Students are back, well, most of them.

We only had about half of our students in school on Sunday. It's actually nice for the teachers to ease into the week with very few on the first day. 

After school we took a trip to Sanayai (the district where all car maintenance takes place) and picked up my car from its service. Taking it to a dealer to have it serviced is much like it is as home, much more expensive. 

When we got home Jack hustled off to Sammy's house and Millie played with her new dry erase letter and number boards. We had ordered them from Scholastics through their school. I was thrilled that she loved them so much. We ordered one for 'joined up' writing (the Brits version of cursive) for Jack, but he wasn't as initially swept with it. 

Millie and I went to gymnastics while Jack showered and ate dinner. When we returned, I bathed Millie and left for the rugby club. There were two women who I had spoken to about my surgery and they wanted to know more. I never imagined this new 'tool' I have would have led me to others seeking the same, but it has. 

We talked for two hours about what I had been through and the ups and downs of the entire process. They left, convinced they would go through the same surgery. Suzann decided she would call my doctor on Monday and go for a consultation. 

I was home and in bed by 9:15 pm. The conversation was great, but it was a bit exhausting recounting what I had gone through to this point, and some of the unpleasant parts I had really forgotten until I started to talk about it. 

Monday I spent a great deal of time checking classrooms to see if each teacher had the correct learning environment for the inspection, oh and for student learning as well. 

I did some laundry and dishes when I got home, gave the kids a snack, then had them shower. We were off to the circus on Monday evening. The kids were so excited. Stuart had to do something to wrap up his year as the treasurer of the club. It hasn't been a year, but elections are Wednesday, so if he doesn't get re-elected, the new treasurer will need to have the books finalized. We really hope he wins the election, though. 

We got to the circus location just before 5:30 pm and there were only about 10 people with us. Cathy was with us and although it didn't seem there would be a big crowd, we got out of the car and queued up to enter the big tent. 

It wasn't the largest circus tent I had ever seen, but we have been to the Italian circus in Chandler before and it was tiny, but phenomenal. Unfortunately, just after this picture we were told the circus would be canceled for the evening because of technical difficulties. They told us we could come back anytime until the circus left town. So we decided we would go on the 18th of April. The kids were disappointed, but they handled it fairly well. 

When we got home, Millie was asleep. 

Unfortunately she didn't stay that way. The kids had a snack and then watched something on Jack's iPad. Then Millie's meltdown started. She had been quite disobedient and sassy when she got home from school, and sadly it just went downhill from that time. She ended up sobbing, in her room, without getting what she wanted. Someone help me! We were both crying before it was all said and done. And as sassy as she is, when she sees me cry it makes her incredibly sad and she just cries harder. It ended up being a very draining evening. 

While Millie was having her tantrum, Jack came upstairs and announced he was going to bed I asked him if he was sure and he said he was. When Millie settled down a bit I headed to Jack's room and he said, 'I was just kidding about going to be. I just wanted Millie to be quiet and go to sleep.'  He's so perceptive. She finally dropped off and then Jack was back downstairs for a bit of fruit, then he was off to bed for good. 

Tuesday proved to be filled with stress because our initial inspection visitor was at school most of the day. My principal filled me in on what was asked for from the teachers for the following week. The anxiety this 4 days brings is more than I care for, but it's part of the process. 

Millie had to gymnastics and after announced to me that she would like to take ballet 2 days a week and gymnastics one day a week. Madam knows what she wants. So we will start that schedule next week. 

Millie was showered once we were home and put on a fancy dress because the Richardsons were coming for curry. Just after dinner, without having eaten a bite, we had anniversary cake for Clare and Scott. Millie had another meltdown because there was no cake for the kid who are nothing. Stuart took her upstairs to speak to her and she went from bad to worse. We have told her several times that if she would just take her consequence that things would be a lot better. She still hasn't learned that part and unfortunately escalates most situations, making her consequence even bigger. Meltdown 2 in the same week. So when I finally went upstairs she was in complete hysterics. After she realized she was not going to win this battle, she gave in to sleep. Have I mentioned I hate this part of parenting?

We had training on Wednesday for our science curriculum. Stuart and I always sit at different tables for these things. In fact, it's a little frowned upon for people of the opposite sex to sit at the same table. The training was riveting, as usual. It just meant we had an early day and could get our grocery shopping for the week done a day early. 

We headed to the rugby club around 4 pm for the annual rugby club board meeting and re-elections of the rugby club committee. I took the kids' swim gear since the meeting was set around the pool. That turned out to be a good call since every other parent who attended did the same thing. 

Millie nearly went into meltdown mode again. She had decided to get out of the pool because she was cold. I warned her that if she changed into her dry clothes there would be no more swimming. She agreed that she was fine with that. But once she got bored and noticed that every other child was still in the pool, she started whining about getting back in the pool. I stuck to my decision and although she continued to whine a bit, in the end she settled down and decided to give up her fight. 

It's not a great picture, but Stuart is in the purple on the far right. This was his end of the year treasurer report to the rugby club members. 

Stuart was unopposed for the treasurer position this year, which made him totally happy. There were some heated discussions as happens in every organization, but the kids and I left after the vote so we avoided it for the most part. Stuart filled me in once he was home, but it all leaves me a bit irritated so I tried to put it out of my head. It's like in most things, there are people who really need to run things past others prior to saying them out loud in front of the masses. It's really for their own protection. 

Thursday morning I got up and took paperwork down to Brighton College, potentially the kids' new school. The paperwork was to apply for scholarships for the kids. Their prices are way more than we are able to spend so we will have to have scholarships to attend there. We shall see how it all works out. 

When I spoke to the lady in admissions she stated that we would need a letter from the  current school for Millie regarding keeping her back in what is the equivalent of preschool. I decided since I was going to be late to school anyway, I would just take an emergency day and get the foot work done for the schooling. My principal really discouraged me because that would have left her as the only senior leadership member at school that day. So, I signed in at my old school and was about 3 hours late to work. So it goes. School was very uneventful. 

Gymnastics ended on Thursday, but Millie decided if Jack would start coming with her, then she would go another 12 sessions. When we got home we proposed it to him and he said he would try. So he will start on Sunday. 

I went to a wedding on Thursday night while the kids and Stuart went to our neighbor's for a movie and pizza. 

Friday morning we got up and Stuart took Jack to a birthday party at the club, while Millie and I headed to the mall in search of bike shorts. She's gotten to where she won't wear a dress without shorts under it and she only has one pair of bike shorts. Other shorts are too bulky. We were successful, thank goodness. 

When we got home we just chilled and had decided not to go back to the pool in the afternoon until Scott called Stuart. Then, back to the pool we went for a couple of hours. Then we stayed to watch the women's last 15s rugby match of the season. It was an awesome match and made me miss playing just a little bit. 

We got home just before 9 pm. The kids had cereal, showers and went to bed. Stuart and I ate shepherd's pie and fell asleep on the sofa, like I always do. 

I woke up just after 7 on Saturday morning. We were going to take the kids to see the new Jungle Book movie but Jack wasn't interested. So instead we went to Fun Block. The kids played in the soft play area. Jack was tall enough to climb the structures and jump on the trampolines, but Millie is still too tiny  bless her!

We shopped a bit at the mall and Stuart got his new Clark dress shoes for next school year. He was so excited. He paid less than $200 for two pair, which is unheard of for a man with size 14 shoes. 

We also bought some items from the discount sports store. The kids decided they wanted to buy something with their own money. Boy is that hard for me to allow. I try to point them in the direction of something practical, but it doesn't always work. 

Here were their selections on Saturday. Stuart bought the balls and when we got home the kids went up to get their wallets and count out the money they owed Daddy. Teaching kids the value of money is quite complicated. 

We were home by a bit after 2 pm. Stuart went to the grocery store to buy our roast dinner items. He was cooking for the Richardsons who had spent the day in Abu Dhabi at a Formula 1 competition. Dinner was fantastic and the company was wonderful, as usual. 

The kids didn't have as early of a night as I had hoped for, but they had a full day for sure.