LisaSmiles 13:365

How much fun can you have with the packaging from a shoe rack? Judge for yourself! #pillowbubblewrap #bigbox

Then there was the eagerness to write sentences in Spanish demonstrated by y6 who wanted to make rows of houses and knew they couldn't until they'd done the writing. And, even better, how arming y6 with scissors can, even with clear instructions, be a recipe for paper carnage! 

LisaSmiles 10:365

We went out for an 'we survived the first week back' meal this evening. 

A little umbrella in my dessert made me smile - so twee! 

I stuck two in my hair and Isaac told me I looked "like some weird umbrella rabbit". 

When we left, Isaac got into the back of the car where Jude wanted to sit so, before Isaac even had time to make full contact with the seat, Jude cannonballed him over to the other side of the car, taking possession of the preferred seat. 

Earlier in the day I went for a bike ride, smiling at a cat, a mouse (or rat - it ran across the path too quickly and it was quite dark!) a fox, five dogs and three swans. 

And watching Would I lie to you? over lunch made us all laugh, especially Lee Mack and the spider, and David Mitchell and the goldfish. 

LisaSmiles 2:365

We've been doing some tidying today and came across Isaac's books from Nursery and Reception. We had a giggle at his pictures and wonky spelling and then I found this which made me smile and cry!

I love you too!

And some words of wisdom too. 

(In case you can't read the first piece, it says:

"My mummy likes to play games with me. We are playing snakas and ladders. I love Mummy so much that I waod like to cuddle her.")

MoreSmiles 137:365

John is home - hurrah! And he's bought me back 'something Aussie' - in fact several things.

Made me smile when he arrived back ahead of time and brought me a cup of tea in bed. Followed by Isaac who had made the cup of tea!

The boys were given koala bears and boomerangs. Lots of smiles this afternoon as they tried them out in the Country Valley Park. Initial efforts weren't overly impressive but they got the hang of it. And then Jude threw hos boomerang into a tree surrounded by dense undergrowth and stinging nettles. 30 minutes of searching armed with my crutches as beating sticks and boomerang was finally found. 

And that made us all smile! Lots! 

MoreSmiles 131:365

Balloons courtesy of John tomorrow in Melbourne. 

Delicious lunch at Mum's. 

Didn't get soaked in the way home. 

Helpful boys. 

Used up all my elastic bands on bracelets and various embellishments for cuddly animals!

In bed by 10 and watching TV feeling snoozy. 

Night x

MoreSmiles 130:365

I've succumbed to finding a new 'hobby' whilst I am off work and, inspired by Erszi, I decided to try making elastic band bracelets. Great fun. Not sure what I'll do with them all but I'm hatching a plan and have ordered lots more bands as I've run out already! And I need 'better colours' ;)

Watching Eurovision with the boys - and Twitter - was hilarious. We literally fell off our chairs at points.

And a sudden random shout of 'fertile pastures' whilst I was cooking made us all cry with laughter. 

MoreSmiles 117:365

I am a smiley person, it's true. But I can be a grumpy person too sometimes and this morning I was feeling very grumpy. And cross. And fed up. 

And things didn't improve much when Liverpool were beaten, Johnny Brownlee was beaten and Dan Martin fell with 100m to go in Liege-Baston-Liege. 

What made me smile again? 

We sang "Crown him with many crowns" at church, we sang the proper words and we sang my favourite verse about God being creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime. Anyone who knows me well knows that this is very important to me. And that includes our minister Donald who commented in it as I left church. 

Secondly I discovered the picture at the top in a post about iPad apps, made especially for me. Thanks Erzsi! Sorry it took me so long to see it!

Then I couldn't fail to smile at the prize Mark Cavendish received for wining the stage in the Tour of Turkey. He'll get very bunged up if he eats all of those...

And then there was this picture someone tweeted earlier. 

Most of all though it was realising, prompted by some tweets, that I have two lovely sons and a wonderful husband, and that means I'm very lucky. 

MoreSmiles 114:365

(Photo by Isaac) 

Bluebells (and a yellow weed I think!) by my swinging bench. Too dangerous to approach on crutches if I value my other foot so I'll wait until I can weight bear before having a closer look. 

Lovely tulips that I can see as John put them in front of the window! 

And finally John sent morning greetings from Mexico.

MoreSmiles 112:365

So, The Sound of Music is called Smiles and Tears in Spanish. Interesting!

John went to Canada - that didn't really make me smile, and nor did the doctor telling me that my ear (now blocked and deaf for a month) will get better by itself and to be patient. Humph! And, now I think about it, the ending of Endeavour was certainly not smile inducing.

However, this is a blog about smiles and today I smiled for the following reasons:
the boys looked so uncomfortable walking with me as I drove my Mum's electric wheelchair.
I went to the library and found/borrowed some good books
I managed to cook dinner standing on one leg
Jude and I found that we hadn't finished his huge pink meringue from Saturday and enjoyed it with raspberries and ice-cream.

MoreSmiles 111:365

Thanks to Kathy for this card sent via FB.  It made me smile! 

As did sushi for tea (although the 'walk' on crutches nearly did me in!) It wasn't the hopping leg; it's carrying the injured foot as that airboot weighs a tonne! Still, it'll keep my thigh toned even if my calf wastes away. 

An Isaac comment about duffle bags, thieves and Paddington Bear amused me  this evening, and I enjoyed Only Connect, especially as I knew that Lisa was an early Apple computer!

MoreSmiles 109:365

Today I discovered that, as comfortable as a wheelchair may be, I hate being pushed around. And, if momentarily vacated by the injured party, said wheelchair makes a great gaming chair fora  tired 12 year old!
A churros stand in Solihull made me smile - I'll be back next time there's a market for more! As did Jude's face as he tasted his 'ginger latte' - so ginger that it burnt the back of your mouth.  We'll stick to your juices next time, Joe!
Sunderland's win made me smile broadly as did Jose Mourinho's post match interview as he is something else!

And this time last year...

I miss Zumba - and 'the girls!'

MoreSmiles 100:365

Jude had another concert tonight. Absolutely brilliant!

A nice meal by the canal in Birmingham. And I've broken up for Easter. Yippee!!!!!!

MoreSmiles 95:365

Arrived home to meet Maurice, Isaac's German exchange friend. He's lovely. Looks like 'the boys' have had a great time in my absence and everyone is getting on very well.
And I have a present to unwrap too.

MoreSmiles 63:365

My pancakes obviously didn't look like these hence I didn't bother taking a photograph! They were however delicious.

We had a meeting about Isaac's German exchange this evening - that made me smile as Herr Götschel is a very amusing man!

And I got home in time to have a run before it got dark. Whoop!

MoreSmiles 61:365

It's the little things that make me smile, like Jude dancing or Isaac head butting a wall as he laughed at Jude dancing. Or singing Titanium in silly voices, or Jude's face as he saw the digestive advertisements with the kittens for the first time and his squealing as he saw the puppy version.

And I love our new wardrobe 'door' - so much better than the old ones that didn't fit when we moved in and fitted even less well 12 years later. And so much quieter to open. 

MoreSmiles 60:365

Spring has sprung. Let's hope it sticks around as I personally like the sunshine!

To escape the paint fumes, Isaac wrapped up in several jumpers and a hat and sat by the open back door. He then tried to watch TV from the garden but was thwarted by being unable to undo the window as there was no key and he couldn't hear. So he came in and sat on the window sill next to the other window that would open!

The ongoing adventures of Harold, Maude and friends recounted by Bev (who is stuck in hospital bless her) continue to amuse me, as did a discussion about how it would be do much better to be in hospital of your doctors were JD and Turk from Scrubs! 

Liverpool won and are now 2nd in the Premier League. 

The Fulham manager's glasses are rather amusing too. 

MoreSmiles 48:365

Not much to smile about when you can hardly move because your back is so sore and in spasm, and then you start vomiting.

However, my nephew Robert came to visit and greeted me with a smile and said "Li Li Liii sa" -and didn't mention 'Grangra' which makes a change. 

And Harry Isaac and Jude made yet another movie - always good for a laugh. 

Plus seeing my little sister is certainly smile inducing. 

Every cloud...

And Isaac left me this on my phone!

MoreSmiles 42:365

A big blue stripy puppet and I had great fun this afternoon with Y3, making them giggle and squeal as we 'helped' them write mini books. No mini book casualties today (But I did fold them all and use a template with a dotted line on it so it was a bit hard to go wrong when they cut the all important slit!)

Great mini books with many 'bichos' deciding to compete at the Olympics, go to the disco or fire themselves from a cannon after their bingeing!

Great enthusiasm from Y5 in their intensive Spanish lesson - I loved the way that they enjoyed every new challenge I gave them that veered away from the basic sentences, treating it as a great privilege.

And my boys are looking after me in my fragile state as I try to deal with extreme tiredness, an incessant headache and no John at home. Lots of hugs - much appreciated.

Early night I think so blogging will have to wait. Again :(

This time two years ago...

MoreSmiles 33:365

Good to be back in worship group, even if I did get hit over the head by an exuberant worshipping Barbara. Soon solved by removing my microphone from the stand and moving closer to Phil. Also meant I could read his large words ;)

And a very pleasing run on a sunny albeit cold afternoon. Having trouble breathing in the cold so I was very pleased with my average pace. Picture is the edge of the Country Valley Park as I sped past; that's flooding not a lake!

I knew Jude had a plan at lunchtime when he approached me with a smile on his face and eyelashes fluttering... sharing bags of crisps is not a problem for me, unlike John who ate an entire bag of M&S cheesy tasters all by himself.

Isaac's ability to balance his entire body in something akin to the lotus position on the tiny saddle of his bike is quite impressive and certainly causes a smile as I pass and wonder where the rest of his body has gone.

And John in cycling gear is always worth a smile ;)

Finally - this song is by someone I knew in youth group and last saw about 25 years ago! I like it - listen to the words (and they're below the video on Youtube too)

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.