten on to him about taking his shoes off and playing in the soggy grass with just his socks. It irritates me so much, and clearly I harped on it because when he finally settled into bed he said to me, 'Mama, I'm really sorry I got my socks dirty.'  Apparently I mentioned something about Stuart and Me working he'd to make money to buy him socks. When he said what he said, in such a sad little voice I felt a little silly about going nuts on him. Poor kid. 

Tuesday at school was very disheartening. After I just beamed with pride about how hard my teachers had worked this week, a big wig from ADEC came in and because he didn't see a dog and pony show he assumed we weren't doing what we were supposed to do. The teachers were preparing for their presentations on Wednesday, but were scattered and doing their own things so it wasn't impressive enough. 

Once I was home we went to the zoo. We saw the lions and tigers. Then we went to see the giraffe, hippo and gorilla. We decided to go to the children's zoo and just past that was the bird show that was about to begin. It was awesome. 

I can't get enough of these lions!

The gorilla was ignoring them. 

The kids rode the camel, just like at the Phoenix Zoo. 

These darker camels are the ones that roam freely by my school. 

Jack was the assistant to the guy running the bird show. He caught an eagle on his arm. 

After the bird show was over we decided to get an ice cream before leaving for home. 

Once we were home and the kids were bathed we had fish, potatoes and cole slaw. It seems the Telfords are on a health kick these days, which is good for all of us. 

Wednesday at school we had more professional development and, not using my best judgement, I blasted my teachers for their, sometimes, lack of professionalism. I had two teachers come to me earlier in the week, whining about how no one wants to volunteer to help with professional development because they are scrutenized in front of the group when presenting. I was going to address this on Thursday, but the opportune time presented itself on Wednesday instead. The two teachers complaining are two of my most negative teachers when others present. It was all very frustrating. Although after my blast at them I think they will behave more professionally. 

When I got home, we sat in our newly painted bench and watched the kids play outside, all while Grammie and Pop packed to go home. Waaaa!

We ate hamburgers, French fries and Brussels sprouts and then played one last game of Wink with Grammie and Pop before they had to leave. Any game with Millie is an absolute hoot. 

When I put the kids to bed Grammie and Pop were trying to say good bye to them and they were acting so silly. Once we did finally go upstairs, Grammie and Pop followed us. As they said goodbye, I started to cry. Jack and Millie were still being silly. Jack asked my why my eyes were red. I just told him I was sad. When Millie saw me crying she started to cry. She just boo hooed. It made me cry more. She then said, 'I want Grammie and Pop. Mama, it will be alright. Don't cry (all while she was still bawling). They are going to live across the street from us. It's okay.' It was the sweetest thing ever. She stroked my face and then said, 'It's okay, baby.'  It made me know she feels for people and their sadness.  

I took them to the airport and Cathy rode with me so it wasn't so bad. Leaving them at the airport is always sad. My dad probably gave me the best compliment ever. As I hugged him he said,'You have sweet kids, Dana. And you are a good mother. Be sure to love them as much as you can because one day they will be gone.' I could cry now just thinking about how sweet that was. Driving home was so much nicer with Cathy in the car. She's a wonderful friend and I'm thankful for her. 

Thursday school was busy but quick. I barely got there before it was time to go home. I just made resources and tried to get the Blooms boards up in classrooms. 

When I got home from school I sorted out some laundry and the mess the kids had made while with Kayleigh for the day. She plays with them, so cleaning up their 'play' becomes my job, which is fine with me. While I was in the house, Stuart was replacing the stereo in his Land Rover. I think the 'restoring' part of his Land Rover fun is about to begin. He was so chuffed with himself that he could complete the stereo instillation. 

Thursday night was quiet. We laid low and just got things sorted for the weekend, although we had nothing major planned. 

Friday we got up and headed to the club for our Biggest Loser weigh in. There is a group of about a dozen of us trying to get fit and lose weight. It's never ending. Afterwards 4 of the couples headed to the golf club for a healthy breakfast. All of them walked except for me and Millie. The golf club is 2.6 kilometers from the rugby club. Once everyone was there we got a table outside, which proved to be horrible. This time of year brings so many flies and especially while you are eating. It was awful, but the food was good. 

The Biggest Loser crew

Once we were home Stuart got ready to go to the club for his warm up. He was asked to dress out for the 1st team. 

In the end he didn't get to play, but he was fine with that. We ate dinner at the club and then came back to our house just after 6 pm. The kids got cleaned up and went to bed. Cathy came back with us from the club and we just chatted for a bit. She left just after 8 pm and we were in bed shortly after that. 

The kids were up early on Saturday. Jack was off to a birthday party at 10 am and the mom said she would bring him home when they were finished at the park. At 4 pm he was returned home. Who has a 6 hour party? He had fun so I guess that's what matters. 

We did our grocery shopping Saturday morning and Stuart and Millie went to the pool around 3 pm. Jack and I headed to the pool once Jack was home from his party. He swam for a while, in the heated pool of course. At one stage he got out of the heated pool, ran to the pool that isn't heated, jumped in and nearly panicked. You see, he didn't know that particular pool wasn't heated. It was freezing as you would guess. He recovered and we all changed clothes. We ate dinner at the club with the Richardsons. When we were leaving for home Jack asked if he could watch a movie once we got home. I went into the speech of 'when is enough entertainment enough?' He got my point and kept his mouth closed. Time to get back into the school routine, thank goodness. 

Another fabulous week in the UAE.