Skip to main content

Spring has sprung


Busy few weeks! No blog last weekend as we were proudly supporting Kerrie running her first marathon - the one we almost all ran but in the end relied on Kerrie to run for us all and boy did she do us proud! Despite being pretty nervous beforehand she had a massive smile on her face all the way round and finished in a brilliant 4:31, bang on her target time. She suffered in the last few miles - I ran with her for a few hundred yards at mile 22 and she was willing it to be done, but she still made it over the line at a jog and even then was smiling - what a result. I can't believe how far she has come, both in her running and in her attitude - little would we have thought she could or would have achieved this even a few years ago. We headed out for a big meal to celebrate Kerrie's run and mine and Ashley's birthdays that evening and it's very clear she all grown up now.

While Kerrie ran we ate and walked our way around Barcelona with a few glasses of Rose to see us on our way. We certainly ate well, and had more to drink than we have for a while, but by most people's standards it was a pretty reserved affair - just how we like it these days, I'm happy to say that I'm far to precious about my time off to ruin it with a hangover these days.

On Monday we headed down to breakfast in the hotel to be greeted with 2 waiters, cake and champagne - clearly my birthday was on the system from check in. Not what I expected but very nice all the same to have a little mini celebration. I had to make the most of it - having been away I didn't even get a card from the girls - but I got lots of cuddles on arriving home and that's what matters.

This week has been a departure from the norm as I started the first of 3 development modules for my Grad certificate in Organsiational Development. I was at Roffey Park which was a lovely setting for 3 days of reflection and conversation amongst like minded people. This felt very indulgent, but I'm paying for it myself so that's ok. I came back feeling like I haven't seen much of the girls for a while so it was very good to be home - that's always the nicest bit of being away!

Today we have mostly been reorganising the girls rooms Every so often that they get it into their heads that their rooms need changing (I get this completely!) and so we have to work through the limited options of how their beds can go so that everything gets a new place. We did Abi's room first, and then went into Izzy's, who just wanted her bed with its head next to Abi's so that they are close at night time. As we drove Izzy to a party today Abi was chatting away and saying that she likes the fact that they are close, even if they don't admit it always at school, When I asked why she said "it's not cool", but then added "But I think it is lovely to be close" - I hope that lasts. 

I also hope that we hear Izzy chit chatting away to herself for as long as possible. She's obviously the baby of our family but they are both growing up so fast. I love to hear Izzy in the bath as she was tonight - I often remake the beds on a Sunday evening while she plays happily in the bath, chatting away to herself, complete nonsense most of the time, singing, laughing and happy in her own little world - may that last for as long as possible, my little sunshine baby.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ypres

Walking around the lake in Ypres while waiting for the rugby to finish! A wet Monday evening after a lovely long weekend away in Ypres - just the two of us and just what I needed after what has been a relatively stressful few months of decision making. The decision is now made however and on Monday I resigned my job in order to join a new company in January. This will be the same role, but a company that hopefully offers more long term stability than my current one. It's been hard going through the initial round of telling people.Despite only being there for 7 months I've made some good friends and very quickly become established and everybody who I've told has been happy for me but very sad that I'm going - it hasn't made it easy. I do feel like I've been through the mill a bit this year - what with leaving EY, ramping up to a big new role, finding out it probably didn't have the longevity I was looking for and then going through the process of finding ...
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

Welcome Albert James!

So this week has been full of new things - Jess and Chris have welcomed Albert James Wilkinson Rayner to the family, a tad early but all doing well apparently (and so cute!!), I started my new job, Abi has her new shed and Dad got sorted on a phone that wasn't invented before the kids were born!! I always knew this week was going to be full on and it certainly has been. The first thing I had to do was try and sort out my diary which had been filled from dawn to dusk by my predecessor with meetings. I decided to set out as I mean to go on and immediately took out those that started before 9am. While I can get into  the office for 8am , it's a pain and requires me to be on the 6:30am train which is just a bit much every day (stating the obvious). I then made it clear that we don't need to be joined at the hip for the next 4 weeks which is a sensitive process - even though he is retiring it's hard to let go and he is understandably keen that the team are looked after. ...
Post a Comment
Read more