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Jude is happy with his pizza cutter. 

John has one too.

Jude is less impressed when he notes that John's is a better pizza cutter.

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A beautiful start to the day so I went out for a run. Following my new year plan to focus more on my surroundings, I stopped to take a photograph or two. If I hadn't stopped, I'd have missed seeing the heron (you can see him in the 2nd photo if you look carefully) 

A visit to the osteopath also made me smile - through the pain at times but it was rather satisfying! 

And then dinner with lovely Jamie. It's good to chat! 

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Daffodils in the rain. Perky little things, aren't they?

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I like going away to conferences but it's always good to come home to my boys, especially when there's curry with all the associated bits ready for me when I get it! No picture as I was hungry ;)

However, I do have a picture of 'smiling birds' that was shared with me on Facebook. Thanks Kathy.

And a rather tasty Leaning Tower of Profiteroles. 

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In Manchester for a two day conference in a hotel called Hayley with two double beds in a cavernous room!
And these 'healthy' snacks at break time.
Think it's going to fun...

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A Lindt Goldhase always brings smiles. 

As does breaking up for Easter! 

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This made me smile this morning! As did the sunshine, cooperation in Y3, the music playing in the hallway, cake in the staffroom AND after school to say goodbye to governors, a successful meeting and a hot bath. 

Bedtime beckons!

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It's nice to be appreciated, especially when you're least expecting it! 

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It's nice to be appreciated, especially when you're least expecting it! 

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Much smiling today as, thanks to a residential and 'Maths through PE', the y5 classes were half sized and we got to the end of the morning without falling out. Hurrah! 

Amused by a child who responded to the question 'What could a king do to show humility?' with 'Eat biscuits.' 

Had a pleasant afternoon too - Duke Ellington to start and the clarinet playing wasn't too painful ;)

And I've continued to enjoy listening to Mecano, prompted by a chat over dinner at Language World. 

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A conference with lots of lovely food and drink and little sleep is not ideal preparation for a race, but I like to think that the number of times I scaled the heights of the Herschel Building was good training. 

Seven Pools 10k this morning. I ran over three minutes faster than last year and it was a beautiful day. Glad I wasn't tested as I'm not sure if Prosecco could be classed as performance enhancing ;)

And then there was the alpaca on the motorbike. Life in our house is never ever boring! 

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Day 2 of Language World. 

More excellent sessions, more laughing (so much we cried at one point) more sketchnoting and more chatting to people. Going to miss them all tomorrow but it's good to be home with my boys who declared the Goethe Institut winners on the freebie front with their bicycle seat covers AND badges, although Pearson jelly beans were popular too. 

Special mention must be made of Steven Fawkes. Just thinking of him makes me smile - a legend, a phenomenon and a very funny bloke! 

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Language World day 1 was full of smiles. Meeting people, great sessions and lots of laughter.  

Also lots of sketchnoting with Clare Seccombe and I being dubbed 'the sketchnote sisters'

And then dinner at the LIFE centre watched over by some interesting bouncers...

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I'm in Newcastle - what a chandelier! 

No train trouble. 

Swim, jacuzzi, steam, plunge and sauna enjoyed. 

G&Ts with sparkling conversation.  

All smiles :)

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Earrings ready for Language World.
I survived a day of teaching grammar and leading a staff meeting pretty much unscathed.
Tired now though. And still missing Wolf Hall! 

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Preparing the staff meeting for tomorrow and this favourite poster made me smile.

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We've had new flooring fitted today in the breakfast room/kitchen. I came home from work to discover that John has got his priorities clear - he'd moved his Nespresso machine to the dining room. And got an extension lead out so that it would sit on the table.

Heaven forbid that he couldn't have two hourly espresso fix ;) 

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No lie in for me on Mothers Day. I ran Fradley 10K and as well as quite enjoying it, I smashed my PB. Big smiles. Jumping for joy! 

And, having changed in the back of the car, we made it to Jude's concert at the Adrian Boult Hall in the middle of Birmingham just in time to hear the WCPS choir open the show and Plantsbrook Brass Ensemble finally ah the first half. 

Biggest smiles on Mothers Day for Team Lisibo - John and Isaac standing in the cold watching me run and Jude playing his trumpet for me when he's tired. Plus cups of tea, flowers and cuddly toys and lots of hugs. Love my boys xxx

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Today's reasons to smile :

More sunshine. 

A tidying spree. 

A blog post. 

Replenishing the cashew nut and wasabi pea stocks. 

Lots of hydrating. 

Rugby. 

Curry. 

More hydrating. 

A (very) late night trip to Tesco for a black shirt (that smile was through gritted teeth!)

Football in bed. Watching not playing. 

The question is, does this wrapping refer to the flowers it was wrapping or the recipient of the flowers?? 

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A trip to the hairdressers is always a treat. I wish I could afford to go every time my hair needs washing as that's my favourite part!
The day began with a run in the pouring rain. Absolutely soaked to the skin, I left a lovely wet patch on the car seat. Good job I was the only one driving today as John would not have appreciated it!
And a trip to GoOutdoors yielded a new raincoat and some energy beans for Fradley on Sunday.

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Teaching Y2 flamenco arms this morning was preferable to trying to help them work out change in Maths.
I've enjoyed the sunshine this week and have my eyes on the daffodils growing in the pots outside. Nearly open...

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Once more, the Spanish word for a pencil sharpener had a class dancing! Never fails!

A Y6 lad who never normally speaks to me has come to life over the last two weeks. We've being learning parts of the face and I've been drawing faces on the IWB/flipchart. I draw faces like a small child (can't be good at everything!) and this child has asked me if he can finish my pictures at the end of the lesson. I said yes last week as he asked so politely and this week he asked again. He made him happy and it improved my drawings no end! I really should have taken a picture of it but the ever enthusiastic 'eco monitor' switched off the IWB before I had a chance!

So here's one I've just drawn (please bear in mind that we were learning adjectives of size and shape hence the odd proportions!) Now you can see why I need help ;)

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Today, a poem.

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This morning I posed the following as the SODA (start of the day activity) for Y5 (yes, #mfltwitterati *that* Y5!):

"Yesterday was International Women's Day. Which woman/women inspire you and why?"

One girl mentioned the suffragettes. It was lovely to hear several children say their Mum. And then one child said "Mrs Stevens because she's Spanish and  English at the same time." Wasn't expecting that but I was very touched. A good start to Monday morning! 

And whilst the day wasn't all smiles, the thought that at least three children were inspired by language learning kept me going. (Another child presented me with her self imposed homework and a Y3 asked me if we talk French at lunchtime on Wednesday as she was on a trip when we normally have our little conversations) 

And I posted my 45,000th tweet. https://twitter.com/lisibo/status/575049461585604608

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Last week, cupcakes. This week, gingerbread cows and dinosaurs. Delicious; particularly this special chap!

And very proud of Jude and his presentation slides! 

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Sunshine!

Washing drying on the line. Smells great. 

Buds on trees. 

Ice cream from the crêperie. 

A new top from SeaSalt. 

'Richard Fledermaus' piano music. 

Writing several blogposts. 

Being described as a phenomenon and a legend. 

A delightful cycle ride through the CVP (my phone battery died so no pictures)

Dark chocolate and Prosecco :)

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A beautiful day - and the twins chose today for efforts. I thought I was exhausted and wouldn't manage but I discovered a need for speed and ended up running quite fast at times including up hills and steep ones at that, mostly because I was being yelled at but sometimes just because I wanted to do it. I know. I'm bonkers!

And look at the lovely blue sky as we ran! 

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World Book Day today and I went to school dressed as... Well, it depended on who asked. I was Scout from To kill a mockingbird (teachers), Fern from Charlotte's Web (KS2) and Farmer Brown from Isaac and Jude's favourite childhood book, Click Clack Moo; Cows that type. 

A fun day of reading and book activities. And I do like going to school in my dungarees and plaits! 

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A peaceful day with very little teaching thanks to interviews and trips, only spoilt by some "drains" after school. Glad to be home with my lovely boys who make everything OK again.

I went outside to do my marking this afternoon at school as the sun was shining. It was very tranquil apart from sudden gusts of wind which caught my marking. After chasing three separate pieces of marking across the playground, the final straw was when one piece got caught on a particularly rogue gust and looped over the roof of the green bus settling in the cage. I went inside at that point. 

The moon was beautiful this evening with a halo of colour around it.

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This made me smile today just when I needed it. Too many weasels of despair.

As did talking to an old colleague who had excellent news and who quite often makes me smile with her antics.

And the care of an actual colleague who saw I wasn't feeling on form and watched out for me all day.

Plus coming home to cuddles from my boys made it all seem a little better.

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Love my flowers from John to welcome me home.

And opening my calendar to see Welsh reminded me of my new Welsh friends from the weekend, and that made me smile. 

All the sketchnotes of yesterday's keynote also made me smile as I felt a bit down given my tiredness and not having my MFL mates with me to keep me going. Time to live what I said yesterday abc keep going even when things go pear shaped! 

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A dastardly difficult journey home will not dampen my joy after a great weekend culminating in a lovely response to my keynote and this brilliant sketchnote lisibo - if only I were that gorgeous!

Although my shoes were very special! 

Sleep calls!