Has anybody seen the children?!

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 in order that they could go to the gallops in the morning and watch their race horse training. This meant a special 'access all areas' trip round the yard where the girls got to groom, ride in the car up to the gallops and then stand close enough to the horses to feel the ground thunder as they came past. She came home absolutely full of it, including the fact that she had been allowed to ride one bare back... hmmm, think a bit of poetic license at work there (well, I hope so!). So having had only Izzy with us on Sat morning, she then went off to a party at 10.30, and stayed on so we didn't pick her up until gone 6pm. I suspect this will become increasingly the way but it does still feel weird when they are not around at the weekend.

Today has been glorious weather, and typically we had something planned so we didn't make as much of at home as I might of liked. The gulf stream has shifted so we are promised some better weather over the next few days so may even see a bit more of it. It was lovely to be able to open the doors and enjoy some warmth. We are definitely seeing the turn of the season though - the nights are drawing in, the mornings have a misty chill to them - autumn is on its way. On the one hand it's sad to be saying goodbye to summer when I don't feel we had much of one, but I love autumn in this house - its cosy and I have leaf raking to look forward to, a job I love on a crisp autumn day, particularly when there is a fire to look forward to afterwards. Hopefully some sunshine to enjoy before this though - perfect given I only bought winter uniform for the girls!

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