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. 

Stay at home Mom is not a job for me!

Sunday I got up and I didn’t have to go to school. So I decided to get my hair done. I am very pleased with the outcome for sure. I find the older I get, the worse I look with long hair, mainly because I’m too lazy to fix it so I end up with a ponytail every day. 

New hair and new eyes! Old laugh lines!

My hair took most of the day. I didn’t do much the rest of the day, which was nice. Jack didn’t have Rugby training so we literally did nothing Sunday evening. The kids did some homework, went out to play for a bit, came in to shower, eat and go to bed. Sometimes our week nights are nothing but lounging, and I love it.  

Monday morning, since I was still signed off school, I met with Hannah to discuss the Spring Fair and the Masquerade Rugby Ball. We put together a list of what decorations we would need and how much money we would ask for from the committee that evening. 

I got home in the middle of the morning.  Stuart was home when I got there. He had a meeting regarding textbooks that ended early so he came home. 

After school we went to Jack’s basketball tournament at school. Because he doesn’t practice with them on a regular basis he isn’t the most skilled player out there. However, he’s still better than half of the team. 

Jack is he one on the far left in the back row. He’s two years younger than everyone else on his team. 

After his tournament we went home, got the kids changed, and went to the club. We had a committee meeting and didn’t get a babysitter, which is not always the best for the kids because sometimes the meetings run extremely long. Millie sat in my lap for most of the meeting because she didn’t feel well. I was sure she would need to stay home on Tuesday. 

Somehow, I convinced her to go to school Tuesday morning. Neither kids were terribly well, but I am under the impression that sometimes they need to suck it up. 

Tina came to clean so for part of the day I had to stay out of the way. I just laid around the house most of the day. I will admit that I was beginning to get bored on Tuesday afternoon. 

Tuesday evening I took Millie to dance. I came back and made Stromboli. Jack and Stuart went to Rugby training and when they got home Cathy came over and ate dinner with us. 

Wednesday there was more laying around. I should have been it and about doing some things for the Spring Fair and the ball, but I couldn’t be asked. Stuart went to training Wednesday evening and we just had leftovers. 

Thursday I got up and did some laundry. I then decided that I should head out and do some shopping for the Easter egg hunt. I went to the doctor for a check up and all was well. 

Thursday evening we went to the club for International Women’s Day. We had cake and brought out the Giant games. It was a fun evening. It wasn’t terribly attended but fun all the same. 

Friday morning Stuart made breakfast which is always our Friday treat. We thought about going to Abu Dhabi and letting the kids use their Adventure Head Quarters passes. But in the end we decided to just stay home. So instead, Millie went to the pool with her friend Ava. Jack played his PS4 after being grounded from it for two weeks, and then went to the pool with his friends. So at one time we were childless. 

We went to the Richardson’s just before 5 pm and took Duke. He barfed on the way down. Poor dog! He gets car sick every time he gets in the car. We ordered curry and the kids played outside and on the computer. It was a great evening. 

Saturday morning I slept in until almost 8 am. Once I was awake, I picked Cathy up and we went to the outlet mall so I could pick up my gifts for the ‘Favorites’ party I was going to that afternoon. We went to have breakfast at a new restaurant called The Telegraph Cafe. It was so cute and the food was amazing. There are few places that serve breakfast in Al Ain, so it was a good find. Afterwards we went into the Coop next door and found some good grocery deals. 

Breakfast! Yum!

On the way home we stopped in at the club so I could sort out the ball tickets and explain them to the reception staff. We were hopeful they would actually go on sale Saturday, and they did. We are so excited about this event. We’ve done a lot of work on it and hope it is a huge success!

I stopped at Abela to get a snack for the ‘Favorites’ party. That party was from 3-5 pm. It’s was fun, as usual. Once I was home, Cathy and Claire came over for pork chops, potatoes and Brussels sprouts. Millie actually tried a Brussels sprout. She didn’t like them, but she tried them. I call that progress. 

I went to bed kind of looking forward to getting back into the routine of school on Sunday. I discovered that if I were a stay at home Mom I would be fat as a fiddle. So it’s probably best I have a job.

Random ‘my dad gave me my summer buzz’ picture. 

Random ‘my dog’s bigger than your dog’ photo. 

 

The eyes have it!

On Sunday my principal was back at school. She decided to do all of the observations except for one, so that freed up my day to get prepared for my presentation the following day. 

I worked on putting together our reading A-Z books. I’m not sure if we will be any more prepared than before, but I’m giving it my best effort. I left school at 10:30 to go to my continuous assessment meeting. We were a little more productive on Sunday as it dawned on us that we only had two more meetings before we had to be finished with our term 3 assessments. Seems maybe we did more chatting than working this term. Oops. 

I picked up the kids from school. I dropped Jack at home and Millie and I went to Hannah’s. She and I needed to finalize our rugby ball ideas as well as make sure we were set for the games night on Thursday. Millie likes to go with me because she plays with Sam and Ava, Hannah’s children. 

When I got home I started in on the books I still had to finish. I convinced Millie to stay with me. She bathed and then helped me attack the books. Jack and Stuart headed to rugby training. 

Around 6 pm, Millie Skyped Grammie and Pop and talked for a long time. Once Jack was home, he started speaking with them as well. Millie went to bed and Jack continued to talk. I think it thrilled my mom and dad. It was good to hear the kids really talk to them. Usually I can’t get them to stop being silly long enough to have a meaningful conversation. 

Stuart made bubble and squeak with pork chops, and the three of us ate while watching Dr Who. Jack was in bed at half seven and we followed shortly. 

Monday morning I walked and finished up the books I needed to finish. At school I tried to wrap up last minute details, knowing I would be gone for close to two weeks from school. I ran my professional development on the Daily 5, for all staff. The English teachers got more out of it than the Arabic teachers, but hopefully they gained some ideas from the presentation. 

We went to collect the kids from school and then headed to get my car from the service station. Once we were home, the kids went to play. Stuart left for Rugby training, I fed the kids and then they were in bed. Once Stuart was home, he and I watched television until he had to head to the airport to pick Sean up from his 3 week holiday in Thailand and Australia. They got home just after 1 am. 

I decided not to walk Tuesday morning, and instead I got up a bit later, showered, changed our sheets and finished up the laundry I had started Monday night. 

We took the kids to school, stopped at Abela to get some food for the kids’ lunches for the rest of the week and then came home for about an hour. Just before 9 am Stuart took me to the hospital to get ready for my surgery at 11 am. I got to the hospital and checked in. I was all dressed up and ready to go at 9:30. Stuart left just after that. 

That is some lovely purple pen I have on my eyes. Is she cutting all that off? Yep!

I was taken into surgery just after 11 am. I was in recovery around 2:00 and back in my room by 2:30, wide awake. I’m so fortunate that I snap out of anesthesia so easily, as my mom has a terrible time doing so. I had patches over my eyes and had to pee desperately. They wouldn’t let me get up for an hour, but offered a bed pan or a nappy (diaper). No thank you! I waited the hour. Stuart left to take Millie to dance and I laid in the dark, totally blind for the next 3 hours. They brought me food around 6 pm, but since I couldn’t see it, I couldn’t eat it. When Stuart arrived at 6:30 pm, he helped me drink some of the soup, which was way too salty, and I had two bites of rice and one bite of the mystery meat. Ugh! 

Once I saw this picture I was so glad I hadn’t eaten much of the food. It’s a bit green and brown. 

Stuart asked why they had left the parts they cut off my eyes! Gross! He wanted to take the vials home. Ick! He settled for just taking a picture. I won’t make anyone barf, so I’ll spare you the photo. 

Once I had eaten a bit, they discharged me. When we got home, Stuart had made up a bed for me on the sofa, which was so sweet. Jack made some jokes about seeing a beautiful sunset and asked if I had seen it, clearly seeing the patches on my eyes. I then proceeded to take off the patches and got a bit of a fright. 

I iced my eyes every hour for 15 minutes, most of the night. So I didn’t sleep much. The swelling wasn’t that bad Wednesday morning, thank goodness, but my eyes were more bruised and it was obvious they were still bleeding a bit. 

Someone said it looked as if Stuart had done a number on me. Then they laughed very loudly, saying, ‘Like you would ever let that happen!’ Comedian!

Stuart took the kids to school and then returned home as he had a meeting in Abu Dhabi that didn’t start until later. He drove me to the hospital for my follow up appointment with Dr Faten. She was pleased. I walked home from my appointment and rested on the sofa, icing my eyes every hour. The kids got home from school and did some homework. I washed a few dishes and was spent. 

We had a committee meeting at the club about the upcoming rugby ball. It got a bit heated as I felt everyone was being a bit discouraging. Turns out, our business manager went to meet with the venue and ironed out details that were pleasing to all of us. 

I got home and put Millie to bed. Claire had stayed with the kids while we were at the club. Jack stayed up for a while and made himself a snack. My eyes had started to swell a bit from my lack of ice for the 2 hours I was at the club. 

Thursday I laid around and watched Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Clearly, I haven’t been keeping up. I decided I could make it to the Giant Games night at the club. It wasn’t greatly attended, but the kids that showed up had a great time. Of course, it rained. It NEVER rains here. The games got a bit wet. So at the end of the evening we bagged everything up, knowing I would have to go to the club Friday morning to sort it all out. 

Most of Friday we lazed around the house. We went to the club to sort out the soggy games. I ended up bringing most of them home to clean them and let them dry out. The Men’s match was canceled due to some refereeing conflicts. So the two men’s teams decided to split and play each other. Jack had a tournament in Abu Dhabi but neither Stuart or myself went. I didn’t think my eyes could handle the entire day, and oh what a day we missed. The boys came second in the entire tournament. The semi final game was won 1 to nil. That one try was scored by my boy! I know I’m bias, but he’s an incredible athlete. 

Back at the club, we watched the men in a bit of a hilarious match. Jack arrived around 6 pm and was beat, and upset they hadn’t won their last match. He’s so competitive. We had dinner after the match was over and then headed home. It rained all day on Friday as well, but not enough to really bother anyone. 

Saturday we got up and went to the grocery store. We seldom make the kids go with us anymore, but Saturday we did and they both were terribly whiny. It was not a pleasant experience. Once we were home the kids ran out the door so we couldn’t force them to do anything else with us for that day. 

Clare and Scott came over for dinner. Stuart made nachos, one of my favorite meals. The kids played and the adults discussed our upcoming trip to Pattaya, Thailand. Just three weeks away!!!! 

The bottom photo is before surgery. The above picture is 4 days after surgery. I actually have eyelids. They are still a little swollen, but I’m thrilled with the results. No more Deputy Dog eyes for me. 

Observations galore!

Sunday I announced I couldn’t do any observations after period 3 as I had to go to my continuous assessment meeting. Because my principal has so much on her plate, she failed to remember that we had been asked to work each week for the entire term, on Sundays for 2 hours. This meant I would go to another campus to work on these assessments. At any rate, I left anyway at 10:30 am. 

In the end, the head of faculty who usually hosts the meeting was ill. So instead of going to work on assessments, I took Stuart to get Sean’s car,  then headed to the doctor to see if I could get my eyes done. She seemed rather sure that insurance would cover it. I would just need to wait a few days to find out. 

Stuart got home with kids just after I got home from the eye doctor. Stuart took Oreo to get his stitches taken out. He actually made it two weeks without ripping them out on his own. 

We left for the rugby club around 4:30 pm. When rugby training was over, we went home for dinner.  I made chicken fajitas in the crock pot. Millie went straight to bed when we got home because she was disrespectful. I’m not sure when she will ever learn. I’m hopeful, though. Jack had fajitas with us. We watched Elementary and then went to bed. 

Monday I got a message from Lara that she was not going to walk. I decided to walk anyway. Duke is my protector on days Lara doesn’t walk. 

I got to school and my principal was as friendly as a pup to me. I’ll take it. I started getting the Daily 5 ready for one of my teachers. We decided we would start this with one teacher and roll it out to everyone in a few weeks. I was very productive at school on Monday. It was a good day. 

I went to pick Millie and Claire up from school. Then I took Millie to Osha’s house, the palace. Millie was so excited. We dropped her off at 3 pm. Stuart picked Jack up from swim club and we were all home for a while. I went back to the palace to pick Millie up at 6 pm. She was still eating so Osha’s nanny invited me in for tea. I saw Osha’s mother and her extended family. While we were in the dining room, Kerri (the nanny for Osha) took Osha back into another room and brought out a gift for Millie. Millie opened her gift and then we headed out to the car. I thanked Kerri and she said this: ‘We love Millie and her confidence. It’s very good for Osha to have Millie around, as Osha is very shy and needs a personality like Millie’s to help bring her out of her shell’. It was such a lovely compliment to Millie. When we got home, Millie and Jack showered. Cathy and Claire came for dinner. It was a nice evening. 

I did four observations at school on Tuesday. My principal was at a meeting in Abu Dhabi which meant I had to do the observations she had scheduled for herself. I got a call from the municipality just before noon. It seems my dog troubles were not over. As I agreed to go meet with the woman at the municipality, the whole story became very clear to me. I knew why we were still being harassed. We live in a complex called The Village. Down the road a bit is a complex called Central Village. My friend, Dana, has been calling the municipality for several weeks now, complaining about these 8 wild dogs that bark all night, just behind her complex. When the rep from the municipality came to The Village he was meant to have gone to Central Village, but instead, our security guard gave him our villa as the one with a dog. Super random! When I finally explained these things to Fatima, she understood. I volunteered to send her a pin of the location of where the wild dogs were. I even sent her pictures of the dogs. Ugh! I hope this ordeal is finally over. 

When I finally got home, I called about our games for the Giant Games Night. It was to happen Thursday, but we decided to postpone the games night until the following Thursday. The games were not likely to show up in time. It then went to pick Millie up. I brought her home and got her ready for dance. We showed up to dance just to find out there was no dance. So I got McDonalds for her for supper and came home. Jack and Stuart left for rugby training, while Millie and I bathed Duke, bathed ourselves and then I painted Millie’s toe nails while she finished her chicken nuggets. While we were watching television, I was looking on Facebook and discovered that Clyde, of Bonnie and Clyde, our two beagles, had died the previous day. Millie cried and cried. She started talking about all of us dying. It was so sad. Bless her sweet little heart. 

Jack and Stuart came home and Jack was sad as well. Millie finally settled down and went up to bed. She continued to talk about how unfair it was that everyone would die one day. 

Wednesday Lara wasn’t going to walk, so I decided I would sleep in a bit as well. Once I was at school, I discovered my principal was not there again which meant I would have to do her observations for Wednesday as well. Ugh!

About mid morning I got the call that my surgery for my eyes had been approved by the insurance. Yahoo! I went for pre-op stuff at 2 pm and unfortunately missed Jack’s swim gala because of it. Thank goodness for video cameras. I am booked in Tuesday for surgery. I’m so excited! No more fat eyelids for me. 

When I got home, some of the big games had arrived, but not all of them so postponing the event was the best idea, but now I wouldn’t be there for it as I would be recovering from my surgery. 

The kids took showers and I got to see Jack’s swim gala videos, of which he won every one of his races. He’s a true athlete. 

Thursday my principal was out again, so more observations were on the schedule. Once school was over, I headed to the mall to buy a birthday gift for Millie’s friend Ava, and then buy some buckets for my teachers’ guided reading materials. Stuart had to go to school to pick up Jack, Adam, Daniel and Millie from school. Jack was having a dreaded sleepover, Stuart’s least favorite thing in the world. When I got home the boys were in Jack’s room playing the PlayStation. They were loud and having a blast. They played for hours. They took a break to walk Duke and then to eat. They finally wound down and went to sleep just after 11 pm. 

Friday morning the boys were up by 6 am. Jack and Adam had a few rugby matches and had to be at the club at 8 am. Daniel went to watch the matches and then they were all going to swim after. Millie had a birthday party at the rugby club pool at 11 am, so it was all perfect. 

I escaped it all and went to see Gina in Abu Dhabi. I got to the Westin at 9:30 am and we headed to pick up our friend, Rania, at 11:30 am and went for an Italian lunch on one of the islands in Abu Dhabi. We spent 4 hours just chatting and eating. It was such a relaxing time to catch up and spend some quality time with friends. Once we left the restaurant, we headed back to Rania’s house and stayed there until almost 11 pm. We got a cab back to the Westin and hit the bed. The Westin might have the best bed I’ve ever slept in. 

Saturday we slept in until 7:30 am. Those blackout curtains are amazing. I had a couple of cups of tea and then headed back to Al Ain. There were no big plans for the day. We took the kids to get passport photos, took my car for its 10,000 kilometer service, and organized dinner plans with the Richardsons. We had them over for a roast dinner, our favorite. The kids played outside, the adults chatted, and then we all ate a delicious meal. Good times with good friends is the best way to end a weekend. 

Another week closer to spring break!

I got reprimanded at school on Sunday because I was accused of telling a teacher when I would be coming for a walk through. Really? I love that the language barrier sometimes get us in trouble. Because if it’s said, then it must be true. At any rate, this was told to me just as I was leaving to go work on the continuous assessment. I just said I did not such thing and was offended that I was being accused of such a thing.  At our meeting we didn’t get much accomplished mainly because I griped about petty things at school. 

Stuart and I both went to collect the kids after school. Millie wasn’t feeling well, and had a meltdown when she was changing out of her school uniform.  So I convinced her that she and I should stay home while Stuart and Jack went to rugby. She had a bubble bath around 4 pm, got cozy in her fuzzy jumper, and we watched the film, Sing, for the hundredth time. 

School Monday was equally as fun as the day before. I was fine with Shaikha, our Vice Principal, but my principal ignored me all day. Oh well. 

I left school around 2 pm and went to pick up table decorations for the club for Valentine’s Day. I also picked up the last of our crafts for mine and DeDe’s craft day on Wednesday. I definitely had a lot going on this week. 

I got home, fed Jack, went to collect Millie from a play date at the mall. She had gone ice skating with her friend Zeina. 

Once we were home, the kids decided to take a bubble bath. They both ate some cereal and Millie went to bed. Jack stayed up and watched some television then was off to bed. 

Stuart got home just after 8 pm from rugby training. I fell asleep on the sofa around 9 pm, then woke up and went to bed. What a boring Monday we had. 

Tuesday at school I just worked in my office most of the day. I was to collect some scores of continuous assessment from my teachers to give to our Vice Principal. Sadly, I have some teachers who can’t follow directions. Ugh!  I got the information in the end, but it was like pulling teeth. 

The rumors are stirring over all this change in our school system. I just can’t listen because there’s no need to worry about anything until we know the true information. We’ve been told all kinds of things about our new contracts. I choose to not listen any longer. 

I left school early and sat in front of the kids’ school, waiting on dismissal. Every time I watch the way children are picked up from school I think of Diane Wells. She would have a heart attack at the car pool pick up. It’s frightful, at best. 

When Millie and I were on our way to her dance class, we saw a Lotus. 

Millie was terribly impressed. Once Millie’s dance class was over, I went to pick up Cathy and dropped off Millie. Cathy and I went for our last lesson of golf. Next week we will play 9 holes of golf, the culminating activity. Ya been so much fun. Cathy came home with me and Stuart was making pancakes as it was national pancake day. She stayed for a bit, but had to get home because she was having eye surgery the following morning. 

On Tuesday morning, Stuart had gone to the doctor because he was having sweats at school and his Vice Principal insisted. He got signed off for Wednesday. They determined that he just had a bug of some sort. 

Wednesday morning we were up and while I took the kids to school, Stuart took Cathy to the hospital to have eye surgery. She has eyelids that hang over her eyes, therefore making her vision impaired. I have the exact same thing. So if her eyes look good I am having the same surgery. 

I can only assume Stuart rested and watched Dr Who the whole day. Our friend James picked the kids up because we had given his daughter a ride to school in the morning. 

I ordered pizza and picked it up at the club to take to DeDe’s for the Valentine event. When I got home, Stuart had red roses for me. 

Par for the course, I got him a lot of nothing. We had agreed on that, but clearly he lied. The kids and I went to DeDe’s for our Valentine’s Day party around 4 pm. We did a couple of crafts and had pizza and snacks. The kids made their own Valentines. It was an enjoyable event, as it always is. 

When we got home, Stuart and the kids went to pick Cathy up from the hospital and I headed to the rugby club for the Valentine celebration for the Wednesday quiz night. Hannah and I had decorated and gotten prizes for the quiz, hoping to draw more people in to the club. It wasn’t a terribly attended event, but everyone who was there was complimentary of our efforts to make it a special night. I got home around 9 pm and went straight to bed. 

Thursday we had issues with a new teacher we received earlier in the week. Thank goodness I don’t have to sort through those things. I made some more reading books for our guided reading program and also did some walk throughs. 

Stuart stayed home again on Thursday as he just wasn’t feeling rightly. I was supposed to go to the doctor about my eyes, but didn’t realize that the Meseroll hospital in Abu Dhabi also had a doctor named Dr. Faten. So instead of booking my appointment in Al Ain hospital, I booked it in the Abu Dhabi hospital. Who would have thought there were two Dr. Fatens in two different cities. I called the hospital in Abu Dhabi and canceled the appointment, rescheduling it for Sunday in Al Ain. Ha! What a cotton headed ninny muggins I am. 

While I was at my appointment that didn’t exist, Stuart  took the kids to a birthday party at Bounce. 

I went to collect them at 5:30 pm. We stopped and picked up Cathy so she could come for dinner. Stuart made these hamburger pizza rolls. They were really good. I love when he tries something new. 

Friday we lazed around the house. I slept on the sofa for a while. I had woken up at 3 am and couldn’t go back to sleep so decided to go downstairs and watch tv. Jack was up just before 6, Stuart was up at 7 and Millie came down around 8. I did some Friday morning chores, then we left for Dubai to a rugby match at 1:30 pm. We dropped Stuart off at the pitch and then Millie and I went to Park and Shop, my favorite store in the UAE. Once Millie and I were done shopping we headed back to the rugby grounds to watch the match. It might be the first full game I’ve watched Stuart play, I’m ashamed to say. When they play in Al Ain I know everyone there so I’m too busy socializing to watch a lot of the match. Stuart played really well and even scored a try. 

We got home around 8:30 pm. The kids were up for showers and then went to bed. I stayed up to watch television for a bit. 

Saturday morning I was still trying to shake my cold. I laid around and watched television. Stuart went to the store to get some food for our roast dinner at the Richardson’s. 

Jack, Millie and I made blue velvet cupcakes, which I’m told were delicious. We left for the Richardson’s just before 5 pm, taking Duke for a play date with Biscuit, their dog, and a new puppy they had found that they named Snowy. She was so cute. 

As usual, we took the kids’ bikes as well as their shower things.  After dinner, the kids showered and we left for home shortly after 7 pm. The weekend was relatively uneventful. Ive come to love these types of weekends, the older I get.