ELEVENSES - the next chapter

[MaryAnnSingleton]

here we go !

chosed = chosen! Ignore other spelling mistakes, fingers faster than brain!

am glad things ok with O - it's sad that these things happen,but he does sound as though he's a remarkably sensible and mature boy - bless him. Don't fret about speaking at the meeting- you'll be fine I'm sure and good luck in the interview - ditto

I wrote a long and considered reply to your messages on Friday and it's vanished

Hope you're both well and have had good weekends. I'm sitting on here while the plumber is here - nothing exciting, he's replacing a worn out motor!

I've been a really grumpy cross mummy this weekend - don't know why but B has just been winding me up, and I've been nagging It would help if she'd go to sleep at night and get up in the morning after 6:15! She's worn out, but seems to be burning the candle at both ends. Have banned TV until she does so much running around she sleeps and sleeps

Hope you're not as worried about the school meetings Hippi. You'll be absolutely fine, they're not testing you personally, it's the school they're interested in.

hope meetings have gone well hippi and that plumber has sorted you out hotcross. How is B this week ?

Hi MAS! Plumber did a great job - never cheap, but it all works fine. B is much calmer this week, had a friend home to play yesterday which went well, and still watching minimal TV. Feel a fool for being so lazy about it TBH.

glad B is calmer,am sure you are doing all the right things-don't be hard on yourself hotcross.
Thought of you today as I bought an M&S hotcross bun loaf !!

Hi you tow

Glad B seems happier hotcross - E too is suffering from end-of-half-term-itis and she (and her pals from teh sounds of it) are tired and grumpy. E is also a sleep-refusenik, quite often still bouncing around until 9.30pm. She does not watch a lot of tv (nor play computer games etc) but just seems to be unable to 'switch off'. Even her teacher commented on E's tiredness in her reading diary

I too am glad it is nearly the half term break, am thoroughly fed up with work at the minute. Boy is sullen and unresponsive, and a bit rude too. Jolly ungrateful really considering the amount of staff he has running around after him!! Never mind, last day of term tomorrow (inset on Fri) so will go very easy on him and let him coast. It must be exhausting having to work with a one to one all the time, no chance to kick back a bit if a TA is always on your case I suppose... Mind you, he was misbehaving so much yesterday I ended up raising my voice and accidentally quieted an entire class of noisy children The trainee teacher taking the class was impressed

O is having a bit of a tough time too - still being bullied by quite a few children and often at a bit of a loss at playtimes He is happy enough at home though. Have spoken to various TA's (who all have secondary school age children) and they all agree Y6 is awful for the large part. Teachers and children are stressed (SATs pressure no matter how much they deny it) and hormones kick in so many friendships end up fracturing. Add into that the fact that they know they are going to separate secondaries and suddenly they seem to start to 'distance' themselves. I always thought the end of Y6 would be a sad thing for the kids but apparently for the large part they are more than ready to move on.
I personally am quite happy for O to move on now - I think he is pretty fed up with his school now. Only 2 and a half terms to go, not long now

perhaps the boy is feeling end of termish too and playing up because he's tired ?
Poor O - it is horrid- but not long to go now and next September it'll be a fresh new start...chin up hippi
at your raised voice shutting up the class !

Hi Mas I was sooo at shocking the whole class into silence.... eek...

Went very easy on boy yesterday and the day before (inset day today so half term has started) and he seemed a lot happier. Did a lot of drawing, game playing and in maths we (and the rest of the class) decorated pizzas whilst learning about fracions. Most of the class were doing 5/6th etc but boy and I (and another 3 lovely dc on the lowest ability table) did halves and quarters. Worked brilliantly!
School disco yesterday - O wanted to go and seemed to come out happy. In fact when dh went to collect him he was surprised to find O chatting to the girl who started the facebook group and her best friend little miss delightful with whom he has had problems since Y3. Am sure it is a fleeting seize-fire but nice nonetheless

E still had to go to school today (poor bean) but O has his lovely friend J to play. J was dropped off here at 8.30 and his mum collected E to take her to school. (J's little sister L is in E's class) So J will be here for 6 hourse [gasp] I always fret when it is so long becasue the potential for them to fall out and get fed up with each other is so great but so far so good. (touches wood and crosses everything crossable) J is a genuinly lovely lovely boy who shares O's dislike of anything sporty (apart from swimming and trampolining)but loves lego, starwars, science, gadgets and cars / top gear so they get on well In fact they are currently upstairs trying to build a big Lego Starwars Clone Fighter model - apparently is is "very hard". They have raided teh kitchen and relieved me of every bowl, tray, pot and tupperware box so they can "sort all the pieces by type" so they should be a while

What are you both doing in the half term??

oh that all sounds good- about boy and O...you are brave having company for 6 hours !! but they do sound very absorbed in their work,bless.
We're just here but will visit Dh's mum - not sure about outings or anything yet.
Have a lovely break xxx

hope you're all having a good half term. We were meant to go to Notts. today to see MIL but dh worried about severe weather in E Midlands and says we shouldn't go - T is very disappointed,as are ILs.

Oh what a shame... Better to be safe than sorry though!
Our half term is very uneventful. So far we have done the dentist, I have given blood, I have seen the nurse for my weightloss progress, I have had my haircut, the dc have had pancakes, they have played in the garden (for one afternoon, too wet the rest of the time) and they have both spent the best part of Tuesday at a friend's house.
Oh, and E had gymnastics yesterday.

Today we are having another at-home day as I really want to finish painting the hall and landing walls. Only one more coat to go - phew! (and then all the woodwork to do and with two wooden staircases and 6 doors and doorframes as well as the skirting on 3 floors it could be a while [sob]

Well it's been snowing heavily in Leicestershire,so don't feel as though were fussing over nothing !
It sounds as though your half term has been good..took T to the Milestones museum in Basingstoke yesterday and today the three of us went to The Vyne which is an NT house and garden beyond Basingstoke..very nice indeed,not too much in the gardens to see,except for snowdrops and the house is closed until March.

Wise decision re cancelling the trip

We love love love the Milestones museum. Did you have a nice time?

We have been very productive - I have painted all the walls by the hall, stairs, landing and loft stairs and dh is in the middle of sanding down the woodwork ready for a fresh coat of white paint. We are going over to Wisley for a bit later this afternoon to look at the butterflies.

I can't believe half-term is over already. Feel quite sad at the thought of going back to work...

Milestones is good - T most preferred the 30s and 40s bits,especially the room settings -and of course the sweetie shop (we got acid drops and pontefract cakes)
Yesterday we went to The Vyne nr Basingstoke - the house was closed until March but we had a nice walk around the garden and a bit of the woodland walk and lunch in the cafe.T prefers these trips as he loves taking photos of the birds and plants and generally running about -he's been there twice already with mum and dad-this was our first visit. Shopping after in Festival Place (I bought some trousers and a shirt in the Gap - naughty of me as I cannot afford it !) and bought T some new trousers in Zara -the boys clothes are nice.He fits lengthwise into 10-11 (he is now average heigh on the centile thing for his age!) but they hang on his waist,but there are elastic adjuster things...all his other trousers,well nearly all are very short on him. He was weighed at hospital the other week and is on the 25th centile, so not filling out as much as he's growing upwards. Enjoy the weekend and hope work is good next week

Hi. Can't believe we're back to school already We've had a really busy half term, so a quiet house today is quite pleasant TBH. Could do without the rain though!

We had a good time at Milestones too (Mother's Day last year), although I think we preferred Beamish and places like it as they're outside and a bit more authentic IYSWIM? The sweet shop is lovely. I wish they had more actors to talk to though, as I think that makes it come alive for B.

The Vyne is on our to-do list MAS. It's midway between us and our friends in Reading, so I think we'll try to meet them there when the house opens. Is it worth going just to see the snowdrops do you think??

I'm in about all your DIY Hippi. Did you get a special ladder for the stairwell? I'm keen to wallpaper ours, but apprehensive about the height implications really. We've finally booked the power flushing company for next week though as our heating system is blocked again

How was O going into school after the holidays? Hope it's all forgotten and he can enjoy the last terms at school.

We had an exciting day last week. We were invited to the Electric Theatre for the unveiling of the sculpture that B contributed to. I'll email some piccies for you. They made such a huge fuss of the children, and couldn't have been kinder. Mum and dad were very proud GP's!

Sorry, that sounded really rude about Milestones Was typing my thoughts, without editing. We had a fab time there, and will def go back, just would tweak the experience a bit

at your Milestones frets hotcross ! I liked it probably more than T did -he prefers the outdoors outings.(sweetshop excepted)
I'd wait until Spring is sprung before doing The Vyne -the walled garden which T says was lovely last summer is being refurbished so there's nothing in it at the moment -so until the spring flowers come up and the house opens it's probably not as exciting for visitors.
I can recommend Hinton Ampner which is fairly near us - brilliant gardens-really excellent place.
How proud you must've been at B's sculpture unveiling - looking forward to the pictures !

at the Milestones fret - what are we like

Just seeking refuge on here whilst O and E have friends to play (big and little S who are both soooo gorgeous)
They are staying here until 6.45 and then I will drop them home on the way to badminton

Work is bleurgh at the moment. The head has made one of the TA's (the last one to join, she only did general TA-ing no SEN stuff and to be honest she was pretty rubbish) redundant. She still has her lunchtime supervisor hours but no more TA hours. The reason for this is lack of budget. So I odn't think I will get any extra hours but tbh I am pretty happy with my 17. Boy was back after missing yesterday. He was hard work. I try so hard with him but at times he really really tests my patience. Urgh.
Never mind, only 5 weeks and 1 day until the Easter Holiday

Right, better go, need to get a cottage pie prepared so it is ready to just go in the oven when we get home late from gymnastics yesterday. And then I need to do tea for this lot here....

Back later

when we come home from gymnastics yesterday? How would that work then?? I mean tomorrow
(or have I just invented time travel???)

Hi Hippi! Sorry work with the boy isn't grand, it's quite intense having to mainly focus on just one child. I'm sure you're doing fantastic things with him, it's not your fault if he doesn't want to fully commit to it. Glad you've kept your job though - budget cuts are scary!

B's got J here for an impromptu play, but she's being picked up before tea, which is great as I get quite stressed about what to feed guests At the moment they're dressing up, which fills me with dread as B's bedroom will be upside down with feathers from the feather boa everywhere. Must not get cross!

time travelling hippi !
cottage pie sounds yum though..my mum is making a shepherds pie and rice pudding on Sat. for dh's birthday - 2 of my favourites (dh's too,of course!)
Sorry that boy is stressful but as hotcross says,you're doing a great job and it must be tricky having to work one to one all the time.

Another wet day here Doggle keeps going to the door, looking out, then retreating to his bed I know the feeling!

Shepherds Pie and rice pudding are two of my favourites too, but dh hates rice pudding with a passion, so I rarely make it myself. Must have a go, I'm sure I've actually got pudding rice in the cupboard.

We were supposed to be swimming tonight, but B bumped her head at school today and has a swollen lip, so much to her disgust, we're having a quiet afternoon. I've just made a batch of play dough, so she's appeased somewhat We've then got parents evening tonight. I'm not sure what to expect this term, I hope she's doing OK, but we have so little contact with the teacher in Year 2 I'm less aware of where she's at IYSWIM?

Hope you've both had a good day! I've emailed you

Hello lovelies, long time no speak!! [gasp]

Glad to see the rain has stopped - garden is waterlogged though! Am considering buying Dillydog some wellies!

Lovely lovely pictures of B hotcross, thanks for emailing them. I did reply back but our email is doing odd things at the moment.
MAS, the studio looks great!! Am not sure how dh found it (did you email a link, am confused, but he suddenly called me over and said 'look at this, it is great' and there it was (I think it was a link to your blog) Either way, am very . How utterly gorgeous!

Everything at school is good, Boy is doing well. We had an annual review about him which was interesting and speech and language has been in to assess him aswell. I was allowed to sit in on that - very very interesting

Had the letter at the weekend offering E a place at the Junior School and this morning the one offering O a place at the local secondary where I used to invigilate. Am pleased

Right, better go and get ready for school - hope you both have a nice day!

80 lbs hippi - fantastic !!
I sent the blog on your usual email - glad you liked the studio !!
Excellent news about O and E's school places - yay !
And very pleased that all is going well with the boy .
Hope B 's head is better hotcross