Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

Phew, sneeze and it's all over, all but the final few days of 2015 that is. Izzy and I had a lovely time in Lapland, despite agreeing it probably wasn't our thing. The reality is that we are not a Christmassy family, and so Santa hunting isn't going to cut it, and we prefer a more balanced holiday than this. The cold weather meant that you are either out doing something organised, or inside eating or vegging. Given we weren't doing enough of the first to deserve the second, it didn't feel like the best use of time for me, but we did enjoy the proper snow, we loved the big wide expanses of snow covered forests and the Reindeer racing was great fun. I'm still stunned but how quickly you can knock up a proper snowman when you have proper snow, and it was great to have one on one time, albeit for Izzy this meant watching reruns on Animal Planet mostly. It's also a long way, and eye wateringly expensive. I'm glad we went, it didn't make me wish I'd

4 more days to go - almost there! This weekend we have mostly been drinking tea and catching up with family. On Friday we snuck the girls out early from school and headed to Taunton for Christmas Part 1. Of course the girls couldn't imagine seeing Christmas presents with their names on them without asking in a range of endearing ways if they could open "just one". And of course, when one is opened it's fair game and they want to do the lot. As far as I'm concerned I would rather they open presents over the course of a few occasions - at least this way there is a small chance they pause and reflect on what they've been give and by whom. The theme was very appropriately a mox of babies and horses - perfect for our two. While we concentrated on catching up with everyone and quick site visits to see what home improvements have been completed in the last 6 months (all looking very smart), Glenn ventured out on the Tri Ride which we used to do every Saturday mor

We are definitely into the final dash to Christmas and it's getting busier by the day. Why is it that at this time of year, regardless of your line of work or activity, everything needs to be packed into the last few days of December? I was reflecting last week (as I tried to fit yet another meeting into an already rammed diary) that at no other time of the year do we do this. There's something about the turn of the year that stops people from putting time into the diary post new year - it's as though it's invisible! At least this should mean I have a few quiet days before next year starts to rev up and disappear before our eyes. The last week or so has been overshadowed by all things four legged. Amanda, Alex and the boys spent a lovely, if brief, 24 hours with us last weekend. They are currently feeling a bit sore after making the incredibly difficult decision to take Lily back to the rescue home she came from, a decision made after a long series of events of dete

Happy birthday to our beautiful baby girl - now 9, wow!  She's definitely no longer a baby, although after a very tiring weekend she certainly slept like one last night. As I said goodnight to her she asked for a last cuddle, when I said I would just put the sheets on our bed and then come back as I often do her response was:"Now Mummy, I'm going to be asleep in less than a minute!" and so she was! We were supposed to be going off to Angie's so Izzy could meet the horses and Abi could ride, but true to recent form the wind blew and the rain came in (as did the first drops of snow of the year!) and so we abandoned in favour of something a bit more civilised. We decided that instead we would head for pottery with a friend each, then Bill's for a birthday tea, then home for sleep over.... best laid plans. So all went well with pottery - cue more china tat in the house, as did the meal, particularly given Glenn got a golden pass and I took them on my own. We m

Ah, village life. Our big night out on Saturday was to the village hall at the invite of  our neighbours for an evening of wine tasting and cheese. I will admit that when I asked I didn't enquire too closely as to the details - it was ages ago for a start. The fact that some of our friends locally had also been asked and were up for it was enough so I said yes and left it at that. Of course when Glenn asked about the detail all I could tell him was that it wine tasting, started at 7:45 and we should probably eat before hand to be on the safe side... So we arrived at the allotted hour (dead on, me thinking it wasn't something you turned up early for, which caused some heated debate as Glenn still likes to be early), to find ourselves standing quietly outside a room of septuagenarians wondering whether we were in the right place. Turns out the wine tasting was tagged onto the end of the East Woodhay Society AGM and we were catching the end of some very long speeches - thank g

 This weekend has been all about Abi and her choice of short trip in lieu of the big Lapland trip that Izzy and I will be going on in a few week's time. Rather than waste time travelling to the frozen wastes, Abi opted to stay closer t home and in a torrential downpour on Friday we headed off to Tollard Royal, a tiny little village beyond Salisbury for 3 days of riding and messing about with horses. The forecast could not have been worse. On Thursday night I looked at a combination of heavy rain and 50mph winds - perfect for a late autumn hack in the countryside...  The original itinerary was to ride Friday afternoon, all day Sat and then Sunday morning. Friday was a wash out when we got there so instead we got to know the horses and drank tea / ate cake - relaxing if not quite the planned events. we then snuggled down in a lovely warm log cabin to watch rubbish TV and chit chat about nothing much.  On Saturday the weather was even worse so instead of riding we set off in the

Much as it was lovely to get away for a few days, holidays like that are weather dependant and so with an increasingly poor forecast of torrential rain we decided to cut our losses and came home 2 days early. This isn't surprising for us, we often end up missing home sooner than we are due to return, and we are clearly passing the feeling to the girls as well. Despite the lack of sunshine we did have a good time and have some lovely memories of rock pooling on the coast, eating ice-cream and playing cards in the pool house to name a few. Glenn and I both leave with slightly stronger legs having braved the hills to get some running in - there is no such thing as an easy run in Tenerife - you run uphill for half the total distance you want to do, then turn around and run back down again! To date the longest run I have done is 7.5 miles. 26 miles still feels like an unachievable distance but as I keep telling the girls - nothing worthwhile in life is easy and its worth putting in

Having avidly watched the weather forecast for Tenerife over the past month we are finally here and actually it doesn't matter anymore, all that matters is that we are together and I can stop for a few precious days. After an early start yesterday for a 7:30am flight we arrived to a cloudy warmth which was lovely despite it not being wall to wall sunshine. In fact when the sun is out properly it's still really hot so a bit of cloud is a nice compromise - spot the Brit abroad. Each time we do something like this I  see the change in our babies growing up. This time they got the fact that we had an early start and so after a late tea they both snuggle down to watch a bit of hotel TV and then went off to sleep with no complaints (other than a last min bed change so Abi was with Glenn and Izzy with me). When they woke up again it was very easy, everybody did what they needed to and despite having not bothered with iPads for the plane, survived the 4.5 hour flight with no cross wo

The end of another lovely weekend where the sun has shone and everyone is happy, somewhat helped by the fact that we appear to have made progress with the dog. On Thursday the dog fence went in and Bertie was educated as to how not to zap himself on an hourly basis. To his credit he seems to have got it pretty quickly and is now paranoid about the white flags which are fluttering around the perimeter of the garden. It has resulted in some silliness. In the early training stage (first week) you are supposed to either drive or carry your dog out of the gate so he doesnt think he can continue to walk (bolt) out at will. I refuse to drive him out of the gate only to then get out and walk, so this means we have been carrying him out. He weighs a fair bit and so what we've swapped in stress we are making up for in aches and pains from heavy lifting! Top tip - when you take off his collar to take him out the gate, don't hold onto the electrodes yourself and walk across... it hurts!

Who'd have a puppy? The last few weeks have definitely been more stressful than not where Bertie is concerned. He is a dog that likes to wander, and despite trying to be super vigilant at all times, you turn your back for a second and he's gone. Up until now that probably means he'd have popped round to the neighbours, but over the past week or so, he's been missing for up to a couple of hours - not great for anyone's stress levels or sense of humour. Add to this a muddy corner that's developed in the bottom of the garden that he keeps diving into then roaring back into the house, a tendency to take off when we are walking if he sees another dog / person / animal - it's all got a bit much. This has led to lots of shouting at him, which in turn has made him anxious, which has resulted in him going back to having accidents in the house. Give me strength. Over a long discussion with Mum (still always there to share a problem with, that will never change) we

So, I've mentioned just how well the girls have settled from a personal perspective into Thorngrove, thank goodness. It seems like they've been there forever and they have both made firm friends in very little time. What we've also been really impressed with however is just how much more structured and organised the school work seems to be. Abi now brings a different school book home each night and each is neatly laid out, her work is marked and commented upon and she is obviously making a big effort. As I write this it seems a bit silly, surely this is what I should expect from a fee paying school. It wasn't what we experienced previously though and I'm doubly pleased as I feel vindicated that we made the right decision. It's difficult to tell whether this is what we would have seen anyway with year 4, but the bits and pieces Izzy has brought home (no prep until after Christmas for  her, a much better idea than hitting them with it from day 1 of year 3) also

It's been a weekend of celebrations which have spilled into this week and carry on for another little while yet, all to mark Glenn's big 50. It's fair to say none of us feel like he should be 50 - surely that's the age old people were when we were young, but if it's true then let's make the most of it. The party started on Saturday afternoon when friends started to arrive for his birthday bash at the local pub. We had 30 friends from all over come and join us for a lovely evening of food, wine and music from the last 5 decades, all courtesy of Glenn's play list. This meant quite a lot of reminiscing. Not just from him but everyone else. We rolled home just before 2am having had an amazing evening. Given the abstention on my part of late on the alcohol front I decided to drive in the end, proving to myself I definitely don't need to have a drink to have fun. It also meant I was hangover free on Sunday morning, a good job as someone had to walk the dogs

Pencil cases packed, name tags sewn, kit all sorted...new school starts tomorrow. Tonight we had 2 slightly apprehensive children given it's all going to be new and they don't quite know what to expect. Abi had another run trial try on of her uniform and decided the culottes weren't quite so bad after all, while Izzy made a special effort to wash all of her hair extra well to make sure she was 'all clean, all over'! I shall be avoiding posting 'first day at school' photos all over Facebook tomorrow regardless of how clean and smart they may look. With the best will in the world only we care whether they look cute or not before they head off, and maybe grandparents. Other than that its just depressing to see how many of my friend's children are heading into secondary school - scary! This weekend we seem to have been running one child down most of the time, always a bit strange. Abi was thrilled to be invited over to a friends house for a sleep over i

So after another wet August week its back to work with a bump tomorrow - ugh. I've just logged on and looked at the pages of emails with a falling heart... I know there are no show stoppers in there as I've been vaguely keeping watch, but there's probably a whole bunch of stuff that I need to do something with. My strategy is to 1) scan for anything from clients (very little as they had the good grace not to email me as they knew I was on holiday); 2) scan for anything directly related to this week's meetings and 3) wait for people to come back to me on everything else - if it's important it will rise to the top naturally. Oh, and 4) keep my fingers crossed that my strategy doesn't come back to bite me. This week we have mainly been exploring craft activities. With the lovely August weather keeping us more house bound than normal, we have been knitting, sewing and drawing.... well, Glenn and I have anyway. Abi and Izzy have been alternating between asking to

I couldn't just squeeze our new addition into a paragraph of another blog, so here's an extra little update to introduce Digby, the latest creation from Glenn's handiwork. No wonder Abi and Izzy think Daddy can create anything from his garage - this magnificent example was as a result of Abi saying her toy horse (made by him from an old bed, a set of casters and some imagination) was a bit small and kept falling over. So we did a bit of research on the Internet, I found a training aid for polo players and hey presto, he'd adapted and built this! The girls spent a good while settling on the right name. Nelson was a close second but Izzy didn't like it, and Digby seemed to fit. Now you might think this is a wonderfully cheap way to amuse 2 pony mad children - think again! Wood is eye wateringly expensive these days and it's had to have a bridle, numner, saddle and other accessories. I'd like to make the point that I (successfully) customised a picnic bla

So what ever happened to summer then? The weather over the past 10 days has been pretty mixed at best, although at least it hasn't been as bad as today where it's has poured down all day. Just perfect for my week off. Despite the weather we had a lovely week in the New Forest with Amanda and the boys. We managed to get away with no major arguments (kids or us!), and saw enough ponies and donkeys to last everyone for a little while. We played on the beach in both sunshine and rain, investigated with enthusiasm a dead barrel jellyfish (sticks were used until the risk of being stung appeared minimal), swam, cycled, walked and lounged. We had fish and chips on the pier (we all agreed the idea was better than the reality) and on our last night a lovely meal in The Ship pub on Lymington Quay. The highlight for all of us was probably hiring bikes and doing a 13 mile ride around the forest tracks from Brockenhurst to lyndhurst and back again. Apparently 1 in 50 hire bikes have a pu

Hip, hip hooray - we are on holiday! Having had to push back my holiday by a week because of work it felt like I was never going to get here, but Friday finally came round and now its 2 whole weeks of freedom - yeah! Thank goodness I'm lucky enough to like my job 95% of the time - I can only imagine what it must be like if you don't - holidays must seem like an age apart. So, this time round no jetting off to sunnier climes - we are braving the August weather and staying at home. Actually we are heading off to the New Forest with Amanda and the boys and everyone is just a bit excited. Amanda and I are planning long walks, plenty of fresh air, relaxing and chatting while the kids play happily together.... Let's hope this isn't too far from the truth! If history is anything to go by they will get on brilliantly for the whole 5 days - with my two already angling for 'sleep overs' and midnight feasts. I did have to ask what constitutes a sleepover given we are a

As the summer progresses the pressure increases, along with the sense of injustice. Abi cannot understand why she can't have a horse, now! This week they have mainly been messing about at the stables with a 3 day pony camp at a local riding stables. This is a different one to that which we all go to on a Saturday which felt a bit traitorous but we have a summer to fill and all's fair in love, war and summer activities to fill the days. They have absolutely loved it - 6 hours of cleaning tack, washing ponies, learning about all thing equine and a bit of riding thrown in. This culminated in a gymkhana where Abi won a 1st in the show jumping and Izzy a 3rd. You can only imagine how chuffed they were! The instructor unhelpfully suggested Abi should be thinking about competitions, which she took to mean she will need a horse in order to take part. Agh! I found her afterwards putting into my web browser 'child desperately seeks horse' - poor deprived girl! On the plus sid

Oh the wonders of the British weather. A week ago the forecast for today was heavy rain and I was a gnats whisker from cancelling the kids party. Today the sun shone from morning till night and we had a fab afternoon of bouncy castle, space hoppers, fake tattoos and other random party activities. For once it all went our way, how lovely when that happens. The party didn't necessarily start this way - the girls had been good all morning, very chilled out (in fact they didn't get dressed until midday - bad parenting...), all of which changed into fever pitch excitement when the first guests turned up. Cue excitement from Bertie also, only to be met with screams from the first child. I made the (reasonable I thought) comment that she would need to calm down and get used to them as they weren't going anywhere, only to find her mother is just as bad. I did what every party host does in such circumstances- suggested they both sit on the bouncy castle as he's not allowed o

It has quite literally been a weekend of sunshine and showers, with an awful lot of the latter over both Friday and Sunday. While many children might take to the sofa, Abi's first thought when she sees proper rain is to head outside. She just loves playing in a downpour. Izzy probably wouldn't be the one to suggest it but is happy to be a partner in crime and so off they went on Friday afternoon to "check on the horses and get those with rugs in from the fields...". This is the continuing process of gradually trying to wear us down to the point we accept defeat and buy them a pony. Not happening! Abi is convinced that if she can prove to us that she is willing to be out in all weathers we will see sense and go pony shopping. Regardless of her love of rain I keep telling her she's just not ready, and nor are we! I'm sure this will continue, although to give them their dues they spend hours in the garden playing and looking after make believe horses. Glenn has

One of the possible downsides of being away for a week with lots of time on your hands is idle thoughts build into hopes and desires.... Armed only with Mummy's iPad and intermittent WiFi the girls have become obsessed by the idea of owning not one but two donkeys. Goodness knows how this started but since arriving they have become mini experts in donkey care and maintenance and are convinced it's the only way forward. Fair play to them, they have worked out that they are cheaper than horses, require less attention and are relatively cute, if you like that kind of thing. On the downside, they still need feeding and caring for daily, we don't have the land and (drum roll), they can live up to 40 years!! We would be in danger of them outliving us! So in their quest to obtain their hearts desire, they have learnt lots about donkeys; that land is in scarce supply in Woolton Hill and that both Mummy and Daddy are dead against the idea of a donkey or two, not least as they

Ah, holiday time. I'm writing this by the side of the pool with a cup of tea, sun shining and all is good in the world. The girls have turned into fish overnight and it's all we can do to prise them out of the pool periodically to eat and reapply some suntan lotion. Not that the latter is doing any good, they're already brown as buttons. I'm working on the principal that as long as they don't burn I'm doing a reasonable parenting job. Abi is currently streaking up and down the pool with snorkel and flippers counting off lengths, and Izzy is seeing how high she can bounce - she's finally grown enough to be able to stand in the shallow end - result! If last year in Crete we felt the initial benefits of all those swimming lessons, this year it's a no brainer. They are super confident and super competent so suddenly it's stress free poolside and we can kick back, relax and read our books, what a treat. Obviously this interspersed with a bike ride or

Oh my goodness, is that the sound of privacy returning to our household after 8+ years of little or no dignity?! We have just got to the stage where Abi in particular wants to bath on her own with the door shut, and even Izzy thinks twice before stripping off in front of anyone and everyone. Both girls now are conscious of their bodies and where and when it might be appropriate to strip naked - I guess it's inevitable and good in many respects that thinks the case. I am aware however that with this comes all kinds of other challenges. Abi worries she's stockier than some of her friends, and Izzy worries she's too skinny. All I can do is point out that everyone is different and there's no perfect or right size, what matters is that we are active, healthy and happy. Years of worrying about my own weight before I realised it wasn't a problem makes me want more than anything to help them not have the same hang ups, but I suspect it's part of life's natural pas

Summer is here! On the plus side, long sunny evenings. Conversely, getting the girls into bed at a sensible time is definitely not as easy as a dark winters evening. This weekend we were mainly holding our breath as Glenn raced at Castle Coombe. Given its not that far away we went to watch on Sunday and I can safely say I'd prefer to hear about it than watch! I had my heart in my mouth as I watched him roar round and I will admit that I was very happy when a gap opened up both in front and behind so it was a bit like he was riding his own race. Abi spent most of her morning snuggled up in the car, watching from afar. Izzy on the other hand was bouncing around chatting to everyone and sitting on the roof of the van watching the riders zoom by. Despite the rain on Sunday morning the sun soon came out and Sunday evening was beautiful. Somewhat later than sensible on a school night We set off for a 'short' dog walk. Famous last words. I made the mistake of taking 2 kids and

It's been a busy few weeks since half term and I've completely failed to put pen to paper on the blog - a sure sign that too much is going on. What's new?! The week after we got back from France was a whirlwind of activity, with me being in Switzerland for the first part of the week and then London for the rest, so Sunday evening disappeared in a pitch prep session in a restaurant on Oxford Street. Last Sunday I was recovering from Velo Wales which should have been a relatively straight forward 85 mile closed road bike ride. Instead it turned into one of the worst rides I think I've ever done. I had horrible stomach pains for the last 35 miles, so bad that for the first time ever I pulled over, rand Glenn and burst into tears. He (quite reasonably) pointed out that with closed roads he would be hard pushed to come and get me, but would try. I put the phone down, pulled myself together and limped in to the finish line feeling very sorry for myself. I think on reflectio