Coffee anyone?

I know, I know - it's about time I wrote another post! I think I need to stop worrying too much about what I write and just update this more often as people want to know what we are up to...

Firstly, we are just sooooooo tired!!! It's ridiculous - especially as I now have 5 mornings a week sans children. That's 15 hours when I could be catching up on sleep, chilling out, reading, etc, etc. But it just all seems to get so manic when I try and cram in as much as possible to each 3-hour period. I am seriously considering getting M into the hot lunch program just to get myself an extra 45 minutes a day!!! It doesn't help that we have embarked on a lot more extra-curricular activities. In Blighty, Is had swimming lessons and that was it other than school. Now we have E swimming on a Monday, after school clubs (pirate & cheerleading respectively) for E and Is on a Tues and soccer practice for Is on a Wed plus a game each Saturday. Not wanting M to feel left out, I signed her up for some ridiculously cheap Tap & Ballet classes for an hour each on Tues and Thurs afternoons. Then there's homework on top of that which seems to have increased exponentially this year. It's crazy!!!!

The dance classes are incredibly amusing, not least as M insists on skipping to the lessons in full dance gear plus trainers. We park outside the zoo and walk past the tigers and lions en route to ballet so she always gets lots of endearing glances from passers-by. I doubt this will be quite as much fun in winter but for the moment it is ever so sweet. I get a whole hour to myself to read and drink tea in Starbucks though I usually sneak back a few minutes early to catch a few minutes of tap dancing. It mostly involves 10 4-year olds slipping and ending up on their bottoms then trying to help each other up and falling over again. I doubt there are any Broadway stars in the making!!

Most of my free time seems to be taken up with school meetings. For those who care, I have the dubious honour of having 2 children in 3 different Key stages which equates to triple meetings. As I am also 'class rep' for Is's class (not sure quite what I've let myself in for) I also have other meetings to attend and numerous emails to forward along with calming irate parents and negotiating with teachers and administrative staff at the school. There will no doubt be more postings to follow on those particularly joy-inspiring responsibilities...

When I am not at school meetings I am usually to be found having 'coffee' at Whole Foods with various friends and contacts. The parentheses, of course, as I am a hardened tea drinker but somehow meeting someone for a tea just doesn't run off the tongue as smoothly. I managed 3 days in a row the week before last. Last week the highlight was Friday's schedule of 'coffee' followed by a coffee morning followed by lunch with a friend.

It's a hard life here in Chi-town. No wonder I'm exhausted.........!