Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

What a wonderful end to the summer. After a chilly August, September has been dry and mild, and today we've spent the whole day outside in shorts and t-shirts. We have had a few cold mornings but all in all no complaints on the weather front for once. Last weekend was the Royal Berkshire Show, a high spot in the girls calendar.  Even more so now that Abi is convinced she is to be a farmer and therefore needed to pick up some hints and tips before starting out in her grand enterprise! As ever we never see it all and this time we got stuck in one of the warm up paddocks watching the rustic show jumping and chatting to various people with horses. I tried on numerous occasions to get them to move on but they were in their element. As long as they are enjoying themselves I guess... We obviously had time to have the annual python photo - this time I was roped in - spot the slightly forced smile! Today was a proper family day - Kerrie and Tor came for Sunday lunch (eaten outside in

Poor Abi is full of flu and feeling very sorry for herself.   She spent yesterday wrapped up in a massive duvet, dressing gown, jumper and slippers feeling boiling hot to touch but shivering and complaining of the cold. I knew it had to be bad as she has lost her appetite - very unusual for her!   Of course this coincided with Glenn leaving very early to do an off-roading day so I was left trying to get everyone sorted so we could get Scooby out for a walk.   I could see we weren't going to make it far so decided to take him into the woods - all very well except he thought this was a game rather than a walk and didn't seem inclined to do anything! I gave up in the end and we all trudged back to the house, apart from the girls who drove back in their ride on tractor / ambulance. Abi then spent the day either under her duvet or snuggled up to Scooby - a perfect companion if you need a long cuddle!   Izzy took full advantage and settled down for a day on the i-player watchi

  Blink and you'll miss it - there goes another week and the start of another school year.   A very happy Abi and Izzy got dressed on Thursday morning to go back to school with that lovely combination of anticipation and excitement that I can still recall 25 years later.   Also happy to see the return to school is Glenn who has had the task of amusing them over the past 2 weeks while the house has been a no-go zone - not easy.   Abi now goes into 'proper' Junior School.   This means she's now expected to be more responsible and think about her own organisation.   I don't think this will be a huge problem given she is mini-Glenn, particularly with the threat of penalty cards if she doesn't come up to expected standards, but we'll see,   It's not easy being organised at the moment when the contents of our kitchen, the hub of the house, are spread across every room it seems! Izzy is looking forward to Year 2 and all of what Abi exper