The 3 R's

Readin', 'ritin' and 'rithmatic- got to love that old US mid-western slang, LOL! You know when school is in session around here...because that stupid ice cream truck is no longer rolling through the neighborhood with it's music blaring. I could have thrown a brick at that truck every time it came through the neighborhood- the over the top loud music HAD to go! Sure we have ice cream trucks back in the US but they never played their music that stinking loud. It was simply over the top!

So now the kids are (for the most part) getting into a routine (and so am I). Getting up early used to not be a problem for me when we lived in South Dakota. Heck, I used to be able to get up early when we lived anywhere in the USA. After the time change (7 hours) and jumping right into things as soon as we landed my waking up early on my own just seemed to stop dead in it's tracks. I have to use an alarm clock these days- which is odd for me.

Homework hasn't been an issue- yet. It all seems to be nothing but a rehash of what my children have learned in previous years at their US schools. If the math course does not get more challenging for Hannah then we will have to request her to be moved up another level. I'm getting tired of hearing I learned this when I was in the 5th grade or I learned this when I was in the 6th or 7th grade (which for the British schools would be year 6, 7 and 8). Sad but true, I have a math genius daughter who has been at college level for years. Lets see if Kingham Hill is up to HER standards-Ha!

Now it seems that our son is being challenged with his courses and they are at the level he needs to keep him challenged. I like that!

I've been shoving Hannah's swimsuit in her gym bag (kit bag) ever since she had to start bringing her "kit" to school. And yesterday she finally got to go swimming! When she got home from school and walked into the house she instantly hugged me and thanked me for continually shoving it in her bag (because she kept taking it and the towel out). She told me that they got to go swimming yesterday-woohoo! And that she was VERY happy that I put her swimsuit in her gym bag (mom's do know best). Apparently the kids in her class will be swimming every Wednesday. Life is good!

Andrew is loving his Life Guard classes. Little does he know that Kingham Hill will probably be putting his new learned skills to use later on in the school year, LOL!

They're both still trying to get used to the school food. You see, back in the US we don't put things like tuna, baked beans or prawn salad in a "jacket" or what we call a "baked" potato. So, for our kids it's just butter and cheese inside of their jacket potato. Bacon here in the UK is different from bacon in the US- simply put it's a different type of bacon and they don't cook it crispy here. The first time we ordered a baked potato with bacon here we about died- imagine if you will 2 rather large raw looking strips of bacon the size of a cow tongue draped over the potato with grease dripping off of it- not very appetizing. We've learned NOT to order the bacon, LOL!!! There are other little things that they (our children) also have to get used to- butter on sandwiches, squash (a concentrated fruit juice) over cooked oily pasta -then again depending where you are, you can get that in the US too, LOL! Slow but sure they are adapting. Not every child had a parent who is a gourmet cook....needless to say my children are a bit spoiled when it comes to dining. But they are adapting to school food. Apparently Friday's fish and chips was a hit with the kids and they look forward to it again this week!

Now for me to get some things done around here...there's always something that needs to be done around here. And after yesterday's debilitating sinus headache, I really do need to get some things done around here.