LisasMiles 16:365

A bright crisp morning; perfect for a run - 5.4 miles. And I did enjoy this morning's run. Far more than last Friday when it was out and back, and the wind was howling!

Jude's trainers arrived much to his delight.
I made it to school to retrieve my folder just in time before the building was locked up for the weekend.
Tea was delicious.
John came back from Budapest.

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. 

MoreSmiles 44:365

A beautiful sunrise.

Isaac made lamb koftas for dinner - delicious!

I enjoyed teaching ICT just about all day even when I was teaching Spanish! And I enjoyed the smiles on children's faces; I know something's going right if there are smiles even when it's tricky.

Hula hooping in my assembly made me smile - I wasn't very good but a Year 4 boy was brilliant!

Looking forward to watching Les Mis on the way home from York tomorrow.

And John came home - whoop!!

MoreSmiles 8:365

Funny things of FB today; my cousin Lizzie posted this (well it were her husband actually but her text!)

"During swimming lesson Nate removed his swim shorts and gave them to his teacher  so embarrassed!! They are not allowed to put them back on because of child protection so he had to walk round the pool naked!! He DID NOT get sweets!!!! Lx"

I LOVE my family!

And this link shared by Simon about a Dad who draws art on his kids' sandwich bags.

Lots of smiles and laughter as Isaac recounted his Citizenship lesson; it seems that phrase of the lesson was 'I mean the condom, not the penis!'

Time for sleep now - that's worth a big smile!

More Smiles 3:365

Jude is currently making me smile a lot with his desperation for the ginger cake to cool down! I might let him out of his misery soon ;)

It has rained for much of the day and I've spent far too long on the process of filling in a form. However, there's plenty that has made me smile too!

Kind friends who encourage me when I'm in need of help.
A 'Tea pixie' who insists on making a cup of tea then forgets to make it.
Funny posts on FB with which I can identify - misspelt names (mispronounced and/or shortened without permission!), yummy food and tales of trying to fairly share chocolate - Thanks Euan, Sim and Janet!
A BBC Four programme about Don Black that meant that I could indulge in 90 minutes of his songs sung by a variety of people.
The shower after a run in the freezing wind and rain.
My mad sister, brother in law and nephew on the way to a Harry Potter party - and the idea of dressing Bob up as a mandrake, even if not carried out, was a slice of absolute genius as anyone who knows Bob would understand!

And, the look on Jude's face when I did let him have a slice of cake :)

Smiles 365:365

It's been a year of two halves - Swiss and English. Lots of smiles along the way - tears too or I wouldn't be human, but lots of smiles and laughs.

Happy New Year to you all and thank you to my lovely boys for providing so many of the smiles, many unrecorded. 

I'll leave you with some of my favourite pictures from this year. But I'll be back tomorrow, by popular demand, with ...

MoreSmiles365!

And here's the link to all the photos from the year!

Smiles 348:365

Biscuits and my little boy. Big smiles!

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Thank you to the scary Skeleton Pirate for the lovely cakes. 

John returned from Zürich with suitcase full of iced tea, Apfel Farmer bars and Kurbissuppe. 

And I spent an amusing hour looking out through old Earnshaw newsletters and the 1993-4 Earnshaw yearbook. 

Cue picture of "Jesús and his (muddy) disciples" otherwise known as the International inter-wing football team - I'm bottom right!

And evidence that my ability to 'unintentionally say things that could be misinterpreted' is longstanding.

Smiles 223:365

Be grateful. Be thankful.

That was the message at church today. And I am. There's always something for which I can be thankful even when life is "rubbish" (also part of the sermon!)

Beautiful places that hold precious memories like Amden. 

Special people who make me smile - just thinking of them is enough!

Even little things like being able to drink Crabbies, eat toasted teacakes and have a glass of fresh skimmed milk!

For these things and many more, I am very thankful!

Smiles 192:365

 This time last year I was in England, having fun on a bouncy castle - in between rain breaks! Great fun for all that as usual ended up with very boisterous play, delighting Robert. Look at his smile!

Smiles today included:

sunshine

scones and jam

a good book

cuddles with my boys

the view over Winti when I was running

BBQ leftovers

Smiles 124:365

John made me smile whilst we were making dinner by arranging the vegetables to make traffic lights! And then Jude starting giving advice on improving the arrangement and told me to look at it from above. So I did. What do you think?

Jude came back from a shopping trip full of stories of how he threw a tennis ball at a target and had a marshmallow teacake catapulted at him 'very quickly because my ball hit so hard!'
Isaac made me smile trying to choose a pair of scissors in Wachter - he's left-handed and is unused to having to choose such things!
And Mark Cavendish made me smile by winning the opening stage of the Giro de Italia, and promptly swearing on live TV when his earpiece wouldn't do what it was supposed to do. He looked very sheepish and apologised immediately, then got on with the interview.

And this is genius! I even know how to say at least half of these in German!

Say cheese in other languages
In Greek you say Πες τυρί! (Pes tyrí!) which means Say cheese.

Smiles 39:365

I flew to England today :0)

De-icing the plane prior to take off amused me, especially when the man sprayed the wings with green gunk. And he saw me smiling and winked!

Afternoon tea in M&S was another "huge smile" event, especially as it cost me 10p thanks to reward vouchers.

And Annalise's 'pint of chips' was just one of the many smiles this evening as I squealed and hugged my lovely lovely MFL friends, old and new, in Cenos over Crabbies and fish and chips!!!

Smiles in other languages
In Mandarin (for Simone) - 微笑