Leaver's Assembly

It's the end of the school term here. Friday was the kids' last day. Next term Joe will be moving up to the next school, and Joci will be staying at her school, moving up to the foxes class. Last Wednesday the school had a little assembly and production for the 2nd year class leaving. It was very cute and a lot of the parents were crying by the end. The parent association provided Oxford dictionaries for the year 2 kids and a school keychain with the student's names on them. It was all very nice.

Here the kids are walking to school for one of the last days. I love it when Joe and Joci hold hands.

Joe doing his production.

The kid in the yellow and blue is actually a professional 'street' dancer.

Joe receiving his dictionary from the head teacher, Mr. Upton.

Joe's teacher assistant, Mrs. Merchent. She was an amazing support for him, and one of Joe's favorite.

Joe's new best buddy, Sam.

Joe with his teacher, Mr. Bolger. Truly an amazing teacher, everyone loves him, he's the kind of teacher you wish you had when you were a kid.

Joe with the 'principal' or head teacher, Mr. Upton. Really, really nice and welcoming man for us.

Soccer, I mean, Football

So, Football here is a VERY BIG deal as I found out last Wednesday during Joe's first football match.

Apparently, he had the choice between doing regular PE or doing the football club for school, and Joe chose football which is coached by his teacher and has his best buddy, here, in it. Then, at the end of the school year, his class has a match against another school. No big deal, right? Wrong.

Joe's match was a bit after school and he was being walked over to the grounds by his coach and teacher. I walked Joci home and she had a snack, and then we headed over to the grounds. The sight that I saw when I got there was surprising. There were a lot of people and they were all cheering and laughing and having a great time. It was obviously a much bigger deal than I thought.

Joe had a great time and really did his best, trying hard and keeping up with all the kids. He did get to kick the ball a few times, and each time did well. I was so proud of him.

All during the match, Joci played with one of her school friends, too, and I talked with some of the other Moms there, mostly about where we were from, why we are in England, and how long we're staying, etc. That's typically what most people want to know about us when we meet new people.

I was told that I should expect to have football take over our lives in the winter, as it's a big deal here when the professional season starts. Now, I believe it, just seeing how excited everyone gets over a kids' friendly football match.

Oh, and the score? It was a draw, one to one.

A Hot Breakfast

One of my fondest memories of childhood, now, is of my Dad making us a good hot breakfast each morning before school. I say now, well, because at the time I would have given ANYTHING to just sleep a little longer, and breakfast didn't always appeal to me. Of course as an adult, and a parent, you look back at the things your parents did for you and finally feel like you privy to some secret society. Also, to be fair, my Dad still makes breakfast each morning that I have ever been at their house, even as an adult.

Now, as a parent, I have always wanted to make the kids a hot breakfast. Before, when working and trying to get everything around in the morning, I had a hard time figuring that out. Now, not having to work, and having school start at 9am rather than 8am, amazingly, a hot breakfast is now part of our daily routine.

To prove this I took a picture this morning as it was the first time I got the kids to try over medium eggs, rather than just scrambled. Joci loved them, Joe hated them. One of their favorites is oatmeal, and I did use to make that for them, in the microwave, but now that we don't have a microwave (by choice) I make it the 'old fashioned' way...on the stovetop. Which, again, reminds me of my Dad. Mom would want oatmeal and Dad would make it for her and leave it on the stovetop until she was ready to eat.

Can you tell I'm missing my parents?

It's these little things that sneak up on you, when you're doing a chore that is how your Mom taught you, or figuring something out similar to how your Dad would, that remind me of my childhood, and how fortunate I was to have the parents I did. These are also the things that I tell my kids about all the time, because I want them to have a sense of history.

So, Mom and Dad, tomorrow I will be making another hot breakfast...probably oatmeal. Love you.

Discos and Proms

I visited the kids school yesterday 4 different times, there and back. Once to drop off/pick up. Then to take Joci to her Disco, once to take Joe to his Prom, then back to pick up Joe. It was all certainly worth it, though, and the little extra exercise was good for me. The kids had so much fun at their end of the year festivities. Joci's Foundation class had a Disco with the Year one class. Joe had his Leaver's Prom to celebrate moving up to Year 3 at a different school. They both got to help pick out their outfits the night before. Joe was REALLY excited to get to wear a tie and vest. He was very sweet, too, asking me to show him how to 'prom' before the dance in case there was a slow dance, and he could ask his little friend, Chloe, to dance. Seriously, showing him how to do a basic slow dance is something I will remember forever. Poor Joci had a hard time walking in her sandals. She fell down three times in them. Once, reinjuring a scraped up knee, so that when we got to the school, the head teacher, Mr. Upton, cleaned up her knee and put a plaster on it for her. They even had a DJ, and flashing lights. It was pretty neat. Their school has been really special and they have had so many activities and a great attitude towards kids. Last weekend we went to their BBQ, the biggest surprise being that they served alcohol to the adults(!), it made Jon and I laugh to have Joci's teacher serve us a beer.