Back home!

Helo there!
sorry it has taken me so long to write again, we were just so busy being excited about our engagement on the last week of term then set off to Guernsey for christmas and on to Tim's family home in Kent. We had a wonderful time, was madly busy so am pleased to be back in my little flat to relax for a week before going back to school. I can't believe how quickly it all goes, I could have done with another few days in Guernsey and in Kent!

Everyone was very excited about our engagement too and we were spoilt rotten everywhere we went. We have lots of cards from everyone so thank you so much! We are going to keep them up for January as they merged in with Christmas cards and we want to appreciate them on their own!

I am afraid my camera lead isn't working at the moment so will have to get it fixed before I put on any photos. I actually didn't take very many as I kept forgetting then the moment of photo action time was lost... (sorry ant! Mum took lots so get her to email you some). I will put on the ones I did take when my lead works again.

So at new year Tim and I have decided to have a quiet one just the two of us. We got some M&S vouchers for Christmas so will go and buy some yummy food again and maybe treat ourselves to some more bubbly (like we haven't had enough over the holiday!).

Then next week it is new year resolution time... I think mine will be:
1) To go to the gym again as I pay ridiculous amounts per month and don't use it enough.
2) Get more organised school wise - do planning in advance and keep up to date with everything I take on.
3) Say NO to taking on any more things at school!!!
and
4) Plan my wedding!!!!!!! WOHOOOOO!!! What fun!!!!!!!!! (I have loads of phone numbers to phone venues next week to find out available dates and costs!)

There you go!

Chat soon and have a wonderfully HAPPY NEW YEAR whatever you do!

Hugs, Gemma x

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

TIM AND I ARE ENGAGED!!!!!!!!

Tim asked me to marry him today and I said yes! It is the most exciting thing ever, we are so happy!!! The ring was in my christmas stocking!!!

we are now celebrating with loads of yummy food from M&S, the champagne is finshed so will have to just go and buy some more I think!!!!

Just wanted the world to know, best scoot to snuggle with my FIANCE!!!!!!

Stratford!

Tim looking a bit chilly!
The two swans in the front were really loved up! Flirting and having fun in the water! Very romantic!



Hi,

So after last night's work do, drinking a little too much wine and having fun, tim and I had a big lie-in and lazily got up late morning and went to stratford. We love it there, especially at christmas time. They had the farmers market on, so we had an amazing hog roast bap with stuffing and crackling for lunch! HEAVENLY!

We then did the last bits of our christmas shopping and wandered along the rive. It is so pretty this time of year and the birds are so beautiful.

After stratford we went to spend lots of money in M&S on food for our christmas day tomorrow! We have bought camembert (a really smelly one) to dunk ciabatta in with garlic and cranberry! Then beef wellington and all the works for main course and a huge tub of M&S profiteroles with cream for pudding!!! I can't wait, I am feeling hungry for it already just writing it down!

So we have tidied and cleaned our flat and tim is busy wrapping christmas pressies for his family! It feels like it is christmas eve!!! what fun!

chat soon, gemma x

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

staff christmas party!

Me, tim and katie! Sandra, Jan and Annette
I won't name everyone but these are more of my work friends!
Me and Jill
Tracey and Lou
Candy and her partner John
Me and Gill (who was on soft drinks all night as she has a little baby in her tummy!!!! Due in april I think)

Hi,

so I was in charge of organising the work christmas party and was fab! It was at the Newbold bar and brasserie in leam and was such good food and service. Everyone had a really good time. Here's some of the pictures!

christmas hugs, Gemma x

my 100th blog!!!

Hi,

so I have reached my 100th blog! what fun! It is quite hilarious that I started it as an online diet diary and I now weigh exactly the same as I did a year ago!!!! I have said to tim that the diet starts again in january! I always fell a bit more inspired then...

So right now I am loving being a teacher. My children earned all their marbles in their jar (one marble for good behaviour/good work/just generally being great!) so they have their reward of watching a DVD with popcorn! I am therefore being a cinema attendant right now - enjoying the movie and popcorn but also able to do some assessments, plan for next term and blog to you all!!!

I am a bit envious as my sister has now broken up for christmas. It makes so much sense this time of year to give children time with their families baking mince pies and having christmas fun before christmas day. I can't believe how late we break up...

We have my work christmas doo tonight which will be fun. Lie in tomorrow then tim and I are going to stratford for the day then shopping in M&S for lots of yummy food ready for our little christmas day on sunday. We are going to do stockings and eat lots of christmas food and play quiz games! Always fun!

I had better go do some more work now but take care and another big merry christmas!!!!! Only one week before the hols YEY!!!!

gemma x

Hi,

here is another photo that did't fit on my blog yesterday. It is of the christmas fair outside the natural history museum. It had a gorgeous merry go-round which I knew my mum would love!!
So today I made such a fuss about getting up because I had that horrible monday morning feeling but then it was actually a good day at work! Our christmas play is wonderful and ready to do dress rehearsal on wednesday. We are giving the children a day off from practising tomorrow as we don't want it to become stale.

Tomorrow I have my class to myself all day! I am so excited about this (seeing I haven't had them to myself for ages due to having a student and doing management stuff). I am going to do christmassy things all day - reading then writing story of Jesus, christmas poems, making an angel, doing a letter to santa, making a paper collage christmas pudding and making fun printed christmas cards!! I have charged my camera so if I remember I will take lots of photos!

well no more gossip from me, chat soon, Gemma x

london at christmas time!

oxford steet on saturday night, crazily busy! Me and tim, I can't actually count the number of these types of photos I have! Tim and I always pose like this!!!
Natural history museum

Hi,

so tim and I just had a lovely weekend in london. It was crazily busy! I knew it would be madly busy but at one point we were stuck full stop on oxford street and couldn't move in any direction, all the people were stacked together like matchmakers!!! madness! Tim looked after me especially on the tube (which I hate) so I felt safer with him there. we went shopping in hamleys and harrods (not to buy anything just soak up the atmosphere!). The children with the toys in hamleys were so cute, although tim with the big robots was even cuter!!!! You should have seen the sylvanian families too, they now have a goat family and a really cool mansion and nursary! amazing!!!

The hotel was fine, very central which was fab but a typical busy london hotel. The show was amazing! we both really enjoyed it a lot! The bloke from the band blue was in it and was very good! We also got to meet up with helen and dave for drinks and dinner.

Today we spent the day at the natural history museum, outside was an ice-rink (fully booked already luckily for tim!) and a christmas fair. It felt very chrismassy - LOVELY! Then went inside and looked at all the dinosaurs and mammals, earhtquakes and volcanoes and precious stones and fossils! was fascinating!

now we are back in our little flat with our gorgeous christmas tree eating christas pudding with brandy cream listening to my new mariah carey christmas album (£5 from harrods!) LOVE IT!!!!

big hugs to you all and a big MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

gemma x

you'd better watch out, you'd better not cry, you'd better not shout, I'm telling you why... SANTA CLAUSE IS COMING TO TOWN!!!

Hi all,

so tim and I are having a lovely week! Last week was so incredibly busy and manic. At one point I was ready to give up teaching, dig a hole and just sleep in it for a long time... but then I had such a good weekend and this week at school has been brilliant. The children are getting quite excited but I am too so that's ok!

I have had a few afternoons with my class (after having quite a bit of time out of the classroom due to management stuff and having a student teaching some of the timetable), which have goine fantastically! We made plaster of paris hedgehogs which was so much fun, I got covered in the stuff! The children painted them brown then sprinkled white glitter on them to look like snow and dipped their noses in red glitter. I am so impressed with them! We are also practising for our christmas play which is finally coming together, the songs are fab and the children have learnt their lines so will be great to watch next week!

I can't believe it is only two and a half weeks till hols. I am really looking forward to being curled up with tim on the sofa in guernsey in front of the crackling fire with marmalade curled up next to us and our wine glasses being magically filled up with wine every so often by my mum and being fed yummy food all holidays... bliss!

we also booked our train tickets to london last night. This weekend will be lovely, we are meeting dave and katie and helen in london during the day then going to the theatre and back to our central london hotel! wohoo!!!!

well I had better go now but chat soon, big hugs, gemma x

Christmas time, mistleto and wine!!!

Hi,

I have had fun today changing my blogspot and i did it almost all by myself (tim had to help me a little bit!).

So we had our christmas party yesterday which was fun. Thank you to anyone reading this who came, it was very sweet of you, I hope you had fun!! I drank one too many cocktails as my curtains were spinning by the time I got into bed, however they did go down very well as did tim's tricky quiz!

Today we have put up our christmas tree. It is a bit smaller than last year (which is why I put in the photos of tim and I standing next to it, I wanted you to get a picture of its size!) but equally as beautiful, do you like?

Well I am off to cook our roast chicken with stuffing and little pigs in blankets! chat soon, Gemma x



Our beautiful sprig of holly with berries and all from Tracey.
Here is our little nativity scene from ant, we have another one on our piano - just in case anyone who comes round doesn't realise the importance of why we celebrate christmas. It's not just for the presents you know?


chat soon xxxx

just to say I am making changes to my blog but am struggling a little bit. sorry if it looks awful for a while!