Is she coming or going

I blogged last week that Clo was about to be home educated. Well, that's all changed again and she is glad to be back at school. I gave her a week off "sick" as she kept saying she wanted to be home educated again and we tried it out. She loved it but missed her friends and some of the clubs at school. I think she has now realised that the things she likes about school outweigh the bad things.

It is a nice school in many ways but they do expect a lot of homework. Clo is not so keen on homework. I'm not a believer in homework for homework's sake myself and find it hard to encourage her to do some of the tasks set.

getting arty again

In England we had a fabulous big consevatory that the kids had named their art room. It was well stocked for any art and craft project and we used it all year round. Since moving here with nothing but our two suitcases each, it has been a slow process to set up home and get used to living and working here. When your starting your life over from scratch stocking up on paints and hama beads and sculpey clay all take a back seat to kettles and knives and bedlinen and towels. The kids brought some toys with them and we tried to buy a few little extras. All the toys we bought broke or were really expensive. Even finding somewhere to buy something was pretty tricky as toys r us hadn't opened here yet and the supermarkets toys were really shoddy quality. I did buy though a very nice set of watercolour paints and they were well used.

Now we are more settled I want to stock up on more art and crafty things. When Clo was off "sick" last week we did art on the patio every morning. Lexy is also doing a correspondance art course. I would post some pictures of our artistic efforts but I need to go out at some point this morning and posting one set of pictures a day is all I have patience for. We were looking at abstract art and we all tried out different styles. I say we as I had to have a go too.

I'm thinking of doing a kind of art evening once a week after school, so the schoolies don't miss out on all the fun. Lexy will enjoy helping me set that up. Last year we set up a theme night on thursdays after school a few times and she loved organising that and coming up with ideas for things to do for pirate night or hawaiian luau night. Now to find places that sell good stuff to do craft with.

Our Garden

K worked like crazy digging holes in the concrete filled sandy patch that was our garden and by lunchtime it really was a garden with trees and soil. Ok. It doesn't look like much but compared to the bare ground it is the most wonderful thing. The Area behind the table and chairs needs fixing next. I won't tell you about K and his crazy plan for a climbing wall up the side of the house. The breeze block doorway is actually a part of the new property. When we moved in it was a lovely semi detached villa but now we are mid terraced as the owner has added on a couple of small apartments to the other side of us. We still think we might lay claim to the patch of land in front of the other house as it is only accesible from our property. We might put some grass there. All in all it is starting to get a bit more of a home here. The only downside to sitting out in the yard is that the road next to our house is as busy as a motorway and huge cars with big engines screech up and down it all evening. Considering it is a residential back road I do not get why it is quite so busy but there you go.

Lexy's brownies

Lexy has discovered a new recipe for brownies. Now it's not Nigella's but it's not as expensive as hers uses tons of 70% cocoa finest chocolate. Lexy is using 100% cocoa powder. They are really tasty though. So now when I face the wii fit later it will cheerfully tell me I have gained weight and ask me what I think the reason for this is.
Anyway I praised her excellent efforts and asked her if this meant she would cook tea. She is now in the kitchen making macaroni cheese. She will have a go at cooking most things and seems to enjoy it.
I have not loved cooking as much since we moved here. The oven is a bit rubbish and I often feel too hot for anything more than a sandwich. The kids and K are not as phased by the heat as me. They seem just as happy to cook and eat a roast dinner when it's 45 degrees outside as when it's a cold dark november evening in England. I can usually go a steak or some chicken skewers with rice and am quite happy to eat takeaway whenever it's on offer especially butter chicken and naan bread from the curry house.

Blogging as procrastination

I really should be doing other things. I have my first assignment due for my OU course, dishes in the sink and washing to be put away and yet here I am. Inspired by an article on women bloggers in the times and knowing how much I enjoy reading about other peoples lives on their blogs I thought I'd give it a go.
I will probably blog mostly about my kids, they take up most of my brain space most days. There are four of them Lexy,Clo, TJ and Kiki. Lexy is educated at home, Clo is about to become home educated, TJ and Kiki are at an international school. I have a split personality between PTA mum and a more radical school is an unnecessary imposition on our lives type mum. If good parenting requires consistency my kids are out of luck.
Home is Al Ain, UAE. Well home is wherever we as a family are and this is where we are right now. K is my wonderful husband and is a schools advisor as well as a great maker of cups of tea.
I may write a little about life here in Al Ain but mostly the culture shock has worn off and it all feels rather normal now.
So if you want to read another mummy blogger chatting about her kids this is the blog for you. Travel, Culture and politics not so much.