"Casey’s Unit is, as ever, full of troubled, disaffected pupils, and new arrival Leo is something of a conundrum.

Thirteen year old Leo isn’t a bad lad – in fact, he’s generally polite and helpful, but he’s in danger of permanent exclusion for repeatedly absconding and unauthorised absences. Despite letters being sent home regularly, his mother never turns up for any appointments, and when the school calls home she always seems to have an excuse.


Though Casey has her hands full, she offers to intervene for a while, to try get Leo engaged in learning again and remaining in school. The head’s sceptical though and warns her that this is Leo’s very last chance. But Casey’s determined, because there’s something about Leo that makes her want to fight his corner, and get to the bottom of whatever it is that compels this enigmatic boy to keep running away. With Leo so resolutely tight-lipped and secretive, Casey knows that if she’s going to keep this child in education, she’s going to have to get to the bottom of it herself…"

Casey tells the story of Leo, one of her students and his struggles. Casey takes Leo on to try and engage Leo in learning again and stop him from excluded from school. Leo arrives late to class every day and gets into fights. Casey suspects there is more to Leo and his story than he lets on and she is of course right. Casey tries to get to the bottom of it.
I felt so sorry for Leo and his family and I am so glad Casey was there to help!

I really enjoyed reading this story. I read it within a day and a half ! I love Caseys books, I have read most of them. She's a truly inspiring lady and I wish there were more people like her in the world!

The other day, we went for a walk around our local woodland and this tree is very, very old! It's been struck by lightening a few times! I use to climb this tree when I was little and it was fun to watch my children climb it :)

Sarah xXx

We were sent some lovely 'Animal Skin Rubbing Plates' to review from Baker Ross. we were also sent a box of 24 crayola crayons along with the plates.


The rubbing plates come in a pack of four and are double sided (A different design on each side) which means there are 8 assorted designs including, Leopard, Cow, Zebrea, Tiger, Giraffe, Feathers, Fish Scales and Alligator. They come in red, yellow, green and blue. They're brightly coloured!

Each rubbing plate is made of hard plastic and is quite thick! They're very good quality and will last a very long time! Each rubbing plate is 15x15cm.

The crayons are really good quality too and nicely brightly coloured. They worked perfectly for this little art activity!


They're very simple to use, you simply place a peice of paper over the plate and rubb gently with a crayon, the pattern soon appears through the paper! Ellie loved doing this and she was all "I love this, it's so much fun, I think I like the Tiger design best" She told me.



This is a really lovely couluring and drawing activity for children. These would also be a great activity at a child's Birthday party or even make a lovely gift!
They come in a pack of four and are priced at just £3.99 per pack.
Overall I think this is a lovely easy art activity for children, Ellie enjoys making animal print pictures, they keep her busy for a good amount of time.


Baker Ross also sell a wide range of kids toys and party bag fillers or even stocking stuffers if you like. We were sent a pack of 8 miniature bubbles. They're perfect for filling party bags! The touchable bubble wands are priced £2.40 for a packet of 8. They look super cute I must say! They're perfect for tiny hands.

We were also sent some pull back racing snails, which you simply pull bag and watch them race! Priced at £2.25 for a pack of four, they are well and truly worth the money and so much fun!

Baker Ross sell a wide range of arts and craft kits as well as toys for children. They're all very reasonably priced and in my experience, really good quality, too!

What's your childs or your favourite arts & crafts activity?






We were sent samples of these products for the purpose of this review, all opinions are my own, honest, personal opinions, I was not paid for this post.

Gosh, it's time for the weekly bits and bobs again - The highs and lows of this past week! That week soon flew by! Here are my best 7 worst bits.

Negatives.

• The weather is still rubbish. It really effects my mood because I can't go out and power walk/slow jog, I never know if it's going to rain or not. Usually it does. I'll have to workout instead. 
• I'm so behind on blogging, I really need to catch up. I don't even know why I'm struggling so much with catching up to be honest! I'll hopefully catch up today and tomorrow. I need to schedule some blog posts. I also need to transfer pictures from my camera to my computer. 
• I still can't find my missing memory card, which truly sucks because it's a decent one, too! The one I have isn't very big and I'm forever having to delete photos. Hopefully the other one will turn up.

I can't think of any more negatives. It's been a pretty good week really.

Positives. 

• The kids break up for half term tomorrow, well Ellie and Charlie do. Harry breaks up Friday. We're looking forward to the break from the school routine. I can not wait! We really would love to go on a picnic and perhaps a trip to the cinema over the half term holiday.
• I finally received a neurology appointment regarding in idiopathic intracranial hypertension. I'm a bit anxious about it but I know that it needs sorting even if it does result in a lumbar puncture. I'm just anxious about the whole thing but it's good I have the appointment now.

• I had a lovely morning with my sister the other day. We met up for lunch, which we ate along the river bank while we caught up with each others lives, the views were amazing, even if the sun wasn't shining.
• I've been working out and did manage to do the first day of couch to 5k the other day. Really, I'm just using the app as a guide when to run and jog, I'm not sure I'll actually complete the 5k challenge but it's good because it keeps me fit! I've also been reached 10k steps a few times within the last week, yay! 
• Ellie and I had a lovely trip to the local market on Saturday. It's only small but Ellie got a chance to spend her money that Auntie C had given her. Ellie chose to buy a red strawberry scented ball and a hula hoop! Bless her. The boys went fishing with there dad (both caught some good sized fish! They had a wonderful time). 
• Ellie is well and truly ready for year 4 in September, which I am so pleased about. Charlie is SO ready for high school and is super excited about it. And Harry just wants to have six weeks off school LOL. I know he's ready for year 8! He seriously is growing so fast - I can not believe he's grown over a foot since last September. He's officially taller than me. Crazy. 

Things to do and look forward to next week

• I mentioned above about having a picnic and perhaps a trip to the cinema with the kids. It really just depends on how I am (headache wise). I try not to plan in advance. Plus, last minutes plans are the best. 
• The boys have dentist next week, I think they'll both be referred for braces. I also reckon they may need a filling :( We'll see. 
• I'm hoping we'll get to see my grandparents next week (The kids great grandparents), we haven't seen them for a few weeks. I miss them. 

A photo of Charlie and Ellie together: 


I really wish Harry would let me take his photo like Ellie and Charlie do but apparently "Taking photos is for kids, I'm not a kid" Righto Harry, you're 12 dude. LOL.

So those are my best and worst, highs and lows of the last week. What are your best and worst bits?