and......breathe!

Phew! 
The first 2 weeks of July and ( not incidentally) the last 2 weeks of my term have been very full on. My college broke up yesterday and,  although the kids still have 10 days to go until we can escape to France, I can finally come back down earth and catch up with sleep and all your lovely blogs that I've been ignoring.

This is what I've been up to since we last met:

Mon 30th June -  I invigilated exams all morning.  R went to Science club and Scouts.

Tues 1st July -M visited her Yr 3 class for next year,  R practised his lines with me for 'Charlie & the Chocolate Factory' and I tidied our disgusting house.

Wed 2nd- I celebrated the end of the year with one of my adult classes then did admin work until it was time to pick up from school. M had Rainbows, so Rand I spent some more time on his lines.  Dress rehearsal on Sunday was apparently "dreadful" and all the parents are under instruction to " shout at your children!"

Thurs 3rd - Sadly, I had to miss M's Sports Day as I couldn't get of work  so my parents went in my place. Her house came 3rd out of 4, and it was an extremely hot day so I didn't miss much! I took her to her swimming lesson after school then R to rehearsal for his 'other play', Oliver.

Fri 4th- Another hot day and another end of term party for another class. M was at home on INSET so we visited the WWF visitors centre in the afternoon. The HQ of WWF has recently relocated to our town. Last run through of lines and dance moves with both children - finally starting to hope it will be OK.

Sat 5th-Both children performed in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This meant a morning rehearsal, during which time I collected flowers for the director, a matinee at which I helped backstage.
This was also End of Term Speech Day for P, so he was shattered by the time he arrived to watch the evening show with me. Despite last weeks dodgy dress rrehearsal ( or perhaps because of it- they had worked hard) the final 2 shows were excellent.  The kids were exhausted but elated and I was both proud and relieved.

Sunday 6th- We did have a bit of a lie in but went out in the afternoon to celebrate the hundredth birthday of R's Scout group.

Mon 7th- At college the students have finished so the staff are working twice as hard!  I suffered through a pointless training on the VLE from someone who didn't know how our VLE worked.
R has 'activities week 'this week so he had to be at school at 7.45 to leave for a visit to the Olympic Park.  I had to pick him up afterwards,  feed him and get him to and from Scouts again.

Tuesday 8th - Our department had a full staff training then went out to lunch.  I watched M do her stuff at ballet,  but left the room before they rehearsed their show number.  I want to see it first with costume and pizzaz!

Wednesday 9th- Speaking exams at college were even more stressful than normal as we were inspected by the Home Office (to be sure we weren't cheating students who need the qualification for visa purposes)  We weren't,  of course,  but he was very thorough,even wanting to check our staff records to be sure we were who we said we were!  The afternoon was spent at the staff BBQ until I collected M from school. R didn't get home until 8 from watching 'Matilda' in London (lucky thing!) I had more burnt caramelised sausages at a Rainbow BBQ to celebrate their 21st birthday. Although I was there as a mum, I used to run the Guide company there before M was born so it was lovely to catch up with some old Guiding friends who had been invited.

Thursday 10th. R was at the zoo today.  M was poorly.  She'd been fighting it for 2 days but today I could finally give her a day off as P was at home.  I had to go into work in the morning to do an inventory of books and had a working lunch with a colleague, but I was free in the afternoon. R was tired too, after his 4 days of activities so we took it easy until it was time for R's rehearsal.

Fri 11th. Finally,  the last day of college!  A few hours of office tidying (it doesn't often look like this!) and retirement speeches,  then I was free to take R to the dentist, make an appointment for myself and ...at last...spend some time blogging.

Sat 12th: Back to Drama for the last sessions and then a local Fun Day, which was a lot more fun than anticipated in unforeseen blazing sunshine.

Sun 13th: We haven't made it to Church for a few weeks but I was on Sunday School rota today so no excuse!  After an hour of vaguely Bible-related craft with a dozen 4-14 year olds, I had a little time for some grown-up crafting of the PL variety before meeting the In- Laws at the local Chinese restaurant to celebrate my Mother-in-Law's birthday.
Very yummy!
M and I had to miss pudding (I don't think I would have had room anyway) in order to go to the Tech Rehearsal for her upcoming ballet recital.

Right, the World Cup Final is about to start. I don't can whether Germany or Argentina win, but P does so that is how we will spent the evening.

I  haven't got my holiday head on yet. The kids still have a week and a half of school and M has her ballet recital next weekend. I also have a work meeting next week to prepare for so I can't completely relax yet but it is a nice feeling to know I don't  have to teach a lesson until September. 

I can - I think - start to breathe again. I look forward to catching up with all your blogs and posting a few pages.