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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! 

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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. 

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The first LisasMiles post! When I'm running this year I've decided to make an effort to enjoy my surroundings more, and to pause to take photographs. I made a start yesterday, but that was before the run not during it. Today I stopped whilst out running, not because I was tired or needed a break, but because I wanted to capture the view. The park is so lovely, even on a cold misty day!

In other smiley news, Jude correctly counted the number of times that the word 'follow' appeared on the screen at church during the service this morning, and won a banana. He was pleased to win but not so pleased with the prize as the 'advertised' prize was Smarties! Love his face! 

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Today's photo is courtesy of Kathy who saw it in a window in Chipping Camden. Thanks! 

And then there was Jude's pizza made in Food Tech - perfect if you don't like cheese!

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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! 

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Decorated biscuits by Jude. 

Sunshine in the garden.

And beautiful pictures of Melbourne as John starts the looooong journey home. 

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My boy playing his trumpet in his orchestra concert. They were very good! I unfortunately didn't think to record the audio until towards the end. But here are two "Boos" for you to get the idea.  

http://audioboo.fm/boos/2159868-one-moment-in-time

http://audioboo.fm/boos/2159659-abba-gold

It was nice to actually be able to see him; he's normally either too far away or hidden behind someone tall!

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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

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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. 

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Dinner at The Cock Inn.  That made me smile - delicious and no washing up! 

Particularly enjoyed the Camembert starter.

I did think about howuch fun it'd be to swing off this! 

Other smiles included Jude's French test that I've already shared on Twitter and FB, Languages Today arriving and reading in the sunshine. 

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Jude made scones at school. 

Delicious! 

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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. 

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John is home! :0)

And he bought me some beautiful flowers. They smell delightful too. 

Funny comments of the day:

"You can switch to HD if you want, Jude, but it won't improve the quality of the acts!" 

"I've never heard the word 'deluge' before"

The long running saga of the glass. 

And I smiled broadly at the reaction of the Norwich fans who, in response to chants of "you're going down" from MUFC fans, shouted "Liverpool!" and sang "You'll never walk alone". Class!

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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.

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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!'

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Huge smile as I went to the hairdressers and I have clean, cut, coloured hair. Hurrah! Thank you Simon!
Jude finally surfaced around 11am loping bleary eyed; the boy likes his sleep and getting to bed at 1.30am thanks to Eurostar didn't go down well! Good to have him back and give him a cuddle though.
More sunshine and reading in the garden, and some tidying too; the dining room needs reclaiming from under piles of school stuff. A slow process as I can't carry much (even in a shoulder bag/rucksack) without over balancing but it'll get done eventually.

PS fancy a 'Happy' challenge?

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"Never stop smiling even when you're sad as you never know who might fall in love with your smile." Gabriel García Márquez

An airboot rather than a plaster cast. 

A trip to the garden centre. 

And my little boy is coming home (although Eurostar nearly cocked up that one!)

:0)

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Smile 1 - I slept last night.
Smile 2 - Jude has arrived safely in Belgium.
Smile 3 - I haven't fallen over (yet) on my crutches.
Smile 4 - I've done lots of blogging and not been too bored today.
Smile 5 - flowers from John.
Smile 6 - lovely messages on Twitter and Facebook about my predicament.
Smile 7 - a parcel with new things including unifix cubes

Smile 8 - a new series of Only Connect

Smile 9 - a small monkey in a tabard keeping me company

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Jude had another concert tonight. Absolutely brilliant!

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

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A busy day involving coffee in the park, roast lunch to cook and eat, delivering Jude to Birmingham, coming home with shopping on the way back, a quick cuppa and back to Birmingham for Jude's concert this evening. They were brilliant - and Jude had a solo that he hadn't told us about!