Thursday.... Almost the weekend!

It's been a pretty good week so far, although sweet Alison is having a bit of a tough time adjusting to the longer days of school, as well as the "full on" school with not as much playtime.  I think she would have been better in reception, but I talked to the deputy head teacher and she said they don't make exceptions; the class is based on birthdate and that's that.  Her teacher said she really is doing great, but it's so hard to leave her at school when she's so upset!  And the kids her age get free lunch, so pretty much all of the kids in her class get school dinners, but with her food allergies, that's not really an option for her ( and I am pretty sure she wouldn't eat the food anyways!!), so it seems like she doesn't eat lunch with her friends.  Her teacher is going to check into it today.

Lauren's class year had an outing to Sayers croft, for camping out and learning, but the arrangements were already made before w arrived, so she wasn't able to go.  However, there are 17 year 3 children who did not go, so I am glad she's not the only one!  And it has given her an opportunity to meet a few kids from the other class.  She's upset because several of her friends went on the trip, but I am not sure I would have been too keen on her sleeping away from us for two nights after we had only been here for 3 1/2 weeks!!!

I attended 2 playgroups this week, both organized through churches.  It's different the way it works here!  The first one was at the Church of England church we attended two weeks ago, and it was pretty small.  It cost £1 to attend, and then another £1 for a cup of coffee or tea and a biscuit (read cookie).  Most of the kids were younger than Drew, but he found two Thomas so he was happy.  It was obvious that it was a group of mums who knew each other pretty well.  There were also a few grandmas and nannies as well.  I am not sure I would go back, but it was nice to get out of the house.

I went to another one yesterday at the church that we attended this past Sunday, and it was a lot bigger and there were more kids Drew's age.  This one almost cost £1, which included a cup of coffee and a biscuit.

The playgroup begins at 10, but you have to get to the church early to get a ticket.  I arrived at the church around 9:15, and there was a line of about 20 people lined up already!!!  I got in line, and I got a ticket (1of 55) to go in. Woo hoo!!

While I waited, I went to the pharmacy to get the prescription filled for Alison's Benadryl to keep at school,which they said they couldn't keep it there without a prescription.  That was an ordeal!!! Apparently, they don't use the drug that's in Benadryl here as a antihistamine, they use something else, so they had to special order it.  The good news is through the NHS, I don't think you have to pay for drugs for people under age 16.  So that took the entire 40 minutes!  Shoo.

The playgroup was great!  Drew had the best time riding on the bikes and going down the slide.  He made a friend named Vinnie, and I made friends with his mom, Danielle, so I would say that was successful. The last 20 minutes, they sang nursery rhymes, and I love that they are all pretty much the same here as in the states!  They only sang 2 that I didn't know....wind the bobbin up, and there sing 4 different verses to row, row, row your boat (my favorite is row, row, row your boat gently down the river, if you see a polar bear, don't forget to shiver.)

Brad is working at KFC for his store training a few days a week for the next few weeks.  Here he is, all ready for work this morning!