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A (relative) lie in and leisurely start to the day as I was on a course. 

The bunting in Western Arcade made me smile - very cheerful. I shouldn't have been walking that way but my sense of direction once more let me down! Oh well! 

The course was brilliant - as expected ;) - great to see Clare too. 

And although the day ended with lots of to-ing and fro-ing, I was smiling as Jude's parents' evening only confirmed what we already knew - he's a funny clever happy chap :)

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Happy birthday to my big boy Isaac who is 15 today! 

Smiley faces on frosty cars...

The Library of Birmingham on the way back from Nandos...

and (well) toasted marshmallows in the garden.

And now I need to start thinking about next year's challenge...

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Marching around the classroom teaching Year 5 the Alphabet rap today and I had a flashback to my first day at WCPS. The Head walked in to find me barefoot leading 30 children around the room chanting in Spanish. I recall him asking if he needed to remove his shoes to join in and replying that we were trying not to make too much noise!
Also had fun with the oddly named GIMP editing or 'playing with' photos as the children put it.

And, having learned about the bell, the pipe, the valves and the mouthpiece, Year 4 and I were finally let loose on the cornets today. The looks of amazement as we heard our first notes were brilliant!

The kids took their cornets home- I've just got a mouthpiece!

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Bill Bailey.

Genius. 

That is all!

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Things that made me smile today -

Looking through photos of Switzerland in 2003 - "Jude and the apple" is an all time classic
Showing Jude how to make a Wordle  - was worth the persuasion as he liked it as did his French teacher although she wasn't sure about his inclusion of Klingon as a language!
Isaac and Jude volunteering to help at Holiday Club without any prompting.
Another run - in the sunshine - longer than the last and still no ill effects.
A wave of people offering to vouch for my speaking skills - made me feel all warm inside!
And John's picture of me at Library of Birmingham - I don't look too bad!

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I wasn't sure before I saw it in real life but I'm convinced now. The Library of Birmingham is a thing of beauty. We could have spent hours exploring but what we saw was very impressive. I'll certainly be back for more. (more pics on my Flickr feed)

Inside was good too...

And right downstairs, my boys made me smile by "Cycling a mile for Harry"(Moseley) on exercise bikes - and refusing to give up until they had fine their mile!

We then left for an "I've been paid" lunch - Jude wanted to try sushi (and had taken his own chopsticks!) and try it we did. I'm still full hours later. I had to smile at Isaac's attempts with chopsticks but he persevered! 

And finally, finally! I have a new phone. It is a sleek thing of beauty - and works too 😉