Once I was home from work, Kayleigh reported that Millie had been in time out three times that day because she wasn't listening. Oh, someone please tell me that 5 is better than 4. She seems to have been going through a phase for about 2 years now.
Jack was allowed to go to his friend's house while Millie didn't get to go. She cried and whined and then finally just started playing and talking to herself. Once Jack was home, he brought some little girls with him. He has never had girls over to play, so it was weird, but they were cute so I understood.
Millie and I headed to her gymnastics class around 4:30 pm. She somehow has two weeks left, I suppose because of the rain we had in early March that cancelled her classes. I asked her if she wanted to stay with gymnastics and she said that she wanted to take ballet again. Fortunately the place where she goes to gymnastics also has a ballet class. We shall see what route we go.
Once I was home, Millie showered while Stuart took his Land Rover to get it checked on. After his last service it started leaking fluid, and the guy who normally fixes it has not been in town for the last month or so. The plan was that I would have kids clean and then we would go pick Stuart up so he could leave the Land Rover with Sharjan, the mechanic. He called and said he was coming home and the problem was fixed. He picked up KFC for the kids on his way home. They had already had pasta and some Easter chocolate, but insisted they were still hungry.
Once he was home, they ate and then we're off to read books and go to sleepy land. Stuart and I ate dinner and then attempted to watch television, but as usual I fell asleep on the sofa. I'm pretty sure my holiday wore me out as well as it did the kids.
Our first meeting on Monday morning was full of teacher presentations. My English teachers are always very cooperative when it comes to presenting to their colleagues. I am very fortunate because many times I hear of Heads of Faculty who don't have the same experience with their English teachers. I work with a great group of teachers.
The day kind of dragged on. I didn't attend all of the meetings, but I did do some much needed work. At their break times, the teachers would come into my office and make tea or just have a chat. We all talked about how this kind of time together would just be exaggerated once Ramadan came, which is tentatively June 6 and lasts for a month. There will be no children at school for that month and we will have to cover the windows to my office so no one can see us eating or drinking. It will be like being a part of an underground operation.
We were dismissed a half hour early so I hit the super market to get some snacks for my teachers, some tinned fruit for the kids and milk. I got home before the kids, they had gone to school with Cathy and Kayleigh. Cathy needed Kayleigh's help and since Kayleigh was watching the kids this week, they went to Cathy's school.
The kids got home about 2 pm and Millie helped me make gluten free muffins, which turned out to be a bit crap tasting. I'll eat them anyway, but won't enjoy them as much because they are not as sweet as I thought they would be.
At 4 pm we all headed to the rugby club. Stuart thought it would be good to just feed the kids at the club. It ended up that I was on my own, and alone time is not bad. Stuart had a committee meeting at 5 pm, but ended up speaking to the club chairman beforehand. So the kids played outside and I chatted with my friend, Martha. Jack joined a touch rugby game with the 'big boys'. He basically just ran around, playing excellent defense, but never touched the ball. He didn't really care. He thought it was great to play with them.
I ordered the kids food and they came to eat. Afterwards Jack wanted to know if he could stay at the club while Stuart had training. Since he didn't have school the following day I didn't really mind, but Stuart was going to be in his committee meeting until, potentially, 7 pm, and I didn't want to wait that long. So I let the kids go back out and play for a bit while I just sat and chilled. It was nice, but I would have preferred being at home in my jammies, chilling.
I messaged Stuart to see if he was okay for Jack to stay. Although he was all of about 50 feet from me in the club office, I hated to disturb him. He didn't respond, so I waited at the club until about 6 pm. When he didn't come out I decided to pack up the kids and go home.
With Jack, we've been working on his reaction to when we say 'it's time to go' or 'no'. We have told him that he doesn't have to like our request, but he's not to argue or whine. His response should be 'ok'. When I went to get him off the playground, I said, 'Ok, buddy, it's time to go.' And he responded, 'Ok.' Clearly he does listen to my yammering on. I made sure to make a big deal over how proud of him I was for his response when we left. Then he made a point to tell me that he had actually said 'ok' on several occasions Monday. He recalled the times and I said I had noticed those times as well. I also said it must make him feel proud that he is learning to listen to what we have to say to make him a better person. He responded with a 'yeah'. Thanks for the enthusiasm!
Once we were home the kids both showered and went downstairs to watch The Lego Movie, for the hundredth time. Millie fell asleep about 20 minutes into the film. She's a party animal. Jack, on the other hand, was awake the entire movie.
Once he was in bed I fell asleep on the sofa and didn't wake up until Stuart came in around 10 pm. I slept for nearly 2 hours on the sofa. I'm pretty sure I'm getting enough sleep these days.
Tuesday I started our professional development with the Geico commercial that has the camel saying 'What day is it?' It made me laugh, at least. During weeks like this, comic relief is a necessity.
I took snacks for my teachers because they are in my office constantly on weeks like this so I like to make them feel welcome. We all left at 1 pm on Tuesday, so that was a nice surprise. I stopped to get eggs at the grocery store and then headed home.
Once the kids were home, I took a nap while they were at their friend's house. They were gone for an hour and that's about how long I slept. I used to hate naps, but lately I've been very satisfied with them. Who would have thought?
Millie had gymnastics so I walked again while she tumbled. On our way home from gymnastics I got a message from Ben's mom (one of Jack's friends). She asked if Jack could join them in about a half hour at the ice skating rink for Ben's birthday. I said he'd love that, and boy was I right. When I got home, Jack had already taken a shower and was laying on the sofa. I told him to get up and get ready because he was going with Ben to ice skate. He was beyond excited. He ran upstairs and put on some sweat pants and got on long socks. He made a sweet card for Ben, thanking him for inviting him to skate and have dinner with him (although Jack had already eaten), and then we put some money in the envelop.
I bathed Millie and took a shower myself while Jack was making Ben's card. Then when Jack left, Stuart, Millie and I took Stuart's car to be serviced.
Once we were back home we received updates from Ben's mum and pictures. 
She messaged me at 8:00 pm saying the boys would be off the rink at 8:30 and then they were off to their house for cake. She asked if getting Jack home at 9:30 or 10 pm was too late. No school? No worries. Plus, I knew he would feel as if he was so grown up with this entire night. She brought him home just before 10 pm. He headed up to have another shower and then hit the sack. Once he was in bed, he must have called me back into his room three times to talk to me about his evening. I think he might have enjoyed it more than Sri Lanka.
The expert skaters!
Naturally, Jack was the last one up on Wednesday morning. Even when he got up he was still groggy. He perked up after he had some breakfast.
It's was increasingly more difficult to stay focused at school each day. Everyone was working very hard and getting things together for the third term and our inspection, but my office seemed to be the hub for all of the work to get done. I'm glad all the teachers like to hang out in my office, though. It makes me feel loved.
Once the school day was over, I headed home to a very excited boy. His buddy, Louie, was coming over for a sleepover. Louie, his sister, Evie, and his mum, Rochelle, showed up about 30 minutes after I got home from school. Evie and Millie played, Louie and Jack played, and Rochelle and I drank tea and had a catch up.
Rochelle left around 3 pm and took Millie with her, while the boys stayed at our house and played. Millie returned after eating no dinner at the Rouvi's house, yet getting ice cream. The boys went to the rugby club with Stuart, and Millie dropped off to sleep just after they left.
Once everyone returned, Jack had a bit of a meltdown because he wanted to stay up and watch Star Wars. Since it was already 10 pm, and I knew he was tired, I convinced him that Star Wars would wait until the morning. He and Louie slept on the sectional in the loft and were almost asleep before their heads hit the pillow.
Thursday school flew by because all the teachers did was work on getting their rooms ready and the lessons for the next two weeks. I did virtually nothing because I was basically kicked off my computer and out of my desk. I have the only color printer in the entire building that the teachers have access to. So, for me, when they need to print things I am the one who gets to sit back and do nothing. These are times that I help laminate, cut things out, and just chat.
Once I was home we went to pick up Stuart's car. We then decided to do our weekly shopping so that would be out of the way. We went to the grocery store and then home for a bit before Millie and I headed to gymnastics.
Once we were home from gymnastics, Millie was bathed, as was I. Stuart and I had a date night with Leanne and David at Trader Vic's, a local posh restuarant. So Kayleigh and Tomasi (her boyfriend) came over to babysit. They ordered in McDonalds and watched movies with the kids.
Our night out with David and Leanne was great. The food and atmosphere at Trader Vic's is very island like. There is great seafood and a wonderful ambiance.
Selfie!
Friday morning we were up early. We skyped Grammie and Pop (well, actually Jack and Millie initiated the call), then Stuart set off to watch a rugby tournament at the Dubai 7s, then played in his own match later that afternoon. The kids and I went to church. After church I had some shopping to do, so I put the kids in Fun Farm for an hour and got all my shopping done at Al Ain Mall. Then we had lunch at PF Changs.
In the afternoon we were going to go to the pool, but decided against it because it was raining and stormy. Since Stuart was out playing rugby, Kayleigh and her boyfriend came over again to babysit so I could head to DeDe's 'favorite things' party. I love these parties she has and can't wait to incorporate them into my life once I am back in Arizona for good. I received some wonderful gifts and was back home by 8 pm. I had caught a cold somewhere in the day, so was ready for bed just after I got home.
Stuart got home around 9 pm and ordered some food. I was asleep on the sofa before his take out got there. I went to bed around 10 pm and was stuffy all night long.
I was woken up at 6:30 am with Jack asking me what the word 'romantic' meant. Really? Maybe I should check out his iPad games a little more often. Since I was already awake, I decided to change the beds and then headed downstairs for a little Land Before Time showing.
Stuart didn't roll out of bed until about 8:30 am. Once we had both had our share of coffee it was my car's turn to be serviced, so back down to Sanayia (the area where the shop is located) we went. We were back at our place by 11 am. The kids watched The Peanuts movie and then we were off to the pool around 1:30 pm to meet up with the Richardsons. The pool was actually quite crowded. It's obviously that time of year when everything really slows down, as far as activities are concerned, and the pool time picks up.
We stayed for a couple of hours. I tried to swim laps, but only got in about 24 before people started using the lanes to play in. Usually that bugs me, but Stuart was one of the people so I just stopped swimming.
We left the pool just after 4 pm and made a plan for curry at our house for this Tuesday with the Richardsons. We hadn't seen them for 2 weeks and we're having withdraws.
Once we were home, the kids were cleaned and dinner was started. Millie tried doing my hair, which was nice. She's not always that cuddly towards me, so when she wants to do something like 'fix' my hair, I count that a privilege.
Just 12 more weeks until we are on summer break!
No comments:
Post a Comment