And we're back ...

Two school years have passed since my last posting :(

So here is a quick update --

Andre has changed companies - huge move for us - he now works for Saudi Aramco and we moved home from Khobar to Rastanura. This means the girls and I travel on a bus to school each day, approx. 60mins on a good day with little traffic. Makes for a very long day but the home is good, the husband is happy and we live at the beach :)

Aimee is finishing up with elementary school and will be starting Middle School (grade 6) in the Fall. Lucy will be going in to grade 4. Both girls are doing well. Everyone keeps saying just wait until they are teenagers - my response --- you mean its going to get worse !!!!!

Me -- I am still working at ISG - DEMS. What can I say, its work.... it has its bad days, its good days, its brilliant day and well everything inbetween :)

Soccer World Cup 2010 is in SA this year so in a bittersweet twist, we are not going home. Watch this space for updates of our Big Adventure as the Bosch family tackle the USA. Sadly will be missing family this June/July but looking forward to the 'American Experience'.

So in a nutshell, we are still breathing, haven't fallen off the face of the earth, just got busy with living.

Latest Updates

I know I know the blog seems to have been forgotten....
Not at all, we've finally finished for this school year and well the last two weeks have been so very very hectic getting finished, add to the mix Andre being away on the other side of the kingdom again and well..............blog just went by the wayside.
BUT...... it has got some finally posted 'old' news :) take a look at :
Moms and Muffins
My boy's birthday
Student-Led Conferences
and the compound Luau
more to come in the next few days, once I have stopped going in to school to finish things up :).

A quick catch-up

Right so I started trying to update the blog days ago, but my connection at home has been pretty much non-existent. So here I sit, on the way home, in Dubai airport.....
Since the last update, weeks ago, my excuse is simple - year-end and the chaos that goes along with yearbook, graduation, report cards, student-led conferences and the extended list of things I needed to get done before June 12.
So June 12 has passed and I can breathe again, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, mmmm now that feels better !
We're all good, survived the last few weeks anyway. Happy Birthday to our friends and family celebrating in June - Jordyn, Kyle, Steven, Val, Aunty Mary, David, Kathy and any others I may have missed.
Conferences went well - Lucy shared on May 31 with much excitement (see photos below - Lucy with André and Lucy with her teacher Traci Porter). My students did a fabulous job as well with their electronic portfolios and many a parent was heard saying "well I am impressed, I couldn't do all that !" - very satisfying.

We are enjoying to a small degree the beginning of summer - well the mornings and late afternoons anyway hehehe You'll see the new weather forecast on the side bar shows the wonderful warm days and nights we're starting to see again. Thankfully escape to SA which should mean we'll miss a good part of the heat.
This was us at a Friday Pool BBQ, they have an inflatable island for the 'kids' and well any parent brave enough to navigate it too.

Not much else going on, last few days before leaving - other than fighting for connection and going in to work - a whole lot easier with it being quieter, we have just been at home getting ready to go. Sadly saying goodbye to my good friend Kathy - good luck honey, see you in the US some day, look after yourself ! (Kathy on the left, Cynthia on the right - another good friend) These others are also school photos - Ryan was over from the US to see Carrie graduate from high school (Bruce and Norma's children), this is a shot of him in uniform with Jana just before graduation.

And well these are the girls' class photos and then the school photo. Just had some fun with these so you can pick them/us out of the crowd :)

And lastly, my homeroom class for 2006-2007.

This is grade 7B - have a wonderful summer guys, this year together has been .... um .....interesting hehehe.

Whats up with us ...

Hello, so after a few seriously frustrating weeks trying to update and upload photos, I've given up and this'll be a text update.
Whats up with us, well, Uncle Larry has left us :(
While Andre was in the US and Larry was staying with us, he was introduced to any of our friends as Uncle Larry, my Rent-a-husband or Rent-a-dad while ours was away hehehe Of course to our American friends, this invoked endless teasing as when they refer to a guy other than the children's dad as "uncle" it means he's a "special friend" of Mom's hehehe So anyway we are very thankful to have had him here for the short time that we did and look forward to visiting soon.
While I am writing this, Andre is sitting in Yanbu again for a few days.
He is back tomorrow but I took advantage of his absence and put up Christmas decorations :D Those that know me, know I'd have them up all year round if I could ! Not because I'm lazy - well that too, but I do truly love it all. Yes the rule - so my friends inform me, is that anytime after Thanksgiving is good to start decorating. (Of course our Canadian friends said Thanksgiving was a month ago so there's nooooo problem) So what, I am a few days early :) mmmm a huge thing for me and I deserve a medal for it, even let the girls do most of the tree this time - so its not all even etc. but I managed to survive hehehe.

After doing the brown, red, even blonde, decided it was time to try black - for my hair that is ! So for Halloween, out came the box of hairdye. Andre's face when he got back from the US - Halloween eve was a hoot. Its faded now and is more a dark brown but we're getting really used to it and think it may stay for a while.

Really cooler weather here finally, first drizzle of rain on Friday, and Saturday we had some good showers. Girls wore long pants to school on Saturday and all of us had jackets on YAY ! No rain today but we're wearing long clothes and keeping sweaters with us now. We love cooler weather !
Won't it be odd to get used to heat suddenly when we head home for our 'winter' break in 3 short weeks ?! Looking forward to the short stay home for Christmas.

Well thats about it for now. Love, laughter, happiness and friendship to all.
Have a great day !

Catchup on us ....

Okay so before I do the birthday party report, just a quick catch up....
Busy week here as usual, Andrè and I both getting ready to travel. Me for two days to Oman for a NESA Virtual School conference and Andrè for 10 days I think to the US when I get back.
Ramadan is going well just hectic. Just about everything only opens after 8:30pm once all prayer-times are done for the day. I tried to get a doctor's appointment for Aimee but their first appointment was at 9pm - bit late when you have school the next day ! Great thing when you do have shopping is that they stay open til early hours of the morning ! Driving is chaotic - more than normal, if that is possible !
But otherwise all is good with us.
Student-Parent-Teacher conferences happened for us on Wednesday. Students are added in there as they are in on the conferences to hear what the teacher has to say and commit to certain goals for their school year which get re-evaluated for success at the end of the year again. Looooooonng day for me as I had parents non-stop conferencing (teaching the entire middle school - 100+ students to conference with in 6 hours .... shew) !!
Anyway on that note, Lucy is good even with our concern for certain areas of her speech, she is in the upper end of her class so thats great.
Aimee, well we know there are issues there. She hates reading and this of course is a huge drawback. Loves being read to but to get her to read is like pulling teeth ! Oh well she is a happy child on the whole regarding school so thats a good thing !

Andrè is busy with work AND getting his plans sorted for the Dubai Sevens already :)
After reffing a weekend or so back in Bahrain at the 10's tournament, he received an email this week inviting him to a referee's exchange to Manchester this month - Yay ! ... However sad news, its over Eid - thats a good thing, but... he was already scheduled to be going to the US then ! Just seems like he'll never get to go, this is the second time he has been selected and had to sit out because of work. Yes work, it pays the bills and so has to come first, but ....

So thats us, busy busy busy, and Lucy turns 6 tomorrow on top of it !

Just a quick catchup...

Okay so it's the weekend - well the end of ours and the start of everyone else's. Andrè left for Rabigh (Red Sea side of Saudi, North of Jeddah) this week and will be there for a few weeks working at the Aramco refinery there.
This means he will miss the girls' Student-Led Conferences on Thursday :( This is always such a great event when all our students present their portfolios to their parents. Will hopefully video each of them - Lucy was such a hoot last year !
Andrè being away also impacted my going to Greece for the Student Study Trip which left Thursday for 8 days or should I say it impacted me not going :( well along with delays in visa for me etc. Always the next one though - we're finalising the itinery for our South Africa/Swaziland Student trip planned for October 2006 :)
Our weekend was a quiet one, girls and I just relaxed at home. Weather is heating up nicely, bit like summer at home so not too bad yet. Thats what planning is all about though - most everyone leaves for July/August which are typically the hottest months.
Which brings me to ...
Just 6 weeks of school left .... so much to do and the time just seems to be flying by - obviously this is a good and a bad thing hehehe
Good for the upcoming holiday and seeing family and friends, bad for all the stress of projects that need doing before the end.
Oh well thats it from me then for this posting, Survivor 12 Panama is on and I'll have to report back to Andrè :( he's really suffereing having no internet or western tv even to fall back on in the evenings :(
I even had to complete his Fantasy League Rugby Team over the phone heheh will surely have to do a blow by blow of the Sharks games until he gets back too :( hope I do our team justice :)
Cheerio for now everybody, catch the updates here again next week xoxox