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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.

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