3rd day

Rose threw a tantrum about where she was sitting in the car when we were about to leave for Church.  She yelled at me, "That's not the way daddy does it".  Well, mummy won out, but we were late for church.
After church we went food shopping and she had another wobbly in the supermarket so I don't think I got everything I wanted s it got to the point where I wanted to run through the supermarket as quickly as possible grabbing things off shelves whilst pushing against Rose who was trying to stop the trolley!  She was fine as soon as we got to the check-out!
They had asked Wendy to join us for lunch and thought it highly amusing that we were at Wendy's with Wendy!
We had more friends over for dinner, which was great as the kids were not good going to bed and it kept me cool having other adults around and meant I had to follow through instead of giving up!
It's that third day, again!

Saturday

The kids actually let me stay in bed for an hour after they woke up.  That was a good start to the day : )
One of the ways I got Josh to behave last night was by threatening him with no football today.  It worked.  Unfortunately I was not so successful with the girls!
So we toddled off to football and I didn't see the girls the whole time other than when they came to ask for their snack and when Rose fell and scraped her leg!  The rest of the time they were playing with their friends.
Josh was playing in the first and last game of 4 games. Kind of a mini-league. His team annihilated the other team in their first game and lost their last game - just barely. But they had lots of fun.  Joshua is very good - even if I do say so myself.  He was able to leave the ball for teammates and pass it as well as dribble and shoot.  Most of the kids just wanted to hog the ball.  He remembers a lot from the coaching they've had.
After football, we went swimming for about half an hour to cool off.  (Operation tire-the-kids-out) We went home for lunch and found a car load of men waiting for us!  They were the termite detectors/treatment company our landlord had sent round to check and maintain the perimeter walls.  I have no idea what they did, other than hammering some holes in the wall and spraying something in to said holes but it took them from when we got home - about 12 - to about 5.  They said there were no signs.  I'm not convinced - we often have those little cocoon things hanging on our walls.
Naomi and I made peppermint creams - it was the only recipe of the three she had chosen that we had everything we needed! Then we spent the rest of the afternoon playing on the Wii, watching a film and friends came over for dinner.  Bed-time went smoother as they were all tired from the night before!

Princesses

Naomi also had a party today.  It was, of course, a princess party!  She has been talking about it for weeks - what she would wear, what cake Sara was having, who was going to be there!  Thankfully, I think it lived up to expectations : )

For real!

Josh went to the birthday party of one of his classmates after school.  They went bowling.  He loves bowling on the Wii and the iTouch and is very good at it.  He understood that it would be different when he did it for real though.  Anyway, one of the first things he said to me when I picked him and his friend up was "It was just like the Wii".  Guess it's not so different, after all.  Although I'm sure it helped that they had the bumpers in the gutters!

PRS

It was the start of a new session of Parent Run Soccer this morning. Josh was eager to sign up but Rose didn't want to go.  Well, no, she didn't want to go to play, she did go with Josh and Steve to socialise with other children there.
Steve is coaching Josh's team but is away next week at the Administrator's conference so yours truly will be "coach" for the morning.  Not sure if I'm less excited about coaching 6 year olds to play football (mostly a case of subbing regularly and making sure they are facing the right goal when they kick the ball) or losing my lie-in!!

Seamless transition

Rose appears to have made the pretty massive transition from Grade 2 to Grade 1 effortlessly.  It confirms to us that it was the right thing to do for her.  On Thursday (her first day in the different class) she told Karen that she had still worked hard but her brian didn't hurt.  On Friday she told Steve, "I did my Maths all by myself and didn't look at anyone else's sheet!" Interesting comments that make me realise she was already compensating in not so good ways.  So I am glad we made this difficult decision.

Party

Dinosaur cake

Josh had a fun party.  As Karen commented, only at a TCK 6 year old birthday party would there be a conversation about flags and countries!

That Point

Tonight was the toughest.  It always seems to happen around the third day Steve is away but no-one wanted to go to bed or do as they were told and I was pretty frustrated and wound up. I was just at the end of myself when Bonnie rang and my kids were excited to talk to her (they should have been in bed!) and it gave me time to go away and recollect myself.  It also proved to be the most effective punishment for Joshua when he got removed from the room and couldn't talk to her anymore because he was being obnoxious. It proved to be the thing that calmed them and I got R and J off to bed but N would not go down as she had seen a bug on her mosquito net and would not go back to bed.  I ended up taking her up to my bed at 8 so she would go to bed, while I read.  She fell asleep almost immediately so I put her back in her bed before I settled in for the night.  No surprise, though, I ended up with both girls in my bed during the night!

Judging

I was invited to be one of the British judges for the "World Team's Got Talent!" contest that they were holding as part of their mission conference.  I was asked to take off Sharon Osborne - it thrills my heart that this is someone who Brits are associated with! (you need to detect the heavy sarcasm here).  Things did not start out well as even though we left in plenty of time, I suddenly remembered I was not supposed to drive as it was Monday.  I probably would have been fine but I didn't want to risk it!  I decided to go to Wendy and swap cars to be on the safe side.  We arrived at the end of dinner but ate quickly.  The MC asked me where I was from for the introductions.  She said, "Are you from London?" I said, "No, say Birmingham".  She looked at me (I don't think she had really understood me) and said, "I'll just say London!"
It was really fun.  The kids were pretty tired by the end as it was way past their bedtime by the time we left to drive home but it did mean I had no fussing to deal with at bedtime - often the point I miss Steve the most!! Naomi conked out almost immediately in the front seat with her head resting on the seat belt.

Steve left to stay at the house of one of the other traveller's to Singapore so they could drive to the airport together as they had an early morning flight.  He rang when he got there and had checked the ticket to say that his flight did not return to Manila at 11 as he thought but at 2 p.m.  This is a problem as that is when I am doing Josh's party.  I asked Josh if it was a problem that daddy wouldn't be there but he said no.  I was thankful as I couldn't think when we would do it instead and it would mean getting in touch with everyone to change date/time!
When I put Josh to bed he said he wanted me to call daddy and tell him to come home. I explained that was not going to happen and he had to accept daddy was gone for the week.

Finally....

After the waters breaking, false alarms with contractions, the threat of an induction and much waiting, my new nephew has arrived into the world. I have no other details yet - the curse of living so far away - but we are so excited.
Rose said, "Finally, our two cousins [including Esther] have arrived"
I said, "I'm sure that is exactly how Aunty Ali feels, too!"

Croc Overboard

It was that time of year again - October break and a trip to Calapan. I am thankful our children love it there because we do too and it always relaxes and refreshes me, although as a result I often return more tired than I left as I uncoil!
We have a short window to retreat this month as October break was experimental beginning on a Thurs and ending next Weds. Not as long as having two weekends to bracket it. Plus Steve is heading to Singapore on Monday so we headed off dark and early with some friends. On the boat, we ended up sitting outside as the seats were all taken inside and the other side was being cleaned! It was a lot fresher than inside but the seats were not too comfy. The kids loved it though as they could stand at the rail almost the whole time - when not eating their way through our fairly unhealthy selection of snacks.
At one point, Josh was stood at the railing and when he returned to us, he only had one shoe on. His other - a red Croc - had fallen overboard! He was pretty upset about it, although we weren't too bothered. As it was the only pair we had brought, Steve promised he would take him to get some new shoes when we were in Calapan. Then the two of them played bowling on the iTouch so all was well with the world again.

Perspective

By request:


If you click on the picture it will take you to the bigger version!

Random scraps of dialogue and what they reveal!

While in my office, Rose said "I want to cry"
Debs:Why do you want to cry?
Rose: I miss Kate and Bonnie
Josh: Well just don't think about them or look at the photos.  Then you won't feel sad, right?

Joshua was explaining to me the punctuation he had learned today in class while he drew on Steve's white board.  I told him there were British words for the punctuation - full stop and exclamation mark.  He said, "I think I'll just use the American."
Debs: You'll need the British words when you are in English school
Josh: Oh, I just won't go to English school. (pause as realisation dawns).  Oh, you mean when we are in England next year?
Debs: Yes
Josh: OK, I'll have to learn the British then.

I could see this conversation at dinner in a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip -
Steve: Josh, stop doing that.
Josh: It's my instincts
Debs: Do you know what instincts are?
Josh: No, but it is my instincts.
Steve gives a very good definition - I'm glad I didn't attempt it, but we always knew who the scientist was!

Despicable Me

We took the kids to see this film this afternoon as a special treat.  I think we all enjoyed it.  My favourite part was "The Bank of Evil, formerly the Lehman Brothers" across the bank's entrance.  Brilliant.  Steve and I laughed.
Naomi said she liked the film because there were no bad things in it.  And, it's true.  It's quite "old-fashioned" in having a straight-forward plot and a villain whose baddest ambition is to steal the moon.  Rose and Joshua both liked it too and we had a long discussion about it at dinner.

One down....

About 4 weeks ago - understanding my daughter - I told Rose that one of her scoobies was going to be retired on the 1st Oct.  At first she vehemently disagreed but, as I knew she would with enough time to think it through, she came round to the idea and by the time today arrived she had chosen which scooby was going.  We decided to cut up the rectangles of scooby faces and I will make it into a quilt.  Rose wanted to be the one to cut it up (she did a great job).  Maybe it was some rite of passage!  We are trying to get her to stop sucking her fingers still and it seems to be tied with scooby.  I think the second one may take more of a fight.