Skip to main content

Family weekend

This time last week I was felling grumpy about a very busy week ahead and 3 nights away / late home. Blink and it's over and as predicted it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. I'm remembering that while I hate the thought of being so busy that I barely notice the days passing, I actually enjoy the individual parts of each day and so it's never terrible. This week looks just as bad - only one night away but already I can see that the week is silly busy and I'll have no time to catch up on myself. Is this the same for everyone?

The flip side is of course that we have lots of fun stuff planned for the weekend because we can. This weekend was riding (of course) on Saturday morning followed by Mum arriving for her Christmas present - Queen and Adam Lambert at the O2. We set off at 3.30pm with the plan of up to paddington, tube to Embankment, spot of dinner and then Clipper to the O2 followed by taxi home. Travel logistics went like clockwork and we arrived at the O2 at 8.16pm, 4 minutes before they came onto the stage. The whole day was just lovely - spending lots of time with Mum, uninterrupted by kids, great show, lots of singing and home to my own bed before 1am. 5 mins after Mum headed out the door this morning, Kerrie arrived so it's been wall to wall family this weekend. We sat around catching up and then had Sunday lunch before going into the woods at the bottom of our garden with a plan of building a fire. Not so successful - damp wood and damper ground. Glenn and Kerrie wandered off but Abi and Izzy were determined to make it work with Abi applying all her knowledge from this summer's survival camp. In the end we gave up and built some jumps for them to play at being horses. As ever Scooby was expected to join in but turns out to be a rubbish show jumper!

The other highlight of the weekend was having my study furniture completed. I now have the most amazing study - everything I could have ever hoped for. This means Abi and Izzy have inherited my old desk and bookcase, much to their delight. They have spent the weekend playing schools with a proper teachers desk. Obviously this hasn't helped the homework. Tonight it was the continuation of the Roman Project. Abi decided she wanted to do the. 'Build a Roman shield' task. Glenn set to work building a shield that clearly wasn't made by an 8 yr old, while I tried to help her with the detailed description of how it would have been used and what it was made of. No surprise, within 10 mins she's in tears and I'm struggling to maintain my 'calm parenting' techniques. This goes on for well past the 30 mins we are supposed to spend on homework, until I finally give up, shout a lot and stomp off upstairs. I stuck her in the bath, we all calmed down and had another go. This time with much more success and no shouting. Please let Izzy have an easier attitude to homework!

Final stop press... At the grand old age of nearly 7, Izzy finally has her first wobbly tooth!! She's very chuffed and we all have to admire it approximately 10 times a day. I hate to say it hasn't really moved far yet but it's definitely on the move. Another childhood milestone about to pass.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas...

I was sure I write the blog last week.... but, it seems another 2 weeks have flown by and now we are staring down the barrel of the Christmas holidays and the end of the year! Currently it's all about Doug and what a star he has proved to be so far. He has now been with us for 3 weeks and he is (so far, I keep thinking at some point it will change) a pretty chilled out puppy. As a second dog he has been thrown in at the deep end and has been to Sunday lunch with Alan & Sarah (which he loved), socialised at home with friends and their dogs, met babies (he loved Elsie) and started to go for walks. The walking has been a bit different to our previous approaches with new dogs. In the past we have ventured out carefully, making sure that our new baby only walks a short distance so they can experience all the new sights and sounds. Doug's first walk was after Sunday lunch last week, just him and 8 other dogs for bout 45 mins - he loved it! In our defence we didn't let him wal...
Post a Comment
Read more

Naked gardening!

How wonderful it is to be of an age that when the sun comes out you just strip off and get naked.  Izzy is definitely still 'get naked whoever is around'. Abi is now a little more conservative and does at least check who might be watching, but yesterday there was none of this as they both enjoyed the early May bank holiday sunshine and a spot of 'gardening' (otherwise known as 'mud-pies').  Watching them as they played on the patio, then roaring around the garden chasing each other just reinforced again how lucky we are to have the house and garden we do. So 2 days of playing together, inseparable as ever, followed by today where Izzy was invited to go to Marwell Zoo with Aran, on her own!  Poor Abi was devastated that she hadn't also been invited ("Why didn't they invite me Mummy, it's not fair!"), and even Izzy was a bit put out ("Don't they realise we are sisters Mummy?"). So after many tears and suggestions they get u...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cough, cough

Izzy - can't do a photo without rude finger gestures It's fair to say that the last couple of weeks have been rough. I managed to get the cough Mum had a while back and it has been horrible! Both Dad and Glenn seemed to get a very mild version of it but Mum and I got the full dose and I can safely say that it has been a stark reminder of just how bad a viral infection can be. It also illustrates the whole Covid experience - some get it worse than others. For me it has meant that for over 2 weeks I have had the worst cough which has left me unable to sleep properly. I still can't sleep lying down fully, and have to be propped up on pillows on my back which is not my favoured sleeping position! It has also meant that Glenn has spent the last 10 days in the spare room because I have been coughing so badly he is unable to sleep in the same room. Thank goodness we didn't all have it - we'd have shaken the house to its foundations! It has also meant that I have been exhau...
Post a Comment
Read more