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Taking photos whilst cycling: not very sensible but wasn't stopping and didn't want to waste the view. I did draw the line at taking one when I was 'swooping' down the hill back to the path by the stream. 

A bike ride in the evening does wonders to blow away the cares of the day. As does WhatsApp-ing with exchange boy, and cuddling sore knee boy. 

And this Algeria vs Germany football match is rather entertaining. Some wonderful moments like Müller falling over mid set piece and great goal keeping from the Algerian goalie. 

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I caused great amusement to Robert today for some reason. I suspect he thinks that I'm some relation of Mr Tumble although my sister thinks I remind him of his 'diddlydee' that wobbles and sings (thanks Jules - and happy birthday!)

Throwing grapes at me seemed to cause the most hilarity, although covering my face with my hair was pretty close! 

Good to talk to Isaac (and MoMo) via Skype. He seems to be having a great time in Germany. Just hope the decorators finish his room before he gets back!

And lovely to have a family lunch at Mum's too. 

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No prizes for guessing what made me smile today - I went for a run!

And I bought a new lunchbox. 

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Nothing like a small black and white monkey wrapped up in a blue 'manky' to make me smile!

Other smiles:

Decorators who think my name is Louise. 

Discussing cocktails on Twitter. 

Time spent with Jude.
Reading in bed.

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Proud Mummy as Jude won prizes at Plantsbrook presentation evening. Well done Jude!

Good to see several ex-WCPS pupils receiving awards too.

Dinner in also made me smile, as did tales from Isaac in Germany of mad locals honking their horns after Germany's won this evening! 

Have to say, as much as I dislike ITV football coverage, I do like the "Brazil" outro/intro. Very catchy!

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A Birchermüesli smile from Zoë!

Y4 liked rapping and singing Los días de la semana - just hope I didn't disturb the observation that I didn't know was taking place next door! 

Some of Y5 wrote excellent poems in Spanish about the seasons. Particularly impressed by A who has missed most of her Spanish this year. 

Dismantled Isaac's room so it can be decorated whilst he is away so he's camping on the floor tonight. 

And sunshine. That ways makes me smile!

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A blooming yellow rose. Took its time but it did bloom. Just glad it survived us being in Switzerland. The tenants didn't know it's not just any rose. It's very special. 

Other things:

A smile from a pupil at the end of a hard day is priceless. And M gave me a very lovely one. And another when I thanked her for the first!

Good news about Jude's band place. 

Spain finally won. 

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So many smiles today!

A butterfly seen on my laps of the lake. 

Playing PacMan and playing the drums with Haribo as controllers (and a MaKey MaKey)

A bottle of Coke that reminded me of my Grandad. 

And whilst I was certainly not smiling at being stranded in Burton on Trent, I did get a suntan waiting in the car park and smiled broadly when my cavalry arrived to rescue me. And they'd bought me some chilli squid :)

A great weekend n Nottingham with brilliant people. 

And now for preparing for the week ahead...

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Lots of smiles in Nottingham at the UK eTwinning Conference. My two presentations went well - I think - and I've had a good laugh with friends, new and old.

Selfies were order of the day - I'm pretty bad at them but here are a few that made me smile at their ineptness!

(there's an errant apostrophe - grrr!)

Amusing discussions today have included: 

Tattoos

Pride

Bread

Husbands' attitudes to exercise

Shopping

Dancing

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I'm in Nottingham and the sunset is beautiful.

I'm surrounded by friends.
Lots of smiling at the ridiculous selfies people are taking #etwilfie

A keynote and a conference opening done today - get me! ;)
Now for sleep and a new day tomorrow.

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Señor Brócoli was a hit today.

My observation went very well.

I finished the day smiling at Year 6 (always an achievement) although they made me cry in between (for good reasons though!)

John is home tomorrow.

The football did NOT make me smile. Again!

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Busy again this evening as another observation tomorrow. 

Today's observation went well as did my Spanish sing a long assembly which made me happy.

The sun was shining on the way home.

Tea was delicious.

I'll leave you with ... a chair that looks like a smile!

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Busy planning for an observation so short today.

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Proud mummy moments:

Isaac is taller than John.

Jude passed Grade 4 trumpet and is already plotting Grade 5. 

Isaac (finally) had his name mentioned in the newsletter as a prefect. 

#MFLTwitterati made me smile as they often do! 

Having fun playing with a new app called Diana that mixes two photos and applies effects to make a new image. These are Highland Cow + Dovedale. 

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At last - a football match about which I cared passionately going my way! 

The key is obviously leaving the house, going to church and having to follow in Twitter/FIFA app, leaving the boys in charge of cheering. 

Hopp Schwiiz!

Other smiles:
I should know after 20 years that I'm best to check that John has read the instructions re oven temperature when cooking. Roast duck became crispy duck...
Mango Monkey's homemade Fathers Day card, fashioned from toilet roll.
Jude trying on my shoes - and trying to walk in them.
The discovery that Snoop Dog is a week younger than me leading to a comment "He looks really old. You're doing very well."

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As the Mum of a trumpet player, this amused. 

Busy day with lots going on. 

Cycle ride with John was very hilly. 

Smuggling gifts into the house. 

Watching football - it's so much better when you're not passionately supporting one side or the other. Although that comes later...

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Home grown strawberries - first three today, and they're delicious!

And red for Spain. 

The flag is up in the window, I'm wearing my shirt and ready to yell. Hoping I'll still be smiling at 10pm as Spain beat The Netherlands (not the Lebanon as Jude's classmate thought!)

¡Venga la Furia Roja!

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The World Cup has started! Whoop!
Just hope I can keep up with it all given the busy-ness of the next two weeks.
Love these world cup dogs!

I enjoyed the Great Fire of London workshop with Year 2 this morning, even if my participation was interrupted by dealing with 'a little accident.'
And Year 5 were quite on the ball too.

Good ride in the park after work - nice to enjoy the sunshine after gazing out of the window at it all day, and dealing with hot children after they'd run around all lunchtime.

Looking forward to 'a day off' tomorrow!

PS I think the dogs could've done a better refereeing job...

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A couple of Y3 boys were in hysterics in my Spanish lesson.

I asked them why. 

They couldn't tell me as they were giggling too much. 

I asked if I'd done something funny. 

They nodded.

When they finally managed to speak they cleared up the issue. 

"You said 'bottom'!"

And that made me smile! 

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Summer holiday in Scotland booked. Hurrah! 

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Sunshine. 

Being called "mum" twice by pupils. 

Realising that I hadn't mentioned a certain pupil's name once during the 30 minutes before and after break -and, on congratulating him, being asked "is that a record?" It certainly was and a huge achievement for him. 

A head clearing bike ride after making the mistake of watching Midlands Today. 

The boys' continuing obsession with puzzle apps. 

And the typical Swiss response to World Cup related noise. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10885026/World-Cup-2014-Swiss-police-allow-celebrating-but-only-for-an-hour.html

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Quick family cycle to Newhall Mill for a cup of tea this afternoon. We managed to avoid the spots of rain as we were in the cafe buying our drinks and emerged to drink them in bright subshine. 

An inspection of the vegetable patch and a bag of flour later, it was back home before it poured!

Other highlights:

Jude's group at BB had made a Lego animation of Joshua for the service this morning. Very good!

I made crumble for tea and it was enjoyed by nearly all of us. 

Soccer aid was amusing - especially Olly Murs being tackled by Jose Mourinho. 

A panic over the participants in the World Cup - Iran and Belgium are in contrary to the PPT I'd downloaded! Phew!

Isaac and Jude competing to complete the questions in an app, and then promptly embarking on another quiz app!

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Rodents on turntable and a guinea pig who aspires to be a turtle - lots of smiles to start the day as I watched these videos with Jude this morning. 

IKEA this afternoon provided smiles as I was once more inspired in the children's department. (Blog post on ¡Vámonos! to follow tomorrow) 

And I caused mass embarrassment by trying on a very natty pink rain poncho for size. When Jude's frantic but forceful muttering "Take it off NOW!" failed to work, Isaac advised "Walk away - pretend we don't know her."  

And then the boys complained that IKEA in Wednesbury isn't as good as the one in Dietlikon as "there's not enough room to play on the trolleys in the warehouse area."

Another cycle ride this evening, and not too many people walking in the Country Valley Park so I managed to go at a fair pace. I've set myself a target of 100 miles by the end of July. I think I need to amend this however as I've already done 12 in the last two days...

Finally, calls for Glenn Hoddle to reprise Diamond Lights in the storm stoppage at the England vs Honduras match had me chuckling!

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Discharged by the Physio, I can't run until July but I can cycle so that is what I shall do.

This afternoon I went off into Sutton Park. It's beautiful.

Animal count - 

1 squirrel

4 rabbits 

1 small pheasant

15 dogs

Multiple ducks, 4 swans and several geese

And evidence of cows but no actual cow sightings

The roads need resurfacing though. My derrière is missing Swiss roads ;) I fear the only answer may be Davina's "fanny fudge" :D

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My special rose bush, bought on the day we said #goodbyetoBev, has flowered and smells delightful. 

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Thanks to Kirsty for sending me this. Very funny!

A trying day but looking at the positives -

I was hugged several times today by pupils.

I managed to make a Y3 smile - you may think this unremarkable but this lad (who is a lovely kid) rarely changes his deadpan expression.

Some lads saw me in the corridor and starting pumping their fists in delight when they realised that I was there and that they had Spanish.

And, biggest smile of all, it's so good to be appreciated!

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Two Year 5 girls came up to me in the middle of an afternoon that was turning out to be very trying and awarded me this sticker for being a great teacher.
Nearly cried!

A lad in Year 3 came up to me in the corridor and asked when I was doing assembly next. I said I didn't know to which he replied "But you do assemblies on Thursdays and I like your assemblies. I've missed them!"
Again, welled up.

And a lad in Year 4 stunned me with his attention and participation in Spanish today. He's normally more off than on task and quite cheeky but today was the first to show he understood my instructions by pointing to his head, feet, stomach and so on. I commented on it and asked what had changed. He said "well, only my hair." I have decided that we shall all have hair like T next week ;)

So on the balance of things, these incidents far outweigh belligerent photocopiers, tiredness and a sore foot!

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Back to work today.

Year 3 were pleased to see me as were most of Year 4 and 5. I even got a few hugs.

Very tired now but the first day has been survived!

Smile of the day was watching a neurosurgeon giving a "bunged up" fellow desert islander an enema with a bit of hosepipe on The Island. In fact we guffawed! That's what comes of having two adolescent boys!

On a separate note I discovered that there was a man called Samuel Smiles who wrote self help books in Victorian times. Here's some of his wisdom!

(picture by Zerodean)

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Spent most of the day trying to put going back to work to the back of my mind so that meant lots of smiles. 

I couldn't do the Fun Run this year but I did go to cheer at the start and had to smile as I saw smurfs, fairies and a team of whoopie cushions run past! 

I managed to mow the lawn without breaking anything. I did avoid the bit that broke me though ;)

Then I pulled up all the dead bluebell heads. 

Lunch was yummy, and much appreciated by my nephew who also liked my band bracelets. 

Another cycle ride made me feel less lardy, and I survived Day1 of the 30 day abs challenge. 

If/when tomorrow gets stressful, I shall think of sitting in glorious sunshine atop San Salvatore with a glass of Prosecco. 

Or perhaps I'll think about this cartoon.