Reasons to be Cheerful: Time, proud mum, school and a bed #R2BC

 
Michelle has handed the hosting baton to me for this month after looking after us for June. So I am making sure that this post is ready to go on time! It has been a pretty good week for me and I look forward to seeing what has made you happy too. So I had better kick off with just some of things that have made me cheerful this week:
1) Time with my girl
I had some extra time with my daughter as I gave her a lift to visit her friend out in the Yorkshire Dales for a drink at the pub. We also had our fortnightly social with her fellow aspies and carers. I got reminded about our wild swimming from last year and hope she is well enough to do more this year:

2) Proud mum

My son is having a good time with his fell running at the moment. His race on Saturday, he was 18th out of 55, means he finished 23rd out of 74 runners for the championship despite being one of the youngest:

He then ran at a small local event last night and was 2nd boy and 3rd overall plus nabbing 3rd place in the potato race! All his training is really coming together at the moment. Not only that but at school he has been put mostly into top sets for year 8 which shows how well he is doing there.

3) School 

I am nearly at the end of the school year. Since October I have been working 1:1 with a child and this week he told me the best thing about this year had been working with me! Just as well when we will be working together again next year... 

I enjoy the fact that not only do we do all the core learning but we have the freedom to get creative. This week we made mosaics to tie in with our Roman topic:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Galloping into June #R2BC

 
It may be grey and damp outside but that doesn't mean I have no reasons to be cheerful! Joining in with Michelle to share the happiness:
1) Grasmere Gallop
I have been taking part at the Gallop since 2013 and my son since 2014 (we missed it last year!). This year he knocked over 2 minutes off his time from 2017 to finish 3rd under 16 boy and 8th overall in the 5.7 km race. It was my 2nd attempt at the 10 km race and I was a couple of minutes slower than in 2017 but it still felt like a great run:

2) Peace & Quiet


My son went off for two nights on a residential. This not only meant the house was really quiet (too quiet!) but I had time to enjoy a rare sunny evening and have a girlie dinner with my mum and my daughter.

3) Blooming lovely

We might not like the damper weather this year but it has meant that my garden is starting to burst into flower earlier than during last year's heatwave. Plenty of the wildflowers have self seeded and some of my bulbs seem to have survived too:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Better late than never! #R2BC

 
Its just as well I handed back to Michelle for April as technical hitches and a break means I'm 6 days late! It wasn't me having nothing to smile about and here are just some of my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Parkrun tourism

Thanks to my son running a race at Threkeld I managed to make it to my 6th out of 10 Cumbrian parkruns as part of my RMR Challenge. A lovely there and back again route along a disused railway. I chatted to some other lovely tourists and even realised I was in the same race as Carl Bell one of the current top UK fell runners!

2) Proud Mum #1

My son's race was the opening event of this year's FRA Juniors with my son having moved up an age category. Despite being one of the youngest he wasn't last and finished really strongly:

3) Proud Mum #2

There was no rest for my son as on the Sunday he tackled the Elterwater race up Silver Howe with slopes like this:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Half Term holidays #R2BC

 
Its a good job Michelle is hosting this month as I'm forgetting which day of the week it is! We are enjoying our half term break even if its very soggy one. Here are my reasons to be cheerful so far this week:

1) More School Cooking

My son did proper cooking this week and came home with yummy fruit cake:

2) Extended Family

Our trip to Manchester gave us a chance to meet up with my 2nd cousin and his family. I hadn't seen his wife and children for 12 years so it was a chance for the children (who are 3rd cousins) to properly meet.

3) Proud Mum

My son finished 8th in his latest fell race. This is his best finish position yet and he is putting together all that his coaches are teaching him:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Tiger! #R2BC

 
Its time for the happiest linky around. So come on over and share the things that have made you smile this week - no matter how small. As host I will visit, comment and share all the posts that are in the linky. If you are new to the linky then here are the simple guidelines (we are far too nice to do rules!):

• Posts must be about things that have made you happy
• Add the badge code to your post (see end of this post)
• Add your post to the linkup below
• Visit the other posts and comment to share the love
• If you want to then share those posts

So what has made me happy over the last week?

1) Tiger

As mentioned already my daughter and I got to hand feed a real live tiger when we went to the zoo:

Such an incredible experience!

2) Girl Time

I don't spend as much time with my daughter as I would like so a whole weekend of just the two of us was great. Love her quirky sense of humour:

3) Proud Mum

Reasons to be Cheerful: Family, YouTube and my Commute #R2BC

 
If I've got the scheduling right its Thursday which means its time for the happiest linky around. So come on over and share the things that have made you smile this week - no matter how small. It as wonderful having old and new friends joining in last week so I hope its going to keep on making us all feel happier. As host I will visit, comment and share all the posts that are in the linky. If you are new to the linky then here are the simple guidelines (we are far too nice to do rules!):

• Posts must be about things that have made you happy
• Add the badge code to your post (see end of this post)
• Add your post to the linkup below
• Visit the other posts and comment to share the love
• If you want to then share those posts

So what has made me happy over the last week (apart from all the running posts I've already posted!)?

1) Family

My daughter started the couch to 5km running challenge last week I went out on her first run:

Running made us both smile. Let's hope being back at school doesn't scupper her fitness campaign! We also joined my parents at a local quiz night and were only 6 points off in the top 3 - guess we need to revise before the next one...

2) YouTube

Filming big competitions like the county cross country  and our local Kendal Winter League puts a real boost to my watch time! At one point I had had 1,400 views in a 48 hour window thanks to the 9 videos I made this weekend for the channel:

3) Proud Mum

Reasons to be cheerful: Proud Mum #R2BC

 
I am so sorry I missed last week's linky. It is a very rare occurrence for me over the last 7 years as it is a post that has helped me so much. Its a good job Michelle is such a generous hostess! At least it was for positive reasons as I am just working more hours and we had a lot of things going on at the weekend. Any way I have so many reasons to be cheerful but here are just a few:
1) Proud Mum #1
My daughter is a big campaigner for mental health issues and tonight went live on national radio (Listen 1:41 in). To hear the reporter describe her as eloquent and brave makes me feel so proud:

2) Kindness

I am working in such a caring school at the moment. One of the staff knew a child I was working with needed a tea light for his craft wardrobe so she went and bought him some:

3) Celeb spotting

Whilst videoing the race on Saturday I got almost in touching distance with a sporting celebrity in the shape of Jonny Brownlee:

Reasons to be Cheerful: A mixed bag #R2BC

 
This is the last week of hosting by Michelle as I will be back in the hot seat for October - note to self be organised! She has done a grand job of keeping us joining in and sharing the love linky love. I hope everyone continues to join in as the number of bloggers taking part is a reason to be cheerful in itself! Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) YouTube
I always get a real boost on my stats after a big fell race and the English Schools' Fell Running Championships was no exception! It makes the hard work worth while when I see that I have had over 1,000 views in 2 days. Of course it would be even nicer if this meant I had earned money from it but hey ho!

2) Proud Mum

The downside of videoing the races is that I generally don't see my son finish them! Luckily for me Woodentops are often there to capture moments like this when my son dug deep to beat the boy wearing number 34:

3) Cute Puppy

You would have to have a heart of stone to not have a smile on your face when meeting this gorgeous 14 week old spaniel:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Better late than never! #R2BC

Due to work commitments and then being ill I am very late with my reasons to be cheerful this week! Its a good job that Michelle is a kind host. There were lots of reasons for me to be cheerful:
1) Lakes Alive
We joined in with a drumming parade and then some light and music installations on Kendal Castle. Its great living in a town that embraces culture in the great outdoors:

2) Return to parkrun

I have been missing in action from our local parkrun for months due to family commitments. It was wonderful to be back (although I will be missing a few again!):

3) Proud mum

My son had his first top 3 finish in a fell race for 3 years at the Great Westmorland Trail Race. A great boost for his confidence as well as making me proud:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Proud Mum #R2BC

I am joining in once again with Michelle for Reasons to be Cheerful this week. Its great to have things to make us happy and to share each other's pleasures. I look forward to reading everyone else's. Here are mine for this week:
1) Proud Mum #1
My daughter performed at her school's musical recital. She sang a beautiful song (maybe she will let me share it on here!). Meanwhile here she is with me in the River Kent:

2) Proud Mum #2

Here is my son on his way to 1st place in the junior school wrestling at Langdale at the weekend. He brought his SATs results home this week and passed with flying colours. He even got the maximum score for his maths!

3) Furry Mum

I have to include our furry family in this week. How could the sight of a guinea pig in a tunnel not raise a smile:

4) Blooming lovely

My wild flower seeds are now flowering in the front garden. When I walk down the path I pass the poppies with bees buzzing in and out gathering pollen:

That's it for me! I will now pop over and read all those on the link:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Blooming Lovely #R2BC

A slightly later than normal Reasons to be Cheerful but at least its on the right day! Plenty of reasons for me to be cheerful and I hope that you have plenty to join in with too. Please link in and share the linky love.
1) Going greener
I am trying to be more eco friendly so I have bought some Soap Nut Shells for the laundry. They definitely take the smell out of our clothes and they seem to be clean. So that's one little bit to reduce my plastic usage and the amount of chemicals I put into the environment:

2) Blooming lovely

My roses are at their peak at the moment and looking stunning:

Having family help to trim the hedge and give the grass a proper cutting has improved the rest of the garden too:

3) Lunch with my girl

Reasons to be Cheerful: Cumbrian Edition #R2BC

I am writing this on the coldest day we have had for weeks in Cumbria! A brief hiatus in our hot spell that seems to have lasted for ages... Hoping that the warm weather has made many more reasons to be cheerful and that lots of you will join in this week... Here are my Cumbrian reasons to be cheerful:
1) Proud Mum
My son did his last school fun run as he is in year 6. Luckily I was there to support the event and could capture him on his way to 20 laps which equated to 10 km in 1 hour!

2) Keswick Mountain Festival

I got to spend my weekend soaking up the festival whilst volunteering in this stunning setting. Two blogposts about it already with more to come!

3) Record Breakers

Whilst in Keswick I was able to witness and record teams from Helm Hill completing the Billy Bland challenge of running the Bob Graham round in a pairs relay. Both the men's and mixed teams beat the existing records and the ladies weren't too far off:

Reasons to be cheerful: Sunshine, Friends and Proud Mum #R2BC

Its Thursday so its Reasons to be Cheerful this month hosted by Michelle. I have got plenty of reasons to be cheerful this week so here we go:
1) Proud Mum #1
My son had his first outdoor athletics competition as an under 13. He was one of the youngest competitors but came out with a silver medal in the shot putt:

2) Proud Mum #2

It was my daughter's first parents' evening since changing secondary school this academic year. She missed most of the summer term due to ill health but due to her hard work her grades have recovered and she is nearly back to where she was. A glowing report and wonderful comments from her teachers!

3) Outdoor Fun in the Lakes

Reasons to be Cheerful: Proud Mum, YouTube and Guinea Pigs

Welcome to another Reasons to be Cheerful linky as its Thursday! I enjoy reading and sharing your posts and I hope you enjoy each others. Just link up and then go and visit. Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Proud Mum
My daughter has got her first job! Its tough at 14 to get a weekend job so she has done well. I can still remember earning a princely £1.47 as a supermarket cashier at her age.
2) YouTube Channel
Thanks to all my YouTube videos of fell running I went through the 100 mark for subscribers as well as continuing to have a large number of views:

3) Caption Competition

When I checked back on my shots of my son on a friend's trampoline there was this caption worthy moment that put a smile on my face:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Appreciation, Lake District and gardening #R2BC

Is it Thursday already? Doesn't seem like 2 minutes since the last link up! I will have to be more organised next week when I am back in charge.... Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Feeling appreciated
Whilst its sad my contract came to an end at the lovely school I have been at since December it was lovely to be shown how much the children and staff appreciated me:

2) A still and sunny Fell Foot

After the previous week's wind and snow it was heavenly running at our parkrun this week:

3) Gardening

Reasons to be Cheerful: Proud Mum, Geekiness and Simple Things #R2BC

Its hard to believe how quickly March is disappearing! Here in Cumbria we only have one week left of term before the Easter break. I have to say I am looking forward to relaxing a bit with no school rush or juggling all my work commitments. That said there has been plenty to smile about this week:
1) Drama Queen
My daughter was in her school's drama showcase. First of all she was the Mad Hatter in a scene performed by the year 7-9 students. Then she was part of the GCSE drama group who put on Teechers in which they all played multiple roles:

2) Geek Heaven

Someone in parenting group shared a link to The Institution of Engineering and Technology where you could order engineering posters for secondary or primary level. Having a son who loves this kind of thing I ordered both packs... He is in heaven having his bed surrounded by the posters with complex mathematical equations above his pillow:

3) The Simple Things

A rare sight occurred this week (something to do with not much work!) as I discovered that my laundry basket does indeed have a bottom:

So short and sweet this week but its kept us all smiling! I will be joining in the Michelle and linking up.