The Georgous

The idea that watching too much television is bad for children has been around for decades and if you have children you would probably have read about one of the many studies expounding the evils of children watching television. That said, it is an amazing baby sitter and the ability to keep a child quiet for a significant amount of time simply by turning on the television is without a doubt one of it’s many appeals.

Have you ever wondered though what it might be like to ‘unplug’, to live without ‘live’ television at home?

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Today, for the first time since starting school in September 2010, Georgia actually walked in to her classroom without clinging on to me or whining! What a breakthrough!

The Secret: Her very own Star Book…read more about it here.

But for now, Well done Georgia!!!

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Maths with Mrs Wall.

Mrs Wall is the Maths Co-ordinator for Georgia’s school.

On our way home from school, after a long first week back to school, we were making plans for our weekend when we met Mrs Wall leaving school.

“Oh, has Georgia told you, we had extra lessons today?” she said.

“No…” this had certainly piqued my interest.

“Oh, she’ll tell you more about it, I’m sure,” Mrs Wall added walking off.

Thankfully, she did turn around and say, “Georgia came to my Maths sessions and we did some Maths together”.

It turns out, Georgia is one of two children, in her class to be sent to Mrs Wall to ‘do Maths’. The other children are apparently from the year above. And when asked what she actually did in those sessions? Played games!

Sounds like fun…Way to go G!

What an acheivement!

On the evening of the second day of this year (2011), we were travelling back along the M4 from Cardiff heading East when we saw the traffic alerts signs displaying “Animals in Road”. Now this is quite interesting because in all our years of travelling along the M4, we have never come across a message like this…

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… Christmas tree went up 
… presents started gathering under it
… the snow came and stayed for a while (beautiful but oh-so-cold at -6 degrees!)
… angel Georgia spoke her lines “…and we thank you all for sharing in our very special nativity” perfectly
… the last day of term came
… the snow that had not really melted, came some more  (I suppose we technically got snowed in when a door would not open – thankfully we have two – doors that is) 
… the presents hiding under the bed, managed to get dressed in some wrapping paper to join the other presents under the tree
… Christmas eve came, stockings were put up (unfortunately Santa was not welcome 😉
… friends came over for food food and more food
… New Years Eve arrived!
… and then New Years Day! 
… Welcome 2011!

I know it’s rather belated but Have a wonderful Year ahead everyone!

Santa Claus

Georgia recently asked me this and I had to hesitate for a minute to contemplate. It was not that I did not want to disappoint her by telling her that Santa Claus did not exist, it was what I should tell her after I told her the TRUTH that Santa Claus is just a dressed up man.

Before you report me to Social Services for depriving my daughter a wondrous magical childhood, let me explain….

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Hurrah!
I would like to imagine that I will be able to sleep till 8 every morning…somehow I doubt it!

Have a good break everyone!

I found out today that my friend Rosa’s little baby Isaac who was born prematurely has passed away.

I have not seen or spoken to R for years and years and we have only just connected through Facebook again. It was also on Facebook that I saw her first photos of baby Isaac; the same place I posted my congratulations and where I also read that Rosa had lost baby Isaac.

There seems to be some disconnect with all things happening as is usually the case when news is so constant, immediate and very virtual. The fact that we are 6000 miles away from each other, probably explains a lot.

Still as I thought of Rosa, I realise how grateful I should be. We have been have challenging times with Georgia recently. She is without a doubt a very bright, happy child, yet she is equally strong willed and stubborn. She knows what she wants and when she wants it, and it often feels as if we are constantly being dictated to by a 4 year old (although I’m sure it’s not entirely true!).

So today and for everyday moving forward, I will remember to hold my family a little closer and tell them that I love them.

Rest well sweet Isaac.

Our love, thoughts and prayers to you and your family Rosa.

Since Georgia started at school I’ve tried to make an effort to contribute to school events when I can.

So when it came to the turn of the Reception class to hold a cake sale I knew that I was going to contribute what I hadn’t decided was what that contribution would be or whether I would cheat and buy it from the shop (!)

And so I kept thinking and thinking… And I spent so long thinking that on the day of the cake sale I still hadn’t decided. Worse still there were so many things on my to do list that day that once the computer was on time just flew by and Finally at 1pm… I knew I had to decide the cake sale was starting at 3!

The toss up was between muffins – quick and easy or profiteroles which for some bizarre reason I absolutely love making apart from the slight challenge of not having cream to fill the profiteroles!

So there it was, I managed to make 18 profiteroles in an hour DH kindly got the cream from the local shop.

I’ll have to admit making profiteroles under pressure wasn’t easy the first batch of mix didn’t turn out right it was like pancake mixture instead of the firmer texture it should have been so thankfully I had enough of everything to make another batch!

They smelt so so yummy but that’s all I had … Smells 🙂 it was tempting to buy some back from the cake sale but Georgia isn’t a fan of profiteroles and she did the choosing.
So we went to the cake sale with …

Close up they looked like…

And we came home with …

All in a days work 🙂