So it’s back to school, and back to sporadic blog posts! Had to hit the ground running when we got home from France last week, so we’ve been busy …
Since last weekend I have managed to do all the holiday washing, not only the clothes but all the sheets and sleeping bags from the caravan as well. I must admit that this was helped by coming home to empty washing baskets rather than the half-full ones I had left, that was one of the benefits of having my parents staying in our house while we were away, thank you Lorraine!
Last Saturday we didn’t manage to get much sorting out done – instead we all went out to visit Grandma, and Steve and Josiah went into town and then out looking at cars to buy for the garage. The girls and I enjoyed our friend Maria’s hen party – Anna and Abbie came to the afternoon ‘tea party’ and then I dropped them home before going out in the evening as well.
On Sunday Steve had to work as he had invoices that had to be done before the end of the month, so we dropped him (and our bikes) down to the workshop for the day. My day was spent organising – menu and food shopping, and tidying up all the debris left in the hallway from the holiday!
Monday was my last full day off before going back to work. I had thought that I’d need to do the last minute school shoe buying with the kids but then Steve offered to do that on Tuesday when a friend got in touch suggesting a day geocaching up and down the canal. That sounded infinitely preferable to me, and a nice way to end my holidays 
Anna arranged to go out for the day as she had a birthday party to go to, so Abbie, Josiah and I ended up doing 12 miles on our bikes, stopping for caches along the way.
Actually some of the caches were on the ‘not cyclable’ side of the canal, so we had to walk that part, pushing bikes through shoulder-height undergrowth – hard work! I was not allowed to moan and groan about all the bruises and nettle stings when I got home though, apparently ‘extreme terrain geocaching’ is an extreme sport undertaken at my own peril. Thankfully the kids had opted to stay on the proper cycle path side of the canal, they would never have made it!
Still, it was a fun day. We had drinks at pubs/cafes at both ends, and Steve helpfully picked our bikes up for us later on when he picked Anna up from Lush where she’d been for this party. Did you know Lush did birthday parties? I didn’t, and not sure what it cost per head – but it sounded fun and she came home with lots of goodies.
Tuesday was my first day back at school – no children until Thursday though. Had some time in the classroom and then some training on visual impairments which was interesting. So Steve had the kids and managed to survive Clarks shoe shop far better than I would have, emerging victorious with sensible school footwear all round. We realised that Anna had one more day off, so quickly arranged a day with Grandma for her on Wednesday. Piano lessons started after school, with a new piano teacher as our old one is having a baby soon, so we decided to make a change at the beginning of the term. Actually the teacher is not entirely new to us, she’s Anna’s cello teacher as well – all seemed to go well with lessons and best of all she forgot to bring the bill, so I have a reprieve on that!
The other two were back at school on Wednesday – now both in Key Stage 2 so that felt more grown up for Joe; waiting in the playground rather than going straight to his classroom, and lots of new things to boot. Josiah was a bit nervous about the changes, as he *really* hates not knowing what is going to happen, but he had a good day by all accounts, and now that he knows what to expect he’ll be fine. Both of them were happy to be back seeing friends and seem excited about the year ahead in their new classes.
I did some more interesting training yesterday, on the Optimusic system – we have a relatively basic system in school, on a trolley so that it can go to different rooms – just with a couple of light beams – but still plenty of possibilities. Some great programming uses for more able children as well as the easy switch operation making it accessible for children with additional needs. I liked it a lot, could see a lot of potential in it, but unfortunately I can’t see me ever really having time to use it properly so I’ll probably end up forgetting how to do it!
So today was the big day. Not only did I have children in my class, but Anna went off to high school. No big deal, she was all ready and had arranged to meet a friend half-way there to walk together.
Seems like it all went fine, she’s happy anyway, and that’s about all I’ve heard so far! Well, apparently she won a pen in English, for being the only person to remember a long list of something or other. Took her to her cello lesson afterwards and had to pay the dreaded bill – still at least there will only be one pupil concert to attend!
