MoreSmiles 31:365

This cartoon made me giggle. 

And coping with a challenge session involving hill repetitions made me happy too - so not n the mood but was flying at points.

I also enjoyed talking to potential Erasmus+ partners via Skype. 

MoreSmiles 30:365

Year 10 Parents Evening for Isaac and I couldn't be more proud of him. Every teacher was highly complimentary. His German teacher was positively ecstatic that Isaac was back, and as Herr G is German this was even more noteworthy as he's not given to such emotional outbursts! There were some common themes for the conversations including how Isaac works very hard ignoring 'distractions' around him, how he and another lad bounce ideas off one another and push each other to use the best vocabulary, the most accurate explanation etc, and how no one could explain his predicted grades being so 'low' (that's because your statistics are based on a system you don't understand!) Well done Isaac - certainly made me smile.
And then I did my 'ditsy Mum' thing...
Whilst standing waiting to talk to his Maths teacher, I was asking Isaac where various teachers were sitting in the hall. We'd been through a few when I asked "And where is the lovely Mr Williams?" (Isaac's HoY who is a rather nice chap!) to which Isaac replied 'Sitting right there next to where you're standing' motioning to just beside my left elbow. I apparently went rather pink but Mr W was (hopefully) too engrossed in consulting another parent to notice!

Away from BVGS, I had to smile ruefully as my wonderful science lesson on the seasons was all but forgotten by the pupils who were far more inspired by snow falling.

And I managed not to cause an sharp intakes of breath in my Chinese New Year assembly this week.

MoreSmiles 29:365

I finished my book last night - and just about everything turned out ok.
It wasn't raining at break so I got to escape the classroom for 15 minutes albeit on duty!
A surprisingly cooperative and mostly engaged Y6 this morning; we may be getting somewhere with them. And I amused them with my punching to demonstrate stress patterns!
A lovely class assembly by Y1 who were adorable - as were Nursery who sat beautifully!
Flatulent cows are hugely amusing of course.
The Jump is proving very entertaining.

Making flags with food also amused me - not as good as these though!

MoreSmiles 28:365

Rediscovering a silly song that I composed to teach family members in Spanish made me smile today. Hope Y3 like it tomorrow!
PE INSET was amusing - smacking my face into the serving hatch wasn't exactly fun, but if anyone is going to have a mishap, it had to be me!
An obsession in Year 4 with putting a duck billed platypus into stories made me smile - in Spanish, it's un ornitorrinco btw!
Jude's trumpet playing also made me smile as did his reaction when I commented that I think he's grown.

Jude a year ago!

Half way through my working week - but two full days with break duties on both and an assembly to finish me off Thursday.

MoreSmiles 27:365

The look on Jude's face as we discussed catheterisation.

The Pope is a cat-a-holic according to Milton Jones. And many other marvellous one liners.

The last of the Sprüngli chocolates.

Flowers from John.

All reasons to smile on a day at work that I can't say I enjoyed much.

MoreSmiles 26:365

Great Twitter banter about #ILILC4 lessened the post-BETT blues as did sunshine this afternoon and Sprüngli chocolates!

I ran 5 miles fairly quickly and planned some lessons in ultra quick time so I've done one of tomorrow's jobs this evening whilst watching TheJump and The Three Musketeers. I still have countless things to do though...
One thing at a time - and I have planned my wardrobe for #ILILC4 :)

And Stan won the Australian Open!

MoreSmiles 25:365

Just after midnight on returning to my room...

Canary Wharf this morning ...

Birmingham International by lunchtime...

 ...and home to see my boys for hugs.

Lots of smiles :)

Some lovely Twitter messages this afternoon made me smile broadly. 

Curry for tea. 

And laughing with my family. 

MoreSmiles 24:365

Cupcakes. 

Friends, human...

And robot!

BETT, TeachmeetBETT and TeachEat all provided plenty of opportunity for smiles whether it was meeting people, presenting on the Brainpop stand, drinking cider and laughing hysterically or deciding that I was taking the use of my cake stand as a frisbee too seriously and should just clip the culprit around the ear!

And then there was the hideous picture of me that amused all my Twitter friends! 

Then there was travelling on the DLR after TeachEat in a group with Tony who had his face painted as tiger; we were asked by fellow travellers how we could have a sensible conversation with him looking like that. Easily we replied - we're used to it!

Glad to be back in my hotel though having had three encounters with drunken men (none known to me and none close thank goodness!)

MoreSmiles 23:365

Arrived in London for BETT and this is my bed for the next two nights. It's huge!
And I'm very tired so I'm looking forward to making use of it.
Cupcakes have survived this far and my train journey wasn't too bad.
However, the Tube induced a panic I barely controlled and I was so relieved to escape that a hysterical smile was plastered on my face throughout the DLR leg of my trip.
I anticipate further smiles as I meet up with friends old and new over the next 48 hours!

MoreSmiles 22:365

Busy busy day!

A child in Y3 told me that a consonant was 'a group of countries like Africa or America'; another suggested that 'un elefante' when I asked them to recall as many pets as they could. 

One class started singing in Spanish whilst they were working - that made me smile broadly!

Educating Yorkshire won at the National TV Awards - hurrah!

Cupcake production took up most of the evening - they are delicious but it'll have be a miracle akin to the feeding of the five thousand if 40 odd cupcakes feed 650+ people!!

I listened to the Spanish stories that Y3 at WCPS wrote using BookCreator App. Really pleased with them! (Hopefully the video above will work!)

MoreSmiles 21:365

Very busy at the moment with BETT approaching, a display to put up, lessons to teach, presentations pending and lots of messages that need answering not to mention managing an eTwinning project in which our bear seems to have had a rocky start and technology is not working as it might. Oh yes, and then there are the cupcakes I promised for TeachMeet.

Still, a very fast blast around the block, up and down some hills has cleared my head and I'm on the case.

Smiles? Yes, plenty of those but none that I can particularly put my finger on. Just been a good day in all the busy-ness.

So, here's a packet of chocolate fingers courtesy of Angela the birthday girl - and thanks to the other birthday girl, Fiona, for the rocky roads!

MoreSmiles 20:365

This made me laugh!

Half price iced ring doughnuts in Sainsbury this evening made me smile; not quite a Donut as the icing wasn't sticky enough but I guess that's because it's usually hot in Spain when I eat them!

MoreSmiles 19:365

A cup of tea in bed.

A long run in the sun. 

The ongoing saga of the Wii Remote Extension thingummybob. 

Curry for dinner that was hotter than I thought and caused Jude some buccal discomfort. 

Seeing both my boys looking (nearly) healthy at last. 

And today's photo? I was planning what to say at TeachmeetTakeover and it made me think back to previous BETTs including this one when I borrowed the Gerbera daisy from the table in PizzaExpress. Wonder what it'll be like at the Excel?

MoreSmiles 18:365

New shoes!

The squeals as we went over a hump backed bridge.

Giggles at the toilet humour you only get from teenage boys.

The ridiculous amount of clothing that Isaac was wearing for our shopping trip to Touchwood. He's been poorly, bless him!

Funny FB messages in other languages.

And it's The Bridge night. Saga's coming out with some great lines:

"I want to have sex"

'But my Mum's just through there'

"We can have sex here"

“I do like kids; I just don‘t like them just because they are kids” '

Do you like me?'

"I don't know you enough to know"  

MoreSmiles 17:365

"I've never fecked something over a wall" says Dara O'Briain. (Feck means to throw apparently!)

The letters G O N A D and S appearing in succession. And then E X after that. 

The anagram LUBEDONG.  

Kathy Burke's inability to say 'consonant' 

Jimmy Carr being replaced by a dog. 

All reasons to smile caused by 8 out of 10 cats do Countdown. 

And there was Prosecco too!

MoreSmiles 16:365

Smiles today came in all my classes at some point. Some funny answers, some very good questions, and some mangling of the Spanish language that led my native speaking Y6 and I to swiftly choose between wry smiling over crying in despair!

Coming home on a Thursday always makes me smile - no school on Fridays!

And the ball pit episode of TBBT is guaranteed to make the tiredest person giggle!

Today's photo is from this time last year. I miss Swiss shop displays. So amusing and quirky.

MoreSmiles 15:365

This has been a Focus Week at WPS with everyone studying Famous Artists. In Spanish we've been learning about Picasso, Dalí and Miró, and looking at colour in their paintings. This afternoon Year 3 had a go at imitating Miró - here are a couple of examples. I was very impressed.

An old friend coming round for coffee made me smile too.

And hugs from my boys who are both poorly put a big smile on my face. 

MoreSmiles 14:365

Kids do the funniest things!

This was last year at IPC - Benjamin inside the drum kit case, zipped in by his brother.

Some very earnest Y3s today made me smile with their attempts to help me, and the 'creative'  spelling of some Y5s amused me no end.

GBBO does Sport Relief was on and made me smile as always, this time mainly because I could bake a better cake than most of the contestants!

MoreSmiles 13:365

Thanks to Viv for sharing this with me today, thus doing as advised on the calendar!

Two parcels waiting for me at work - I love parcels!
Some good conversations with colleagues.
I managed to get through the day at school without using my 'angry' voice, just my 'cross' one when Y5 were soooo fussy!
I finally managed to get into the Google Hangout that I wanted to attend.

TGBBO hadn't finished when my meeting ended so I got to see Johnny Vaughan discover how to use the oven properly on Day 2, having grilled (by accident) biscuits and a tarte tatin the previous day!!

And I'm lying in a hot bath writing this, considering why exactly I was planning science lessons in my sleep at 3am last night/this morning, particularly as they had nothing to do with space (which would make some sense as I am actually teaching that sometimes this term.) 

All sources of smiles

MoreSmiles 12:365

Another picture from yesterday as it's one of John's. 

"Isaac atop hillock in a muddy squelchy field with moon and tree."

Today's smiles involved making biscuits, running (6 miles at nearing a decent pace) watching Sherlock and Liverpool winning 5-3 (and being on MOTD2 first so I'm not asleep and miss it!)

And clean sheets. I agree with the friend who put on FB the other week that they'd have clean linen every day if only they didn't have to wash and change it themselves!

MoreSmiles 11:365

A lovely afternoon in the Peak District. More mud than we'd bargained on and it was rather treacherous on places but I had fun. Not sure the boys did - they gave it 3/10, 1 mark each for the stepping stones, the sunset and the biscuit/flapjack near the end.

Welford Bear has been parcelled off to the first destination of his eTwinning trip around Europe; Wales! Hope it makes it back in June! Welford is on the right - Wellard on the left is keeping Jude smiling  as he's quite attached to Welford ;) 

MoreSmiles 10:365

It's a good day when you're up, dressed and have planned 2 days worth of lessons - and written it down! - before 9am. On your day off.

And then also run 5.2 miles, done a Core class and delivered a pile of books to school by 11.30am. 

So I went to IKEA and bought things to make my house smell good and things to amused pupils and get them talking (yes,more puppets!) IKEA makes me smile. 

And John came home from Zürich with gingerbread 8s for the boys (product promotion) and toothpaste named after a yeast infection. Both made me smile for different reasons!

MoreSmiles 9:365

It's Thursday! No teaching on Fridays although I have plenty of work to do!

It always makes me smile when children ask really interesting questions and we had lots of those in Y5 this morning related to space. Most of them I couldn't answer so hopefully we'll find out together this half term!

I did assembly this afternoon about new beginnings and told KS2 about my life sort of beginning again when I was 40 and moving to Switzerland. Choosing the images to use was a long task but the children  seemed to enjoy the pictures, especially the man polishing the traffic lights! I miss the idiosyncrasies of Switzerland sometimes...

MoreSmiles 8:365

Funny things of FB today; my cousin Lizzie posted this (well it were her husband actually but her text!)

"During swimming lesson Nate removed his swim shorts and gave them to his teacher  so embarrassed!! They are not allowed to put them back on because of child protection so he had to walk round the pool naked!! He DID NOT get sweets!!!! Lx"

I LOVE my family!

And this link shared by Simon about a Dad who draws art on his kids' sandwich bags.

Lots of smiles and laughter as Isaac recounted his Citizenship lesson; it seems that phrase of the lesson was 'I mean the condom, not the penis!'

Time for sleep now - that's worth a big smile!

MoreSmiles 7:365

A busy day and not much time for blogging. However busy though, there's always time for a smile!

A day that improved as it went on!

A good meeting. 

Coping with the projector breaking and a powercut that made everything crash. 

An exciting email from the British Council :)

A report completed. 

A presentation prepared. 

Glasses adjusted. 

My first run registered for #jantastic

MoreSmiles 6:365

Back to school today. Smiles grew stronger gradually as everyone woke up...

Big smiles on the faces of 5TC as two if them tried to eat "las uvas de la suerte" to the chimes of the clock in the Puerta de Sol in Madrid. And once they'd finished - and succeeded, they smiled too! There ended a day of explaining El Día de Reyes! 

Other big smile was on returning home to discover Isaac had scored full marks in a German GCSE assessment. 

MoreSmiles 5:365

Having not slept much last night and having to take down all the decorations and twinkly lights, I've been grateful today for cups of tea and kind words.

A hilarious conversation on Twitter about Tshirts, fashion and which colour suits which person made for light relief this afternoon, and a run cleared my head.

And this little lady (beautiful daughter of my stunningly beautiful goddaughter) put a huge smile on my face. Just the cutest in the panda suit we bought for her :)

Now I'm switching off and watching Sherlock. Night!

MoreSmiles 4:365

This made me smile, in fact positively beam! I love it! Thank you @Ideas_Factory - you are so clever and very kind! All because I admired some other spoof stamps he'd made and said I'd like one of them(meaning the stamps he'd made not my own!)  Not sure about a legend but I try my best! 

It's been a busy day with trips to fetch parcels, have coffee and visit the optician amongst other things. A new top in the Debenhams sale made me happy, as did a tasty toasted teacake. Finally submitting a form over which I've been slaving elicited a huge smile. Jude parading in his new PJs was very funny, as were Mr Mitchell and Mr Steer on Pointless (thank heavens they won!)

And I'm now rather engrossed in The Bridge which, although not making me smile at the content, is pleasing as I miss Borgen!

More Smiles 3:365

Jude is currently making me smile a lot with his desperation for the ginger cake to cool down! I might let him out of his misery soon ;)

It has rained for much of the day and I've spent far too long on the process of filling in a form. However, there's plenty that has made me smile too!

Kind friends who encourage me when I'm in need of help.
A 'Tea pixie' who insists on making a cup of tea then forgets to make it.
Funny posts on FB with which I can identify - misspelt names (mispronounced and/or shortened without permission!), yummy food and tales of trying to fairly share chocolate - Thanks Euan, Sim and Janet!
A BBC Four programme about Don Black that meant that I could indulge in 90 minutes of his songs sung by a variety of people.
The shower after a run in the freezing wind and rain.
My mad sister, brother in law and nephew on the way to a Harry Potter party - and the idea of dressing Bob up as a mandrake, even if not carried out, was a slice of absolute genius as anyone who knows Bob would understand!

And, the look on Jude's face when I did let him have a slice of cake :)

MoreSmiles 2:365

A lovely day with my sister's family today.

Lots of snuggles with Bob who used me as a pillow and, once he was convinced that "grangra" wasn't coming, kept turning to me and saying my name. Later, I was granted the ultimate accolade of having my arm sniffed and eliciting "mmmm" from him!

Meanwhile, "the terrible trio" continued shooting their film which is set to rival Lord of the Rings in length of time taken to complete. I'm not sure what the other inhabitants of the courtyard thought about the oddly clad children brandishing wooden weaponry not to mention the adult in cycling shorts and smoking jacket.

Here's Jude sporting a fine head of hair. Even more unruly than his own barnet!

The chilli chocolate challenge was taken by all of us after lunch. Jude was rendered speechless by a sliver of the hottest one; Isaac hoovered up the remains of all our chocolates! I was fine after the first which disabled all sensation in my mouth. (Not sure Crabbies is the best drink to cool the mouth...)

Whilst visiting the doctors isn't usually a reason to smile, it was good to see lovely Dr D who I've missed whilst in Switzerland. Always greets you with a smile and shows interest in your life - as well as dealing with your ailments obviously! 

And I'm reading Oops by Hywel Bennett. Making me think but also smile a lot!

MoreSmiles 1:365

A smiley cake to start 2014 courtesy of my friend Jamie. He spent months trying to get a mention on Smiles365 and I made him wait (which made me smile like a naughty pixie!) A lesson in perseverance! 

Also making me smile today is http://eyebombing.com courtesy of Dom McG. I may have to join in; just need some googley eyes! 

Here's an example.

And then there was watching The Croods with the boys. Not the best film ever but some amusing parts! 

I discovered that I had run further than the distance between my two homes last year (40 odd miles to spare!); I actually ran about as far as here to Copenhagen or exactly Vaduz in Liechtenstein.

Finally, it's good to know that others like my idea. Good luck @dimchurch!

Welcome to MoreSmiles365

Welcome to 2014 and MoreSmiles365.

Having considered what challenge to undertake this year, I felt that continuing to focus on the good things in life was important to me and, possibly more importantly, to others so that's what I'll do!

Even on the darkest days, there are smiles to be found somewhere if you just look for them. And if you can't find one, I'll let you have one of mine. You can return the smile one day when I need one.

Lisa xx