We've Survived Our First Full Week at School

Well, Isabella has now completed her first full week in Reception, and boy is she tired. Poor thing, I felt terrible this morning when I had to wake her up and then hurry her up in order to get to school on time. I think we are going to have to be careful this weekend as quiet/tired Isabella could turn into a screaming monster at any moment.

Although Isabella is tired, she does seem to be enjoying school. She has done PE twice this week, she has been learning how to read and used the computer. When I picked her up from school today she very proudly shown me a 'Smiley face' badge which she had been given in assembly, however when I asked her why she had been given it she said "I can't remember" - she has a memory like her mother!

I managed to get to the gym yesterday for a couple of hours which was great - I really enjoyed doing a workout and then relaxing in the steam room afterwards before collecting the kids and getting on with my ever growing list of things to do.

I went to a PTA meeting this morning (goodness my life is very exciting!) and was careful not to get my name put down for too many things. I will be helping with a fundraising breakfast next week, although I said I would serve food and clear tables rather than cook as I don't want the whole school to go down with food poisoning. The school PTA certainly seem to host a lot of events, one event which has always been really successful and great fun is a band night, but unfortunately the very talented singer and his lovely wife and children no longer live in the village - I wonder if they could be persuaded to come back towards the end of the year for another band night?? the Herriott hotel would be available for rooms as I'm sure other guest houses in the village would be!

Jason had his first Salsa lesson this week, he also attended an awards ceremony last night and has been at Lords cricket ground today watching Middlesex v Northampton - nice work if you can get it!

Motorbikes and Mud

Here is a picture of Jason doing the Enduro race last Sunday, he came 9th out of 134 competitors which is pretty good. In the over 30's category he came 1st. Well done Jason!

This picture was taken at the start of the race and he still looks quite clean, believe me by the time he came home he and the bike were covered in mud.

Starting 'BIG' School

Today was a very strange day for me as Isabella started 'big' school. Last night she let me wash her hair and cut her nails, without putting up a fight, (which doesn't happen very often) and she even went to bed early. This morning she was so excited it was lovely to watch her putting on her uniform and getting ready. When Isabella left nursery, just before Easter, she was one of the big girls and today seeing her in the playground she just looked so little. I have to say that I did have a few tears in my eyes when she went into her classroom. For the first few days she will only be at school until lunchtime and then next week she will start doing full days. When I picked her up today I asked "Did you have fun? What did you do?" to which she replied "I can't remember" is this the sign of things to come?

Jason had his first Enduro motorbike race of the season last Sunday. I'm told that Enduro is a sort of off road motorbiking but much harder. Personally, I think its just big boys having fun in the mud. He had a good time but is now suffering from a few aches and pains, obviously I'm being the good wife and offering the odd sympathetic word.

Whilst Jason was out playing in the mud, Claudia went to a party and Isabella and I went to Amersham swimming pool where we had great fun whizzing down the waterslides. Isabella kept telling me that she could go down the slides on her own and she really didn't need Mummy's help, she didn't seem to realise that I wasn't helping her I really was having a good time. I was however, a bit of a baby going down the blue slide as it was very fast and very dark and I ended up telling Isabella that you had to be at least 7 years old to go down it which luckily seem to do the trick! Well, a little white lie every so often won't do her any harm.

Easter Egg Hunting

I took the girls to Hughenden Manor in High Wycombe today, http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-hughendenmanor/ the home of Benjamnin Disraeli. I've never actually been in the house, I'm always worried that one of the girls will knock a very expensive vase off a shelf or something, but the gardens are really beautiful, the panies and tuilips were really wonderful to see. Today they had an Easter Egg hunt - we went around the gardens and had to answer various questions about birds and eggs and once we had answered them all correctly we were rewarded with a bag of mini Easter eggs each. Isabella and Claudia seemed more interested in rolling down the various slopes in the gardens and seeing how many grass stains they could get on their clothes than answering questions so I kept reminding them that at the end they would get some Easter eggs and that seemed to spur them on. They also made a small birds nest out of twigs and bits of material and had their faces painted. On the way home we stopped off at the park so all in all a fun day.

Jason surprised me by getting home just after seven o'clock tonight (he is never usually home that early) it was great because the girls hadn't quite gone to bed and they were really excited to see Daddy. As it was still light, (how I love these light evenings) I took the opportunity to take Oscar for a quick walk around the village and how lovely it was to see sheep in the meadow, although I had to make sure that I didn't take Oscar of the lead as I think he quite fancied a sheep for dinner!

Moving On

After living in Rickmansworth for 25 years, Jasons parent moved house today. They have bought a lovely house in Northwood. I went there today with Isabella and Claudia. The girls were very excited to see their new bedroom and are looking forward to their first sleep over. Luckily for us Jasons parents have downsized and have been looking for a good home for some of the garden furniture they had - we were only to happy to provide a good home for some very nice items.

We've been enjoying the lovey sunshine over the last couple of days. Claudia and I had a picnic in the park yesterday whilst Isabella was at a party and then we picked Isabella up and she joined us for some bike riding around the park. She can now ride her bike without stabliers - which is a great achievement - I was a very proud mum when she first managed to do it without falling off!