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All I want for Christmas...

So quickly it's time to go back to work / school / normality - bah humbug.  We've had a lovely week with lots of family visits and a jam packed week of activity. In fact today has been the first time in a week when we just stopped and did nothing. Izzy took full opportunity and fulfilled one of her life time ambitions.... an entire day in her PJs. Yes, I'm ashamed to say she didn't want to get dressed today, and we didn't make her. She even had a full Sunday roast at 5.30pm in her pyjamas - our standards have fallen to new depths!

I asked the girls what was their favourite part of the week and  got the unanimous response of "Thursday riding!" - so much for all the people who made the effort to come and see us, the Halloween party I threw for them on Friday or the trip to London where we got VIP access to the front of the queue to see the Crown Jewels. Sorry everybody!

Our trip to London was great fun even if it was an exercise in queuing from start to finish. We are finally at the stage where Abi at least is willing to pause and look / ask questions even if Izzy still wanting to run around and go straight to the gift shop. With the poppy display in full swing it was so busy and the girls had to be very patient - they were just brilliant. Luckily for us Glenn knows one of the Yeoman Warders so we managed to miss the major queues but it was difficult to take it all in given how many people were there. Izzy was desperate to buy a Crown as she had been doing a project in the Queen and the Royal Family so as soon as we had that sorted she was ready to head home. So much for appreciating the experience!


Both girls are really enjoying their weekly riding lesson and I had arranged for them to go for the whole morning on Thursday. This meant not only did they get to ride, but also to groom, paint their ponies with glitter (not sure what that was about but apparently one of the best bits) and do a mounted treasure hunt. They had a brilliant time and have high hopes this will become a regular half term event. I have the feeling I paid for them to work, but if it helps them to understand ponies are a lot of hard work then it's all good.

With Abi's birthday and Christmas looming their thoughts are tuning to gift lists.  Izzy announced this week she knows exactly what she wants; "a Shetland pony or a Boston Terrier please!" Ah, I think not on both counts. Abi would "quite like a donkey Mummy" but after finding out that a single donkey is a sad donkey and each donkey needs a minimum of an acre of ground, she had realised that we don't have room for a small heard of donkeys. Not to worry she says brightly, I'll have 2 chickens instead. If we're not careful we'll have a small zoo on our hands. At least a chicken would lay eggs unlike the Shetland pony  / donkey combo. Or the hamster for that matter who still lives a solitary life in the playroom with only me for company once a day.

I'm in two minds about going back to work. It's head down now until Christmas with the knowledge it will be very busy. I was ok about it until I looked at my week ahead in the diary (packed) and my emails (many). Now I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed. I'm sure it'll be ok once I get stuck in - the water always looks colder when you're standing on the side looking at it. Deep breath and jump....

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