Winter Wonderland Week!

Our last week of school for the year is always themed as Winter Wonderland. It’s a great time for kids to try to feel cozy in a totally freezing school, wrapped in their wooly mittens, scarves and hats. Yet we still feel a bit summering most of the year. However, because we had a rain storm over night, the air conditioning wasn’t able to be turned on as the dust was in the vents and got wet, therefore causing our fire alarm to go off. It was a bit of a disappointment for the staff and kids. We suspected we would have low numbers because of the weather, but we really didn’t.

This was our room that was set up for the festivities. 

After school I went to get my new registration card for my car and then popped into the grocery store to buy enough ingredients to make my team and Stuart’s team a dozen no bake cookies as their holiday gift. Once I was home I decided to mix up some and dollop them on the parchment paper. From quadrupling the recipe I made 8 dozen, huge cookies. We left for our committee meeting at around 5:30 pm. We decided to get a babysitter for the kids as they really needed an early evening. Stuart and I drove together but he ended up catching a ride from Sean home while I went and finished off Christmas shopping. Can I tell you how badly I hate going to the mall after dark? 

I got all the shopping done, the dogs the food they needed for while we were away and Tina was staying with them, and I got a few more gifts for people I had forgotten. Once I was home, I knew I had books to mark, but since it was nearly 11pm I decided against it. I had a bite to eat and then watched a bit of television. 

I had difficulty getting a good night’s sleep because my team leader had told me my written reports needed to be altered. Hello! I’m a writer! I know how to write reports for goodness sake! It turns out he was wrong. I do believe he is intimidated by me. He’s not much of a leader so I have difficulty following him as a leader. It’s been a bit challenging working with three men this year. As people, they are such nice guys, but not quite what I’m used to working with. So I was up very early on Monday morning to go into school and sort out the reports. When I read them, I knew he was just trying to find something wrong with them and needed to tell me I needed to revise them. I changed a pronoun in each report to the child’s name. That’s changing them, right? 

I was at school so early that I actually got my Math books marked. I started on my English but didn’t quite finish. I still had other books at home waiting for marking. I assumed I would get those done in the evening. After school I headed to another school for our Under 11s basketball game. Millie had a benchball game at the same school but I wasn’t able to watch it because I was coaching. My little team won both of their games. They have made so much progress since the beginning of the year. I was so proud of them. After the game, Millie and I headed home. She showered, I made another 8 dozen no bake cookies, and then we headed off to the dentist. I’m ashamed to say that we are just now getting around to having a dentist look at the tooth she broke over the summer and is obviously decaying. She hasn’t complained about it, so I assume it’s dead. Mother of the Year is waiting for me....AGAIN! In the end, the dentist said there was no reason to fill the tooth as it was essentially dead. She said that if she pulled it there might be complications as it would leave a space and since her teeth are lacking space anyway, it might cause the teeth to shift unnecessarily. Millie was thrilled. She also said there were no cavities, which thrilled me! So I am not the worst mother that has ever walked. We got home after the dentist and Lara came over for a stress reliever as Brian was admitted to the hospital because he was having heart palpitations. She needed to unwind. 

Tuesday we had a school trip. We went to a park and were to go up Jabel Hafeet but the buses couldn’t go up the mountain. We were gone most of the day. My favorite story of the day was when we first arrived, one of my pupils said to me, ‘Mrs Telford, I need to go to the toilet.’ As I looked around, I said, ‘I’m not sure where the toilets are.’ He then Saif, ‘Oh, I can just go behind that tree.’ To which I responded, ‘Well, if you were camping with your family the I would say yes you can, but you are with your classmates so I’m thinking  that’s probably not terribly appropriate.’ He just said, ‘Oh, okay,’ and then we went to find the proper toilets. 

After school, we went to the car dealer district to drop my car off for a service. Once we were back from dropping off my car we left to make gingerbread houses at the club. The kids argued over who was doing what, which made the whole experience a good ole Griswold family Christmas. 

I was a bit bitter about helping, but they couldn’t get the sides to stand up. 

After the house was completed, Jack had his final touch match of the season. Unfortunately they lost, but they gave it all they had. Just after Jack’s match, his contact coach collapsed and had a heart attack. It was a bit nerve racking. He’s fine, thank goodness, but he had a few stunts put in that evening at the hospital. 

They seem to be having fun! Everyone can fake it for a picture. 

The final product. 

Wednesday we had parent’s day at school. After school  we headed to the Ford shop to collect my car. We took Cathy with us because she needed to pick up her car that was having the airbag light fixed. I collected my car from its service, then came home and made apple sauce as not to waste the apples we had in the fridge. I also got ingredients out for a pumpkin coffee cake. Both of these things would go to our staff breakfast on Thursday morning. 

We went back to school at 6:30 pm for Millie’s winter concert. it was really sweet. She gives so much emotion when she sings. It made me cry. 

Millie and her bestie, Alice. 

When we got home, the kids had already showered, so they were to go straight to bed. But we decided to call Grandma and the bedtime was delayed a bit. Thursday was only a half day so I wasn’t terribly fussed. 

We were up and out of the house with our breakfast items in tow. I had all but 4 children at school for the last day of the term. It amazed me. We had an assembly and then just basically partied the rest of the day. At noon all children went home and we did as well. Once we were home we started finishing up laundry we needed to pack. I stripped Millie’s bed and watched it. Tuna, our house cleaner, was coming to stay with the dogs for the three weeks and she said she would wash beds. However, she didn’t want to climb on Millie’s bunk bed as she thought it might collapse. I have to say, that is always my fear as well. 

We sat around just waiting to leave. Since our flight wasn’t until 2:15 am on Friday morning, we had a lot of time on our hands. We finally all showered and headed to collect Cathy just before 6 pm as she was taking us to the airport. We had decided to go a bit early and have dinner at a mall near the airport. We ate at a seafood restaurant which was quite nice. After dinner, we walked around a bit. Millie went into the American Doll store and cried when I told her we were not buying an American Doll. Well, turns out their half price sale was only on for another week. So I told her she could spend her own money if she wanted to do so. I also told her that the doll would have to go back to the house with Cathy and couldn’t come with us on our holiday. She was fine with that. She does love her dolls. She picked one that looks just like her. She also picked out an outfit and then Cathy bought her a jammie set for her new doll. She was pleased, and VERY tired. 

By the time we left the mall it was 10 pm. The airport was only 10 minutes away. We couldn’t check our bags until 11:15 pm, but we didn’t want Cathy to drive back so late. In the end we were able to check in around 10:30 pm so the wait wasn’t that bad. Once we were through security we decided to try to go to one of the lounges. Stuart and I could get in free with our bank cards, but the kids would have cost $32 a piece. In the end we decided to go have a drink in an Indian restaurant. This is where Millie and Jack had a bit of a nap. 

Our little unicorn!

Our giant!

We woke Jack up so he could walk to the gate. Stuart carried Millie so she could keep sleeping. We got right onto the plane and proceeded to sleep. I slept for about 3 hours as did Stuart. Jack slept for nearly 5 hours, and Millie slept for the entire 7 hour flight. Millie is the one of us who suffers the most if she doesn’t get her sleep, so we were thrilled she was able to sleep the entire time. Our connection in Zurich was very tight. We got off the plane and walked straight to the gate, after a short train journey, and went through the gate. We got on a bus and were taken to the plane, all while it snowed. Neither Jack or Millie remember seeing snow. Jack would have been 4 and Millie would have been a year and a half old the last time we were in snow. They were excited. 

The flight to London City airport was a short one. When we arrived and collected our bags, we discovered that not all Of our bags caught the flight from Zurich. Fortunately, the one we had packed for our two days with the Richardson’s was not the one left behind. Stuart sorted out getting the bag delivered to his mum’s house and we would have one less bag with us until we arrived down south. 

We walked to the hire car counters, which were outside of the airport in some portable buildings. We ended up getting upgraded to a 7 seater because the car we had originally hired wasn’t there. That was fine by us, considering having 7 seats was very convenient to transport others. Once the car was sorted we headed to Scott and Clare’s. When we arrived, Scott was grouting the back splash in the kitchen. Their house has been under renovation since May. I can imagine they are tired of it all, but it looks amazing. 

Clare got home around 1:30, as did the kids because Scott picked them up early from school. We had a bit of lunch and the kids started doing whatever kids do. They played games, watched movies and just hung out together. I was exhausted and fell asleep on the sofa around 5 pm. I got up around 11 pm, having missed dinner all together. I took a shower and went to an actual bed. Because I had gone to sleep at 5 pm, I was wide awake at 3 am. I had forgotten to place Elfvis, our Elf on the Shelf, so I took him downstairs and set him up with the putty I had bought all the kids. I then managed to go back to sleep, kind of, and finally got up and went downstairs for good at 6 am. 

Everyone was awake by about 7, breakfast was served to the kids and we got dressed. We took a trip to the supermarket so May and I could bake some no bake cookies. May and I used to bake together from time to time when she lived in the UAE. When we got back to the house the baking commenced. We had cookies spread out all over the counter. 

We really just sat around the house all day. It was freezing, to me at least, and confirmed that I was not built to live in a cold climate. Scott took the kids to the park, but they didn’t last long. When they returned with Biscuit, the dessert dog, Millie decided she wanted to go back to the park, so Scott took her, bless him. 

This is what cold looks like in December in the UK. 

May had a swim meet in the afternoon and Clare had to work in the afternoon. Clare teaches babies to swim so her hours don’t line up with regular working hours. 

Stuart started cooking around 3 pm and when Clare and May returned it was nearly time to eat dinner. We had a lovely Christmas dinner with them. It was a Saturday evening roast, just like we used to do when they lived in the UAE. 

The boys sat at the bar. 

And the rest of us sat at the table in the new extension. 

Clare and Scott cleaned your after dinner. The kids had already showered before dinner, so just played upstairs and in the television room. The adults never left the great room. I do miss our great room in Arizona. 

The evening ended with the finale of Strictly Come Dancing. I had no idea who the participants were, but it was a good ending. Sleepy time for all. 

Beginning of December!

Stuart was up just before 6 am and preparing the big meal for the day. The Rouvis, Sean and Carly, and Cathy were due to come over in the afternoon. While things were cooking, we packed some of our clothes for our winter vacation. We feared we wouldn’t have enough room for everything. Because we have decided to go skiing, that requires a case all its own.  This lack of luggage space is the story of our packing lives. 

Stuart had taken his car to have a tune up the previous day, and since he had taken Cathy back to her house the previous evening because she had a horrible migraine, he picked her up to take him to get his car from the garage. He got back to preparing when he returned. 

Sean came over just after 2 pm and the Rouvis joined shortly after. We ate around 3 pm. The food was amazing and the company was so enjoyable.

A pre dinner Baileys. 

The kids and their dinner!

And the others and their dinner!

Monday morning I slept until 8 am. I went to Dubai with Lara and Kayla. We shopped at the mall and then went to Global Village, which is a shopping and cultural experience of all the countries/continents of the world. The traffic to get to this place was unreal. There were so many people. I was so glad Stuart hadn’t gone with us. It was way to peopley for him. I bought a couple of things from my favorite European store called Tipsie Gypsie. We got home just after 9 pm and I was exhausted. 

This was the display in front of The Americas region. 

We were up around 5 am and heading to Dubai to meet up with Roy and Joy Lawson. Roy is one of the two ministers who performed our marriage ceremony. He was also the pastor at Central Christian Church when I sang in the band so many years ago. We met them at the cruise terminal just as they were coming off of the boat. They were both surprised as they didn’t expect us for at least an hour after they arrived. We immediately headed to Dubai Mall.  We had breakfast, went to visit the fountain and take pictures of the Burj Khalifa and then went on the Big Bus Tour, my favorite thing to do in any city! 

We got off of the bus a few times; the museum, the souq, and for the show cruise on the Dubai Creek. It was the perfect way to see Dubai. 

Lovely Roy and Joy on the top of the Big Bus. 

At the museum Joy did what Joy does best, take pictures. 

After the Souq experience we waited by the creek for the Big Bus to collect us.  

The Dhow cruise was a relaxing break. 

We returned to the mall after a 4 hour tour on the bus and had a late lunch at Texas Roadhouse, the antithesis if local cuisine. We then headed back to Al Ain to check them into their hotel and go watch Jack play touch rugby. They would have stayed with us but Roy is allergic to dogs and cats. 

Getting them to their hotel was not as easy as I thought it would be. They stayed at the Aloft. What I forgot was that the Aloft is connected to the city’s football stadium, and it being the National Day holiday, there were still a great deal of celebrations going on in and around the stadium. They did, however, get an upgrade and were able to see some local men on the stage at the back of the hotel. Their room looked right down on the courtyard. The men were doing their traditional Yolla dance. It was for sure an experience not all get. 

Once they were checked in we headed to the club to watch the second half of Jack’s rugby match. They got beat quite badly, but he wasn’t terribly upset by it. I then took Roy and Joy back to their hotel to get a good night’s sleep. I then remembered I needed a sheet for my toga for our Romans vs Amazonian Day. So I had to take a detour to Carrefour before returning home. 

Wednesday morning I was up early to get in my costume. Millie was also ready to go. We had a great day of competitions between our Year 3 Romans and our Year 4 Amazonians. Sadly, the Amazonians beat the Romans, but all the children had fun, which was the important part. 

Jack and I picked up Joy and Roy after our staff briefing, then dropped them off at the house for Stuart to take them to the rugby club. Jack and I headed to the orthodontist. Jack was so excited about his braces.....until he realized the brackets would catch his cheeks. Then it wasn’t quite as thrilling. He kept messing with the wire as it didn’t connect to his eye teeth because they are too far up in his head at this stage and they have to wait for a month until the front 4 straighten up. 

Lovely!

He chose blue rubber bands for this first round. 

We went to the club after his appliances were on. His rugby buddies greeted him and were as excited about his braces as he was. 

Stuart had his dress match. This is the rugby practice the Wednesday before the Dubai 7s. It’s where they all dress in a dress and play touch rugby. It isn’t great preparation for the Dubai 7s, but they seem to have fun. 

After his training, we stayed for quiz night. The first 4 or 5 rounds were good and we even ended up winning a food voucher. The last round was music. I’m always so crap at this particular round. It also seemed to last forever. After the quiz was over, I took Roy and Joy home and then went to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for my no bake cookies in preparation for the cookie exchange at DeDe’s on Saturday. Once I was home it was time for bed. 

Thursday morning we got up and were already ready for the week to be over even though we only went two days in the week. Millie got star of the week, and her teacher wrote that she is a ‘slayer of dragons’. That totally describes Millie. She’s scared of nothing and no one. We were so proud of her. Stuart left school around 10 am to go to the Dubai 7s. His first match was at noon. I covered his third lesson and his playtime duty. His team covered him the rest of the day. 

After school we headed home to change clothes and then to pick up Roy and Joy. We headed to Dubai to check them into their hotel. Once they were checked in we headed to the Social House to eat dinner. We got an outside table and were able to see the fountains, by the Burj Khalifa, go off several times while we ate. 

We had the perfect seats. After dinner we headed back to Roy and Joy’s hotel to drop them off and say farewell. Our drive home seemed super long. Stuart messaged to say they had lost their first match and won their second match. He was headed back to his hotel about the time we passed the Dubai 7s stadium on our way home. When we arrived home the kids went straight to bed as did I. 

I was awake at 8 am and making my no bakes. 

These were the easiest cookies ever!

After the cookies were finished the kids and I met Cathy at the mall to see Frozen 2. That Olaf just simply cracks me up. I so hope Jack always wants to go see Disney films with me, but I suspect our time is short regarding these films. After the film, we shopped around for a bit and then headed home. Once home we went to our neighbor’s house for a holiday party. It reminded me of home for sure. There weren’t a lot of people I knew, but some from school that were at least familiar. I spent a couple of hours there and then came home to make dinner for Cathy and myself. She came over and finished baking her apricot slices for the cookie exchange the following day. We watched a couple of Christmas movies and then she decided to stay over in the guest room. 

Saturday morning we headed to the orthodontist at 9 am to have the bracket replaced Jack broke off on Thursday afternoon. He had suffered for a little over 24 hours with a wire poking in his cheek. I’m not sure he did anything wrong to break the bracket, but maybe the pain he experienced will keep him from doing foolish things concerning his new hardware. 

Cathy took a cab to the orthodontist. She had taken her car to the dealership to fix the airbags on her car. The error light was on so she felt she needed to get it checked out. Sure enough, they would need to order the part which would take 4-5 days. It was decided she would pick her car up and return it later in the week for the repair. Once Jack’s mouth was sorted we stopped at the supermarket for a few things, then headed back to the house. 

I prepared dinner for the evening and Cathy marked some of her books. We then went to collect her car. We decided we would also have lunch at the club. Once we were back from the club it was time for our cookie exchange. As there always are, there were a few folks that flaked and decided not to come. This kind of stinks as we all made a certain amount of cookies. However, those who did show up had a fantastic time catching up with friends and eating delicious cookies. 

When I got home Stuart had arrived and had his laundry in the washing machine. The kids were playing at their friends’ houses and returned home shortly after I got home from the cookie exchange. I brought home several dozens of cookies. Some went into the freezer immediately. I put the enchiladas in the oven and made Millie pasta. I went to take a shower while Millie was eating. After Millie was in bed Stuart and I ate. Jack went to bed around 8:30 pm. Stuart waited up for a delivery guy to bring his new iPhone 11, but it didn’t show up. So he went to bed. I caught up on my trash shows and then called it a night. We are very excited for this next week to fly by. Bring on the winter holidays!

The following are pictures of Stuart at the Dubai 7s. He had a great time. 

A 4 day week? I’ll take it!

Sunday morning Jack had to have his swim kit and gym clothes as he had swim squad during lunch time and had an Aquathon after school. This is where the kids swim 200 meters and then immediately run 1600 meters. Millie had swim squad and had her PE kit on as they are allowed to do so on the days they have any kind of sporting activity. In the middle of the day, the PE teacher asked me if Millie could go to the Aquathon and represent the age group above hers as there had been a child drop out of the competition. She had her swim kit and her PE kit, so why not? I had a meeting after school so wasn’t able to get there until the competition was over. Jack ended up getting 3rd place overall for his year group, out of 12 children, and Millie ended up winning for the age group she competed in, which are girls a year older than she is. She was so excited! 

After I collected them we got home and they unpacked their things.  They then took showers and ate their dinner. While at school, I had been informed that Cathy had been taken to the hospital as she was having difficulty breathing. The nurse at school thought it was her heart. She has had challenges with her lungs and heart, so it would be hard to know. I messaged her and she said they had taken an X-ray of her chest then had set her up an emergency appointment with the cardiologist. It was decided that she would come and stay the night at our house. Since she’s all on her own now, we definitely wanted to keep a closer eye on her since she was not well. 

I picked her up from the hospital just before 8 pm. We went back to her apartment to collect her things for her night’s stay. We got back to our house and had chili for dinner. We sat up until around 10 pm talking about all of the things we needed to do for our reports as well as all the paperwork we needed to do before the end of term. It is never ending. 

Monday morning we were all up and out of the house by 6:30 am. I finally finished my reports for the term, which was so satisfying. After school I had a meeting about the Winter Wonderland. This is the last week of term every year. We have a  lot of dos and don’ts for that week in order to remain culturally sensitive. It was decided my year group would make a video that looped all week long. I ended up missing basketball practice. We went home after my meeting and the kids got changed. We then headed to the club for training. Jack was to stay after for touch training. I didn’t want to stay so said I was taking Millie home and Jack could stay with Stuart. I am sure Jack was thrilled. This means Jack can stay and play with his friends. Stuart and Jack got home just before 9 and although Millie had a meltdown during her getting ready to go to bed routine, we did enjoy watching an episode of the holiday version of Nailed It. 

Tuesday I got to school and somehow misplaced my glasses. I tried to retrace my steps but didn’t find them. After school Jack had swim squad. While he did that Stuart and Millie and I went to the mall just up the road from school. Stuart decided he needed a kandora (which is the white dress-like garment the local men wear). The men in our school were all wearing one for our National Day celebration. As luck would have it, he found one. Of course neither Millie nor myself had anything to wear, but Jack had a classmate whose brother gave him a kandora, so the boys were set. 

We went back to school to collect Jack. Then the kids and I went home while Stuart went to the golf club to meet with the general manager regarding the resort sponsoring the rugby tours in June. The kids and I met him later at the club for Jack’s touch match against the other kids’ team. Jack’s team thumped the other kids’ team. It was amazing and Jack was thrilled. 

Wednesday seemed to never end. We were told there would be no school due to the death of a Sheikh last week. We were asked to not have our National Day celebration as it was too early to be celebration after his death. So it turned out we would have a 6 day holiday for National Day. That worked for us. After school we had prize giving, which is a little like Student of the Month. After the ceremony I picked Jack up from his football match and took him to his orthodontist appointment. Thank goodness this one was more reasonable. We decided to bite the bullet and schedule his appointment to put braces on him. He was so excited. We shall see how long that lasts. 

The exam. 

Gorgeous profile, jacked up teeth. 

We then headed to pick up Luna from someone who decided to take her from the club. Luna is the cat who we had fixed last spring. She has been a club cat, but the club house manager told us they were going to trap and relocated the cats, whatever that means. At any rate, the lady who took her couldn’t keep her so I picked her up. Turns out she’s too feral for us. Jack and I picked Millie up from training and went home. Because we wouldn’t be going to school the following day I said we could keep Luna for a few days and see how things worked out. 

Thursday morning the kids actually slept until nearly 7 am. We had told them that from now on no electronic was to be used before 7 am on the weekends. It’s amazing how well this worked for at least Thursday. Apparently they would have slept later but Millie woke Jack up because Luna and Pumpkin were fighting in the living room. I put Luna outside because she had pooped in the loft and on the sofa. Lovely! She would need to sort herself out or she would not be able to stay. 

We left the house around 9:30 am to take Jack to a friend’s house. Then Millie, Stuart and I went to the mall to see if we could find Christmas clothes for Millie. We found a dress and a fuzzy jacket, but not any cute little t-shirts for her to wear that evening for the Winter Festival at the club. She would just have to settle for the hand me down reindeer shirt she had. 

We then dropped Millie off at Bounce with her friend Kalina. Stuart and I had the afternoon to ourselves. We went to the supermarket to finish off our shopping for our pre Christmas dinner we were having on Sunday. When we got home there was no sight of Luna. I know this sounds cruel but if she were to run away we would not be sad, even Millie. 

I picked Millie up from Kalina’s then she and I went to pick up Cathy. We then headed straight to the club, threw some decorations on the tables and the place was ready for Santa. There was a school choir that performed before the jolly man came in on a horse. I saw the horse we were to use. It was by the tennis courts and it was going nuts. It was an Arabian, which clearly wasn’t prepared to carry in a guy in a red suit. I asked the trainer where the saddle was and when we should bring Santa to ride the horse. He said, ‘No man ride horse!’ Ugh! Seems someone didn’t get the memo that we needed a calm, rideable horse. The general manager of the resort sorted it out for us and in the end Santa got to ride a horse. 

This was the calm horse 

Although Jack knows the story of Santa now, he still plays along for his sister. 

It was a great night! We had about 125 children get to sit on Santa’s lap, and a couple of the children peed on Santa’s lap. Poor Santa! After Santa had left the club, we took the kids home. It was a good but exhausting evening. 

Friday morning Millie had a few rugby matches at the club. She ended up only playing in one of the three matches. She scored a try and was thrilled. She had an utter meltdown when we got ready to leave the club and it just got worse on the way home. Needless to say, time out was in her future. I’m hoping this is a phase she’s going through, but tagging her with the word ‘disrespectful’ would be an understatement. 

Friday afternoon we went to Lara and Brian’s for their annual Thanksgiving dinner. There weren’t a ton of people there, but it was good to get together to celebrate what we were thankful for. At the end of the evening Jack had Louie and Ian sleep over. I didn’t find this out until the following morning, but for some reason Jack flushed 40 dirhams of Louie’s money down the toilet. When I found this out Saturday morning I may have lost my cool. I put Jack in the car and took him to Louie’s house. Louie has gone home about an hour before and Rochelle reported to me that he was very upset. Rightfully so! What a knucklehead! Why would he flush money? I have no idea. We sorted it out and Jack gave the money back to Louie. Why do kids do stupid things? I think I would be super wealthy if I had the answer to this question. 

Clearly the waffle breakfast happened before I found out about the money flushing event. 

The rest of Saturday was spent just lazing around. Stuart spent most of the day putzing around, getting food prepared for our Christmas feast on Sunday. Cathy came over and we watched The Holiday. She ended up having a migraine and Stuart had to drive her home. She’s been dealing with a lot of stress recently so it’s not surprising she got a migraine. 

We were at the end of our weekend, yet we still had three days off for National Day holiday. Yahoo! 

Saturday morning I was wide awake at 6 am. Why is it that when I can sleep in, I don’t? 

Rain, rain, rain! Kidding!

Sunday at school we continued with report writing. I had very little free time in the day, which is usually how my Sundays go. Some items were delivered from Amazon to my school. Turns out I sent Christmas presents to the school. Oops. 

After school Millie was to have a bench ball game but the other schools canceled so there was no game. We left school around 4 pm. We stopped by the club to get Stuart’s car as he had left it there on Friday. When we got home, Jack and I got changed and headed to his first orthodontist appointment. It turned out that appointment was a waste of time as they didn’t accept our insurance. That would have been a good thing to know when I made the appointment. Jack was really disappointed. I made another appointment at our old dental clinic for Wednesday evening, hoping that would be more successful. When we got home we had dinner. Millie went to bed shortly after and Stuart and I watched The Crown, which is fantastic. Jack then went to bed and I followed my normal routine of my nightly nap on the sofa. 

Monday at school I finished my general comments on my reports. I feel very confident I will be finished way ahead of the due date, which is a nice feeling. Our reports for children are so detailed and seem to take forever. I had basketball practice and then came home. Stuart and the kids headed to the rugby club while I got our dinner prepared. The maintenance man showed up just after Stuart and the kids left so I stayed while he fixed our air conditioners. I then went to the club to collect the kids. We came home just before 7, the kids showered and the Karniks came over to prepare the 200 treat bags we would need for the Santa visit at the club. Stuart got home from rugby while Brian and Lara we’re still there. 

The sweets were spread out. We chatted for a while after the bags were done and then they left. 

Tuesday we had our staff briefing and tried to come together in agreement as to what our writing marks should look like. Judging a piece of writing is so subjective. It was a bit boring, truth be known. Tuesday evening was touch rugby. Jack played two games as he decided he wanted to play for his school team as well. We stayed longer than we intended, but the kids had fun. 

Wednesday we woke to stormy weather. Many schools called off school in anticipation of bad weather. It was good for them, because it didn’t even start raining until around 4 pm, well after we were home. Rugby training was canceled, which was good because we had scheduled Jack his second appointment to see an orthodontist. We went and the price was a bit steeper than I had anticipated. I told Jack we would have to find someone cheaper. He was disappointed as he’s starting to get a little self-conscious about his funky fangs. So, back to the drawing board for an orthodontist. The appointment was made and we will attempt again next week. 

When we got home the kids ate. Millie went with us to the ortho appointment as Stuart went to rugby training. Once the kids were in bed and Stuart was home, our electricity went off. The maintenance men just happened to be outside our house and in their broken English we think they explained they would need to replace the breaker the next day. Usually when it rains there are things that short out. I think this is the second time we have had our breaker replaced because of rain. 

Thursday morning I was awakened by Jack as he had wet his bed. I guess he just couldn’t wake up. I took his bedding and put it in the washing machine. Our water pressure was crap as the water pump was the thing that was tripping the breaker. So those sheets had to wait until that afternoon. At school we had an assembly in preparation of National Day that would be celebrated on the 28th of November. The Arabic team was in charge of the assembly. Of course it ran into my planning time, as it always does. The rest of the day ran as normal. We were all glad the work week was over. 

Thursday evening Stuart and some of the the other men from school went out for the evening. They took a bbq and food and had a bbq in the desert. The kids had a babysitter and I went to the rooftop of a hotel for an evening out with some of the ladies from work. It was a fun evening to get to know the teachers in a different setting. Stuart picked me up just after 11 pm and we went home. I was more than ready for sleep. 

Friday morning we were up and skyped Grammie and Pop. We then headed to Ski Dubai for Stuart and the kids to ski one last time before we went to Switzerland for our ski holiday. 

I shopped around for odds and ends, mainly winter clothes for Jack. He doesn’t own a long pair of trousers or jeans. He refuses to wear long sleeved shirts, so it wasn’t the easiest of tasks. I scouted some things out and made him try the items on once they were finished skiing and we had lunch. 

Millie has started to be my shopping buddy. 

We bought a Starbucks before leaving Mall of the Emirates. My favorite thing about this country is seeing what my name will be each time I order a coffee. This may be my all time favorite. How do you get ‘Daniel’ out of ‘Dana’? Don’t know. 

We bought a few other things and then decided to stop at the outlet mall to try to find a few more things, which we did. So it was a totally successful trip. Once we were home it was time for showers and bed. It was a full day. 

Saturday morning Jack had to be at a football tournament all day at the rugby club. It was amongst 14 other private schools in Al Ain.  His first match wasn’t until 9:40 am so Millie and I stayed back, had breakfast and got ready for the day. We were at the club until around 3 pm. We had ordered groceries to be delivered between 8 and 10 pm, and of course the order showed up at 3:40 pm. Cathy, Sean and Carly came around for dinner, but it was an early night as they all left around 6 pm. Millie went to bed and Jack followed shortly after. It had been a long, yet fun and productive weekend. 

A somewhat normal week was needed

Our week started with Jack being sick. Stuart took the day off and Millie and I went on our own. Poor kid was ridden with a headache all day. Even when I got home from school he was napping on the sofa. 

The school day was interesting. The clouds covered the sky at the end of the day and it rained. It was so exciting for everyone. There was a bit of flooding but not enough to have a rain day. 

Hot chocolate was in order for the afternoon since it was a rainy day. Jack was still not top notch but he said he felt better. 

Once I was home, Stuart went to help Sean do something at the club. I fixed a delicious dinner of sausages, green beans and sweet potato fries, as well as Yorkshire pudding (which is a type of bread). 

Millie helped make dinner. 

The kids went to bed early because Jack hadn’t been well and Millie needed an early night.  

Monday I was asked to cover a class for Cathy so she could have her professional conversation. I’m not sure why they don’t have her do that while she is on her own planning period but there you have it. The day passed rather quickly. After school I drove to another school because our Under 11 girls had a basketball game. They aren’t that great, but they were better than the opposing school and they won! 

After the game I headed to the club for the kids’ rugby training. Millie ate at the club while Jack had his touch team training. We got home just before 7:30. Millie showered and went to bed, while Jack showered, ate some dinner and then was off to bed himself. Cathy had come over for dinner and a chat. She had finally gotten a new fridge and decided she would come and get her frozen bits out of our freezer. She left before Stuart got home. He brought food home from the club for himself, which meant I didn’t need to worry about him. We were both in bed by 9:45 pm. 

Since I never go to bed that early, it wasn’t a surprise that I was wide awake at 4:30 am. I just laid in bed, trying to convince myself to go back to sleep. I resigned myself and finally got out of bed at 5 am. At school, I went on a school trip with the Year 2 children. We went to Hili Fun City, which is a run-down amusement park. I had to go because the male teacher in Year 2 was told it was lady’s day so he wouldn’t be allowed to go. In the end, every person that operated the rides was a man, so I’m not exactly sure why he wasn’t allowed to go. I don’t really mind as it was a great day out for sure. The only bad part of the day was coming back to school to have to teach a science lesson. Ugh!

After school there was a swim gala. Jack and Millie were both involved and it was at our school. Jack got 1st place in the free style and the butterfly, beating his friend Louie in both races. 

There they are, waiting for their turn in the relay. Jack is obviously the one on the left with the USA swim cap. 

He swam in a couple of relays as well, but his team didn’t win those races. Millie got a 2nd place in the free style and the breast stroke. She also participated in two relays and her team also lost those races. In the end, Brighton College won with about 20 points more than the other teams. 

We got home around 5 pm and made dinner for the kids. Jack had a touch rugby at 8 pm, which was too late for myself and Millie, so we stayed home and she went to bed. When Jack and Stuart got home, Jack was thrilled as his team nearly won their match. The usual routine ensued with Jack having a snack and Stuart and I eating. Jack went to bed and Stuart followed after. I assumed my nightly position on the sofa watching television and napping. I know these are horrible habits, but I love them. 

On Wednesday school was just another day. It does, however, seem that every time we complete something at school, another something arrives for us to do. We had a staff briefing after school since we had all volunteered for the swim gala on our normal meeting day, which was Tuesday. We continued with our Apple teacher training. It’s a series of 8 exams we have to take about Apple products. I have only earned 1 badge, which is not good. The kids had training and I continued to try to earn another Apple badge, but no luck. 

My year group had a school trip on Thursday. We took the kids to the Al Ain Palace Museum, which is the place where Shaikh Zayed Al Nahyan lived before he was the ruler Of the UAE. It was a really good trip, which made me realize how much I actually do know about this country. 

Thursday after school we decided to go to the outlet mall to look for ski equipment. I found some ski pants for about $55, which is a smoking deal. Jack decided to spend his birthday money on some new soccer boots. These are the same type of shoes we bought him about a year ago and he wore them three times. Apparently, at the time, the ones we bought him rubbed a blister on the back of his heels. I tried to remind him of this, but he was determined. 

Once we were home Louie came over for a sleepover. It had been a while since Louie and Jack had hung out, so I felt it was time. They are great buddies, but because they don’t go to the same school, it’s gets challenging sometimes to get them together. At 10 pm I picked Millie up from her birthday party. She was exhausted and nearly fell asleep on the way home. I didn’t make her take a shower, but put her straight to bed. 

We were all up around 6 am. Millie was cranky, but gathered her energy to get dressed for her rugby match. Stuart took her to the club and she boarded a bus to Dubai to her match. She was so excited for her first bus ride without Stuart and myself. We both had to be at the club all day as Stuart was playing in the tournament and I was the MC. After dropped Millie off, Stuart helped to set up the pitches. He then came back to the house and collected Jack and Louie for their bus journey to Abu Dhabi. I stayed home and finished washing Jack’s bed and then headed to the club at 10 am. 

The day at the club was good but exhausting. Millie and Jack returned to the club around the same time. Millie went to the pool while Jack played out by the pitches with his rugby buddies. Millie’s coaches came up and commented that all the teams were cheering for Millie by the end of the match as she’s the smallest thing on the pitch. The kids and I headed home around 7:30 pm and Stuart followed shortly after. The kids were in bed shortly after we got home. 

Saturday Millie and I went for some beauty treatments. 

Millie was so relaxed she nearly fell asleep. See her yawning?

After being spoiled we went to get the sweets for the Christmas bags for the kids who will come to the club to visit Santa in a few weeks. Millie helped by pushing around an extra cart of stuff. 

Once we were home, I got the dogs ready for their belated shot appointment at the vets. Duke was thrilled to be going in the car, but then when we got to the vets, neither dog was impressed. They got their shots and we headed home. Cathy was there when we arrived. She had brought leftover vegetables to go with our chicken kebabs for dinner. We watched Christmas Vacation and laughed.....a lot. It’s my favorite holiday film for sure. We started watching The Grinch, with Jim Carey, after Millie went to bed. Cathy didn’t make it to the end of the movie. She decided she needed to go home and do some more school work. We have written reports due in a few weeks, so working on the weekend may be in all of our futures. 

The week was a good one because it means we are that much closer to Christmas holidays. 

Sustainability Week at school means chaotic behavior!

Sunday was our first day of our Sustainability Week. The school had brought in the Bee Bus, which is a presentation from a bee expert. She showed us a bee hive and how the bees make honey. It was so interesting. My children loved it. We also went to the Bee Room to create junk models, reusing materials to do so. We also had all academic activities that dealt with sustainability. It was a great day, but the behavior was off because there wasn’t enough structure in the day. 

After school we headed home and Stuart fed the kids. We had a committee meeting at the club at 6 pm, but it didn’t start until later. I would guess this is my last year of being the social secretary. It consumes way too much time from all of us, and in the end it cheats our kids from us being at home. But for now I will plan the Christmas party and see how it goes. I left the meeting early to get the kids home, showered and in bed. Stuart showed up a bit later with some food. We watched a bit of television and then he was off to bed. I followed after some trash television. 

Monday morning we drove separately as I had basketball and parent conferences with Jack’s teachers. His conferences were amazing. His teachers had so many nice things to say about his participation in class, his work ethic and his best handwriting. It was such a relief to hear that at least in classes he was succeeding. When I got home we decided the kids would skip training for the evening. It was good to have a break. Stuart still went to training. The kids went to bed early. When Stuart got home we watched Sherlock Holmes and ate dinner. 

Tuesday morning Stuart and I drove separately again. Millie was a real treat and had an epic meltdown. We ended up leaving the house with a screaming 8 year old who had not brushed her hair, put her shoes on, brushed her teeth, or made her lunch. Needless to say, it was a good start to the day. 

Once we were at school the fun continued. As we were off time table all week because of our special sustainability week, we were all dying a bit inside. It makes the kids totally crazy.  After school I went to get supplies for the dress up day on Thursday. I then went to get Millie a new dark swim costume for her swim gala in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. While Millie and I were at the uniform shop, we decided to get KFC. We brought all of our treasures home and then went to the club for Jack’s touch rugby match. When we got home we all crashed after dinner. 

Wednesday Millie’s start was a bit better than the day before, thank goodness. She was actually ready to go when it was time to leave for school. She didn’t have her shoes on, but that is minor in the scheme of things.  There was nothing monumental about school. Sustainability week was nearly over, thank the lord, and we were close to the weekend. Jack had a football (soccer) tournament after school and then we went straight to the club for training. No one told me these active kids would dominate our week nights. 

Thursday was our last and seemingly longest day of the week. At the end of the day my teammate gave me the gift of letting me have two lessons free while he had both classes and they watched the Bee Movie. It was great. 

Millie was a butterfly. 

My teaching assistant and myself were Lady Bugs! 

Thursday evening we stayed home. Cathy came over for dinner and the kids had an early night. We watched part of Episode 5 of Star Wars, but then we got bored so we watched the latest movie on Netflix called Holiday in the Wild. It was so cute and way more interesting than Star Wars. I’m really trying to understand Star Wars as our theme in my year group for Term 3 this year is Star Wars. 

Friday, Stuart made us bacon and egg sandwiches, a total treat. Then he took Jack to a birthday party while Cathy and I charged the hand hover craft we bought Jack for Christmas. It was so cool. It avoided obstacles and moved wherever your hand was under it. It was so cool. We acted like total children.  

Cathy and I left for Dubai with DeDe around noon. We got the low down about DeDe’s ex leaving the country. It was a crazy and very unsettling story. I think our conversations were good for her soul. We shopped and I was able To get some Christmas shopping done. We came home just before 10 pm. Jack had been delivered back to the house by his buddy and the kids were staying with Carly, Sean’s daughter. We had a successful day for sure. It’s always fun to get away with some girlfriends. 

No shopping trip is complete without a Starbucks pumpkin latte. 

Stuart lost his rugby match in Abu Dhabi and was sore. Poor guy! He forgets he’s not that young anymore. 

Saturday morning we got up and tidied up the house from the Christmas decorations that had been left out for the kids to decorate. The tree was beautiful and I wasn’t going to change a thing. 

After I had packed a snack bag, we left for the swim meet at 10:30. We arrived a bit early, but then we were guaranteed seats. Jack was to swim the 50 meter free style and the 800 meter free style, which we had tried to talk him out of. Millie was to swim the 50 meter free style. Neither had ever swam in a 50 meter pool, so that slowed them down a bit. Millie did the 50 meter in 46 seconds and Jack did it in 36 seconds. Then Jack completed the 800 meter in 15 minutes and 38 seconds. We were so very proud of both kids for even wanting to compete. They did a great job. We got home around 5:30. The kids showered and chilled for the rest of the evening. The kids had eaten KFC (which has been our go-to recently) so they were just relaxing until bedtime. Sean came for dinner of nachos, which is one of our favorites for sure. Once the kids were in bed, the week was called complete. We are one day closer to the December holidays. We are getting so excited for the holidays. They come quickly enough. 

The first week back has been a long one.

Sunday was our relaunch of the Times Tables Rockstars! All the kids dressed up as rock stars and each child took a baseline assessment to test their multiplication and division skills. It was a chaotic day, as all special days are. I covered for period 6, trading a lesson with my team mate Carel, who wanted to watch the South Africa/Wales rugby semi-finals, in which South Africa won. Now South Africa will face England in the finals on Saturday. After school we went home and just relaxed for the evening. It was good to do absolutely nothing. 

Monday school was back to normal. I had a ton of books to mark in order to get ready for our parent consultations that would be Tuesday and Wednesday. When we got home we discovered that the water heater burst in our bathroom. I tried to turn the water on, but a shower commenced on my head and I couldn’t get the water off again. I called the maintenance man to come and help me. He said he would replace it on Tuesday.  

Stuart and the kids headed to the club for training while I went to the supermarket for milk and bread. We seem to always need bread and milk. When I got to the club, I bought Millie her kit for rugby. She was so excited. Her socks were so long that they looked like she had on leggings under her shorts. The kids and I headed home after practice for dinner, showers and bed. Stuart followed after training. 

Tuesday school seemed to drag on. We had parent consultations which wasn’t terribly exciting. We meet with the parents from our English and Math sets. We ability group our children, so I had 33 parents to meet with. Not all of them showed up, but a lot did. We were at school until nearly 5:30. We were exhausted. When we got home Stuart headed off with Jack for his touch match. Millie and I stayed at home to avoid a totally meltdown at the end of the night. We watched a movie and had popcorn after dinner. Jack got home and reported his touch team had won. It is their first win this season. He was quite thrilled. 

Wednesday was just as long as Tuesday. Parent consultations were about the same length of time. There weren’t as many parents on Wednesday as their were on Tuesday, but the day wasn’t any shorter. After school Stuart took the kids straight to training while I headed to buy more sweets for Halloween. I then arrived at the club and collected the kids’ forms for the tournament we were in on Friday. All boys brought their forms, which was a bonus for me. We ate dinner at the club and then headed home for showers and bed. Stuart got home just before 9 pm and then we went to bed. I actually went to bed before he did. That was a first. It had definitely been a long week. 

Thursday was Halloween. We didn’t do anything in school, as we aren’t allowed, but after school we sat outside our house and had an entire community trick or treat evening. We had a few people over. Stuart made chili for Cathy, Sean and Cathy, and then some people stayed after the trick or treating was over and chatted for a while. It was a later night than I had wanted, only because we had to get up early the following morning for the rugby tournament. We had two kids playing in this one. 

Ready for trick or treating. 

We were up and out of the house at 6:15 am. Jack rode the bus, but Millie slept in our car all the way to Abu Dhabi. Jack had a total of 4 matches and he and his team won all of them. They won the Shield, which is the top award in rugby. They were thrilled. Their team doesn’t have as many numbers as some of the other teams, so there were two matches we borrowed two players. Alfie played with us for two matches and ended up winning the Man of the Match for the entire tournament. He was the best sport and gave his all, no matter who he was playing for. In fact, his drive down the pitch is what eventually led us the our victory in the 4th match. He was a great kid. 

The warm ups are boring, but necessary. 

The winners!

Jack and the Shield. It’s not big, but it meant a lot to him. 

Bruises are a part of being aggressive. 

This other leg might have been in worse shape. 

After we had celebrated Jack’s victory, we went over to watch Millie’s last two matches. She did so well. She scored two tries in her last match and their team won the Plate, which is 3rd over all. She was very pleased. I’m glad she’s enjoying since her gymnastics coach still can’t find a gym to rent. 

Millie and Emerson, Louie’s sister. They are on the same team, but clearly Emy is older. 

Millie’s touch team has a lot of players. 

We ended the day around 6 pm and headed to check in at the Novetel. We stayed there with Lara and Brian, as well as the Rouvis. Stuart had actually gone back to Al Ain just after Jack’s second match in order to play in his own match. He decided he would stay at the house so we wouldn’t have to get someone to stay with the dogs. So it was just the kids and myself. Once we were checked into the hotel we went to the pool for the evening. We got food poolside and the kids watched a movie on a huge screen, sitting on beanbags. It was a great evening. We got to bed just before 11 and we’re hopeful for a bit of a lie in. 

We woke up around 8 am on Saturday morning and went down for the every so loved buffet breakfast. The kids and I were riding back with the Karniks and the Rouvis, so we had to wait for Brian to return from the second day of the tournament, as he’s the youth manager and had to be there to make sure things had started out properly. We left around 11 am and arrived back at the club at 12:30 to watch the finals of the Rugby World Cup, which found South Africa tromping all over England. This was Jack’s reaction. This boy hates to lose, whether it’s his actual team or the one he is cheering on. 

He was truly sad. 

After the match we headed home. We decided to order McDonalds, which is my least favorite, but we couldn’t be bothered to cook. Sean came over after a while and we stayed up for a bit just listening to music and talking. Once he was gone, the kids went to bed and we did as well. Another week in the books. I e decided maybe we are too busy. I’m hoping it slows down, but I really don’t see any slowing until December holidays, so bring it on.