Science projects for Jack and Millie😡

Sunday was another thrilling day at school, monitoring exams. Yahoo! I think making 6 years olds take exams is terribly effect, don’t you?

I only had tolerate it for a few hours as I left for my usual Sunday meeting. I’m going to miss these meetings next term. Once our term 3 exams are finalized we will not need to make them again as the whole system is likely to change. 

I stopped at the supermarket for some fruit before heading to pick the kids up from school. My favorite supermarket is close to the school where we meet for our assessment writing. 

Once the kids were home we worked on their science projects. Now I know why parents used to hate me. We didn’t finish so planned to finish on Monday after school. The kids had their dinner before rugby training. 

We left for the club just before 5 pm. Stuart and I sat and had coffee while Jack practiced and Millie played outside. We were home by 6:30 where the kids showered and had a snack before going to bed. 

I turned in early for me, 10:30 pm. I have decided that my weary bones need more rest than they used to need. Approaching the big 5-0, so I had probably start taking afternoon naps as well. Wait, I already do that. 

I walked with Lara on Monday morning. We caught up a bit on our Sunday walk and then more on Monday. Once I was at school, I scored exams all day. It was a productive, yet boring day. I picked Jack up from swim squad. We then went home and finished the science projects. I had both of the kids present their boards to us and I recorded it. Millie’s was painful, I’m not gonna lie. It was her first attempt at a science project. She did really well, but wasn’t terribly convicted about her results. 

The kids ate and went to bed. Stuart went to an executive committee meeting and then on to training. I relaxed and watched television. Sean got home from work and didn’t want to go coach so he watched television as well. I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up when Stuart got home. Stuart had done something to his hip and had decided to go see the doctor the following morning. 

As the social secretary at the club, I had gone back and forth with the club house manager on Monday night and Tuesday morning regarding the Spring Fair event we were having on Thursday. I’m starting to lose that loving feeling for this social secretary position. The general election is on April 12. I may not run to be re-elected. I already have one full time job, I don’t need another one. 

Most of my day on Tuesday was spent monitoring a grade 1 English exam. That was super painful. The remainder of the day found me in the meeting room, scoring exams. 

After school I went to the mall to buy some plastic eggs for the Spring Fair as I was concerned the eggs I had ordered to be delivered from the Amazon equivalent here would not arrive in time for the event. 

I picked Millie up from school. Her teacher said her science presentation was really good. She said she just told the kids what she did rather than trying to read each section. Whew!

Millie had a snack at home and then I took her to dance. I went to drop her off at the club, then I went for my 9 holes of golf that we had delayed because of my eye surgery. We played about 6 in the end, which was great fun. Our next set of lessons begins April 10. 

I got home and took a shower, then had something to eat. I nearly fell asleep on the sofa, so got up to go to bed around 9:30. 

I didn’t get up to walk again on Wednesday. For whatever reason I’m having some full on hot flashes at night. I LOVE getting older, not! So sleep has been terribly interrupted lately. 

Wednesday I tried to finish scoring exams but I got interrupted for other regular duties. We had a meeting at the end of the day which proved to be interesting, as always. It was on child protection. One of the things they said we must never do is shout at the children. So there you have it. 

Wednesday after school I went to Gift City to get sweeties for the Easter egg prizes. Since my order still hadn’t arrived, I had to go with plan B. The candy is a bit more odd, but way cheaper. Once I was home, I fed the kids. Then Lara and Kayla came over to help stuff candy bags. We stuffed 120, but still didn’t have any idea how many kids would show up Thursday evening. 

Thursday at school I finished up some loose ends, scored exams, and ran school grade reports. I was contacted by my new Professional Learning Community leader as well. It seems we will be meeting on Sunday for our initial training. Thrilled!

I picked Millie up from school. Jack had gone home with Adam, and Claire was still out due to her wisdom teeth being removed the previous day. Once we were home we loaded up the car with the Spring Fair items and headed to the club. 

The decorating commenced. People showed up and the festivities began. We had stalls and games and an Easter egg hunt. Well, it wasn’t so much of a hunt, rather a gathering. We put the eggs on the pitch and separated a small area for the kids 5 years old and younger. When it was time we had the younger group go first. Fortunately, we hadn’t filled he eggs. The whole idea was the children would collect eggs and then turn them in for a treat bag. In the end it is good we did it that way. When the youngest group started we couldn’t contain them in that small area. It was like a scene of the wild animals in Jumanji. We tried to stop them from entering the larger area, but in the end I told my helpers to just let them go and we would redistribute the eggs for the older group of kids. It was manic. I’ve never seen that many little ones in the same place at the same time. There weren’t that many at the Winter Festival. We must have had 200 kids, in total. Fortunately, the club house manager had bought more sweets and bagged them up for us. It’s always very hard to gauge how many we will have for these events. It was a fantastic evening and we got a lot of compliments. All of the kids seemed to have a wonderful time. And the food and beverage made 2 and a half times the amount of money they make on a typical Thursday evening. It was definitely a success. 

Friday morning we were up relatively early as Jack had a rugby match at the Dubai 7s. He and I rode the bus to the match. Stuart and Millie followed us in my car. This match was their last one of the season. They won the match, 10-0. The entire team played flawlessly. It was a good way to end the season. 

We let Jack ride he bus back with his team. Stuart, Millie and I went to the outlet mall to try to buy some last minute items for our trip to Thailand. I needed some shorts. I don’t really wear shorts here because they are frowned upon. It’s too conservative in Al Ain for shorts, except at the rugby club. Fortunately we were successful and now are ready for our trip. We ate lunch at the food court. Stuart and I actually shared a meal and had no leftovers. We really have to work this food thing out, but we don’t always like the same things so it’s tricky. 

When we got back to Al Ain, we headed to the club to watch the community team play. After their match we gathered our sunburnt son and headed to Scott and Clare’s for dinner. We had a lovely evening, as we always do with them. 

Saturday morning we did our weekly grocery shopping, which thrilled the kids, as you would guess. Once we were home, we gathered the clothes that needed mending and altering and headed to the tailor. Jack has ripped his PE shirt twice now, straight up the seam. We are making him pay for the repair this time. Fortunately for him, it’s cheap. 

Once we were back from the tailors, Stuart started preparing the 4.5 kilo lamb that had been in our freezer for a while. We were having 24 people over for dinner. It was a bit last minute, really. He made a full roast dinner. It was delightful! I cleaned up after the meal, as is often my job. I will be the clean up crew all the time. Cooking is not my talent at all. 

Everyone was gone around 7:30. The kids showered and then headed to bed. Evening like this remind me why I love where we live. We have a load of people over and the kids get along so well. We seldom have arguments or anything other than kids giggling and having a blast together.