a call form school

Yesterday morning an hour and a half after I had dropped Evie off at school, my phone started ringing and it was Evies school...

...my heart sank (I didnt want her missing her Christmas lunch with Christmas cracker), the lady told me that it was L from the school office "and not to worry it was nothing bad" :).

It was making sure that I was still happy helping on the history off the page day, and that that morning I will go to the staff room to go through the risk assessment.

So that was all good :)

Mr J is here to stay

Since the beginning of September Mrs B has been off sick...

...the school havent been very good at giving us updates - we had to collectively bully them into giving us the last update after the half term break.

Yesterday we actually got a parentmail saying that there were staffing changes.

When I read it it said that Mrs B isnt coming back now (due to family issues) and Mr J is staying on until the end of the school year to give the kids continuity and even mentioned the dreaded SATS!

And they will be looking to recruit a new teacher for next year, I think that they will keep Mr J.

a day off sick

Over Evies birthday weekend she had a horrible croup sounding cough...

...it didnt stop us doing birthday stuff on the Saturday though :)

As Evies cough still sounded horrible yesterday morning I kept her off school (after asking in the school facebook group if the school would be ok for her to go in with the cough).

I booked her an appointment at the doctors (just to rule out her being contagious) and it wasnt until yesterday afternoon (by then her cough was sounding chesty) her chest is clear and she is ok to go to school :).

We dont have Gym trail today either (as her last session before the holidays was on Friday) and I am going to pop into Aldi this morning to get our Christmas Dinner (main thing) :)

happy birthday Evie

It is my darling little girls 7th Birthday :)

She wanted to do build a bear workshop

thanks for the birthday card Eileen :)

last session before Christmas

Yesterday was my last helping out session before Christmas (next Wednesday is the last day of term).

I did more gluing into books and stuck the class awards up on the wall of fame :) best table, star of the week and mind growthset :)

I was also asked to come in on the first Monday that they are back at school to help in their history off the page day they are doing the great fire of London.

I have already bought a black dress that I can wear :)

nada nada

Yesterday I finally got around to placing an order with Sainsburys for some Christmassy food :)

I wanted 3 things...

a reindeer cake

stuffing parcels

and a chocolate caramel star

the only thing left in stock was the chocolate caramel star

I saw in the Aldi that they do a Robin cake so I will try and get one next weekend (as that was what Evie wanted) :)

what a great idea

I just saw this article and that its a great idea :)

I have always thought that bus and train ticket prices need to be reduced so that more people would use them, but Luxembourg is going one better than that :)

It would be nice if they did something similar here in the UK :)

knot sew good

I was asked to go on yesterday rather than my normal Wednesday morning to help the kids sew christmas stockings.

I arrived for 1pm and the teacher was showing the kids on the white board how they were to sew their stockings, she said that the threads had to be split into strands so tat they could be threaded through the eye of the needles (my heart sank - I knew that I was going to be no use).

The threads were getting knotted up too as we were trying to split them.

Thankfully F's Mum and H's Mum were helping too so they managed to thread the needles (I did manage to thread one so I was happy with that :)).

I did tell the teacher that I wasnt any good at threading needles and she said that she wasnt either (although she was just being kind).

I think the kids have cushions to sew later in the year too (I will make see I tell her teacher how useless I am :)).

Evie said that she was happy that I was in class yesterday so tat is good.

helping me

Evie has decided that I need help with my chocolate advent calendars...

...she helps me by finding the right doors, then opening the doors and then she helps me eat the chocolates! :)

I may have to buy a secret advent calendar that Evie doesnt know about :)

Monday afternoon instead

Yesterday helping in class was more gluing and sticking :)

Then at breaktime Mr J came in and said that next week he would like me to come in on Monday afternoon instead...

...the kids will be sewing Christmas stockings and they want an adult in to help with every table, with things like threading the needles.

Im useless at sewing so I just hope that the needles have huge holes :)

I was talking with the teaching assistant and said that Monday afternoon sounded fun and she said that you need a lot of patience that afternoon :)

narrator #22

The other day when I picked Evie up from school she told me that they were practicing songs for the Christmas play :)

So I excitedly asked her what part she had and she said that she is narrator #22, so I asked her how many narrators there are and there are 22!

So I asked her what her lines are and she said "celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ"

We have since had the song sheet and the script and they are doing Christmas around the world (our version is slightly different)

therapy assessment appointment

Yesterday I got a letter giving us an appointment for Evies therapy assessment, the pediatrician thought that a referral to an occupational therapist would determine if there was anything she was having trouble with.

The appointment is for 19th December (Evies last day at school before the Christmas holidays and the day of her Christmas lunch).

So I cancelled it...

They only hold a clinic one day a month and the next clinic that isnt in term time is in August!  So we have an appointment then.

The lady I spoke to on the phone said that she had never booked an appointment that far in advance before! :)

more gluing and sticking

Yesterday I got into Evies class to find more stuff to stick into their books :)

It was their homework (both maths and spellings), the maths is prices of items and how much 2 different items cost...

...as Evie is in the bottom set, her items are single figures, the middle set has double figures and the top set has triple figures (with even 3 lots of 3 items), I think the top sets ones will be hard for them!

I saw the washing line that I pegged the odd socks onto hanging up which made me smile :)

On Tuesday we got a letter saying that Evie has been picked to take part in a competition!  As Evie had PE yesterday I asked the PE teacher why Evie was picked (as she has the same non athletic abilities as me and James) and the teacher said that its a fun competition for kids that wouldnt normally be picked for competitions :)

James did a search and its a way for kids to try different activities (one of them is archery!) Im hoping its the darts with suckers on :)

We can go and watch too so that is fun :)

Im getting my flu jab done today and Evie is having her nasal spray done tomorrow :)

will holly be as good...

Tonight is the start of 3 weeks of watching celebrities suffer :)

I dont really like Ants replacement very much but Im sure that I will hopefully like her more after the end of the series :)

There are a few budding prima donnas so it should be fun to watch :)

gluing sticking cutting and pegging

When I got into Evies classroom yesterday there was a pile of stuff waiting for me to get on with :)

I had to glue 2 lots of work into their maths books :)

staple a leaflet on hedgehogs into their English books (they had to label all the different things on there)

And cut out odd socks that the kids had coloured in and peg them onto a ribbon (washing line) :)

odd socks day

Its the start of anti-bullying week today and in honour of that its odd socks day

Evie decided on a wonder woman/my little pony combo :)

how many is too many

I was looking in Tesco on my way home from work and saw that they have some cheap advent calendars :)

I saw one that we could get for James (although Evie will eat it for him) an LOL surprise one and a pokemon one for me :)

they are only 1 pound each, so I am going to buy them tomorrow :) if the pokemon one sells out I wont mind too much!

now we have trickling

On Tuesday night James told me that he though the overflow pipe from our water tank in the loft was trickling...

...I looked yesterday after helping out in Evies class and indeed it is.

I am now waiting for the plumbing company I used last week to make an appointment to come and adjust the float valve.

Yesterday as well as reading with L I glued the homework (the maths is on 3D shape recognition)  into the homework books and did some laminating :)

school lunches and photos

Yesterday on our walk to school Evie was saying how on cottage pie day she was going to have chessy bean yorkshire (without the cheese) so as she put it beany yorkshire :)

Also yesterday it was school photo day...

...I put a hairbrush in her bag in case it was needed :)

When I picked Evie up I noticed that the buttons on her polo shirt were done up, she said that Mrs B (another one not the one who is still off sick), but there was a smear of chicken korma sauce on her forehead!

I asked Evie when the school photos were taken and she said that they were done after lunch (hopefully the smear will get airbrushed out).

It made me laugh that they were more concerned with her top than food around her face :)

When we got home from school I changed Evies lunch on Cottage Pie day so that she could see that I had actually done it :)

At bedtime Evie tried to take her top off and it would not go over her head, so she took off her glasses and it still wouldnt go over her head!  So we did one button each :)

heating and hot water

On Friday we took Evie to school and then waited for the gas man to turn up...

...he arrived at 1030, I showed him the boiler then showed him the hot water tank, he wanted to see if there was any water in the radiator and there wasnt.

He then went up into the loft to see the expansion tank, there was bit broken on there which was the cause of the trouble.

He then had to call his office to say what work needed to be done and for me to agree it. I did (we needed heating!).

He then went to get the part, and came back and fitted it :)

We now have a lovely warm house :)

8.20

My appointment yesterday was for between 9 am and 1 pm...

...I was just locking the door yesterday morning about to take Evie to school when an unmarked van pulled up and a british gas man called out our house number, and I said that I was just about to take my daughter to school.  He asked what time I would be back and I said 9 am, he then said that he would go and do his next job if he could.

I rushed back from taking Evie to school and waited and waited and waited.

By 12 pm it dawned on me that he wasnt going to come back (but as the time slot was until 1 pm I gave him the benefit of the doubt).

At 1 pm I called British Gas and explained the situation, the earliest appointment they could offer me was Monday (which would mean then almost 2 weeks with no hot water or heating), I was mad!

The upshot is I have found someone who is coming out today, the lady I spoke to thought I wanted a boiler fitted so hopefully she understood that its to be repaired, I did it explain it to her.

We still have the British Gas appointment on Monday if this one goes wrong too.

Hopefully we will have heating tonight...

On the plus side James has his lunch today with Evie (she is quite excited about showing Daddy what to do) :)

gluing and sticking

Yesterday I was helping in Evies class...

...there were three piles of books to have work glued into :)

homework, English and Maths.

Evie had PE yesterday and when the kids came back the teacher put on a 5 minute timer, I was really pleased that Evie was dressed and sitting on the floor just as it was getting to zero :)

And she wasnt the last person dressed either so I was pleased with that too :)

Just as we were leaving to go to school Evie proudly told me that she did her number sentences on Tuesday without any help :)

happy halloween

happy halloween :)

and happy birthday Eileen :)

A few weeks ago there was a lady outside Evies school handing out flyers for a singing and drama lessons and were doing free trial sessions.

Evie had her trial session yesterday, but she was the only one there.

I peeped through the window about halfway through (we werent allowed to sit and watch) and she had a smile on her face so was definitely enjoying herself.

I asked her afterwards if she enjoyed it and she said yes, then I asked her if she wanted to carry on doing it and we book her lessons but she said that she doesnt.

I will ask her again later incase she changes her mind.

The lady is going to call me in a few days to see if we want to book lessons etc :)

thursday now...

Yesterday I was waiting in for the gas engineer and at around 12.30 (the person was supposed to come between 10 am and 2 pm) I got a phone call from British Gas asking exactly what our issues were...

...so I went through it all with him and he then asked if there were any vulnerable people in the house and I mentioned having Evie, he then said that unfortunately (down to the cold snap) the engineer cant make it to ours in time!

They offered me Wednesday morning but I said that I cant do that day (as Im helping in class) so now they are coming Thursday between 9 am and 1 pm (which means I will have to rush back from taking Evie to school),

They have even thrown in a goodwill gesture of 30 pounds as we are having to use heaters.

Im hoping they can fix it on Thursday now...

luke warm water

the boiler saga contines :)

...yesterday morning I was doing the washing up and the water was only luke warm, so I turned the hot water on at the switch in the kitchen and nothing...

I then tried having a shower and that was luke warm water too, so I got out and turned the immersion heater on...

...it looks like needing a new boiler is on the cards.

James is blaming the gas engineer, as it couldnt be possibly be anything to do with our boiler being 23 years old! :)

lunch and dentist

On Friday we had our school holiday treat lunch :)

Evie decided on going to Wagamama :)

We even tried using chopsticks

and to finish Evie chose ice cream :)

Evie ate her dessert really quickly which I was surprised at :)  she said that it was because she wanted to beat me!  Hee hee now I know she can eat quickly when she wants to :)

On our way home Evie was walking through the dry leaves and kicking them into he air :)

Yesterday we had our dentist appointments...

...Evie needed plaster put on another baby tooth...

...amd I just needed a clean and polish - so that is us done for another 6 months :)

first Y2 parents evening

My appointment for Evies parent teacher consultation (as they call it) was for 5.20 to look at her Maths & English books and 5.30 to speak to her teacher.

So i left home early to give me plenty of time :)

I even had to hang around for 10 mins before the classrooms were ready to look in.

I had a look through her books that I havent previously glued pages into... :)

One thing that I didnt realise is that Evie has started writing what she gets upto at the weekend (so I told James that :)).

And spent the time until the first appointment looking at the photos from the aerozone visit :)

Hee hee one Mum who has 3 (of her 5 kids) at school had a quick look through J's books and went off to the next classroom :)

It was then time to look at Evies Maths & English books and no sooner had I sat down Mr J said that he was running early so I could have my chat with him now and then look at her books in the classroom later which was fine by me :)

The chat went well (for once) he said that her English and Maths are coming on and she it on target to be where she is supposed to be by the end of the school year.

He even said that Evie was putting her hand up more to answer questions and was even getting them right :)

And the exception words spelling tests she had done, she had done well (getting just over half correct), and to try and get her to write sentences every now and again with one of the words :)

Evie also has to work on using finger spaces (which she does when I remind her) nd commas and full stops (yes I know Mum I have the same problem with them myself :)), I almost told him that but stopped myself :)

Its the start of half term today and I am going to have lunch with Evie in town :)

gurgling

On Sunday night James came downstairs saying "can your hear that?" I couldnt...

...he said that the boiler was making noises, so he got me to listen in the airing cupboard and there were no noises there either...

Monday morning I woke up to go the loo and heard what I thought was swooshing water (I thought it must have been raining and the gutter was blocked (that sort of noise) James told me it was the boiler!

The upshot is the gas engineer is coming back after the half term...

Yesterday I was helping in class and while I was gluing in the homework into the kids homework books the teaching assistant told me that Evie was the only person on her table (the table that she helps with for maths) who didnt need help with subtracting :)

I was really pleased :)

Tonight its parents evening so that will be fun :)

a daddy and evie lunch

Last week we got through a letter about the year 2 lunch...

...as the options were fish fingers or vegetarian lasagna and as I dont like either of them I decided that I would give it a miss :)

James then said that he would book the day off work and do it with Evie instead :)  He is having fish fingers.

Evie is now all excited as she can show Daddy how to get your lunch and where it sit :)

I would rather have the pet pigeon

I was helping out in Evies class again yesterday...

...when I got in there were 4 piles of filing to do :)

One of the things was a story and then the kids had to answer questions on it.

I was pleased that Evie had answered all of the questions :) A couple of the kids only answered the first 3!

The last question asked if you had a pet or what sort of pet would you like?  Evie put that she would like a pigeon!  So I asked her about it later and she said that she actually wrote pet dog!  So I asked her what would she do if the dog jumped up at her and she said that it wouldnt because it would be busy by throwing it a ball all the time! :)

school trip

Evie had to be in early yesterday anyway as she had gym trail, so I dropped her off at the school hall and then had a bit of a walk.

Then at 8.45 I signed in and was told to go to the staff room so that I could read and sign the risk assessment form :)

We were then given yellow reflective vests to wear and we were given a pack each (saying which kids were in our group) I had Evies table :)

We then got on the coach (in our groups) and Evie wanted to sit next to me which was nice :)

We got to the Aerozone and the kids were told to sit on the floor and to face the large screen on the wall (us Mums had seats to sit on) and the kids were shown a presentation on the airport :)

I didnt realise that Stansted started out as a US airbase in WW2 :)

The kids then had different thing to do before the special visitors arrived :)

there was paper plane making

dressing up (Evie dressed up as a police woman)

and a map where you have to put the destinations on to

and a science bit - Evie enjoyed the making the ping pong balls float on the upturned air blowers :).

The Visitors arrived...

...it was the fire brigade - they set up the hoses and the kids had to knock a bottle off of a cone with the water :)  Evie said it was her favourite bit :)

Then they put the sirens and the lights on for the kids too :)

Then when the fire brigade was leaving 4 police cars turned up and they were the other visitors :)

The kids got to look inside the police cars and even got to be locked inside one of the vans (like a naughty robber :)), there was also bomb sniffer dogs and the kids got to stroke them...

...I was really proud of Evie because she went up to stroke one of them too :) She normally starts getting upset if a dog comes anywhere near her :)

Then it was lunchtime and all of the groups sat together :)

Then after lunch we went to the viewing platform (a paved area close to the runway) to watch the planes arrive and takeoff (some of the pilots even waved at us) :)

Then it was time to go back to school :)

It was a really great day :)

not tooth hurty

The other day I got a reminder from the dentist about mine and Evies 6 month check up...

...as the half term holiday is coming up I have booked it for then.

Evie is having more of her adult teeth coming in now too, so when the dentist reads out what teeth she has its going to be a mixture of letters and numbers :)

laminating and reading

Yesterday I was helping in class again :)

I was laminating number squares (a sheet with 200 squares in lines of 10) :)

Then I listened to some of the children reading...

...but halfway through the morning I was told that I am helping on the class trip :)

I have to make 2 packed lunches now (one for me and one for Evie) and bring our warm coats :)

santa knows...

Yesterday James sneezed and Evie got up and got him a tissue :)

I said to Evie after that it was lovely and kind of her to do that and then she said that she had done it so that she gets lots of presents from Santa! :)

I told her that Santa knows all year round if she has been good or not :)

I think that she must have been talking to her friends about Santa :)

reading and going to the airport but not on holiday

Yesterday I was helping in class...

...I spent the morning after they had their PE session listening to some of the children reading :)

Mrs R was saying that they are having parent helpers in every day now so its hard finding things for us Mums to do :)

When I picked Evie up yesterday afternoon she told me that there was a letter in her bag about a school trip.

So I had a quick read and its going to the airport :) I was making Evie laugh by saying that all of the kids will keep asking Mr J if they are going on holiday :)

Cold enough for coats

When James left for work this morning he said that he could see his breath.

So i have Evies coat ready and because it's PE today evie is also wearing trousers.

colour in

I was walking past The Works yesterday morning, and saw some interesting colouring books :)

I ended up getting this one and then James spotted this calendar so I bought that too :)

meet the teacher

Yesterday morning we had the meet the teacher session...

...it was run by teh two year 2 teachers Mr J and Mrs K.

This term they are doing wheels, wings and other things and are watching the film Cars.

Next term they are doing fire and ice...

...for fire they are going to do a history off the page day about the Great Fire of London.

and for ice Im not quite sure what they are doing...

And then the final term it is mini beasts and they have a tip to Hyde Hall.

with questions at the end it went on for 40 minutes and I got home just after 10 :)

The engineer turned up just after 1 pm, so our boiler is all fixed for the time being :)

cutting and sticking and fire drill

Yesterday while helping in class I was cutting out photos of the kids doing number place values :)

I had to glue a photo into every childs maths book and then cut out the remaining photos too to be put around the classroom :)

There was also a fire drill too and Evie held my hand when we were walking onto the school field :)

This morning I have meet the teacher at Evies school - tehy tell us what things they will be learning and stuff like that :)

Its at 9 this morning so I will rush back after for the engineer!

a boiler service too far

At teh end of last week we realised that our pump (in the airing cupboard) had a leak...

...so as we are part of Homecare we booked for an engineer to come and also to do our annual service.

The appointment was booked for between 10 am and 2 pm - he arrived at 10 am (so that was good.

He loked at the pump and told me it was going to be a big job (he wasnt kidding it took him an hour and a half).

He then did the boiler service and kept on saying about how old it was and that we were living on borrowed time etc... and there are only 2 parts that are still available for it.

he had to turn the power off and when he had finished he said he didnt want to do any extra fiddling as it was so old,

It passed all its tests :) but then when he turned it all back on one of the lights wasnt on...

...it now needs a new PCB and typically he didnt have the right one on his van.

So he is coming back tomorrow to fit the new part (I have meet the teacher first thing in the morning so will rush back once that has finished,

Mrs B still off sick

On Thursday we got a letter about the schools therapy referral and attached is a form to be completed by the school and ourselves ... (within 10 days of the date of the letter)

When I went to pick Evie up (the teaching assistant was on the door letting the kids out) and  I checked in her bag to see if there was any update on Mrs B coming back, she has now been signed off until the October half term!

So I spoke to Mr J and he said that the letter would be addressed to Mrs B, so if I can bring in the letter and then he can (along with Miss B (who wanted the initial referral)) can complete the form and we will complete a copy too.

Hopefully they will come to the conclusion that there is nothing physically wrong with her once and for all :)

sticking cutting and reading

Yesterday was my first morning of helping in year 2 :)

I started off by sticking Maths work in their books, it looks like there is a group of 6 kids (including Evie that the teaching assistant was helping).

And geography work (they had to label parts of Great Britain).

I had to cut out the cars they decorated for their Summer homework.

And I read with M, L & J :)

So it was a good morning :)

she should be a contestant

I was just looking at the latest new on Im a Celebrity and it says that Holly Willoughby will be joining Declan Donnelly presenting the show.

I have to say I would much rather have seen her as a contestant :)

I ballsed that one up :)

After telling Mrs B at the open evening that I would like to continue helping on a Wednesday morning  I thought that I had better check what day PE is normally as that is more than likely when she will have her swimming lesson...

...I was relieved when I checked the school website that it said Tuesdays and Thursdays

...I know that Evie wont let me put her swimming cap on and a couple of the other girls have really long hair.

Yesterday looking in Evies book bag I saw that there was a new home/school record book and inside it said about when homework is and when PE is...

...indoor PE is now going to be on a Wednesday morning so I may end up having to help with swimming after all! :)

new cables more bolts and up higher

On Sunday evening I got a phone call from the sky engineer saying that he would arrive between 11.30 and 1.30 yesterday.

I then got a text at 12.40 saying that he would arrive between 1.10 and 2.10 so I texted back asking to make it nearer to 1.10 as I had the school run to do :)

He arrived at about 1.40 :)

I explained that we didnt have a satellite signal but it was working again and he checked the cables and they were ok...

...he then said that as they were ok it made his job harder to pinpoint the problem, I also told him that the dish had been moved as there had been a "line off sight" issue.

He then looked at the dish after putting on all of his protective gear.  He told me that the pole that the dish was on only had 2 bolts in rather than 4.

He then replaced the cable and moved the dish up higher to eliminate any tree issues and fitted the pole with 4 bolts.

And I have his number in case i get any more issues in the next 30 days :)

Hopefully we are all good now :)

helping Wednesday again

When I picked Evie up from school on Friday I mentioned to Mr J that I said that I would help Wednesday mornings and would he prefer me to wait for Mrs B to return or would he like me to start helping from Wednesday? He said that it was upto me :)

So wanting to see what Evie gets upto in class I said that I would like to come in Wednesday :)

first day back

I dropped Evie off at school and waved her off watching her walk across the playground with no tears from either of us :)

When it came o pick up time I walked around to her new classroom (it was weird walking past her old one and seeing the reception kids Mums waiting outside Miss B's class), I didnt see Mrs B letting the children out but a man!

Evie came out and I had a look in her bag and saw that there was a letter saying that Mrs B was signed off work until the middle of next week and the man was Mr J.

Evie said he was nice.

She enjoyed her first day back she that was good too and even had a sticker for waiting in line quietly :)

all ready for school

Up and ready

Today is evies first day back at school and her first day in year 2!

I cant believe she is in year 2 already :)

I will do a photo of her in her school uniform later :)

I have booked her lunches and her bags are ready by the front door.

I just have to do her water bottle now.

another engineer visit

I switched on sky this morning and we have no satellite signal!

I have an engineer coming on Monday...

the appointment

On Thursday we had Evies appointment with the pediatrician...

...one of the "receptionists" came in with usand sat chatting to Evie whilst me & James talked to the doctor answering her questions.

Yjeu then weighed and measured Evie and got her to jump and run adn lie on teh couch while the doctor tested her muscle strength :)

The upshot is that htere is nothing wrong developmental wise (which we already knew) and she said that she was going to (put as nicely (without telling them the school what to do) advise them that they will have to bring in their own person if they think that she has a learning difficulty).

She is going to send us a copy of the report that she is sending to the school.

I was back at work today and that went alright too :)

new school shoes and tomorrow

Yesterday we went in to town and befitting of a shoes shop a week and a half before the new school year it was packed!

So we got our number (E40) Evie liked that it had an E on it :)

The number on the board was 32 so it wasnt going to take too long...

...we were chatting about who was going to serve us was it going to be a man or a lady (or my suggestion the little boy with the blue glassses :o))

Number 40 came up and it was a man :)

He got the ipad and the feet measurer got Evie to chose her favourite colour (pink) and write her age 6 and her feet are now half a size bigger :)

She chose these shoes, none of the shoes on offer for Evies size were very pretty which is a shame.

Today we are going to get her tap shoes and leotard and this afternoon I will see about getting all of her other footwear in the supermarket.

Tomorrow we have Evies assessment and I am getting nervous about it...

...Im sure it will all be ok :)

I have bought the bus ticket on my phone

feet measuring

Today James is back at work (so it is back to school holiday normal for me & Evie)...

...we are getting her feet measured today (I am sure that her feet have grown) so as well as school shoes we will need 2 pairs of trainers, wellies, slippers and some shoes (for outside school) if she sees any that she likes.

All of the bits apart from the school shoes will come from the supermarket or Primark :)

holiday and no work today

We have been on holiday

at the ariport at silly o'clock

our hotel had its own yeti :)

we went to a water park

we had slushys

we had rain

and no work today as the church group is at their headquarters :)

back to the bank

This morning I went to check that I had been paid and as I put in my security details wrong 3 times I have been locked out!

So I did the "reset" bit and the 3rd and last step was to get a code from my secure key but when I went to turn it on it wont switch on!

I know that its the new one as it has the plastic cover on it.

So I will pop to the bank today or tomorrow to get a new one :(

mutiny and crash

Dont worry two separate things and in no way connected :)

First the crash...

I went into work and as soon as I walked in though the automatic doors a fascia came crashing down from the internal doors luckily I wasnt near it :)

I called my boss so he knew what to expect as he came in tomorrow :).

and now the mutiny...

James was supposed to take Evie to lunch in Sainsburys as a treat, but at 12.38 I got a text saying that they werent going as Evie had made a huge mess and she had lied!

I asked him what she had lied about and he said "you will have to ask her"

LOL at least I knew what I was coming back home to :)

The lie was that Evie had said that she had tidied up when she hadnt!

tea for four

Today me & Evie are meeting up with a couple of my friends...

...we are going to a tea shop, Evie has already told me that she is going to have a tea cake and a hot chocolate :)

Although I am not sure that she will like the tea cake :)

I am sure that there will be something yummy that she will chose :)

euroMillions confusion

Whenever I get an e-mail telling me that my lottery ticket has ran out I leave it in my inbox until I have renewed it :)

The other day I received an e-mail saying "you cant win EuroMillions without a ticket!"

I was sure that I had already bought my ticket with my full proof system LOL :)

So when I went online this afternoon the first thing I did was check that I do have my ticket and phew I do :)

So I have forwarded the e-mail to national lottery in case it is spam...

do you EVEN want the appointment?

Yesterday morning just after 9 am I called the place to book Evies apointment, I was told that the pediatrics team were busy and someone would call me back later...

...as I still hadnt been called back by 4 pm I called again and this time was told that I would be called either today or tomorrow.

At 7 pm I then get a phone call :)

It was the place I called earlier and the first thing the lady asked me was "do you even want the appointment?" I said that yes I did (I mean why would I have called to book the appointment otherwise?) she said it was because the doctor who referred us said that we didnt have any concerns, and they expect the parents to have the concerns in the first instance.

So I told her that I did want the appointment just to get the teachers off of our backs :)

We have an appointment booked for the end of August and we will get the bus there :) ironically there is a place just down the road from us but there were no appointments there and she said that there is a timescale that they are supposed to see kids in, so we are sticking with the appointment as it is in the school holidays.

cathedral picnic

Yesterday me and Evie had a picnic in the grounds of Chelmsford Cathedral :)

We got our lunch from McDonalds (Evie had a chicken nugget happy meal) :)

We found somewhere shady to sit

Evie eating a chicken nugget

As it was so hot and Evie was getting tired we went for an iced drink before heading home :)

Evie drinking an iced chocolate drink with cream

Then we headed home via the park :)

on the swing

When we got home I found a letter about Evies appointment and there was no date but said to call a phone number to book it.

I hope that there isnt a long waiting list and she can be seen in the school holidays.

yesterday was a Daddy and Evie day

While I went to work yesterday James and Evie went to Southend :)

They had a great day...

...Evie told me all of the fun things they did...

..she had a smoothie and a bacon roll in Costa, played in the arcades, and went of loads of rides at Adventure Island and she had sausage in batter and chips for her lunch :)

Today she wants to have a picnic with a McDonalds happy meal :)

We have to go into town anyway today :)

until September

Today is the last day of rushing until September :)

There was a note in Evies bag yesterday saying that they think that she will still get something out of gym trail so that starts again in the middle of September.

I think that Evie is ready for the break now:)

I got a thank you present

When I got into Evies class yesterday there was a wrapped present and a card waiting for me :)

a scented candle and card

The first thing I had to do was filing away the work from the previous day.

Then I had to glue in their farm booklets that they had made.

And then I was labeling the words and sounds folders for the children joining year 1 in September and their reading records too :)

Their birthdays have already been put up on the board.

I then helped to take down the houses the children had to decorate as their summer homework :)

Mrs D said that she was going to miss all of my help next year (Im sure she has said that to all of the helper Mums) and that she will really miss this class as they are all lovely children, and it has been the nicest class she has had for years :)

I took the presents in with me yesterday afternoon and Miss B said thanks to Evie :)

last day helping in year one

Today will be my last day of helping in year one...

...at the end of last week the kids were asked to bring in a large carrier bag for their work - I gave Evie a recycle bag :) which is still in her bag!

I wonder if I will have to start bagging up their work or if it will be left for J's or A's Mums (as they are helping tomorrow and Friday)

The teachers and teaching assistants presents and are ready and I will take them in this afternoon :)

health check

A couple of weeks ago me & James both got letters about having our health checks, so I have organised mine for today (before the summer holidays start).

Last time I had to go to the hospital and have a blood test and take in a urine sample, but there is none of that this time.

I even went into the surgery to book it so that they could give me a blood test form and anything else.

Im hoping the person I see doesnt say "so your still alive then?" :)

swapped lunches

At Evies school on the last day of the school year the year 6 pupils get to chose the lunch for that day...

...they have chosen pepperoni pizza and for vegetarian quorn dippers, as pizza is the Mondays lunch for that week, the school chef Mrs W has swapped and is doing fish fillet on the Monday and the pizza on Friday.

We have had this by parentmail, letter and on the weekly newsletter saying that if you need to change your selection do it now as you cant change your mind on the day :)

Luckily Evie likes both pizza and fish so not a problem :)

end of year report

Yesterday when I picked Evie up she excitedly told me that there was something in her bag for me...

...it was the annual school report!

In lots of things she is behind what is expected of her age, but to get an average you have to have some good and some not so good.  There were a couple of things (I cant remember now what) that she was what was expected of her so that is good.

One thing that I dont agree wit is that she doesnt like speaking to unfamiliar adults, when she is out with me she will often initiate conversations with complete strangers!  Without any prompting from me.

It also says about her letter formation that we are working on (longer sticks on k's, h's etc).

But her writing has definitely improved since the beginning of the school year :)

And she passed her phonics screening test :) she got 35 out of 40 :) The pass mark was 32 :)

The head teachers comments were "that with hard work you can achieve anything" or something like that anyway ".:)

There is a comments section for us to write in too :)

meeting Mrs B

On Tuesday Evie said that she told Mrs D that I was in the next day to help and she told Evie that she had lots of jobs for me to do :)

It was loads of filing work away for the open evening :)

I picked Evie up from school and we waited to go in and then we went to her classroom to look at her work - I already knew what was in some of her books (from filing away her work) but Evie insisted on wanting to show me everything anyway :)

Miss B said that the work books were coming home next week anyway (apart from her current English and Maths books) so James will be able to see them also :) He hasnt come to book looks or open evenings.

We then went next door to the new class and Mrs B was speaking to D as he had been on holiday during class swap day.

I then had a chance to speak to Mrs B and Evie told her that she is going to decorate the car template she has been given as her summer holiday homework at the weekend, so I will have to make sure tonight that we do some photos that she might like to use :).

I told her that I am helping on Wednesday morning and could I help again in September and she said yes and that she was making a list :) A's Mum and F's Mumn are on there ahead of me :)

It was really good :)

open evening

Its the final chance to look at Evies school work this afternoon and a chance to meet her year 2 teacher Mrs B :)

Im quite looking forward to it :)

D and W

Yesterday after school we decorated the other 2 letters :)

Mrs W's letter

Mrs D's letter

We just need to decorate Mrs D's gift bag and write out her card then were done :)

B

Yesterday I decided to start decorating the letters that I painted last week, so I glued a wooden flower on the W to see if it stayed on ok :)

I then showed it to Evie and she told me that I had painted it the wrong colour (coming from the person who didnt want to help me paint them last week).

So to make sure they were painted right and so that the blue wouldnt show through James took Evie to hobbycraft to buy some replacement letters!

When I came back from work we painted the new letters the correct colour :)

And as I had painted the B in the right colour we were able to decorate it :)

for Miss B

Evie has decorated the bag and written out the card also :)

class swap day

Today is class swap day :)

The kids go into their new class for the day whilst the kids starting in reception have their last settling in session for an hour and a half without Mum :)

Yesterday I helped out in class and I did the daily mile with the kids (5 times around the track), helped with their maths (writing down how long it took to do certain things) and in English they had to carry on writing the enormous turnip story (with lots of adjectives).

J's Mum is helping today so I wonder if she will be helping in the new class or the old class (she will have fun whatever :o)).

I asked Evie if she would like me to carry on helping in year 2 and she said that she would :) So I will ask at the meet the teacher session in September :)

teachers presents stage 1

A few weeks ago I bought Evies teachers end of year thank you presents :)

I decided this weekend that we should start decorating them :)

Evie decided that she doesnt want to do them so it has been down to me to do them :)

painted by Mummy

LOL I would like to say that I purposely painted them badly to look like they were done by Evie but I cant :)

When they are dry the stickers are going on...

...hopefully Evie will help with decorating the gift bags and writing the cards at the very least :)

calendar

Yesterday was helping in class morning again :)

It started off with me doing filing from the day before :)

Then instead of English and singing assembly the kids went of to watch the dress rehearsal for the year 2 production :) Evie couldnt remember what it was called but it was about sunflowers :)

Then the kids went through the months of the year and after morning break they were gluing the months onto a sheet and then had to draw pictures of things that were important to them for those months :)

As I was leaving I saw some of next years reception kids having their lunch experience :)

possibly more hours

I was at work today adn one of the ladies asked me how much it would cost to use one of the smaller rooms...

..so I showed her all of the rooms and there were 2 small rooms that she thought would be suitable.

I then said that I would take down the details and get someone to discuss it with them, I then asked what day they wanted and she said Sundays for 2 hours after church!

At the moment Im working 5 hours with no break, but if I work for 6 hours or more then Im entitled to a break.

I have left a note for my boss and will have to see what happens...

..on the plus side it shows that they do like me :)

coins and the little red hen

Yesterday I was helping out in class...

...after filing away the work from the day before, the kids were doing English (they were completing their Little Red Hen stories).

Evies Little Red Hens friends were Cheeky Horse, Crazy Rabbit and Huge Cow, and she was planting carrots which she ended up eating on her own (because her friends wouldnt help her) :).

During singing assembly I listened to J read his book :)

Then after morning break it was maths and they were doing coins and how you could make amounts with certain coins.

I ended up helping S and J with their Maths :)

It was then time for me to go home :)

cloudy sports day

Today is Evies sports day :)

I have put a green t-shirt (the same one from last year as all I could get at the time was a slightly larger size) in her bookbag already.

The weather today is for thick cloud (but I will still put sun cream on her anyway) and will give her a bottle of water and she has a hat that I will put in her bag too.

James has today off so he doesnt have to rush home from work either :)

value fathers day present

Today is Fathers Day...

...we got James a card and he said that he didnt want a presernt :)

We went to the shops today and we ended up getting him some mis-shaped/broken biscuits :) and they were only 1 pound :)

mummy I did my words

When Evie came out of her classroom she told me that she had done her words :)

Evie said that she thought that she did ok and that she picked out some of the alien words.

We said to her that as long as she did her best then that is all that matters :)

So I asked her teacher when we would find out if she has passed it or not she said that we would find out in the end of year school report!

house point and wrong around way

Yesterday I was helping out in Evies class...

first I was filing the work away from the day before - it was letters and hindu gods :)

While I was doing some gluing work into their topic books the kids did English, they had to write 4 friends, 4 farm animals and 4 jobs to do on the farm :)

After playtime Miss B said that Evie did a challenging part of the jungle gym (in the school field) I think it was to walk along a balance beam and then you had to use a rope, but Im not too sure and Evie got a house point for doing it :)

It was then maths and I was outside sorting the books, the kids had to glue pictures in to their books into the right order from smallest to biggest and back again, dominoes, coins and numbers

Evie being Evie glued them in in the order she wanted to do it (she put the coins in the middle instead of at the bottom), she said that she got some right and some wrong.

phonics week

This week at school is phonics testing...

...I will have to ask Evie every afternoon to see if she has done it.

I thought that it was a week of spelling tests but from what I have just read it isnt.

I might even see one kid doing theirs on Wednesday when Im helping in class :)

interesting 100

Yessterday I was helping out in class, and after I did the filing from the day before, the children had been given notebooks, and they had to write interesting facts about their school.

They started in the classroom, then moved into the playground, then the dinner hall, then the computer suite, and then the cookery room.

I didnt even realise they had a cookery room or that the kids had even been in there!

I have just asked Evie why they were writing the facts yesterday and she says that she doesnt know :)

Then after the morning break it was maths and numbers to 100...

I was out sorting the books and when I came back in (after the kids started lining up for their lunch) I saw that the kids had a puzzle (of numbers upto 100) to stick together in their maths books.

Evie was the only one still doing it and Miss B was helping her :)

back to school tomorrow

Today is a non pupil day at Evies school...

...we have Evies PE (for tomorrow)  and swimming stuff (for Friday) ready :)

We have a few things to do in town today and I am going to text James as Evie said that he told her that she could have a happy meal today!

2 lunch weekend

A few months ago me & my friends arranged a lunch (and a gossip) and it turned out to be yesterday...

...last week me and some other friends decided to meet for lunch (although one of them didnt eat) and that was today after I had finished work.

We decided to go to a new restaurant that opened in town...

...after deciding that I couldnt eat another lunch and dessert and the desserts looking really yummy...

...I went straight for a dessert :)

campfire s'mores

It was really nice :)

sandals not shoes

On Wednesday we got Evies feet measured...

...while we were in the shop waiting for our turn we saw F in Evies class :)

It turned out that F was one place ahead of us...

F's favourite colour was blue and she wrote 6 back to front :)

...her feet had grown and her Mum was explaining to her that as she needed new shoes now she may not necessarily need new shoes for the beginning of the new school year, her brother W starts reception year in September,  Her brother will be getting new shoes for September.

Thats a bit of a tricky one really...

...at least with just having Evie I dont have that to negotiate :)

It was then Evies turn

Evies favourite colour is pink and she wrote her 6 the right way around :)

She then had her feet measured and they hadnt grown.

That afternoon we were going to the supermarket so as we now knew what size we were looking for (size 10) we looked at sandals...

...the only ones that I could find in Evies size werent pink and therefore not acceptable!

So yesterday we looked in Primark and we did find some pink sandals that madam approved of so we bought them :)

homework sent

Every morning after breakfast Evie has done a bit of her homework...

...she has typed it all out and I just inserted the photos :)

And this morning Evie e-mailed it to her teacher :)

I learnt some interesting facts from Evies homework...

...The Chinese Water Deer is the only male deer that doesnt grow antlers, hedgehogs have more than 5000 spines, and most crucially lions do not live in the jungle! :)

no rushing

Yay its half term this week so no having to rush to school for the week :).

We have a lunch tomorrow with James Mum & Dad and we are going to get Evies feet measured one day too.

I have already bought Evies teachers presents for the end of the school year, and I will get Evie to decorate them and some gift bags too :)

We just need to buy the cards now.

And we still have to finish Evies homework :) We have done the deer already :)

carny omny herby

On Friday when I collected Evie from school I looked in her book bag and saw that there was half term homework...

...she has to pick a herbivore, carnivore and an omnivore and write about what they eat, how they find their food and any other interesting facts that we may find :)

Evie has chosen a deer, a lion and a hedgehog :)

We can e-mail her homework to her teacher too :)

dem trees

Last night I got a text from Sky saying what time the engineer would turn up...

...my time slot was between 1,30pm and 3.30pm...

I told them that it needed to be done by 2pm when I spoke to them on messenger (so so much for the note on my account!).

I left a voicemail for the engineer explaining that I needed it done by 2.30pm at the latest, and this morning got a text message from him telling me that he couldnt change our timeslot and I was told that I would get a timeslot the night before, ans that was that.

So I tested him back and said that I explained the situation at the time of booking the appointment and they said that they would put a note on my account.

The first engineer finally tuned up at 2.15pm just as I was on the phone to the one whose number I have.  I told him that I could stay at the very latest until 2.50, but I would definitely have to leave then.

So the engineer looked at the dish and said that he thought the problem was the trees outside on the slip road that runs alongside our road.

the trees blocking the satellite signal

So they have moved the dish now and it is on a s shpaed pole at the back of our house.

Why the engineer didnt think of the trees being an issue back in February I dont know.

Once Evie had finished reading her books I got her to test the sky Q box and it works ok :)

carrot cake

After we (or rather Evie) had finished the chocolate cake that we got for my birthday, we decided to try the carrot cake..

...Evie took one bite and said yuck so I finished her slice and James is going to finish the cake off (I do like carrot cake too so may end up having some as well) :)

glitchy hd

For the past couple of days our sky Q HD has been very glitchy..

...so I contacted them on messenger and we have an engineer coming to look at it next week.

They have put a note on my account detaila about needing to do the school run, so hopefully he/she will arrive while Evie is at school.

Evie enjoyed her school trip yesterday, and she has decided that next time she would like me to do the packed lunch for her! :)

All she told me was was that they did some experiments (one was making a lava lamp) and they had their lunch outside.

She went to sleep quite quickly last night too :)

wedding quarters trip

Yesterday was helping out in class again ;)

After filing away what the kids had done the day before (letter formations and labeling a stable scene) it was English

The kids are currently writing about a scarecrow wedding (Harry O'Hay is marrying Betty O'Barley), and they were saying about what wedding present that their scarecrow was going to make (as scarecrows dont have money), Evies scarecrow Sally O'Straw was making a necklace out of shells and seaweed :)

All of the other kids were writing about them making statues :)

It was then maths and it was quarters this time...

They had to count the number of objects and then say what a quarter of them were.

...Evie found it a bit of a struggle and inbetween helping J (who always asks me to help her) I was helping Evie.

Im pleased to say that the questions I helped Evie with she got right :)

It was then time for me to go home and Evie was back to being upset again (she had been upset earlier too but that was down to saying that she was going to miss me when I went home), L and T both told me that they would look after her :).

And Evie has her school trip today :) and she is sticking with the packed lunch that the school is providing too :)

Hopefully she will eat enough of her lunch to keep her going :)

six year olds eyesight

Yesterday Evie had an eye appointment at the hospital...

...the lady said that with her glasses on Evie now has the eyesight of a 6 year old who doesnt wear glasses so tat is good.

She also said that she will now change to 6 monthly appointments to get new glasses (her next one will still be in August as she got her current glasses in February).

And when she is a bit older (not sure when) she will be transferred to the high street opticians (so that will mean no more hospital appointments) :)

birthday workday

Today is my birthday :)

I had to work today (I didnt mind in all honesty) I would ranter save my holiday for something that I need or want to do :)

Yesterday while food shopping we got my birthday cake...

Evie chose it for me

I got some google play vouchers as well

half scarecrow

Yesterday I was helping out in Evies class...

...after doing the filing I had to see if any of the kids needed help with writing about a scarecrow...

Evie called her one Sally O'Straw I am not sure if she got as far as saying how she knew her or what her special talent was or what she liked to say or do or if she was a hero or a villain :)

Then after the morning break it was maths and it was about halves.

First of all on the interactive white board they had blocks of 8 squares and some of the kids (not Evie) had to get up and colour in half of the squares in different ways.

Then afterwards all of the kids had to colour in half of blocks of 6 oblongs, the first one Evie did was 4!  \I didnt get to see how she got on as I was asked to sort out the books in the corridor.

When I asked her about it on the way home she said that she did the rest of it ok.

And this morning she told me that half of 6 was 3.

no school trip for me

Yesterday when I picked Evie up from school I looked in her bookbag (as I usually do) and found a slip of paper inside...

...it said that lots of parents volunteered to go on the school trip so they pulled names out of a hat and I wasnt successful.

I told Evie and she said that she was happy that I wasnt going :)

It means now then that Evie will have to stick with the packed lunch that school will provide her with (as she already said that she wanted it with a cheese sandwich).

I will ask her again the night before as I dont want her telling me just as were going that she doesnt want the school packed lunch that day.

but you did one last week

Today when I got home from work Evie wanted to play in the garden, so I told her that I needed to fill in my time sheet...

...she said to me "but you filled it in last week!" So I told her that I have to do it every week, a bit like her spelling tests :)

So we played out in the garden blowing bubbles :)

I was blowing the bubbles and Evie was popping them :)

farm book and 18

Yesterday when I helped out in Evies class the first thing I had to do was the filing from work done the previous day...

...I saw in Evies book that she did a word search :) So I asked her later if she liked doing and she said yes, so today I will be going into town anyway to see if I can get Evie a new umbrella (her old ones has a hole in it) :) While I am there I will pop to the market to see if I can get her something cheap :)

Her English work yesterday was to make a book with a contents page and 3 pages, an animal (a chicken in Evies case) and two crops (Evie chose maize and sunflowers).  I asked her after what she could remember that you got from those two crops and she said crisps from maize, I told her that I thought crisps came from potatoes and did she mean corn and she said yes :)

Then after morning playtime it was then maths and each table had to make a poster showing different ways of making up the number 18.

L on Evies table told me that they didnt need my help :)

No like panini

This morning (as with every morning) I tell evie (or she reads from the menu) what her lunch is that day.

Today it was pork meatballs in a rich tomato sauce served in a panini.  Evie immediately said that the didn't want the panini so i told her it was bread and she told me that she still didn't want it.

So i said that she could then just take the meatballs out of the bread and eat them on their own.  She was happy about that.

When I picked her up this afternoon I asked her how her lunch was and she said that the dinner lady took the meatballs out of the panini for her, but next time she would like vegetarian, so i explained that the vegetarian was just different meatballs (quorn balls) and that if she didn't like those then I could always do her a packed lunch those days.

So when we got home I put all of the meatballs dates into my phone so that she could then decide nearer the time.

I then saw there was an email from school saying that there was a change to tuesdays week 3, lunch is now going to be meatballs with spaghetti and garlic bread.

It seems that the panini didn't go down well.

application error

I have just tried to complete my timesheet for today (I do it as soon as I get home from work so that I dont forget to do it).

I put in the date as the week ending 5th May and I get an application error.

I am wondering if it is anything to do with the fact that my contract was due to end last week and no-one bothered telling them that it had been extended.

LOL I wasnt told that it hadnt renewed :)

dont sink

Today is the start of Evies swimming lessons...

...I am giving her the same piece of advice as last year :) ie dont sink :)

Her stuff is all by the front door and hopefully she will remember to take all of her stuff back to the classroom with her after Gym Trail :).

I had my haircut last week ad when I booked my next appointment the half term dates completely skipped my mind so I am going to change my appointment today :)

number problems and batteries

Just before the Christmas holidays Evie got given a box to put used batteries in...

...I found out after we had bought the batteries in after the Christmas holidays that batteries could be collected until Easter.

Yesterday after break time I was asked to count some of the batteries, there was a huge container of them.  I stopped counting after 500!

As well as filing away what the kids had done the day before, I had to help the kids make notes from facts on animals.

They had to work in pairs and either chose chickens, pigs sheep or cows.

Evie and L chose chickens :)

I was asked to help A & T.  A insisted on writing the sentences in full but T was making notes :)

Then after I had gotten fed up with counting batteries I then helped the kids with Number Problems, I was asked to help Evies table :)

They had 5 problems to chose between, the first one that Evie chose was "There are 7 pigs and each pig has 5 turnips,  How many turnips are there?" she had to write 5+5+5+5+5+ 5+5=35 and she got it right and then draw it as dots too.

She then had time to do a second one which was there are "5 kittens and each kitten has 2 ears,  How many ears are there?".

She got them both right :)

I then quickly helped A as he was still doing it as the lunchtime bell went.

Then it was time for me to go and I gave Evie a kiss goodbye and there were no tears :)

So that was really good :)

swimming costume socks leggings

Yesterday I had 3 things to buy in town...

a swimming costume (for her swimming lessons that start on Friday)

black socks for tap dancing

and black leggings for tap dancing

and surprisingly enough I managed to get all 3 in Primark :)

on with the summer duvets

As we have had lovely weather the last few days I have taken off the winter duvets and have put on the lighter summer ones...

...I have probably jinxed the weather now to go back to freezing :)

Evie is now wearing pajamas with t-shirt tops but not shorts...

...she refuses to wear them so I wont waste my money on buying any this year :)

signs of spring

Yesterday I was helping in Evies class again :)

As it was one of the houses fundraisers that day (they came in fancy dress and had a movie to watch in the afternoon), me and the substitute teacher went out with the kids that were having the fundraiser to find signs of spring for an art project that the rest of the class would be doing that afternoon.

J and L both wanted to bold my hands which was nice :)

J picked daisys that were photographed with her name next to them, and I helped L to pick some fresh sprouts growing on a tree :)

I also helped the teaching assistants to get the photos off of the camera and started filled in the list of parent helpers for swimming lessons (I havent volunteered for it :)).

And I helped S with her Maths it was working with groups of 2s 5s and 10s :)

I asked Evie later that afternoon when I picked her up what she picked as her sign of spring and she said daffodils :)

annoying the teacher

Yesterday when I picked Evie up from school I told her teacher that we had the appointment and she is being referred to see a pediatrician.

I told her that we went to the appointment with loads of evidence to disprove what she wrote, and I said you probably expected us to do that anyway, and she said that she didnt, and made out that by doing that we were standing in the way of her getting the help that she may need!

I said that if she needs help then I want her to have it, and told her how well Evie did on the last Wednesday I was in, and she then said that today (yesterday) she was having trouble counting in tens.  We went through them when we got home and she counted them fine.

I then said that I understood why she put what she put in the letter as something may be a "crucial key bit of information" but some of the stuff we didnt agree with and wanted to show the doctor what she can do.

We then said that she probably wont get her appointment until the summer break anyway but will have to see what they say.

real tears

Today it is back to school for Evie...

...we were lying in bed waiting to get up and I saw that Evie was crying real tears, so I asked her why she was crying and she said that it was because she will miss me.

I told her that I will miss her too, but I will be there (with a chocolate pancake) to pick her up after school.

We looked at what todays lunch is too and its pepperoni pizza with ice cream for dessert.

All her bags are ready to take with us today and I have to hand her swimming form in and money too.

its not dark yet

On Friday night I told Evie that it was bedtime...

...and she looked out of the window and said " but its not dark yet" :)

She normally goes to bed at 8pm.

Im pleased that she is associating going to bed with how dark it is, and I pointed out to her that in June it doesnt get dark until almost 10pm and there is now way she is staying up that late!

She is coming out with answers to everything now which is quite funny :)

found them

On Tuesday I got an e-mail from Evies dance place with the newsletter for the next term, I couldnt see any other e-mails in reply to the one I sent last week, but nothing.

So I replied to their e-mail asking if htey had been left etc, ad I got a reply saying they hadnt seen any but would have a look that day...

...I got an e-mail last night saying that they had found them so thats good :)

size tens

On Friday I took Evie into town and we went to get her some new tap dancing shoes (after the others got left at the dance centre), incidentally we still avent heard anything from them as to whether they were left there or not!

I got Evie size ten shoes and when they were fitted on her they werent too big so it sounds like she would have needed new ones now anyway :)

We still have another week off of school...

On Saturday I heard that some special pokemon were in London and as Chelmsford isnt that far from London I decided (while James looked after Evie) to get the train.

I was sitting on the train and a whole group of glamorously dressed ladies got on and as one was sat next to me I asked her where they were going? She said they were doing a bottomless brunch, she said that I could join them if I liked :) I respectfully declined :)

I did really well and manged to get 27 of them :)

braver than Mummy

Yesterday me & Evie had our 6 monthly dental check...

...Evie was seen first and when the dentist checked her teeth she read out the adult teeth as numbers and the baby teeth as letters :)

Evie had a couple more holes in her baby teeth so had some plaster put on them.  I will have to try and do a better job of brushing her teeth.

Evie didnt like the air blower very much that they put in her mouth but other than that she was brave :)

I just needed a clean and polish and when the dental assistant put on a shield over her face Evie asked her why she was doing it and they told Evie that she could come and watch what they were doing if she liked!

She decided to stay where she was :)

But she has told me that she will watch next time!

The dentist even told her that she was braver than Mummy and Daddy :)

still no answer

On Wednesday I planned on checking to see if Evies tap dancing shoes still fitted her...

...when I couldnt find her tap shoes I e-mailed the dance place, and James also texted the mobile number for the place and has since left a voicemail too.

When I looked at their website I saw that they had a Easter workshop on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so I would have expected the mobile number to be monitored (for absentees etc) and for someone to be there so that they could then check the waiting area and changing area in case they had been left and could have messaged us to say if they were there or not.

We havent heard a thing, so I will take Evie to the shop and will get her size 10 shoes anyway as when I got her feet measured in February they were between 9,5 and 10 and her tap shoes were still 9.5.

The communications for the dance place have never been really good so its no real surprise not to have heard anything...

tap dancing shoes

The other week was Evies last tap dancing lesson before the Easter holidays...

...todays plan was (or rather still is) to go into town and get Evies next passport photos done and to see if her tap dancing shoes need changing.

I looked in the bag and they werent in there so I texted James in case he remembered putting them anywhere else, and he cant so Im guessing that he must have left them in there after her lesson.

I have just e-mailed the dance company to see if they have been left there, ad if they have then I will get them checked after her next lesson at the weekend.

the doctors appointment

This morning we had Evies doctors appointment...

I gave her the letter from Evies teacher together with mine & James thoughts too...

...she is going to refer Evie to a Pediatrician and then they can decide if she is where she should be developmentalwise.

So we will have to wait for that appointment now...

capacity and the letter

Yesterday while I was helping out in class the maths they were doing was on capacity of different objects...

a tub, milk bottle, jug box, and bottle

And after Mrs W (Miss B wasnt in yesterday morning) saw how much water each thing held (filling it with a small cup) the children then had to write down in order from greatest to smallest and then do comparisons between 2 objects as a sentence.

Such as "the capacity of the tub is less than the milk bottle".

I was helping J with it (she asked me to help her) and as Evie was sitting at the next table I was checking on her also.

Evie did it all properly and even wrote the sentence in her own words :) The teacher wrote down on the white board how the sentence should be written and then they had to do 1 on their own too.

It was then time to go home and Miss B got us helper Mums an Easter egg each (so that was nice) I told Evie on our way home after school and I told her that she could help me eat it :)

At pick up time Miss B gave me the letter for the doctor in an unsealed envelope so that we could read it.

I read it when Evie was having her dinner..

..there were a few thing in there that I thought were unfair...

...she said that Evie cant ride a bike, she doesnt have a bike and has never tried to ride one.

She also said about Evie sometimes having accidents at school where she is desperate for the toilet and that hasnt happened for about 5 months now.

She also said that Evie writes letters and number backwards (I have only ever seen her get b and d around the wromg way adn that hasnt been for quite a while also.

She also said that Evie cant catch a ball - which she can

She also said that her drawings are immature!

So I am now gathering evidence before our appointment to show the doctor and will video her throwing a ball in the air and catching it.