Back to my school!

Well once again it was that time of the year parents night, back to the same school i went to as a child all those moons ago, still had the same smell of fish and chips and it looked exactly the same except someone had definitely shrunk it...it looked so big as a child, the best years of our lives..... In my child's school they kids gets supervised in the main hall with some games and a dvd on for them to watch while the parents are with the teacher, this was the first time i was going to meet my daughters pr4 teacher so was quite curious, but what i did know was jessica really liked her, funny how them liking a teacher makes a big difference in their confidence and general well being and as usual the wee jotters are all laid out in a wee neat pile outside the teacher class for us to read through our child's work before being summoned in to discuss our child's behaviour and work. Her teacher was lovely and I can understand how Jess likes her. She has a very nice manner about her and was very open and honest, and wait for it ladies a teacher that does not believe in "HOMEWORK" do my ears deceive me, she explained that the way she does the homework is she gives them a few bits and pieces to do during the week and just tick it off as and if they managed to do it, and it is finding stuff out about famous people and art homework and not long boring very hard homework that us as parents even struggle with. she said she understands that children and parents have a life in the evening and the last thing they need is for buckets of work stressing them all out!!! Well i came away loving that teacher, pity she wasn't around when I was a child

Caroline xx

Suzy goes back to school for parents evening!

Well it's here again....parent's evening and I don't know who gets more nervous me or my 6 year daughter.

There is always the feeling of being 'back at school' perching myself on the low chairs waiting for my appointment and the feedback being delivered by the teacher who is facing me from the other side of the just as low tables. However from previous experience, the evening provides a fantastic opportunity to look at the work she has done since the start of the school year and in the past I have shed a tear or two with the overwhelming feeling of pride at what she has achieved !!"

Suzy

Eye q and positive parents evenings

William had his Pre-School settling in chat this morning. It's the same as a parents evening really but in the morning after dropping him off. I am always nervous and excited about parents evening. Whilst you hope that everything is ok and they are behaving themselves its also lovely to get an insight into what your children do at school, how they get on with others and what observations the teacher has made. I am always quite surprised that they are rarely what you expect. In the last parents evening the teacher described Edward, my eldest, as confident, when I thought he may be shy and the pre-school teacher said that William was happy and settled but one of the quieter boys...when at home he is the total opposite! Either way both of them fortunately had great feedback.

I feel Edward has really turned a corner since he has been taking the Eye Q fish oils. He is keeping up well in class and is doing brilliantly with his reading. He is able to concentrate really well and had started to enjoy the Roald Dahl stories which is good because I used to really enjoy them too. William has just started taking Eye Q fish oils and isn't reading Roald Dahl quite yet (otherwise I would be impressed :) ) but I am sure they will do him good. Plus both my boys think they taste good so win, win! Bye for now. x

Helping out

Tonight the children and I have been putting together our 'Operation Christmas Child' gift box together. Every year Edwards school collects these boxes on behalf of the Samaritans. However anyone can do it and there are drop off points all over the country, we have one at a local pub, shop and pharmacy as well as in the school. We have to decorate a shoe box with Christmas paper and fill it with presents for children who really need them in some of the toughest parts of the world and many of whom are orphans. It really make you think about how incredibly privileged we are to be able to give our children presents. I think it is a good exercise for the children to be involved in too, as it hopefully makes them think a little about what they have.

You choose an age group and whether your gifts are for a boy or girl. I always do one from each of the boys in their age range and the boys help to pick the gifts. However I heard that they are always short of boxes for 10-14 year old boys which is such a shame, so I think we will do a couple for the older boys next year. As well as toys and sweets they even request basics like tooth brushes, tooth paste and soap. They also ask for things like hats and gloves and pens and pencils. Unfortunately you can't put in supplements otherwise I would have definitely included some Eye q fish oils to help boost them up. Tonight Ed has checked all our presents fit in the box and tomorrow we will cover it in some Christmas paper. It is only a little thing but when you look at the video on the website you realise just how much the children need and enjoy it and just how lucky our children are!

Halloween capers and November!

Wow November already... where has this year gone? We have had a lovely week in Abersoch. We have been for lots of walks on the beach, watched movies and even when to see a theatre production for children which they both really enjoyed. After a great break I am desperately trying to hang on to that sense of calm now we are back to the usual run of the mill!

Yesterday was Halloween and the boys were really excited. They couldn't wait to carve the pumpkin and insisted on getting dressed up after lunch. Ed was a ghost and William was a pumpkin. They both looked really sweet . I like a 'cute' Halloween but I'm really not into all this gore that seems to be in the shops nowadays. I noticed one of the supermarkets was advertising a body bag for Halloween. It was on a flyer that came through the door and it was a life-size mannequin wrapped up which hung from its feet! Black cats, spiders, bats and pumpkins are the extent of decorations in our house, We had some friends over for dinner which included witches fingers, ghostly cupcakes and wicked whoopie pies filled with green slime, yum yum. We also went trick or treating to neighbours and my parents who live nearby.

When trick or treating our next door neighbour gave the children £1 which he insisted on them having, Ed's face lit up and he promptly told me he was going to put it towards some Star Wars Lego he is saving up for. He wanted some more Lego so I told him he had to save for it and we have started a reward chart. Now, each time he completes his weekly task he gets £1. I have decided now he is six he should start to learn the value of money. Before this, the last time he actually saved for anything big was when when he was potty training! I asked what treat he would like for using the toilet and he asked for a Playmobil Zoo. "Oh yes ok" I said unbeknown to me that it was about £60!!!! In the end he got £1, yes, £1 for every time he used the potty (if it had been any less I think we all would have given up). Anyway he managed to grasp the concept very quickly and by the time he had saved enough he was completely potty trained in about 2 weeks. An expensive 2 weeks but well worth it and he has played with the Zoo for years since. I would definitely recommend the idea but maybe find out how much the toys cost before you offer them to the children.

My other little boy is 'kind of' potty training at the moment but but he isn't getting the reward chart thing at all, he doesn't seem to care if he gets a sticker or even the promise of a toy. A couple of friends have given their little ones sweets as a treat when they use the toilet, Now I know this would definitely work with Will as he is a chocoholic, but I am a bit worried I may start a lifelong association with two together? what do you think?

It is the last day of the holidays today as Edward has an inset day. I was supposed to be working but I have swapped my day so that we can have our last day of the holiday at home. No doubt it will be filled with ironing, tiding and spelling practice... what fun!

Consistent parenting and the beach!

My little boy has started pre-school recently and after a great first week things got a little shaky for a couple of weeks. He didn't want me to leave and cried as I left. The Pre school he goes to has lovely teachers, most of whom I know from when my older boy attended so I was never worried about well being. Even so my heart ached as I left and I felt terrible. During the week or so that he was unsettled I really toyed with the idea of taking him out of pre -school and trying it again in a few months but in my heart of hearts I knew this would probably make it even harder go back. Tough love actually isn't just tough on the children. Seeing your children upset for any reason is actually really tough on you too. Thankfully he has now settled and even asks to go. I am so glad I stuck with it, I think I really would have been giving him the wrong message if I had pulled him out. The boys have broken up for half term and we are in Wales for the week hooray! We woke up to beautiful morning today, cold but the sun was shining. Where we are has gorgeous views over the fields to the sea so hopefully we will have a relaxing week (if I can block out the bickering between the boys!). I have forgotten our Eye q so we'll have to hope the sea air works wonders this week as the boys struggle to eat oily fish, hence why I see the importance of taking daily Eye q supplements.

Finally, we went to a nice long walk today with friends and finished at a pub on the beach. The children just love the beach no matter what the weather, two boys and their dad were even swimming brrrrr! I have posted a photo of the boys playing on the beach with a rainbow in the background. What a wonderful afternoon; a glass of red, happy boys and a beautiful rainbow in the sky :)

'Me' and 'Our' time - Not just Mum

Even before I start writing I am already nervous of the reaction my friends are going to have when they realise we are posted up on the internet in our netball gear! It won't be a total shock to the girls to see themselves on-line as I did 'briefly' explain when I made them pose for the picture, but it is amazing how thought of having our photo taken made everyone protest, I bet the other four members of the team are relived it was their night off!

I have decided to include the photo of 'Good Catch' our netball team, as we play every Monday and Thursday and it is such a fun part of my week I thought I would share it with you.

A friend and I started going to some coaching sessions about 18 months ago as a change from the gym and after a few weeks we were hooked. We quickly (and surprisingly very easily ) got a keen bunch of girls together and have been playing ever since.

If you ever played netball at school and enjoyed it I would recommend starting again. I wouldn't say it is like 'riding a bike' you definitely forget the rules, which foot you landed on and where you can and can't go on court but the enjoyment of playing with your friends on team quickly comes back. We play in the middle division and have a rocky ride, some weeks we play brilliantly and other we get beat but we remain optimistic throughout and more importantly remember it is only a game. We all have children and jobs so being off work with sprained ankle (or sometimes worse) is something we all try to avoid no matter how much we would love to win.

Team sports is something I think many of us mums miss out on. So many men happily commit themselves to football, rugby, golf etc. on a weekly basis but so often we always put keeping fit way down the line after the children, work, household chores etc, etc... However the league is full of thirty - forty something mums, testament that it can be done and surprisingly I have found it much easier to commit to than the gym. When you have a match booked and other people waiting for you, you can't say I'll go tomorrow instead. My husband also knows that if he isn't home from work on time and I miss a match he has 7 angry women to deal with, not just one, imagine that!!!

I would like to say a big thankyou to the girls for letting me take their picture! They are a fantastic bunch that have all become lovely friends, hopefully we will keep playing together for many years. OAPs league here we come!

Family time and Netball!

Another busy week... last Saturday my husband had the boys all day and as a birthday treat my mum arranged for us to go shopping and to have our nails done. It was a great day and something we don't do enough, in fact we haven't done since I have had the children. Over dinner it was really nice to just chat about the things we never normally have the time to discuss. Sunday we took our boys to the Planetarium at Liverpool Museum, which was a lovely afternoon out. However a busy Sunday left me washing at midnight and doing homework over breakfast on Monday morning (don't tell the teacher!) My aim now is to always try and keep some time free over each weekend to just get the house 'straight' and some washing done. Very boring I know but I do like the feeling of going to bed on a Sunday knowing that you are ready to face a new week.

I had a PTA netball tournament today at my little boys school. I am on the PTA and we organised it for the first time last year. All the mums got teams together for each year and even though most haven't played since school everyone had a great time. Unfortunately someone fell and really hurt themselves today so we had to stop play. Thankfully she is ok.

Welcome!

I am Rachel, 35, married and have two lovely boys. Ed is 6 and Will is 2 and half. My husband and I have a garden design, landscaping and maintenance business called Green Home & Garden. We have been in business over ten years now and like anyone who runs their own business will know, it keeps us very busy!

When equazen asked me to blog about my life as a busy mum, many people said the whole writing thing is supposed to be quite therapeutic so I decided to give it go I'll try anything that promises a bit of focus or relaxation, because like most of us, I don't get enough of it! That is why every day I take eequazen eye q (as I find it helps me think straight). I also take Echinacea (to help me fight off any colds that come my way) and a multi vitamin (because five a day is harder than you think). Although I cook, buy good quality food ( organic if I can afford it) I still think we need some extra supplements to make up anything we may miss in our diet. The children also have eye q everyday. It was first recommended to me by a friend, and although I was already using another brand of fish oil tablets I decided I would give this a go because of the recommendation and the extra benefits. I was keen for Ed to take it because although he is very good at school he is one of the youngest so I figured that eye q may give him a little extra help to concentrate during a long school day. So far I am really pleased with his progress, he has just had a great report and people comment on his concentration and how well he holds his attention for his age.

Anyway it is nearly 11.15pm and I still need to sort uniforms etc for tomorrow so I better go! I’m looking forward to sharing my story with you over the next fews. Watch this space. x .