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 :)

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 :)

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.

pjs leotard pjs

When Evie and James dropped me off at work this morning Evie was wearing her pjs...

...when they picked me up (after I had a bacon roll for my lunch) Evie was still wearing her pjs.

So I asked her if she went tap dancing in her pjs and she told me that she didnt, so I asked her I would know if she had been wearing her leotard and she told me that her paw patrol dress would be in the washing machine.

I have just checked and it is in the washing machine :)

new shoes and hair cut and valentines day

On Monday we did go to get Evies feet measured...

...she was between an 9.5 and a 10 so she got some new shoes, I will take her to see if she needs some new tap dancing shoes tomorrow as we will be in town meeting James Mum and Dad anyway (unless my cold puts them off :)).

Yesterday Evie got her haircut, she had someone different as my hairdresser decided to take a couple of days off as she has a child too.

Happy Valentines Day too :)

losing my voice

Just in time for the half term holiday...

...I have woken up with a cold, and Im losing my voice!

I will have to see how long my voice lasts and hopefully I wont have to do any shouting :)

Evie has decided that she wants to go into town so we will get her feet measured today and then if she needs new tap shoes we can do them tomorrow perhaps after getting her haircut:)

orange juice

Todays treat at work was the kids filling one of the water drip trays with orange juice...

...Im hoping it means they like me :)

Also I cant do my timesheet today as I have to wait for my new login for their new system...

James took Evie to Southend today as she didnt have tap dancing and they were taking photos for Evies homework...

...she has to research a seaside town :)

Christmas is well and truly over

Christmas is now well and truly over...

..the christmas tree has been taken down

Evie is back to school (albeit a nice short first week back to ease them back in) :)

Tap dancing started again today

and James goes back to work tomorrow

today today today tomorrow and Thursday

today we woke up to it snowing

today was supposed to be Evies last tap dancing class before the Christmas holiday and James was going to video it for me, but because of the weather classes were cancelled and they will be held next week instead, but we cant go because Evie has M's birthday party to go to.

today I slipped over (on an icy foot bridge) and because I am now middle aged (working on the assumption that I reach 90 odd) I am wondering what damage I may have done to myself :)

tomorrow I will take Evie to school in her wellies and will take her shoes with us and she can change them when she gets into class.

Thursday was really good...

First we had to break down boxes and re-glue them inside out (and hot glue really does get hot!).

We then had to help the kids make their boxes into fairy tale houses, I helped A, S, J & E.  Evie was helped by a Daddy :) but we cant remember whose Daddy :)

After morning play time it was then time to paint the houses.

And after lunch they then had to put on the finishing touches (making sure they stuck to the plans that they had already done, although I am sure that there was some artistic licence going on :)

I had so much fun that I have agreed to go in on Wednesday mornings starting after Christmas :)

bacon, sausage & butterfly treats

As last week the teachers had exam things to do, today was the first day of James having to take Evie to tap dancing on his own...

...mind you I did sort out all of the bits that she would need before I left :)

Work went well again today and I remembered most of what I had to do so that was good :) Next week I will be doing it on my own.

I met up with James and Evie once I had finished work and I had a bacon roll for my lunch :)

After we had finished Evie wanted to look in Paperchase at the Christmas Tree decorations, but I told her that they also sold them in John Lewis so we looked in there.

I got a cute sausage dog decoration and Evie got a butterfly one, James didnt want one.

As I am able to have the Sunday after Evies birthday off I spent today writing out the invitations for her birthday party :)

first day

Today was my first day back at work after an almost six year break :)

I was shown all of the bits that I have to switch on and switch off again at the end of the day.

The group that I am looking after are friendly so thats good.

Next week my boss will be in again and will let me do everything so hopefully I will remember most of it :)

Tap dancing wasnt on today so James took Evie out on a daddy/Evie day to Southend :)

When they came to meet me Evie told me that she didnt miss me at all :)

Its back to school for Evie tomorrow too.

no sticker and no toy

Yesterday Evie ad her latest eye appointment.

Normally she gets seen by one of the nice ladies, but yesterday it was with a man, and he wasnt as child friendly as the others are.

He only got her to look at a couple of the letters with each eye (they normally do loads of letters gradually going down in size) and he didnt give her a sticker after either.

We have to go back for her next appointment in four months time.

We also got the next newsletter from tap dancing - they have said that they dont want the pre school children (or the older ones) taking in toys cuddly/flashing/singing, we always told Evie any toy she took in had to be something that wasnt noisy,

Im guessing that someone took in something that was literally all singing and dancing.

I have told Evie that she cant take in anymore cuddly toys, so she said what about a hard toy and I told her that she cant take one of those with her either.

yipee

Yesterday I as in town and I got a phone call...

caller: hello is that Clare?

me: no, its Amber (thinking that they may want to speak to me anyway)

caller: oh ok sorry about that..

five minutes later...

caller: hello is that Amber?

me: yes

caller: oh sorry about earlier your number came up on our system first, congratulations we want you to come in for an interview :)

The only time they could make it was just before I am supposed to be having my HR phone call so I have pushed that forward an hour, and that means then that I can head to my interview after I have finished the phone call :)

Then last night while Evie was reading her book, I got another pone call :)

Offering me a job that I went to interview #15 for :)

I told the guy that I have an interview today anyway (as it is the same company that I have the interview today for)..

James had the cheek to say that it means that he cant do anything on a Sunday now so I pointed out that this job means no childcare costs :)

I have to go in on Thursday and fill in the registration bits, I have already put together the bits that I need to bring with me, I will then find out my starting date :)

There are lots of pros to the job like no childcare costs, and I can still go to things like book look and sports day, christmas show and school trips (if they chose me to be a helper) without having to use up holiday :)

The only con is that I cant watch her tap dancing lesson during watching week (and there are only 2 of those a year) and James will video it anyway :)

a later class

Back in July we had to book Evies tap dancing classes for the new school year...

...I spoke to her teacher to ask which class I should book her into and she said that because she is now in school it will be the next class Primary Tap.

Her class now starts at 11 am so means that we dont have to rush now but we dont get into town until much later.

two macs

Me & Evie went into town yesterday with the intention of buying a rain mac and a t-shirt (for school).

One of the shops that I was still to try was Matalan...

...so we headed there

We found the girls clothes...

...Evie found a raincoat that she liked, but they didnt have her size.  I then found this (for school) and this (for home) and she has promised me that she will wear both of them :).

On the t-shirt front James has ordered three online the only age he could get is 7-8 so he has ordered three (one for this year, one for next year and a spare one :)).

I just have to get her feet measured now and I will do that at the beginning of September and then we will have to buy school shoes and tap shoes.

Her plimsolls, trainers and wellies are already the next size up so I at least dont have to worry about buying those :)

relieved

With the invoice for the next terms tap dancing lessons came details of this years end of year show.

Last year there were two shows on consecutive Mondays one for the toddlers and one for the school age children.

This years there are four shows (two on Monday and two on Tuesday) but the children have to do their show on both days! Theres an afternoon show for the smaller children and an evening show for the bigger children/adults.

And on both days they have to stay all day too!

So yesterday I asked Evie in an upbeat voice (as I didnt want to put her off if she did want to do it again) and she said that she didnt want to do it.

I just showed her the photo of her dressed like a bumble bee last year and she said that she still doesnt want to do it.

My friend whose daughter is the same age as Evie is hoping that her daughter wont want to do it either.

Im glad that she did one year anyway and she hopefully will want to do it again when she is a bit older if she is still enjoying doing her dancing.

first couple of days back

Lets just say Evie has been really tired since going back to school after the Christmas holidays and has been backchatting me and not doing as she is told.

I have even banned her from using the play area for a week.

On Thursday she was playing up so much that I told her no TV and no dessert.

On Friday she was better so that was good.

Yesterday it was back to swimming lesson and today tap dancing started again :)

So its back to rush rush rush :)

no new negatives

On Thursday I had our first school parents evening...

...a friend had already told me to look out for the pictures that the kids had done of themselves on the wall outside

So I got into the classroom and found Evies books

there was her learning journal which had pictures of her and what she had been getting upto :)

maths - which was all things numbers

literacy - which was all things words :)

then came to the chat with the teacher...

...he told me that she was very quiet at first and not joining in but just hovering and that she doesnt hover so much anymore but she still isnt really playing with the other children yet.

I told him that she has told me that she has made some friends and he said that it was good that she was talking about other children.

He also mentioned that she was slow eating her lunch and that she doesnt have time for a play after (she has told me that she does have a little play after her lunch) he said that it was important that she eats her lunch and that as she spends so long in there its hard to know how much she has eaten - I said that she doesnt come home starving so she must be eating enough at lunchtime.

He then said that she is slow getting dressed /before/after PE, I told him that she does take a long time - he then said which did annoy me that he thought she had trouble putting her PE kit on (its a t-shirt and shorts) so I said she can get dressed she just takes "a hell of a long time" he thinks that I should get her to practice!

He also said that he thinks she had difficulty moving - I told him she can move but she just does it in her own time.

He said that they will work on getting Evie to play withe the other kids more, and I said that she has always don activities with other children such as Tumble Tots and tap dancing and swimming lessons.

But he was impressed that she knew all of her shapes so that was good :)

And that she is now going to the snack table to get herself a snack too :)

Her next parents evening is in March - so hopefully she has improved a bit :)