Half-Term

Shoo, what a week it has been!!  I am thankful for the weekend.  And next week is half-term for the girls, which will be a good break I think.  Over here, the school year is broken into three terms, and in the middle of each term, there is a half-term break where the kids get a week off, and then at the end of the term, there is a 2 week break (Christmas and Easter), and then about 6 weeks off in the summer.  It seems like a  good schedule to me!!  6 weeks is a perfect summer break I think.

A lot of people are going on holiday for the half-term break, but we are not because OUR SEA SHIPMENT IS ARRIVING next week.  I hope the kids can be helpful when the movers are here; however I think it's going to quite interesting.  The temporary furniture is being picked up first before our goods get moved in.  We are hopeful that are the furniture will fit up the stairs to its intended location. They had to get a parking permit to enable to truck to park on our street, since it's basically a one lane street!

And Mum Mum is arriving on Thursday!!!  Woo Hoo, we are all excited for our first visitor.  And I am sure I will have plenty for her to do to help get organized!  Brad is leaving for a week-long trip next Saturday, so I figured it would be nice to have some company (and help) whilst he is away.

We had parents night (read: parent-teacher conferences) at the girls' school last night and we are so proud of what their teachers said about them.  The first thing Lauren's teacher said when we sat down was "Lovely Lauren!" (can't start much better than that!).  She said Lauren instantly settled with the class and made friends, and it seems like she has been a part of their class forever, which is no surprise to us.  She said she tries really hard and she is a "bright button."  We are so glad she is excelling so much, and that she has made friends.  She is doing division in her head, which is amazing!  Her teacher sent home a packet of information for them to do over half-term, and Lauren has already completed most of it....now to find something to keep her busy over the break.  Oh yeah, we have to make a three-dimensional Anglo-Saxon helmet!!  (I really have no clue how we are going to manage that, but thank goodness for google.)

Alison's teacher said great things as well.  She said Alison has really improved on her reading and her writing and she is starting to use her "big voice" as part of classroom discussions.  She said she can tell that she thinks and tries really hard, and she is willing to work with anyone in the class, and she has a nice little circle of friends.  She was also shocked when we asked if she sucked her thumb, so I guess she doesn't suck her thumb at school...(that explains why she immediately puts her thumb in her mouth as soon as she walks out of her school room at the end of the day!)

We could not be more proud of them.  I am so thankful for their school and their teachers and the friends they have made.  The diversity at their school just completely blows me away, and I am so grateful for this experience for them.  The different languages that I hear in the school yard each afternoon when I pick them up are a daily reminder!

The PTA (of which I am the secretary....nothing like jumping in with both feet!) held a bake sale today for Valentine's Day, so I made rice krispie treats to ensure that Drew and Alison would have a treat to eat.  However, I was met with another measurement issue when I discovered that the butter I purchased was a 150g block of butter and the recipe calls for 3 Tbsp.  I can't even use my convert app to convert that!!  So I had to google rice krispie treats on the All Recipes UK site (did you know that pretty much every site has uk site, and rather than type ".com," you type "'.co.uk" and it always reminds you that they use cookies on their site), and I was able to find that I needed to use 50g of butter.  Thank goodness they had those same little ticks for 50g like they have on the butter sticks that I accustomed to in the US; however they did taste very buttery, which is not a bad thing!!

Lauren had a playdate after school today with a girl in the other Year 3 class who moved to London from the US in July of last year.  They had a great time, and included Alison in their games, which made me happy!  And I loved that Lauren's friend has a full-on English accent.  If I didn't know that she was from the US, I would think she's British!  There's hope for the girls after being here for 6 months!

Good news this week is that Drew is #1 on the waiting list for nursery at the girl's school!!!  So as soon as a spot is available, he will be in school.  And I know for sure of a family with a child in nursery who's moving after Easter.

Here's hoping for a good weekend with no trips to the ER and no falling out of bed.  (Drew now has a bed rail!)