If it's true that they will be gone by the 26th, there are only about 10 days of school after this week. I'm just hoping my teachers get all of their tested completed before the students are gone for good.
Fancy!
When my feet were finished I headed to Leanne's house for the make-up station. She put on false eyelashes and everything. I did feel a bit overdone, but I felt like a princess as well. 
With make-up finished, I headed home to put my dress on. When I got there the Richardsons and Seany (chairman of the rugby club) were there. I ran upstairs and got dressed. I felt super special!
Jeff, the photographer who is also Millie's best friend's dad, had these scenes for the photo station. Aston Martin in our photo? Yes please!
This was the scene Saturday afternoon at our house. I seemed to be the only one that wasn't sleeping.
We went to gymnastics as usual for a Sunday. I left the kids there and did some grocery shopping. Jack and Millie have international day at their school this week so I had to get traditionally American foods for them to take to school that day. We decided on rice crispie treats for Millie and tater tots for Jack. The only place that sells tater tots is Spinneys, my favorite (more expensive than the rest) grocery stores.
The kids had an early night because their weekend had been so packed and Jack had complained of a headache. I could hear a cold coming on, so sleep was in order.
School was equally as crazy on Monday as it had been on Sunday. I actually covered two classes in order to help those classes with their baseline assessments since their teacher was out. This is always the time of the year that teachers are absent a bit more than the rest of the year. And since there is no substitute system, we rely on the teachers who don't teach 24 periods a week to cover classes. Sadly, when they do cover their 24 periods they can not be used anymore and we end up combining classes, which is not good for any one.
I left early Monday for a meeting to collaborate with other Heads of Faculty who were discussing differentiated instruction and how we could get all of our teachers speaking the same language in regards to this topic. When you have teachers from as many backgrounds as we do here (UK, US, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia) sometimes you have a big bridge to gap in terminology and experience. It was a good meeting but it will be a daunting task.
I was home by 1:30 and started weeding out our refrigerator. I was deciding what I would do with the food that was going to go bad soon. I felt like a domestic goddess. I decided I would cut up some of the vegetables and make spaghetti and meatballs on Tuesday evening. Then I cut up the sweet potatoes and prepared those in the acti fryer, put two chicken breast in a baking dish, spread fresh spinach over the top, a can of diced tomatoes as well as some fresh tomatoes and baked it in the oven for 45 minutes.
Stuart made sure the kids were bathed and then he was off to his committee meeting, and then he was supposed to go to rugby practice. However, being the first committee meeting of the new committee meant it was exceptionally long. So he returned home and hadn't sweat a bit, other than from being out in our 'already summer' sun. Once he ate he announced that he would like for me to make that chicken each week if I didn't mind. Wife of the year, I assume!
Jack was in our bed at 4 am. I was pretty sure his cold was worse and he was going to ask to stay home from school. He had a headache at school on Monday and the nurse called to see if she could give him some Tylenol. I was right, and he did ask to stay home. I knew he didn't feel well because he never asks to stay home. I told him that I was so sorry he was not feeling well, but there was nothing we could do about a cold and he needed to just suck it up and go to school. I told him how important it was to go on with his day even though he didn't feel 100%, and that as the day went on he would feel better.
Sure enough, once he was home he said there was no more headache. Whew! Sometimes that 'suck it up' speech backfires.
Meatballs were in the crock pot, kids were at the neighbor's playing and Stuart and I were cutting laminated poker chips out, 2800 to be exact. The rugby ball theme is James Bonds and the drink coupons are in the form of poker chips. Since you can't buy any in this country because gambling is haram (sinful), we had to make them.
Once we started cutting, I figured out it would take the two of us 12.5 hours to complete this task. Naturally, the call for help from the committee members had to be made. So after the kids and I got back from gymnastics, Stuart headed to the club with the poker chips in tow. He brought home a bag of separated tokens, a total enough for 72 attendees, and said the rest were still being worked on. I still had 50 sheets to copy and laminate the following day, but the first 100 were out of my hands.
Wednesday morning the kids were both up by 5 am. Millie had come in our bed at 4 am and reported that the shark had eaten all of us. Poor girl! I always had bad dreams about witches. Millie seems to have bad dreams about animals.
After getting to school I got a message from one of our acquaintances, Ali, who we had told could rent one of our cars for his last two months here. He and his family are from Arizona and are returning for good in July. When you leave here the exit process can be hectic and selling off all your things can be the worst part. Most people try to sell their cars early in their last year and then just rent a car. Since we have three cars, Ali asked if he could rent one of ours. He told me he would rather give us the money than a rental company, which sounded good to us. He messaged me to tell me his car had died and they would need my car today. Of course I jumped at the chance of leaving school early to help a friend.
I also got an email from the private school I interviewed with a couple of weeks ago. The Head of Primary asked me if I would mind if she forwarded my resume to their sister school in Al Ain. Um, that's the job I applied for in the first place, so of course I said that was fine. I got an email in the afternoon from the CEO of the organization and I have a meeting with him and the principal of the school in Al Ain on Sunday. We shall see what happens.
Before I took my car to Ali I went by Brighton College to take the kids deposit money to hold their spot for next year. I stopped into the admissions office to see if there was any word on the scholarships we had applied for. Annie, the lady who has been so professional and helpful, said we should be receiving the email that afternoon, but that both kids got a scholarship. This means that instead of our school fees being three times what they were this year, they will only be twice as much. We are thrilled because we know this is one of the best schools for our kids.
The kids were up early and ready for national day. Jack decided to take tater tots as his 'original' American food. All Stuart could say was 'Hey, Napolean, give me some of your tots'. If you haven't seen Napolean Dynomite, that will mean nothing to you.
Millie decided to take Rice Krispie treats. They are her favorite and we are pretty sure those originated in the states. If not, it doesn't matter because that's what she took.
Since I was going to their school a bit later in the day, I felt the need to be patriotic as well.
I had to cover the first two periods in a boys' English class. It was riveting, especially at this stage of the game. I then did an observation of a teacher. After that I left for the kids' school. Unlike in years past, this year the festivities were held in the morning with just the kids. The parents could come and tour in the afternoon and have some snacks from the 29 countries represented in the school. I got there and the chaos was more than I cared for so we headed for home. We got home just after noon.
We decided we would go to the club for dinner. Neither Stuart not myself could be asked to think of what we should make for the kids. Both kids 'accidentally' ended up in the sprinklers, so they were eating outside while Stuart and I enjoyed our meal inside. Normally I would be iritated by their foolish choices, but it was so hot outside that by the time we left, an hour later, they were completely dry. Their choice to run in the sprinklers.
Friday morning we were up and out the door to do some grocery shopping. We met the Richardsons at the golf club for breakfast then we were back home for about an hour before my beautifying started.
I left the house just after noon and headed to the salon for my up-do, mani and pedi. Then I was heading to Leanne's for make up. A day of beauty is not something I do very often, so I tried to soak it all in. I had to wait about 30 minutes for my mani/pedi appointments because my up-do went much faster than expected. I was very pleased with the outcome.
I moved to the pedi/mani station and got gels on the feet and the finger. Red!
We headed to the ball and the selfies began, as well as the Bond pictures. It was so much fun! Everyone commented on how stunning I looked. Embarrassing, but appreciated.
Bond, James Bond!
Dinner was delightful!
The four princesses.
The evening was no more than awards, dinner, talking to the people I talk with all the time as well as catching up with those I don't see as often, and your basic I'll behavior from people who don't know how to hold their booze.
We left for home at around 12:30 am. We say up and talked for almost an hour about the aforementioned I'll behavior at the ball. We finally hit the hay at 2 am. The Richardsons stayed the night. The kids were up just before 6 am, which meant I was as well. I tried to keep them all quiet for as long as I could. Around 7:30 am the rest of the adults were up and Stuart was fixing breakfast for all of us. We are and laid around until almost 11 am. The Richardsons went home with an extended invitation to us for dinner at theirs that evening.
After the kids were showered, we headed down to the Richardsons for dinner, and literally that was it. We left just before 7 pm and Jack fell asleep in the car. Millie, on the other hand, had her sleep in the afternoon so she was likely to be awake for the majority of the evening. She hadn't felt well or eaten much all day so I thought she might need the extra sleep, but it was difficult to get her to go to sleep.
A successful weekend was had by all.
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